ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF CALL

1. TSL641: CALL
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ADVANTAGES &
DISADVANTAGES OF
CALL

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WHY SHOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT
TECHNOLOGY AND LANGUAGE TEACHING
Motivating for both teachers
and students – learning
more enjoyable
Wide range of multimedia
resources – images, audio,
video, games, mobile apps
etc.
Intensive one-to-one learning
in the computer lab
Rich resources and wide
range of authentic materials
– Web, CD-ROM, DVD,
Podcast, Videos
Worldwide communication –
email, chat, social
networking sites, Whatsapp,
WeChat, BBMetc
Collaborative learning tools –
SNS, Blogs, Google Drive
New range of self-access and
distance learning
opportunities (widely
available - out of class time,
remote areas, special needs)

3.  Experiential learning
 The "learn-by-doing" approach allows youth to experience something with
minimal guidance from an adult.
 Instead of being told "the answers," they are presented with a question,
problem, situation, or activity which they must make sense of for
themselves.
 Learning by doing is called "experiential learning" because it is based on
learning from experiences.
 Example: Search the web to find information on a natural phenomenon
the Electric Blue Sea
 The Web allows tackling large amount of human experience
 Also through computer simulation or games - SIMS
 Learn by doing things themselves
 Through creating and receiving knowledge
 Thinking skills are developed and have choice of what to explore
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

4.  The objective of SimCity, as the name of the game suggests, is to build
and design a city, without specific goals to achieve (except in the
scenarios, see below). The player can mark land as being zoned as
commercial, industrial, or residential, add buildings, change the tax
rate, build a power grid, build transportation systems and many other
actions, in order to enhance the city.
 Also, the player may face disasters including: flooding, tornadoes, fires
(often from air disasters or even shipwrecks), earthquakes and attacks
by monsters. In addition, monsters and tornados can trigger train
crashes by running into passing trains. Later disasters in the game's
sequels included lightning strikes, volcanoes, meteors and attack by
extra-terrestrial craft.
 Activities – oral and written on your city building project
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5.  Motivation
 Computer popular with students
 Fun and games, fashionable
 Increased in motivation
 Variety of activities – making them more independent
 Novelty of working with the computer – a new experience compared to the old
traditional chalk and talk, pen and paper
 Diversity and sophistication.
 Online environment
 Students can take risks and experiment in a way that might be
psychologically threatening in a classroom or real-life communication
situation – through chat
 The anonymity and ease of communication seem to encourage a
spontaneous and casual “speak-writing” that results in more creative and
natural language than in some other environments.
 Reduce learning stresses and anxieties
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

6.  Might Enhance Student Achievement
 Networked-based instructions
 Strengthen linguistic skills by positively affecting learning attitude when
students are motivated by using the computer/internet
 Build self-instruction strategies (learning how to learn)
 Through interactive activities
 Computer work may be effective for remedial or tutorial works
(branching programs).
 Andrews (1973) found that students who scored low on the pretest showed
greatest gain.
 Students in large classes find that CALL is a way of getting individual
attention.
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

7.  Computers can capture, analyze and present data on SL
student’s performances during the learning process
 Scores and progress are recorded automatically, so students know where
they stand.
 E.g. use of blog for writing skills
 E-Portfolio
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

8. • The computer allows learning to take place independent of
time and space.
• Students can learn at their own pace (review, skip, etc.).
• Students can learn at their own schedule due to computer flexibility
of time.
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

9.  Authentic Materials for Study
 Various resources for authentic reading materials – school
and at home
 Accessible 24/7 and low cost
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

10.  Social effect (the dialogue that occurs in front of the screen
rather than on it).
 Collaboration
 Networking promotes language learning by putting learners in touch with
other learners and a multitude of other resources (Internet)).
 Examples: Via e-mail, chat, blog, website creation
 There’s tendency to band together to try to “beat the machine” (fun
and competition in games or simulations).
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

11.  Greater Interaction
 Non-linear instruction through random access to Web pages
 Via E-mail, newsgroups, weblog, YM etc, EFL students can
communicate with people they have never met
 Interact with classmates – in the computer lab
 Internet activities give positive and negative feedback – correcting
their exercises – immediate feedback
 Students can receive individualized feedback – via e-mail, weblog –
more time for teachers to write feedback and it’s recorded
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

12.  Individualization
 For shy or inhibited students
 Individualized attention can be given
 They get to do things themselves
 They get to work at their own pace
 High achievers can realize their full potential
 Will not prevent their peers from working at their own pace
 Equal opportunities to participate in discussions via chat, blog, all students
can equal chance to participate
 Unlike face-to-face, discussions may be dominated by out-spoken students
 Randall’s
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

13.  Independence from a Single Source of Information
 Escape from canned knowledge
 E.g. referring only to 1 or 2 textbooks
 Opportunity to discover thousands of information sources
 There are probably billions of web pages nowadays
 As a result
 Education fulfils the need for interdisciplinary learning in a multicultural world
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES
English Culture
Anthropology

14.  Global Understanding
 A foreign language is studied in a cultural context
 E.g. ESL is studied in the context of English language speaking
culture ( US, UK, Australia, New Zealand etc)
 Internet allows access to the learning of the culture
 Internet facilitates access to this culture
 Internet makes students feel citizens of the world
 Since English is an International language
 Students get to publish on the Internet for the rest of the world to see /
read
 The computer environment, especially when combined with
hypermedia is a rich one which allows the user to enter new worlds
and travels new territory (SL – language and culture).
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

15.  From the point of view of the teacher, the computer presents
a versatility in handling different kinds of material.
 One-way presentation of information (text, graphics, audio, video).
 Two-way (question-answer routines, simulated dialogues, hypothesis
testing).
 The computer can present material (supplied by the teacher) in
sequence or at random.
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

16.  Computers can model the cognitive and physical processes
required for linguistics perception and production (i.e. visual
modeling of speech characteristics, thought processing
programs (simultaneous writing programs), and reading
comprehension programs).
 Computers assist in the construction and elaboration of the
SL grammar.
 Example:
 http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/
 http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/
 http://www.essaypunch.com/
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CALL – PROS / ADVANTAGES

17.  Quality of the software
 Quality of software/websites can be questionable
 Especially when produced by companies that do not employ or
consult experts (teachers, instructional designers etc.)
 Failure of computer users to make full use of the software.
 It is not the software, it is what you do with it.
 The software might simplify the representation of the content
and the structure of the task performed to such a degree as
to be highly misleading (i.e. grammar checker programs).
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CALL – CON / DISADVANTAGES

18. Development of CALL programs requires
knowledge in pedagogy, target language
and computing.
Possible solutions:
Computer and language experts work together.
Learn a programming and/or authoring
language (i.e. HyperCard, Toolbook).
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CALL – CON / DISADVANTAGES

19.  Cost
 Standford, successful Russian program had to be
scrapped after it was found that the course was costing
3x as much as a traditional course.
(Nelson et. al., 1976)
 Unfair educational conditions
 When it becomes a basic requirement for students to purchase
 Unaffordable for low-budget schools and low-income children
 Digital Divide
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CALL – CON / DISADVANTAGES

20.  Teachers and learners should have basic technology
knowledge
 Before incorporating CALL
 However, most teachers do not have sufficient knowledge in
technology to guide students exploring the computer and CALL
programs
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CALL – CON / DISADVANTAGES

21.  Skepticism.
 Language teachers might regard technology with a mixture of
anxiety and mystification, accompanied by the conviction
that somehow machines do not belong in the humanities.
 Vague suspicion that the computer is intended to replace
teachers (however, instead the computer should free up time
for us to do what only language teachers can do).
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CALL – CON / DISADVANTAGES

22.  Computers are rigid and inhuman.
This might depend on who programs them
Learning via computer alone may lack non-verbal cues
 No facial expressions, gestures
 Jokes, anecdotes that will help remember a learning point
 Computers cannot handle unexpected situations.
Limitations in AI :
 Cannot deal with learners’ learning problems
 Cannot response to students’ questions immediately
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CALL – CON / DISADVANTAGES

23.  Exercises and activities are still limited.
 It is an essential characteristic of language that it is
primarily a spoken medium which is, to some extent,
problematic for the computer.
 Its ability to deal with speech is far less developed
than its ability to deal with written signals, spoken
dialogue, open-ended dialogue, translation (anything
which requires understanding on part of the
computer still presents problems).
 The computer can encourage a form of
“antisocial” behavior that amounts to working in
isolation from others.
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CALL – CON / DISADVANTAGES

24.  Whether we want to get into it or not, CALL will not
go away.
 Computerized language lab will be built, software
will be produced anyway, and not necessarily in a
way that will be useful to us or our students.
 But, this is an opportunity, a chance to improve
language teaching, raise the proficiency level of our
students (and not incidentally, attract more
students).
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NOTE

25.  We are beginning to see enough data in CALL that suggest
positive effects on spelling, reading and writing. There is also a
substantial body of data that indicates that student perceptions of
CALL are on the whole positive, provided technologies are stable
and well supported. On the negative side there are still concerns
about technical difficulties interfering with the learning process;
older students not feeling comfortable with computers; younger
students not possessing the necessary metaskills for coping
effectively in these challenging environments; training needs in
computer literacy for both students and teachers; problems with
group dynamics; and time constraints. (Felix 2008: 156)
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ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CALL

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THE END