Task of TEFL ; Intro to call

1.      Based on your language learning experience with CALL software/website, please discuss pros and cons of multimedia CALL with your group members. Think about what you like and what you do not like when using CALL software/website to learn English or other languages. Then come up with a list and examples

Pros :

·                  Its practical way to implement the language because this application facilitate us development of English Language skill.

·                  This application is very helpful, because it supplies comprehensible input. Then, the students often don’t need to be guided by a teacher. They even can solve their difficulties in applying this application website.

Cons:

·                   By applying this software/ website , students skill are not exactly measured because this application tends to dictate the user to do thing  to thing. Such as : ( in the previous task ) the students are commanded to read the material so that they can easily answer the question which have been provided below.

·                  This application wouldn’t enrich the knowledge of the user, the user only need to do with appropriate feedback and solve the assessment which have been provided.

·                  The students are not guided to operate this application. They tend to rely too much on the computer's ability to process the learner's input.

·                  This application promotes student autonomy and often make students become self-centered individual. Moreover, they don’t get feedback from the teacher, they might not know whether their answer is true or not ( they are not suggested to get the best explanation answer)

2.      Many multimedia CALL software packages claim their high level of interactivity. What does "interactivity" mean to you? Do you think they are truly interactive? Please give some examples to explain your opinion.

·         in my opinion interactivity describe about  computer ability to comunicate with users. I think they are not trully interactive, because they are just program. They have artifisial intellegence and their knowladge are limited.

·         The example is, we cannot ask something that out of program, if we use drawing program we cannot ask something about word. 

3 .  In the first article you read about "Some Pros and Cons" (ICT4LT Module2.2), the author, Davies, writes, "There is a danger, however, of relying too much on the computer's ability to process the learner's input" and then he cites Levy's (1998) words to support this point:

"Where the student is generally working alone without the teacher, the computer has to reliably give the student the right kind of guidance and advice every time the program is used; there is no second wave of feedback that can come with a teacher's presence to act as backup. [...] The success, therefore, of the computer in the tutorial role, hinges on how reliably the program manages the student's learning and on how timely, accurate and appropriate is the feedback, help and advice given." (Levy 1998:90)

Do you agree with this point? Discuss this issue with your group members. Can you further elaborate this "danger" with examples?

We agree with the statement above. We argue that learning by computer-based learning and using the internet has good impact. The students begin to learn independently. However, they may be trapped in this learning without the guidance from a teacher. Because, they just easily derive the information without knowing whether it is true or not.

4.      In the first article you read about "Some Pros and Cons" (ICT4LT Module2.2), the author, Davies, writes, "There is a danger, however, of relying too much on the computer's ability to process the learner's input" and then he cites Levy's (1998) words to support this point:

"Where the student is generally working alone without the teacher, the computer has to reliably give the student the right kind of guidance and advice every time the program is used; there is no second wave of feedback that can come with a teacher's presence to act as backup. [...] The success, therefore, of the computer in the tutorial role, hinges on how reliably the program manages the student's learning and on how timely, accurate and appropriate is the feedback, help and advice given." (Levy 1998:90)

Do you agree with this point? Discuss this issue with your group members. Can you further elaborate this "danger" with examples?

Yes , I agree. The students/ the users are independently drilled to do the task without the dictation from the teacher. For example is applied in the unit 3 : the student are commanded to search the meaning of the technical terms and acronyms related to the use of the Internet, while the students don’t worry to answers it, because the explanation/ meaning are already attached in the internet glossaries.

5.   At the end of this section, Davies makes a final comment on multimedia CALL:

"Technology is racing ahead of pedagogy and, unfortunately, often driving the pedagogy. Above all, there is a need for further research into how language students learn. We still know relatively little about the learning process, but what little we know is often disregarded by multimedia developers."

Based on your own learning experience with CALL software, did you find some that involve a high level of technology but provide little help to language learning? Or did you find some that involve simple technology but are really helpful to language learning?

As long as I learn by use this CALL software, I found some references website which is simple to use and helpful to enhance our understanding through language learning and computer-based learning. Such as, glossary of internet terms by Walt Howe <http://www.walthowe.com/glossary/> and computer dictionary-technology, network & internet terms <http://www.computerdictionary.info/> from unit 3.