Since summer has set in, the blog has not been that active. However, CALL has not stopped its activity. On the contrary, I have been implementing a lot of what I usually do in my daily routine and write about in the blog and some other articles. Therefore, I would like to use this intermezzo and share some thoughts.
I am spending some time abroad as part of a project. Among other things, I was invited to prepare a lecture for a group of e-learning students and it was nice and successful. The setting is brilliant and I love the high tech available to them. Yet, I couldn't help but notice that even in a really equipped classroom, in some environments, CALL is still not given the level of seriousness it should be given. It is as if in spite of all the institutional and technical background, the supporting pedagogy is still lagging behind. Here are some things that disturbed me a little bit.
The students who came to my lecture were to learn about some online tools they could use for writing. I think that there were a bit more than 20 students and more than half of them did not bring their laptops. The lecture was meant to be part of their e-learning course and I was really surprised to learn that they did not bring their gadgets because they knew that the classroom is not a computer lab but rather a normal classroom for lectures.
Next, when I asked about some very common websites usually used for writing, such as Purdue online writing lab, only two of them knew what I was talking about. Of course, I am aware of the fact that there are others who might have wanted to avoid answering questions, but still.
Third, we tested some of the tools I have been using a few times, such as Tune in to learning, Zunal webquests and Prezi. I must say I lacked the enthusiasm which normally accompanies the use of CALL in general. I could discover true and sincere interest in only a few faces.
The class did take off at least a bit later on. They worked in groups gathered around the several laptops a few had brought with them. After some encouragement, they completed the autobiography paragraphs I had been telling them about. A silver lining was when in two groups they told me they were combining their life experiences into one autobiography. A third group was even more inventive, they created a fictitious character living in a castle in the Middle Ages!
I do not know whether it is a general thing that they show such low enthusiasm. Maybe they are just tired, or maybe they came to the class to see what it is like, or maybe my expectations are too high. I want to believe it is me who should be blamed. Maybe I am too boring!
Anyway, a general conclusion I want to draw is that despite all the effort and money that is being put in computer-assisted language learning in general, a lot more needs to be done. The way I see it, linguists need to be convinced that the computer can help them make their studies and research easier. I can't help it, but I tend to believe that most people in linguistics are still not aware of all the benefits that CALL can have. It is as though the computer is deemed more a toy than a tool, as though the application of the computer in general is more for entertainment than real study, as though available online tools and technology in general are a nice alternative one may but does not necessarily have to use.
In brief, it seems that CALL has yet a long way to go among linguists and language students. At least that is the impression I keep having. I thought that my country was lagging behind. But I could see that even in a developed country, with all the necessary technical and institutional support, in a group of language students who have chosen e-learning as a study course, CALL is still struggling to assume its rightful place. And how ironic that is! After all, it is computer-assisted LANGUAGE learning we are talking about!
