This special issue of ReCALL is composed of 17 articles selected from presentations made at the WorldCALL 2003 conference, held May 7–10 2003 in Banff, Canada. Against all odds, during the heat of the war on terrorism, in the middle of the SARS crisis, approximately 250 people gathered in a breathtakingly beautiful town in the Rocky Mountains to discuss the latest advances in the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Registrants came to Banff for four spring days from fifty countries to take part in 158 lectures and poster sessions. The conference was steered by an international committee composed of members from twelve countries and organized by researchers from the Faculté Saint-Jean (Edmonton, Alberta), the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta), and the University of Calgary (Calgary, Alberta). The programme committee was established at the University of Victoria (Victoria, British Columbia). The specificity of WorldCALL conferences is that they are truly international, taking place in various parts of the world and attracting specialists from all parts of the planet. One of the unique contributions of this conference is that participants from underserved regions of the world are particularly encouraged to share their experience in CALL. In this respect, the conference was very successful. This was made possible by awarding eleven scholarships to participants from selected countries. WorldCALL 2003 was particular in one respect: being held in Canada and organized by French and English speakers, the organizers decided to provide a bilingual environment where presentations could be made in either of Canada's official languages. This is reflected in the selected papers by the fact that some of the articles are in French.

Before implementing and/or adapting Computer Asisted Language Learning (CALL) materials, Vietnamese teachers of French ought to examine the design (Warschauer & Healy) of whatever resources they are going to use in the classroom. But there are certainly ways to test CALL documents with students, ahead of research results. We will suggest an avenue to introduce a CALL model drawn from programs used in a western environment (Canada, France) which could be appropriately tailored to a regional Vietnamese university, taking into account such constraints as program and facilities. We will present the outcomes of a limited experimentation with students taking French for special purposes.

This paper focuses on the divide at the classroom level in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) that is centered on how those who have technology use it in the pursuit of effective language teaching and learning. This divide is the result in part of the current emphasis on emerging technologies in the CALL literature and in CALL language teacher development that seems to indicate that good CALL activities and lessons can only be carried out with the use of advanced and cutting-edge technologies. The aim of this paper is twofold: (a) to argue that optimal language learning activities can be supported by the use of ‘limited’ technologies, and (b) to present a framework for developing language learning tasks in limited technology contexts. We do not suggest ways to bridge the digital divide that exists between technology haves and have-nots. Instead, we focus on ways to provide effective language learning experiences in CALL classrooms regardless of the technologies available. In doing so, we propose ways to work around the divide created by the overemphasis on new technologies. We suggest that rather than lamenting the fact that our tools are not the latest and greatest, we must pay attention to using the tools at hand to students’ best advantage while we look for ways to obtain additional resources. We must also consider and collaborate with educators who have accepted the position that the use of limited technology cannot be effective in supporting student learning or who do not know how to use their technology to present students with effective opportunities. By addressing these issues in the literature and other forums, the digital divide in CALL classrooms between good technology use and poor technology use can be bridged to the benefit of all.

In response to the need for research on the contextualized use of CALL resources, the authors conducted a survey on instructor use of a popular online Spanish language learning resource to provide insight into how foreign language instructors’ use of online resources are influenced by socio-institutional factors and instructor motivational factors such as personal background and teaching philosophy. From the 118 survey participants, the authors used quantitative techniques to choose three case studies that represented the diversity of respondents who use the resource in their teaching. They present overall trends and qualitative profiles of the three instructors with the intent to gain an overall understanding of the nature of how the resource is used, not only to provide direction for future quantitative research, but also to illustrate the utility of qualitative research in providing such understanding. Upon analysis of the case studies, the authors conclude that the actual use of a CALL resource may be far from the ideal use the designer intended, and that the use of CALL resources is highly contingent on the sociocultural context of the implementation of the resource. Instructor comments seem to point not towards the physical CALL infrastructure of an instructor’s workplace as a determining factor of resource use, but towards the CALL culture and collegiality of the environment. Most revealing of the nature of an instructor’s use of a resource seems to be the congruence of site features with the instructor’s teaching philosophy, itself the product of a variety of factors.

Rapid changes in language form and function occurring in digital environments present teachers and students of second languages alike with conundrums as to language and discourse standards. Factors affecting the changes that are emerging in digital English include the spatial and temporal possibilities and constraints of the medium, digital facilitation of case-creativity and iconic incorporation, and new social network configurations. This paper analyzes evolving changes in orthographic, syntactic, discourse and sociocultural conventions occurring in English and Chinese in digital environments, based on a small scale study conducted at York University in 2002–2003, noting trends across these languages as well as more limited, culturally and linguistically specific evolutions. The converging conventional changes occurring in these two major world languages suggest that similar transitions are happening generally in languages used for online communication, which has serious implications for second language instruction.

This paper discusses the role of customized learning environ1ments in the teaching of English to undergraduate science and technology students and focuses on a more subject-specific and skills-oriented approach in English for Specific Purposes (ESP). It may be argued that multimedia technology and the Web have a vital role to play in integrating often complex subject matter and language learning. As most university level students nowadays are mostly conversant with multimedia and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) packages and feel at home before a web-based interface, creating teaching materials to cater to their needs requires a whole new set of skills, not least a knowledge of Web-design and Web-authoring programmes. Educators now need to create environments in which students can learn; they engineer new situations. Let us call it “WELL by design”. The focus is on motivating learning, a move towards constructing knowledge and involving the students in meaningful interactions. This paper focuses on how web-based materials are incorporated in day-to-day classroom teaching, how students are encouraged to interact with these materials, and how interaction is promoted and encouraged through the creation of pair and group activities based on the materials. Particular attention will be given to the potential of Web Enhanced Language Learning (WELL) in encouraging collaborative and constructive learning processes. The relationship between tutor and learner in a technology-enhanced environment will also be considered and discussed. A demonstration of specially devised link-mediated learning units within a web-enhanced course in ESP designed specifically for environmental science students will be made, together with an overview of resources, tools and observations within the context of the technology classroom. Particular emphasis will be placed on CALL and WELL as an essential support within a fully integrated language course for science students, as well as on the community-creating and connecting spirit of the Web in a virtual language learning environment.

This paper considers the additional uses of CALL in the Endangered Language (EL) context. It briefly reviews ELs and reports on CALL for ELs in general. It then reviews the extra uses of CALL for ELs; these include changing negative attitudes towards the language, arousing interest in the language and contributing to language maintenance and documentation. In order to demonstrate the benefits of CALL for an EL, three examples are presented. Each of the ELs discussed in this paper could be considered to be on a different scale on the Fishman (1991) Scale for an EL. The first CALL application discussed is a program for Irish for primary school children. Irish is a Celtic language and is only regularly used by about 10,000 speakers in Ireland. The main aim of the program was to try to increase the children’s motivation to study Irish, which is a compulsory subject in schools in Ireland. The second application is a literacy program for Tojolab’al, a Mayan language spoken in Chiapas, Mexico. Tojolab’al could be considered to be a relatively stable language (30,000–40,000 speakers out of an ethnic population of about 80,000 people), but it has very few literate speakers. The idea of this project was to develop CALL courseware to teach literacy, beginning with the letters and then progressing to words and phrases. The third example is CALL courseware for Nawat, an Uto-Aztecan language of El Salvador. The remaining 150 speakers of Nawat are mainly elderly and illiterate and this courseware aimed to document and develop courseware for the language, while the remaining speakers were still alive. The paper concludes with lessons learnt for ELs in general from these three specific examples. It surmises that despite the difficulties involved in the CALL for EL context, if a pragmatic approach is adopted, CALL materials can have positive social benefits, which probably outweigh its contribution to language learning in the short-term. The effort involved in CALL for ELs is definitely worthwhile.

Designed for a literate, hearing clientele, traditional CALL tools do not necessarily meet the needs of deaf people, and are not adapted to their learning styles, especially in the area of literacy. Current developments lead us to believe that, in order for deaf people to subscribe to literacy campaigns and to ensure that such measures are efficient, two conditions must be met: Quebec Sign Language must be the language of instruction (Dubuisson et al., 1997) and the participation of deaf people must be felt at every stage of the development of course material. Research has shown that in architecture, for example, the participation of the target clientele in the design process of the product can lead to the emergence of significant solutions (Vezeau et al., 1999). In light of the quantity of Web systems and products that are hardly used or difficult to use, Rubin (1994) reminds us of the need to consider the user, and not only the machine or the system, in the development process. The main goal of our research is to establish design parameters (developmental process, type of software, and content) for CALL software aimed at deaf adults. Only the data relating to the developmental process will be presented here. We will analyze and discuss the responses obtained through interviews with deaf members of the development team, audiotapes (on which an interpreter recorded the words of the team members), and videotapes of meetings. The interpretation of this data will give way to a qualitative assessment of the efficiency of the approach in the development of material adapted to the needs of the target population.

While the concepts and principles associated with learner autonomy underpin a broad range of CALL applications and research projects, current debates and research paradigms in CALL do not provide adequate tools and models to investigate in depth the relationship between CALL and the development of learner autonomy. This paper explores the potential of cultural-historical activity theory to study this relationship. Starting from the complex and multidimensional nature of learner autonomy, it highlights some of the weaknesses in the CALL literature addressing some aspects of this relationship. Following a presentation of the main tenets of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), including the notion of contradiction which is at the core of CHAT, it then seeks to demonstrate how activity theory can assist us in rethinking our understanding of learner autonomy in the context of technology-rich language learning environments and in formulating suitable criteria and questions, which can guide judgemental and empirical analyses. The paper concludes by illustrating some of the principles explored through examples drawn from an activity-theoretical judgemental analysis of a French module delivered to first year students in Dublin City University.

CALL evaluation might ideally draw on principles from fields such as second language acquisition, language pedagogy, instructional design, and testing and measurement in order to make judgments about criteria such as elaborated input, feedback, collaborative learning, authentic tasks, navigation, screen design, reliability, validity, impact, and practicality. In this study, a subset of criteria were used to evaluate the design of English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) online courses and assessments, Longman English Online. This article illustrates how a set of principles suggested evaluation criteria which, in turn, suggested particular variables for the instructional design; these variables, again in turn, suggested potential operationalizations which could be implemented as task features in CALL materials. Results of the judgmental evaluation indicated that most of the criteria were met, although some better than others.

This paper describes a study in which we investigated the effects of corrective feedback on learner uptake in CALL. Learner uptake is here defined as learner responses to corrective feedback in which, in case of an error, students attempt to correct their mistake(s). 177 students from three Canadian universities participated in the study during the Spring semester 2003. The study considered three feedback types: Meta-linguistic, Meta-linguistic + Highlighting, and Repetition + Highlighting. Study results indicate that feedback that provides an explanation of the error and also highlights the error in the student input (Meta-linguistic + Highlighting) is most effective at eliciting learner uptake. The study also considered two learner variables, gender and language proficiency. Our data suggest that none of the two learner characteristics has a significant impact on student responses to corrective feedback.

As more and more teacher preparation programs realize the need to include courses that deal with computer-assisted language learning, a crucial decision as to what is taught needs to be made, taking into consideration the various post-graduation goals ranging from teacher or teacher-trainer to researcher. Thus, the question of whether to go beyond teaching the potential uses of the computer and the Internet and to delve into how to create relevant computer-based tasks using the WWW and to train teachers in the use of advanced web page development techniques, including Flash, web-enabled databases, and the interactive possibilities of the WWW needs to be addressed. This paper tackles these issues and illustrates a sample approach in dealing with the grooming of the new generation of CALL researchers and practitioners. What can be accomplished during the first year of an MATESL program that highlights the importance of technology is explored through a reflective questionnaire, a computer capabilities matrix, and an analysis of web-based course projects. Nine first-year M.A. students participated in the study, which revealed that despite widely differing initial computer and Internet expertise among these future teachers and researchers, their knowledge of creating and using web-based materials increased significantly, culminating in a project in which the skills acquired throughout the semester were successfully integrated.

According to the dichotomy popularized by Levy (1995, 1997), computers may be used in language learning in either tutor or tool roles. Recently there has been a waning of interest in tutorial software for language learning in favor of tool-oriented applications. While we do not dispute the value of the computer as a tool, we argue that it is in the best interest of CALL practitioners and language teachers in general to be better informed about the realities of tutorial software so that the field can continue to grow and mature along multiple paths. In support of this position, we present a case for placing tutorial CALL back into the mainstream of the field. After a discussion of several common myths about tutorial CALL, we offer six reasons as to why tutorial CALL has been marginalized. We follow with some evidence that, despite the presence of these myths and this marginalization, CALL practitioners around the world continue to find tutorial CALL appealing for research and development. Specifically, we review the presentations at four major CALL Conferences in 2002 and classify them as primarily focused on tutor or tool uses. Although tool-oriented applications dominate overall, the results show a strong continuing interest in tutorial applications as well. We conclude with proposals for (1) reconsidering the dichotomous nature of the tutor-tool distinction, (2) changing the defining characteristic of tutorial CALL from evaluation to teaching presence, and (3) suggesting several aspects of language learning that tutorial CALL is best suited to support, given the present state of technology.

The advantages of computer-assisted grammar teaching and more recently, web-based grammar teaching, include the possibility, for the instructor, of devoting class time to teaching communication skills, and the capacity of individualizing the course work. Several websites have been created for these very reasons. However, most of these sites include only a small portion of the grammar and very few are based on educational principles. This paper will summarize what should be the guiding principles in the design of this type of website, most of which involve instructional design and the need for structure and adaptability to different learning styles. It should also be noted that there are design principles specific to grammar teaching, such as the distinction between exploratory and pre-established modes, and the scaffolding of concepts. The application of these principles will be illustrated through the presentation of a web site.

In the first part of this paper different areas where technology may be used for second language assessment are described. First, item banking operations, which are generally based on Item Response Theory but not necessarily restricted to dichotomously scored items, facilitate assessment task organization and require technological support. Second, technology may help to design more authentic assessment tasks or may be needed in some direct testing situations. Third, the assessment environment may be more adapted and more stimulating when technology is used to give the student more control. The second part of the paper presents different functions of assessment. The monitoring function (often called formative assessment) aims at adapting the classroom activities to students and to provide continuous feedback. Technology may be used to train the teachers in monitoring techniques, to organize data or to produce diagnostic information; electronic portfolios or quizzes that are built in some educational software may also be used for monitoring. The placement function is probably the one in which the application of computer adaptive testing procedures (e.g. French CAPT) is the most appropriate. Automatic scoring devices may also be used for placement purposes. Finally the certification function requires more valid and more reliable tools. Technology may be used to enhance the testing situation (to make it more authentic) or to facilitate data processing during the construction of a test. Almond et al. (2002) propose a four component model (Selection, Presentation, Scoring and Response) for designing assessment systems. Each component must be planned taking into account the assessment function.

Vocabulary learning theory suggests that productive recall should strengthen learning of new vocabulary items (Nation, 2001). CALL can provide both the opportunities for productive recall and the feedback to motivate repeated efforts to reproduce new items. The latter capability appears to give CALL some advantages over paper-based exercises, in particular when such learning is done out of class time without immediate teacher feedback. Three experiments are reported. In the first two, a comparison is made of CALL exercises that encourage productive recall with those that encourage passive recall. Initially productive recall appears to give greater learning gains, supporting theory. Over time, the results are comparable. Both groups make substantial gains. Observation suggests that students apply their own strategies to enhance recall, to some extent independently of the exercise type. The advantages and disadvantages of incorporating productive recall into the design of CALL exercises need to be considered together with those of students applying their own strategies to enhance recall. Based on the outcome of this assessment, a sequence of exercises to introduce new vocabulary is designed that encourages passive and active recall as well as other strategies thought to help initial vocabulary learning. In the third experiment, these exercises are delivered over the Web for a whole semester as preparatory materials for in-class work. Outcomes are reported in terms of learning gains but particular attention is paid to evaluating maintenance of student motivation. It is suggested that CALL is an effective way to introduce new vocabulary, that such effectiveness is enhanced by designing exercises based on theory, and that it works well for sustained periods, even in circumstances where student motivation is not necessarily high, when there is close integration with classroom work.

Whilst the potential of online Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in terms of access, immediacy and exposure is widely acknowledged, as yet remarkably little is known about its impact on the user population, be they language teachers or learners. Indeed, beyond its technological development, online CALL design is still affected by a dearth of reliable evaluative data, critically needed for improving the interface design, implementation and integration. On this premise, this paper proposes to focus on a range of appropriate evaluation methods applied to a recently authored web-based interactive CALL interface, comprising multimedia interactive exercises and self testing, as part of an ongoing research combining Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Java programming and language teaching expertise. This current evaluation adopts a novel approach insofar as its main objectives are not only to assess the usability and usefulness of the interface as well as the student experience, but also to compare the different methods used on the basis of their input and evaluative output. Ultimately, this paper will strive to bring theory and practice closer together by shedding further light on the crucial role of evaluation, the appropriateness of the data it generates and its applicability to online CALL development.

In this article the focus is on methodology for analysing learner-learner oral conversations mediated by computers. With the increasing availability of synchronous voice-based groupware and the additional facilities offered by audio-graphic tools, language learners have opportunities for collaborating on oral tasks, supported by visual and textual stimuli via computer-conferencing. Used synchronously with real-time voice-based work, these tools present learners with the challenge of learning a new type of oral interaction, and researchers with the need for developing methodologies for redefining L2 oral competence in these environments. In this paper we address the latter. We examine approaches from the interactionist branch of Second Language Acquisition research, and we question the ability of this model of language learning to fully account for the processes that take place when learners are interacting with machines while talking to each other. To complement the socio-cognitive insights of that school, we look to interactional linguistics and to social semiotics. Building on findings from these fields, we offer a qualitative discussion of the discourses evidenced in conversational data from two distance-learning projects that use synchronous voice in conjunction with other stimuli, in an intermediate French programme at the UK Open University. We then present detailed conclusions about the methodological challenges involved in analysing the oral competence of students who use these tools.

This is an experimental study in the area of Didactics applied to the learning of English as a foreign language and complemented by CALL. The main objective of this work is to know the degree of incidence existing between two groups of students: one, based on conference-style classes where students, guided by the teacher, have to search for information about a topic in the computer lab and present it in front of the class and, in the other, where students are taught by the teacher according to a printed text. The experimental design consisted of a pre-test/post-test plus the application of different techniques to develop the different linguistic and cognitive strategies, between these tests. The methodology used by the Experimental Group forced learners to generate their own knowledge, so they had to apply the information and work by themselves in Workshops; and the Control Group participated in the classroom according to the communicative approach, guided by the teacher in the traditional class. Statistics were applied to the scores obtained between both tests, and the scores obtained weekly in the different competences contributed to knowing whether there were significant differences between both groups.