Theory-Driven CALL and The development process by Mike Levy

This article points out about what is the theory-driven CALL is all about in relation to the development process. There was a review for theoretical frameworks used to encite CALL projects.The given description for the development process by using instructional design and CALL literature and the international survey findings comprising of eighteen countries and one hundred four CALL experts. Based on the Richards and Rodgers model (1986) which proposed that a suitable framework to describe both theory-driven CALL and projects usage to serve as departure point a lower level of abstraction. There is a wide range of development processes shown here including; from those that are linear and systematic to those that are iterative and transformational. Implications for theory-driven CALL are reviewed and the fit concept between pedagogy and the computer's capabilities are evaluated. There was some discussion about the formalist and procedural approaches to CALL revealed. There was an attempt to address the real conditions and derive generalisations and principles that are meaningful to CALL authors. In the introduction CALL looked at as theory-driven and this view is supported by many CALL authors. Theories are extracted from psychology like cognitive psychology and second language acquisition and on the other hand there was an evidence to show that a number of CALL projects are not driven by theory by using vocational language programmes and the reliability of theories was questionable as some of them well supported and other are not.The development process; the literature started with the instructional design as Andrews and Goodson (1980) compared 40 intructional design models . The generic model comprises of three stages; the analysis phase, synthesis and evalaution phase. The tasks linked with these three phases are summarised as follows: needs assessment, goals, measurements, skill types, learner characteristics, , instructional strategies, media selection and formative evaluation.The CALL survey points out to the CALL authors' theory and their influence. The development process: the CALL surveyif the respondents had a unique recollection of development process of some of CALL materials they were asked to provide description about the departure point and the process itself. There were number of categories shown including lower level task, higher level of theoretical framework, derivedfrom existing CALL applications and syllabus specifications. In addition to the above, experts also provided hints into development process whether the process was sequential and divided into discrete elements or whether the process was circular and less structured. What we can conclude from this article is the development process is a pretty dynamic and the theoretical departure point needs to be shown in that direction. The theoretical orientation requires to be in tone with the technological environment and working CALL programmes to go hand in hand with them. The fit is tackled through the development process. Ginsberg stated that the field is divided between those who are engaged in solving problems by developing theories and those who favoured to tackle problems by writing programmes which will assist CALL. Many experts are proceduralists believe that our understanding of CALL and knowledge Will progress by writing programmes and testing them with students. Therefore such approach will ensure that their programmes will cater for CALL context. The proceduralists will risk their work to be carried away by what the technology will offer , ultimately reaching the conjuncture where no theoretical foundations to substantiate their work. Whatever the case the theoretical framework must be applicable this particular environment. Taking the theory to the development process is considered to be an effective way to examine the theory strengths and weaknesses, but it came short of exploiting the technology capabilities to its maximum potential. Alternatively the learning opportunities and the resources that the technology can offer are neglected. The proceduralists and the formalists approaches have their limitations and strengths in this regard. We have to bear in mind that the dynamic nature of the development process and notion of fit, then the theory's objective and its application that are linked together will be achieved.

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