Wikis, as one of the Web 2.0 social networking tools, have been increasingly integrated into second language (L2) instruction to promote collaborative writing. This paper reports on a case study involving 35 university students at the beginning level who contributed to wiki pages over a period of 14 weeks. The affordances and constraints of using…

Students' computer access and literacy in the context of CALL has seen very little empirical investigation. This study surveyed 911 students in basic college foreign language programs to estimate their readiness for hybrid language instruction. The questions on the survey covered issues concerning students' ownership and accessibility of…

Placing students of a foreign language within a basic language program constitutes an ongoing problem, particularly for large university departments when they have many incoming freshmen and transfer students. This article outlines the author's experience designing and piloting a language placement test for a university level Spanish program. The…

Despite the problems presented by lexical errors in second language (L2) communication, most computer assisted language learning (CALL) programs tend to focus on the acquisition of grammar points rather than on the development of the L2 lexicon. In addition, CALL vocabulary tasks are typically limited in scope and mechanical in nature, covering…

This study provides a theory-driven account of community building in a bilingual telecollaborative chat setting. A symmetrical arrangement of 70 L1 English learners of Spanish and L1 Spanish learners of English engaged in weekly Internet chat sessions in small groups. The learning metaphors of community and participation serve as the theoretical…

Graham Davies'"Using Computers in Language Learning" is a useful guide to programming languages, authoring systems, exercise formats, etc., for a teacher contemplating the use of computers for language learning. But much of text refers to British sources, and underlying assumption is that computers are best suited for mechanical drill.…

Describes the use of HyperCard to author interactive Spanish videodisc using a videodisc version of "Zarabanda," a Spanish-instruction soap opera. An explanation of hypermedia is followed by a discussion of how to create courseware with HyperCard, and by specific examples of the application of HyperCard to "Zarabanda."…

Provides a description of the Nuevos Destinos CD-ROM, a joint production for students learning Spanish at the advanced-beginning, intermediate-low, or native-speaker level. Nuevos Destinos involves students in meaningful ways by asking them to solve real-world problems encountered in law offices. (Author/VWL)

This paper summarizes the assessment results of the Language Online project at Carnegie Mellon University. The study investigated the effectiveness of online language courses for students' learning outcomes in four hybrid online language courses (elementary and intermediate levels) and their counterpart conventional (offline) courses from Spring…

Studies the performance of a novice Spanish student using a Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) system designed for vocabulary enlargement. Results indicate that introspective evidence may be used to validate performance data within a theoretical framework that characterizes the learning approach as "surface" or "deep." (25 references)…

Utah State University's intensive Spanish program uses video simulations of real-life experiences as the basis for classroom instruction in lieu of following a textbook, allowing the class to become student-centered, rather than instructor-centered, through a problem-solving group endeavor. (Author/CB)

Language production of Spanish students using synchronous CMC (chat) during class time was compared with that of students meeting outside of class. The study included about 100 participants enrolled in 10 sections of a first-quarter Spanish course at a US university. Students in the control group spent 30 minutes of their weekly class time in…

Presents the latest hardware, and pedagogical and theoretical advances in computer-assisted language learning and describes an actual design implementation in a Spanish course. (Author/SED)

Describes an interactive television program in which one Spanish teacher reached 3,959 elementary school students at nine different sites through the use of studio and classroom cameras and televisions. (Author/CB)

Describes the programs and modifications needed to do word processing using foreign language characters. One such program, Screenwriter, uses soft character sets -- character sets which can be designed by the program user. This program has a word processing power combined with a foreign language capability that would allow any person to work with…