Technology in Support of Self-Access Pedagogy

This chapter discusses the results of a study into the use of technology in the specific pedagogical setting of self-access centers. As part of the study, 46 self-access centers in six countries were visited and an evaluative framework was applied to each of them in order to be able to compare the types of support offered by the centers with the help of technology and the range of tools used by them to deliver that support. It was found that the use of technology was limited, especially for the provision of learning support, as opposed to the more common provision of language learning content.

The Texture of Inefficiently Self-Regulating ESL Systems

This chapter addresses the question of how to measure the student’s English as a second language (ESL) textual sophistication. It suggests that the second language text is an inefficiently self-regulating system, at the levels of grammar, lexis and logico-rhetorical structure. Learner texts use a narrow or even fixed set of key lexical phrases; they deploy cohesive ties that bind the text incorrectly, they omit cohesive ties altogether, or redundantly retain items that are easily recovered from the situational context. Following a review of some typical second language cohesion problems, the chapter offers an analysis of the emergent texture of four versions of the same paper, each written by a different ESL student. The results suggest that a learner text-maker is unable to perceive the ineffective choices in texts written at levels of sophistication higher than those he or she is capable of creating.

Grammar Animations and Cognition

The present study is situated in the context of cognitive aspects of language processing as it focuses on the learning and teaching of grammar in various modes of presentation. The success of the programs developed for, and used in, the study is measured in terms of short- and long-term learner performances in the application of grammatical rules. Four groups of informants were formed to test four different combinations of the presented materials. The groups used either a cognitive/functional or traditional rule-governed approach to grammar explanation in either an animation or static presentation mode. The results document the overall superiority of the cognitive/functional approach to grammar when presented in the animation mode. The design of the study and its results could serve as a reference point for further research and could help refine parameters for the evaluation of effective language learning software.

Applying TTS Technology to Foreign Language Teaching

This chapter describes how the synthesized English speech sound generated by a commercial TTS engine (Pentax “VoiceText”) is utilized within a CALL room environment as well as within the Moodle-based e-Learning environment for an EFL class in an average-level Japanese private university. It also argues that a TTS synthesized speech material will open a completely new horizon in foreign language teaching, implementing a ubiquitous multimedia learning environment at a significantly low cost.

Sharing Corpus Resources in Language Learning

Since the early 1990s, researchers have been investigating the effectiveness of corpora as a resource in language learning, mostly creating their own small corpora. As it is neither feasible nor desirable to envisage a future in which all teachers create their own corpora, and as the content of language courses is similar in many universities throughout the world, the sharing of resources is clearly necessary if corpus data are to be made available to language teachers and learners on a large scale. Taking one small corpus as an example, this chapter aims to investigate the issues arising if corpus consultation is to become an integral part of the language-learning environment. The chapter firstly deals with fundamental questions concerning the creation and reusability of corpora, namely planning, construction, documentation, and also legal, moral and technical issues. It then explores the issues arising from the use of a corpus of familiar texts, in this case a French journalistic corpus, with advanced learners. In conclusion we propose a framework for the optimal use of corpora with language learners in the context of higher education.

Interventions and Student Factors in Collaboration

This research is an exploratory study of student variables that mediate collaborative engagement in online discussions. More directly, the research explores what happens in online discussions when four teacher interventions designed to increase collaboration are introduced. The specific aim of the study is increasing collaboration that is ‘externally-revealed’ through engagement with others, especially at the integration level of Garrison, Anderson and Archer’s (2001) practical inquiry model. The secondary aim of the study is to address the problem of serial monologues in student online discussions and participation. The findings yield factors that impact student online collaboration such as student familiarity with the subject matter and with the online medium; purpose and timing of online engagement; importance of face-saving; and student acceptance of the ‘constructed knower’ role. The research sets the stage for future studies of online collaboration from a pedagogical perspective.

CMC and Intercultural Learning

One key theme in the area of computer-assisted language learning has been the potential of computermediated communication (CMC) for the language learning process. Here, CMC refers to communication conducted through the medium of computers connected to one another in local or global networks. It requires specific software tools and can be either synchronous (e.g., chat, audio- or videoconferencing) or asynchronous (e.g., e-mail, threaded discussion lists). This chapter explores how CMC might contribute to language learning and teaching. Starting off with an overview of the development of research in this field, a model for the analysis of successful telecollaboration procedures and processes is used for the discussion of a German-Australian exchange.

A Task-Based Design for Integrating E-Mail with FL Pedagogy

A task-based approach to e-mail provides a sound pedagogical orientation for real language interactions between learners and native speakers. The literature suggests that e-mail-oriented tasks are important for successful e-mail experiences (e.g., as evidenced in Kung, 2002; Müller-Hartmann, 2000) and demands a greater pedagogical role for e-mail (e.g., Marcus, 1995; O’Dowd, 2004; Warschauer, 1995). Nunan’s concept of task-based teaching (2004) appropriately links e-mail and pedagogy. This chapter presents a discussion of e-mail tasks within the Nunan task-based framework, and follows it with evidence from a study of tasks in senior secondary Indonesian as a FL classes in Queensland, Australia. With this proposal, the author hopes to inform teachers, and stimulate research of task-based e-mail as a pedagogically rigorous teaching method. The impacts of context and a teacher’s personal theories on outcomes are areas requiring further research attention.

CMC for Language Acquisition

Authentic experiences encourage the student to cognitively engage the content by actively trying to make sense and to integrate the experience. This chapter describes a range of currently available and emerging mediated communication technologies for supporting both didactic and constructivist approaches to language acquisition. Even though CMC has several unique characteristics that make it suitable for designing authentic instructional experiences but as the research indicates, using CMC effectively requires careful consideration of the intended discourse goals. Through collaborative discourse, student and teacher engage the content and incorporate it into their cognitive repertoire. These activities are discursive in nature, writing, verbal interaction, and presentation. Consequently, this chapter discusses how to effectively choose the CMC software most effective for epistemic engagement.

Second Language Reading in Hypertext Environments

This chapter introduces second language reading in hypertext/hypermedia environments. It discusses the development of a template to annotate reading texts with multiple types of media such as text, sound, graphics, and video so as to aid reading comprehension for L2 readers. The chapter also reports on a series of studies conducted using the template in a variety of L2 learning environments in order to explore L2 learners’ reading behavior and the effects of multimedia annotations on L2 reading and vocabulary learning. The chapter synthesizes the results according to multimedia learning theories and discusses the role of proficiency level and prior knowledge in relation to L2 learners’ reading comprehension in hypertext environments.