CALL - an overview of stuff

Based on your teaching practicum experience please answer the following questions in your blog:

If you had the chance would you utilize ICT (CALL) in your teaching?

It would really depend on a number of parameters. Is there internet at the school? Is it running all the time, or do you have to request for it to be connected? How long does the request take to be accepted/rejected? How long does it take for the connection to be up and running? How many computers are there in the lab? How many students are in the class? Is there sufficient filters on the internet connection? Are the computers running in ideal conditions, or are they slowed down thanks to bad maintenance? Projectors and speakers are basic systems which don't require a technician breathing down your neck to operate (like in some of the classes here in our beloved faculty)? Distance from class to lab. Periods before and after your English class (in case there's lunch before or after, at which point the students get restless, or if there's a teacher with a penchant to 'overteach' which would screw up your schedule well and truly). Is the prepared lesson something which really requires a computer, or could you do it with a piece of mahjong paper? Do the students have basic fundamental knowledge of operating a computer?

For example, I did my practicum in Subang Utama. There were enough computers to support the number of students in the computer labs. They definitely can use computers well enough, since they do the whole myspace,facebook,friendster thing, as well as MSN and YM chats. However, the classes were always very far, and the students would take forever to go from one place to the next. They would take 10-15 minutes to hustle to the labs, and 10-15 minutes to hustle back to their class, which meant less time for the lesson for me, and eating into the time of the next teacher, which would get my humble self in trouble. This factor alone made me reconsider any CALL lesson plans I might have tried to make happen. If the classes were closer, I might have tried to think up a few CALL lessons.


How do you think it would help (or would not help) your students to learn English?

Honestly, using computers would probably be a big help in teaching kids to learn English. Give them a simple game to play, and they need to understand the instructions properly. Give them a website to go to that caters to their interests, and they'll want to know what 'ambiguous photo-emmissions' are, since it's a superhero power. And any number of other things.

Unfortunately, it would also be bad if they came across any of the feared online languages.

SMS speech : hi hw ru, im fyn 2, i kno u bz, ttyl bai.

13375p34|< (leet speak (Elite Speech)): 1 |3 1337, j00 5|_|><><()RZZZ (I be leet, you suck (I am an elite, you are far inferior to myself))

lolspeech : er, go to www.icanhascheezburger.com

These would all have a bad effect on the language IMHO. Not to mention all the swearing to be found in forums, as well as idiot opinions on whatever is a hot topic at the moment. Brrr...


What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of implementing CALL in the Malaysian schools?

Advantages would be if you could actually get the theory up and working instead of staying on paper. It would cut down a lot of the time needed to prep materials and look for information, and with a good local network and program, allows for efficient distribution of work and information to students. It allows for better co-operation between teachers, in working out kinks in the distribution and execution of programs which are used for classes.

Disadvantages would be if CALL became something too widely depended upon, so yeah, viruses, blackouts, thunderstorms, would effectively lay to waste most of the class preparations. If Godzilla happens to attack too, but that would lay waste to conventional teaching methods as well as civilization as we know it...
On a more serious note, pirating of software used in CALL might very well lead to students being able to cheat their way through lessons, and if an exam were ever to be CALL oriented, they could cheat through that too. Also, if a non-flexible program is used, students who are too weak might not be able to cope, whereas students who are too 'gifted' might get bored easily.


What are the barriers in implementing CALL in the Malaysian classroom?

Funding. Lack of computers. Lack of computer/peripheral maintenance. Lack of suitable programs. Lack of technical experience in most teachers, as well as students - I was asked on multiple occassions to help out with computer related stuff during my practicum, which turned out to be pretty basic, but since the teachers had probably never needed to use computers before, they didn't know how. Not being derisive of the teachers here, they just didn't know. I wouldn't know how to do something I'd never done before either. So, lack of training. Teachers who are set in their ways not wanting to use CALL. Students not having the facilities at home, therefore not being familiar with CALL, and not being able to do homework. Also, friggin adolescent hackers might feel the need to sabotage the school so they don't need to do any work, or they just feel like ruining whatever technology the school has. Yes, technology has its limits, but you could actually log onto the BIOS of a computer and remove the voltage limiters on the power supply as well as the temperature warning and shut off knee jerk reaction so that a computer would overheat and burn out the motherboard and processor. Not quite the push of the magic button which makes things go boom, but has the same effect.


Please also include any other comments/thoughts/ideas on this topic

A lot of the implementation of technology in a classroom setting, or just plain education, has to do with several factors which go beyond simple implementation. The technological as well as civil maturity of a populace. I mean, I prep a mahjong paper and a student tears it up, big deal, 60 sen. A student rips into a computer and it's RM1500 baby. There's also the execution of the entire thing. You can't just go to war without checking to see if your gun's loaded, which means you shouldn't implement something without making sure you've thought through the entire thing. What's the use of using CALL if it's just gonna be the same lessons you could have done with a piece of cardboard, only you're using a computer? So the theory of using CALL has to branch in different directions from contemporary and conventional means of teaching. A proper curriculum that >>worked<< would definitely be a necessity. Teachers who are CALL oriented, and technologically savvy who think differently would be a huge plus. CALL shouldn't just be seen as a new tool for old styles of teaching, but an entire step forward in teaching methodology. While it might not replace conventional teaching methods, and I'm not saying it should, it shouldn't be reflective of conventional teaching methods, because then it would be pointless.