Abstract

Whereas computer applications are frequently used in the teaching of second languages in traditional educational settings, foreign language teaching at a distance has all but ignored the potential which this medium holds. After examining the use which computers can be put to in distance education in general, this paper analyzes applications which are particular to second language teaching at a distance. The paper also presents specific ways in which computer-assisted language learning can help remedy some of the difficulties faced by the distance learner of a second language.

Abstract

L'apprentissage des langues en situation traditionnelle fait de plus en plus appel à l'enseignement assisté par ordinateur. Il n'en est pas ainsi, cependant, dans le cas de l'enseignement à distance.

Cette étude met en valeur les utilisations méthodiques de l'ordinateur comme outil d'apprentisage dans la formation à distance et fait l'analyse des possibilités qu'elles offrent de remédier à certaines des faiblesses méthodologiques dans l'enseignement à distance des langues.

Background

Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has received considerable attention during the current decade from academics and researchers in campus-based institutions. They have discussed developments in hardware, new software products, and the advantages and disadvantages as reported in recent experiments which integrated CALL into more traditional language learning environments, mainly at the post-secondary level. A review of the literature reveals that during the 1980s more than 20 books and hundreds of articles have been published in this field. CALL has found a place in the teaching of many second languages, be they romance, germanic, slavic, oriental, or even classical. A survey of Canadian universities which was conducted in 1985/1986, for example, found that one institution in three used computers for teaching one or more of 12 second languages and almost all the universities that did not were interested in doing so (Craven & Sinyor, 1987). This shows a marked increase when compared to the results of Olsen's earlier survey of four-year American colleges (Olsen, 1980).

The situation, however, is very different insofar as the use of or experimentation with CALL in distance education is concerned. One is hard pressed to find a reference to the application of computers in learning languages at a distance, and articles on the topic are practically non-existent. Even Zetterstein (1986), who dedicates a chapter to distance learning in his book New Technologies in Language Learning, primarily enumerates applications in distance education which are not concerned with language teaching. One must conclude, therefore, either that computer-applied learning has not had an impact on the methodology used to teach languages at a distance or that academics have not had an opportunity to report on their work in this area.1 If the Canadian situation is any indication, the former is more likely to be true, since it was reported at the Oslo ICDE conference that CALL had not yet made its entry into distance education in Canada (Karpiak, 1988). Support for the general applicability of this conclusion is provided by a recent questionnaire distributed by the FernUniversität of the Federal Republic of Germany, which, even though it seeks to determine the skills and the methodology used internationally in language teaching at a distance, makes only one passing reference to computers (one can respond "by computer" to a question which asks how students communicate with the institution).