The Role of Teachers in CALL

Background

The impact of information technology in today’s society has had several important outcomes, the most evident of which is CALL becoming the trend in foreign language teaching all over the world. As a consequence, the tasteless, teacher-centered environment of language classrooms surrounded by a group of passive students has been replaced with modern teaching approaches.

Considering the technological dominancy of the 21^stcentury, CALL is believed to be an inseparable part of the modern language teaching era. What makes CALL a powerful tool to enrich language teaching and learning is its capability to breathe life in language classes, making students motivated and increasing their level of engagement and participation. Several components lead to this enjoyable learning process; from convenient use of multimedia to authentic use of language which does not deviate from students’ real life.

CALL can combine language classroom environment with the real life outside the class, make foreign language learning much more effective, and provide a rich language input that can enhance students’ individual learning. Although the benefits of technology-mediated instruction for all different subject matters are an open secret, exploring the merits of integrating technology into foreign language learning is worth considering.

Multimedia rich environments are superior to traditional ones in the case that they can:

• 1.

  Enhance learning in different locations and institutions of diverse quality;

• 2.

  Present opportunities to students working at different rates and levels;

• 3.

  Provide (tirelessly, without holding up other students) repetition when repetition is warranted to reinforce skills and learning, and;

• 4.

  Compensate, in the short term, for high student populations and limited numbers of trained and experienced teachers – in combination with robust teacher development initiatives and improvements in teachers’ working conditions (Fitzpatrik, 2004).

Serostanova (2014) elaborated more on this issue mentioning the following merits for using ICT in foreign language instruction:

• •

  Authentic Context: That reflects the way the language will be used in real life, thus providing the purpose and motivation for learning;

• •

  Cultural Understanding: The possibility to get acquainted with the way of life of the target language community, to visit distant places without leaving home, which makes learning the language part of a cultural experience;

• •

  Great Amount of Tools: For teachers and learners (audio and video devices, television and radio broadcasts, synchronous (video and audio conferences, chatting) and asynchronous (e-mail, forum, web logs, message boards), Internet-based communication, which facilitates improving reading, listening, speaking skills and grammar knowledge;

• •

  Involvement in Collaboration and Cooperation: Participating in Web-projects and working in a physically-separated team promotes learners’ creatively thinking, encourages to solve problems and to make decisions as a team;

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  Removing the Time and Space Limitations: Which allows students to learn more autonomously at different rates and levels, without interruptions, time pressure and social anxiety, and thereby raises self-esteem and confidence;

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  Immediate Feedback and Error Analysis: Which can be provided by the computer and teachers as well, and help the learners ward off their misconception at the very first stage. (p.196)