Serving learner needs: From teletype to micro

Abstract For the past four years, the University of Western Ontario has been developing CAL programs to assist in the learning of foreign languages, specifically French, Italian and German. The facilities offer the student an adjunct to classroom teaching and, as such, their use is purely voluntary. In view of this, particular care has been taken to create a system that will promote positive user reaction. Lessons are carefully designed so that, in addition to being pedagogically sound, they are also easy to use and presented in an interesting manner. Because students are working independently, detailed analysis and pertinent feedback are crucial features. The project orginally ran on teletype printers connected to a remote mainframe. More recent experiments have been centred on the use of the colour microprocessors. The following proposes a discussion of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two systems in addressing a variety of learner needs.