Language Learning & Technology
Vol. 8, No. 1, January 2004, pp. 13-19
SponsorsCo-SponsorsApprentissage des Langues et Systèmes d'Information et de Communication (ALSIC)
Australian Technology Enhanced Language Learning Consortium (ATELL)
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota (CARLA)
Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC (CAL)
Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO)
European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL)
International Association for Language Learning Technology (IALL )
University of Hawai`i National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC)
The University of Hawai`i National Foreign Language Resource Center engages in research and materials development projects and conducts Summer Institutes for language professionals among its many activities.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Distance Education, Distributed Learning & Language Instruction: Reports from the Field (July 27-30, 2004, University of Hawai`i at Manoa)
The NFLRC invites language educators with significant experience using distance and distributed learning models to propose presentations for the Symposium. Presentation proposals should address new technologies, innovative software, research projects, or new uses for old software. Possible topics could include but are not limited to
- Issues in distance/distributed learning administration, infrastructure, or delivery
- Instructional design or development of Web courses/materials
- Online interactions and community
- Electronic resources for educators
Proposals can be for 45-minute sessions, 75-minute sessions, or electronic poster sessions (e.g., class Web site tours, multimedia instructional materials demos, etc.). Financial support is available for presenters of 45-minute and 75-minute sessions only -- up to $800 per session to help defray travel expenses, with the possibility of supplementary support if there are multiple presenters in a session. The deadline for online proposal submissions is March 1, 2004. For more information, visit our symposium Web site.
Cultural Diversity and Language Education Conference (September 24-26, 2004, University of Hawai`i at Manoa)
This conference, co-sponsored and organized by the NFLRC and the UH Center for Second Language Research, will focus on theories, policies, and practices associated with cultural and language diversity in educational contexts and will provide a forum for examining a broad range of issues concerned with the potential and challenges of education that builds on diversity. The primary strands for exploring diversity in language education at the conference are
- Foreign/Heritage Language Education
- Bilingual/Immersion Education
- English Language Education
- Language Education Planning and Policy
- Literacy Education
Proposals for individual papers, colloquia, or workshops related to theory, research, practice, and policy in these strand areas are welcome and can be submitted online -- deadline March 31, 2004. For more information, please visit our conference Web site.
Task-Based Language Teaching: A Demonstration Module (text, video, CD). This Research Note illustrates Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) as developed by Michael H. Long. The set consists of a demonstration video, audio CD, and an explanatory text. The introduction in the text describes TBLT, the task-based needs analysis and materials development underlying pedagogic tasks, and teaching procedures. In addition, the text contains a demonstration lesson including a Teacher's Manual and Student Workbook (in both Korean, the demonstration language, and in English, as a template for other languages), color maps, scripts, Korean language audio files on CD, transcripts of the audio files, and two sample tests.
Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom (video). Group dynamics is one of the most, if not the most, important areas for teachers who wish to create a well functioning, interactively supportive classroom for language learning. The presentation in this video looks briefly at the recent research and theory in the area and the practical aspects of dealing with forming, transition, performing, and closing with groups. The cohesive group, shifting leadership styles, student roles, and the contribution of the environment, and how we can adjust it, are demonstrated and discussed.
CLEAR's mission is to promote the teaching and learning of foreign languages in the United States. To meet its goals, projects focus on foreign language research, materials development, and professional development training.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE RESEARCH
MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT
Products
Newsletter
CLEAR News is a biyearly publication covering FL teaching techniques, research, and materials. Contact the CLEAR office to join the mailing list or see it on the Web at http://clear.msu.edu/newsletter/.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Summer Workshops
Each summer, CLEAR offers professional development workshops for foreign language teachers on the campus of Michigan State University. For more information on CLEAR’s 2004 workshops, go to http://clear.msu.edu/training/04institutes/index.html.
Onsite Workshops
CLEAR offers foreign language teachers at K-13+ institutions around the country the opportunity to host a CLEAR workshop. These 1-3 day workshops are led by CLEAR's professional development staff members. For more information, visit http://clear.msu.edu/training/onsite/about.html.
For more information about CLEAR, contact
Center for Language Education And Research (CLEAR)
A712 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
Phone: 517/432-2286
Fax: 517/432-0473
Web: http://clear.msu.edu/
Email: clear@msu.edu
Australian Technology Enhanced Language Learning Consortium (ATELL) Contacts:
Assoc. Prof. Mike Levy, Griffith University (michael.levy@mailbox.gu.edu.au)
Dr. Robert Debski, The University of Melbourne (r.debski@hlc.unimelb.edu.au)ATELL is pleased to announce the availability of the CALL Catalogue:
http://www.callcatalogue.com.au/
The CALL Catalogue has been designed as a resource for researchers, designers, and teachers interested in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL).
The CALL Catalogue is essentially a searchable bibliographic database. It consists of a large set of abstracted articles on CALL and an index of specially designed keywords. The CALL Catalogue is an ongoing research venture that began with the construction of a large corpus of CALL publications for 1999. As such the CALL Catalogue (1999) included all the chapters in four books (Cameron, 1999a, 1999b; Debski & Levy, 1999; Egbert & Hanson-Smith, 1999) and all the articles in four major CALL journals: Computer Assisted Language Learning, CALICO, ReCALL, and the online journal, Language Learning and Technology. This amounted to 177 journal articles and book chapters for the year. Each item was then abstracted and indexed to form the original CALL Catalogue (1999). So far the CALL Catalogue has been completed for 1999 and 2000.
The CALL Catalogue is an ongoing project and we are keen to have your contributions (see Abstracting & Indexing Guidelines on the Web site). Our immediate goal is to add abstracted and indexed articles on CALL for 2001, and then, subsequently, to work forward to the year prior to the current year of publication. The CALL Catalogue directly relates to published works by Levy (2000, 2002) where more detail about the overarching framework and methods of production are given.
The CALL Catalogue is the first resource to be made available by ATELL, the Australasian Technology Enhanced Language Learning network. ATELL is an informal grouping of CALL researchers and practitioners in Australia and New Zealand. More resources for researchers and practitioners are to follow.
References
Cameron, K. C. (Ed.). (1999a). CALL: Media, design and applications. Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger.
Cameron, K. C. (Ed.). (1999b). CALL and the learning community. Exeter, England: Elm Bank Publications.
Debski, R., & Levy, M. (Eds.). WORLDCALL: Global perspectives on computer-assisted language learning. Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger.
Egbert, J., & Hanson-Smith, E. (Eds.). (1999). CALL environments: Research, practice and critical issues.Alexandria, VA: TESOL Inc.
Levy, M. (2000). Scope, goals and methods in CALL research: Questions of coherence and autonomy. ReCALL, 12(2), 170-195.
Levy, M. (2002). CALL by design: Products, processes and methods. ReCALL, 14(1), 129-142.
Apprentissage des Langues et Systèmes d'Information et de Communication (ALSIC)
ALSIC (Language Learning and Information and Communication Systems, http://alsic.org/) is an electronic journal in French for researchers and practitioners in fields related to applied linguistics, didactics, psycholinguistics, educational sciences, computational linguistics, and computer science. The journal gives priority to papers from the French-speaking community and/or in French, but it also regularly invites papers in other languages so as to strengthen scientific and technical exchanges between linguistic communities that too often remain separate. The editorial board of ALSIC invites you to contact them for any prospective contributions at the following electronic address: infos@alsic.org.
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota (CARLA)
CARLA is one of several National Language Resource Centers whose role is to improve the nation's capacity to teach and learn foreign languages effectively. Launched in 1993 with funding from the national Title VI Language Resource Center program of the U.S. Department of Education, CARLA's mission is to study multilingualism and multiculturalism, develop knowledge of second language acquisition, and advance the quality of second language teaching, learning, and assessment by conducting research and action projects sharing research-based and other forms of knowledge across disciplines and education systems extending, exchanging, and applying this knowledge in the wider society.
CARLA's research and action initiatives include a focus on the articulation of language instruction, content-based language teaching through technology, culture and language studies, less commonly taught languages, language immersion education, second language assessment, second language learning strategies, research on pragmatics and speech acts, support for study abroad, and technology and second language learning.
To share its latest research and program opportunities with language teachers around the country, CARLA offers the following resources: an internationally acclaimed summer institute program for teachers; a database which lists where less commonly taught languages are taught throughout the country; listservs for teachers of less commonly taught languages and immersion educators; a working paper series; conferences and workshops; and a battery of instruments in French, German, and Spanish for assessing learners' proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening at two levels on the ACTFL scale. Check out these and other CARLA resources on the CARLA Web site at http://carla.acad.umn.edu.
The Center for Applied Linguistics is a private, nonprofit organization that promotes and improves the teaching and learning of languages, identifies and solves problems related to language and culture, and serves as a resource for information about language and culture. CAL carries out a wide range of activities in the fields of English as a second language, foreign languages, cultural education, and linguistics. These activities include research, teacher education, information dissemination, instructional design, conference planning, technical assistance, program evaluation, and policy analysis. Publications include books on language education, online databases of language programs and assessments, curricula, research reports, teacher training materials, and print and online newsletters.
Major CAL projects include the following:
The U.S. Department of Education has decided to discontinue the 16 subject-specific ERIC Clearinghouses. As a result of this decision, funding for the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics (ERIC/CLL), managed by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), ended on December 31, 2003. For information about the new ERIC database, visit www.eric.ed.gov.
Over the years, ERIC/CLL has produced a number of quality publications including digests, online resource guides, print and Web-based newsletters, and books in the Language in Education and Professional Practice series. ERIC/CLL has also maintained a Web site and provided question answering services. Although funding for ERIC/CLL will end, CAL remains committed to providing quality language education materials. To that end, CAL will continue to make free publications available in downloadable format from the CAL Web site, including those that were developed by ERIC/CLL.
- NCLE has created an annotated list of online resourcesthat teachers can use as they work to promote cultural understanding in the adult ESL classroom. Resources include NCLE publications, lesson plans and instructional materials, background on specific cultures and cultural groups, and information on topics such as intercultural communication, tolerance, and trauma.
Since its inception in 1983, CALICO has served as an international forum for language teachers who want to develop and utilize the potential of advanced technology to support their teaching and research needs. Through its Annual Symposia, Special Interest Groups (SIGs), CALICO Journal, CALICO Monograph Series, CALICO Resource Guide, and numerous other publications, CALICO provides both leadership and perspective in the ever-changing field of computer-assisted instruction. The strength of CALICO derives from the enthusiasm, creativity, and diversity of its members. It comprises language teachers and researchers from universities, military academies, community colleges, K-12 schools, government agencies, and commercial enterprises.
To learn more about CALICO activities and how to participate in them, visit the CALICO homepage at http://www.calico.org.
EUROCALL is an association of language teaching professionals from Europe and worldwide aiming to
EUROCALL 2004 will be at the University of Vienna, Austria, 1-4 September 2004.
For full details, contact us at http://www.eurocall-languages.org/
International Association for Language Learning Technology (IALLT)
Established in 1965, IALLT (formerly IALL) is a professional organization whose members provide leadership in the development, integration, evaluation, and management of instructional technology for the teaching and learning of language, literature, and culture. Its strong sense of community promotes the sharing of expertise in a variety of educational contexts. Members include directors and staff of language labs, resource or media centers, language teachers at all levels, developers and vendors of hardware and software, grant project developers, and others. IALLT offers biennial conferences, regional groups and meetings, the LLTI listserv (Language Learning Technology International), and key publications such as the IALLT Journal, the IALLT Language Center Design Kit, and the IALLT Lab Management Manual. It also offers guidance on defining career goals and expectations through the new "IALLT Statement of Professional Responsibilities" (see under "About IALLT" > "Important Documents" on the Web site). For information, visit the IALLT Web site at www.iallt.org/.
