WorldCALL: Sustainability and Computer-Assisted Language Learning

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This volume focuses on computer- and digitally-assisted language learning in all of its forms: technology-enhanced language learning, network-based language learning, mobile-assisted language learning and so on, in close relation to the topic of sustainability. How can these technologies and techniques be implemented in a sustainable and repeatable way The book covers a wide range of areas in terms of this "sustainability". These include: (1) education (teacher/learner training) (2) normalisation (integration) (3) systems (reliability, support, development) (4) mobility (mobile-assisted language leaning) (5) innovation (trends, research) The volume samples research and practice in CALL from around the world, organised into sections. It has an introduction and a conclusion written by the editors (Ana Gimeno, Mike Levy, Franoise Blin and David Barr) which covers the state of the art at the moment and directions it is likely to take in the future.

Reviews

[Part 5 in particular] offers several unique insights into innovation in the field of CALL ... This book is a lesson for all educational technologists that we should look past the latest fads and instead concentrate on building sustainable platforms that places students learning as the chief priority. * CALL-EJ: Computer-Assisted Language Learning - Electronic Journal *
The volume is an invaluable resource for CALL practitioners in a number of respects the research reported in this volume enjoys a wide and colourful array of conceptual and theoretical frameworks, innovative methodological designs and approaches, and contextual diversities and variations in examining the hot topic of sustainability; this make this volume a must-read for CALL practitioners globally. * LINGUISTLIST *
The book in its breadth offers much for many audiences: CALL specialists, instructional designers and developers, researchers, teacher trainers ... [and] language teachers themselves ... One of its many strengths is building a clear case that ensuring sustainability in CALL is a shared responsibility. * Applied Linguistics *
[This] is an edited volume that provides an excellent opportunity for CALL researchers to examine emerging sites of research as well as innovative research instruments ... The book presents some outstanding research that make use of mixed methods and which go beyond more traditional semi-experimental research designs that typically fail to grasp the ecological complexities of micro contexts such as a cohort or a group of learners. * System *
The future of CALL heavily depends on the reusability of content, data structures, software objects, routines, models, concepts and methods. As this new WorldCALL publication shows the many facets of sustainability in CALL, it will inevitably become the bedside book of many CALL scholars. * Jozef Colpaert, editor CALL Journal, University of Antwerp *
WorldCALL: Sustainability and Computer-Assisted Language Learning, the product of a world network of innovative research, is a landmark book. It not only shows what we can do with computers and mobile devices in the language learning environment, but also how we can manage the integration of digital technology in a sustainable way. * Vera Menezes *
Every week seems to bring a new device or app for language teachers to explore, yet creating sustainable environments, systems, and practices for technology in language teaching and learning is vital if we are to use that technology consistently, wisely and well. True to the WorldCALL 2013 conference in Glasgow that spawned this volume, it is the first to deal with this crucial notion of sustainability in computer-assisted language learning. Covering a broad range of timely topics in its 19 chaptersteacher education, mobile language learning, and research methodology among themit is a significant addition to the CALL literature, one that illuminates the current state and potential of sustainable CALL research, development, and practice for both established professionals and those new to the field. -- Philip L. Hubbard * Philip L. Hubbard, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Stanford University, USA *
The Fourth WorldCALL conference marks two important aspects of the original inspiration for this truly worldwide, truly humanistic forum. This volume of carefully curated conference papers amply demonstrates CALL's proven Sustainability, after 3 decades of initially somewhat bumpy progress. The sheer range of this valuable books topics, technologies and practitioners from the technical have-countries to the technically less wealthy, also proves that CALL is a great motivator, for teachers and learners across the planet. I recommend it as a rich resource for specialists and curious beginners alike. There is much to enjoy and enrich in these pages. -- Peter Liddell * Peter Liddell, Professor Emeritus, University of Victoria, Canada, Former Member, Steering Committee, WorldCALL I-III *

Author Bio

Ana Gimeno-Sanz is Professor of English Language in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the Universitat Politcnica de Valncia (UPV), Spain. Mike Levy is Honorary Professor of Second Language Studies in the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Franoise Blin is Senior Lecturer at Dublin City University, Ireland. David Barr is Head of the School of Modern Languages at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland.