Rationale for Implementing a Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Lab over a Tape-Based Lab

John de Szendeffy
January 1997

Introduction

A preliminary qualification: The true cost of a CALL lab installation

The high cost of a CALL lab raises the eyebrows and ire of teachers and administrators. True, a CALL lab will in practically no case save a program money. However, the actual cost of a CALL lab is only the difference between an analog lab (or its replacement) and a digital lab minus the cost of computers necessary in either case if they can be used for multiple purposes. That is, computers purchased for a CALL lab could, in many cases, be used for other student, faculty, development, or administrative purposes as well. A CALL lab thus has the potential to be multi-purpose, while a dedicated tape-based language lab is not.

 

Access

Access to material stored as computer files (sound, video, text, structured lessons, Web activities, etc.) is infinitely greater than tape- or book-based material. It is also more precise, with random access to any file or any point in a file (no rewinding, fast forwarding, or page turning). Once in a sound file, for example, students can see exactly where they are with the graphical progress bar and precise elapsed-time indicator instead of the old tape deck counter that often uses arbitrary units.

 

Options

In most tape-based labs, the teacher can broadcast or copy audio to students all at once. Students then have individual control over what the teacher recorded for them onto their decks. In a CALL lab, this ability still exists, except that teachers don't have to worry about copying material during class. Sound files are put on a server or distributed in advance and can be used by anyone at any time. Also, the students can listen to different sound files. They don't all have to work on the same thing.

 

Flexibility

In a tape-based lab, teachers are, for the most part, at the mercy of the material brought to class. In a CALL lab, teachers can have as much material at their disposal as they wish (through Apple's At Ease or other group management software for the PC), depending, of course, on what is owned by the site. Teachers could conceivably have the entire semester's material ready for use at any time, in any sequence. If anything goes wrong, students choose other material, applications, or activities. Materials or access to applications could be added or removed in a moment's notice with the right group management software.

There never needs to be a wasted day or canceled class in a CALL lab. If teachers can not make it to their lab class, it's possible to deliver the assignment via e-mail or a lab manager, and students can proceed to access material designated by the teacher without worrying about books, copies, tapes, etc., brought by the teacher. Any other class would likely be canceled.

The nature of activities in a tape-based lab is usually structured. In a CALL lab, instruction can also be as structured as, for example, having students replace all verbs or prepositions or articles in a text cloze activity (with NewReader), or having them engage in such open-ended activities with unstructured language as a research project on the Web, Nexis, Eric, or the like.

 

Independence

Independent control over the pace of material allows a student to tailor the amount of material delivered to his or her true comprehension ability and learning style without being intimidated in one case or bored in another. Students can complete different amounts of a lesson, but the relative challenge presented by this work can be the same for each student.

With video in the analog lab (using a VCR) in particular, it is near impossible to address the needs of individual students: Everyone sees the exact same clip at the same time and for the same number of times. In a CALL lab, the student has total control over viewing the video.

 

Opportunities for student input and production

In an environment where students each have a production tool—a computer—more and more of what they see will be produced by them. There are many programs available for a CALL lab that allow students to compose and combine elements of an individual or group project in stimulating ways.

 

Motivation

The role that computers play in motivating students cannot be overstated. Traditional, tightly structured, teacher-centered labs may make teachers feel good, but they make students sleepy. In a CALL lab, students are in control of their learning and the teacher ensures that they are on the right path. Because a computer lesson is fun doesn't mean it's frivolous. That perception is a vestige of puritanical pedagogy that held pedanticism above all else. When students are interested and entertained (there, it's out in the open!), then they're conscious, focused, and thinking about and in English. Isn't this 90% of the struggle?

 

Relevant context

Computer use is a content area in itself. When students leave a tape-based lab, they have reinforced their skill at using a Walkman. When they leave the computer lab, they are computer literate, with all of the practical and logical processing skills that that implies.

 

Realistic group structure

The traditional classroom is modeled after a hierarchical structure that remains fundamentally teacher centered no matter how it has been renamed. The fact of having a computer for each student, with the students in control, forces the teacher from the role of conductor, one that he would not otherwise relinquish. His role truly becomes one of facilitator and more reflective of the modern organizational model emphasizing teamwork more than walls and sharply delineated roles. Teamwork relies on communication, and communication is our goal as language teachers.

 

Teachers and the transition from a traditional to a CALL lab

The first inclination of users in a CALL lab is to replicate functions and activities performed in the old lab, the tape-based lab. This is an unavoidable mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. The new cannot and should not be modified to emulate the old any more than your safer, faster, more comfortable new car should be degraded to look and drive like your old car. Teachers must grapple with the fact that the old lab is dead and do so quickly.

As CALL labs are more capable they are also more complex. Thus the illogical sentiment that "I want the lab without the technology" ignores the one hundred-fold increase in communicative and critical thinking possibilities offered by the new lab and the enormous content wrapped up in the means (i.e., the technology as intermediary content) and the relevance of computer skills for our students' future. These neo-Luddites clamoring for the good old days of simple listening and repeating in the old lab may very well not have used it any more (or more effectively) than they use the new lab.

CALL pedagogy is different from conventional classroom pedagogy. Users have to be finessed into the fold and not intimidated into teaching in a computer lab because everyone else is or because it's expected of them. It's an enormous task to relearn an approach to classroom teaching and learn to skillfully use complex tools, and it would be a mistake to assume or suggest to others that it can or should be done overnight or without pain or frustration. The key is to have an open mind to allow in new approaches, new possibilities, have the enthusiasm to explore them, and, most of all, be resourceful enough to meet teaching goals regardless of whether these new approaches and tools work at any one moment in class.

Conveying the wisdom (as opposed to the righteousness) of CALL pedagogy requires extraordinary patience (on both sides) and persuasive ability. Showing more than telling tends to net better results.

 

A precaution

It's easy at first to lose sight of the fact that technology is the means to pedagogical goals and not an end in itself. (Although an argument could be made for the value of teaching students computer skills, intensive English programs are charged with focusing on English instruction.) In this dark phase, a teacher may think of having "a computer class" every Wednesday. This perspective can be forgiven—as long as it's outgrown. Having a "computer class" focuses on the means instead of the end. On the other hand, performing a listening activity, for example, that happens to take advantage of the computer is a skillful selection of tool. Nonetheless, after the initial fascination (or trauma, depending upon one's experience and disposition) induced by the means, the goal of delivering English and engaging students with English is more effectively accomplished with the great variety of tools and opportunities for learning in a CALL lab.