Earticle

이 논문은 지금까지의 국제적인 CALL 연구 추세를 살펴보면서, 작은 요건들에 중점을 두기보다는, 전체적인 학습 환경을 관찰하는 것이 필요함을 제시한다. 많은 이전의 논문들을 볼 때, 이미 학습 환경의 중요성은 증명되었지만, 현 CALL연구들은 영어교실에서 일어나는 큰 그림을 보기보다는, 일부의 학습요건들을 보는데 만 치중되어있다. 그래서 진정한 CALL이 주는 언어학습의 모습을 연구하기위해서는 전체적인 학습 환경을 주시해야한다고 이 논문은 보여준다.

An animated pedagogical agent is a computerized lifelike character that cohabits an interactive computer-based learning environment with a learner. It is a product of recent technological advances in user interface and autonomous software agents. The animated pedagogical agents have great potential in promoting foreign language learning and instruction. Animated pedagogical agents can be used to implement the interactionist approach and task-based approach to second language acquisition. Moreover, an agent-embedded L2 learning environment can lower learner’affective filter by providing interesting and entertaining learning experiences, that is, by generating the Persona Effect. Animated edagogical agents can offer great possibilities for designing and developing computer-based foreign language learning environment.

This paper reports a study that examined Chinese college English language learners’ out-of-class computer-assisted autonomous language learning (ALL) by means of questionnaires and interviews. Data were collected from 345 students enrolled in college English courses at three levels: basic, intermediate, and advanced. Their computer-assisted ALL behaviors and the value they attached to computers and networks for ALL were identified. Descriptive statistics showed that they held favorable attitudes towards ALL assisted by computers and networks, but they did not show a high frequency of ALL behaviors. The correlation analysis yielded significant positive relationships between attitudes and behaviors. Repeated one-way ANOVAs revealed significant differences in both attitudes and behaviors among the students of the three levels. The advanced students showed the most favorable attitudes and the highest frequency of computer-assisted ALL behaviors while the basic-level students demonstrated a medium degree of support for computer-assisted ALL and the least frequency of ALL behaviors. Interview results indicated that the students’ attitudes towards computer-assisted ALL and the teachers’ positive intervention in the language classes might be two important factors contributing to the differences in ALL behaviors.

Over the past decades, the astounding development in both computer technology and the network has considerably promoted the research and application of language educational technologies. Given the tendency of China’s college English education as well as the curriculum requirements dictated by the Ministry of Education of China (2004), it is necessary to develop a CALL system corresponding to China’s college English education reality. The paper concerns itself with an analysis of English Language & Culture CAI Matrix (ELCCAIM) developed independently by the practicing English teachers of Foreign Languages College of Sichuan University in China. By analysing ELCCAIM, the paper aims to explore the feasibility and necessity of developing the localized CALL system for China’s college English teaching and learning on the base of computer technology and the campus-network and applying the theories of educational psychology and linguistics to the development process.

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has not been so successful up to date. A potential reason for this is that the gap between theoretical assumptions and reality was larger than researchers and practitioners thought. For the development of usable and realistic systems, it is crucial to be aware of practices in reality rather than theoretical and technical judgements. This paper presents a questionnaire study to help understand practices with computers in terms of learning English among Korean university students. Concerning IT usage of studying English, the results show that about a half of the participants have utilized IT, and VOD lectures are a major method at present, and vocabulary learning tools are also popular including electronic dictionaries. While learners began to use smart phone application, learning English with social network services is not common yet. Though technological aids are crucial, however, participants also pointed out that learners’ willingness or interest in learning English is the most important factor affecting English study. Emphasizing that both human/social and technological aspects should be understood simultaneously to build better systems, we hope that the results shed some light on the development of more realistic and practical CALL in English as a foreign language (EFL).