A comparison of CALL website features, CMS features and user expectations

This paper is a report on the findings of a study conducted concerning the features currently offered by web-based Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL) courses and commercial and open-source Course Management Systems (CMS). In this study, our main research question was whether current online CALL systems are meeting the users' requirements in terms of the features and functionality that they provide. Our focus has been on the official languages of the EU, as well as the new languages that will be added by the ten new countries in May 2004. Considering that one of the principal pillars of EU doctrines is the free flow of people among all countries of the EU, one would expect to see a multitude of 'foreign language' speakers settling in countries where their mother language is different. It is also the EU policy to encourage and support maintaining national languages and culture as a most valuable characteristic of the emerging EU. Although there are a number of websites that claim to provide distance learning of foreign languages very few have performed proper evaluations (both in terms of pedagogical achievements but also usability) of their courses/websites. We have carried out an investigation to find out which features are provided by current online CALL systems and CMS, and compared them with the user requirements solicitation results, to see to what extent user expectations are met by these systems. Our findings indicate that current CALL systems make limited use of several important features like the use of chatrooms and spell-checkers and thesaurus that can enhance and speed-up the learning process. Our methodology consisted of four key activities: Activity 1: Identification of existing features in online CALL courses First, we visited and explored many CALL websites noting the features that they currently provide. Activity 2: User Requirements Solicitation This part of the project dealt with user requirements solicitation. This was carried out by preparing an online questionnaire where people could post their views and suggestions, and concurrently give us feedback about the importance of including specific features in CALL websites and CMS. Activity 3: Comparison of currently available features versus user expectations and needs In this part of the study we compared the features currently available on CALL systems with user expectations revealed through our on-line questionnaire. Activity 4: Identification of existing features in online CMS Finally, our research explored the features provided by the most commonly used CMS …