Comments on Healey

Deborah Healey’s article Theory and Research: Autonomy and Language Learning discusses various perspectives of learner autonomy, that is, the ability of a learner to feel in control of his/her learning. Her discussion begins by informing the reader of the four categories as identified by Oxford (2003): technical, psychological, sociocultural, and political-critical. However, the majority of the article is dedicated to relating these perspectives to CALL. Regarding the technical perspective, the issues of setting and content are given high value. The setting may vary from closely managed teacher control of content, sequence, and assessment to almost completely independent, self-directed learning on the part of the student. The content of most CALL techniques also varies and usually possessing the advantage of user-commanded adjustments to cater to their individual learning styles.

Psychologically, motivation plays a large role in students’ aptitudes to learn autonomously. More closely related to technology lies an individual’s perception of how their familiarity matches up with the tools. If they believe they possess inadequate skills, they may not be as open to learning in a technological-aided environment.

Socioculturally, something called a “community of practice” (Wenger, 1998a) can be conducive to a learner by “providing social, psychological, linguistic, and academic support for learning” (Wenger, 1998a). As the name implies, such an environment involves groups of learners and, through CALL, they are more closely connected through increased technology such as local area networks, MOOs (multi-user object oriented domains), increased internet availability, and Web-based projects such as Webquests.

Political-critical concerns address the issues related to utilizing CALL in a broader context, one which recognizes the importance of regarding information obtained from technological sources (such as the internet) with an eye for scrutiny. Learners should be informed of the ways to not only access information, but how to assess it. Autonomous learners should therefore be capable of neutrally questioning the information acquired from these tools of technology and not simply accepting it because of its availability.

Healey’s chapter explores various perspectives of learner autonomy in relation to CALL. Among the four mentioned, I found the latter (political-critical) quite interesting and relevant to some current educational issues. As information becomes increasingly easily accessible to learners of all ages, the challenge of determining which information is truthful, suitable, and reliable becomes more and more difficult. Furthermore, learners must contend with the simple fact of overwhelming amounts of information. During a recent discussion with a university professor, I noted him saying, “Information taught to incoming freshmen is outdated by the time they are juniors. What we are doing in higher education these days is not so much teaching information as teaching how to gather and organize it.” Wise words in an age where any basic search query easily yields millions of hits. We must be mindful to teach in ways that develop their knowledge effectively and efficiently, as well as guide learners to acquire it autonomously through neutral perspectives.

Comments on Anderson

In his article Getting the mix right again: An updated and theoretical rationale for interaction, Anderson first defines interaction (and the word form interactivity) using Wagner’s (1994) words: “reciprocal events that require at least two objects and two actions. Interactions occur when these objects and events mutually influence one another.” He then proceeds to state that interaction, a prerequisite of learning, can be divided into various categories, including teacher to student, student to student, and student to content. Anderson proposes a theory that “deep and meaningful formal learning is supported as long as one of the three forms of interaction is at a high level” (p. 7). Depending on the type of learning community an individual finds himself in, different levels of each of these types of interaction exist. A teacher-guided lecture, for example, almost always creates a high level of teacher to student interaction; while a CD-ROM-based training module utilizes higher levels of student to content interaction. Considering this “equivalency theorem,” as he calls it, and how to effectively manipulate it, educators are in a better position to create and assess the increasingly broad range of educational mediums (web-based being one) available to the private and public sector.

Anderson also briefly discusses implications that each kind of interaction object (teacher, student, and content) has on teaching and learning theory. He closes by considering how to apply his equivalency theorem to teaching techniques employed in campus-based and web-based instructional models.

I appreciate Anderson’s recognition of the fact that learners do not all prefer one particular medium of instruction. In the backdrop of our more and more technologically advanced computer age, this reality opens up a variety of resources and methods to meet the educational needs of an increasingly finicky public. This choosiness will only increase as the web expands and this technology becomes available to a greater percentage of people.


Anderson, T. (2003) Getting the mix right again: An updated and theoretical rationale for interaction. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 4, No 2.

Website Evaluation #1

The title of the website I evaluated is BBC Spanish and is found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/ . As evident from its name, this site is dedicated to the study of the Spanish (Castilian version) language, principally from a leisure perspective for those intending to travel to Spanish speaking countries. However, elements of the site do cater to those who already have studied the language and wish to either brush up or even learn new grammatical and conversational sequences. To this end, skill builders, tests, and assessments are offered. One example is a ‘Test Yourself’ section which provides a series of questions intended to judge the viewer’s language proficiency. Answering all 12 questions correctly indicates a proficient level, while missing one of the first few will rate you as a novice.

Most of the materials are presented in a very interactive way through the use of viewer-decided outcomes to cartoon scripts, video shorts, filmed learning scenarios, vocabulary building exercises, text-based articles for reading comprehension, and even a video series which literally makes the viewer the main actor/actress who proceeds through the challenges of a simulated drama. This series utilizes actual footage of scenes within Spain, from inside a taxi cab to touring an apartment. At various intervals, the series pauses to educate the learner about what they are seeing and how to interact in the situation using appropriate language.

Overall, most learning styles are addressed through the ample variety of resources within the site. Other features include clearly marked internal links that guide the viewer to weather forecasts of Spanish speaking cities around the world, useful phrases for traveling, downloadable audio bytes, viewing schedule for upcoming television specials, newsletter subscriptions, and a place to share your own stories and photos.

Due to the fact that the site is created and maintained by BBC (a British company), some of the external links are applicable only to residents of the United Kingdom. For example, if the viewer wants to find a local class, he can only enter an address within the UK, therefore rendering this tool ineffective for residents of other parts of the world. Providing links to physical resources outside of the UK could be one improvement to make this site more attractive to a worldwide audience. Otherwise, the site offers excellent navigability (easy-to-read home page with not too much information, easy-to-follow links, descriptive headers, etc.) and accessibility (it provides a link for individuals with learning or viewing disabilities).

I would easily recommend this site to Spanish language learners as well as to instructors to pull from any of the many resources provided. As an added bonus, not only is Spanish offered, but BBC has duplicate sites available in French, German, Italian, Chinese, Greek, Portuguese, and mini-sites for other languages. Overall, BBC Spanish is an excellent resource and tool for Computer Assisted Language Learning.

Kern and Warschauer

The Kern and Warschauer article discussed the evolution of language learning pedagogy. The grammar-based, structural systems (grammar translation method, audiolingual method) were overtaken in popularity by the cognitive/constructivist approach, only to transition later to the sociocognitive perspective, which takes into account the social structures surrounding the learner. The utilization of CALL has also mirrored these trends, advancing from more structural approaches to cognitive and then cognitive to sociocognitive. This transition is described by Crook (1994 in Kern and Warschauer, 2000) as moving from “computer-as-tutor” to “computer-as-pupil” to “computer-as-tool.”

I enjoyed the authors’ approach to summarizing language learning theories and bringing them to date to see how they relate to the use of computers for learning. It was interesting to see the somewhat dated language used in the chapter, as well as to read about processes and tools that weren’t necessarily readily available even just eight years ago; both of which indicate the rapid advances CALL.

Comments on Egbert

Egbert states that CALL, since its original meaning of computer-assisted language learning, has grown into a broader field that continues to expand as the technologies develop. As the field develops, it can be tempting to place a greater focus on the technology. However, the issue to remember is how this tool aids, assists, and enhances the language learning, which should be foremost in the minds of the instructors. Egbert also lists four components of how to use technology to enhance language learning, including adhering to effective principles of general learning in the classroom, “integrating ESL standards,” using the computers/technology to meet the language learning goals and not the other way around, and following guidelines for “using educational technology in the classroom” (Egbert, 2005). The basic point of this introduction is to reinforce the idea that good teaching and learning principles should be incorporated into the classroom and that this process can be enhanced through technology.

The concept presented by Egbert I most agreed with was his emphasis that learning should take the priority in the learning / technology equation. Before computers, people were very capable of effectively processing information in a manner that led to clear understanding. While the advent of computer technologies will not change this ability, it may enable it to be more efficient and effective in certain settings. This doesn’t mean that computers are necessarily effective by themselves; rather, their flexibility and functionality can be used alongside good teaching techniques to assist learning.

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