The Pros and Cons of CALL
The Pros and Cons of CALL
The Pros and Cons of CALL
Learning (CALL)
Assessment Issues: The Good and the Bad
by Hannah Foy, Said Hamideh, Demaris Kenwood, and Monica Niespodziany
What is CALL?
CALL is the future!
Includes a variety of different softwares and apps,
straying away from traditional teaching and shifting
into a technology-based approach
Different approaches to teaching and learning
language, heavily based in online connection
The basics
Why does CALL matter?
CALL has exploded with user friendly, gamified apps
that are sticky or addictive. Many can be used on
mobile phones, making them easily accessible
Apps that complement learning are pushing their way
into the classroom as the new norm
EdTech Bloggers
Parents
Politicians
Curriculum Specialists
Policy Makers
School Administrators
Academics
Teachers
Communication
CALL as a tutorial
Example:
duolingo
Example:
twitter
Example:
busuu
Assessing listening
Brown and Abeywickrama ask:
Can you assess one skill in isolation, without the
participation of at least one other skill?
Can we directly observe the performance of all
four skills?
Assessing speaking
Brown and Abeywickrama remind us there are five
different types of speaking (p.184):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Imitative
Intensive
Responsive
Interactive
Extenstive
Assessing reading
Brown and Abeywickrama ask (p. 224):
Is reading so natural and normal that learners should
simply be exposed to written texts with no particular
instruction?
Quoted!
One interviewee says
With Duolingo, there is no instruction on how to learn
anything whatsoever! None. I havent come across any
instruction on how to learn things quicker except of course in
the main forum and even there rather not too precise which
is easy to understand as those are not too wide spread which
in the end is to my advantage but to any learner's
disadvantage. In German such a behavior is called
'Unterlassene Hilfeleistung' and is punishable. -Denk Muskel
Assessing reading
.through crowdsourced translations
Example:
duolingo
Assessors may only give you a reductive looks good or looks wrong
Duolingo does not have a direct assessment on any type of reading skill.
the good,
the bad...
the good
Students enjoy the versatility, availability, flexibility,
authentic materials and convenience of CALL.
Teachers consider CALL another tool in their toolkit for
differentiation, variety, independent work, authentic upto-date materials and fun class activities.
Administrators, Districts and School Boards are eyeing
the cost-cutting benefits of CALL in an era of budget cuts.
the good
Parents see CALL as a supplement to school which
can help with additional practice to assist and
challenge their children.
School and community libraries provide CALL as a
way to engage children in learning and reading.
Politicians and policy makers are looking at ways to
innovate the schools of tomorrow-which may not
have walls.
the good
Student teachers of today have grown up with
technology and integrate CALL into lessons to engage
students and provide extended learning opportunities
such as Skype chats, epals, Facebook pages, video
exchanges and interactive games and activities.
Designers of CALL are constantly working to improve
their products to bring them to a wider audience.
the bad
Students get bored with the same CALL and move on
to new CALL without learning in depth or with live
human interaction.
Teachers have trouble monitoring the use and
learning done with CALL.
Administrators, Districts and School Boards cant
provide enough technology or the updates required to
provide all students access.
the bad
Parents worry about students becoming zombies
hiding behind a screen instead of engaging in human
interactions.
Schools and community libraries have trouble
providing enough devices for all students and keeping
them current.
Politicians and policy makers focus on computerized
testing for accountability, diminishing the role of
teachers in instructing and assessing students.
the bad
Student teachers are frustrated with out of date or
insufficient technology to use new CALL in the
classroom.
Designers recognize there are still many bugs to work
out to make CALL accurate and interactive.
Computers recognize only one correct answer vs.
different lexical variants.
the conclusions
All of the stakeholders agree that CALL
is a valuable supplement to language learning that is
convenient and self-paced
provides a wealth of authentic material and
opportunities for cultural and linguistic exchange
but...
CALL-The conclusions