Guidelines For İdeal Language Learning 2

Doughty and Long (2003) used Task-Based Language Teaching theory to derive ten methodological principles, or language teaching universals, which may guide the design of ideal tasks:

1-Use Task, Not Text, as the Unit of Analysis
2-Promote Learning by Doing
3-Elaborate Input
4-Provide Rich Input
5-Encourage Inductive ("Chunk") Learning
6-Focus on Form
7-Provide Negative Feedback
8-Respect Developmental Processes and "Learner Syllabuses"
9-Promote Co-Operative/Collaborative Learning
10-Individualize Instruction

What is task based language teaching? a presentation by David Nunan.
International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching, 2005

Guidilines For İdeal Language Learning 1

Which are the elements or characteristics that describe optimal language learning activities and environments?
Joy Egbert (2005, CALL Essentials: Principles and Practice in CALL classrooms, TESOL) identifies the following conditions for classroom language learning:

Any language lesson should support conditions for optimal classroom language learning environments regardless of the tools used. These conditions based on research from a variety of literatures, have been characterized in different ways, but a general list (Egbert & Hanson-Smith, 1999) includes the following eight items:

1-Learners have opportunities to interact socially and negotiate meaning.
2-Learners interact in the target language with an authentic audience.
3-Learners are involved in authentic tasks.
4-Learners are exposed to and encouraged to produce varied and creative language.
5-Learners have enough time and feedback.
6-Learners are guided to attend mindfully to the learning process.
7-Learners work in an atmosphere with an ideal stress/anxiety level.

8-Learner autonomy is supported.

Now let's compare these optimal environmental conditions with Chapelle (1998) hypotheses, derived from the Interactionist Theory, for developing multimedia CALL:

1-The linguistic characteristics of the target language input need to be made salient.
2-Learners should receive help in comprehending semantic and syntactic aspects of linguistic input.
3-Learners need to have opportunities to produce target language output.
4-Learners need to notice errors in their own output.
5-Learners need to correct their linguistic output.
6-Learners need to engage in target language interaction whose structure can be modified for negotiation of meaning.
7-Learners should engage in L2 tasks designed to maximize opportunities for good interaction.

It seems that the focus on linguistic form (hypotheses 1 and 2) and learners error noticing and correction (hypotheses 4 and 5) are not present in Egbert's conditions (although "learners having feedback" is somehow related to "error noticing"), perhaps because these refer to environmental conditions and Chapelles's hypotheses refer to materials development. Another difference is that Egbert's emphasis on authentic tasks and audience is not present in Chapelle's list.The characteristics of learning activities are mainly defined by the type of tasks learners are engaged in. Doughty and Long (2003) used Task-Based Language Teaching theory to derive ten methodological principles, or language teaching universals, which may guide the design of ideal tasks. ...

For Teachers; An İnsight into The CALL

“For the CALL practitioner -who might be considered a consumer looking toward theory for guidance- the circumstances are not as straightforward as they once were… The theories have grown not only in number, but also in sophistication and complexity. Some, such as sociocultural theory, involve a considerable number of specialized concepts and levels of analysis. Thus, although using theory as a point of departure is generally to be recommended, there is no doubt that in opting to proceed in this way –in a principled led by theoretical insights- the scale and complexity of the challenge has been increased. What is now needed is not so much a single solution to guide CALL, but rather a careful weighing of the options so that strengths and limitations become evident." Levy & Stockwell (2006:5)

On deciding which is the best methodological approach to CALL there are many variables involved. The multidisciplinary nature of CALL, the ever-changing nature of the technology and the wide variety of applications available cause the need for criteria on how to implement a CALL environment and evaluate the different options. This is not new:

“A glance through the computer-assisted language learning (CALL) literature of the 1990s reveals the profession’s quest for principled means of designing and evaluating CALL. Like researchers in other facets of applied linguistics, CALL researchers look to cross-disciplinary sources for perspectives and research methods.” Chappelle (1997)

One of the problems in the CALL field is the lack of a clear and articulated theoretical base that is commonly shared. New insights and applications coexist with old ideas on technology and how a language is learnt.

“…in terms of pedagogy, the new and improved have not always replaced the old and tired. Instead, many programs being produced today feature little more than visually stimulating variations on the same gap-filling exercises used 40 years ago.” Beatty (2003:11)

Our methodological orientation requires a theoretical base providing pedagogical principles to guide our decisions. A better design and evaluation of CALL activities should be provided by the insights from theoretical developments in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories, instructional models and theories on learning and knowing and Skill Acquisition Theory (SAT) .