The spacing effect is known to be one of the most robust phenomena in experimental psychology, and many attempts have been made to realize effective spaced learning for L2 vocabulary learning. This study compares vocabulary learning with word lists, word cards, and computers in order to identify which material leads to the most superior spaced learning. In the experiment, 226 Japanese high school students studied ten English words with one of the three learning materials: lists, cards, and computers. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that although no significant difference existed between the Card group and the other two, the PC group significantly outperformed the List group on the delayed post-test. Item analysis using Chi-squares demonstrated that on the delayed post-test, the List group's successful recall rates for four of the ten items were significantly lower than those of the Card or PC group. Correlational analysis indicated that the time invested in learning and the subsequent post-test scores did not correlate significantly for the List and Card groups. Paradoxically, a negative correlation was observed between the PC group's study time and their post-test scores. The lack of meaningful relationships between the study time and subsequent retention may be partially due to the limited ability of certain learners to learn effectively while using certain materials. A questionnaire given to the participants found that, in general, computers were evaluated more favorably than lists or cards. At the same time, however, learners exhibited large variations in their evaluation of computers, implying the importance of considering individual differences when introducing CALL to learners. In summary, the study has demonstrated the superiority of computers over lists, the limited advantage of word cards over lists, and no statistically significant difference between computers and cards. The findings are significant because although the advantages of cards or computers have been advocated, no study has ever tested such claims empirically.

What does learning in today's technology-enhanced environment mean? Is learning as an activity fundamentally changing as a result of the opportunities offered by new technologies and tools? How are the new communicative channels and increased social dimensions possible through Web 2.0 technologies impacting on the way students work and learn? And what does this mean for the role of teachers and institutions in terms of how they support students? This paper considers these questions and reports on findings from current research evaluating how students are actually using technologies and what this research tells us about the ways in which patterns of learning might be changing. It will consider the implications for individual teachers (in terms of designing and supporting learning activities for students) and institutions in terms of the impact on policy and the associated infrastructure needed to provide an appropriate environment that maximises the potential offered by new technologies.

While the use of mobile devices for language learning has sparked the interest of an increasing number of researchers in recent years (e.g., Aizawa & Kiernan, 2003; Thornton & Houser, 2005), our knowledge of learners' preferences for the mobile platform and their usage patterns remains limited. Are learners prepared to use mobile phones for performing language learning activities, or is there still a preference for desktop computer environments? Do learners make attempts to use mobile phones and then opt for a desktop computer instead? When and where do those learners who choose to use mobile phones use them, and why do they choose them? The current study investigated 75 learners of English at a Japanese university who were assigned vocabulary learning activities which they could choose to complete on either a mobile phone or desktop computer. It sought to determine their intentions to use mobile phones for language learning if other options were available, to compare this with their actual usage patterns, and to determine when and why learners used mobile phones. Learner attitudes and preferences were elicited through a post-survey, and usage patterns were determined through analysis of detailed server logs. The results are discussed in terms of the readiness of learners to undertake mobile-based language learning activities, and the issues having an effect on the establishment of the mobile phone as a language learning tool.

Mobile learning is undergoing rapid evolution. While early generations of mobile learning tended to propose activities that were carefully crafted by educators and technologists, learners are increasingly motivated by their personal learning needs, including those arising from greater mobility and frequent travel. At the same time, it is often argued that mobile devices are particularly suited to supporting social contacts and collaborative learning - claims that have obvious relevance for language learning. A review of publications reporting mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) was undertaken to discover how far mobile devices are being used to support social contact and collaborative learning. In particular, we were interested in speaking and listening practice and in the possibilities for both synchronous and asynchronous interaction in the context of online and distance learning. We reflect on how mobile language learning has developed to date and suggest directions for the future.

This paper presents a comprehensive picture of what has been investigated in terms of CALL effectiveness over the period 1981–2005 throwing light on why this question is still such a difficult one to answer unequivocally. The author looks at both strengths and weaknesses in this body of work, highlighting pitfalls and paradoxes in research procedures and providing valid design models. This includes the contribution of dedicated meta-analyses to this controversial field and a discussion of the benefits and limitations associated with this type of research. Substantial data, drawn from three extensive studies (Felix, 2005a, b; Felix, 2006a), allows the author to present for the first time synthesized findings relating to the impact of technologies on language learning. The paper concludes with strategies for future work in the context of a proposed research agenda.

Technological advances have revolutionised methods of both teaching and testing in languages, and practitioners have eagerly embraced the opportunity to provide more innovative ways of doing this. The unique features offered by technology make it increasingly possible to test for a wide range of language skills required for a specific purpose. With the increasing need to test for English language proficiency and the importance placed on this facility, technology is being utilised to address issues of practicality, speed and efficiency. However, such advantages should not be embraced without due consideration for the essential qualities of any test; validity and reliability. With the inevitable shift towards computer-based testing, certain areas need special consideration. While computer-based tests can provide constructive diagnostic information to complement the language learning process, they should be used more selectively in other contexts, for example in high-stakes tests, examples of which are International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). These tests provide an assessment of English language proficiency, a key component of university admissions criteria. This paper examines a number of issues related to the design and application of computer-based tests, with particular reference to construct validity, computer familiarity and practicality. It is recommended that in the short term at least, test-takers be offered the choice of test medium in the interests of fairness and equity.

Over the last decade, most studies in Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) have highlighted how online synchronous learning environments implement a new literacy related to multimodal communication. The environment used in our experiment is based on a synchronous audio-graphic conferencing tool. This study concerns false beginners in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course, presenting a high degree of heterogeneity in their proficiency levels. A coding scheme was developed to translate the video data into user actions and speech acts that occurred in the various modalities of the system (aural, textchat, text editing, websites). The paper intends to shed further light on and increase our understanding of multimodal communication structures through learner participation and learning practices. On the basis of evidence from an ongoing research investigation into online CALL literacy, we identify how learners use different modalities to produce collectively a writing task, and how the multimodal learning interaction affects the learners' focus and engagement within the learning process. The adopted methodology combines a quantitative analysis of the learners' participation in a writing task with regard to the use of multimodal tools, and a qualitative analysis focusing on how the multimodal dimension of communication enhances language and learning strategies. By looking at the relationship between how the learning tasks are designed by tutors and how they are implemented by learners, that is to say taking into account the whole perception of multimodal communication for language learning purposes, we provide a framework for evaluating the potential of such an environment for language learning.

Recent studies have explored English vocabulary learning in environments where students used mobile technologies for prescribed vocabulary learning tasks, or tested designed personalized learning systems to enhance student vocabulary learning for short periods of time in language related courses. Dictionary use via mobile devices has mostly been used for referential purposes. Referential use refers to applications that provide student access to content such as dictionaries, e-books, etc. at places where learning activities occur, taking advantage of the portability and mobility of mobile devices. Research on free student use of mobile devices to foster incidental vocabulary learning in non-English courses remains scant, and no in-depth studies have been carried out to investigate the value of dictionary use on mobile devices for incidental vocabulary learning in higher education. This one-year multiple-case study investigated undergraduate students' dictionary and other uses of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to enhance their incidental vocabulary learning in an English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) university. The research findings show: (a) the students made various uses of the PDA to improve their vocabulary learning, namely, referential, situated, constructive, reflective, explorative and conversing uses, (b) the students adopted integrated uses of the tools on the PDA and the computer for their incidental vocabulary learning, and (c) the integrated use of the PDA and the computer shaped the vocabulary learning activities and vice versa. These research results indicate that PDAs can be used in more flexible, novel and extended ways for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) vocabulary teaching and learning in higher education, taking student needs and contexts into consideration.

Wikis represent a particular type of collaborative learning environment where collaboration can result in aggregated, collective products. This study makes the claim that such potential challenges language production practices in school where the individual learner's output is often the focus of attention. The argument is put forth by juxtaposing theory, literature review, and videotaped wiki activities. Wikis are examined in a sociocultural perspective, in particular the notions of collective zones of proximal development and sociogenesis – that we come to knowledge by taking part in activities where individuals relate to a greater collective that evolves over time and where language and material artifacts function as structural resources. A review of some recent research in CALL and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) seeks to form a backdrop for this study of collective language production. Empirically the argument is illustrated and supported by selected videotape transcripts of learner interactions involving the use of a wiki in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. The study shows that learners work in and across activity types that create tensions between individual and collective, institutional and novel practices, but that the wiki also holds the potential for collective knowledge advancement and language development.

In this paper, we describe an initial exploratory study designed to compare the outcomes of online listening and online text-based tasks in the context of the study of Italian at The University of Melbourne. Our findings allow us to characterise online listening and online reading as a qualitative difference between deep and surface approaches to learning. Online listening seems to promote an integrative orientation and heighten students' desire to deconstruct and understand texts. There also appears to be higher vocabulary acquisition and knowledge retention with online listening tasks.

This paper describes an intercontinental project with the use of interactive tools, both synchronous and asynchronous, which was set up to internationalize academic learning of Spanish language and culture. The objective of this case study was to investigate whether video-web communication tools can contribute to enriching the quality of foreign language curricula, by facilitating a motivating virtual communication environment for purposeful interaction between non native and native speakers of Spanish to accomplish learning tasks. The project was carried out between a class of twenty Spanish as foreign language students from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, and a class of twenty Chilean trainee Spanish teachers from the University of Concepción, Chile. Students interacted weekly, over two months, in dyads and small groups making use of a video-web communication tool, Adobe Connect. The video-web communication tool enabled synchronous interactions, during which participants could see each other while talking and sharing audiovisual documents on-line. A blog was also used to promote collaboration, reflection and exchange of ideas about issues raised during the synchronous sessions. Qualitative data was collected through a questionnaire, analysis of recordings of learners' interaction sessions and the project blog. Results show a positive impact on motivation and on learning outcomes, particularly regarding understanding of the use of language in given contexts, and of cultural issues.

This article discusses an experiment in sending regular Short Message Service (SMS) messages to support language learning, and vocabulary learning in particular, at beginners' level in Italian at an Australian university. The approach we took built on the initiatives of Thornton and Houser (2005) and Dias (2002b), and was informed by the results of an earlier trial we had conducted with students at high-intermediate level (Levy & Kennedy, 2005). In testing the possibilities for using mobile phones for language learning purposes, we were especially interested in investigating the acceptability of a ‘push’ mode of operation, in which the scheduling of messages is determined by the teachers. While the students appreciated the experience overall, and found the message content often useful or enjoyable, there was a wide range of views on the frequency of messages acceptable. We are therefore planning the further integration of messaging into the course around a flexible arrangement involving options for high or low frequency of pushed messages, as well as messages available on request – in ‘pull’ mode.

This study investigates the impact of an online workbook on the attitudes of 245 second language (L2) Spanish learners toward this pedagogical tool over two consecutive semesters. The treatment consisted of four hours of classroom instruction and one set of online homework per week, during two consecutive semesters. Students' attitudes toward the electronic workbook were measured by means of a survey administered after eight months of exposure to the workbook. The qualitative data of the survey was compared to quantitative data from two different language assessment tests. The results of these tests indicated a significant increase in grammar scores. These results are consonant with the positive findings of student perceptions about the online workbook obtained in this and previous studies, emphasizing its benefits in terms of accessibility to the material, user-friendliness, and instant error feedback. More importantly, most students praised the usefulness of the online workbook for language learning, particularly in the areas of grammar and vocabulary acquisition. Despite participants' mostly positive attitudes, the survey also revealed some negative aspects of the use of the online workbook, such as the amount of time needed to complete the online exercises. This paper addresses these issues, and provides suggestions to overcome this type of problem.

The use of computer programs that can be used to correct and assess students' written work in the EFL classroom has become more commonplace within the last decade. This paper discusses the role of CALL in the process of data collection, standardisation of assessment criteria and compilation of the number of errors in the areas of grammar learning and its application to L2 writing. Students benefited from the correction process and showed increased grammatical awareness through the corrected feedback. However, the analysis of the results after the first correction phase demonstrated that the students had improved less than expected. For this reason, in the second year, Genre Theory was adopted as a theoretical framework so that students would become aware of the relationship between the structure and shape of texts in order to be effective in a particular context, and to achieve the goals of a particular culture. As proponents of the genre approach, we argue that making the genres explicit and showing how to write them will help students to be aware of how knowledge is structured in different written genres. A careful selection of text types was made at the beginning of the year so that improvement in the students' writing not only depended on the CALL system being used, but also on the different genres or text types used as class material. In this study, we intend to demonstrate that the combination of new technologies in the classroom and Genre Theory helped students to increase their writing competency. Our research highlights the relationship between literacy, new technologies, and effective writing with an emphasis on the educational application.

Interest in the use of a mobile phone to access the Internet for learning English in general, and listening skills in particular, has been increasing in Korea over the last few years. However, there has been only a small number of studies on this topic in Korea. The present paper investigates the potential of using a mobile phone to browse wireless application protocol (WAP) sites for the purpose of learning listening skills. The study focuses specifically on the attitudes of language learners toward using a mobile phone for this purpose. The study is based on input, interaction, output and sociocultural theories, as well as on collaborative, learner-centred, constructivist and task-based learning approaches. An experiment was carried out with a group of undergraduate students who had enrolled in a required intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) listening course at a Korean university. A WAP site was designed and used as the instrument for the experiment. This study found that the language learners expressed positive attitudes towards the use of the WAP site. It also found that the WAP site can be effective for learning listening skills and for student-centred and collaborative learning. Based on the findings, it is clear that WAP sites can be effective for learning listening skills, since they can enhance opportunities to learn language skills, and encourage language learners to participate actively in the learning process.

This paper represents an earnest attempt to identify specific pedagogical roles for blogs in language learning. After briefly describing various types of blogs and defining their purposes (Herring et al., 2005) we attempt to accommodate their position and application within language teaching (Thorne & Scott Payne, 2005), relating evidence from teachers' blogs (Edublog.org) and also within Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories. In particular, we shall be concentrating on the process and post-process writing approaches (Matsuda, 2003), with particular emphasis on current cognitivist (Atkinson, 2003; Ferris & Hodgcock, 1998) and expressivist (Berlin, 1988) theories. These approaches will be discussed in terms of their effectiveness when establishing specific blog writing tasks. Whilst some researchers have advocated for a ‘lead blog’ or template for other students to follow (Stone, 2004), we have been seeking an eclectic approach based on the three approaches mentioned above. We shall describe our own blended task methodology (Abermann, 2004; Thorne, 2003) wherein language students at a Third Level Institution were set a blog writing task initially over a complete semester (12 weeks). The blog exercise employed both an early expressivist approach and later a (socio-) cognitivist one. Our findings, with examples from students' blogs (and also from students who continued their blogs over a 6 month period), will be presented as well as our recommendations for the integration of blogs into L2 virtual writing environments.

Although the success of automatic speech recognition (ASR)-based Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT) systems is increasing, little is known about the pedagogical effectiveness of these systems. This is particularly regrettable because ASR technology still suffers from limitations that may result in the provision of erroneous feedback, possibly leading to learning breakdowns. To study the effectiveness of ASR-based feedback for improving pronunciation, we developed and tested a CAPT system providing automatic feedback on Dutch phonemes that are problematic for adult learners of Dutch. Thirty immigrants who were studying Dutch were assigned to three groups using either the ASR-based CAPT system with automatic feedback, a CAPT system without feedback, or no CAPT system. Pronunciation quality was assessed for each participant before and after the training by human experts who evaluated overall segmental quality and the quality of the phonemes addressed in the training. The participants' impressions of the CAPT system used were also studied through anonymous questionnaires. The results on global segmental quality show that the group receiving ASR-based feedback made the largest mean improvement, but the groups' mean improvements did not differ significantly. The group receiving ASR-based feedback showed a significantly larger improvement than the no-feedback group in the segmental quality of the problematic phonemes targeted.