CALL

Computer-Aided Language Learning, or CALL for short, has a long history, going back to the pre-PC days when CALL software was developed for BBC Micros and Ataris. Until the advent of the WWW, CALL almost exclusively referred to disk-based language software, but with the explosion in size and use of the WWW, CALL now encompasses the use of the Internet and the WWW as means of aiding language learning and teaching. CALL refers not only to language learning software, although this category comprises the majority of CALL packages available, but to any software which is designed and used for languages-related purposes, including:

electronic dictionaries
concordancers
authoring tools
computer-aided assessment (CAA)
translation tools

to list just a subset of categories.

Research

CALL has been, and continues to be, a fruitful and prolific field of research. The CALL Resources section contains links to some useful bibliographies, journals, and articles in the field.

CALL Software Databases

The many thousands of CALL packages on the market has led to the creation of a number of software databases in an attempt to catalogue this profusion of software. No one database contains a comprehensive list of CALL software - rather, the available databases catalogue software targetted at particular learner constituencies. In the case of our software databases, developed over the last decade, we've concentrated on cataloguing software aimed at 16+ learners in higher education.