As in every type
of teaching, the methods chosen are of a great importance as to determine
“stated objectives, syllabus specifications, types of activities, roles of
teachers, learners, materials, and so forth.” (Rodgers, 2001, p. para. #2)
Having such great influence on the teaching practices of language teachers,
these methods has shown a change in their nature, supposedly following the
track of psychological advancements (from behaviorist approaches to
constructivist approaches). As it is stated by Rüschoff (2002) for the last ten
years, language learning theory has shown a progress towards a very much
learner-centred paradigm for learning as a result of constructivism, instead of
following the traditional trends of highly guided behaviorist approach.
Starting from Audio-lingual method, which included drill and practice
activities –similar to the conditioning activities of behaviorist approaches,
nowadays, the language teachers all over the world is fascinated by Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT).
Similarly,
during this shift from behaviorist approaches in learning to constructivist
approaches CALL has also experienced a similar evolution. Starting from their
first appearance in English Language classrooms, the use of computers for
language teaching purposes has taken many forms. In fact, the path of computer
assisted language learning is quite similar to what language teaching itself
has followed to the present day. The researchers divided the history of CALL
into three phases: behavioral, communicative and integrative CALL (Al-Shehri,
2004; Braul, 2006; Lee, 2000; Warschauer, 1996; Warschauer & Kern, 2000).
Drill and
practice type software was mainly present at the time of Behavioral
CALL, and then followed an era of communication and communicative software,
namely Communicative CALL, in which content was focused and grammar
was believed to be taught implicitly. Currently, the Integrative CALL, which
aims at teaching language skills in an integrated fashion, is the valid form of
computer use for language teaching purposes.
In accordance
with the linear change of CALL, it can be claimed that, with Kim’s terms
(2004), the first wave of computer use, namely the wave of drill
and kill type activities, were nothing more than a replacement of
grammar worksheets by computer based worksheets. The students often felt as
demotivated to use computers as to do grammar exercises. Salaberry (2001)
claims that during this wave “most of the software programs
were drill-practice and tutorial in nature, amounting to little more than
electronic textbooks” (p. 45). Then, the second wave of
computer use has gained power with the help of World Wide Web. The Internet
made a vast amount of information available and students found themselves
engaged in more meaningful tasks (Kim, 2004). The internet also provided
opportunities that were never achievable before, like opportunities to find
authentic materials and native speakers with one mouse click.
Now, at the
latest stage of it, CALL has evolved into a tool that could potentiall solve
some problems innate to language learning (e.g. authentic materials, tasks,
communication, etc.). According to Warschauer (1996), hypermedia helps in
creating real-life simulations, where seeing and hearing are combined. It also
helps combining the language skills into joint activities. Moreover, the
flexibility of learning environments helps learners to progress individually
along their learning paths. Finally, “a major advantage of hypermedia is that
it facilitates a principle focus on the content, without sacrificing a
secondary focus on language form or learning strategies” (Warschauer, 1996, p.
3). In other words, the students are free to explore other content that is
going to help them without necessarily losing focus on the main course
material.
This new stage
of CALL looks indeed promising and the way to better integrate stage 3 CALL
activities into language curriculums would require a change in preservice
teacher education, course materials and the infrastructure of schools.
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