CALL and teacher education: Issues in course design

• ISSN 1442-438X
• CALL-EJ Online
• Vol. 1, No. 2, September 1999

• Marcia Johnson
• The University of Waikato, New Zealand

Introduction

As the use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) grows worldwide (Fidelman, 1998), university courses to inform language teachers about CALL applications are also increasing. Given that the role of the teacher in computer-mediated education requires some rethinking and redefinition, it is important for practitioners to understand the pedagogical issues related to technological change (McWilliams & Taylor, 1998) and to be aware of current perspectives on the roles and functions of CALL. For example, some enthusiasts view CALL as an innovative teaching technique in which computers play a central role; others view CALL as a functional “add-on” to conventional lessons; while still others in the language teaching profession believe that computers make no significant contribution at all to language teaching and learning. Evaluating competing claims can be a difficult, confusing task, and in teacher education programmes, it is clear that courses need to cover more than just the technical background to CALL.
Identifying, exploring, and discussing key issues in the area of CALL are essential if teachers are to learn how to make informed choices about computer use. CALL courses which focus primarily on how to “surf the net” to find instructional materials or construct web sites are inadequate and are reminiscent of computing studies curricula of the 1980s (Collis & Muir, 1986). At that time, a common complaint was that the focus of instruction in educational computing was on programming languages and general machine-handling skills without detailed consideration of the curricular or contextual limitations within which computers would be used. Perhaps similar observations could be made about the current state of CALL in second language teacher education (SLTE) programs.
To meet the new challenges and directions of CALL for teacher education, we recognized the need for courses that addressed a wider range of issues. Further, and more generally in second language teacher education (SLTE) programmes, there is a need to help teachers develop skills in autonomous learning and self-reflection so as to help them refine and improve their classroom practice. Computers can play a role in developing these skills.
This paper will discuss the design, development, and on-going evaluation of a CALL component which has recently been incorporated into two postgraduate university degree programmes — one in second language teaching and the other in Applied Linguistics. Discussion will focus on the activities, decisions, and developments in the introductory-level CALL course (similar issues affected design of the more specialist CALL courses, but will not be discussed here) and will be framed within a general description of aspects of the institutional setting and degree programmes. An overview of course content and instructional approaches will be provided and implications for teaching and learning discussed.

Overview of the setting

Our academic year runs from March to October. During 1997 and 1998, three CALL courses were introduced into the two postgraduate degree programmes in Applied Linguistics at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Prior to the introduction of these courses (one at the Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching (PGDipSLT) level and two at the Masters level), both programmes had been based entirely on an instructional format in which students met with their teacher on a weekly basis, were assigned a variety of print-based readings, and wrote three major assignments within 12-week courses. Six courses were required for successful completion of the PGDipSLT and four were required at the MA(Applied) level. It was becoming increasingly clear, however, that there were problems with the structure of the two programmes, their courses, and methods of course delivery and assessment as they related to the particular needs of the student groups.
All students in our programmes are adult learners with busy lives outside of the university (many are engaged in full-time employment as language teachers). Because of the constraints of their professional careers, many students come to the university only to attend courses. Also, a significant number of our students are from non-native English speaking backgrounds (NESBs). In practical terms, this has meant that a sense of “on-campus” community was lacking for many students in our programmes due either to their work and family commitments or to the challenges of reading, writing, and speaking in English (or a combination of these factors). Also, some students reported feeling lonely and academically isolated.
Further, as the use of computers in language teaching increases, students in our programmes have been showing interest in using and evaluating computers and software in their own instructional contexts. It was also clear to us that on-line instruction has implications not only for language study and graduate courses (for example, students are now able to study anywhere in the world, without having to leave home), but also for the entire university community. These various considerations — the types of students enrolled in our degree programmes, the increasing prevalence of computers in language teaching, and new modes of delivering instruction in higher education — all helped to shape and influence our second language teacher education CALL course.
In addition, there were several more specific aspects of course design which shaped and influenced our decisions about the CALL course. The first included typical design concerns, such as, identifying appropriate subject area content and materials and their sequencing. Other aspects, including the selection and use of instructional techniques and methods of organizing student assessment, needed to include explicit consideration both of student needs and of issues related to teaching and learning in cyberspace.
Changing to an instructional format based on distance, on-line delivery is complex. Revising courses to an on-line format includes several stages and involves much more than simply loading conventional course content into web-based delivery systems — particularly if such software is concerned primarily with content presentation and discrete item testing. The issue of appropriate on-line educational formats, while important across the university, is particularly key in second language teacher education in which students are developing knowledge and skills in a variety of approaches to language teaching. For example, we are concerned with introducing and discussing issues of reflective practice, alternative assessment in the language classroom, and practical methods for fostering collaboration amongst practitioners. We are not particularly concerned with having students master a body of “facts” to be regurgitated on examinations.

Considerations for CALL course design

In the case of the course being described in this paper, the problem of how to design instruction which not only included content and issues relevant to CALL, but also developed students' technical proficiency was complex. Issues related to reflective practice and autonomous learning also needed to be explicitly considered in the course design, and this added to the complexity. The following discussion describes the design process within a framework of content and assessment concerns as well as theories of second language pedagogy, including autonomous learning and reflective practice.

Content concerns

Many (if not most) of the students enrolling in the PGDipSLT CALL course have had limited background and experience using computers and are unfamiliar both with computing terminology and CALL concepts. This raised a variety of issues when assembling course readings. Most general computer science books are too technical for our novice computer users; many CALL-specific books lack a theoretical perspective; and most books in computers in education are too general. Although there is an enormous, and growing, body of CALL literature available on the Web, searching for and locating appropriate research articles is extremely time-consuming.
What was also important for the location and structuring of content was our recognition that the field of CALL is an emerging one, and that there is no accepted “dogma” which could, or should, dictate the inclusion of different types of content. We wanted to include a range of representative views of CALL so that students could become aware of the richness of the various arguments about the role and significance of CALL. In addition, it was important to provide opportunities in the course for students to participate in locating resources for students to identify and locate resources relevant to their own particular instructional contexts, to contribute to class discussions on an on-going basis, and to work collaboratively.
Initially, we adopted two core texts for the course, assembled a variety of articles from print-based and on-line sources, and organized a series of readings into four general areas:

1. The context of CALL
2. Technology
3. Software evaluation
4. Language skill areas: reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Within these topic areas, students learn about the history of computers in education and CALL and different conceptual frameworks for considering CALL research, technical terminology and basic networking concepts, different approaches and ways of thinking about software evaluation, and CALL applications within the skill areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. A fifth area, “CALL in the classroom”, in which we discuss focused examples of CALL implementations (“how to do CALL”) has been added recently as a result of student feedback about CALL topics they want to explore more deeply. A selected CALL bibliography can be referenced at the end of this paper.

Autonomous learning

Content concerns were only one aspect of course design. Throughout many of the courses in our programmes, students encounter a variety of literature discussing the principles and significance of autonomous learning. It would probably be safe to say that the majority of students support the principles of autonomous learning — at least in theory and as they relate to their future language students.
However, some students in our programmes are reluctant to adopt these ideas into their own learning in spite of accepting the principles of autonomous learning. In spite of changes to how some of our courses are taught, most students have become accustomed to a model of higher education in which they are passive receivers of knowledge, in the form of lectures, from their teachers (the experts). In many tertiary-level degree programmes (in New Zealand and elsewhere), students are seldom challenged to take responsibility for the direction of their own learning. Although delving more deeply into this issue is not the purpose of this paper, the fact remains that for many of our students, “autonomous learning” is merely a concept they have encountered in course readings, and it does not have much personal relevance.
Teacher reflection, peer evaluation, and assessment issues
Likewise, although some of our courses, particularly at the PGDipSLT level, use peer evaluation and self-assessment (as techniques to develop reflective practitioners), the feedback students receive in these courses is frequently more summative than formative. Students practice “reflection” as a technique to improve their final grade in the course, but structures to support on-going reflection as an essential component of courses in our programmes have been lacking. As mentioned earlier, many courses have followed a “traditional” model, in which the lecturer provides pre-digested course content, in the form of lectures, and all students submit their version of the same assignment.
This format of instruction has the tendency to foster passivity on the part of students, extremely low levels of compliance with reading assignments, and uneven quality in submitted essays. Also, when there are only three chances to demonstrate proficiency during a course, and only one acceptable task type (academic essay writing), validity of the assessment is highly questionable. Moreover, this style of assessment has proven to be particularly problematic for students who are non-native English speakers (NESB).

The instructional approach

Objectives

There are four main objectives which have guided the design, development, and implementation of the CALL course, and the issues described above have provided a contextual framework within which design decisions have been made.
First, we wanted to teach students about computers in language learning by having them use computers to find and evaluate information relevant to their academic and professional needs. Second, we wanted to use computer-mediated communication (CMC) as a tool to encourage and support autonomous learning and to facilitate reflective practice. Third, we wanted to develop mechanisms for using CMC as a means to develop and sustain a sense of community among students. And, finally, we needed to be mindful of practical and economic constraints from both the students' and the department's perspectives.
In order to accomplish our inter-related aims, assessment and classroom management procedures needed to change significantly. Swain's idea of “bias for best” (1983) influenced our thinking about the design of assessment tasks and task types so that students could express themselves in a variety of different formats and have many “fresh starts”. In addition, CMC was used as a structural support for sharing information, discussing ideas, and creating a community of learners.
A relatively “low-tech” (inexpensive) approach to course design included the establishment of an email listserv on one of the university's servers, the careful selection and purchase of exemplary software to demonstrate different approaches to CALL, and the collection of print-based materials reflecting different perspectives on CALL. Our decision not to bundle all course content into a unit in web-based software was deliberate. We did not want to deliver “canned” lectures followed by discrete item testing, but rather wanted to build and nurture an online community of collaborating peers. We believed that having the course delivered in a presentational, rather than discursive mode, would be ineffective for nurturing student reflection or interactive sharing of ideas.

Assessment

A key feature of the CALL course was its focus on continuous assessment of student work and this was organized into four separate task types described below.

Reading, interpretation, and peer evaluation

Each week students read between three to five academic articles about a particular aspect of the week's discussion theme, prepared a question about one of the articles (their choice), and wrote an answer to their own question. Questions were to be focused and answers were to be concise (around 200-250 words). Each student then posted both their question and answer to the on-line discussion list.
The main purpose of the question and answer assignment was for students to demonstrate their personal interpretation of the reading. There were no “correct” questions and answers, but students needed to illustrate their own perspective and understanding of what they had read.
After posting their question and answer to the list, students read and selected two questions and answers (their choice) posted by other students in the course. They then wrote one positive comment and one constructive criticism for each of the two questions and answers they had selected. In this manner, everyone shared in the task of peer evaluation, an assessment technique which some had encountered in other course readings, but in which they had not participated in practice.

Moderation of on-line discussion

The volume of email posted to the list each week was large and so management and evaluation of it were shared, assessed tasks. Student moderators were scheduled on a weekly, rotating basis to prepare summaries of the quantity and quality of messages being posted to the list. To assist them with this organizational task, they were provided with an evaluation summary sheet developed by the instructor.

Oral presentations

Students were required, on a weekly, rotating basis to make informal seminar presentations and to lead class discussions about the assigned readings. Since everyone had read the articles, thought about their meaning, and had read other students ideas about the papers before they arrived in class, discussion was well-informed and lively.
In addition, on a weekly, rotating basis students located, evaluated, and presented interesting web-sites or standalone software (related to language teaching) to the class.

Academic writing

During the course, students wrote two “position papers” in which they synthesised and interpreted ideas gleaned from the readings, on-line discussions, and class presentations and discussions. Finally, students selected a CALL topic of personal interest and developed it into a longer, academic writing assignment through consultation and formative feedback from the instructor.

Discussion and conclusions

The potential of technology to transform language teaching is often the underlying assumption of CALL course design; however, conceptual frameworks which emphasize the social, cultural, and discursive implications of using computers in teaching could guide CALL course design (Bowers & Flinders, 1990; Ragsdale, 1988) and would be far more appropriate. In addition, explicit consideration of how reflective practice can be nurtured, and good teaching encouraged and sustained is important in the design of any teacher education courses — including CALL. For example, knowledge of general principles of assessment, including continuous assessment, is important not just in theory, but in practice; students need to experience different models of assessment. Although we are continuing to refine the CALL programme based on course feedback and other research findings, some preliminary conclusions are discussed below.

Adapting to a new model of assessment

Blending a variety of ideas and assumptions about not only teaching and learning, but also about the use of computers in language teaching has been complicated, and the development of techniques to support student learning within a new model of instruction has been time-consuming. In addition, students have experienced a model of teaching and learning substantially different from what they have encountered elsewhere, and have been required to change how they conceptualize and do academic work. When confronted by these challenges, some students have had difficulty adapting, and these reasons were particularly clear when considered within the context of culture. Some Asian students reported to the class student representative that they felt anxious about publicly commenting on each other's work while one native-speaker of English stated that the principles of peer evaluation, while possibly appropriate within North American culture, were inappropriate within New Zealand (Brine & Johnson, 1999). In spite of these initial criticisms, however, student evaluations of the course have been overwhelmingly positive, and the course has become so popular that enrolment has had to be capped (due to limitations of available computers in the University labs).

The teacher-learner relationship

With the introduction of continuous assessment and focused peer evaluation, the teacher-learner relationship was modified with the instructor becoming a guide and facilitator. In addition, the sense of community which began on-line extended into the classroom. Because students were using CMC to communicate with everyone in the class throughout the week, they developed a much broader friendship base than would have been possible only through face-to-face mode during class times. This was particularly advantageous for NESB students who were often reluctant speakers of English in conventional courses and who had difficulty developing relationships with native-speakers. Group discussion and collaboration had become an important aspect of the course as students assumed increasing greater control over their own learning.

The effect of CALL on our teaching programme

During the design process described here, we explicitly considered not only the structure and content of the CALL course, but we also operationalised theoretical models of teaching and learning. What we have learned through the implementation and on-going evaluations of the CALL course has been valuable within the contexts of course design, technology implementation, and educational change. Further, student evaluations and feedback have helped us to refine assessment activities, expand our own knowledge base, and improve course design.
Although we are still in the early stages of developing the CALL focus in our programmes, knowledge gained from this CALL course implementation has been extremely valuable and has influenced our design of other Applied Linguistics courses. For example, as some of our students seemed to be unaware of general acceptance of concepts associated with peer evaluation, even though they are well-represented in education programs in both New Zealand and Australia, this indicated a need for more instruction in this area. As one way of addressing this need, we have introduced another PGDipSLT course called Reflective Practice in Language Teaching which is designed to encourage openness and give students experience with self-reflection. Further, as we analyze more closely student transcripts from the CALL course, we hope not only to understand more deeply the nature of on-line communication, but also to gain insights into the nature of CALL and students' cognitive and social d!! evelopment within an enhanced instructional environment.

Footnotes

1. An earlier version of this paper, Issues in Computer-Assisted Language Learning: What do language teachers need to know? was presented at the Sixth National Conference on Community Language and English for Speakers of other Languages (CLESOL) Palmerston North, New Zealand, 25-28 September 1998.
2. Course 0213.750, Issues in Computer-Assisted Language Learning is a survey course for students enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Second Language Teaching degree programme and was introduced in 1997.
   Courses 0213.550 (Evaluation of CALL Materials) and 0213.570 (Language and Culture in Cyberspace) are intended for students in the Master's programme and were introduced in 1997 and 1998 respectively.
3. Pennington, M. (1996).The Power of CALL. Houston: Athelstan Publications.
   Levy, M. (1997). Computer-assisted language learning: Context and conceptualization. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
4. Brine, J. (1998). Evaluating language instruction in cyberspace. Paper presented at the Sixth National Conference on Community Language and English for Speakers of other Languages (CLESOL), Palmerston North, New Zealand, 25-28 September 1998.

References

• Bowers, C. A. & Flanders, D. J. (1990). Responsive teaching: An ecological approach to classroom patterns of language, culture, and thought. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Brine, J., & Johnson, E. M. (1999, March 9-13). Program evaluation of a CALL graduate course. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) conference, New York.
• Collis, B. & Muir, W. (1986). A survey of computer education courses in Canadian faculties of education. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 16(1), 61-71.
• Fidelman, C. (1998). Growth of Internet use by language professionals. CALICO Journal, 15(4), 39-57.
• Levy, M. (1997). Computer-assisted language learning: Context and conceptualization. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• McWilliams, E., & Taylor, P. G. (1998). Teacher im/material: Challenging the new pedagogies of instructional design. Educational Researcher, 27(8), 29-34.
• Pennington, M. (1996). (Ed.).The power of CALL. Houston: Athelstan Publications.
• Ragsdale, R. G. (1988). Permissible computing in education: Values, assumptions, and needs. New York: Praeger Publishers.
• Richards, J. C. (1998). Beyond training: Perspectives on language teacher education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Swain, M. (1983). Large scale communicative language testing: A case study. Language Learning and Communication, 2, 133-47.

Author

Marcia Johnson (Ph.D., University of Toronto) is a lecturer in Applied Linguistics and CALL at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Her primary research interests include computer-assisted language learning and issues in assessment and evaluation. Prior to living and working in New Zealand, Marcia conducted research and taught English as a Foreign Language in Japan for five years.
Author's Address

• Department of General and Applied Linguistics Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences The University of Waikato
• Private Bag 3105
• Hamilton, New Zealand
• Phone: 64 7 838 4466 Ext. 6684
• Fax: 64 7 838 4932
• Email:marcia@waikato.ac.nz

Selected CALL Bibliography

• Beauvois, M. H. (1997). Computer-mediated communication (CMC): Technology for improving speaking and writing. In M. D. Bush & R. M. Terry (Eds.), Technology-enhanced language learning (pp. 165-184). Lincolnwood, Illinois: National Textbook Company.
• Bickel, B. & Truscello, D. (1996). New opportunities for learning: Styles and strategies with computers. TESOL Journal, 6 (1), 15-19.
• Brett, P. (1997). Do-it-yourself multimedia. Recall Journal, 9(1), 34-42.
• Bush, M. D. & Terry, R. M. (Eds.). (1997). Technology-enhanced language learning. Lincolnwood, Illinois: National Textbook Company.
• Chapelle, C. A. (July, 1997). CALL in the year 2000: Still in search of research paradigms? Language Learning & Technology, 1(1), 19-43. Retrieved September 23, 1998 from the World Wide Web: http://polyglot.cal.msu.edu/llt/vol1num1/chapelle/default.html
• Chapelle, C. A. (July, 1998). Multimedia call: Lessons to be learned from research on instructed SLA. Language Learning & Technology, 2(1), 22-34. Retrieved September 23, 1998 from the World Wide Web:
• Eskenazi, M. (1999). Using automatic speech processing for foreign language pronunciation tutoring: Some issues and a prototype. Language Learning & Technology, 2 (2), 62-76.
• Godwin-Jones, B. (1999). Emerging technologies: Mobile computing and language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 2 (2), 7-11.
• Goertzen, P. (March, 1998). Sound strategies and computer-based reading. The Language Teacher Online [On-line serial]. Available: http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/98/mar/goertzen.html
• Handa, C. (1993). Designing a computer classroom: Pedagogy, nuts, and bolts. In L. Myers (Ed.), Approaches to computer writing classrooms: Learning from practical experience (pp. 103-118). Albany: State University of New York Press.
• Hanson-Smith, E. (1997). Technology in the classroom: Practice and promise in the 21st century. TESOL Professional Papers [Online]. Available:http://www.tesol.edu/pubs/profpapers/techclass.html
• Healey, D. J., & Johnson, N. (1997/98, Winter). A place to start in selecting software [On-line]. Available: http://ucs.orst.edu/~healeyd/cj_software_selection.html
• Johnson, E. M. (1997). Multimedia process writing in the Japanese context. Computers in New Zealand Schools, 9 (20), 36-40.
• Keenan, C., Cooper, J., Corio, R., Dauer, S., Galin, J., Sands, P. & Schweller, P. (1996, 2 December). What can you DO in the MOO?: An overview and collection of MOO lesson plans [On-line]. Available: http://mason.gmu.edu/~epiphany/docs/dointhemoo.html
• Koebke, K. (1998). Computers and collaboration: Adapting CALL materials to different learning styles. In J. M. Reid (Ed.), Understanding learning styles in the second language classroom (pp. 46-52). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall Regents.
• Lee, L. (1998). Going beyond classroom learning: Acquiring cultural knowledge via on-line newspapers and intercultural exchanges via on-line chatrooms. CALICO Journal, 16(2), 101-120.
• Levy, M. (1997). Computer-assisted language learning: Context and conceptualization. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Murphy-Judy, K. (1997). The use of the World Wide Web in teaching foreign languages. In B. Khan (Ed.), Web-Based Instruction (pp. 403-406). Englewood Cliffs: Educational Technology Publications, Inc.
• Murray, L., & Barnes, A. (1998). Beyond the “wow” factor–evaluating multimedia language learning software from a pedagogical viewpoint. System, 26(2), 249-259.
• Owen, T., Owston, R. & Dickie, C. (1995). The learning highway: A student's guide to using the internet in high school and college. Toronto: Key Porter Books Limited.
• Pennington, M. (1996). The computer and the non-native writer: A natural partnership. Cresskill, N.J.: Hampton Press, Inc.
• Pennington, M. (Ed.) (1996)., The power of CALL. Houston: Athelstan Publications
• Sayers, D. (1995, 17 May). Language choice and global learning networks: The pitfall of Lingua Franca approaches to classroom telecomputing. Education Policy Analysis and Archives 3(10), [Online]. Available: http://olam.ed.asu.edu/epaa/v3n10.html
• Squires, D., & McDougall, A. (1994). Choosing and using educational software: A teachers' guide. London: The Falmer Press.
• Squires, D., & McDougall, A. (1996). Software evaluation: A situated approach. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 12(3), 146-161.
• Tanguay, E. (1997). English teachers, prepare yourselves for the digital age [On-line]. Available: http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~tanguay/english-teachers.htm
• Vilmi, R. (1998, 27 November). International writing exchange: 1998-1999 [On-line]. Available: http://www.hut.fi/~rvilmi/Project/IWE/handout.html
• Warschauer, M. (1995a). Appendix B: Basic internet tools for foreign language educators. In M. Warschauer (Ed.), Virtual connections (pp. 393-412). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
• Warschauer, M. (1995b). E-Mail for English teaching: Bringing the internet and computer learning networks into the language classroom. Bloomington: TESOL, Inc.
• Warschauer, M. (1996). Computer-assisted language learning: An introduction. In S. Fotos (Ed.), <http://www.logosintl.com/LogosCompassSeries.html> Multimedia language teaching (pp. 3-20). Tokyo: Logos International.
• Warschauer, M. & Healey, D. (1998). Computers and language learning: An overview. Language Teaching, 31, 57-71.
• Woodin, J. (1997). Email tandem learning and the communicative curriculum. Recall Journal, 9(1), 22-33.

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Copyright (c) 1999- Marcia Johnson & CALL-EJ Online(ISSN 1442-438X). All rights reserved.

Web-based second language grammar development: Researching the options

• ISSN 1442-438X
• CALL-EJ Online
• Vol. 1, No. 3, 2000 January

• Cristina Poyatos Matas & Gary Birch
• Griffith University, Australia

Abstract

This article describes the work completed after one year of a three and a half year research project designed to study the effects of purposeful interaction on the Internet on the grammatical accuracy of French immersion students in two Australian high schools. The two schools adopt different approaches to the teaching of grammar, one integrating it with the immersion subject-matter content, while the other teaches it as a discrete subject. To date, one of the schools has been linked with schools in France and Canada to produce a web magazine containing articles written collaboratively in French (by the Australian and Canadian students) and in English (by the French students). The other school is to be linked in 2000. A number of web tools have been developed which allow the researchers to monitor the students' interactions during the process of arriving at publishable articles. This article describes the use of a range of research instruments developed to gather project data and explains how the data will be used to address the research question: What is the effect of purposeful interaction via the Internet on the grammatical accuracy of foreign language learners?

Rationale for the project: Immersion, consciousness raising and the Internet

Immersion programs in which a foreign language is used to teach regular subject matter (such as social sciences, maths, sciences, etc.) have being very successful in achieving high levels of foreign language proficiency, without having negative effects on the students' progress in the subjects taught via the foreign language (Chappell & De Courcy, 1993; Genesee, 1987; Krashen, 1984). However, while immersion students out-perform students taught by other approaches, in terms of grammatical accuracy and sociolinguistic appropriacy, their language use falls short of native speaker norms (Harley, 1984; Hammerley, 1982; Lyster, 1987). It has been pointed out (Lyster, 1987) that this is due to the fact that students communicate for the most part with their peers who are at a similar level of target language proficiency and with teachers who often overlook grammatical errors if the student' s subject matter is correct.
In the past, a number of approaches to the teaching of grammar in immersion programs have been trialed. Day and Shapson (1991) experimented with the teaching of functional grammar and recorded some initially promising results. However, over a period of six months, the students involved did not maintain their initial advantage over a control group. Lyster (1994) developed an approach that attempted to raise students' consciousness of correct grammatical form which resulted in some positive outcomes. Davies (1995) has developed a “dual-focus” approach, which explicitly teaches grammar in tandem with the subject-matter content of the immersion program.
In arguing for the importance of interaction with native speakers, Valette (1993) contrasted the accuracy of students who learned French in French government lyc_e schools with the flawed accuracy of immersion students. Swain (1993), in emphasizing the important role of output in the language acquisition process, highlighted the opportunity that interaction provides for learners to test hypotheses about language rules and consequently to modify their language in the direction of native speaker norms. It would seem, therefore, that if students are to monitor their performance and to refine the grammatical rules on which they operate, they will be assisted if given the opportunity to interact regularly with native speakers. Furthermore, Swain (1998) maintained that student production of output promotes consciousness raising as it puts students in the position of noticing the gap between what they can say and what they cannot say, helping them to become aware of their degree of knowledge of the target language.
The geographical location of Australia makes interaction with native speakers difficult, especially in those languages such as French where immigration of native speakers has been limited. For this reason, it is relevant to explore the use of new technologies, such as email and the World Wide Web to establish whether the access that they allow foreign language learners to native speakers and to immersion students in other parts of the world impacts positively on the development of the learners' grammar, particularly as it is revealed in their written language.
Studies of the use of e-mail and the Internet (Boggs & Jones, 1994; Carrucan & Crewe, 1996; Chun, 1994; Cooke, 1996; McWhirter, 1996; Hogget, 1996;) have found that students experience a range of benefits, including intercultural understanding, greater awareness of audience, the development of critical thinking and an increase in written production. In addition to registering improved motivation (Warschauer, M., Turbee, L., & Roberts, B.,1996), it has been suggested (Bonk, Medry and Reynolds, 1994; Cavalier, Klein & Cavalier, 1995; Forman, 1994) that students experience enhanced achievement through access to peer feedback and discussion by Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). This applies particularly to the development of writing especially when interaction occurs with more capable peers, a feature that is particularly relevant to the use of CMC to provide contact with native speakers and other learners of a foreign language.
Reports from the foreign language classroom (Barson, Frommer & Schwartz, 1993; Oliva & Pollastrini; 1995; Poyatos, 1996) have confirmed learning outcomes similar to those documented from regular classrooms. Oliva and Pollastrini (1995) conclude that Internet resources when used to allow students to communicate with native speakers are conducive to fostering second language acquisition. Moreover, the language teachers involved in these projects have suggested benefits in all language skills including the development of grammar, and it has been found (Kern, 1995; Warschauer, 1996) that students' linguistic output has been more complex at lexical and syntactical levels than when they are engaged in face-to-face interaction.
In recent years, a growing body of research has suggested that conscious reflection on learning may contribute to positive learning outcomes through the development of learner autonomy (Ellis, 1994; Little; 1996; Rutherford, 1987 and Van Lier, 1996). Furthermore, the research studies of Lamy and Goodfellow (1999) have suggested that “learners engaging in reflective online conversations may be more likely to notice formal features of the target language than they would in other kinds of exchanges” (p. 60). However, in spite of considerable speculation concerning the benefits of the use of email and the Internet for the development and acquisition of grammar in foreign language learners, there are no empirical studies based on consistent longitudinal data collection which describe the efficacy and implementation of different grammar teaching and learning approaches with or without the support of Computer-Mediated Communication.

The aims of the project and their evolution

This longitudinal study started in February 1998 and will be completed in 2001. The first two stages of the project have been completed and that is why they are being reported in this paper, as they provide relevant information about the research design and initial implementation of this study. The initial aim of the research project was to compare two broad approaches to the improvement of the grammatical accuracy of students in French immersion programs. One approach involved Australian students in a French immersion program interacting with students in France and Canada via email and the Internet with a view to producing a collaborative electronic magazine. The other approach involved another group of Australian French immersion students receiving explicit grammatical instruction integrated with content subjects in the immersion program.
However, it was found that in order to respect the pedagogic integrity of one of the participating schools, it was necessary to broaden the scope of our investigation. It was found during the pilot stage that the school that was to use only the Internet was in fact teaching French grammar classes that were not integrated with immersion content subjects. As a consequence, the initial aim was changed to document and assess the influence that four different approaches to grammar teaching and learning may have on French immersion students' grammatical and written development.
These approaches are:

1. Grammatical instruction as a discrete study in an immersion program.
2. Grammatical instruction integrated with content subjects in an immersion program.
3. Grammatical instruction as a discrete study in an immersion program together with interaction with native speaking peers and other immersion students via the Internet to produce an electronic magazine.
4. Grammatical instruction integrated with the immersion content subjects together with interaction with native speaking peers and other immersion students via the Internet to produce an electronic magazine.

The research design and methodology

The participants and the data

The participants are Year 9 and 10 students and their teachers from two French immersion high schools in Queensland, Australia. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected.
Quantitative data is being drawn from written tasks undertaken at six-monthly intervals by all the Australian immersion students involved in the project. These tasks are being analysed in terms of the number of words, t-units and clauses used, together with the ratios of error free t-units to total t-units, words and clauses. These statistics have been chosen to capture the development of overall trends in both fluency and accuracy over the course of the project.
Qualitative data has been drawn from six students and their teachers from each class at the Australian end of the project. This involves interviews at six-monthly intervals, classroom observations and the collection of written work produced by the selected students together with the feedback they receive from their peers in Canada and France and the modifications to their articles that result from this. In addition the feedback that these students give to their French and Canadian peers is being documented.
This data collection is facilitated by the following web tools, which have been specifically designed for the project:

1. The tableau de communication pour r_diger into which the students write drafts of their articles and receive feedback from their international peers;
2. The tableau de communication pour r_viser through which students read drafts of articles produced by their international peers and provide these peers with feedback;
3. The user-tracker which allows the researchers to gather data on the way in which the students use the virtual learning environment.

These devices provide the researchers with a permanent record of the students' interactions and the relationship between feedback and the development of written proficiency in a way that would not have been possible had e-mail been used as was originally intended. They also allow relationships to be explored between the language of the written tasks, which are generated individually under test conditions, and the written articles generated collaboratively.

Stages of the data collection

The data collection of this longitudinal study started in July 1998 and will be completed in December 2000. Due to the complexity of the project, the data collection has been divided into four stages:

• Stage one: Piloting of research tools and methodology between July 98 and December 98.
• Stage two: Data collection between January 99 and June 99 (See Figure 1)
• Stage three: Data collection between July 99 and December 99 (See Figure 2)
• Stage four: Data collection between January 2000 and December 2000 (See Figure 3)
• Stage one: This stage was used to develop and trial the research tools and procedures to be used in data collection These consisted of:
• Student written tasks to gauge development of grammatical accuracy during the project.
• Computer Mediated Communication using tableaux de communication.
• Student written contributions to the WWW magazine.
• Classroom observation instruments.
• Teachers and students interviews to gain insights into teaching and learning processes, as well as computer knowledge, attitudes, and grammar learning experience.
• Website user-tracker to provide an insight into which of the Website resources and tools the students use.

Technical and procedural problems were detected at this stage. On the technical front, it had initially been planned to create a Website to display students' web articles in progress as well as to contain web resources to support the creation of articles for the Web magazine. It was intended to use a separate email package (such as Eudora) to have students exchange feedback on their articles in progress, and to use the Website to display them. However, it was soon realised that this was not the best technical design for the study and that it would be very difficult to deal with different countries possibly having different operational systems and email packages. In addition, the students would have had to learn to use a range of different applications (e.g. web browser and email software). Even more significant was the difficulty that the researchers would have experienced in keeping records of students' email exchanges and the sequence in which those exchanges were generated in relation to the development of the articles. Furthermore, there were procedural limitations as the provision of feedback among students using different email packages was not going to be clear due to the use of different packages creating difficulties for both teachers and researchers in the coherent monitoring of the students' progress.
In order to solve the problems detected with this initial formative evaluation, changes were implemented to the initial research design and a tool was developed which allowed the participating students and teachers to view student articles in progress and to provide written feedback for the authors (See Figure 7). Two web spaces were created on the website. In the first one, students could upload their articles in progress directly into the website (called tableau de communication pour r_diger). In the second web space, students could read and comment on the web articles in progress from international peers (called tableau de communication pour r_viser). In addition, this tool facilitated the maintenance of records of the students' written exchanges and the use that the different participants made of the site.

• Stage two: Data were collected between January 99 and June 99 from both Australian schools. These were drawn from written tasks administered at the beginning and end of the semester, which were analysed to provide indications of the students' fluency and accuracy. In addition, classroom observations were carried out in order to document the teaching approaches used in each school and student and teacher interviews took place. Interaction with peers in Canada and France did not take place during this stage (See Figure 1). However, students in School A1 (grammar instruction as a discrete subject) were introduced to the instruments and procedures that were to be used in preparation for their going on-line in the project's next stage.
• Stage three: Data collected between July 99 and December 99 (See Figure 2). Data were collected from grades 9 and 10 in the Australian School A1 where interaction began with immersion schools in Canada (CA1 and CA2) and schools in France (FR1 and FR2). The data collected included students' written tasks, students' and teachers' questionnaires and interviews, classroom observations, Web input (articles and greetings) and user-tracker reports. In addition, data collection continued from grades 9 and 10 of the Australian School A2 (grammar integrated into subject matter content). However, this school was not linked to French and Canadian schools at this stage. Instead, this stage of the project was spent familiarizing the grade 9 students with the web tools that they are to use during the next stage.
• Stage four: Data will be collected from students' written tasks, students' and teachers' questionnaires and interviews, classroom observations, Web input (articles and greetings) and user-tracker reports between January 2000 and December 2000 (See Figure 3). In this stage interaction with Canadian immersion students (CA3 and CA4) and native French speakers (FR3 and FR4) will be introduced in grade 9 and 10 of the Australian School A2. The collection of data from grades 9 and 10 in the Australian School A1will continue as will its links with the schools in France (FR1 and FR2) and the Canadian immersion schools (CA1 and CA2).

The data collected up to the end of the year 2000 will be analyzed using a combination of both quantitative and qualitative procedures and the final project report will be completed by July 2001.

Cyb@mis: A virtual educational environment

By the end of the project, both Australian schools will have their own website to host the international magazine developed in collaboration with their overseas sister schools in France and Canada. The first website has been already developed by the students and teachers of the first Australian School and has been named Cyb@mis (http://www4.gu.edu.au/arts/mans/index.htm). A perusal of the site will show that it is a virtual educational environment (See Figure 4). For the purpose of this article, however, it is intended to highlight only those features which contribute to the provision of data that will elucidate the project's research question.

Tableaux de Communication: The process

Central to this purpose are the tableaux de communication (See Figure 5). They have two roles in the provision of relevant research data:

• Output generators: The tableau de communication pour r_diger allows the students to demonstrate, and the researcher to monitor, the development of their emerging interlanguage as they respond to the feedback of their international peers.
• Feedback generators: The tableau de communication pour r_viser enables the researchers to observe the students as they demonstrate their conscious knowledge of grammar, both French and English. It allows the investigation of possible links between this conscious knowledge and the students' own performance in the language.

Le Magazine Cyb@mis: The product

Once students are satisfied with their articles, they may publish them in Le Magazine Cyb@mis. Up until now their drafts (See Figure 6) have been confidential and available only to their teachers, the researchers and the peers with whom they have been paired for feedback. Once they decide to publish them their articles have a potential worldwide audience. It is considered that this is likely to exert a strong motivational force to achieve the highest level of proficiency of which they are capable. Through access to the tableaux de communication it will be possible for the researchers to trace the stages that the students go through in reaching this level of performance.

Interactional Rules

A further important feature of Cyb@mis relates to the interactional rules that have been developed for the use of the tableaux de communication. As the final product of the collaboration between the students is intended to be a bilingual magazine, there is a need to ensure consistency and coherence of input and output. A simple rule has been devised that students write articles only in their foreign language and that feedback is given in the language in which the article is written. Australian students will therefore write all their articles in French, as will Canadian students. However, when they give feedback to French students, they will do this in English but will write in French when providing feedback to Canadian students. The availability of this feedback data to the researchers through their access to the tableau de communication pour r_viser will allow the investigation of links between feedback provision and the recipient's language as well as studying its effects on the provider's own language (See Figure 7).

The future of the project

The first two years of this project have provided us with very useful insights from our initial formative evaluation to improve the methodological aspects of the research design and to redefine our research questions as described in this article. This international project is an example of how technology can be used as a tool to gather linguistic data, as well as how to use it to enhance the students' linguistic and social learning environment, breaking the barriers of time and distance.
Now that we have overcome the initial challenges of setting up this computer mediated interaction project between Australia, Canada and France, we will be able to concentrate fully on gathering and analysing the data that remain to be collected. The outcomes of this project will allow us to document and assess the impact that different approaches to grammar learning and teaching may have on French immersion students' grammatical and written development. Finally, this longitudinal study will allow us to provide new insights into the effects that purposeful computer mediated interaction with native speakers and other second language learners, via the Web, will have on the process and outcomes of second language acquisition.

Acknowlegements

This research has been funded by the Australian Research Council through a large ARC grant.
We would like to thank our research assistant, Rebecca Chorfadi, for her outstanding efforts. We would also like to express our appreciation to the students from grade 9 and 10 at Mansfield High School, Benowa High School, and Caledonia High School, and their teachers (in alphabetical order): Majda Benzenati, Yvette Courdier, Nicole Davies, Lachlan Hackett, Lorraine Hudry and Robin McDonald for their cooperation and contribution to the initial stages of the project.

Author

Cristina Poyatos Matas is a lecturer in Spanish studies in the School of Languages and Linguistics at Griffith University. She also lectures in Research Issues in Technology and Second Language Learning in the Masters in Applied Linguistics at Griffith University. Her research interests are in Computer Mediated Communication, Web-based multimedia design and evaluation, and grammar pedagogy.
E-mail: C.Matas@mailbox.gu.edu.au
WWW: http://www4.gu.edu.au/arts/spanish/puerta.htm
http://www4.gu.edu.au/arts/spanish/gram
Gary Birch is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics in the School of Cognition, Language and Special Education at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Apart from a research interest in the application of the WWW to second language teaching, he is currently engaged in research into learner strategies in immersion programs and the application of reflection to task-based second language learning.
E-mail:G.Birch@mailbox.gu.edu.au

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source: http://callej.org/

Copyright (c) 2000- Cristina Poyatos Matas, Gary Birch & CALL-EJ Online (ISSN 1442-438X). All rights reserved.

Web-based ESL courses: A search for industry standards

• ISSN 1442-438X
• CALL-EJ Online
• Vol. 2, No. 1, 2000 June

• Mike Smith & Urai Sal
• Horwood Language Centre, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

This paper considers the criteria that should be used when assessing an online language school. So far, there have been very few, if any, discussions of online language schools in the CALL literature. There is a considerable body of research into the influence of technology on open learning and distance education . None of this, however, addresses the problem that faces a potential learner when they first investigate an online school.
Specifically, this paper proposes a framework for evaluating online webschool sites. It discusses a number of these sites in the light of the proposed framework, and then goes on to describe the authors' attempts to enrol into a number of them. The paper concludes by looking at the potential problems facing the schools and their students, and concludes that the concept of cyberschooling is still at too early a stage in its development to fulfil the promise it appears to hold.

Introduction

A recent newspaper article in the Melbourne newspaper, The Age (7 Aug. 1999) entitled ‘Teaching by the minute’, outlined an initiative by the Australian State Government of Victoria to provide online tutorial support for year 12 students in a range of subjects. Victoria's Education Department has entered into an agreement with a private company to set up a website that links students to a range of teachers, each accessible by email, and each ready to provide one-to-one online support for students needing help with their assessment tasks. (The url for this company is http://www.Worldschool.com/).
This is a clear indication that mainstream education is beginning to recognise the viability of real-time online teaching, and that web-based delivery of some forms of education are gaining a legitimacy that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. It also indicates that a significant sector of the education industry considers web-based delivery to be cost-effective.
The growing legitimisation of web-based education coincides with a growth in the number of websites that claim to be ‘virtual’ English language learning centres. Some of these ‘virtual’ schools are free, but an increasing number of them demand payment for enrolment. Many of them claim to be a viable alternative to face-to-face teaching for students who cannot or will not attend more traditional language classes. However, a lack of consistent educational standards can make a student's choice of a ‘cyberschool’ a somewhat hit-and-miss affair.
As web-based learning becomes more acceptable within the wider community, and the number of cyberschools increases, it will be necessary for teachers and learners to have a set of criteria that will enable them to evaluate these cyberschools. This paper investigates a number of cyberschools currently available on the Web and attempts to provide some initial discussion on what these criteria might be.

Background

While a number of investigations have been published exploring the influence of technology on the provision of open learning and distance education , and while many of these studies discuss the advantages and disadvantages of online delivery (see, for instance, Tella 1996), none of them address the problem that faces a potential learner when they first investigate an online school.
There appear to be very few discussions of online language schools as such in the literature. The ‘schools’ are of course a manifestation of distance learning and so it may be useful to examine them in the context of distance education. Sussex argues that there are strong links between distance learning and open learning, and describes the major features of both forms of learning thus:

both distance education and open-access learning involve high levels of student control and direction … And both, if well designed and delivered, allow students to learn in ways that make reduced demands on a scarce human resource.(Sussex

Sussex goes on to describe how in the previous decade an increasing number of institutions had begun offering undergraduate language courses in the distance mode.

A framework for evaluation

Sandery outlines a number of positives and negatives for open learning which are particularly valuable starting points for an examination of cyberschool sites:

On the positive side:

• open learning focuses on students and on learning outcomes for students rather than inputs, institutional structures and teachers;
• an open learning approach makes the quality of courseware and student support structures highly visible to a wide audience;
• an open learning approach requires that assessment requirements be explicit before a course is commenced;

On the cautionary side:

• most people need and want contact with other people as part of their learning experiences;
• some externally set deadlines and other structures may improve the learning outcomes for most students;
• open learning approaches require study and other skills that are usually acquired in more structured learning environments and hence may be more applicable to mature students;
• courseware development and delivery systems may require substantial ‘up front’ investment;

Methodology

We based our investigations on Sandery's points, and set out to discover how many of the sites exploited the positives and attempted to cope actively with the negatives. In our evaluation of the sites we looked for the following;

• a clearly defined syllabus and teaching approach;
• the range and levels of learning materials offered;
• evidence of instruments for student assessment;
• the ability to access a teacher when required;
• the quality of teaching materials including the design of teaching materials, adequate variety and sufficient workload for the type of program offered;
• the existence of any form of face-to-face teaching;
• the nature of help available for students (not only for ways to learn, but also what to do with the task in hand);
• value for money, which included educationally effective materials and an adequate quantity of materials;
• an indication of the length of the course.

Our investigations were in three stages: (1) identify a number of suitable cyberschools; (2) assess them according to the set of common criteria based on the list above; and 3) enrol into a number of the cyberschools to assess their viability as learning resources.

The cyberschools

The sites we investigated were mainly taken from a list to be found on the Dave's ESL Caf_ website , but we also included other sites that we came across on the Web that seemed relevant to our investigation. Not all of the sites on the ESL Cafe site were relevant or appropriate: some were advertisements for traditional language schools, and some were part of tertiary credit courses and closed to the general public. The number of sites at the Dave's ESL Cafe website that were relevant to our research were, therefore, somewhat reduced.

The assessment

Following the classification outlined above, we carried out an evaluation of the sites according to the following criteria:

• The site's country of origin. This is likely to influence the kind of English it teaches. If a student wants to learn British English (seen by many cultures as the most desirable form of English), the potential student is more likely to go to a UK site than one in the US;
• The equipment that a student would need. The more complex the equipment, the greater the potential overall cost of enrolment, which is likely to affect the kind of student capable of enrolling;
• Access to a ‘real’ teacher online. This is a good indication of the level of individualised instruction available;
• The length of the courses, and where possible the number of lessons a week. This affects the overall value of the program: the more hours offered, the cheaper the program should be;
• What its syllabus is and whether or not it has a teaching philosophy. This should be an indication of the level of professionalism of the teachers behind the web pages, particularly if the site expects students to enrol into a course of a defined length;
• The type of instruction offered: for example if there is a business English option, or if it concentrates mainly on writing skills;
• The cost.

Enrolment

Urai, the ‘learner’ in our team, intended first to enrol into a number of free sites, and then into several fee-paying sites. As will be explained below, the second stage of the enrolment activities was not carried out.

Findings

Cyber schools

The schools we investigated are presented in Table 1. Broadly speaking, the websites in Table 1 can be divided into four types:

Pages from college or university courses

There were number of these on the Dave's ESL Caf_ site, some requiring a college student number before they could be accessed. The ones that are accessible to the general public are included in Table 1 (8, 9, 14, 15) (the numbers in brackets in the rest of this paper refer to the entries in Table 1). They range from colleges in the US to universities in Japan, and include a teacher-training course that takes the form of an interchange between teacher trainees in the US and ESL learners in Israel. These are interesting only to the extent that they underline the trend elsewhere for sites that consist of a range of self-access materials with a teacher available in the background, to be called on when help is required. If one of these sites is open to the general public, it is usually because the outside students are being used for some form of research. A good example is Number 34, whose introductory pages contain the following explanation:

The purpose of the project is to explore and expand the educational potential of Internet by offering free online instruction by volunteer teachers to students from all over the world, in order, in part, to facilitate the learning of English by students who might otherwise not have access to, or resources for, ‘real world’ and/or paying classes; and in part to identify:

• the advantages and disadvantages of online education as compared to traditional in-class education, and
• the optimal methods for instruction and learning within the online environment.

One cannot help wondering how many students there are worldwide who ‘do not have access to, or resources for, real world and/or paying classes’, but do have access to a computer, an Internet service provider and a phone line.

Sites delivering content

Virtually every site in this category calls itself an online English course. This group of sites, however, provides little if any interaction between student and software, and none at all between student and teacher. Most of these sites contain lists of information on traditional English courses (see 7, 24), and provide a small number of language exercises. An example of this category is The Internet Mini-Course, maintained by Helen Hoyt Schmidt (31). The website contains a set of definitions and explanations about the course Schmidt is involved with, a number of simple English tests, and a sample lesson or two. For reading comprehension exercises the site typically provides a reading text and some comprehension questions which students must print out and work with offline. This would be a useful resource for teachers in a traditional classroom, but not for students working on their own, as there appear to be no opportunities for having their work corrected.

Interactive pages without teacher — student communication

In this category are a number of sites containing interactive learning material such as tests and quizzes (11, 13, 24, 30). Interactive material allows users/students to type input into an on-screen task and receive immediate feedback. An example of this is Guide to Grammar and Writing (32), which is a comprehensive reference to grammar and writing. Each learning module is followed by interactive language exercises and quizzes. By working through these, students can test their understanding of the learning modules previously provided by the teachers. Since this website has a number of JavaScript routines embedded in it, students can get immediate feedback on their work.
Even though there is no active communication between the teacher and the students on these sites, students can sometimes get forms of feedback that are quite sophisticated, even to the extent of being told why what they've done is wrong and what they need to revisit in a particular learning module.

Full-blown virtual school

The schools in this category are similar to each other in that they offer ongoing tuition which includes a facility to interact with a teacher and (usually) with other enrolled students via a chat-room or real-time online communication.
They do, however, differ considerably from each other in a number of ways. Some are free (such as 24 or 31), while others debit a monthly fee from each student's credit card until told to stop (16). Some offer a range of languages apart from English; some provide regular weekly or monthly teaching materials year-round (16, 19, 22, 24, 31, 33, 35), while others have discrete ‘terms’ and expect students to log into online tutorials using audio and video software (the most advanced of these is probably Number 5 in Table 1).Some are technically quite demanding: they expect students to have a fast computer with an audio card and a video camera (5, 20).
These schools are discussed at greater length in the next section.

Enrolment

It is not as easy to enrol into these sites as one would at first think. Urai Salam, our ‘learner’, attempted to enrol into a number of these, with varying success. In fact only two responded, and only one ever began sending learning materials. In the light of this experience, we decided not to enrol into any of the cyberschools that required a cash payment: we had a growing fear that the ones requiring payment might take our money and never respond.
Two online courses we tried to enrol into were very slow in responding. English for the Internet (34), for example, claims to offer comprehensive learning modules: English for business, English for special purposes, TOEFL preparation, Chatroom, and real time classes where students around the world log in at a scheduled time to have a ‘class’ using free demo versions of virtual reality software that they have been told to download from the Web. When we subscribed to this course, it took two weeks before we got a (computerised) response apologising for the delay and promising to contact us as soon as possible. After two months of waiting, we were yet to ‘enrol’, and at the time of writing, there had still been no response. We had a similar experience with Online English_English as International Language of Understanding (35). Despite displaying a set of very promising web pages, nobody appeared to be home. The only site we were finally able to enrol into was English by E-mail maintained by Elek Mathe (33). When we subscribed to this course, the welcome email contained the following paragraph:

You'll get lessons every week; sometimes only two, sometimes maybe four or five. It depends on how much time I have. The answers will be posted a few days after the lessons. In a 14-day period we received 12 lessons, six exercises and six answers (see Appendix A for an extract from one of the emails that we received). Usually the teacher sent exercises (vocabulary, reading, grammar) on one day, and on the next day sent the answers to the previous exercises. The lessons we received from English by E-mail consisted of question-and-answer language sessions: no explanation, no discussion. Initially we wondered why Mr Mathe was offering such a free service, until the emails begin to arrive, containing quite a lot of advertising (see Appendix A).

Discussion

The schools

By far the largest group in the survey were the full-blown virtual schools. They are perhaps best described in terms of the following criteria:

1. Does the school charge a fee for enrolment, or are the courses free?
2. How much teaching material does the school provide?

This is usually linked to whether the school is free or not. Some sites offer a lesson a week, or a lesson whenever the teacher feels like posting one (see the email extract below), while others provide a complex set of tasks that require students to be working online for a number of hours a week (see, for example, 23).

3. How much technical equipment and know-how is needed by the student?

Most do not specify equipment requirements, which presumably means that a web browser is enough. Others, however, encourage students to utilise video and audio facilities linked to their computer. Clearly, the more complex the setup, the more advanced a student's computer literacy needs to be.

4. How do the schools organise their teaching programs?

Some schools run ‘terms’ starting on specific days and running for a fixed number of weeks; some are continuous, offering materials whenever a student wants them; some require online attendance at specific times and on specific days.
The majority of the schools we investigated offer a ‘course’ of lessons followed by feedback from the teacher (8, 10, 11, 16, 17, 19, 29). Some of them offer a ‘conferencing centre’ which is in essence an email listserver that students can use either for messages to each other or for the teacher to communicate to the students (24, 26, 30). The most ambitious schools attempt to recreate the college atmosphere by offering semester-long courses and encourage students to have a video camera and an audio link to the teacher and to the rest of the ‘class’ using Microsoft's NetMeeting software (5, 20, 22, 23, 28).

There are a surprising number of blank squares in our table — most worrying perhaps are the ones in the ‘Cost’ column. We found none with a formal syllabus posted on their site. One, Number 28, based its courses round a published textbook, which could be seen as a form of syllabus. Few even attempt to indicate that they follow a particular a teaching philosophy. It is possible that we may have missed some of the information when we searched the sites; however, if we were capable of missing them then it is most likely that potential students will miss them too.

Enrolment levels

The level of attendance at these cyberschools is hard to gauge. Many of the schools demand an up-front payment before enrolment, and give no indication of how big the classes are. Occasionally small clues betray the size of their enrolment: Compuhigh (16), for instance, claims to have a ‘daily posting responding to student questions’ that is freely accessible to the casual visitor. On the day we looked, there were four postings, one asked about how to enrol, one asked about how to unenrol, one asked about the content of the program, and only one had a genuine language question. Four responses to questions indicate the likelihood of a very small number of enrolments. Another cyberschool (30), which claims to have eight-week ‘terms’ running throughout the year, has not even bothered to post the dates of its terms beyond May 1999, probably indicating no students whatsoever. This is presumably also true of the two schools we attempted to enrol into, but which did not respond to us.

The practical problems of cyberschooling

Students face a number of problems that are inherent in the uses of technology for distance learning: in particular, a lack of computer literacy, and the need to maintain a sense of purpose (in other words, the need for strong motivation).
In the cyberschool arena, these problems surface as:

• The need for adequate levels of computer literacy on the part of the students. The more technologically demanding a cyberclassroom becomes, the greater the number of potential students there will be who are not able to cope with the demands of the equipment. If the concept of the cyberschool is that students can work on improving their English on their own, and at whatever time they like, it is crucial that they be able to operate the equipment without having to call on help each time they wish to use it. The more advanced the technology becomes, the more likely it is that cyberschooling will become the restricted domain of the ‘cybergeek’ — typically a young male whose main leisure-time activity is playing with and on computers. This is hardly the clientele that the cyberschool industry would wish to end up with.
• The need to maintain high levels of motivation on the part of the students. Sandery's comments quoted earlier are relevant here: ‘some externally set deadlines and other structures may improve the learning outcomes for most students’. Outcomes will be enhanced if motivation can be kept high, but that is notoriously difficult for students working in isolation, especially if there are no external deadlines for them to work to or a framework that helps them gauge their progress and guide them onto the next step in their learning.
• The timing of academic terms/semesters/trimesters differ across the world, and so it is often difficult to put together an electronic class at a date and a time to suit all participants. This is difficult enough for email communications, but it is far more difficult for video-conferenced classes, as the class depends on having a group of students sitting in front of video cameras linked to computers for an hour or more at a specific time on a specific day. A significant proportion of students enrolled into any truly international web program is likely to be unavailable at a given time on a given day.

Debski & Gruba identify all three of these problems in the survey of tertiary instructor attitudes that they carried out in Melbourne.
Most of the schools examined here do attempt to cope with some of the issues raised above: if they are unsure about the technology, students are encouraged to email for help, though they would need to be quite advanced learners before they were able to describe their problem, let alone understand the instructions on how to fix it. Some of the schools offer a range of scheduled times for their classroom activities in an attempt to cover different time zones, but this does not overcome the problem of only having a fraction of the total student numbers available for any one class.
Motivation is an important element in any learning situation. Warschauer cites a survey that he carried out which indicates that using computers for learning is motivating in itself. He identifies three factors that bring this about:

1. computers help students fulfil their need to communicate with native speakers in other countries, with other students and with their teacher;
2. computers help students overcome isolation, and make it less threatening for them to contact people; and
3. many students think that computers can help them learn better and more independently: they feel they have more control of their learning and have more opportunities to practise English.

It should be safe to assume that if a student is enrolling into a cyberschool he or she is already motivated by these factors. However, to maintain a student's motivation to stay enrolled for any length of time, a different set of factors is required. Many of the cyberschools address this aspect of motivation by setting students attainable goals: a student is more likely to stay online for eight weeks if the class is designed to last eight weeks (and particularly if the student has paid for all eight weeks up front),
Motivation is perhaps the hardest of all to deal with at a distance, but it is perhaps the most important of all to overcome if students and the cyberschools are to have successful outcomes.

Cyberschool: Threat or promise?

On the positive side, a common set of characteristics do appear to be evolving among the more ambitious cyberschools. These are:

• The typical school offers a number of specialised courses, ranging from basic English through English for Special purposes and TOEFL preparation.
• Students can work on a number of web pages containing embedded scripts that consist of exercises in grammar, vocabulary and reading, and on listening comprehension exercises using RealAudio.
• For a fee, students can also submit written work by email to a teacher who will email it back with feedback on their writing.
• The school will have a chatroom where students can communicate to each other in English.
• If the school offers access to teachers that consists of more than simple marking of assignments, the school will work within specific ‘terms’ that may be four or eight weeks in length, and provide students with a number of ‘assignments’ that have to be completed and submitted by email.
• The more adventurous schools will also offer ‘classes’ using Microsoft's NetMeeting software and student video cameras.

There is, however, a significant negative side as well, all of which currently militates against successful uptake of cyberschooling:

Lack of a human face

The industry (if it can be called that yet) has a serious image problem. Most of the sites are unwelcoming, with few graphics and only a sprinkling of images of people that would provide a human ‘face’ to the organisation behind the site. There is the occasional photograph of an individual teacher or principal, but otherwise most sites consist of pages of form-like exercises to fill in and faceless emails to read. An exception to this is TestDEN: Your Personal TOEFL Trainer (29), which has a particularly lively, approachable interface.

Lack of adequate information about the schools and their courses

As we have already discussed, many of the sites offer incomplete information, and what there is often hard to find. Some (1, 2) offer little or no information until after student enrols.
Many offer a set of free exercises as a sample of what is to come once payment has been made: some offer a free week's enrolment, but none offered any kind of syllabus document that shows student what they will be studying and when. Even the personalised instruction offered by many sites is not accompanied by examples, which would show potential students what they can expect.

Poor marketing

As we have indicated earlier, our brief experience of cyberschools leads us to suspect that very few of these cyberschools have large enrolments. The very fact that they do not mention student numbers makes us think that enrolments must be in the tens at the most. Of course we may be quite wrong about this — there is no way of telling. If we are wrong, then the more successful sites are doing themselves a grave disservice. In most cases, potential students are asked to send their credit card number to a website on the other side of the world with an authority to withdraw hundreds of dollars. In a number of cases, the authority is an ongoing one — the site is authorised to keep withdrawing the same amount on a regular basis until told to stop. Anyone who is contemplating giving total strangers this kind of access to their money will want to know that the organisation behind the school is legitimate and reliable, and that the service provided is of good quality: The best way of showing that is by telling potential customers how many students are currently enrolled and how many of these have reenrolled. Nothing boosts confidence like an appearance of success.
Further examples of poor marketing skills are the cyberschools who offer little or no information about themselves until after a potential student has sent details about himself. This seems to be a particularly unwise strategy in the highly competitive web environment.

Hidden costs

When it comes to paying for their involvement in cyberschooling, students are likely to find that there are a number of hidden costs. Apart from the computer and the software necessary to access the Internet and to work on written materials, there are also the costs involved in purchasing time with an Internet service provider (ISP), making the necessary phone calls to connect to the ISP (relatively cheap in Australia, but not necessarily so in other countries), and in purchasing the additional equipment recommended by the cyberschool, such as a sound card and a video camera and the associated hardware/software to go with it.
These are hidden costs that may well put cyberschooling beyond the financial reach of many in the more developed nations, and well beyond the reach of most in less developed nations. In most cases it would be cheaper to go to a local language school than to enrol into an overseas website.

Conclusion

Our experience of cyberschools has been a rather disappointing one. The industry is still very much in its infancy, with a significant proportion of sites in existence that are little more than teachers' personal web pages.
The future viability of independent cyberschools very much depends on the credibility of what they offer. It could be said that the ESL/EFL industry only became viable when it began to teach towards internationally recognised standards: the Cambridge Certificate, TOEFL and IELTS. None of the cyberschools that we investigated even pretended to offer IELTS or Cambridge training, though a number of them did offer TOEFL training. There is no reason to believe that the cyberschool industry is going to be any different from the traditional language schools of the 1960s. Until cyberschools can offer students an internationally recognised certificate that will open the door to other opportunities in their lives (typically higher education or a better job), there is little likelihood that cyberschools will be more than the poor relations of the language teaching industry.

References

• Debski, R., & Gruba, P. (1999). A qualitative survey of tertiary instructor attitudes towards project-based CALL. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 12 (3), 219-239.
• NBEET (1996). The Implications of Technology for Language Learning (52). Canberra: National Board of Employment, Education and Training.
• Sandery, P. (1993). Interactive Multimedia Stimulus Paper. Unpublished paper presented to Interactive Multimedia Forum conducted by ACT Department of Education for the Curriculum Corporation. Canberra.
• Sperling, D. (1999). Online English courses. Available: <http://www.eslcafe.com/search/Online_English_Courses/> 1 October 1999].
• Sussex, R. (1991). Current issues in distance language education and open learning: An overview and an Australian perspective. In G. L. Ervin (Ed.), International perspectives on foreign language education (pp. 177-193). Lincolnwood, Ill: National Textbook Company.
• Tella, S. (1996). Foreign languages and modern technology: Harmony or hell? In M. Warschauer (Ed.), Telecollaboration in foreign language learning: Proceedings of the Hawai'i symposium (pp. 4-28). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center.
• Warschauer, M. (1996). Motivational aspects of using computers for writing and communication. In M. Warschauer (Ed.), Telecollaboration in foreign language learning (pp. 231). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.

Author

Mike Smith(m.smith@hlc.unimelb.edu.au) is a lecturer at the Horwood Language Centre of the University of Melbourne, Australia. He runs ESL programs, and lectures on the Centre's postgraduate programs in CALL. He is currently studying for a PhD, investigating learning strategies within the CALL context.
Urai Salam is a teacher of English as Foreign Language in the Language Development Unit at the University of Tanjungpura Indonesia (http://www.untan.ac.id/). He is currently studying for a Masters in CALL at the Horwood Language Centre.

Apendix A

Extract from an email lesson

This an example of materials from one email lesson received from EnglishLearner.Com at

• ENGLISH BY E-MAIL
• a free service of EnglishLearner.Com
• http://www.englishlearner.com
• by Elek Mathe - elek@englishlearner.com

• You are receiving this e-mail because you signed up for it - I never send unsolicited messages (spam).
• Please tell a friend how to subscribe - it's free!
• For unsubscription info, please see the end of this e-mail.
• I'll send you the answers to this lesson on Sunday (19 September).

• BOOKS FOR LEARNERS OF ENGLISH!
• The best dictionaries, grammar books and vocabulary lists at DISCOUNT PRICES! These are the books that all teachers of English recommend, all around the world!
• Click here:
• http://www.englishlearner.com/books

• ADVANCED VOCABULARY 6
• Exercise 1
• Match the two halves of the proverbs in the two columns.
• 1) Look before A) than words.
• 2) There is no smoke B) always blames his tools.
• 3) Actions speak louder C) while the sun shines.
• 4) All's well D) and spoil the child.
• 5) A bad workmen E) is a master of none.
• 6) A Jack of all trades F) that lays the golden eggs.
• 7) Make hay G) without breaking the eggs.
• 8) Time and tide wait H) you leap.
• 9) Spare the rod I) from little acorns grow.
• 10) Great oaks J) without fire.
• 11) Don't kill the goose K) for no man.
• 12) You cannot make an omelet (sic) L) that ends well.

• THE BEST NEW CDs AND BOOKS AT EXCELLENT PRICES!
• Find them at at (sic) the new
• ENGLISHLEARNER SHOP!
• Buy products at excellent prices: books, CDs, electronics, gifts and more! Several articles are only
• $4.95!
• Plus, there are lots of FREE things!
• Click her

• These exercises were written by Elek Mathe (elek@englishlearner.com). You can use them freely for educational purposes - business use is forbidden.
• Please help this free service (it won't cost you anything) - visit:
• http://www.englishlearner.com/helpsite.html
• For past interactive lessons, visit the host site at
• http://www.englishlearner.com/online
• To subscribe, send an empty e-mail to
• lessons-subscribe@mlm.englishlearner.com
• To unsubscribe, send an empty e-mail to
• lessons-unsubscribe@mlm.englishlearner.com
• If you have any questions, contact the list owner, Elek Mathe -
• elek@englishlearner.com

Apendix B

Websites discussed in the paper

This an example of materials from one email lesson received from EnglishLearner.Com at

From Dave's ESL Caf_ site

Numbering in the first part of this list (01-30) refers to the entries in the list at Dave's ESL Cafe on 1 October 1999, when the survey was carried out.
Any omitted entries were not relevant to this survey.
01 English Connection

• http://www.englishconnection.com/EConline/Default.htm

03 Cyberlangues

• http://www.cyberlangues.com/

05 Ed USA Online

• http://www.edusaonline.com/

07 English Page - Free Online English Lessons

• http://www.englishpage.com/

08 English on-line reading

• http://www.sfs.nju.edu.cn/test.htm

09 English Through the Internet

• http://mofetsrv.macam98.ac.il/~elaine//eti/

10 English Tuition Online - English for your needs

• http://www.arborio.com/english/online.html

11 English Online

• http://www.englishonline.net/

12 EnglishSpace

• http://www.englishspace.ort.org/

13 Englishtown

• http://www.englishtown.com/

14 Fullerton College composition online

• http://staff-www.fullcoll.edu/~lkennedy/Online.htm

15 Language Learning Forum

• http://www.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~kabune27/

16 Compuhigh

• http://compuhigh.com/info/

17 EuroTitle Email Course

• http://www.eurotitle.freeserve.co.uk/

19 Knowledge 2000

• http://toefl.telecampus.com/

20 Web-English

• http://members.aol.com/webenglis/index.htm

21 Learn2.com

• http://www.Learn2.com/

22 Net English teacher

• http://homes.arealcity.com/lcnet/

23 NetLearn Languages - The On-Line Language School

• http://www.nll.co.uk/

24 Study English Online for Free

• http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/9260/online.html

25 Robinson's Online English

• http://forums.delphi.com

26 Roggy's ESLweb

• http://www.eslweb.net/

27 Sat Caliber

• http://www.tescaliber.com/OpScr.asp

28 Surf2School.com

• http://www.surf2school.com/english/

29 TestDEN: Your Personal TOEFL Trainer

• http://www.testden.com/

30 The English Writing Academy

• http://www.english-writing.co.uk/

Sites not from Dave's ESL Cafe

31 The Internet Mini-Course

• http://www.public.iastate.edu/~hschmidt/minicourse.html

32 Guide to Grammar and Writing

• http://webster.commnet.edu/HP/pages/darling/grammar.htm

33 English by E-mail

• http://www.EnglishLearner.com

34 English for the Internet

• http://www.study.com/

35 Online English

• http://scuolaitalia.com/online-english/

Worldschool tutorials

• http://.www.Worldschool.com/

source: http://callej.org/

Copyright (c) 2000- Mike Smith & Urai Salam & CALL-EJ Online (ISSN 1442-438X). All rights reserved.