Steps toward Integrative CALL: The Internet

Computer-mediated communication (CMC), which has existed in primitive formsince the 1960s but has only became wide-spread in the last five years,is probably the single computer application to date with the greatest impacton language teaching. For the first time, language learners can communicatedirectly, inexpensively, and conveniently with other learners or speakersof the target language 24 hours a day, from school, work, or home. Thiscommunication can be asynchronous (not simultaneous) through tools suchas electronic mail (e-mail), which allows each participant to compose messagesat their time and pace, or in can be synchronous (synchronous, "real time"),using programs such as MOOs, which allow people all around the world tohave a simultaneous conversation by typing at their keyboards. It alsoallows not only one-to-one communication, but also one-to-many, allowinga 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 thousandsof people.

Computer-mediated communication allows users to share not onlybrief messages, but also lengthy (formatted or unformatted) documents--thusfacilitating collaborative writing--and also graphics, sounds, and video.Using the World Wide Web (WWW), students can search through millions offiles 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.They can also use the Web to publish their texts or multimedia materialsto share with partner classes or with the general public.

It is not hard to see how computer-mediated communication andthe Internet can facilitate an integrative approach to using technology.The following example illustrates well how the Internet can be used tohelp create an environment where authentic and creative communication isintegrated into all aspects of the course.

Students of English for Science and Technology in La Paz Mexico don'tjust study general examples and write homework for the teacher; insteadthey use the Internet to actually become scientific writers (Bowers, 1995;Bowers, in press). First, the students search the World Wide Web to findarticles in their exact area of specialty and then carefully read and studythose specific articles. They then write their own drafts online; the teachercritiques the drafts online and creates electronic links to his own commentsand to pages of appropriate linguistic and technical explanation, so thatstudents can find additional background help at the click of a mouse. Next,using this assistance, the students prepare and publish their own articleson the World Wide Web, together with reply forms to solicit opinions fromreaders. They advertise their Web articles on appropriate Internet sites(e.g., scientific newsgroups) so that interested scientists around theworld will know about their articles and will be able to read and commenton them. When they receive their comments (by e-mail) they can take thoseinto account in editing their articles for republication on the Web orfor submission to scientific journals.

The above example illustrates an integrative approach to usingtechnology in a course based on reading and writing. This perhaps is themost common use of the Internet to date, since it is still predominantlya text-based medium. This will undoubtedly change in the future, not onlydue to the transmission of audio-visual material (video clips, sound files)World Wide Web, but also due to the growing use of the Internet to carryout real-time audio- and audio-visual chatting (this is already possiblewith tools such asNetPhone and CU-SeeME, but is not yetwidespread).

Nevertheless, it is not necessary to wait for further technologicaldevelopments in order to use the Internet in a multi-skills class. Thefollowing example shows how the Internet, combined with other technologies,was used to help create an integrated communicative environment for EFLstudents in Bulgaria--students who until recent years had little contactwith the English-speaking world and were taught through a "discrete topicand skill orientation" (Meskill & Rangelova, in press, n.p.). TheseBulgarian students now benefit from a high-tech/low-tech combination toimplement an integrated skills approach in which a variety of languageskills are practiced at the same time with the goal of fostering communicativecompetence. Their course is based on a collaborative, interpreted studyof contemporary American short stories, assisted by three technologicaltools:

* E-mail communication. The Bulgarian students correspond bye-mail with an American class of TESOL graduate students to explore indetail the nuances of American culture which are expressed in the stories,and also to ask questions about idioms, vocabulary, and grammar. The Americanstudents, who are training to be teachers, benefit from the concrete experienceof handling students' linguistic and cultural questions .

* Concordancing. The Bulgarian students further test outtheir hypotheses regarding the lexical and grammatical meanings of expressionsthey find in the stories by using concordancing software to search forother uses of these expressions in a variety of English language corporastored on CD-ROM.

* Audio tape. Selected scenes from the stories--dialogues,monologues, and descriptions--were recorded by the American students andprovide both listening practice (inside and outside of class) and alsoadditional background materials to help the Bulgarians construct theirinterpretation of the stories.

These activities are supplemented by a range of other classroomactivities, such as in-class discussions and dialogue journals, which assistthe students in developing their responses to the stories' plots, themes,and characters--responses which can be further discussed with their e-mailpartners in the U.S.