CALL— past, present and future. Stephen Bax (2003)

Read the article/ book chapter, looking for 5 issues that you find interesting, or surprising.

• "Normalisation is therefore the stage when a technology is invisible, hardly even recognised as a technology, taken for granted in everyday life.  CALL has not reached this stage, as evidenced by the use of the very acronym 'CALL' - we do not speak of PALL (Pen Assisted Language Learning) or of BALL (Book Assisted Language Learning) because those two technologies are completely integrated into education, but CALL has not yet reached that normalisation stage.  In other words, one criterion of CALL's successful integration into language learning will be that it ceases to exist as a separate concept and field for discussion.  CALL practitioners should be aiming at their own extinction." p.23

 

• "CALL will be normalised when computers are treated as always secondary to learning itself, when the needs of learners will be carefully analysed first of all, and then the computer used to serve those needs. ....  Technology will then be in its proper place."

  
Regarding planning for the normalisation of CALL

• "The first step is to identify the criterial factors which normalisation requires.  The second is to audit the practice of each teaching context in the light of these criteria; the final step is to adjust our current practice in each aspect so as to encourage normalisation.  Following this procedure will give each institution and teacher a clear framework within which to audit progress, and within which any obstacles to integration and normalisation can be identified and dealt with.

• "Stages of normalisation in CALL:

1.  Early Adopters.  Afew teachers and schools adopt the technology out of curiosity.
2. Ignorance/scepticism.  However, most people are sceptical, or ignorant of its existence.
3. Try once.  People try it out but reject it because of early problems.  They can't see its value - it doesn't appear to add anything of 'relative advantage' (Rodgers, 1995).
4. Try again.  Someone tells them it really works.  They try again.  They see it does in fact have relative advantage.
5. Fear/awe.  More people start to use it, but still there is (a) fear, alternating with (b) exaggerated expectations.
6. Normalising. Gradually it is seen as something normal.
7. Normalisation.  The technology is so integrated into our lives that it becomes invisible-'normalised'.

The Omnipotence Fallacy ('wow' factor Murray and Barnes, 1998)

• Healy has identified as "unreasonable and unfounded fascination and belief in [computer] technology's educational power" (Healy, cited in Haughton, 1992: 2)

Look what they've done to my brain ma
Haughton, E. 1999.  The Independent Education Supplement 3/6/99, p. 2. 


The 'Sole Agency' fallacy

• "The key factor or only factor in successful implementation of the technology is the technology itself."  
• "It tends to be accompanied by a neglect of the many other factors required in successful implementation-and explains why in the illustrative example above the audience ignored all issues to do with how the software would mesh with students' needs, or the teaching and learning environment.  In principle, professionals would nowadays recognise that many otehr factors are crucial in successful CALL, but in practice many teachers, students and administrators and others in language teaching and learning are still at the Fear/Awe stage, part of which includes this Sole Agent fallacy."

What stood out for me, as David mentions,  were also the points regarding: the lack of initial research into CALL, the idea of 'normalization' and the diffusion cycle of innovations.

As the ICT Coordinator in my school I have to run mandatory ICT induction sessions at the start of every term (there is a fairly high turnover of teachers here in the MENA region).  There are a wide range of ICT abilities among experienced teachers arriving at the school.  Many are still very sceptical about the need for ICT in the classroom and the benefit of investing time in learning to use new technologies.  I've been asked directly what the evidence is of ICT aiding learning while explaining the basic use of the IWB.  The last teacher who asked me had recently completed an MA in TESOL and siaid that he asked his tutors the same question with inadequate responses.  I therefore found the reference to 'BALL' and 'PALL' amusing but at the same time pertinent; we should always be critical of what we do in the classroom and question whether it aids the learning process.  I haven't yet been confronted by new teachers regarding the published evidence of the use of coursebooks in learning, teachers have accepted that we can use them and complement them at the same time.  Research into the use of specific technologies would greatly aid normalisation. 

I agree that the goal of normalisation is being hindered by such scepticism which views technology as an omnipotent teaching method and neglects the other important factors which form the scaffolding of efficient teaching instruction and effective learning.  New technology can be a very effective tool when used correctly and teacher training courses and schools which invest in ICT should be more explicit in informing teachers of how it can be used appropriately.

William mentions the stages of normalisation which I thought have closely reflected my personal use of ClassDojo and it becoming normalised in my school and international schools in Doha.  I previously tried using this class management system in Vietnam and it didn't really take off.  I then tried it here in Qatar to help keep in contact with parents primarily as a response to behaviour problems in my lessons.  It has since become really popular with both parents and teachers now using it for many more things including recording student performances and displaying project work online in the closed groups. It has helped me communicate directly to parents and involve them in their child's learning.    

Finally, I liked the idea that we as CALL practitioners should be aiming at our own extinction as this will mean that technology will be normalised.  I think that we have enough time to benefit from a career as innovators and early adopters of technology but the long term goal will be to see CALL in same light as we do BALL and PALL.