Tips for Teaching with CALL (From page 1 to page 32)

1. What is CALL? It´s the acronym for “computer-assisted language learning”. It´s an area of applied linguistics concerned with the use of computers for teaching and learning a second language.

2. Why do English language teachers use CALL?a- From the pedagogicall point of view, many teachers find that computers make them

expand, and sometimes revise, their understanding of how learners need to become successful English users. Computers result an important tool in the English classroom.In CALL activities, beneficial interaction can occur between the learner and the computer or between the learner and another person. Moreover, English on the Internet reflects some of the many styles of English that are used on different occasions to accomplish a variety of purposes. However, Teachers should provide students with carefully selected examples of English. These models should include the target language that the learners need to learn, to have an appropriate level of difficulty, and learners must develop strategies for distinguishing among the different registers of language that they are exposed to.CALL provides opportunities to supplement familiar teaching strategies. Call activities such as drills, tutorials and tests can be used to present information, to guide the learner, to provide practice, and assess learners. CALL provides individualized interactive instruction.

3. Tips for teaching vocabulary with CALL.1. Select CALL materials that teach appropriate vocabulary.

The words the S need and are prepared to learn because they are within an appropriate level of difficulty.

2. Choose CALL materials that explicitly teach English vocabulary.CALL programs can teach vocabulary explicitly by presenting new words and providing learners with practice for learning their meanings. Teachers can use CALL programs and web sites that include vocabulary illustration, explanation, and practice students can be introduced to dictionaries or they can create their own word lists.

3. Provide learners with opportunities for interaction with the computer.Teachers can choose CALL activities in which students practice vocabulary by linking sounds, spelling and meanings. They make choices and are told by the computer program wether their answers are correct.

4. Let the vocabulary tasks spark interaction among learners.Reseach on collaborative tasks in the classroom has shown that learners can help each other with the vocabulary that appears in the reading materials when they work together (Klinger&Vaughn, 2000). Reasearch on teaching through CALL has shown that students can learn new vocabulary through computer-mediated communication if tasks are specially focused around the targeted lexical items (Smith, 2004). Teachers can choose vocabulary activities and games that provide learners with vocabulary

practice that complements other things they are working on class. When preteaching vocabulary, teachers can have students work together in pairs at the computer in pairs at the computer, looking at sentences from a corpus that contain key words.

5. Include regular evaluations of answers and summaries of performance.6. Help learners develop strategies for explicit online vocabulary learning through the

use of online dictionaries and corcondancers.Teachers could use a concordancing program that is free on the web to introduce learners to the idea of using Internet resources for English language learning. The teacher can also show students how to analyze the vocabulary levels of sentences they wrote or read on the web.

4. What is the philosophy of teaching behind CALL?The professionals who develop CALL and conduct research on learners´use of CALL follow a teachingphilosophy. In this book the author presents activities that follow three assumptions about language, the learner, and the teacher:a-Learners need guidance in learning English.b-There are many styles of English used for many different purposes.c-Teachers should provide guidance by selecting appropriate language and by structuring learning activities.

5. What is WELL? Web-enhanced language learning.6. What is MALL? Mobile-assisted language learning.