A Wake-up Call: CALL in
Hananto
The main purpose of this demonstration is to give
practical examples of how computers can be utilized in individualized,
autonomous, form-focused learning activities outside the classroom. Some of the
basic form-focused activities (e.g. grammar and vocabulary teaching) can be
taken over
by the computer so that language teachers will have more time to deal with the
more interesting and more demanding task of communicative activities to a much
higher level.
In general, teaching activities can be viewed in three different ways
(Ellis 1990:14): (1) as formal instruction (or form-focused instruction) where the learners are encouraged to
focus their attention on specific properties of the linguistic codes. (2) as interaction (or meaning-focused
instruction) to promote authentic communication in the classroom. (3) A
combination of form and meaning-focused instruction.
The balance between accuracy and fluency, between
form-focused instruction and meaning-focused instruction have been
discussed by many writers. For example, Brown (2001:361) writes, “Current views
of second language classroom methodology are almost universally agreed on the
importance of some form-focused instruction within the communicative framework,
ranging from explicit treatment of rules to noticing and consciousness raising” activities. Unfortunately, form-focused instruction
in the classroom is viewed by some experts as a waste of time, for example
Willis (2000:15) makes the following statement: Spending twenty minutes on
presenting and practicing one single structure to perfection is likely to
benefit only the very few learners who happen to be ready to use it. Some may
know it already and it might be beyond the grasp of the rest. For these
students, such practice is largely a waste of time.
To solve the problem, perhaps we can consider Brown’s (2001:117) guidelines
to make the best use of the available class time and to compensate for the lack
of communicative situations outside the classroom, such as:
- Use class time for optimal authentic language input
and interaction.
- Don’t waste class time on work that can be done as
homework.
- Provide plenty of extra-class learning opportunities
In order to implement the guidelines above, Computer Assisted Language Learning
(CALL) can play a significant role. Although CALL is possible to be used to provide
meaning-focused activities, its main strength is to promote form-focused
learning activities. CALL is best used to promote learning autonomy. Learner
must be responsible for their learning processes. Learning autonomy must be
promoted, especially for university EFL students. In the past it was very
difficult for language teachers to provide opportunities for individualized
learning. Recently, with the help of computer technology, it can be done
easily. Therefore, the role of educational technology is becoming more and more
important
In short, we should combine both form-focused instruction and
meaning-focused instruction. Because of the limited class time, we have to
provide our students extra-class work. We should make the best use of class
time by providing learners for language use (meaning-focused instruction). We
also have to make the best use of available educational technology to promote
learning autonomy to provide opportunities for individual practice on language
forms (form-focused instruction). This can better be done outside the
classroom at the learners’ own time (and place, if they have access to the computer
at home) to meet their specific needs using CALL.
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Hananto. (2005, March). A Wake-up
call: CALL in Indonesia. Paper presented at LIA International Conference,
Website: www.geocities.com/eltindonesia
Email:
eltindonesia@yahoo.com