In this entry I made an attempt to review the paper "the death of Cyberspace and rebirth of CALL" by Mark Warschauer who is a major figure in field of educational technology.
The original paper can be viewed here.
The author of this paper, I believe, adopts a rather awkward but yet interesting view toward defining Information Technology and its possible consequences on English Teaching. He starts his argument by criticizing the notion of Cyberspace, a term which has been widely used after the emergence of ICT, and refers to it as a Fantasyland which has distinct borders with the real world; An unreal world which gives us unreal identities and unreal lives and provides us with a situation of traveling back and forth to real world. The author continues his argument by saying that ICT not only is not separated from the real world but also is affecting every single corner of our real lives in the real world. The vision that author discusses is that rejecting the notion of Cyberspace and fully taking into account the real effect of online communication on real life, students must be taught to read and write and communicate online as very important medium of 21st century life.
In order to do this he first examines 10 upcoming developments of information and communications technology (ICT) and then examines what impact these developments will have on the field of English language teaching.
Summarily these 10 developments are as follow:
1- The first change is from phone-based to wireless communication.
2- A second change will be from dial-up connections to permanent, direct connections, including from the home.
3- A third change will be from personal computers to other computing and online devices
4- A fourth change will be from narrowband to broadband.
5- A fifth change will be from expensive to affordable.
6- A sixth development is that the Internet will change from being exclusive to being a mass form of communication.
7- A seventh development will be from text to audiovisual.
8- An eighth change will be from English to multilingual.
9- A ninth change will be from "non-native" to "native." In this case he is not referring to language, but to comfort in using computers.
10- A tenth change will be from the lab to the classroom.
Considering these possible developments, the author starts examining the impact of these changes on English language teaching. In order to do this he sets five areas to be examined: new contexts, new literacies, new genres, new identities, and new pedagogies.
By new contexts the author is making an attempt to say that because of rapidly increasing number of people who speak English the interaction between natives and non-natives is consequently increasing. The other issue which brings a meaningful hint is that the internet is not only a tool for better English teaching. Parallel to this, we can say one of the aims of learning English in 21st century is to find the ability to use the Internet.
By new literacies, the author mentions a very important point which is the emergence of new concepts of reading and research skills. If in the age of print reading was simply reading the words, now, reading means interpreting information and creating knowledge from a variety of sources.
Not only reading will be affected, but also writing will not be provided with a safety margin. In the new era, writing won't be just simply typing the words but will be demonstrating skills in multimedia content creation and this is what that can be called new genres.
By new identities author tries to show that online communication has the potential of creating new identities for people. The author claims that students who use new media develop a wide range of literacies and identities, and we need to take these into account in our English teaching.
By new pedagogies, author- as he himself claims- reaches to his heart of talk. In this section he introduces new pedagogies needed for the changes he previously mentioned. The author summarizes the changes which have occurred and are occurring in the following table:
The Three Stages of CALL
In order to do this he first examines 10 upcoming developments of information and communications technology (ICT) and then examines what impact these developments will have on the field of English language teaching.
Summarily these 10 developments are as follow:
1- The first change is from phone-based to wireless communication.
2- A second change will be from dial-up connections to permanent, direct connections, including from the home.
3- A third change will be from personal computers to other computing and online devices
4- A fourth change will be from narrowband to broadband.
5- A fifth change will be from expensive to affordable.
6- A sixth development is that the Internet will change from being exclusive to being a mass form of communication.
7- A seventh development will be from text to audiovisual.
8- An eighth change will be from English to multilingual.
9- A ninth change will be from "non-native" to "native." In this case he is not referring to language, but to comfort in using computers.
10- A tenth change will be from the lab to the classroom.
Considering these possible developments, the author starts examining the impact of these changes on English language teaching. In order to do this he sets five areas to be examined: new contexts, new literacies, new genres, new identities, and new pedagogies.
By new contexts the author is making an attempt to say that because of rapidly increasing number of people who speak English the interaction between natives and non-natives is consequently increasing. The other issue which brings a meaningful hint is that the internet is not only a tool for better English teaching. Parallel to this, we can say one of the aims of learning English in 21st century is to find the ability to use the Internet.
By new literacies, the author mentions a very important point which is the emergence of new concepts of reading and research skills. If in the age of print reading was simply reading the words, now, reading means interpreting information and creating knowledge from a variety of sources.
Not only reading will be affected, but also writing will not be provided with a safety margin. In the new era, writing won't be just simply typing the words but will be demonstrating skills in multimedia content creation and this is what that can be called new genres.
By new identities author tries to show that online communication has the potential of creating new identities for people. The author claims that students who use new media develop a wide range of literacies and identities, and we need to take these into account in our English teaching.
By new pedagogies, author- as he himself claims- reaches to his heart of talk. In this section he introduces new pedagogies needed for the changes he previously mentioned. The author summarizes the changes which have occurred and are occurring in the following table:
The Three Stages of CALL
Though the table tends to present these changes in a hierarchical order which in turn may claim that these changes happen sequentially but the author himself rejects this view and says there is no "bad CALL" and "good CALL" and a combination of them may happen simultaneously.
The author proceeds by elaborating on the difference between communicative and integrative CALL. To be brief, communicative CALL is compatible with the cognitive view of language learning: that, through interaction, learners can develop language as an internal mental system. But integrative CALL is based on a socio-cognitive view of language learning. From this viewpoint, learning language involves entering and practicing new discourse communities. In addition, the author expresses that there has been change form accuracy towards accuracy plus fluency. Here is where the author wishes to add a new dimension: agency. Agency has been defined as "the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices" (Murray, 1997). I believe the notion of agency is the core of this paper by introducing which the author shapes his ideal use of computer in language learning and teaching. He believes in this way computer can provide the students with the opportunities of understanding the differences between different types of authoring. As the reviewer of this paper and as a person residing in developing country most of the predictions about the possible changes made in this paper are not of that much sense. I believe that this paper is addressing the audience of developed world who experienced a real feel of Information and Communication Technology. Due to the lack of understanding I am not able to comment on these predictions though they may seem quite rational. Another point is that the author does not clarify that how he has come to these predictions i.e. he does not provide the reader with observational data that prove these claims to be true. I am putting too much emphasis on the predictions for they constitute the foundation of the paper which the other claims are based on. On the other hand, the author is quite successful in convincing the reader about necessary changes in CALL but introducing the notion of agency. As a novice reader I would like to conclude that this paper is too scientifically short to be a fully beneficial text for the novice readers. To draw a full picture of CALL too much reading is needed
The author proceeds by elaborating on the difference between communicative and integrative CALL. To be brief, communicative CALL is compatible with the cognitive view of language learning: that, through interaction, learners can develop language as an internal mental system. But integrative CALL is based on a socio-cognitive view of language learning. From this viewpoint, learning language involves entering and practicing new discourse communities. In addition, the author expresses that there has been change form accuracy towards accuracy plus fluency. Here is where the author wishes to add a new dimension: agency. Agency has been defined as "the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices" (Murray, 1997). I believe the notion of agency is the core of this paper by introducing which the author shapes his ideal use of computer in language learning and teaching. He believes in this way computer can provide the students with the opportunities of understanding the differences between different types of authoring. As the reviewer of this paper and as a person residing in developing country most of the predictions about the possible changes made in this paper are not of that much sense. I believe that this paper is addressing the audience of developed world who experienced a real feel of Information and Communication Technology. Due to the lack of understanding I am not able to comment on these predictions though they may seem quite rational. Another point is that the author does not clarify that how he has come to these predictions i.e. he does not provide the reader with observational data that prove these claims to be true. I am putting too much emphasis on the predictions for they constitute the foundation of the paper which the other claims are based on. On the other hand, the author is quite successful in convincing the reader about necessary changes in CALL but introducing the notion of agency. As a novice reader I would like to conclude that this paper is too scientifically short to be a fully beneficial text for the novice readers. To draw a full picture of CALL too much reading is needed
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