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C&IT Centre

No 8, June 96

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Learning Technology Showcase at Oxford Brookes University

All twenty-four CTI Centres took part in Oxford Brookes University's 'IT Term' and attended this two-day event, co-hosted by The University of Oxford and Westminster College, Oxford on 16/17 April 1996. June Thompson and Jenny Parsons represented the CTI Centre for Modern Languages.

The event started with an introductory plenary session featuring Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science, University of Southampton, and Jonathan Darby, head of the CTI Support Service, based at the University of Oxford. Wendy Hall, known internationally for her work in multimedia education, took a far-sighted view of higher education and civilization in general, pointing out what a short space of time had elapsed since the introduction of the printing press, reminding us that there were 'Luddites' even in 16th-century Venice, when outraged lecturers feared that the new, cheap, mass-produced book would destroy their livelihood. Wendy suggested that all we could expect to do, in the face of the huge developments facing us, was to use the technologies available to make small but significant steps towards changing the whole culture of learning.

Jonathan Darby reviewed the current usage of technology in learning, including supporting technologies such as the use of Powerpoint for presentations as well as purpose-built computer-based learning programs. Jonathan quoted Sir Ron Dearing's views on the potential importance of IT in higher education and felt that the flexibility offered by the use of IT would have a significant influence on the future direction of part-time education. The discussion which followed emphasised the importance of using IT to enhance teaching and learning rather than replacing human interaction, which was still vital for good education.

During the first afternoon all the Centres held an Exhibition with software demonstrations. This provided an opportunity for Modern Languages teachers from Oxford Brookes and other institutions in the region to see the nearly-finished versions of the materials from the TELL Consortium. We were far too busy to count the number of colleagues who visited our stand, but there was certainly a lot of interest in the materials, and fourteen people signed up to attend CTI Modern Languages's half-hour presentation late in the afternoon. All CTI Centres had been asked to speak to the title 'Tools, techniques and resources for teaching and learning' and CTI Modern Languages's contribution consisted of a short introduction to the work of CTI Modern Languages and the TELL Consortium, emphasising the integration of computer-based materials into the curriculum, whether learners were working in a classroom or in a self-access environment. A small selection of TELL materials was demonstrated, and there was an opportunity for questions and discussion at the end of the session.

All CTI presenters were guests at a Dinner at Headington Hill Hall, formerly the home of Robert Maxwell and now part of Oxford Brookes University. The surroundings were quite remarkable and this provided a restful interlude before the next day's marathon. This took the form of a 'hands-on' workshop, 'Integrating CALL into the Curriculum', which was over-subscribed two days beforehand! In the event, there was no difficulty in coping with the maximum number of 40 participants who came from a variety of institutions, mainly within Oxford, but a few from further afield. Considerable 'homework' had been done in advance of the event to make sure that suitable materials in the right languages were available; and the CTI presenters were well-supported by Colin Connolly and his team in the Language Centre at Oxford Brookes. Final versions of the TELL products GramEx and GramDef in French and German had been installed on the Language Centre's network, and it was gratifying to find that all 16 computers in the lab were in full use all morning, with no technical problems. The four main points highlighted in a report by Mariabelle Headlam at Oxford Brookes were:

• "The presentation by the CTI staff made full use of Powerpoint and it was extremely professional and fascinating to follow their presentation of the latest developments in our field using sound and animated pictures. The key point to emerge was the need for integration when talking about CALL material.
• "It was very useful to see what is available on the market: grammar packages, a database of periodicals, translation tools and packages to teach students to read efficiently and structure their work in foreign languages.
• "It was very reassuring to see that we did not need to be computer experts or programmers in order to use the packages presented, since most were Windows applications ready to be used (GramEx, GramDef and TransIt-TIGER in all main languages, Medialogue in French, German and Italian).
• "It was felt that the integration of IT in our teaching is a less daunting prospect than we had feared, and a worthwhile exercise."

Foreign Language Internet Resources

The World Wide Web site for the School of Modern Languages at the University of Newcastle contains links to German, Dutch, French, Spanish and Portuguese internet resources:

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nsml/

The most frequently updated page is linked to German material:

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nsml/links/german.htm

Mailbase for Modern Languages

Abstract

Mailbase enables UK HE staff to communicate and collaborate using Mailbase lists. Mailbase targets the non-computer expert and this is reflected in the wide range of subject areas covered by the lists. The possibility of establishing a new special subject group for Modern Languages is currently being investigated. Specific features of Mailbase, such as the World Wide Web Service and user support, are looked at.

Mailbase is the UK's major electronic mailing list service. It enables groups of HE staff to communicate and collaborate using Mailbase lists and it is a free service to this community. Groups use Mailbase for:

• informal discussion
• advertising vacant posts
• queries and enquiries
• co-authoring papers
• distributing research material and data
• advertising conferences and seminars
• locating colleagues with a similar specialist interest
• electronic meetings

How does Mailbase work?

Mailbase provides an enhancement to e-mail, which is essentially one-to-one communication. The e-mail addresses and names of a group of people in a certain subject area are held on a list. A message sent to the list address ([email protected]) is automatically sent out to every member of the list. Each list has one or more owners who are responsible for the administration of the list. These owners are self-selecting and come from the HE community.

Mailbase relies heavily on list owners managing their own lists, while the Mailbase service is run by a team based at the University of Newcastle and is funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Councils of England, Scotland and Wales and the Department of Education for Northern Ireland.

Mailing lists for modern languages

Currently (1 May 1996) Mailbase hosts almost 1,300 lists and has 91,000 individual members. One of the main aims of Mailbase is to encourage the non-computer specialist to use the service. This is reflected in the variety of subjects covered; air pollution, tourism, railway studies, French history etc. Mailbase lists can be stand alone, part of a 'family' of lists, belong to a special subject group or one of the other groups. Mailbase supports four special subject groups (Library, HE Admin, Medical and Social Science).

As these groups are now managing well on their own, we are looking at to establish new special subject groups for areas that are under-represented on Mailbase. One such area is Modern Languages. The subject-specific Modern Language lists that are currently hosted on Mailbase and that are open for self-subscription are:

afls-news - for members of the Association for French Language Studies and other colleagues involved in teaching and research in French in Higher Education. It is intended to facilitate the exchange of information in the areas of teaching and research in French language studies.

asmi - multi-disciplinary discussion group for members of the Association for the Study of Modern Italy, and interested others. Topics cover all areas of interest to the student of modern Italy, e.g. politics, history, arts, literature, popular culture, business and industry, science and technology.

iberia - provides a forum for the dissemination of information and the discussion of matters of common concern among subject specialists, librarians, academic staff, postgraduate students and others in the field of Spanish and Portuguese studies.

latim-info - provides a forum for the dissemination of information and discussion of matters of common concern amongst subject-specialists, librarians, academic staff, postgraduate students and others in the field of Latin American studies.

There are also lists on French and German history (french-history, german-history) and two general language lists that are again open for anyone to join:

ucml-research - University Council for Modern Languages list to promote discussion of issues relating to research in modern languages in UK higher education institutions.

ucml-teaching - University Council for Modern Languages list to promote the discussion of issues relating to the teaching of modern languages in UK higher education institutions.

eurocall-members is a new list, run by the CTI Centre for Modern Languages at the University of Hull, which is open to subscribers to EUROCALL. For full details see page 10.

We are looking to establish more Mailbase lists for Modern Languages and if anyone is interested in setting up a list, then they can contact Elaine Blair at the address below.

The 'other groups' represented on Mailbase are CHEST, CTI, eLib and TLTP. A number of the CTI centres have one or more lists on Mailbase. There is a general list called cti-centres "for all those interested in the activities of the CTI." The TLTP group also have lists covering individual TLTP projects and a general list. The general list, tltp-projects, is designed "to facilitate interchange between all those involved or interested in the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme."

Talking to Mailbase

To join one of these lists, simply send the following message (substituting appropriately) to [email protected]:

join listname yourname

For an electronic copy of the guide to using Mailbase, send the following message to [email protected]:

send mailbase user-guide

Mailbase World Wide Web Service

In addition to the e-mail service, the Mailbase World Wide Web Service offers online documentation and allows all publicly available Mailbase lists, list archives and memberships to be searched. The Mailbase home page can be found at: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/

The use of hypermail means that any URLs included in e-mail messages become live 'clickable' hyperlinks when the messages are archived.

A new addition to the documentation section on the Web is the group hints, available at: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/docs/hintgp.html

This is a collection of notes on running successful mailing lists that group co-ordinators, list owners and would-be list owners should find useful.

User Support

Mailbase offers a high level of user support. Help on using Mailbase is available by sending the word help to: [email protected]

Problems or queries that require human intervention can be addressed to your list owner (substitute the name of the list) at:

[email protected]

The Mailbase helpline will be happy to deal with general queries and can be found at [email protected]

If you are organising or are represented at a workshop, meeting or conference, we would be happy to supply you with Mailbase flyers and posters.

How to get in touch

For further information please contact the Mailbase Team via e-mail at [email protected]

Our postal address is:

Mailbase
University Computing Service
University of Newcastle
Newcastle NE1 7RU.
Telephone: (0191) 222 8080
Elaine Blair
Mailbase User Support and Training Officer
(E-mail: [email protected])

New initiative for excellence in vocational foreign languages

Excellence in vocational foreign language learning and teaching is given a boost by a new initiative recently launched, in which CTI Modern Languages will be participating. The DfEE-funded Network in Vocational foreign languages will operate under the acronym of HEVOCAL. The Consortium of Project Partners, coming from various Universities and industry, will identify and spread good practice in the UK.

There is already a great deal of interesting good practice in this area. This involves for example accurate identification of foreign language requirements, the development of suitable materials, appropriate methods of delivery and self-access, and uses of educational technology.

The Network, funded by the DfEE for two years, has the task of bringing exponents of successful practice together, and disseminating this information to other institutions. Consortium fundholder Professor Jack Lonergan, University of Westminster, explains, "The Partners in the Consortium with us are the Universities of Cambridge and Hull (CTI Modern Languages), Unilever and CILT (the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research). This grouping has acknowledged expertise in all the required areas - design, delivery, staff development, and the use of foreign language materials specifically for the workplace. However, we are by no means the only ones. The Network's task is to coordinate and publicise good practice."

The DfEE funds will enable specialists to record or write up their experiences and bring them to a series of seminars to be held during the year. Good practice will then be demonstrated and promoted at regional and national workshops. Dr Lid King, Director of CILT, hopes that publications will also ensue. "We feel that a series of reference handbooks focusing on successful practice would be of great value to both foreign language teaching departments and the consumers: business, industry, the professions and government departments."

The main areas identified now include staff development, materials development, uses of technology, and modes of delivery, such as intensive courses and self-access.

Further publicity about the new network will be included in future ReCALL Newsletters, and on CTI Modern Languages home page on the World Wide Web.

Further information can be obtained from Professor Jack Lonergan, School of Languages, University of Westminster, 9-18 Euston Centre, London NW1 3ET, Tel 0171 911 5002, Fax 0171 911 5007, email [email protected]

Conference Report

Quality, Technology and Self-Access

University of Hull

2 March 1996

This one-day conference, arranged jointly by the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research (CILT) and the CTI Centre for Modern Languages, attracted fifty participants, who attended a morning of presentations, a hands-on session in the early afternoon and a plenary discussion focusing on Quality Assessment.

The introductory address was given by Lid King, Director of CILT and Graham Chesters, Director of CTI Modern Languages. The changing nature of language learning in recent years and the need to accommodate increasing numbers of learners, including learners of languages for special purposes, demanded responses from the language teaching community and the conference aimed to look at the relation between quality, technology and self-access in these responses.

Three presentations then followed, covering the use of multimedia CD-ROMs, language learning involving videoconferencing, and computer conferencing for the independent language learner.

Multimedia CDROMs: the Encounters Series from the TELL Consortium

Professor Graham Davies, Thames Valley University

In the context of growth of student numbers and expanding provision of distance learning, the non-specialist language student was experiencing a reduction in class contact time and making up the hours by self access study. Multimedia resources could provide material for self access study and the TELL Encounters series of CD-ROMs, developed with funds from the UK HE funding bodies under the TLTP programme, was introduced as an example. One of a number of language learning programs developed by TELL for learners of French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, Encounters provides backup material for the non-specialist student. The material is functional, modular and non-sequential. Research by the TELL consortium showed that there are no course books which are particularly favoured by Modern Languages teachers, so the material has not been tied into any particular course but provides a number of modules with a topic list which indicates which language points are covered in which modules.

The template approach adopted in the development of these materials means that the program has been written in such a way that language content can be slotted in with relative ease. The possibility thus exists of producing later versions with customised content for languages for special purposes.

The Encounters software demonstrated at the presentation illustrated the dialogue approach taken by the majority of the modules. The user can listen to dialogues with control over transcripts/translations appearing on screen. The Participate mode allows the user to take the role of one speaker and record and playback their contributions to the dialogue as flexibly as possible. Each of the dialogues is then accessible in an alternative mode, in which the whole text is available with hypertext links to further information about grammar and usage, together with exercises of varying type. The dialogues are spoken by native speakers in the appropriate language and are complemented by the use of high quality photographs of speakers and locations.

Network-based language learning: technology and access

Christoph Z�hner, University of Cambridge

This presentation covered the Leverage project (Learn from Video Extensive Real ATM Gigabyte Experiment). The scene was set by the need for distributed language learning to take account of variations in learners' goals, needs and environments, time constraints, geographical constraints and local resource constraints. The project aimed to provide the learner with high quality communication channels for network-based native/non-native speaker interaction, ideally via video conferencing. A rich learner environment including shared multimedia resources would be supported by a flexible support infrastructure, where students are given clear guidance and can access advisors who give information about resources and put learners in touch with each other.

Evaluation to see how well networked language learning really works is a necessary component of the project.

The three sites involved in the Leverage project are Universities in Cambridge, Paris and Madrid. In addition to the exploration of networked language learning the project also hopes to identify market drivers for commercial development. Commercial interests in the project currently include GEC/Marconi, French and Swiss companies, a Dutch software house and a Finnish video company.

The presentation was supplemented by a video of students using a workstation with videocamera for video conferencing, showing the software interface, selection of partners for videoconferencing, communication between partners, and resources available, such as video material on how to introduce yourself, online information and dictionaries.

Students are set tasks over a three week period, interacting twice a week to complete each task. Initial tasks were undertaken by pairs of English students working on a task in French, with progression to French/English pairs and eventually 3 way English/French/Spanish links. One important issue to be addressed is the sort of support structures necessary to prevent participation fizzling out once the novelty has worn off. The desire is to empower the learner rather than the teacher, with the focus on 'reciprocal tutoring', employing the key to language learning, which is dialogue.

Hello! Is anybody there?

The use of computer conferencing for independent language learning

Debra Marsh and Marina Mozzon-Macpherson, University of Hull

Marina Mozzon-Macpherson, Open Learning Adviser in the Language Institute at the University of Hull, gave an account of her experience of collaborative learning, where the interaction between teacher, student and advisor can reduce confusion and isolation for the student. Self-access centres should not focus on tools at the expense of the learning process and student interactions, and where an open learning advisor is in post they can be an important link in providing learner training for the teacher as well as the learner directly. A well-developed example of this would be Tandem Teaching, where the advisor is present in the classroom with the teacher.

An advisor can also have a role in directly evaluating the characteristics of learners, e.g. their prior knowledge, motivation and learning styles, in order to provide them with suitable resources and help. Tandem Learning, involving activities with native speakers, such as conversation or participating in discussion lists, could be an important indicator of progress and 'what remains to be done' for the learner. Computer conferencing was a promising way of providing asynchronous interaction, and Marina outlined the facilities offered by the First Class software used for this purpose at Hull.

Debra Marsh, Head of the EFL Unit at the University of Hull, then outlined a learner training program she had undertaken with students studying EFL prior to an undergraduate or postgraduate course. The isolation of students and their reliance on the teacher for information on how they should learn led to the introduction of email contact between the group, with encouraging results for inter-student communication.

This experience fed into a second project involving overseas students who were concerned about their language skills but were unable to attend classes. Computer conferencing facilities were provided in addition to a coursebook and supplementary resources such as audio tapes. Tasks involving writing tutor and student biographies, using the conferencing software, went some way to establishing peer support and online friendship.

The language learning implications of conferencing were touched on but only to emphasise that there is much to explore here. One important outcome of a project involving conferencing would be to create a sense of belonging so that collaborative learning can take place.

Quality Assessment Forum

Participants in the conference had been asked to provide questions for discussion at the final forum session, led by a panel of colleagues with experience as TQA assessors. This panel consisted of Paul Bangs of South Bank University, Alison Piper of the University of Southampton, and Doug Thompson of the University of Hull. Questions posed included

• "Is it possible for an institution to spend its way to 24 out of 24 for TQA?"
• "What hallmarks of good practice are assessors looking for?"
• "What means and structures have been devised to gather evidence about the success of self-access?"
• and
• "Are there views on how technology alters learning?"

As can be imagined the resulting discussion was wide ranging, and well informed by the experience of the panel of assessors.

Among the many points made, there seemed to be agreement that there was not necessarily a correlation between expenditure and success at a departmental level, though looking at funding to the institution as a whole might indicate some correlation with success. Assessors were looking for use of available resources by the maximum number of staff and students. They were looking for imagination, innovation and a match between claims and realities.

Technology could transform the use of time and space in the classroom; the teacher can become a learning resource while the students concentrate on their own work using, for example, translation or interpreting software in the classroom.

In the self-access situation, evaluation studies of the Encounters software were quoted, where students referred to 'feeling in control of their learning', and that 'there was no way they could repeat something 15 times in the classroom' in the way that the software allowed them to outside it. This led to a discussion of agendas for resource-based learning; it was felt that 'other people have other agendas' and it would be necessary for the teacher to take control instead of the manager, to find pedagogic and learning solutions rather than technical and managerial ones. Such solutions did not make resource-based learning cheaper. All were agreed that training is vital - training lecturers and students to use computers, but also educating them to understand and come to terms with changing approaches and methodologies for language learning.

Jenny Parsons

University of Hull

TLTP News

Materials from the TELL Consortium

To date, nearly a quarter of all UK higher education institutions have ordered their selection of TELL materials. The first batch of sixteen products has now been despatched to Hodder & Stoughton and is expected to be available in September 1996, ready for use in the new academic year.

The following programs are currently available for academics to try out at the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research (CILT), 20 Bedfordbury, London WC2N 4LB*:

GramEx French

GramDef French

GramEx German

GramDef German

TransIt-TIGER French, German, Spanish &

Italian (all for translation into English)

If you have not seen the descriptions of the TELL materials - more than 30 packages for learners of French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese - or if you wish to know the name of our contact in your institution who is responsible for collating orders, please contact Kylie Baxter at CTI Modern Languages ([email protected]).

* For details of CILT opening hours, telephone the CILT Library on 0171 379 5110, or fax 0171 379 5082.

TELL Workshops

On Saturday 27 April, 22 participants attended a workshop organised by CTI Modern Languages at the University of Hull entitled 'Translation Tools for Language Learning'. The event focussed on the TransIt-TIGER range of programs designed to help students acquire translation skills in French, German, Italian and Spanish (into English) and in English to French. The rationale of the TransIt-TIGER methodology was explained in a presentation by Professor Doug Thompson (University of Hull), one of the main developers of the package (the other being Patrick Corness at Coventry University); there was a useful discussion around the various language learning benefits which are a part of the methodology, and around the need for teachers and students to re-focus their approach to teaching and learning.

Dr George Talbot (University of Hull), a regular user of TransIt-TIGER (Italian) who has also used the TransIt-TIGER shell to create courses for specific groups of students, gave a presentation describing how to use the authoring shell and some of the linguistic implications involved when selecting 'hot' words and phrases to make links to the glossary.

In the afternoon, participants were given the task of preparing a TransIt-TIGER assignment in the language of their choice, using foreign-language texts they had brought with them on disk, or those supplied by the organisers. The two speakers and members of CTI Modern Languages team were on hand to help and discuss any problems. At the end of the session, most participants felt they would be able to prepare assignments using a word processor and import the data into the TransIt-TIGER shell without too much difficulty. It is hoped that users may collaborate in the future to produce courses for particular groups of students: the team at CTI Modern Languages will be happy to help with this and to advise on copyright matters.

New Discussion List for EUROCALL Members

Members of EUROCALL may now join an electronic discussion list, designed to allow for relevant discussion of any topic of interest to members. This will include items such as:

• information about conferences, workshops and other events;
• new language learning software;
• new research projects;
• collaboration in software development and identification of partners for EU projects;
• formation of new Special Interest Groups;
• sharing of experiences in using tools and resources for language learning.

Details of how to join the discussion list are included with the latest issue of the ReCALL journal: for information about access to ReCALL and EUROCALL membership contact Kylie Baxter at CTI Modern Languages ([email protected]).

CAPITAL: Computer Assisted Pronunciation Investigation Teaching And Learning

A Special Interest Group of EUROCALL and CALICO

CAPITAL is a group of researchers and practitioners interested in using computers in the domain of pronunciation in the widest sense of the word. To join the group, individuals or institutions must be members of one of the parent organisations, CALICO or EUROCALL. The contact address for membership of EUROCALL is given at the end of this notice.The Special Interest Group has just been formed and the co-ordinators would appreciate it if colleagues would disseminate the information as widely as possible to reach potential interested parties. The aims of the group are set out below, followed by a description of potential members' interests.

European Co-ordinators:

Philippe Delcloque
Head of Language Division
School of Management
University of Abertay Dundee
Bell Street
DUNDEE DD1 1HG
United Kingdom
Tel: 44-1382-308 460
Fax: 44-1382-308 475
E-Mail: [email protected]


Ton Koet
Faculty of Education
Hogeschool van Amsterdam
Philipp Kohnstammhuis
Wibautstraat 2-4
Postbus 94014
1090 GA Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: 31-20-5995666 (ins)
31-75-5151383 (pri)
Fax: 31-20-5995771
E-mail [email protected]

American Co-ordinator: pending CALICO conference

The aims of CAPITAL are :

• To create a communication bridge between practitioners and researchers in the field in different parts of the world and to facilitate such communication.
• To gather information on work in progress, systems and products of group members.
• To disseminate such information e.g. by making it available in three WWW sites in the world, one in Europe, one in America and one in the Southern Hemisphere.
• To produce in time, and subsequently at regular intervals, within the CALICO/EUROCALL Publications framework, a Special Edition Collection of Papers and Articles related to the field and refereed by established figures.
• To encourage mutual invitations of members of the group to visit each others' institutions and possibly collaborate and apply for joint funding.
• To organise a small symposium every two years.
• To organise at least two annual meetings, one at the CALICO conference and one at the EUROCALL conference.
• To raise funds through sponsorship for the administration of the group.

Members of CAPITAL may be interested in using computers/networks in any of the following areas:

• learning/teaching pronunciation;
• learning/teaching phonetics and phonology;
• speech recognition to aid learning;
• speech synthesis to aid learning
• conversation interaction using either speech or voice recognition;
• graphic display of pronunciation features;
• speech analysis;
• speech storage/databases/archives;
• voice triggered operations and learning;
• semi-intelligent interactions involving knowledge bases accessed through voice;
• visual display of phonemic symbols from voice input;
• corrective phonology/phonetics;
• to help with speech and hearing disorders;

and any other relevant work suggested by potential members.

Quality Information Technology Training Register

We are pleased to announce that CTI Modern Languages is listed in the QITT Register. This register has been established by BESA, NAACE and NCET, to assist educational institutions and individuals select the IT training which meets their needs, and to offer confidence in their chosen provider.

The QITT Register lists training providers who are currently members of the above organisations and who are committed to a Code of Practice which aims to promote quality, effectiveness and value for money in the provision of IT Training.

The Register is now available as an on-line service and can be accessed on the World Wide Web: http://www.ncet.csv.warwick.ac.uk/WWW/qitt/index.html

Survey of the State of the Art of Human Language Technology

is now available at http://www.cse.ogi.edu/CSLU/HLTsurvey/

The survey consists of articles by 97 authors and was funded by the National Science Foundation and the European Commission, with additional support provided by the Center for Spoken Language Understanding at the Oregon Graduate Institute and the University of Pisa.

Within a few months, the Survey will be published as a book by Giardini Publishers in Italy and by Cambridge University Press elsewhere. The electronic version of the Survey will remain on-line, but will be modified slightly based on copy-editing by the publishers.

ITTI Publications

Understanding Computer Based Learning

ISBN: 1 85889 100 0

Produced by The Institute of Computer Based Learning, The Queen's University of Belfast

This package aims to provide an understanding of the concepts and techniques of Computer Based Learning (CBL). It should be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about CBL. The software comprises of CBL chapters and the 'CBL Builder' - a practice development environment. A knowledge of Windows and word-processing is assumed.

Price: UKHE �35.00, non-UKHE �55.00

Obtainable from:

Jean Burgan,
UCoSDA,
Ingram House,
65 Wilkinson Street,
The University of Sheffield,
Sheffield S10 2GJ
tel: 0114 272 5248, email:[email protected].

Understanding IT

by Fred Riley

The following publications are now available for downloading free of charge:

Understanding IT: Developing Multimedia Courseware, (1995),

A 'how to' guide to academic courseware development intended for developers and would-be developers of courseware.

Understanding IT: Computer Graphics, (1993),

A beginner's guide to the subject of Computer Graphics.

Further information about these and other ITTI products can be found at the National ITTI Web site.

CATH94 Papers: Computers & Teaching in the Humanities

Edited by Michael Popham and Lorna Hughes

Oxford: CTI Centre for Textual Studies, 1996.

Pp. iv+88. ISBN 0-9523301-2-1

A selection of papers given at the CATH94 conference is now available as the second volume in the CTI Centre for Textual Studies' Occasional Series. The contents include:

• Perspectives on Computers in Education - The Promise, the Pain, the Prospect
• Design and Development of Courseware
• The Electronic Classroom: Courseware in Action
• Assessment and Implementation Issues
• Electronic Resources for the Humanities
• Courseware in Action Case Study: The STELLA Project

Price: �10.00 per copy; postage & packing per copy: UK �1.00, Europe �2.00, rest of World �3.00.

All orders should be accompanied by a cheque made out to "Oxford University Computing Services".

Available from:

Mari Gill, CTI Textual Studies, Oxford University Computing Services, 13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN, UK

Tel 01865 283282, Fax 01865 273221

Email [email protected]

Less Commonly Taught Languages

The Less Commonly Taught Languages project will be listing "Volunteer Experts" by language, with e-mail addresses, on their new WWW page. So if someone wants to know about, for example, vowel harmony in Turkish, s/he can pose a question to one of their Turkish experts.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please send the LCTL project a short email message to [email protected]

with your name (optional), email address, the language of your expertise, and any specific areas that you feel particularly interested in. The information will be posted on their experts page.

URL: http://carla.acad.umn.edu/lctl/lctl.html

Web Journal of Modern Language Linguistics

The recently created Web Journal of Modern Language Linguistics (WJMLL) is the first electronic journal in the world to be devoted to linguistics research in Modern Languages. The WJMLL is edited in the School of Modern Languages of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. The editorial board includes several internationally recognised scholars in general linguistics and in German, French and Hispanic linguistics.

URL: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~njw5/

The Editors invite the submission of articles from scholars doing research in the linguistics of Modern Languages. Books for review are also welcomed.

Bright Executive Test for German

Talkfast International, London House, 243 Lower Mortlake Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2LS

This language testing package for Windows was reviewed in the ReCALL Newsletter, Number 7, February 1996. There has been a significant reduction in the price of this software. Originally advertised as �1,200 per language set and �2,400 (four languages) the software is now available at �450.00 per language set and �900.00 per set of four programs.

Recent Software Donations to CTI Modern Languages

Adam & Eve Demo (OUP)

Collins COBUILD Student's Dictionary v2.21 (Harper Collins)

Collins COBUILD on CD-ROM (Harper Collins)

Collins COBUILD English Collocations on CD-ROM (Harper Collins)

Collins On-Line Electronic Bilingual Dictionary (English/German) (Harper Collins)

Collins On-Line Electronic Bilingual Dictionary (English/French) (Harper Collins)

Collins Series 100 Electronic Bilingual Dictionary v1.0 (English/French) (Harper Collins)

Collins Series 100 Electronic Bilingual Dictionary v1.0 (English/German) (Harper Collins)

Contexts 3.0 Demo (Context UK)

Directions 2000 (YITM)

Encuentros a lo vivo (Harper Collins)

En Marcha (YITM)

French Course - Footsteps (Language Support Ltd)

Gapkit 2.0 B-Test version (Camsoft)

Gapkit 2.0 B-Test version Demo (Camsoft)

Gateway to English Template Demo (Don Friend)

Guided Reading Program (Don Friend)

Italiano intrattivo (A Borracciono)

KIT Demo (Kitware)

KIT (Kitware)

Learning German (Language Support Ltd)

Orfo 4.0 (Context UK)

Similar Sounds (Don Friend)

Speaking German (Language Support Ltd)

Speaking Starspell CD-ROM (Fisher-Marriott)

Starspell (Fisher-Marriot)

Books

International Who's Who in Translation and Terminology (Praetorius)

Multimedia Authoring for Presentation and Education (Addison-Wesley)

Petit dictionnaire du fran�ais que l'on n'apprend pas � l'�cole (Andr� Kahlmann)

Software Reviews

The Electronic Oxford WordPower Dictionary

System Requirements: IBM-compatible min 386SX, 10 Mb HD free, 2 MB RAM free, 31/2" floppy drive, VGA monitor, DOS 3.3 or higher, Windows 3.1 or higher, Microsoft-compatible mouse.

Price: �35.00 single user licence; �98.00 10-user site licence.

Supplier: Consumer Services, OUP Distribution Services, Saxon Way West, Corby, NN18 9ES

Description of the Oxford WordPower Dictionary (OWP)

According to the accompanying documentation the OWP provides the student with "the right kind of information about vocabulary and the right vocabulary learning skills to take them beyond the 'intermediate plateau'."

In brief, the OWP allows speedy access and cross-reference to:

• a core vocabulary of some 3 500 important words
• 30,000 examples showing words in use
• 650 illustrations
• 1,500 notes explaining difficulties and show- ing links and contrasts between words

The dictionary has four distinct parts:

• the Main Dictionary
• the Irregular Verbs list
• the Conversion Module
• the Games module

Help And Documentation

Extensive help is provided; teaching and learning hints are given along with suggested activities. There are some 'interactive' exercises available, though interactivity is restricted to clicking on 'hot spots' to get the answer.

The accompanying documentation is both clear and concise providing useful ideas for putting the dictionary to use in a classroom setting.

Ease of Installation

Installation is quick and easy. The program comes on 5 floppy disks and takes about 10 minutes to install. Users of Word for Windows can make use of the added option of installing a direct link to their word processor allowing copying to the dictionary from the word processor via the edit menu in Word for Windows.

Summary

Given its ease of use, variety of content, flexibility of searching and supporting documentation, combined with a very reasonable price I would recommend the OWP as an on-line resource for independent study, as a basis for classroom vocabulary work and as a useful tool for writing exercises.

Dawn Ebbrell

University of Hull

A full review of this program will appear in ReCALL Vol 8, No 2, November 1996

CD-ROM for Dutch: Telefoneren

MPC: CD-ROM drive with a throughput of at least 148 kb/sec, 386sx or better CPU running at 25 MHZ, 256 colour VGA display, Windows 3.1 (or Windows 3.0 with multimedia extensions), Soundblaster- compatible soundcard and microphone, mouse, 4 MB RAM.

Available from: Libra Multimedia Ltd, 5 Riverway, Barry Avenue, Windsor, Berks. SL4 5JA. Tel/fax: 01753 864547

Price: �69.00 per disk or �129.00 for 2-disk set. Sets of 10 or more disks available at a discount.

English, Spanish, French and German versions also available.

This package consists of 2 CD-ROMs which deal with telephone language skills, mainly in a business setting. Each disk contains about 100 different dialogues, providing a total of 20 hours of practice. The program is aimed at learners at intermediate level, with disk 2 at a higher level of difficulty than disk 1.

The program is divided into five sections: introductie (introduction), luisteren (listening exercises), spreken (speaking practice), idioom (key phrases) and a test.

The introduction gives an explanation of how to use the program and a description of each. I found this section rather confusing, due to the fact that the information came via various 'angles', i.e. via spoken instructions, the same instructions in writing, pictures, and buttons 'flashing' on and off. However, these instructions were a bit too concise: in particular, it would have been nice if the buttons had been explained, especially since there is no Help function later on in the program, and not all the symbols used are self-explanatory.

The listening section covers various language-based skills (about eight on each disk), such as getting through on the phone, describing people and places, taking messages, making appointments, etc. Each skill is accompanied by two exercises. Every exercise consists of an example and five questions which check the learner's understanding of what is heard. The learner can listen to each dialogue as often as s/he wishes, and can read the text of the dialogue by clicking on the Subtitling button. Each exercise is scored.

Although not all language skills practised are equally relevant - for example, I found telefoonnotities (taking notes) considerably more relevant than personen en plaatsen (describing people and places) - this is a really useful section. The Dutch, though scripted, sounds fairly authentic, containing many authentic phrases and expressions. Also, this is probably the best structured section in the program. The examples make it quite clear what you have to do, and the program more or less takes you through the exercise. What I particularly like about this section, and indeed about the whole program, is the subtitling feature, which gives the learner the opportunity to read through the dialogue as well as listen to it. Each conversation partner's lines are presented in a different colour, which makes the subtitling even more clear (although blue text on a blue background is a bit hard to read at times).

Two things about this section could do with improvement. Firstly, the scoring of each exercise as it is done now is rather pointless, as only the separate exercises are scored, and these scores are not totalled at the end. Secondly, it would be useful for less advanced learners to hear the dialogue one sentence at a time instead of listening to the whole dialogue.

The speaking section offers the learner the opportunity to practise the dialogues and record his/her own voice. This can only be done for one character at a time. The playback feature allows the learner to listen to his/her recording and compare it with the original. I feel this section is useful not so much for practising pronunciation as it is for memorising 'chunks' of text, i.e. frequently-used phrases. However, more guidance within the program itself as to how to actually go about practising this section would be an improvement. As it is, you just enter the section and are then left to your own devices as to what to do with it. Perhaps a 'karaoke' feature would be helpful, i.e. with the text that has to be pronounced flashing up on the screen.

In the key phrases section, phrases and expressions from the dialogues are presented. The learner can click on each phrase to hear it again, and can also record his/her voice. Although the phrases are divided into the different skills practised, they appear to be randomly ordered within these skills. A subdivision into groups of phrases would be useful, as would provision of a vocabulary.

In the test, the learner can answer twenty questions, randomly selected from all dialogues, to test his/her understanding. This section strongly resembles the listening section, and is again well-structured.

On the whole, I would say that Telefoneren certainly has its uses, but would require more written instructions and guidance, especially for the speaking section. As it stands, the program is not particularly suitable for self study, unless the learner is properly instructed beforehand.

Miranda van Rossum

University of Hull

Forthcoming Events

9-12 August 1996, Lancaster, UK: TALC96 - Teaching and Language Corpora

Information: TALC96, Dept of Linguistics and Modern English Language, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YT, Fax +44 1524 843085,Email [email protected], URL: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/ucrel/talc

29-31 August 1996, Szombathely, Hungary: EUROCALL 96

1-11 September 1996, Manchester, UK: Educational technology for language learning and language teacher development

Information: International Seminars Department, The British Council, 10 Spring Gardens, London SW1A 2BN, Tel +44 (0)171 389 4264, Fax +44(0)171 389 4154

7-9 September 1996, Cardiff, Wales: 1996 Autumn Meeting - The Linguistics Association of Great Britain

Information: Email: [email protected]

13-15 September 1996, Glasgow, Scotland: AFLS Annual Conference - Les linguistiques et les pratiques: �changes et synth�ses

Information: Ren�e Birks, French Dept, Modern Languages Building, University of Glasgow, G12 8QL Tel 0141 330 4872, Email [email protected]

13-15 September 1996, Keele, UK: CALL 96: Exploiting the internet: a rich resource for language learning

Information: CILT, 20 Bedfordbury, London, WC2N 4LB, Tel 0171 379 5101, Fax 0171 379 5082, Email [email protected]

16-18 September 1996, Glasgow, Scotland: ALT-C 96 Integrating Technology into the Curriculum

Information: Mrs Shona Cameron, ALT-C 96, Computer Centre, University of Strathclyde, 100 Cathedral Street, Glasgow, G4 0LN Tel +44 141 552 4400 x3083, Fax +44141 553 4100, Email [email protected], URL http://www.strath.ac.uk/alt-c/

20 September 1996, London, UK: CILT Conference: Open and distance approaches to language learning

Information: CILT Conferences, 20 Bedfordbury, London WC2N 4LB, Tel +44 (0)171 379 5101, Email: [email protected]

26-28 September 1996, Dresden, Germany: 4th Cercles International Conference

Information: Prof. Bernd Voss, Institut f�r Anglistik/Amerikansitik, Technische Universit�t Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany, Tel +49 351 463 3023, Fax +49 351 463 7132

25 September 1996, Middlesex, UK: CTI Modern Languages CALL Workshop

7-9 November 1996, London, UK: London Language Show

Information: Bruce Campbell/Alison Thomas, Brintex, 32 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SS, Tel +44 (0)171 973 6401, Fax +44 (0)171 233 5054

Email [email protected]

13-14 November 1996, Newcastle, UK: An Introduction to the Internet for Linguists

Information: CTI Modern Languages, University of Hull (address above)

21-23 November 1996, Germany: Languages & The Media

Information: ICEF, Am Hofgarten 18, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Tel +49 228 20 11 90, Fax +49 228 21 19 44, Email [email protected]

28-30 January 1997, Karlsruhe, Germany: LEARNTEC 97

Information: Karlsruher Kongre�-und Ausstellunds-GmbH, Festplatz, D-76137 Karlsruhe, Germany, Tel +49 721 3720, Fax +49 721 3720 139

23-26 March 1997, Exeter, UK: CAL'97

Information: CAL'97, School of Education, University of Exeter, Exter EX1 2LU, UK , Email [email protected]

11-13 September 1997, Dublin, Ireland: EUROCALL 97

Information: CTI Modern Languages, University of Hull (address above)

13-17 July 1998, Melbourne, Australia: WORLDCALL Conference

Information: June Gassin, Horwood Language Centre, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia

Email [email protected]

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Last updated 15 December 1998