Sociocultural and Interactionist Perspectives in CALL

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Sociocultural and Interactionist Perspectives in
CALL

• Xiaofei Lu
• APLNG 588
• November 8, 2007

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Agenda

• Software review
• Assignment 6 Final Project Proposal
• Metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive strategies
  and CALL (Amanda)
• Sociocultural perspectives in CALL
• Interactionist perspectives in CALL

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Sociocultural perspectives

• Introduction
• Sociocultural theory
• Previous research
• Future directions and issues
• Conclusion

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Introduction

• Where does a blind mans sensory mechanism end?
  (Bateson 1972)
• Relationship between humanity to its tools
• Vygotskys sociocultural theory and its
  application in CALL

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Sociocultural theory

• Mediation
• Social learning
• Genetic analysis

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Mediation

• Human activity is mediated by tools or signs
• Tools fundamentally transform human activity
• Tools alters flow structure of mental functions
• Activity theory (Leontiev 1979)
• Activities as unit of analysis for understanding
  human cognition and behavior
• Application in CALL
• How new technologies transform prior forms of
  human activity

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Social learning

• Mental function in childs cultural development
• Appears first on the social level, between people
• Later on the individual level, inside the child
• Development through apprenticeship learning
• Zone of proximal development
• Understanding linguistic interaction
• How one learns from/through others (Bakhtin 1986)
• Social learning and research on CMC

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Genetic analysis

• Importance to understand the origins and
  developmental process of mental functions
• Microgenesis unfolding of events
• Ontogenesis development of the individual
• Sociocultural history
• Phylogenesis development of the species
• Understanding CALL in its broader context

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Previous research

• Classroom learning (Warschauer 1999)
• Implementation of online and computer-based LL in
  diverse situations
• Activities shaped by institutional contexts and
  belief systems of individual teachers
• Students learning both language and technology
• Purpose activities more motivating and engaging
  and better enhance language skills

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Out-of-class learning

• Lam (2000, 2003)
• Longitudinal studies of online language and
  literacy practices of 4 Chinese immigrant youth
  in the US
• Status as English users online
• New hybrid forms of language and new identities
• Concept of authorship changing in new media
• New possibilities of agency

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Cross-class learning

• Cross-class learning through multiclass
  partnership, or telecollaboration
• Thorne (2003)
• Three case studies of telecollaborative exchanges
  between American and French students
• Interrelatoinship between mediational means,
  culture and language
• Culture-in-use, e.g., student perception of email

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Future directions

• Home-school connections in SLL and technology use
• Uses of different electronic media how medium
  shapes linguistic interaction
• Electronic literacy and genre
• Other aspects of CALL, e.g.,
• Human-tutor vs. computer-tutor and ZPD

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Issues

• Definition and reach of sociocultural theory
• Scope of language learning

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Conclusion

• Computer not an end but a tool for LL
• English not an end but a tool for using IT
• Tools mediate and transform human activity
• How mediation occurs at the micro level
• How it intersects with broader trends

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Interactionist perspective

• Introduction
• Interactionist SLA
• Interactionist perspective in CALL
• Future directions and issues
• Conclusion

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Introduction

• Im not sure what interactivity is myself.
  (Rose 2000)
• The meaning and value of interactivity and
  interaction in CALL
• Theory of interactionist SLA and CALL pedagogy
  and research

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Interactionist SLA

• Interaction all types of two-way exchanges
• Interactionist theory
• Greater potential for acquisition through
  interaction
• Why, how and when acquisition takes place during
  interaction
• Gass (1997) psycholinguistic processes involved
  in acquisition through interaction

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Interactionist SLA (contd)

• Adapting Ellis (1999) perspective
• Interpersonal activities
• F2F communication
• CMC and interaction between learner and computer
• Intrapersonal activities
• Benefits of interaction (Gass 1997)
• Negotiating meaning
• Obtaining enhanced input
• Directing attention to linguistic form

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Benefits by interaction hypothesis
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Some empirical findings

• Adjustments that help learners make form-meaning
  connections beneficial (Long 1996)
• Requesting enhanced input in learner-computer
  interaction beneficial (Chapelle 2003)

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Interactionist perspective in CALL pedagory

• Reflected in CALL software reviews
• Byrne (2000) review of Reading German
• Ignores pedagogical interventions
• Tatsumi (2001) review of Real English
• Lack of opportunities of meaning L2 use
• Reflected in guidelines for instructional design
• Chapelle (1998)
• Doughty and Long (2003)

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Chapelles (1998) 7 features of instructional
design

• Make key linguistic characteristics salient
• Offer modifications of linguistic input
• Opportunities for comprehensible output
• Opportunities for learners to notice errors
• Opportunities for learners to correct output
• Support modified learner-computer interaction
• Opportunities for learner to participate in L2
  tasks

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Doughty and Longs (2003) principles of
tasks-based LL

• Use tasks, not texts, as the unit of analysis
• Promote learning by doing
• Elaborate input
• Rich input
• Encourage inductive learning
• Focus on form
• Provide negative feedback
• Respect learner syllabi/developmental processes
• Promote cooperative/collaborative learning
• Individualized instruction

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Interactionist perspective in CALL Research

• CALL research hypotheses drawn from
• Pedagogical suggestions
• Basic hypotheses about benefits of interaction
• Hsu (1994)
• Task listening comprehension
• Theory input modification through interaction
• Finding Helps comprehension of hard forms

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Empirical findings

• Kon (2002)
• Incidental vocabulary acquisition through
  listening
• Enriched input and interaction
• Positive finding of incidental vocabulary
  acquisition
• Modes of presentation of input matter, too
• Pellettieri (2000)
• Text chat tasks and classroom communication
• Negotiation of form and meaning
• Promotes attention to language use

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Empirical findings (contd)

• Sauro (2001)
• ESL voice-chat tasks
• Negotiation of meaning
• Task design and evaluation
• Kotter (2003)
• Text-based MOO collaborations
• Negotiation of meaning exhibiting types of moves
  in classroom tasks
• Use of L1 played a role in negotiations

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Future directions and issues

• Beyond the interactionist perspective
• From psychological to social benefits for
  interaction
• Close examination of the language
• Benefits of Interactionist theory for CALL
• A basis in research on instructed SLA
• Cognitively based constructs transportable to
  CALL
• Hypotheses about cognitive processes of
  vocabulary and syntax acquisition through
  interaction
• Productive, evaluative perspective for CALL tasks
  and research questions

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Limitations for CALL

• Has tradition based on F2F interaction
• No construct for looking at complete context of
  CALL use
• Focuses less on acquisition of pragmatics
• Focuses more on linguistic functions associated
  with misunderstanding

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Conclusion

• Interactivity or learner-computer interaction as
  a construct for the study of CALL
• Interactionist perspective a beginning point for
  theorizing potential benefits of interactivity
• Better understanding of how, when and why
  interactivity is realized in CALL