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Pros and Cons of CALL ─ an empirical study in BIT

Pros and Cons of CALL ─ an empirical study in BIT. Liu Junli, Wang Yuwen Beijing Institute of Technology November 7, 2014.

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Pros and Cons of CALL ─ an empirical study in BIT

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  1. Pros and Cons of CALL─an empirical study in BIT Liu Junli, Wang Yuwen Beijing Institute of Technology November 7, 2014

  2. After two years’ experimental study, Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL) has been implemented among all the non-English major postgraduate students in Beijing Institute of Technology since February 2004.

  3. Teachers meet the students every week for two class hours for speaking class, and every other week for two class hours for integrated course. So far, based on the questionnaires and the composition and the interviews with students, we have found that there are many obvious advantages of CALL in BIT, among which six of them stand out. (We have handed out 480 questionnaires, and 464 of them are effective)

  4. 1. Reasons for the Implementation of CALL in BIT The macro environment The micro environment 2. Pros of CALL in BIT 3. Cons of CALL in BIT 4. Conclusion

  5. The macro environment (the social environment) 1. the development of computer technology and multimedia technology 2. expansion of enrollment and the boom of adult education

  6. As Peter A .Lafford and Barbara A. Lafford have pointed out “The field of foreign language education has always been in the forefront of the use of technology to facilitate the language-acquisition process. …In the 1980s, computers were hailed as the tireless taskmasters, allowing the foreign language student endless access to patient and nonjudgmental drill and practice. More recently, multimedia capabilities have broadened the scope and enhanced the potential application of computers in foreign language education by providing useful student-centered learning environments with cultural presentations and interaction tailored to the needs and interests of individual learner.

  7. Phil Benson said “The rapid increase in the number of people attending educational instructions and the growth of adult education have forced educational authorities to search for alternative means of providing education to individuals with diverse needs, opportunities and preferences.” Gu Yueguo expressed in Exploring Online Education (Continued) “The way formal education is conducted is increasingly being undermined by ongoing social changes. Annual enrollment has exploded, and class size has more than doubled. The ration between teacher and student has consequently also doubled or even tripled…

  8. The micro environment (the environment in BIT) 1. expansion of graduate enrollment The number of postgraduate students has increased at least fivefold since 1999. 2. students’ easy access to computers With the development of computer technology, students can have easy access to computers in their labs, dorms, graduate self-access learning center, and they even have their own computers or laps.

  9. Pros of CALL in BIT • Foster students’ autonomy in learning • Cultivate students’ interest in learning • Improve students’ study efficiency by offering timely feedback • Answer students’ questions in time • Provide students with more background or related information • Provide more opportunities for students to communicate with each other even with students outside their class

  10. Foster students’ autonomy in learning Ken Beatty put forward “Autonomy is fostered by CALL in different ways. CALL can present opportunities for learners to study on their own, independent of a teacher. CALL can also offer opportunities for learners to direct their own learning.

  11. Cultivate students’ interest in learning In A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, Penny Ur introduced 9 ways of arousing learner interest, clear goals, varied topics and tasks, visuals, tension and challenge: games, entertainment, play-acting, information gap, personalization and open-ended cues.

  12. For on one hand, it is important for learners to have something to look at that is eye catching and relevant to the task in hand. On the other hand, entertainment produces enjoyment, which in its turn adds motivation. Entertainment can be teacher-produced (jokes, stories, perhaps songs, dramatic presentations) or recorded (movies, video clips, television documents)

  13. Improve students’ study efficiency by offering timely feedback This can not only enable teachers to focus on competence-enhancing skills in face- to -face class teaching but also promote students’ autonomy and interest in learning.

  14. What’s your opinion of the fact that teachers in class only focus on difficult language points and answers and strategies to subjective exercises, such as paraphrase, translation and writing? A. very unsatisfied B. unsatisfied C. satisfied D. very satisfied (The mean is 3.05)

  15. Answer students’ questions in time 1. Both teachers and students can offer answers to any question posed by any student immediately online. 2. Students who have the same questions can get the answers online.

  16. Provide students with more background or related information Teachers can upload any information that they think will facilitate students’ learning process, such as geographical, historical, social, cultural, economical and political information. Even students themselves can also upload anything they think are interesting enough for their peers.

  17. Provide more opportunities for students to communicate with each other even with students outside their class Students can exchange anything with anyone online through BBS.

  18. Cons of CALL in BIT & its Corresponding Solutions 1. Some students are not so autonomous in learning. • Ken Beatty pointed out “Another feature of some programs, is the opportunity for teachers to track automatically the number of minutes learners spend working. Of course, the learner can also circumvent this by simply leaving the computer on with the program in operation while doing other things”.

  19. In the first two years, we require 54 hours online study each term, averaging about 3.5 hours each week. However, this is still not very effective to some extent. In order to meet the requirement, on one hand, students will study online in the last few weeks just before the final exam, on the other hand, some clever students will try to circumvent this by doing something else on the computer.

  20. So since the beginning of this year, we have changed our requirements. Students are required to submit some exercises online for both our integrated course and Listen, Speak and Watch before they come to class to meet the teacher. So far, it is effective in promoting learners’ autonomy which can be illustrated by the following two questions in the questionnaire.

  21. Can you persist in previewing our text if there is no requirement for the submission of certain exercises? A. absolutely no B. No C. yes D. absolutely yes (The mean is 2.69)

  22. Can you persist in study online for over 3 hours if there is no minimum requirement for 54 class hours’ online study? A. absolutely no B. no C. yes D. absolutely yes (The mean is 2.62)

  23. 2. Sometimes students are bothered and nagged by the computer bugs which prevent students from utilizing the system efficiently. • Material designers are either teachers with limited technical skills or competent technicians with no experience in teaching and limited English proficiency. (Ken Beatty). material designers are often either

  24. Therefore, in the past two years, we encourage the students to find the mistakes and reward them by giving them several extra points in the final exam. Students are rather enthusiastic in doing this, and they can give us valuable suggestions on some of the mistakes and problems on the online system. • Meanwhile, the timely response either from the teacher or the technician will be welcomed by the students.

  25. Conclusion 1. The advantages of CALL outweigh its disadvantages 2. Face-to-face teaching can not be eliminated at present, and CALL is complementary to face-to-face teaching. It is easy for a computer to mark and give feedback to a multiple answer question; it is almost impossible to do so with answers set in sentences. One solution to such problems is to have learners email or otherwise save answers for teachers who then mark them by hand. (Ken Beatty )

  26. 23. What’s your opinion of CALL in our institute? A. very unsatisfied B. unsatisfied C. satisfied D. very satisfied (The mean is 2.93)

  27. 22. The relationship between face-to-face teaching and CALL is: A. CALL can replace face-to-face teaching B. face-to-face teaching can replace CALL C. CALL complements face-to-face teaching D. Face-to-face teaching complements CALL (The mean is 3.73)

  28. The integration of CALL into traditional face-to-face teaching has put a high demand on teachers. How can teachers maximize the effect of CALL and face-to-face teaching is a problem needed to be further explored. Teachers not only need to change their roles from the main source of knowledge to a facilitator, a counselor and resource (Phil Benson, 171), but also need to keep up with the quick development of CALL technology, otherwise improper use of technologies can affect both the teachers and learners negatively.

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