FLEAT III

FLEAT III Conference Presentations

received by 15 July 1997

Languages, Resouces, Cultures

 

Visit with Vendors

Poster Session:Interactive Web Pages for Italian Classes at UBC

Jessica Barbagallo

This poster session intends to show how we are using the World Wide Web as a teaching tool to complement classroom activities, taking advantage of its communication and multimedia capabilities. This format offers definite advantages over other instructional software: Netscape and the Internet are already available to our university so it doesn't imply any extra cost. The can be accessed (or re-accessed) by the students at any time. These pages contain hypertext and hypermedia, and interactive exercises with immediate feedback, as other instructional software does. But its real cutting edge quality is communication Through it, students are not only exposed to 'real', first hand material but they are also given the chance to practice in the language by communicating with other users, for example, through bulletin boards or on-line 'chatting rooms'. This is the typical scenario: the students open the Italian page as soon as they arrive at their weekly lab to find the day's activities. The instructors will guide them through it. I believe that interactive material made available over networks is right trend for the future of instructional technology, not ultimately for its implication for partial distant education to complete and complement in-class education.

Poster Session:The Present State of the Art in the Use of CALL Systems in Japanese Colleges and Universities

Mitsuru Doi Yukio Takefuta

The purpose of the present study was to review the present state of the art in teaching English by using CALL systems. We collected the data through three channels:

  1. questionnaires sent to more than 100 Japanese colleges,
  2. questionnaires sent to software dealers, and
  3. research in academic journals and books.

As the result of the present study, we found that:

  1. Many universities are planning to introduce a CALL system to teach English to their students.
  2. Most of them use CALL systems for teaching reading/writing skills.
  3. Few universities evaluated the effects of their CALL programs on English proficiency.
  4. Many universities reported that students "enjoyed" using personal computers for studying English, but students' improvement in English was seldom measured.
  5. Some reported that students improved their use of the keyboard, but not English proficiency.
  6. One university reported excellent results in improving English proficiency.

The target audience are TESOL teachers who are interested in using CALL systems, and all personnel in the related field.

Running a Multimedia Computerized Testing Lab

Echo Farrow

In the past, language tests were given on paper with the teacher reading the dialogue portion of the test. Following such a format, the delivery of those dialogues could be inconsistent. It is also difficualt to involve media in a regular classroom setting. Imagine the benefits of being able to incorporate sounds spoken by a native, show numerous video clips, use pictures from the text or a video, and allow the students to works at their own pace. These are some of the benefits of having a multimedia computerized testing lab.

There are a number of factors involved in running such a facility, however. Issues such as test development, security, scoring, and copyright arise. Other issues of overseeing and scheduling the lab also need to be considered. This presentation will discuss the various advantages and disadvantages of running a multimedia computerized testing lab. It will also disucss how to undertake the task, how to deal with problems, and how to use the lab to its full potential. Those who are going to be working in or managing a similar lab in the near or far future will benefit from this presentation.

Oral Testing Software: Testing Speaking Skills via the Computer

Jerry W. Larson

The emphasis in today's foreign- and second-language programs is primarily on oral communication. However, given the time it takes to do individualized oral assessment, testing speaking skills presents a significant challenge to language teachers. Using the computer to deliver individualized oral tests offers various significant advantages:

At Brigham Young University we have recently developed software for testing speaking skills via the computer. During this session I will explain and demonstrate the use of this software and describe how we have incorporated it into the curricula of some of our language programs.

Jerry Larson is Director of the Humanities Research Centre, Brigham Young University, Utah.

As Technology Turns: Guiding it Together Effectively

LeeAnn Stone
Elaine Leary
Cindy Shapiro Tracy

Technology is creating new types of materials and new ways to distribute them to users. The decisions publishers make regarding these new types and means can have significant impact on us in terms of our space and resource planning (more labs needed for software access, or more materials to be web-delivered?), staffing (to duplicate or not? check out tapes or not?) and lesson planning. Those decisions we make, in turn, impact the publishers' ability to market their materials.

The purpose of this session is to provide an interface between language lab professionals and publishers to explore the directions that each of these groups envisions for the future of language learning materials. It is hoped that through such discussions, directions are achieved that can be mutually supported for the maximum benefit of language learners and instructors.

During this 55-minute session, several publishers will briefly discuss their companies' directions in terms of technology resources. A two-way discussion between this panel of publishers and FLEAT participants will follow.

Language Encounters of the Web Kind

Lauren Rosen

This session offers an opportunity to view and discuss what language instructors have developed using the web as an integral part of their curriculum. Examples from a variety of languages include reading comprehension, cultural integration, target language discussion forums, and interactive tools for evaluation. In addition to viewing the web sites, participants will hear audio clips of what some instructors have experienced in their development of web materials and how their instruction has evolved as a result of their work. Time will be given to discuss the pitfalls and advantages with participants and those who have developed some materials already will be encouraged to share their experiences.

This session is primarily geared towards those who are interested in developing or have developed language teaching material that incorporates the web into their curriculum. It may also be useful to those who are helping instructors develop such materials.

Surf's Up: Website Workbook for Basic French (German, Spanish):
Integrating the Internet into Beginning and Intermediate Language Classes

Mary Ann Lyman-Hager

Interest in the Internet as a teaching tool has increased dramatically in recent years. As a source of "authentic" reading (and even listening) material, the Web shows great promise. It is easily accessible, easy to use, interesting, provides limitless variety, and is updated regularly. Yet for all of its wealth of information, students and teachers alike may become overwhelmed. Stated metaphorically, "Web-surfers get sucked into the undertow of the 'sea of information'." They need to focus on identifiable learning goals and specific tasks. This workbook has been compiled to provide learners and instructors with basic Web sites, a list of related links organized by topic and levels of linguistic difficulty. Answers to the workbook are found on a website maintained by the authors at Penn State, so the book is updated frequently. The example shown involves integration of a series of sites and activities taken from the book into the syllabus of third semester French at Penn State.

WWW pages for self-paced language learning

Shuji Ozeki

Chubu University, Japan, has set up a dedicated WWW site for language classes. The site provides variety of learning resources such as course syllabuses, class room handouts, lists of selected site addresses, links to on-line dictionaries, digitized movie clips, tips on computers and language learning, and students' web pages written in the target languages. The presenter will demonstrate the screen images of each of the pages and explain how they are used in self-paced language learning as well as technical tips like quick ways to set up a WWW site for class use.

The address of Chubu University Language Center homepage is: http://langue.hyper.chu

Platform Packaging: Using thematic content to put websites and ESL exercises together

John van Loon

Although many students are computer literate and feel completely at ease with using e-mail and the Internet to access authentic English language materials, many students are not. Rather than compound their discomfort and increase anxiety that may interfere with language acquisition, this programming format has put together all the tools the student will need to begin using the Internet to find materials and to work with those materials in a meaningful way. Thematic content provides the focus to direct the students to preselected sites from which information can be gathered to complete exercises. The key is packaging.

A French-Language Grammar Analyzer: What Use for Anglophone Students?

Glyn Holmes, Amy West

This paper will describe a research project which seeks to determine the extent to which a commercially-available French grammar analyzer, Le Correcteur 101, might be of use in French language courses at an Anglophone university.

Le Correcteur 101 is an award-winning software package developed in Québec and designed essentially for use by Francophones. The parsing mechanisms detect not only grammatical errors, but also orthographical and morphological errors, as well as anglicisms. Users are given extensive and detailed feedback on errors, and can access an impressive array of hypertextual writing aids.

One major question that we shall seek to answer will be whether Le Correcteur 101 is more or less useful to students depending on their year of study. We hypothesize that the utility of Le Correcteur 101 will increase in inverse proportion to the frequency and severity of errors of French; it is therefore likely that Le Correcteur 101 will be of greatest benefit to those who need it the least (fourth-year students as opposed to first-year students).

Research data is being compiled from two different sources. First, we have been gathering sample essays written by students in second, third, and fourth undergraduate years and ourselves are ascertaining the proportion and types of errors detected by the software and for which it thereby provides useful feedback. The second source of data will be student reactions to the software after they themselves have worked with it. In this way we shall be in position to determine whether the instructor/researcher viewpoints correlate with those of the users.

In this paper we shall report on the results obtained from both sources, but special attention will be given to user reactions. User feedback is a particularly vital prerequisite to any attempted large-scale implementation in French language courses.

ORTHO+: a computer program to learn French spelling

Lise Desmarais

The Canadian Treasury Board under its program for Innovations in Training sponsored the development of a computer program, ORTHO+, to teach French spelling through the use of the spell checker as an aid to learning. Hugo Plus developed by Logidisque Inc. has been chosen as the spell checker for this application.

The program was first piloted in paper version with 27 subjects (20 francophones, 7 anglophones) in 1993 to assess its efficiency as a learning methodology. The results of the pilot were impressive as the learning gains were significant after only 10 hours of training. A computer version was developed in 1995 for DOS environment and piloted with 23 subjects (16 anglophones, 7 francophones). Data gathered were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative research techniques. The results were once again very positive. However, observations and comments of the subjcts as well as comments of the research assistants indicated the need to integrate additional learning activities related to grammatical spelling, to add the use of the capital letter as an error category and to computerize learning aids such as a user file, reference guides, pre and post tests. The suggestions were incorporated into the program and a Window's version of the software was developed.

In the demo session, the Windows version will be demonstrated.

Faculty Involvement in Language Centers: International and Secondary School Models

Mike Ledgerwood, Robert Powell, Diane Woody

The issue of how to involve faculty and other instructional staff into Language Centers is difficult yet crucial. Even the finest Center will rapidly become a "dinosaur" without thorough integration of teaching and teachers into its facilities. The membership of IALL has explored this issue at different times, including the panel I organized at the last meeting. However, at a FLEAT conference, it seems that this issue should be addressed in terms of centers not located at U.S. American Universities, as my panel did in the last meeting of IALL.

The first speaker will be Diane Woody, Department of French Studies, and Academic Coordinator of Multimedia Language Centre at York University, Canada. She will speak on her experiences in a Canadian setting and will present highlights from a recent address entitled, "Taking L2 Professors into the 21st Century with Technology: Using Technology as a Vehicle of Pedagogical Renewal." Prof. Woody's speciality is providing a theoretical framework when working with language faculty to overcome resistance to technology. She stresses the need for explicit instruction thoroughout the process of discovery for new technology users. Insights include the need for "validated learning" and the use of concrete examples of learning theory.

The second speaker is Prof. Robert Powell, Director of the Language Centre at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. He will describe how he has managed to increase the range and depth of his Centre's services to the University and the greater community, identifying those conditions and activities which have provided special impetus for these developments. Notable among these is a linguistic audit of University personnel and the subsequent creation of language learning opportunities specifically for those among the staff expressing interest in language learning. Finally, he will discuss how he and his Centre's staff have played a crucial role in combatting the notion that a language centre is "merely a physical space equipped with specialist technological equipment".

The final speaker will be Prof. Mikle Ledgerwood, Director of the Language Learning and Research Center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He will concentrate on the specific problems and needs of secondary schools, using his experiences as a high school teacher in France and his work with Long Island (NY) high school teachers to discuss how the notion of a Language Center in a high school has to be developed differently from that of the University.

After the presentations, there will be ample opportunity for interaction among the speakers and then with those attending to discuss other ideas and models for faculty involvement in Language Centers/Centres as well as address issues not discussed in the presentations.

Monads, Monks, Missing Links, and Multimedia: When Instructional Technology Fails

Ursula Williams, Pete Smith, Ed Bardwell, Jan Marston

While the panelists are avowed fans of technology in education, they want to urge carefully considered use of technology in foreign language education, and pose some questions that will, the panelists hope, cause the audience to take a (virtual) step back and look at "the big picture." Among the questions the panel will pose are: What is missing from technology? What can technology never hope to accomplish? Which aspects of foreign language education fare much better without the use of technology? Which disadvantages to using technology ought to be considered by every foreign language instructor? What IF technology re-defines education; is that good or bad?

Evaluating Technology for Second Language/Culture and Curriculum Program Delivery

Stephen Carey, Monique Bournot-Frites, Elizabeth Crittenden, Garold Murray

This discussion will report on the facilitation of second language/culture teacher preparation (B.Ed.) programs and M.Ed. M.A., and Ph.D. program delivery through the utilization of a teaching and research website combined with a multimedia centre. We compare the enhanced success of our programs since the addition of the website as opposed to our previous more conventional approaches. Teacher preparation, curriculum materials evaluation and collaborative learning are greatly facilitated through the intelligent use of the the Internet and appropriate software. For graduate studies at the Masters and Ph.D. levels, the quality of work appears to be improved in the areas of Asia-Pacific educational studies through the use of the website, particularly in the areas of intercultural narratives that promote cultural representation, understanding and appreciation.

The website has permitted our limited faculty and budget to enhance program offerings and to take advantage of additional faculty capabilities through exchange arrangements in the P.R.C., Korea, Japan and Singapore. Empirical data is presented on the benefits of multimedia in language/culture instruction which includes virtual exchange capabilities for Japanese students learning ESL as well as the use of interactive video disc technology for second language learning.

Teaching English Composition through International E-mail Exchange

Hiroshi Suzuki

This paper reports an attempt to promote students' writing skills through e-mail exchange with students in other countries. The students write each week to their key pals in their target languages. For the last eight years I have taught English composition classes in which my students wrote messages in English and sent them via the Internet to the University of Toronto, where students of Japanese read them and replied in Japanese. Some of the e-mail messages in the past year were accompanied by some photographs taken by a digital camera, and this year they will be accompanied by moving pictures taken by a digital movie camera.

There are several favorable effects in this arrangement of teaching. One of the biggest effects is that the students on both sides are truly involved in writing, quite different from writing compositions to teachers. They write to their real friends who actually read the letters and respond to what they write. Another one is that the students are both impressed and motivated by the letters from their key pals, since they are fairly well written in the foreign languages they have been learning.

The Five Thousand Mile Classroom: Increasing Intercultural Understanding and Language Skills Through E-Mail Technology

Stephen K. Clark, Madeline Keaveney

An e-mail based, pen pal letter exchange program was attempted between U.S. and Japanese university students for one semester in 1996. Students from two intact classes (a U.S. Intercultural Communication class and a Japanese intermediate level ESL class) were paired based on mutual interests and other similarities. Letters were then exchanged via e-mail for 10 weeks on numerous subjects. Videotaped presentations created by the participants were also recorded and exchanged.

This presentation will cover:

  1. the dual purpose of the exchange and the manner in which it was established
  2. general results along with specific examples from the interactions demonstrating successes and weak points in the program
  3. student comments concerning the exchange
  4. ways to improve e-mail exchanges.

The Muhlenberg Multimedia Project multimedia, interactive software

John T. Pearce Patricia DeBellis Joan Marx

A team of three faculty members from the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania will demonstrate and discuss innovative interactive multimedia teaching materials in German, Spanish, French, Italian and Russian, which were designed and developed in collaboration with students in a three-year project funded by the Mellon Foundation. The presenters will focus on individual student's needs and the value of authentic computer-controlled audio and video components for higher education foreign language instruction and learning. The issues of vocabulary acquisition, conceptualizing grammar, mastering the skills of listening comprehension and cultural exposure will be addressed.

Developing Oral Fluency in Second Language Narratives

Chieko Kawauchi

This study attempts to investigate three aspects of oral production by low-intermediate EFL learners;

  1. task differences, i.e. a cued or uncued narrative,
  2. major indicators in assessing oral proficiency,
  3. development of oral fluency using a modified Maurice's (1983) repetition technique.

The results indicated that the uncued task (personal story telling) facilitates the speech of EFL learners more than the cued task (picture description) and produces a higher rate of speech, a higher evaluation by native speakers, and more complex sentences. The rate of speech shown by the number of words per minute was a major indicator in assessing the uncued task but not the cued task. Maurice's repetition technique, in which the same speech is made to three different partners at three different time frames, encouraged the learners to say more, to pause decreasingly, and to use less language shift with each repetition. A 10-week speaking practice session of the uncued story task in a language laboratory using Maurice's repetition technique enhanced oral production of the cued picture task. However, the findings indicated that the task differences were more crucial than the practice session. The repetition technique was found to be effective in developing oral fluency in the EFL situation where L2 exposure is severely limited.

Checking In/Out - with Variety

Fawn Whittaker, Felix Cheung, Otmar Foelsche, Moises Hernandez, Steven Smolnik

1) The "digital doorman" can be run on hardware as simple as a Mac SE with an ID reader--requiring little staffing! It computes students' total time spent in the language lab based upon their check in and out ID swipes.

2) Built with FileMaker Pro, MC (Media Circulation) File enables control of circulation and inventory of barcoded and non-barcoded materials, networked communications, and job progress tracking. It can run on even older computers.

3) CATS (Computer Assistance for Teachers and Students), with automatic record kept databases, has been updated to allow accessibility from the Internet! The basic layout of the Filemaker Pro system, with connections to an ROFM CGI and emailing system for Netscape display are illustrated.

4) Still another Filemaker Pro checkin/out system features "Log In" and "Log Out" buttons and six basic directions to enable students coming into the lab to do all the input of several data types themselves--eliminating the need for additional staffing while still keeping detailed records!

Any one of these programs, selected according to a lab director's needs and style, may save lab time and costs--and provide user convenience!!

An Interactive Intelligent Tutor for Distance Education over the World Wide Web

Trude Heift

The author presents an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) for German specifically adapted for distance education over the World Wide Web through implementation within a Java shell. An ITS assumes that significant interaction in CALL requires intelligent behavior on the part of the software. The computer program described seeks specific errors in student input and provides immediate error-contingent feedback. The intelligent tutor is conceived of as the grammar module for a comprehensive multimedia course of German at Simon Fraser University. The ultimate design goal is to combine all avenues of communication: sound, vision, and writing. The completed system will present students with a single integrated set of materials in which all of these channels for learning are active. The project described is work in progress.

An Internet Language Course Using a Multimedia Textbook

Martin Rothenberg

What are the best ways to learn a new language? The possibilities include: one-on-one language instruction, communication with a native speaker who is not necessarily trained in language instruction, many-to-one (classroom type) instruction, textbook study of language structure, random-access multimedia computer lessons, and human-computer interaction in the new language using powerful new speech recognition technologies. Each method has its weaknesses and strength, with none being the best for all situations.

Now the Worldwide Web makes it possible for a new kind of distance learning that can combine all the best of the available modalities. The presentation will describe the design of a Worldwide Web online language course, led by experienced instructors, which uses multimedia CD-ROM software that includes games, illustrated conversations and other interactive activities. Student interaction with an experienced language teacher and with other native speakers is interwoven into the course in order to maximize the benefit of these valuable resources. Speech recognition and other speech analysis technologies are also used to allow a natural spoken language interface with the computer. The rationale behind course structure decisions will be discussed.

IALL/ACTFL Workshops Roundtable

Trisha Dvorak

Content-driven Preview Lessons: Custom Courseware for Advanced Reading Comprehension

Isabelle Kreindler

There is a basic problem in integrating the computer into advanced reading courses: extensive reading is best done from the printed page. Studies have shown that reading from the screen is 20%-30% slower (Wright 1987, Venezky 1991), and the reader is also deprived of instant access to the whole article. On the other hand, off-the-shelf grammar or vocabulary exercises are largely irrelevant.

Our solution from the outset was to leave most of the reading to the printed page and create computer activities directly based on the content of the individual articles in our Readers. In this presentation I will demonstrate a sampling of our preview lessons, which are especially effective on the computer, for no-one is left out of the 'discussion' and no false leads are possible since all activities are focused on

Authoring Reading Lessons in LIBRA

James J. Champion

Libra: An authoring environment for multimedia lessons on the Macintosh" was designed primarily for improving skills in listening comprehension. Through the use of a number of workarounds it is also possible to design lessons which focus on reading comprehension. The presenter will demonstrate a reading lesson, designed in Libra, based on a short story, "Se fue por clavos," by Sabine UlibarrÌ (with the author's permission), which has been used with success with Spanish students. The presenter will then demonstrate extensions to be available in a later version of Libra, which will facilitate the authoring of reading lessons directly.

Networking, Collaboration and the Art of Writing

Catherine Caws, Trude Heift

Multi-user, simultaneous writing environments, made possible through advances in computer networking are transforming the foreign language classroom. A distributive LAN (Local Area Network), mediated by language specific software, promotes participation, increases student productivity, while still allowing for individual instruction and revision. This presentation evaluates the pros and cons of collaborative writing, editing, and discussion in a multimedia language lab. Our practical experience, based on current teaching models is illustrated through French examples with the "Aspects" program. We make a contrastive analysis between traditional approaches to composition teaching and computer-based instruction. Finally we summarize our findings as a set of lessons learned for further research.

Computer Assisted Writing in CALL

Chiaki Iwai

Recent writing theories in applied linguistics place an emphasis on writing processes. In relation to this emphasis, students' awareness of their compositions is considered to be crucial to improve their writing skills in a second language. CALL facilities provide us with useful means to facilitate students' writing processes. The presenters' university accommodates up-dated CALL classrooms, which are used for not only orthodox listening activities but also process-oriented, writing activities. Various CALL features can be used to realize them.

Monitoring and modeling functions are useful to observe students' writing directly and unobtrusively and to share a particular student's writing with other class participants. Another important function is a network system, through which students can exchange their written works with other students or can send them to instructors. This function is also useful to enhance students' awareness of writing processes because they can observe changes in other students' compositions.

This presentation will primarily demonstrate how these main CALL functions are applied to the presenters' class activities, which include:

  1. formal/informal letter writing
  2. an e-mail simulation game
  3. paragraph and essay writing.

These activities will be introduced through a video. Any participants interested in CALL application to L2 learning are welcome.

Combining hi-tech and low-tech for better integration of computerized exercises - a case of vocabulary exercise in beginning Japanese

Kazumi Katasa

Integrating computerized exercises into elementary Japanese curriculum has not gone as smoothly as we wanted for various reasons such as lack of hardware, mismatch in contents, and difficulty in record keeping. In addition, instructors generally feel that curriculum is already quite full and resist any additional activities. "VKC/J 2.0" is designed and developed as an attempt to address these issues. This system gives students practice in learning vocabulary, kanji, and conjugation of verbs and adjectives in Japanese. Although it lacks bells and whistles of typical multimedia, it is designed in such a way that the system can be used as a required element of any elementary Japanese course with little increase in instructor's time.

The new system runs on any Macintosh computer (SE and later) regardless of operating systems. It features selective furigana which synchronizes vocabulary learning and kanji learning. Instructors can easily customize exercise contents and kanji list. (Vocabulary lists for major textbooks are being developed for easy adaptation.) Students can create print-outs of quiz results for submitting them to instructors as homework.

An Endangered Species: Ways to Use the Audio Lab

Elizabeth Gilfillan

In the present day and age of Computer based learning centers, what does one do with the Audio Lab? The Presenter will show how the Audio Lab is used in the Intensive English as a Second Language Program at the Gulfton Center, South West Houston Community College. She will give examples of the materials used by the four different levels of the program as well as supplementary materials and ideas used to foster the students' interests.

Can Computers Measure the Skimming Skills of EFL Reading?

Yuko Shimizu, Shinji Kimura, Yukie Koyama

This study investigated how the main points and key words of English passages were perceived by Japanese EFL readers of different proficiency levels. A total of 300 university students, who served as the subjects of the study, performed the following three tasks:

The answers of the proficient readers and less-proficient readers were then compared with the answers of EFL teachers.

In our presentation, we will discuss the results, clarify the advantages and limitations of computers, and suggest the possible role of computers for testing the skimming sub-skills of reading.

Talking About Myself on the Internet

Keiko Hayasaka, Machiko Horiuchi, Midori Yoshida

The Internet can provide the students with abundant information sources which could be applied to language learning.

The present study was conducted to investigate how the e-mail student discussion lists help students to integrate their English ability and their communicative competencies. Approximately 90 EFL college students (non-English majors) joined the Student Lists as part of the class work and exchanged letters on the Internet with other EFL/ESL students. Some of the data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively from points of the students' interests and preferences, and discussion development. The results show this project has become very successful because it was integrated into the class work which they had experienced.

Before their actual participation in the e-mail discussion, the students were given a 9-hour workshop to have hands-on practice of the computer. The effective way of this workshop management will be presented.

After 6 months since the project was completed, a survey was conducted to find how the students' learning autonomy remained and how they continued utilizing the technology for their study.

Using Pre-Packaged Software in the Language Curriculum:
How to Evaluate and Use software as a Teacher and Administrator

Rachel Saury

In the past three years, there has been an explosion in the development of pre-packaged software for learning foreign languages and exposing students to a variety of experiences heretofore unheard of in the classroom. This talk will touch upon three topics:

  1. How theories of learning styles, more generally, and language-acquisition, more specifically, provide us with a means to evaluate what makes a good computer-driven learning tool work
  2. How some examples of pre-packaged software on the market bear out against these theories under close scrutiny and in a classroom or lab setting
  3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using pre-packaged software over resources found on the web.

Some software and web-based materials, with their multiple links from one location to another or from one skill or type of information to another, can in a sense "hit" every single one of the learner's "hot buttons." This means that even if the student is more cognitively-oriented and has a stronger affinity to learning through rote memorization, s/he is simultaneously exposed to information through perhaps less-developed channels. For the student who may be more kinesthetically, auditorially, or visually oriented, the multiple experiences provided by some multimedia learning tools can be a relief and a boon, allowing the student to integrate information more easily than s/he could when approaching learning through strictly cognitive methods.

Developing Japanese and English Multimedia CALL System for Academic Purposes

Yoshida Haruyo, Yoshida Shinsuke, Mine Hiroshi, Saeki Namie, Takeuchi Osamu and Toshiyuki Kawano

In this poster session, the audience will observe our work in Japanese and English multimedia CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) software development. What we are going to show are (i) reasons for selecting Windows 95 as the platform OS and Visual Basic 4.0J as the programming environment, (ii) the educational principles for the software development, (iii) information concerning the hardware requirements, (iv) feedback and comments from users, and (v) future research directions as well as some remaining shortcomings in the prototype. If circumstances allow, the audience can enjoy a hands-on learning experience using our CALL software.

Advertising and Publishing in the IALL Journal Roundtable

Pete Smith

Karen Landahl
Jan Marston
Harold Hendricks

In this session, members of the Board of the IALL Journal will review options for advertising in and writing for IALL's scholarly journal. Journal columnists will also be present to discuss their work on the Journal .

Back to the UVIC main Page...Back to the Language Centre main Page...Back to the Language Centre main Page...

Back to the Conference Program page.

Contact the [page maintainer]