Dr. Tom Robb

(Kyoto Sangyo University)

Will the madness never end?: Continuing problems in the use & abuse of CALL

 

 

There have been tremendous advances in both the technologies available to us for language education, as well as the students' ability to access them. Unfortunately, these advances do not always translate into better language learning. In this presentation, we will consider some fallacies that have lingered since the earliest days of language instructional technology:

 

• "Build it and they will come." 

• "It works for me."  

• "They'll do it if it's fun." 

• "It costs a lot of money, so it must be good." 

• "Lots of other schools are using it."

 

We will review some case studies of travesties of software implementation and consider some guidelines that might help us to make saner choices in the future.

 

Bio

 

Thomas Robb, Ph.D. , U. of Hawaii (Linguistics), teaches at Kyoto Sangyo University where he is member of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and chair of their English Department. He is a long-time user of computer technologies and the Internet, and has created a number of websites for various student projects, interactive learning, and professional exchange. He is currently chief developer of the MReader module. He is a past president of both JALT and the PacCALL.