THE HISTORY OF CALL
Computers
have been used for language teaching ever since the 1960s. According to
Warschauer & Healey (1998), this 40-year period can be divided into
three main stages: behaviourist CALL, communicative CALL, and
integrative CALL. Each stage corresponds to a certain level of
technology and certain pedagogical theories.
Behaviourist CALL
In
the 1960s and 1970s the first form of computer-assisted Language
Learning featured repetitive language drills, the so-called
drill-and-practice method. It was based on the behaviourist learning
model and as such the computer was viewed as little more than a
mechanical tutor that never grew tired. Behaviourist CALL was first
designed and implemented in the era of the mainframe and the best-known
tutorial system, PLATO, ran on its own special hardware. It was mainly
used for extensive drills, explicit grammar instruction, and translation
tests (Ahmad, et al., 1985).
Communicative CALL
Communicative
CALL emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as a reaction to the Behaviourist
approach to language learning. Proponents of communicative CALL rejected
Behaviourist approaches at both the theoretical and pedagogical level.
They stressed that CALL should focus more on using forms rather than on
the forms themselves. Grammar should be taught implicitly and students
should be encouraged to generate original utterances instead of
manipulating prefabricated forms (Jones & Fortescue, 1987; Philips,
1987). This form of computer-based instruction corresponded to cognitive
theories which recognized that learning was a creative process of
discovery, expression, and development. The mainframe was replaced by
personal computers that allowed greater possibilities for individual
work. Popular CALL software in this era included text reconstruction
programmers and simulations.