Despite the fact that the benefits of pair and group work for those espousing an interactionist view of second language learning are well documented (Lightbown & Spada, 1999; Long, 1981; Pica, 1994, 1996; Van Lier, 1996), learning environments exist in which students have no option but to study alone. Of particular interest for this research are learners who, despite studying in contexts supportive of collaborative interaction in the classroom, have little opportunity to interact with partners when trying to participate in collaborative reading comprehension exercises outside school. In an attempt to find a solution to this potentially inhibiting learning context, this research comprises an investigation into (a) whether the introduction of computer-mediated Elaborative feedback before Knowledge of Correct Response (KCR) feedback better promotes quality interaction and comprehension of a web-based reading text and (b) whether computer-mediated communication (CMC) offers a suitable means for generating quality interaction between peers in remote locations. While completing a web-based multiple-choice reading comprehension exercise, students worked in pairs and received either KCR feedback only, or Elaborative feedback before KCR feedback. In contrast to KCR feedback which simply comprises the correct answers, Elaborative feedback was produced in the form of hints to foster interaction and to support dyads in their attempts at self-correcting any incorrect answers. Using a multiple-try methodology, hints became increasingly specific for questions repeatedly answered incorrectly. Upon completing a follow-up comprehension exercise alone, all students were provided with KCR feedback only. Results from a quantitative analysis of the comprehension scores indicate that students who were provided with Elaborative feedback subsequently scored significantly higher on the follow-up exercise. Furthermore, results from a qualitative analysis of interactions suggest that CMC is a suitable way of generating quality interaction between students, particularly when Elaborative feedback is included.

This paper reports some of the findings of a distinctive innovative use of audio-conferencing involving a population (campus-based advanced learners) and a type of application (task-based language learning) that have received little attention to date: the use of Wimba Voice Tools to provide additional opportunities for spoken interactions between advanced learners of French. The experiment had a dual aim: (a) to examine the suitability of Wimba Voice Tools as an environment for sustained interactive talk, and (b) to study the nature of interactions between advanced learners, with particular reference to the processes supporting collaborative activity.

After a brief summary of the rationale and main characteristics of the experiment, the paper focuses on the strategies used by three non-native speaker (NNS) dyads to resolve language problems as they worked on a set of four tasks. Extending the classical model of negotiation for meaning to cover other instances of language-related episodes identified through discourse analysis of the empirical data, the study offers a detailed account of the incidence and nature of negotiated interaction and collaboration between partners. This leads to a discussion covering the impact of functionalities, scaffolding and task effects. The paper ends with some suggestions for future research.

This paper details the development of a multidialectical text-to-speech (TTS) application, Sintéiseoir, for the Irish language. This work is being carried out in the context of Irish as a lesser-used language, where learners and other L2 speakers have limited direct exposure to L1 speakers and speech communities, and where native sound systems and vocabularies can be seen to be receding even among L1 speakers – particularly the young.

Sintéiseoir essentially implements the diphone concatenation model, albeit augmented to include phones, half-phones and, potentially, other phonic units. It is based on a platform-independent framework comprising a user interface, a set of dialect-specific tokenisation engines, a concatenation engine and a playback device.

The tokenisation strategy is entirely rule-based and does not refer to dictionary look-ups. Provision has been made for prosodic processing in the framework but has not yet been implemented. Concatenation units are stored in the form of WAV files on the local file system.

Sintéiseoir’s user interface (UI) provides a text field that allows the user to submit a grapheme string for synthesis and a prompt to select a dialect. It also filters input to reject graphotactically invalid strings, restrict input to alphabetic and certain punctuation marks found in Irish orthography, and ensure that a dialect has, indeed, been selected.

The UI forwards the filtered grapheme string to the appropriate tokenisation engine. This searches for specified substrings and maps them to corresponding tokens that themselves correspond to concatenation units.

The resultant token string is then forwarded to the concatenation engine, which retrieves the relevant concatenation units, extracts their audio data and combines them in a new unit. This is then forwarded to the playback device.

The terms of reference for the initial development of Sintéiseoir specified that it should be capable of uttering, individually, the 99 most common Irish lemmata in the dialects of An Spidéal, Músgraí Uí Fhloínn and Gort a’ Choirce, which are internally consistent dialects within the Connacht, Munster and Ulster regions, respectively, of the dialect continuum. Audio assets to satisfy this requirement have already been prepared, and have been found to produce reasonably accurate output. The tokenisation engine is, however, capable of processing a wider range of input strings and when required concatenation units are found to be unavailable, returns a report via the user interface.

This paper deals with the implementation of an “online pedagogical assistant” in a blended learning device for English for Special Purposes (ESP) students in a French university (UPMC, Paris VI). As it is now, it comprises a customized website designed to serve as a guide through the development of the students’ work.

The architecture of this website and the way it is meant to be used are parameters derived from the conclusions of action research carried out in 2007–2008 in another French university (Perpignan) amongst B1/B2 ESP students.1 The perspective of that study was to examine their needs when performing off site aural and written tasks. The data collected showed that the problems encountered were always the same – outlining a typology – and that most obstacles derived from A2/B1 elements they had already been through during their secondary education.

This application has been named an “online pedagogical assistant” because, by targeting the problems from the typology, it aims at leading students take care of their needs by themselves before emailing their productions to their tutor(s), particularly by pushing them into reflecting on a certain number of aspects they are already acquainted with but which they nonetheless tend to forget when working on their own.

From the typology of problems, a system of semi-automatic correction meant to help students proceed to self-corrections – notably through online references to relevant online help and exercises – has also been developed. In the correction phase of the students’ tasks, the purpose is therefore no longer for the tutor to correct their productions but to help them do it themselves.

Action research is in progress to evaluate the potential of those adjusted online tutorial practices in terms of second language (L2) acquisition.

Within the context of on-going research,1 this paper explores the pedagogical implications of contrastive analyses of multiword units in English and Spanish based on electronic corpora as a CALL resource. The main tenets of collocations from a contrastive perspective – and the points of contact and departure between both languages – are discussed prior to examining the commonest types of verb + noun combinations as a significant case of so-called ‘de-lexicalized’, ‘light’, ‘empty’, ‘thin’, ‘stretched’ or ‘support verbs’. A qualitatively and quantitatively-oriented case study is accordingly conducted, determining the weight of dar in support verb constructions within the Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual (CREA) and of the English equivalent stretched verb constructions with give within the British National Corpus (BNC). Based on the empirical data obtained in this way, this paper provides relevant insights for more accurate translations, helping to enhance the collocational competence of L2 students, who tend to avoid constructions including empty verbs like give in favour of full-verb forms. The detailed findings in this paper come to shed light on the potential of CALL resources for improving the collocational usage of foreign-language learners, as quantitative and qualitative comparisons of collocations based on electronic corpora serve to highlight the similarities and, more importantly, the lexical and typological differences between both languages, thereby substantiating the invaluable role that corpus analysis may play for language teaching in general and for collocational knowledge and proficiency in particular.

Blog technology is a potential medium for encouraging reflective writing through self-expression and interactive exchange through social networking. This paper reports on a study using blogs as out-of-class assignments for the development of learners’ language competence. The study involved seventeen university students at advanced level who kept personal blogs over a14-week period. Data collected from blog pages, post surveys and final interviews reported affordances and challenges of using blogs for personal expression and collaborative interaction. The results showed that regularly creating blog entries had a positive impact on learners’ writing fluency and increased their motivation to write for a broad audience. Importantly, a four-skill integrated approach to task-based activities afforded opportunities for students to use the target language for blogging. The findings also indicate that peer feedback on the content prompted further discussion, whereas linguistic feedback from the instructor encouraged focus on form for language accuracy. The study concludes that learners’ critical thinking and technological skills are essential for the implementation of blog projects in L2 instruction.

This study investigates the effects of topic interest and prior knowledge on text recall and annotation use of second language learners engaged in reading a hypermedia text. The participants were proficient learners of English enrolled in an undergraduate English Language Teaching programme. They were asked to read a hypermedia text that incorporated word-level and topic-level annotations, and complete an immediate recall task. Participants’ interaction with the text was recorded during the reading task. Data collection tools also included a topic interest questionnaire, a prior knowledge test, and semi-structured interviews. Results indicated no meaningful relationship between topic interest and prior knowledge. Moreover, topic interest had a significant main effect on text recall while prior knowledge did not. In other words, topic interest facilitated the number of propositions recalled. Finally, a significant interaction between topic interest and prior knowledge was found in terms of access to annotations. When topic interest was low, the participants with low prior knowledge utilized content-related annotations more frequently than those with high prior knowledge. On the other hand, when topic interest was high, the participants with high prior knowledge accessed content-related annotations more frequently than those with low prior knowledge.

For language learning, online environments allowing for user generated content are becoming increasingly important since they offer possibilities for learners to elaborate on assignments and projects. This study investigates what wikis can do as a means to enhance group interaction, when students are encouraged to participate in constructing text and exchanging peer response. The research focus is on exploring what interaction unfolds in the wiki and how it promotes language learning, from a sociocultural perspective. This interaction is framed both by affordances in the wiki but also by what is expected from students as language learners in an English for Specific Purposes class environment. The analysis has a multilevel approach, focusing on patterns of interaction and the nature of feedback. The study shows that collaboration becomes specifically interesting from a language learning perspective. In the findings, on the student wiki pages there are numerous contributions relating to both local language and global content. Revising co-constructed text opens up possibilities for the students to evaluate existing contributions and it also provides opportunities for them to suggest constructive changes. In addition, with the environment being web based, we discuss certain benefits arising from the fact that it allows for user-generated content.