LG478 TASK SCHEDULE in more detail.. incorporating a classified overview
of CALL software/activity types
SOFTWARE AND COMPUTER TASKS FOR THE LEARNER TO USE DIRECTLY
SOFTWARE FOR THE TEACHER OR WRITER OF COURSE BOOKS, LEARNERS’ DICTIONARIES, PEDAGOGIC GRAMMARS ETC.
Introduction
After my historical introduction and overview, we will spend most of the term reviewing (and where relevant seeing how, in simple ways, to create material in) various software in some rough and ready categories, loosely defined in terms of the task type involved (=exercise type, game type, material type, test type...). Contrast Higgins’ four categories of CALL program (Computers and English Language Learning p4-6). Note that I think it is instructive to consider CALL software/tasks by looking at them by their pedagogical type together (e.g. review several Hangman-type games together, which are a particular kind of open choice vocab task, regardless of medium), rather than by their computer type (e.g. all CD materials together, or everything that happens to be on one internet site together). That way we can focus better and evaluate best what computerised versions of a particular task are possible and their strengths and weaknesses for particular users. But it often means you are just looking at one task provided by a program/WWW site quite selectively.
Below I refer either to programs we have at
This schedule is incomplete and under revision. I am checking the links,
availability of software, and adding reading refs during this term. However, I
don’t have the time or resources to ever make it more than a small and somewhat
accidental sampling of the software and the reading in each category. Both
reflect what I happen to have accrued over the years. It is chosen for wide use
and/or availability at
Each week we will work on an area. However, in class we will not likely
get through all those listed.
SOME CALL RESOURCES BELOW ORGANISED BY TASK/MATERIAL TYPE
·
They are not classified by level of learner,
level of language, type of English…. Versions of most of the types could be
created for use at various levels, for ESP or general English, depending on the
language content
·
In some instances you have to pick out the
relevant exercise from a CD or website that has a whole lot of other stuff as
well
·
They all require the user to do some
reading/listening for the instructions, apart from the activity focussed on
·
There are five types of media listed… check where to access them.
·
The BBC and DOS software was widely used in
the past but no longer meets today’s standards of computer presentation and/or
general availability, so is unlikely to be used with a real class of learners
today. However it is included for historical interest and because in some cases
I haven’t found the ideas in them reproduced in recent programs (or I don’t
have the recent versions).
·
We don’t have examples of CALL materials at
the more high tech (AI, NLP) end of the spectrum. See for example the (planned)
work of EUROCALL special interest groups (Genuinely 'intelligent' CALL, which is being developed
in some centres e.g. in
To find further materials, and maybe mentions of some of those
below, consult one of the several
classified databases of CALL materials which usually include short descriptions
and maybe evaluations of each package. E.g. those maintained at the
SOFTWARE AND COMPUTER TASKS FOR THE LEARNER TO USE
DIRECTLY
Closed word and sentence level tasks on specific grammar, vocab etc.
points, in a set of discrete items.
These language-oriented tasks are mostly very familiar in pen and paper form
as textbook and class exercises and EFL test items. They include also some
familiar ‘games’. They are mostly grammar and vocab oriented, and the computer
can check responses. Older ones are in read/write mode, newer ones may include
sound and picture and self-recording of words/sentences. Tasks following
reading and listening or use of grammars etc. in later categories may also be
in these forms, especially m/c. English Tutor (DOS) has activities of most of
these types in one suite.
Total one-word cloze / reconstruction
(Hangman-type games)
Wilt (BBC), a Business English Hangman, Various hangman games here under ‘Word games’ (Java… Mathew Stowe’s is good), a 3D Hangman (long download time). Hangman with Japanese clues. Some ‘games’ at Miss Janssen. Also WordMeister.
‘Skullman’ in WIDA Vocab (DOS) allows CREATION
‘Alphagame’ and ‘Mindword’ in WIDA Vocab (DOS) supply distinctively different kinds of clues and allow CREATION
Word reconstruction from
jumbled letters (Anagram games)
There are several quite different ways of presenting this on computer here…
Vocabulary Anagrams, Scrambled Words, http://www.manythings.org/jumble/, Scrambled words at this site
‘Anagrams’ in WIDA Vocab (DOS) allows CREATION, as does JMix in HotPotatoes
Word
identification in a mass of letters (Wordsearch)
Wordsearch puzzles, Wordsearch with sound
Word
dictation
‘Dictation’ in English Your Way (CD)
Minimal pair
sound discrimination
Open choice word form-meaning pairs practice
in various modes
These allow you to study or self test the word’s form
(written and/or spoken) connected to its meaning (represented by picture or Eng
synonym or Eng definition or translation, etc.). READING: Christopher Jones
1999 ‘Contextualise
& personalise: key strategies for vocabulary acquisition’ ReCALL journal
online 11,3 describes and evaluates a superior program of this type for vocab
learning.
Picture diary option in Impariamo L'Inglese and Let’s Learn Italian (CD), Wordstuff English and Spanish (CD)
Various picture ‘vocab’ quizzes at http://members.lycos.co.uk/missjanssens/TAKEATEST.htm and http://members.lycos.co.uk/missjanssens/VOCABULARY.htm
WIDA Wordstore (DOS) uses English definitions and allows CREATION
‘Memory mania’ and ‘Bingo’ and ‘Concentration’ and other vocab games in Smart Start English involve finding, studying and remembering pictures and words heard or read, with chance to have your own pronunciation checked (CD); ‘Listening phrases’ in Smart Start English (CD) uses descriptions of people, locations etc.
Flashcards with translation, opposites etc.
Crossword puzzles are a special case. See in English Your Way (CD). See http://www.tesol.net/scripts/CrosswordMaker for a demo of a free CREATION program you can download. CREATION also possible with JCross in HotPotatoes
http://www.manythings.org/slang/ supply and check English synonym for word in sentence.
Tree of knowledge (BBC) uses defining features in a simple AI format (READING: Chapelle 2001 p33-4)
Pair matching tasks from sets (pairs may be of words, parts of sentences… etc.)
‘Matchit’ in Matchmaster (DOS), Three variants of matching game, Matching tags, quantifiers etc.
Memory plus matching (requires Shockwave), Concentration games.
‘Memory’ in WIDA Matchmaster (DOS) allows CREATION, as does JMatch in HotPotatoes
Multiple choice (of words or phrases to
fit words or sentences etc.)
Bilingual and English m/c tests of isolated vocab on Internet TESL Jnl bilingual quiz site
Slideshow option in Impariamo L'Inglese and Let’s Learn Italian (CD), Rosetta Stone Demo (CD) has picture/sound/written m/c tasks in various languages at the level of words and sentences, Picture m/c vocab, ‘Which word’ in WIDA Vocab (DOS)
WIDA Choicemaster (DOS) allows CREATION as does JBC in HotPotatoes
Gramex and Themen (In the labs follow Start…Programs…Applications…Lang and Ling Apps…German…)
Vocabulary and Question and Answer in English Your Way (CD) have spoken stems
Various vocab, grammar, multi-word verb and collocation m/c exercises, http://www.manythings.org/qs/, http://www.manythings.org/c/r.cgi/quiz, http://www.manythings.org/fq/, PhraseDaze proverbs many of Vera Mello’s exercises and the Internet TESL Jnl self-study Quizzes, more www examples at this site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/youmeus/quiznet/newquiz61.shtml
Various tasks e.g. ‘modal verbs’ in The Grammar ROM (CD), Europress Language Labs English (CD)
Open choice cloze of words in isolated
sentences
Many at http://www.manythings.org/pd/, Open choice gapped proverbs. Business crossword puzzle is in fact of this type. Also various ‘fill in’ grammar tests at http://members.lycos.co.uk/missjanssens/TAKEATEST.htm
WIDA Gapmaster (DOS) allows CREATION as does JQuiz in HotPotatoes
Sentence reconstruction (from jumbled words)
Conventional sentence reconstruction examples programmed in several different ways. Some more at http://members.lycos.co.uk/missjanssens/TAKEATEST.htm
A slide puzzle version and another, odd version: http://www.manythings.org/dd/
Some tasks on The Grammar ROM (CD), ‘Word order’ in Vocab (DOS), ‘Reading conversations’ in Smart Start English (CD), Brazilian example
JMix in HotPotatoes allows conventional creation. An interesting variant that allows authoring is WIDA Double Up (DOS).
Sentence level tasks of an exploratory type
Unlike the above, these do not have any computer check on accuracy of response.
Computer
generated sentences for the user to read
This could be seen as the computer program in search of a useful pedagogical task. I.e. an instance where it is not too hard to program a computer to do something, but there is no instantly obvious learning/teaching use for it. Can you think of any pedagogically useful task for any learners you know to build round Randomly generated sentences or English sentence machine (ask for Random pattern)?
Selected words provided for the user to produce
his/her own sentence from
Like sentence reconstruction but with an indeterminate number of possible sentences (and non-sentences)
http://www.manythings.org/mb/, http://www.manythings.org/ts/
Word lists
for self-study
… but less than complete dictionaries (for which see later)
ABC option in Impariamo L'Inglese and Let’s Learn Italian (CD)
http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/
http://www.manythings.org/i/, Frequency lists with concordance and sound available
Text cloze tasks
Text cloze involves gap filling in a continuous text. In some types the entire text is a gap at the start, and the job is to reconstruct it. Unlike the task types above it is integrative rather than discrete point – i.e. it involves several levels of language, not just one, and not items all of one type. People debate if it is more a reading or writing task or just one that involves a person’s entire language proficiency.
Conventional cloze exercise (text with
selected word gaps)
Most often the gaps are open choice, though they
can also be m/c.
Readamatics (BBC), Divergent Cloze (BBC), Sentence by sentence cloze texts, many of Vera Mello's Cloze and Dialog exercises
Sophisticated CREATION is easy with the Compleat Lexical Tutor, simpler with JCloze in HotPotatoes
Total text reconstruction (text with
all words as gaps)
Eclipse (DOS), a WWW example and Another
The mother of all these is WIDA Storyboard (DOS), which allows CREATION
Simulations
In a simulation the learners role play in a situation they are presented
with. It is not a real one (cf. email, chatrooms) and may either be presented
visually or described in words. They are required to make decisions, say things
(in written form), explore, and the computer tells them the consequences. These
are quite different from the widespread modern 'real time simulations' (RTS)
which arguably are the least likely to have CALL potential because they rely
mainly on quick motor-perceptual reactions to shoot down aliens or keep a car on
the road (e.g. all those arcade and Nintendo and PS2 computer games). However,
any modern game or simulation that does NOT have real time response time as the
key ingredient is potentially usable for CALL in the traditional way… usually
with teacher support.
Adventure/Fantasy/Historical situations
Yellow River Kingdom (BBC), Hugo's House (DOS), Carmen Sandiego’s Great Chase through Time (CD). Ref to the last in Cobb and Stevens 1996 in ed. Pennington The Power of CALL p116.
More everyday situations
FastFood (DOS), London Adventure (BBC), Who is
For a very simple web-based
simulation with CALL potential imagine getting students to visit http://theenglishjournal.com.br/vocabulary.php
and try the THINK game. The student plays the role of audience to a magician
doing a magic trick – reading the student’s mind. The task could be for
learners to work in pairs with each learner trying the game in turn. They
discuss possible ways in which the magician manages to read the learners’
minds. It usually takes people a little time to figure it out! What off-screen
communicative language could this generate?
Along the same lines, one could set learners to play Freecell (Windows) or MahJong or any of the many traditional board and card games available in computer form.
ESP situations
Industrial Chemistry (BBC), Great Britain Limited
Conversation in written form with computer (fantasy/realistic)
ELIZA (BBC), Talkback (BBC)
On the WWW a kind of simulation that involves
written conversation of a sort is the MOO/MUD, described from ELT point of view
in this MOO article.
To experience one, go to the MOO
site and choose to ‘visit schMOOze’ but it may help to write down the basic MOO
commands first since using these sites involves learning some to get around.
See ‘student assignments’ for an idea of what can be done in this MOO. Apart
from typing commands to do things, the user can have conversations in written
form with computer generated characters, and other actual people who happen to
be visiting at the same time (the last therefore resembles a chatroom, though
the MOO has the difference apparently that the it provides more of a complete
simulated environment of places in a landscape that you can move around and
explore, and that people who frequent MOOs very often adopt names and
personalities other than their real ones). READING: D. Crystal 2001
Language and the Internet ch6; Chapelle p24; Klaus Schwienhorst 1998 ‘The ‘third
place’ – virtual reality applications for second language learning’ ReCALL
journal online 10,1; Levy 1997 p99-100, p172. M. Warschauer 1995 E-Mail
for English Teaching p57ff.
Conversation in spoken form
(realistic)
‘Simulation’ in Getting the Message (CD), ‘Speaking conversation’ in Smart Start English (CD)
Text writing tasks
Wordprocessing compositions/essays is a prime task of this type, typically
with various support facilities and spelling and grammar ‘checkers’. More
guided tasks may also be performed.
CREATION of simple tasks… can be word processed by teacher in advance.
Guided writing tasks on wordprocessor
A WWW compendium of suggestions at various levels
Guided
writing where the computer composes using information supplied by the user
Computer Assisted Writing writes text using user information… an extreme sort of guided writing
Model written texts
Sites such as http://www.edlibrary.com/essays/inmers6/101385.html provide model essays on many popular school and university topics, usually at a price. The learner may use these as models of content and organisation to base their own writing on (or of course plagiarise the whole thing ….)
Guided process writing
Deadline (DOS) enforces redrafting. TransIt Tiger used with learners of English (In the labs follow Start…Programs…Applications…Lang and Ling Apps…Spanish or Italian…) provides glossary, hint and model example support for Eng writing done as translation from L1 Spanish, Italian etc.
Guidance on self-correcting/editing written work - Warwick site
The ‘templates’ available in some editions of Microsoft Word provide outlines to fill in for various formats of written text (business letter, dissertation, etc.)
Free composition done for teacher or self,
with some support
Wordprocessing and printing out e.g. in Word, Kidworks2 (CD). This is the standard use of computers in writing, and generates research on how far it is conducive to good writing strategies, how far it is compatible with ‘process writing’ teaching, and how far it differs from writing with pen.
Writing with
corpus access support
http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r21270/concordwriter/ claims to promote ‘pushed output with i+1’ by providing this facility.
Free composition for publication/communication (e.g. on WWW)
The teacher publishes student work on WWW. Some ‘email projects’ are in effect of this type. G. Dudeney 2000 The Internet and the Language Classroom p133ff includes the idea of having students make their own webpages, not just have the teacher or someone else publish their writing on WWW.
Products can be seen on the ‘Student Work' links at the Lancaster WWW site. At http://www.otan.us/webfarm/emailproject/email.htm you can read the products of various individual and class writing projects. Topics magazine displays a lot of written material by learners, done in class projects, about recipes, current issues etc. See also stories by kids at http://www.bconnex.net/~kidworld/
Ruth Vilmi organises ‘writing exchange’ – see the writing exchanges sections of http://www.ruthvilmi.net/hut/index.html : ‘The International Writing Exchange (IWE) courses give students the opportunity to study English and exchange ideas on general and controversial topics with others from many other parts of the world. The courses are intended both for classes of students with their own teacher, and for individual students without a teacher. Teachers must register before their class can participate. Individual students will become members of an international class with a teacher from Ruth Vilmi Online Education Ltd as the teacher.’
Both extensive and intensive reading come under this head. There may be
support in the form of glossaries of difficult words, dictionaries etc. and
information hidden under hypertext links. The listening tasks supported by a
reading text, covered later, can also be used for reading alone, or seen as
reading supported by listening.
Extensive reading, with
self-guided exploration of connected texts possible
Some have support (esp. for vocab), and of course
all could be treated as intensive reading as well.
Spanish Gold (BBC) provides a story for children with multiple threads and endings that can be chosen
The Call of the Wild (Jack London) supported by sound and concordance entries
Material in English in hypertext on the WWW generally is a vast source of extensive reading material connected by hyperlinks: it is up to the teacher (or learner) to seek out what is of interest. E.g. attractive material written for NS at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/homework/. Support is available separately in online dictionaries of course. Material written by learners themselves might be especially interesting to other learners.
The Englishclub http://reading.englishclub.com/ link has classic and news stories.
The ESL Reading Room (see ‘Headaches’ for an example of hypertext support for reading); many texts under Sport and News in BBC World Service - Learning English are suitable for extensive reading or intensive, with vocab support
Access to newspapers worldwide
Simplified
reading text
Voice of America provides news and factual stories in (grammatically) simplified English (also with sound, see Listening below), Voice of America scripts has an archive of scripts supposedly within a vocab of 1500 words
Intensive reading with support
READING:
Marina Orsini-Jones 1999 ‘Implementing institutional change for languages:
online collaborative learning environments at
HYPER - efldemo (DOS), BBC World Service - Learning English – under Sport there are some scripts with comprehension tests attached. http://www.manythings.org/reading/ha.html, Reading with Brazilian Portuguese hypertext support provide short texts with some support.
TransIt Tiger used by learners of French etc. (In the labs follow Start… Programs… Applications…Lang and Ling Apps…French…) in effect provides L2 texts with much support of reading for translation into L1.
The writing Den, Comenius: Fluency Through Fables, Chase the ‘s’ (BBC)
READING: J. Higgins 1999 ‘Recognising coherence: the use of a text game to measure and reinforce awareness of coherence in text’ System 27. Higgins 1995 Computers and English Language Learning ch12 describes a predicting/inferring type program called CLOSE-UP or PINPOINT.
Sequitur (DOS) allows CREATION
Reading and unscrambling text
WWW example (needs plug-in)
Vera Mello's dialog reordering
Increasing
reading speed
Jones and Fortescue p34.
Rapid Reader (BBC) and Speed Reader (DOS). Also you can self-test at http://www.readingsoft.com/
Reading as a basis for followup writing and/or discussion
G. Dudeney 2000 The Internet and the Language Classroom ch2 has many activities that start with reading informative sites on WWW and have teacher-organised writing, speaking, discussion, question-answer role-play etc, activities (largely off computer) attached. Can be designed to involve note-taking, predicting, scanning for prespecified information etc… i.e. general ‘process reading’ teaching. The teacher CREATES the CALL activity by selecting the site and devising the surrounding activities.
It’s up to you… find a website that would interest your students (about horoscopes, Britney, football, A collection of public signs to read…. you name it…) and devise a task using the information they read there….
The Hero's Journey site offers a particular type of adventure story to read, whose pattern you are encouraged to follow in writing a story of your own
See also Wordstuff Reading Fun Demo (CD)
Electronic reading and writing resembling conversation
Several generic computer facilities (email, discussion lists, chatrooms/IRC etc.) allow for distinctively computer-based kinds of language use for real communication – types of ‘Computer mediated Communication’ (CMC). These are now regarded as requiring distinct kinds of communicative competence attracting study in their own right – maybe another skill beyond the usual four. Can be teacher controlled (e.g. with a set topic) or most often left free to learners to talk about whatever they want to (e.g. learner independent use of chatrooms at home). Can involve distant (and so cross-cultural, with all that entails) interaction over the internet or local within a school or class.
READING: Chapelle 2001 p20, p59-60 and p78ff, p88f (evaluation of synchronous CMC projects of this type). Levy 1997 95-99, 170f. D. Crystal 2001 Language and the Internet (a linguist’s view of the features of English used). M-L Liaw 1998 ‘Using electronic mail for English as a foreign language instruction’ System 26 (within school, to unknown partners). Y. Li 2000 ‘Linguistic characteristics of ESL writing in task-based email activities’ (description of kinds of text written) System 28. Farid Aitsiselmi 1999 ‘Second language acquisition through email interaction’ ReCALL journal online 11,2. Tricia Coverdale-Jones 1998 ‘Does computer-mediated conferencing really have a reduced social dimension?’ ReCALL journal online 10,1 (considers gender and cultural aspects of CMC). M. Warschauer 1995 E-Mail for English Teaching ch3,4. Hoffman 1996 in ed. Pennington The Power of CALL and Phinney ibid p147ff. Teacher CREATION here is in setting up keypal arrangements for a class, and/or devising tasks for students to complete using email or chatrooms.
Communicative message writing (email)
G. Dudeney 2000 The Internet and the Language
Classroom pp128-133.
There are many links for the learner to email other learners casually, or find more longstanding keypals, or for the teacher to set up such arrangements. E.g. links at the Lancaster WWW site , also at http://www.tesol.net/penpals/ and for kids at http://www.bconnex.net/~kidworld/ and generally Dave Sperling’s Message Exchange Board
International Tandem Network
for learners to learn each others’ languages. READING: David Little and Ema
Ushioda 1998 ‘Designing, implementing and evaluating a project in
tandem language learning via e-mail’ ReCALL journal online 10,1.
A special case is teacher-pupil email exchanges.
READING: M. Trenchs 1996 ‘Writing strategies in second language: three cases of
learners using email’ The Canadian Modern Language Review 52
Communicative discussion (discussion
lists)
Dave Sperling's Graffiti Wall for short messages
The Latrobe ESL Discussion List site for extended discussions on many specific themes
Communicative quasi-conversation (chat)
Dave Sperling's Chat Central ESL chat room,
Chat rooms generally on WWW. Also see the MOOs described above under
Simulations, as they usually allow chat.
Continuous listening
This means listening to something more than just individual words or
isolated sentences…. An activity we are familiar with delivered by audiotape in
class or in the traditional ‘language laboratory’. On WWW sites mostly rely on
you having RealPlayer installed (free download).
Extensive
listening, unsupported
Interesting Things to Listen to for ESL students on the Web
Daily program in http://www.letstalk.com.tw/lt/lt0303/
Listening to
text read slow with simplified vocab
Streamed Voice of America audio, ‘Listening conversations’ in Smart Start English (CD) with tortoise option
Listening supported with reading text,
translation etc.
‘Interactive Story’ in Learn English with Asterix (CD), Some ‘Exercise’/’Tutorial’ material in Getting the Message (CD), ‘Adventure game’ in Adventures in Speaking English (CD). English Your Way (CD) delivers conversation turn by turn with pictures and text.
Read as you hear a text sentence by sentence with synthesised speech (requires Speaks for Itself plug-in)
BBC World Service extracts, The PBS Online News; http://listening.englishclub.com/
Listening comprehension check/test without
support
Smalltalk gets a mention in Begoña Montero Fleta, Carmen Pérez Sabater, Luz
Gil Salom, Cristina Pérez Guillot, Carmen Soler Monreal and Edmund Turney 1999
‘Evaluating multimedia programs for language learning: a case study’
ReCALL journal online 11,3
Some exercises in Getting the Message (CD), ‘Quiz’ in Learn English with Asterix (CD), some more advanced material in Rosetta Stone (CD), One option in Smalltalk3 (CD)
Listening comprehension with support and
prelistening and/or post listening comprehension exercise/test
The English Listening Lounge, Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
California Distance Learning project, CNN story of the week
‘Listening conversation’ in Smart Start English (CD), Most of the listening CDs mentioned above have this option too
Listen and complete cloze text at the same time
Listening
with video, with support and comprehension exercise/test
This matches/extends on computer the familiar use of
videocassette with VCR and TV in language teaching. However, video remains very
memory intensive and a challenge to deliver in quantity on computer or access
in real time from the WWW. It may or may not allow the user to halt the play,
to access the text in written captions etc. READING: Chapelle 2001 p69ff
(research on incidental learning through listening with video on computer). P. Harben 1999 ‘An exercise in
applying pedagogical principles to multimedia CALL materials design’ ReCALL
journal online 11,3 (implementation of activities like those recommended in the
general literature on video in language teaching). Prof Lavington of Computer science had a
project on this: interactive teaching material based on video clips, made
available on a computer network rather than, as hitherto, by a teacher with a
video player in a classroom.
CNN
story of the week http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/week.html
has video with listening and exercises
Speaking (with listening)
This covers speaking more than just individual words. It is arguable that
many CALL activities not basically categorised as speaking ones above can have
a speaking element, where they are done by pairs or groups of learners who
speak in TL off screen (a claim often made for simulations, and for followup
activities to reading on WWW).
Listening and speaking and comparing with a model
Some exercises in Getting the Message (CD), ‘Recording’ in Learn English with Asterix (CD), Smalltalk3 (CD) (see review above under listening), Smart Start English ‘Speaking conversations’ (CD). See the TELL products Encounters Spanish, French, and other languages (but not English) for learners of those languages (In the labs follow Start…Programs…Applications…Lang and Ling Apps…Spanish or Italian etc…)
Listening and speaking conversation with
real addressees in real time
This is what normally happens when we use the
telephone. However, there are computerised versions of this – i.e. speaking on
the telephone via computer, maybe with video of the other person and a
chat-like text messaging system available at the same time (audio-conferencing,
video-conferencing). See for example Markus Kötter, Lesley Shield and Anne Stevens 1999 ‘Real-time audio and
email for fluency: promoting distance language learners’ aural and
oral skills via the Internet’ ReCALL journal online 11,2.
Using reference sources to find out about language
This category of course is often used by teachers to check their own
language, help create materials etc., as much as by learners (who would need to
be advanced to use much of this).
Reading about English grammar (often including
some vocab matters too, and with accompanying exercises)
Cf what Higgins says about grammar teaching with
CALL (here of the ‘instructional’ type) in Computers and English Language
Learning p8ff
The Grammar ROM (CD), http://grammar.englishclub.com/ and a lot at http://vocabulary.englishclub.com/, ‘Grammar’ in English Your Way (CD), http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/index.cfm
The UCL internet grammar of English, Miss Janssen's Grammar
A writer oriented account
http://pronunciation.englishclub.com/
‘Lesson’ in Adventures in Speaking English (CD), Some material in Accent Coach (CD)
Reading
about English spelling and letters
http://writing.englishclub.com/
Asking an
expert about grammar, vocab etc. problems
Some Discussion lists. Also the ‘Grammar Guru’ at http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/index.cfm (no longer free) and ‘Vocab Val’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/youmeus/learnit/learnit_archive.shtml answers to queries
James
Singleton, John Keane and Blaise Nkwenti-Azeh 1998 ‘CALL meets software
engineering: towards a multimedia conceptual dictionary’ ReCALL
journal online 10,2. Ashworth 1996
in ed. Pennington The Power of CALL p83ff.
Longman interactive English dictionary (CD)
The ITESLJ site has a good list of useful dics of all sorts available on the WWW as does http://www.hull.ac.uk/cti/langsite/tefl.html - dictionaries. Some useful alternative ways of accessing words are to be found in Dictionary allowing search for all definitions containing a given word, http://members.lycos.co.uk/missjanssens/REFERENCE.htm
Many basic bilingual dictionary resources are free online, e.g. Japanese-English http://linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/dict, English-Chinese http://www.ok88.com/go/svc/ecdict.html
Dictionary use skills training at the Warwick site.
Many electronic dictionaries of course are not
free online, but have to be purchased, e.g. http://www.worldlanguage.com/Products/30857.htm
Reading
about general English language topics (accents, history, etc.)
Some items at Language Watch - Learning English - BBC World Service
Reading
about English cultural topics
http://members.lycos.co.uk/missjanssens/BACKGROUND.htm, also http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/project/history.html
Language awareness tasks
These are about language rather than in language, but involve some activity other than just reading about it. Some of the Reference Source references above have such exercises attached too.
Grammar - Parts of speech identification
Jones and Fortescue p33.
Gramdef for various languages (In the labs follow Start…Programs…Applications…Lang and Ling Apps…)
Grammar,
vocab, punctuation, style etc. error spotting
Writing Exercises for Engineers and Scientists include a lot of metalinguistic explanation
Corpus based
word/grammar study, or use as writing/reading checking aid
This can border on teaching students linguistics
rather than language. It includes activities like: student ‘serendipity’
study of a word or some grammatical point (like uses of –ing) on their
own initiative; student checking corpus examples and correcting vocab marked by
the teacher as wrong in a composition they have written; student checking a new
word met when reading to obtain more examples of it in use in a corpus as a
basis to guess the meaning from; student is set to inductively find a ‘rule’
e.g. for the uses of should, or what distinguishes the words persuade
and convince by getting some corpus examples and analysing them.
READING: J. Flowerdew 1996 in ed. Pennington The Power of CALL p106-9;
Chapelle 2001 p10, 37-8, 64/5 evaluates grammar awareness using a concordance
from a corpus; Osborne 2000 ‘What can students learn from a corpus?’ and A.
Hahn ‘Grammar at its best’ and S. Bernardini ‘Systematising serendipity’ all in
ed Burnard and McEnery Rethinking Language Pedagogy from a Corpus
Perspective (Peter Lang). Also G. Aston 1997 ‘Enriching the learner
environment’ and L. Gavioli ‘Exploring texts through the concordancer’ and T.
Johns ‘Contexts’ in ed Wichmann et al Teaching and Language Corpora
(Longman). Tribble and Jones esp. ch 5. CREATION: there are corpora readily
available… the teacher simply has to design the task for the students to do
with it, with due attention to their level, needs etc. The teacher can simplify
things by not letting the students access the corpus direct but making it an
offline task where only the teacher uses the corpus.
Bilingual Multiconcord (Windows floppydisk), Various English corpus sources are readily available, and some of my suggested tasks would suit some learners direct
Search for words in Voice of America texts provides concordances of words used in simplified English contexts, which may be good for non-advanced learners
Pronunciation, transcription etc. of individual sounds and suprasegmentals
‘Pronunciation games’ and ‘Learn to pronounce with Sammy’ options in Adventures in Speaking English (CD), Accent Coach for Japanese learners of English (CD)
Reading about / raising awareness of language learning/using/study skills
(often with exercises)
I.e.
material designed to train learners to learn, use better strategies when
reading and writing etc., be more aware of these things etc.
Language learning
Englishspace example - memory methods
Warwick material
A Critical reading guide for reading poetry
Listening
skills
Much ‘Introduction’ and ‘Tutorial’ material in Getting the Message (CD) is about listening in the specific situation of taking telephone messages
Speaking
skills
http://speaking.englishclub.com/index.html
Writing
skills, types of writing, how to compose, revise etc.
These typically contain a lot of wise text about how to write, including often basic grammar and punctuation guides as well.
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant is a guide with some practical exercises; http://writing.englishclub.com/
Purdue University's Online Writing Lab =OWL offers material to read and online tutorials
Writer's Web at http://writing.richmond.edu/writing/wweb.html has an index of terms and concepts
Online Resources for Writers has a lot of onward links
Nuts and Bolts of College Writing http://www.nutsandboltsguide.com/
Writing Tips Contents-Writing DEN http://www2.actden.com/writ_den/tips/contents.htm
SOFTWARE FOR THE TEACHER OR WRITER OF COURSE BOOKS,
LEARNERS’ DICTIONARIES, PEDAGOGIC GRAMMARS ETC.
Computers in the language teaching ‘backroom’ rather than directly for the learners’ use. Computer applications related to several of the above areas exist that are useful as much if not more for the teacher or other language teaching professional than directly for the student.
First, obviously computers help the teacher etc. if they want to create their own CALL materials for learners, not just evaluate and select from what is available and use it sensibly. Word, or more sophisticatedly, Frontpage help with the creation of webpages. Authoring packages or authoring options within packages help the teacher put his/her own words/ text etc in a task for learners. See my simple suggestions on what teachers can do.
But the computer is also crucial these days in supporting non-computer aspects of teaching. I.e. the computer may help in areas like coursebook / materials development, compilation of reference sources, and by providing feedback to the teacher to guide teaching in a day to day way (similar to formative testing/assessment). This all can therefore ‘assist’ language learning indirectly:
· Software that runs simple closed exercises like multiple choice, matching tasks, cloze exercises, text reconstruction etc. does, or could easily, keep records for the teacher of the scores obtained by learners as they use the software… and even time taken, numbers of tries, wrong answers picked, numbers of uses of the ‘cheat’ options, etc. This could guide the teacher in revision work to do with a class.
· Software connected with text writing may analyse the learner’s text and collect information for the teacher about the nature of the students’ writing, e.g. E. Dagneaux et al. 1998 ‘Computer aided error analysis’ System 26 (concerns feedback for teacher benefit). This could guide remedial work. Otherwise, the teacher can simply make his/her own corpus of their learners’ writing, by assembling copies of all their wordprocessed assignments (or email messages), and treat it as a minicorpus which they analyse with corpus software to identify common errors to work on (e.g. Tribble; Flowerdew 2000 ‘Investigating referential and pragmatic errors in a learner corpus’ in ed Burnard and McEnery Rethinking Language Pedagogy from a Corpus Perspective.)
· D. Coniam 1999 ‘Voice recognition software with second language speakers of English’ System 27 describes an attempt to get the computer to analyse learners’ spoken output for the benefit of the teacher. But this presents far more challenges than analysing written output.
· Many of the sources under ‘Using reference sources’ above may usefully be used by the teacher to check their own knowledge, accuracy of aspects of materials they are making etc.
· The teacher can devise many activities around material printed in advance from general informative WWW sites for use in hardcopy (e.g. many in G. Dudeney 2000 The Internet and the Language Classroom ch2).
· Corpora of authentic native speaker language can be exploited as much, if not more, by the teacher or other language education professional than directly by the learner (who has to be rather advanced and sophisticated to use most of them). They are a source of information of a ‘descriptive linguistic’ type … and clearly accurate descriptive information about language is a necessary basis for teachers and other pedagogical professionals to draw on (some of my suggested corpus tasks would be done by teachers etc. rather than learners).
1. To verify the teacher’s own intuitions about how a word or grammatical construction is used (e.g. J. Flowerdew 1996 in ed. Pennington The Power of CALL p103f).
2. To help a teacher make tasks and materials. J. Flowerdew 1996 in ed. Pennington The Power of CALL p105f; H. Collins 2000 ‘Materials design and language corpora: a report in the context of distance education’ in ed Burnard and McEnery Rethinking Language Pedagogy from a Corpus Perspective (business English). E. Wilson ‘The automatic generation of CALL exercises from general corpora’ in ed Wichmann et al Teaching and Language Corpora (Longman) and Tribble and Jones esp. ch 4 show how many exercises like those covered above for learners, whether done in computer or non-computer form by students, can be compiled by the teacher with corpus help (e.g. gapfilling and matching tasks, self-checking of errors in writing). Usually ready made corpora like the BNC can be used, but teachers may also make a NS specialist corpus of their own to draw on (e.g. of business letters as a source for materials for business students). S. Conrad 1999 ‘The importance of corpus-based research for language teachers’ System 27 shows how the teacher can even use research done by others with corpora rather than go to corpora directly (e.g. Biber et al. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, or Leech, Rayson and Wilson Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English). All this adds to the authenticity of the language in the classroom.
3. Coursebook writers are beginning to include corpus chunks in various ways, rather than write their own examples, reading texts etc. in supposedly authentic English. There is some research on how ‘coursebook writer English’ differs from ‘real’ English.
4. Syllabus writers have often drawn on frequency as a guiding principle, especially for vocab (i.e. they may order the introduction of vocab into a course roughly in order from more to less frequent on the grounds that that this reflects a word’s importance). Frequency was counted by hand in old corpora like that used as a basis for West’s General Service List of English Words. This can now be guided by modern corpora searched electronically, e.g. Willis and the COBUILD English Course. J. Flowerdew 1996 in ed. Pennington The Power of CALL p110f
5. Dictionary makers now rely heavily on corpora to check their statements of fact about meaning, grammar, collocation etc., and to supply authentic examples etc.
6. Grammar
book writers are using more and more corpus insights. E.g. D. Mindt 1997
‘Corpora and the teaching of English in
· Corpora also exist of non-native speaker language that a teacher or materials writer could draw on, as a source of information on learners’ errors. However I have not found any readily accessible.
· Many websites like those listed at the start of my Intro have teaching tips, discussion lists, reviews of books and software, online teaching journals etc. aimed at helping teachers do their job better. M. Warschauer 1995 E-Mail for English Teaching ch2 describes some potentials for teacher use of email and internet for collaboration. G. Dudeney 2000 The Internet and the Language Classroom p150ff.