A Definition of CALL
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is often perceived, somewhat narrowly, as an approach to language teaching and learning in which the computer is used as an aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned, usually including a substantial interactive element.
A Brief History of CALL
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is the general term for the range of processes and activities that employ computers in the teaching and learning of a new language.
In the history of CALL, we can see the confluence of the latest technology as well as the most widely accepted language theories of the day.
The history of CALL is often divided into three phases:
1. Structural CALL
2. Communicative CALL
3. Integrative CALL
The Advantages
One of the advantages of CALL, in its present form, is the ability to cater to individual differences. Differences in learning styles, language skills desired, pacing and learning schedules can be easily accommodated.
What is computer-assisted language learning?
For example, you create a free account in any of the major language learning sites like Busuu and Babbel and you start your own learning journey without interference from others. There are no classmates, no group lectures and no chorus of students repeating after teacher.
You decide how much time you want to put in and when you want to access it. There’s no calendar for classes where you’ll be marked absent when you don’t show up.
CALL has come so far along that it can virtually replace an actual teacher asking the class, “So, what do you guys think? What do you want to do next?”
The individualized nature of CALL has led to the second “I.” Interactive means that when you click on something, the computer responds. There’s enough flexibility built into the technology so that what happens in the lesson is largely up to you. Do you want to take it in this or that direction? Not only can the students choose which topics to study, skip or which ones to tackle first, they can click also forward and backward, and the computer obliges their commands.
The interactive nature of today’s CALL ensures that learning is always a two-way street. Students do have a say in what they want to learn. CALL is dynamic, not static. Robust, not rigid.
How Is CALL Used?
CALL applications can be used by teachers as technology partners in running their classrooms from the initial intro of language concepts to the giving of electronic homework. Students are using computers in practically every other aspect of their lives anyway, from locating the nearest coffee shop to shopping for new shoes. In addition to integrating technology in the learning process, also helps solve classic teacher problems like capturing student attention, maintaining student interest, holding focus and increasing engagement. Teachers can benefit from the great variety of interactive activities, games, songs, and stories that make language learning not only painless but also fun.
CALL can also be used to reinforce a teacher’s classroom lessons and activities. When educators need help in making lessons more vivid and when they need the concepts to come alive, instead of pasting cut-outs and visual aids on the board they can make use of multimedia lessons offered in CALL.
FluentU is one example of CALL that can be used in every phase of teaching language. Its concerts, interviews and music video clips, for instance, can scaffold linguistic discussions given by the teacher, providing a different look and a new approach to the lesson. They put new language in context and breathe life into it. Multimedia content can effectively substantiate topical lessons, from greetings and introductions to talking about the weather, food and even sports.
But CALL doesn’t only give students a clear line of sight (and sound) on what the teacher is talking about. It has capabilities beyond what any human can do. FluentU has interactive transcripts, which means practically everything you need to know about a specific word—like definitions, in-context usage and pronunciation—pops out the moment you roll the cursor over said word. The learn mode of this program employs SRS to introduce and reinforce new vocabulary, grammar patterns, expressions and even full sentences, and incorporates video clips into its flashcards and dynamic learning games.
CALL doesn’t have the physical limitations that cap humans. That’s why it can bridge the gap when human endurance and consistency need a boost. For example, a teacher can only repeat the lessons so many times. But repetition is key if no child in class is to be left behind. CALL apps, videos and programs can be run and rerun as many times as necessary, without fatigue and diminishing returns, and irrespective of geography or time. That means students can review and study the lessons long after the teacher has gone home and sound asleep.
There will probably never be a substitute for a teacher or a native speaker to determine whether a student has actually become fluent with the language, but CALL has become very good at assessing competency with subsets of a language. For example, it can easily determine if a student has mastered specific topics, like grammar and vocabulary.
But beyond simple testing really, CALL has been able to integrate both teaching and testing in a single stroke of a mouse. With programs like Duolingo, Memrise and Brainscape, there’s very little time gap between teaching and testing, or rather, very little difference between teaching and testing at all.
For example, in a simple translation exercise, the French word for smile (sourire) might be presented in a slide or flashcard with pics and an audio feed. With a simple click of the “next” button, a user might immediately be shown a slide that testing “What is French for smile?” This encourages the learner to recognize the word and produce the word in different contexts.
CALL is free of subjective biases and can faithfully follow a predetermined set of algorithms. That is, if a user shows mastery over certain topics or words then the program proceeds to other more difficult material. If they don’t have this knowledge ingrained yet, then it repeats the material until it has determined that the user has exhibited sufficient knowledge of the subject. In a way, the program tells the student, “Hey, you haven’t really learned this word yet, so I’m going to present it a couple more times so you can have it saved in your long-term memory.”
CALL can be used even when classes are out and in the teacher’s absence. Language learning technology in its present form is student-initiated and student-centered, giving all the time and all the room in the world for students to practice. Language practice can be had in the privacy of one’s room and at a moment’s notice. And the kicker is that students get to do all this without fear of being negatively judged by others.
CALL makes everything that much easier. From the teaching, reinforcing, testing and practicing, CALL presents itself as a capable and consistent partner to both teacher and student. It changed the way languages are being tamed.
But for all its virtues, there’s one thing that will always remain in the human province. Motivation. The zeal to learn a new language will always be alien to technology. Technology can’t manufacture drive out of thin air, for it’s fashioned into the inner recesses of the human spirit.
It takes a teacher like you to kindle such fire. It takes someone like you to spark wonder into the minds of your wards. And that’s why, for all CALL’s awesome potential, the greatest teacher of all, and for all time, will always be…a teacher.
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