Question 6 Oct 2009

Question 6

Explain briefly how multimedia technology and the Internet help to shape the phase known as Integrative CALL.

Answer:

According to Warschauer (2010), integrative approaches to CALL are based on two important technological developments which are the multimedia technology and the Internet. Multimedia technology allows a variety of media such as text, graphics, sound, animation, and video to be accessed on a single machine (Warschauer, 2010). Multimedia also supports hypermedia which enable multimedia resources to be easily accessed by just a click on the mouse.   

With hypermedia, an authentic learning environment is created, whereby the activities is done in a real world concept. Skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) are also easily integrated into one activity. Students could also have control over their own learning by learning at their own individual pace. Hypermedia also facilitates a principle focus on the content without sacrificing a secondary focus on language form or learning strategies.

Through the Internet, Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) enables language learners to communicate directly, inexpensively, and conveniently with other learners or speakers of the target language 24 hours a day, from school, work, or home (Warschauer, 2010). This communication can be asynchronous (not simultaneous) through tools such as electronic mail (email), which allows each participant to compose messages at their time and pace, or in can be synchronous (synchronous, "real time"), using programs such as MOOs, which allow people all around the world to have a simultaneous conversation by typing at their keyboards (Warschauer, 2010). It also allows not only one-to-one communication, but also one-to-many, allowing a teacher or student to share a message with a small group, the whole class, a partner class, or an international discussion list of hundreds or thousands of people (Warschauer, 2010).

Computer Mediated Communication allows users to share not only brief messages, but also lengthy (formatted or unformatted) documents - thus facilitating collaborative writing - and also graphics, sounds, and video (Warschauer, 2010). Using the World Wide Web (WWW), students can search through millions of files around the world within minutes to locate and access authentic materials (e.g. newspaper and magazine articles, radio broadcasts, short videos, movie reviews, book excerpts) exactly tailored to their own personal interests (Warschauer, 2010). They can also use the Web to publish their texts or multimedia materials to share with partner classes or with the general public (Warschauer, 2010).

With hypermedia and the use of the WWW, multimedia technology and the Internet have shaped the phase known as Integrative CALL.

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