This paper presents further innovative use of virtual worlds under the pilot stages of ASSIS (A Second Step in Second Life), a project funded by Umea University. One of the aims of the project is to make use of the affordances offered by Second Life in order to raise sociolinguistic language awareness among teacher trainees and other students…

This regional dossier aims to provide concise, descriptive information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific region of Europe--"Arberishtja" of Italy. Aspects that are addressed include features of the education system, recent educational policies, main actors, legal arrangements, and support structures,…

This paper investigates how authentic web-delivered video can inform ESL online instruction and enhance the incidental acquisition of vocabulary and listening comprehension. A total of 24 adult learners of English as a Second Language enrolled in a listening comprehension class at a major Midwestern university participated in the study. The…

Research in cognitive psychology and second language learning has underlined the significance of learners' cognitive processes and individual preferences in language learning. Helping learners to be aware of these processes and preferences has in fact become an important methodological principle of language teaching. Advances in information and…

A number of researchers in computer-mediated communication have pointed towards its potential to stimulate learner participation and engagement in the classroom. However, in many cases only anecdotal reports were provided. In addition, it is unclear whether the pedagogical set-up or the technology involved is responsible for changes in learner…

Until recently, most foreign language education has been centered on the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary. While recognizing that grammar and vocabulary are essential tools for communication, the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning advocate "the acquisition of the ability to communicate in meaningful and appropriate ways with…

Despite the widespread use of digital video and, increasingly, multimedia in listening instruction throughout second language programs, little is known about how learners attend to dynamic visual elements in comprehension. A lack of research in how listeners engage with videotext retards the development of computer-based listening skills. This…

A framework for viewing developments in information technology [IT] is presented as an elaborated model of the adoption of innovations, with implications for language teaching. The model is loosely based on that of Rogers (1995), but involves three successive phases of "innovation-adoption". The model provides a context for a discussion of CALL…

This paper describes a series of awareness-raising activities for English language secondary school teachers-in-training -- with a view to evaluating future, that is, "intelligent", CALL for English language teaching. The paper first puts the development of CALL applications into perspective (after Atwell, 1999; Warschauer and Healey, 1998) in…

This study explores whether different types of hypermedia annotations facilitate reading comprehension for intermediate and advanced ESL learners. Data was collected from 84 intermediate and advanced level adult ESL learners using a tracking tool that recorded the amount of time readers spent on a given annotation. An expository text was annotated…

Learning in context is an important component of second language (L2) vocabulary teaching and learning. However, young children may encounter some difficulties in dealing with the context. Hence learning support should be included to facilitate learning. The present study examined the effects of two types of learning support on Chinese children's…

As a first step towards implementing a human language teacher, we have developed a new template-based on-line ICALL (intelligent computer assisted language learning) system capable of automatically diagnosing learners' free-format translated inputs and returning error contingent feedback. The system architecture we have adopted allows language…

In the paper, we examine whether and the extent to which CALL grammar instruction contributes to improving learners' performance and confidence in positioning adverbs in an English sentence. Over a two-week period two groups of ESL learners were exposed to six hours of grammar instruction. One group had teacher-fronted instruction while the other…

In this article, the development of a computer-assisted listening comprehension project is described. First, we comment briefly on the points of departure, the need for autonomous learning against the background of recent changes in Dutch education, and the role of learning strategies. Then, an error analysis, the programs used for this project,…

This paper discusses the use of email exchanges between non-native speakers (NNS) in the Italian program at the Australian National University (ANU). Approximately eighty students, spanning beginners' to advanced level, participated in two iterations of a one-to-one email conversation in 2000. The underpinning rationale for the use of email was to…