Communicating and interacting: An exploration of the changing roles of media in CALL/CMC

The sites of learning and teaching using CALL are shifting from CD-based, LAN-based or stand-alone programs to the internet. As this change occurs, pedagogical approaches to using CALL are also shifting to forms which better exploit the communication, collaboration and negotiation aspects of the internet. Numerous teachers and designers have created multimedia applications to help learners understand and make meaning from not just the aural and written language of the target culture, but also some of the visual, social and cultural nuances. Previous studies of the use of visual and multi-media in language learning have shown promising results. However with a major shift to the internet as the site for learning, we need to re-evaluate what constitutes communication and interactivity in this new context, particularly with the introduction of newer technologies such as WebCams as well as more 'traditional' media such as video, audio and still images. This paper discusses the characteristics common to CALL and CMC implementations, some of the distinguishing features of each and aspects of the teaching and learning contexts in which we find each being used. Conclusions are drawn that in order to make the most from the use of these new sites of media interaction in language learning, we need to develop flexible and adaptive learning environments which can incorporate more traditional forms of Instructional CALL as well as the newer communication, collaboration and exploration forms.

[1]  Clifford Nass,et al.  The media equation - how people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places , 1996 .

[2]  Uschi Felix.  Beyond Babel: Language Learning Online. , 2001 .

[3]  Bryan Smith,et al.  The Use of Communication Strategies in Computer-Mediated Communication , 2003 .

[4]  Margarete Boos,et al.  Enhancing Mutual Understanding in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication by Training , 2003, Commun. Res..

[5]  D. Murray.  Changing Technologies, Changing Literacy Communities?. , 2000 .

[6]  Vance Stevens.  A Day in the Life of an Online Language Educator. , 2002 .

[7]  Gabrielle Hogan-Brun,et al.  Specialist gateways through chaos: a changing learning environment ? ? A shorter version of this pap , 2001 .

[8]  Alysse Weinberg.  Virtual Misadventures: Technical Problems and Student Satisfaction When Implementing Multimedia in an Advanced French Listening Comprehension Course , 2013 .

[9]  John I. Liontas,et al.  CALLMedia Digital Technology: Whither in the New Millennium. , 2013 .

[10]  Iva Baltova,et al.  The Impact of Video on the Comprehension Skills of Core French Students. , 1994 .

[11]  Caroline Haythornthwaite,et al.  Networks of information sharing among computer-supported distance learners , 1999, CSCL.

[12]  Zsuzsanna I. Abrams.  Computer-mediated communication and group journals: expanding the repertoire of participant roles , 2001 .

[13]  Jill Pellettieri,et al.  Network-based Language Teaching: Negotiation in cyberspace: The role of chatting in the development of grammatical competence , 2000 .

[14]  Klaus Schwienhorst,et al.  Learner Autonomy and Tandem Learning: Putting Principles Into Practice in Synchronous and Asynchronous Telecommunications Environments , 2003 .

[15]  Uschi Felix,et al.  The web as a vehicle for constructivist approaches in language teaching , 2002, ReCALL.

[16]  Debra Hoven,et al.  Improving the management of flow of control in computer-assisted listening comprehension tasks for second and foreign language learners , 1997 .

[17]  Kristina Love,et al.  Scaffolding as a metaphor in disciplinary content and in multimedia architecture: A CD-ROM on Building Understandings in Literacy and Teaching , 2002 .

[18]  Kirsten Söntgens.  Language learning via e-mail: autonomy through collaboration , 1999, CSCL.

[19]  David E. Hailey,et al.  Online education horror stories worthy of HALLOWEEN: a short list of problems and solutions in online instruction , 2001 .

[20]  Jan Herrington,et al.  Multimedia, magic and the way students respond to a situated learning environment , 1997 .

[21]  Mike Keppell.  Optimizing instructional designer---subject matter expert communication in the design and development of multimedia projects , 2001 .

[22]  Lesley Shield,et al.  Fostering (pro)active language learning through MOO , 2000 .

[23]  Christopher M. Hoadley,et al.  Between information and communication: middle spaces in computer media for learning , 1999, CSCL.

[24]  Michael J. Shawback,et al.  Online interactive courseware: using movies to promote cultural understanding in a CALL environment , 2002, ReCALL.

[25]  Lesley Shield,et al.  Promoting Oral Production in a Written Channel: An Investigation of Learner Language in MOO , 2003 .

[26]  Slava Kalyuga,et al.  When using sound with a text or picture is not beneficial for learning , 2000 .

[27]  Cynthia L. Selfe,et al.  Literacy and computers: The complications of teaching and learning with technology , 1995 .

[28]  Rod Sims,et al.  An interactive conundrum: Constructs of interactivity and learning theory , 2000 .

[29]  Susan Gibson.  Using a Problem Based, Multimedia Enhanced Approach in Learning about Teaching. , 2002 .

[30]  Deborah Raphan.  A Multimedia Approach to Academic Listening , 1996 .

[31]  Uschi Felix.  Teaching languages online: Deconstructing the myths , 2003 .

[32]  Susan Parks,et al.  CROSSING BOUNDARIES: MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY AND PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATION IN A HIGH SCHOOL CLASS , 2003 .

[33]  Kaori Kabata,et al.  Developing Multimedia Lesson Modules for Intermediate Japanese. , 2013 .

[34]  Jeong-Bae Son.  A Hypertext Approach to Foreign Language Reading: Student Attitudes and Perceptions , 2003 .

[35]  Myint Swe Khine,et al.  Using Conversant Media as a collaborative learning tool in teacher education , 2003 .

[36]  Jan Herrington,et al.  Developing effective hypermedia instructional materials , 1995 .

[37]  Paul Whitney,et al.  Developing L2 Oral Proficiency Through Synchronous CMC: Output, Working Memory, and Interlanguage Development. , 2013 .

[38]  R. Gilabert,et al.  Motivation and task performance in a task-based web-based tandem project , 2002, ReCALL.

[39]  Richard Smith,et al.  Facilitating the collaborative design of flexible learning materials: Investigating the synthesis of content and multimedia knowledge and expertise , 2002 .

[40]  Howard Rheingold,et al.  Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution , 2002 .

[41]  Dorothy M. Chun,et al.  SUPPORTING VISUAL AND VERBAL LEARNING PREFERENCES IN A SECOND LANGUAGE MULTIMEDIA LEARNING ENVIRONMENT , 1998 .

[42]  Detlev Leutner,et al.  Cognitive load in reading a foreign language text with multimedia aids and the influence of verbal and spatial abilities , 2003, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[43]  Spiro Kiousis,et al.  Interactivity: a concept explication , 2002, New Media Soc..

[44]  David H. Jonassen,et al.  What are Cognitive Tools , 1992 .

[45]  Debra Hoven.  Strategic uses of CALL: what learners use and how they react , 2003 .

[46]  D. Freeman.  Doing Teacher Research: From Inquiry to Understanding , 1998 .

[47]  P. Skehan.  Focus on Form, Tasks, and Technology , 2003 .

[48]  Paul Brett.  Multimedia for listening comprehension: The design of a multimedia-based resource for developing listening skills , 1995 .

[49]  I. Tudor.  Learning To Live with Complexity: Towards an Ecological Perspective on Language Teaching. , 2003 .

[50]  Carol A. Chapelle,et al.  Multimedia CALL: Lessons to be Learned from Research on Instructed SLA , 1998 .