CALL employs tools that assist teachers in facilitating language learning, whether reinforcing classroom lessons or providing additional support to learners.
[15] Hubbard (2009) offers a compilation of 74 key articles and book excerpts, originally published in the years 1988–2007, that give a comprehensive overview of the wide range of leading ideas and research results that have exerted an influence on the development of CALL or that show promise in doing so in the future.
A wide range of different types of CALL programs was identified by Davies & Higgins (1985),[19] Jones & Fortescue (1987),[20] Hardisty & Windeatt (1989)[21] and Levy (1997: pp. 118ff.).
Since the 1990s, it has become increasingly difficult to categorise CALL as it now extends to the use of blogs, wikis, social networking, podcasting, Web 2.0 applications, language learning in virtual worlds and interactive whiteboards (Davies et al. 2010: Section 3.7).
The communicative approach coincided with the arrival of the PC, which made computing much more widely available and resulted in a boom in the development of software for language learning.
The first CALL software in this phase continued to provide skill practice but not in a drill format—for example: paced reading, text reconstruction and language games—but the computer remained the tutor.
It also coincided with the development of multimedia technology (providing text, graphics, sound and animation) as well as Computer-mediated communication (CMC).
Multimedia CALL started with interactive laser videodiscs such as Montevidisco (Schneider & Bennion 1984)[25] and A la rencontre de Philippe (Fuerstenberg 1993),[26] both of which were simulations of situations where the learner played a key role.
Such programs often make use of spaced repetition, a technique whereby the learner is presented with the vocabulary items that need to be committed to memory at increasingly longer intervals until long-term retention is achieved.
This has led to the development of a number of applications known as spaced repetition systems (SRS),[31] including the generic Anki or SuperMemo package and programs such as BYKI[32] and phase-6,[33] which have been designed specifically for learners of foreign languages.
The arrival of the multimedia computer in the early 1990s was therefore a major breakthrough as it enabled text, images, sound and video to be combined in one device and the integration of the four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing (Davies 2011: Section 1).
[41] Examples of CALL programs for multimedia computers that were published on CD-ROM and DVD from the mid-1990s onwards are described by Davies (2010: Section 3).
One of the main promises of CALL is the ability to individualise learning but, as with the language labs that were introduced into educational institutions in the 1960s and 1970s, the use of the facilities of multimedia centres has often devolved into rows of students all doing the same drills (Davies 2010: Section 3.1).
The Web took this one stage further by creating a worldwide hypertext system that enabled the user to branch to different pages on computers anywhere in the world simply by pointing and clicking at a piece of text or an image.
A problem that arose, however, was that this could lead to a good deal of time-wasting if Web browsing was used in an unstructured way (Davies 1997: pp.
[46] The launch of the (free) Hot Potatoes (Holmes & Arneil) authoring tool, which was first demonstrated publicly at the EUROCALL 1998 conference, made it possible for language teachers to create their own online interactive exercises.
Sound and video are of high quality and interaction has improved tremendously, although this does depend on sufficient bandwidth being available, which is not always the case, especially in remote rural areas and developing countries.
[52] Corpora have been used for many years as the basis of linguistic research and also for the compilation of dictionaries and reference works such as the Collins Cobuild series, published by HarperCollins.
[59] DDL encourages learners to work out their own rules about the meaning of words and their usage by using a concordancer to locate examples in a corpus of authentic texts.
Traveler included the possibility of audio communication (but not text chat) between avatars who were represented as disembodied heads in a three-dimensional abstract landscape.
Svensson (2003) describes the Virtual Wedding Project, in which advanced students of English made use of Active Worlds as an arena for constructivist learning.
Initially perceived as another role-playing game (RPG), it began to attract the interest of language teachers with the launch of the first of the series of SLanguages conferences in 2007.
[65] Walker, Davies & Hewer (2011: Section 14.2.1)[48] and Molka-Danielsen & Deutschmann (2010)[66] describe a number of experiments and projects that focus on language learning in Second Life.
Ehsani & Knodt (1998) summarise the core problem as follows: "Complex cognitive processes account for the human ability to associate acoustic signals with meanings and intentions.
[83] The question of the impact of CALL in language learning and teaching has been raised at regular intervals ever since computers first appeared in educational institutions (Davies & Hewer 2011: Section 3).
Impact may be measured quantitatively and qualitatively in terms of the uptake and use of ICT in teaching foreign languages, issues of availability of hardware and software, budgetary considerations, Internet access, teachers' and learners' attitudes to the use of CALL,[87] changes in the ways in which languages are learnt and taught, and paradigm shifts in teachers' and learners' roles.
[90] Warschauer's high expectations in 1996 have still not been fulfilled, and currently there is an increasing tendency for teachers to go down the route proposed by Jones, making use of a variety of new tools such as corpora and concordancers, interactive whiteboards[3] and applications for online communication.
Felix (2003) takes a critical look at popular myths attached to online learning from three perspectives, namely administrators, teachers and students.
In order to achieve meaningful results she recommends "time-series analysis in which the same group of students is involved in experimental and control treatment for a certain amount of time and then switched – more than once if possible".
[95] The following professional associations are dedicated to the promulgation of research, development and practice relating to the use of new technologies in language learning and teaching.