CALL in Lebanese elementary ESL writing classrooms

This article discusses the effectiveness of using computer assisted language learning (CALL) in motivating fourth-grade English as a second language (ESL) students to develop better writing skills. It also seeks to explore the perceptions of ESL teachers and students regarding the use of CALL in the ESL classroom. The study involved 48 fourth graders and their four teachers. Data were gathered during a three-month period using questionnaires, interviews, and observations. Findings revealed that teachers as well as students shared similar perceptions toward the use of CALL in the writing classroom and identified the same motivational factors that would encourage students to produce well-developed written work. Additional work on the productive integration of computer technology in the writing classroom and its effects on motivating students to produce work of high quality is recommended.

[1]  Cheryl A. Franklin Factors That Influence Elementary Teachers Use of Computers , 2005 .

[2]  Mark Warschauer,et al.  Telecollaboration in foreign language learning : proceedings of the Hawai'i Symposium , 1996 .

[3]  David Lasagabaster,et al.  Students' evaluation of CALL software programs , 2003 .

[4]  P. Pintrich,et al.  Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications , 1995 .

[5]  Zoltán Dörnyei,et al.  Teaching and Researching Motivation , 2001 .

[6]  Marilyn Cochran-Smith,et al.  Word Processing and Writing in Elementary Classrooms: A Critical Review of Related Literature , 1991 .

[7]  David Hardisty,et al.  On the Internet , 2000, Biological Psychiatry.

[8]  Russell K. Schutt,et al.  Research Methods in Education , 2011 .

[9]  William P. Ancker The Challenge and Opportunity of Technology: An Interview with Mark Warschauer. , 2002 .

[10]  Sophie Ioannou-Georgiou The future of CALL , 2006 .

[11]  Mark Warschauer,et al.  Network-based Language Teaching: On-line learning in second language classrooms: An ethnographic study , 2000 .

[12]  Melor Md Yunus,et al.  Malaysian ESL teachers’ use of ICT in their classrooms: expectations and realities , 2007, ReCALL.

[13]  Hsuying C. Ward,et al.  CALL TECHNOLOGIES: SURVEY RESPONSES CONCERNING UNIVERSITY AND SCHOOL SYSTEMS' RESPONSIBILITIES , 2006 .

[14]  Norman E. Wallen,et al.  How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education , 1990 .

[15]  Andrew Hart,et al.  Teaching Media in the English Curriculum , 2002 .

[16]  Wei-Yuan Cheng,et al.  The Use of a Computer-based Writing Program: Facilitation or Frustration? , 2006 .

[17]  Cam Patterson,et al.  Welcome to the machine: a cardiologist's introduction to protein folding and degradation. , 2002, Circulation.

[18]  J. R. Pennington Word Processing and Teacher Evaluation. , 1984 .

[19]  Amie Goldberg,et al.  The Effect of Computers on Student Writing: A Meta-analysis of Studies from 1992 to 2002 , 2003 .

[20]  Marina Dodigovic,et al.  Artificial Intelligence in Second Language Learning: Raising Error Awareness , 2005 .

[21]  Russell Stannard Drawing from the research into Multimedia Learning and Design. An essential guide to anyone buying or using multimedia learning products , 2007 .

[22]  J. Brine,et al.  Students' perceptions of a selected aspect of a computer mediated academic writing program: An activity theory analysis , 2006 .

[23]  Ron Owston,et al.  Word Processors and Children's Writing in a High-Computer-Access Setting. , 1997 .

[24]  Paul Clay Burns,et al.  Teaching reading in today's elementary schools , 1976 .

[25]  Vera Busse,et al.  Teaching and Researching Motivation , 2011 .

[26]  Martha C. Pennington,et al.  THE COMPUTER VS. THE PEN: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF WORD PROCESSING IN A HONG KONG SECONDARY CLASSROOM , 1995 .

[27]  Miranda Hamilton Welcome to the machine. Nothing is beyong the realms of possibility , 2007 .

[28]  Jonita Stepp-Greany,et al.  Student Perceptions on Language Learning in a Technological Environment: Implications for the New Millennium , 2002 .

[29]  Sook-Hi Kang,et al.  The effects of computer-enhanced vocabulary lessons on achievement of ESL grade school children , 1995 .

[30]  Tiffany R. Jackowski-Bartol The Impact of Word Processing on Middle School Students. , 2001 .