This paper introduces an open learner model approach to learning analytics to combine the variety of data available from the range of applications and technologies in language learning, for visualisation of language learning competences to learners and teachers in the European language context. Specific examples are provided as illustrations (Facebook, Second Life and mobile assisted language learning (MALL)), though the approach is a general one. We describe the Next-TELL open learner model as an exemplar that can encompass a range of data from a variety of technologies and activities, and as a competence-focussed visual analytics tool that can be readily used inside and outside the classroom.

The Next-TELL open learner model offers several visualisations for learners and teachers to explore the learner’s current competences, which can be selected according to user preferences or the purpose of viewing the learning data. The selection of visualisations means that the open learner model is appropriate for school, university and other learning contexts. Viewing this data can help students to reflect on and monitor their learning, and can support teachers’ decision-making during classroom activities or later, in their planning of subsequent sessions. As an example, we outline the use of the Next-TELL open learner model in a school in Norway.

This study in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) was conducted in a Spanish as a foreign language classroom. The study investigates dyadic face-to-face collaborative dialogue at the computer from a sociocultural perspective. Protocols for analysis were obtained by the transcription of audio recordings of twelve dyads/triads completing three tasks in two mediums of implementation, computer and non-computer-based. By comparing learners’ activity in the two mediums through microgenetic analysis (i.e., developmental analysis), we were able to study some specific ways in which the computer influenced the course of interaction. Specifically, the aim of the study was to investigate the value of the tasks as pedagogical instruments to support collaborative activity in the foreign language classroom; the value of collaborative activity as a source for possible restructuring of interlanguage (i.e., microgenesis); and the impact of the computer as a mediational tool in the processes of collaborative activity. Results confirm: (1) the three tasks support high degrees of collaborative activity – albeit qualitatively different; (2) language can – sometimes simultaneously – be deployed by learners both as a means of communication and as a cognitive tool to achieve linguistic development; (3) the presence of the computer seems to change the nature of collaborative activity.

Research, design, implementation, and evaluation of CALL materials needs to be based on sound SLA theories and research. A research agenda of CALL issues needs to be identified and investigated by means of suitable methodology. I propose that a Sociocultural approach to language learning provides a useful theoretical framework to investigate the process of collaborative activity in computer-mediated tasks. Following a brief overview of Sociocultural theory in relation to its claims about the usefulness of collaborative activity in the language classroom, I provide an account of issues to be addressed in task design. Finally, I exemplify from a study currently taking place how collaborative activity in computer-mediated tasks can be empirically studied, and I outline some of the methodological considerations underpinning such research work.

The use of videoconferencing technology to support the delivery of language programs shows great potential in regional and rural settings where a lack of access to specialist teachers limits equitable access to education. In this article, we investigate the establishment of two regional and rural primary school networks in Australia for videoconferenced language learning. Adopting a perspective taken from the discipline of information systems called structuration theory, we examine how the technology they use both changes and is changed by its use in language learning, and how schools and teachers take control of technology and adapt their educational approaches. Case studies were carried out on the two networks using multiple data sources, including interviews and observation of language classes. The findings reveal that even with the same conceptual foundations and aims, divergent models of practice emerge as sustainable adaptations to localised factors. These differences are shaped by, among other things, an interplay between the quality of infrastructure, prior knowledge, and the “material properties” of the technology, including its functions, limits, and deployment in physical space. A closer look at these practices illustrates limitations and possibilities specifically for language education, but also more broadly illustrates how the success of these videoconferencing initiatives are influenced by a nuanced combination of social, educational, and technological factors.

This paper discusses the role of authenticity and authenticity claims in computer assisted language learning (CALL). It considers authenticity as the result of a social negotiation process rather than an innate feature of a text, object, person, or activity. From this basis, it argues that authenticity claims play an important role in both second language acquisition (SLA) and CALL, being utilized to support the legitimacy of an approach or discipline more generally, as well as in defending a specific didactic design, especially with regard to transfer and motivation. The paper distinguishes between three domains of authenticity claims essential to CALL contexts: authenticity through language (linguistic authenticity), authenticity through origin (cultural authenticity), and authenticity through daily life experiences (functional authenticity). It points out problematic aspects of engaging in authenticity claims and argues that a reflexive stance might be useful in questioning the role of authenticity claims in CALL theory and practice.

This paper reports on the cognitive and affective benefits of data-driven learning (DDL), in which Korean EFL learners at the secondary level notice and unlearn their “overgenerated be” by comparing native English-speaker and learner corpora with guided induction. To select the target language item and compile learner-corpus-based materials, writing samples of 285 learners were collected. The participants were randomly divided into traditional grammar learning and DDL groups. After providing instruction for each group, one immediate and one delayed writing sessions were implemented. Revealing a lower ratio of overgenerated be after the instruction than the control group, the DDL group showed statistically significant retention as well as immediate effects in terms of the raw counts of the target item. Based on this improvement in grammar learning and retention, DDL is considered helpful for these learners as it facilitated their efforts to discover and apply rules. In addition, their positive attitudes toward DDL including both native speaker and learner data provide useful pedagogical implications. Learning from the negative evidence produced in their own classroom helped learners, especially at lower levels, to raise their grammar consciousness and boost their motivation to learn.

Drawing upon research on narrative and speech styles and on digital and multimodal communication, the author proposes multimodal narrative discourse analysis (MNDA) with associated pedagogical and analytical procedures to teach and study storytelling. The second language (L2) students first participated in multimodal narrative simulations in the virtual world of Second Life. The university students then presented, evaluated, and revised stories in both face-to-face and digital contexts through multiple modalities and technologies. MNDA further provided tools and methods for analyzing the students’ discursive processes and agentive experiences of L2 storytelling. The results of MNDA showed that the proper use of narrative elements, discourse structures, and stylistic devices, as well as bodily, visual, and video resources, assisted the students in developing multimodal designs and storytelling styles. This technology-mediated discourse approach to L2 storytelling suggests the importance of teaching and researching broader narrative contexts and activities other than simply elocution in multimodal communicative activities.

To respond to students' need for more speaking practice, the Open University's Centre for Modern Languages is currently investigating the benefits of using an Internet-based, real-time audio application in distance learning/teaching. During a four-month trial period, French and German students met at weekly intervals to use the target language and participated in role-plays or other pre-arranged learning tasks requiring collaborative interaction. This paper describes the FLUENT (Framework for Language Use in Environments Embedded in New Technology) project from the tutors' point of view, focusing on how learner autonomy and the tutor role were affected by the new learning environment.

Online language teaching is gaining momentum worldwide and an expanding body of research analyses online pedagogical interactions. However, few studies have explored experienced online teachers’ practices in videoconferencing particularly while giving instructions, which are key to success in task-based language teaching (Markee, 2015). Adopting multimodal (inter)action analysis (Norris, 2004, 2019) to investigate the multimodal construction of instructions in a single case study, we examine instruction-giving as a social practice demonstrated in a specific site of engagement (a synchronous online lesson recorded for research purposes). Drawing on the higher-level actions (instruction-giving fragments) we have identified elsewhere (Satar & Wigham, 2020), in this paper we analyse the lower-level actions (modes) that comprise these higher-level actions, specifically focusing on the print mode (task resource sheets, URLs, text chat, and online collaborative writing spaces) wherein certain higher-level actions become frozen. Our findings are unique in depicting the modal complexity of sharing task resources in synchronous online teaching due to semiotic misalignment and semiotic lag that precludes the establishment of a completely shared interactional space. We observe gaze shifts as the sole indicator for learners that the teacher is multitasking between different higher-level actions. Further research is needed to fully understand the interactional features of online language teaching via videoconferencing to inform teacher training policy and practice.

This paper discusses the design and implementation of a task-oriented collaborative learning (and training) experimental project that was carried out with future language teachers. More specifically, a class of sixteen French students enrolled in a Masters of Education course were asked to create multimedia resources for a group of Australian students with no prior knowledge of French. This paper deals only with issues concerning French students’ multimedia creations, not with the second phase of interactions with the Australian target group. The theoretical background is situated and collaborative learning and training: the French students worked in pairs, creating multimedia activities based on their culture for real students in a different location. They communicated with each other during weekly classes and via a groupware tool. A triangulated data method was used incorporating the students’ multimedia outcome, questionnaires and semi-directive interviews. The following issues are discussed: what is the effect of such situated learning settings on motivation, commitment and computer literacy? What image did the French students have of the Australian students and which cultural aspects did they try to convey?

While researchers have examined the effectiveness of various online gloss types on incidental L2 vocabulary learning, little research on online gloss languages has been conducted. Previous attempts which compared the effects of L1 and L2 glosses have reported mixed results. To fill the gaps, this study examined the effectiveness of Chinese and English e-glosses on incidental English vocabulary learning on a less-researched student group in CALL – junior high-school English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students. Seventy-eight students with Chinese as their first language read two online passages with either Chinese (L1) or English (L2) glosses. They were divided into four treatment groups: (1) high-proficiency students receiving L1 gloss before L2 gloss (n = 19), (2) high-proficiency students receiving L2 gloss before L1 gloss (n = 19), (3) low-proficiency students receiving L1 gloss before L2 gloss (n = 20), and (4) low-proficiency students receiving L2 gloss before L1 gloss (n = 20). After reading, the students were assessed with a vocabulary test which contained a definition-supply part and a cloze part serving as both post-tests and delayed post-tests. Repeated-measures analyses of variance were utilized to analyze the score data. Significant differences were found not only among the four groups but also between the two post-tests. Overall the high proficiency groups performed better in the post-tests, but the high proficiency group who received English glosses remembered more words in the delayed post-test than the high proficiency group who received Chinese glosses. The results show that as learners’ proficiency increases, they may be able to make better use of the L2 conceptual links for word retention and learning. The conclusions support the usefulness of both Chinese and English e-glosses which should be selected based on learners’ proficiency level.

There has been much enthusiasm shown in the literature about Native Speaker-Nonnative Speaker (NS-NNS) e-mail interactions, associating them with increased motivation and participation and reduced anxiety (Beauvois & Eledge, 1996; Leh, 1997; Aitsiselmi, 1999). Recent research has now also begun to link these interactions with increases in L2 proficiency (Floréz-Estrada, 1995; Stockwell & Harrington, 2003). As some studies have suggested that L2 learners should reach a certain number of e-mail interactions in order for benefits to accrue (Lamy & Goodfellow, 1999; Stockwell & Harrington, 2003), researchers have started to turn their attention towards what factors play a role in helping to facilitate longer interactions. One factor that appears to be important in sustaining longer conversation sequences is the topics discussed during the interactions (Stockwell & Levy, 2001). While Lamy & Goodfellow (1999) investigated the topic threads during on-line discussions with multiple participants, threads in NS-NNS paired interactions through e-mail remain largely unexplored. Thus, in this study, 48 learners of Japanese involved in e-mail interactions with native speakers were investigated to determine what features of topic threads contributed to sustaining interactions. The end-of-thread messages (i.e., those messages which were the last message in a conversation thread) were examined in terms of whether or not a reply was invited, and those messages for which a reply was invited were further analysed to determine why a reply was not received. The paper concludes with suggestions for how conversation threads may be sustained, and some directions for future research.

Though we often speak of the development of CALL as an academic discipline and its growth as a field of inquiry, little evidence has to date been gathered to prove it. This descriptive study investigates the current state of and changes in CALL research output and its characteristics such as theoretical foundation, method of evidence gathering, and reporting standards. It is based on a numerical analysis of 91 research articles published in 1980–2000 in seven English language journals. CALL emerges from this study as a fast developing area of research, which draws on an increasingly diverse body of theory and methods from a number of cognate disciplines. CALL researchers are increasingly more confident about their research, as reflected in the high level of generalization present in the examined sample. This is not however matched by proper attention given in their reports to research credibility issues.

This study designed and developed a web-based reading strategy training program and investigated students’ use of its features and EFL teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the program. The recent proliferation of online reading materials has made information easily available to L2 readers; however, L2 readers’ ability to deal with them requires the development of specific reading strategies. The researcher therefore constructed a web-based strategy training program on the basis of L2 reading strategy research and pedagogy. The program offers four types of reading strategy functions (Global, Problem-solving, Support, and Socio-affective) through 15 strategy buttons: Keyword, Preview, Prediction, Outline, Summary, Semantic Mapping, Pronunciation, Speed Reading, Dictionary, Translation, Grammar, Highlight, Notebook, Music Box, and My Questions. Forty college teachers and thirty-two EFL students in Taiwan were invited to use and evaluate this program. The researcher tracked students’ use of the functions, and teachers and students completed a survey and written reflections that documented their perceptions of the program. Both groups gave positive feedback on the program's user-friendly interface design and the effectiveness of its strategy function keys for enhancing reading comprehension and motivating learning. They also thought highly of the site's extensive offerings of reading opportunities supported by effective reading aids and a computerized classroom management system, features not available in large traditional classes. There was, however, a gap between what teachers thought and what students did. The teachers thought highly of Global strategies, whereas students regarded Support strategies as more useful. The low-proficiency group's heavy use of Support strategies explained this gap. The high-proficiency group's more frequent use of Global strategies echoed teachers’ preference for teaching Global strategies. This connection suggests that teachers should provide more explicit training to encourage all students to use Global strategies for overall textual understanding.

This descriptive study investigated the implementation of student-selected, entertainment-purposed digital games for foreign language teaching and learning. During a 15-week semester, 16 Korean EFL students enrolled in an introductory educational technology course played online games, visited gaming sites, and completed instructional tasks. Conceptualizing games as social practices and drawing from the bridging activities framework (Thorne & Reinhardt, 2008), instructional tasks were designed to enhance language awareness and to present possibilities for socialization into gaming discourses. The study investigated the ways that the designed pedagogy supported or impeded language awareness and gaming discourse participation. The study found that the students exhibited language awareness in many ways, but that there were missed opportunities in developing student understandings of language as a social medium. Additionally, six students (38%) directly participated in gaming spaces, and some of them took on more central roles in gaming practices over time. Other students, however, did not attempt to directly participate in gaming sites or were not successful in their attempts. These findings are discussed in regard to pedagogical design, including game selection and supporting learner analyses of gaming discourses, as well as avenues for future research examining socialization in classrooms and gaming spaces.

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.

This study was carried out in a language centre, in French higher education. Teachers and researchers had contrived a pedagogical system labeled guided autonomy which combined class attendance in groups and self-study in the self-study room. This kind of autonomous and technologically enhanced learning system will be referred to as CAALL (Computer Assisted Autonomous Language Learning) in this paper. To investigate and reflect critically on the students’ practices in CAALL, it was decided to carry out an extensive triangular study, cross-checking different data (Raby, 2003, 2005). The data pertained to what students did (physical behaviors while working), and to how they felt about it (verbal behaviors in the form of journals). Six students volunteered to take part in that experience. They were observed six times consecutively while working autonomously. In addition, we analyzed the journals in which they wrote about their feelings in connection with the CAALL system. From the students’ observations, three strategic models emerged (epistemic, procedural and mixed). From the journal analyses, different motivational attitudes appeared, ranging from enthusiastic appraisal to stark rejection. One unexpected result yielded by the triangular approach was the importance of internal factors (the learners’ characteristics) versus external factors (the learners' environment) in the process of appropriation of the new learning system.

This article reports on findings regarding the learning strategies used by a group of Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in a mobile-technology-assisted environment. The research design is a context-specific case study using Dörnyei’s (2005) categories of learning strategies as the conceptual and analytical framework to guide data collection and analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire from a sample of 75 Chinese EFL learners and a small-scale follow-up interview of five participants who completed the questionnaire. Data showed that a mobile-technology-assisted environment effected changes in Chinese EFL learners’ ways of adopting a particular set of learning strategies, which differed in type and frequency from those typical of a teacher-led and examination-oriented language classroom. Metacognitive and commitment control strategies were most frequently used by the respondents in this study. The frequency of student use of metacognitive strategies moved ahead of commitment and environmental control strategies. Satiation and emotion control strategies, rarely used by Chinese students in a teacher-fronted language classroom, were also observable. These findings have implications for the understanding and designing of mobile-technology-assisted learning for EFL learners to develop appropriate strategies for autonomous learning.