Call in the year 2000: Still in search of research paradigms?

Abstract

Advancements in the design and use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) activities require that key questions about CALL be identified and effective research methods be used to answer them.In this paper, I suggest looking to research on other types of second language (L2) classroom learning activities for guidance in framing CALL research questions and in discovering relevant research methods.I begin with examples from the CALL literature demonstrating the diverse perspectives (e.g., cognitive psychology, constructivism, psycholinguistics) which have been suggested as ways of approaching CALL research.I then summarize the research questions and methods of L2 classroom research with emphasis on the "interactionist" approach and discourse analysis.Using three examples --computer-mediated communication, a microworld, and vocabulary in reading--I will illustrate how similar discourse analysis methods can address essential descriptive and evaluative questions about CALL activities.Finally, I will outline some implications of this perspective for design and investigation of CALL activities.A glance through the computer-assisted language learning (CALL) literature of the 1990s reveals the profession's quest for principled means of designing and evaluating CALL.Like researchers in other facets of applied linguistics, CALL researchers look to cross-disciplinary sources for perspectives and research methods.A recent example of the breadth of this quest is an article entitled "A theoretical foundation for the development of pedagogical tasks in computer mediated communication," in which the author seeks to "address the pedagogical merits [for second language teaching] of this new medium of communication in relation to current research in Anthropology, Cognitive Psychology, Communication Theory, Linguistics, and Second Language Acquisition (SLA)" (Salaberry, 1996, p. 6).Similarly, in the commentary on a recent collection of papers about intelligent tutoring systems for foreign language learning, the authors draw their comments from perspectives in learning theory, psycholinguistics, human-computer interaction, psychology (MacWhinney, 1995), "a computationally oriented theory of language use" (Bailin, 1995), psycholinguistic theory (Garrett, 1995), theory of novice vs. expert learning, constructivism, and individual differences theory (Oxford, 1995).These diverse perspectives are directed at general questions of how CALL research can increase our understanding of CALL activities.At the same time, there is a need to specify the particularly relevant questions about CALL and to identify ways that they can be investigated through empirical research.In this paper, I suggest that our understanding of CALL would benefit from addressing questions similar to those posed about other L2 classroom learning and from applying the methods used to study L2 learning in other types of classroom activities.I will begin with some examples from the CALL literature which demonstrate the need to look to empirical research methods for investigating instructed SLA.I will then turn to a brief explanation of the research questions and methods of L2 classroom research with emphasis on discourse analysis methods for investigating learners use of L2 tasks.Illustrations are provided of how analogous research questions can be posed for CALL activities and how similar discourse analysis methods can help to investigate CALL use.Finally, I note examples of how classroom research perspectives might inform CALL design.