LINGUISTICS 189/289 - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Linguistics and the Teaching of English
as a Second/Foreign Language
CALL Mini-Course
Unit 3: Computer Mediated Communication
OVERVIEW
Although the past two unit dealt with tutorial CALL, for many teachers the tool uses are more appropriate to their teaching approach, experience, or situation. In one category of these uses, computer-mediated communication, or CMC, computers are not just devices for delivering courseware: they can also be a means through which teachers communicate with learners, learners communicate with one another and learners even communicate with native speakers. That communication takes place through variations in the following elements: timing (synchronous or asynchronous), number of interactants (one to one, one to many, or many to many), and medium (text, voice, or video). In this unit I will briefly examine the options and then go over some of the rationale for various uses, along with examples of how teachers have used them to support language learning.
TEXT-BASED CMC
Due to both the history of technology development and the ease of text use, most CMC has been done using the medium of text. We will look at the text uses both for their own value and as a vehicle for introducing concepts relevant to audio and even video-based CMC.
Asynchronous text. The first use of CMC in language teaching
undoubtedly came through email exchanges from teachers to students and among
students within classes. Email is an example of asynchronous
communication, in that the interaction is not in real time: You create and send
and email, the recipient gets it within seconds but may not read it or respond
until much later. Under such circumstances, there are clear differences between
email and conversation that go beyond the use of text as a medium.
Email can be used for a number of
purposes. Teachers can receive homework from students and give responses to it.
Students can communicate with one another to practice using the language, to
discuss issues, to fulfill communicative tasks, or to collaborate on projects.
For instance, a student could interview another through email, asking a set of
questions, getting the answers, and then reporting the result in class the next
day. Teachers can also assign information gap activities, where students
are paired and each has some of the information both need to complete a
task. Outside of the class, students can communicate with
"keypals", the equivalent of traditional penpals. While it is often
difficult to find native speakers to interact with, this can be done sometimes
through sites like EnglishBaby. IECC.org
(International Email Classroom Connections) is a group founded by St. Olaf's
College in Minneapolis that serves as a clearinghouse for teachers looking for
partners in other countries for keypal exchanges or collaborative projects. In
the case of EFL, it may be easier to find classes of other English language
learners in another city or even another country to communicate with.
Another form of asynchronous communication is discussion
lists, where the email goes out to groups rather than individuals (one to many).
There are two alternatives for this: email from anyone on the list can be
delivered automatically to everyone on the list, or the messages can be
maintained on the web so that list members can check in and browse the subject
lines. The latter are often referred to as web-based bulletin boards or
discussion boards. An advantage of these (besides limiting the clutter in
people's email) is that discussions can be "threaded", where communications
regarding new topics and subtopics are kept separate. Students can log into
existing discussion lists or teachers with appropriate software can create their
own for a class. There are also discussion lists specifically for teachers: a
popular one is TESL-L To subscribe, send an email message to listserve@cunyvm.cuny.edu.
Leave the subject line blank, and in the body of the message put the following:
sub TESL-L AlbertEinstein (only replace Al's name with your own) with no space
between first and last name.
An important consideration for these communicative
assignments is to get them to fit into the course curriculum in some reasoned
fashion. Ideally, like other class activities and homework, they should not just
constitute entertainment or "busy work".
Synchronous Text. With synchronous text, the messages are exchanged in text form, but in real time. Current instant messaging applications like AOL Instant Messenger could be considered quasi-synchronous in that the presentation of material is near instantaneous. MUDs (multi-user domains) or MOOs (multi-user domains, object-oriented) are versions of chat rooms where pairs or larger groups of individuals can get together to "converse" through text messages. For an example interaction, see this. Chat rooms themselves using IRC (internet relay chat) protocols are easily found on the web through portals like AOL, Yahoo and Excite. There are a number of specialized chat rooms for English language learners available. Perhaps the best-known is found at Dave's ESL Cafe. It is even possible to get chat software and set it up in a language lab so that learners in the same room can practice. While this may seem odd, a number of studies have shown that some shy students communicate more when they don't have to speak or be face to face with interlocutors, and that communication overall is more evenly distributed among participants (Warschauer et al., 2000). In this case, chat becomes a confidence builder.
AUDIO/VIDEO CMC
Asynchronous audio. Like text, audio or video interaction can be either asynchronous or synchronous. One example of asynchronous voice interaction would be the voicemail services offered by a number of sites for free. Using this, students with voice-enabled computers can leave messages for one another or for the teacher. Wimba has taken this notion further and developing some more elaborate versions of asynchronous messaging with specific applications for language learning. It is also possible to send audio messages in .wav or some other common format as attachments to emails.
Asynchronous video. This area has not been well-developed, due partly to the bandwidth requirements for using video using video. If you'd like to "play" with video a bit and have a webcam, go to www.speechfarm.net.
Synchronous audio/video. Synchronous audio is possible using internet telephony (or just the telephone, for that matter) for one to one conversation. Conference call versions of this allow for group interaction. There are some limitations in quality over regular telephone use, including delays and reduced voice quality due to the compression requirements. Using a desktop camera, video is also possible. Applications like Net Meeting allow small groups to meet with audio and video in real time. This technology is not yet well developed for teaching purposes unless you have access to a significant infrastructure (like Stanford's Instructional Television Network).
DISTANCE EDUCATION
Distance education is increasing in education generally and language learning is no exception. While tutorial CALL material can be presented online for independent study without teachers, there are also classes that are offered to groups of students online with a live teacher's guidance. These classes can be either synchronous or asynchronous, and CMC usually plays an important role. See a commercial version at Peak English and an academic-based one at the University of Washington
INTEGRATING CMC INTO ESL CLASSES
One of the great advantages of CMC over tutorial CALL is that both teachers and students are often familiar with the medium (at least email), the resources are often already present or readily available, and the language content is not prewritten but is rather created by the activities themselves. These features make it much easier to integrate CMC into classes. This does not, however, imply that CMC activities are always useful or that students will buy into them and interact in ways we want them to. As with any other CALL activity, a CMC exercise or project should be introduced thoughtful, and learners should be given appropriate training not only in the technology but also in the linking their actions to the language learning objectives of the course.
REFERENCES
Pennington, Martha (1996). The Power of CALL. Houston: Athelstan.
Boswood, Tim (ed.) (1997). New Ways of Using Computers in Language Teaching. Alexandria:
TESOL.
CALL Electronic
Journal Online
Computer
Mediated Communication Journal Online (1994-1999)
Galloway, Ishbel and O'Brien, Douglas (1998) Learning Online:
Choosing the Best Computer-mediated Communication Activities. The
Language Teacher Online: February 1998.
Warschauer, Mark, Shetzer, Heidi, and Meloni,
Christine (2000). Internet for English Teaching. Alexandria: TESOL. (see
especially Chapter 3)