J.-S. Pan, S.-M. Chen, and N.T. Nguyen (Eds.): ICCCI 2010, Part I, LNAI 6421, pp. 421–432, 2010. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010
Exploring EFL Taiwanese University Students’
Perceptions of a Collaborative CALL Environment
Yen-Hui Wang1 and Chia-Nan Wang2 1
Kainan University, Taiwan 2
National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences ttxyhw@mail.knu.edu.tw
Abstract. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of EFL Taiwanese
university students on a collaborative CALL environment. The participants were 112 intermediate proficiency English as a foreign language Taiwanese third-year university students. The dataset used included the pre-and post-questionnaires on participants’ perspectives on the CALL environment. In addition, interview data was collected for more in-depth information on individual participants’ per-ceived views on such a collaborative e-learning program. The results of the study provided encouraging evidence to show that the participants generally perceived that they benefited from the whole process of a collaborative computer assisted language learning program to have positive perspectives on the implemented CALL course itself, to advance their English linguistic knowledge, to construct associated content knowledge, and to foster their affective attitudes towards learning language via a collaborative CALL environment. The findings sug-gested the need for Taiwanese language teachers, course writers, curriculum planners, policy makers, and educational authorities to consider integrating CALL components into English language lessons to help Taiwanese students improve language competence, gain content knowledge, develop cooperative learning, and strengthen motivation for EFL learning.
Keywords: EFL (English as a Foreign Language), CALL (Computer Assisted
Language Learning), perceptions of a collaborative CALL environment.
1 Introduction
With the utilization of computer technology in order to meet the demands of the younger generation of the twenty-first century, education has nowadays changed greatly from purely traditional face-to-face classroom teaching to computer-mediated mode of instruction or blended approaches that combine computer-based applications with face-to-face teaching. In the fields of second language acquisition (SLA) and pedagogy, the adoption of multimedia CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) approaches to language teaching has also grown considerably over the past decade (Bonk & Graham, 2006; Zapata & Sagarra, 2007). Technology-based, learner-centered learning is very different from traditional classroom-based, teacher-led learning. CALL instruction offers many advantages that traditional, didactic teaching methods may
lack. That is, an e-learning environment enables instant access to resources and effec-tive communication, and allows learners to learn at their own pace as well as to be independent of time and place. In addition, it provides learners not only with repeated production opportunities or unlimited time to complete online assignments/tasks but also with immediate and informative feedback together with interesting reinforcement to promote learners’ language acquisition and learning interest (Dunkel, 1987; Murray, 1999; Rivers, 1987). Moreover, it also alleviates teaching burden of instructors to grade a large number of exercises or tests, which enables more time to be spent on lesson planning and effective teaching (Arvan & Musumeci, 2000). Learners’ e-learning experience shapes their perceptions of CALL application in language learning, and in turn influences the results of their language acquisition and the success or failure of such e-course instruction. Prior research (e.g., Ginns & Ellis, 2007; Neumeier, 2005) that explores the relations between learners’ learning outcomes and their attitudes towards learning with the assistance of computer technology indicates that students’ perceptions of the learning environment are highly influential on their learning. Nu-merous earlier studies dealing specifically with learners’ e-learning perceptions with compelling evidence have contributed to developing online teaching/learning materials and constructing CALL environments, but little research has been conducted in a Taiwanese context to investigate the perspectives of Taiwanese EFL learners on the e-learning format. Studies incorporating Taiwanese learners’ views on online language teaching and learning in a social context are, however, even fewer. As opposed to students’ conventional instructor-led mass language learning experiences, collabora-tive e-learning for language is quite novel to most Taiwanese students. It is therefore important to examine their perceptions of CALL use in an EFL learning context for future CALL applications. Thus, the main research focus of this study is, from Tai-wanese university students’ perspectives, the effectiveness of a collaborative CALL environment in EFL learning.
2 Literature Review
Hannafin and Land (1997) define a computer-based learning environment as the one involving four main elements: tools, resources, people and design. To be more specific, a computer-based learning environment should be the one where computer technology is used as a tool to provide access to learning resources and as a means to present and distribute information. In addition, computer technology also enables learners or users to read and post messages/comments on any topics for discussions through a syn-chronous and/or asynsyn-chronous online communication tool. Most significantly, a computer-assisted learning environment should be carefully constructed so that all the components are well integrated to effectively support teaching and learning. Learners’ perceptions of the exposed learning environment which interrelate with their respon-siveness to the particular learning context play a critical role in the learning processes and learning outcomes (den Brok, Brekelmans & Wubbels, 2006; Kern, 1995; Meyer & Muller, 1990; Ramsden, 1991; So & Brush, 2008). Computer assisted language teaching and learning has been applied in many educational settings and has been the subject of numerous L2/FL studies for decades. Up to now, there have been many studies that show the educational value and positive effects of CALL applications on
the cultivation of positive language learning attitudes (e.g., Kitao, 1995; Lin, 2009) as well as on the improvement of learners’ language competence in terms of vocabulary building (e.g., Pawling, 1999; Sun & Dong, 2004), reading and writing skills (e.g., Lin, 2002), grammar accuracy (e.g., Peterson, 1997), and listening comprehension (e.g., Coniam, 2006). For instance, Ayres (2002) reports in his study that the majority of the subjects perceived the computer-based instruction and online activities promoted their language acquisition. Online environments can offer instant feedback and multiple opportunities for extensive and repeated practice, which facilitates learners to inter-nalize what has been taught for effective learning. As far as affective advantages is concerned, previous research indicates that participating in CALL course lowers L2/FL learners’ anxiety about target language learning as well as technology use, and fosters their positive attitudes towards the use of CALL in L2/FL learning and eventually leads to successful language acquisition (Liou, 1997; Ushida, 2005). It is because an e-learning environment allows learners to learn at their own pace without competing with others and feeling embarrassed while making errors, learners will then gradually build self-confidence in both language ability and computer skills. Moreover, as ex-isting studies have shown (e.g., Collentine, 2000; Lee, 2005; Murray, 1999; Stepp-Greany, 2002), language courses with an online component encourage learner autonomy for independent learning, and learners who are exposed to such an envi-ronment, rather than acting as passive learners, are more actively engaged in the con-struction and use of their knowledge and take more responsibilities for their own learning. This is because a computer-based language learning context allows greater learner control over learning process, which, in turn, enhances learners’ learning mo-tivation and sense of achievement. In sum, all the above empirical studies show com-puter assisted language learning application with positive results in support of language courses that incorporate technology.
3 Method
Research setting, participants, and procedures
The research study reported in this paper aimed to explore Taiwanese university stu-dents’ viewpoints on a particular language teaching and learning context where a technology-based, computer-mediated learning environment was implemented. The course participants did not have prior exposure to learning English as a foreign lan-guage within a collaborative e-learning environment, their views on such a collabora-tive CALL environment were thus worth an examination. The e-learning language course discussed in the present study was offered once a week for three 50-min sessions during the 2010 spring semester, and was implemented through the Digital E-learning Platform constructed by a university located in northern Taiwan. The course entitled Introduction to Language and Culture was an elective course for third-year university students and demanded two years of required English. This course intended to equip course participants with a fundamental understanding of the interrelations of language and culture along with linguistic knowledge associated with language and culture. The participants agreeing to take part in the research were 112 junior students from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences who enrolled in this course, and their Eng-lish proficiency varied from pre-intermediate to upper intermediate. Participants were
informed the purpose of the study, the research procedure, and the confidentiality of the collected data. At the beginning of the course, the participants were given an intro-duction to the University Digital E-learning Platform and the instructional components of this e-learning course including face-to-face online lectures, online interactive ex-ercises, and collaborative group tasks. They were also offered a technical training session about this e-learning language course. Because this course was taught all through online, a paperless approach was adopted, and all teaching and learning ma-terials distributed and collected were all in electronic form. Each of the four course themes in this e-learning course comprising (1) verbal communication: the way people speak, (2) nonverbal communication: speaking without words, (3) cross-cultural con-flict and adjustment, and (4) education: values and expectations required two online lectures to be finished, and every finalized theme was followed by self-paced online interactive exercises specific to the course theme presented during the online lectures. With immediate feedback provided, students individually completed a set of web-based online interactive exercises created from the Hot Potatoes suite, the new online exercise application produced by Half-Baked Software, in order to equip themselves with the linguistic knowledge and content knowledge relative to the course theme. Upon the completion of these four course themes, course participants assigned into one of the 8 groups consisting of 14 members were required to log in the online chat room (similar to IRC – Internet Relay Chat using for online synchronous communication) to have online group discussions about the specific task relating to English language education of one of the eight Asian countries. Group members were asked to work together to firstly search useful information from the World Wide Web pertinent to the task topic designated. Subsequently, through the online topic-oriented discussions, students processed the information found online by expressing thoughts, sharing personal experiences and exchanging ideas to gradually construct associated knowledge and develop overall understanding of the key issues. Afterwards, on the basis of the in-formation found from the World Wide Web and the discussions made at the online chat room, every group jointly produced one word-format essay in response to the required task topic, and submitted it as an attachment to an e-mail to the instructor. At last, one designated student from every group made an in-class presentation displayed with PowerPoint format with the aid of a LCD projector. It was such the whole learning process that participants were engaged in a learning environment which started with personal involvement (i.e., online lectures and online interactive exercises) and moved towards meaningful and collaborative social interactions with the assistance of tech-nology (i.e., collaborative group tasks).
Instruments
To probe 112 EFL Taiwanese university students’ responsiveness to the implemented collaborative CALL environment, the instruments employed in this study were student perception pre-and post-questionnaires along with a structured interview. In this study, both quantitative and qualitative methods of data gathering and data analysis were used. Pre-and post-questionnaires
Prior to the e-learning language course, participants were required to fill in the self-completed pre-questionnaire (4 items with a four-point Likert scale) focusing on student reported perceptions of computer assisted language learning, their preferred
its educational effect on their enhanced linguistic knowledge and language/culture con-tent knowledge, motivation and interest in learning English via a computer, as well as cooperative learning. Such valuable views of participants gleaned from this research study can offer Taiwanese teachers and school authorities evidence regarding CALL application in Taiwanese students’ English language learning. Also, we can suggest that students’ EFL learning performance could be expected to improve when they are exposed to such a collaborative CALL environment. It is because, as the encouraging and convincing evidence provided from the study, that language learners involved in a col-laborative e-learning environment which turned language learning into an engaging, interactive, and student-centered process will be likely to learn in a more efficient manner and to improve their linguistic competence and content knowledge accompanied with higher motivation. It is therefore advisable for Taiwanese English language teachers, course writers, curriculum planners, policy makers, and educational authorities to give further consideration to applying an instructional approach which incorporates an CALL component in a collaborative setting to immerse students in online language learning in a social context in order to help students with effective language acquisition and motivated learning attitudes.
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