GENERAL USE OF COMPUTERS

Computers are the part of most people’s everyday life.  They are used in many offices, banks, factories for various purposes such as, record keeping, office management, banking, traffic control, word processing, games are only a few of the applications of  computers. The rapidly increasing use of computer technology is changing the lives of millions of people and the social organizations in which they work.

USE OF COMPUTERS AT SCHOOLS FOR TEACHING LANGUAGES

Computer has become an important addition to the classroom situation and has begun to be loved and admired by learners (Dhaif, 1989). Computers contribute to teaching many subjects at schools, including languages. Schofield (1995) stated that the number of computers in many schools is increasing. Day by day, they are becoming more widespread, they are intended to be used in many schools. Computer labs have begun to be an integral component of foreign language learning programs in most educational institutions. There are many features of computers that are uniquely exploitable in language learning (Dhaif, 1989; Howie, 1989; Steven,1989).  This kind of learning/teaching done with computers is labeled ‘Computer Assisted Language Learning’ (CALL) by Ahmad, Corbett, Rogers and Sussex (1985) and  Schofield  (1995). Some other researchers use the terms CAI (Computer Assisted Instruction) or CALT (Computer Assisted Language Teaching)  (e.g., Kenningand Kenning, 1983).   The field of  CALL arouse from the combination of two factors: educational needs and technological means (Ahmad, Corbett, Rogers and Sussex ,1985). Computers are relatively new in schools and add variety into the school routine. Day by day, they are becoming more widespread, they are intended to be used in many schools. Computer labs have begun to be an integral component of foreign language learning programs in most educational institutions. There are many features of computers that are uniquely exploitable in language learning (Dhaif, 1989; Howie, 1989; Steven,1989) . Through computers learners can not only gain linguistic competence but also communicative and cultural competence.  Computers’ impact on language learning is very different as they are much more versatile which means that many skills such as writing, reading, grammar can be developed through different activities such as drill-and-practice,tutorials, games and simulations.  CALL can introduce opportunities for practicing types of language whichcan not be done  otherwise in the classroom (Esling,1991; Kenning & Kenning, 1983). Being interactive is crucial in language learning and computers help with interaction. *Computers are interactive tools (e.g., students write an answer and computer responds whether the answer is right or wrong) and they can be used to accomplish many purposes such as putting students in direct contact with other students from different countries(Schofield, 1995). Dunkel (1991) also stated that there is a general notion among educators that computer use helps to increase peer interaction and leads to cooperative behavior. Students have the freedom to interact more with their peers as teachers don’t have to lecture in the lab as they do in classroom so, they can use this freedom both to socialize and help each other.  Pennington (1989) mentions the roles which computers can play in communicative interaction. She mentions the recent developments in software that provide environments which bring a group of students together around a computer and makes them interact to solve a problem or make a project.

Costanzo (1989) and Ahmad, Corbett, Rogers (1985) stated that computer’s infinite patience is a great advantage for learners. He added that he saw adult learners spend hours in practicing forms on the computer, because, as they said ‘the computer doesn’t mind’. These are the learners who do not ask many questions to the teacher in the  classroom as they are shy. This infinite patience of computer helps reduce learners’ anxiety of making a mistake in front of their classmates to reduce.

The privacy offered by computer is a very important factor in lowering anxiety levels. Learning may therefore be encouraged through increased motivation and self-confidence (Pennington, 1989; Ahmad, Corbett, Rogers and Sussex, 1985).

Another advantage of CALL programs is the quick feedback that guides the learners to realize correct and incorrect responses. It is important for second language learners to get feedback as immediately and clearly as possible. According to Schofield (1995)  getting feedback from computer is more effective than
being reminded about the mistakes by the teacher because nobody else realizes that that person has made a mistake and it was corrected.

Computers are capable of guiding students to discover appropriate responses in a variety of ways, e.g., by directly locating or highlighting the errors or highlighting only the correct parts of students’ responses. Students don’t have to be dependent on the teacher’s judgment and students can get feedback very soon without teacher’s judgment (Robinson, 1991). Through computer technology, students can assume more responsibility for their own learning. Giving the students an opportunity to control their own learning (internal learner control) is a wonderful advantage of computers. CALL activities encourage students to develop their own learning (Benicia, 1995). When students feel that they are controlling their own learning, their self-confidence increases and they show a more positive attitude toward the assignment. Students can also feel more responsible for their own learning through computer technology (Brosnan, 1995)

*Reading on the computer is found to be quite helpful by many researchers. Costanzo (1989) states that reading on the computer is more active as students have to show great effort of storing and retrieving information electronically. Computer also gives the user the easiness of moving line by line, or  jumping to a specific page or phrase, or moving frame by frame. Computer-based reading labs can offer a wide range of topics at more finely graded proficiency levels. This means that each reading passage can have versions, the learner can find a simplified version of it. The video screen is dynamic and it can control the speed and position of appearance of letters, words and sentences in a reading passage. The animation quality which is allowed by the computer but not within thebooks is also attractive for learners.

Listening skill can also be developed by computers. Voice tracks give students the opportunity to hear what they have been reading. As students  are not used to hearing what they read in traditional classes they may find this interesting. This is a quality which makes both reading and listening interesting for learners (Wyatt,1989; Maddison and Maddison, 1987). Hanson-Smith (1999) states that computers have many advantages over the audio-tape. She indicated that listening to voices alone is not as effective as listening in a visual context as it can create stronger memory links. In addition the chance of getting accurate and instant playback enables students to hear specific parts of a conversation which quite a difficult and boring task while listening to an audiotape. What is more is no time is wasted for rewinding task.

Computers offer very interesting and wonderful ways in training pronunciation by putting symbol systems together in order to provide analysis and feedback on the learner’s output (Pennington, 1989). Kalikow and Swets (1972) used a device which analyzes a user’s production of certain sounds and then makes a comparison between the user’s sounds and the target positions of those phonemes. A graph may show the percentage of overlap between the user’s (acoustic) output and the acoustic properties of the target phoneme. The learner has a chance to see the mistake s/he has made.

*Writing can be developed by computers as well. Word processing is a time saving and helpful aid. A new word or a paragraph can be added with little effort. An unwanted sentence or paragraph can be deleted with only a key stroke. In addition, after these are done the text is formatted automatically. Students have also freedom to revise as much as they want. (Neu and Scarcella, 1989; Costanzo 1989; Dunkel 1991; Howie,1989). A wonderful quality of word processor is explained by Costanzo (1989) is that it gives the writer the opportunity to be able to write freely which means s/he does not have to follow the order of brainstorming, revising, planning and reorganizing. While doing these learner can write whatever comes to his/her mind and can organize them later without the fear of forgetting many ideas that come to his/her mind. This is a great advantage that, computers can hold text without losing any word of it, the writer does not have the responsibility to keep anything in
his/her mind. The writer is free to concentrate on different aspects of the text (spelling, sentence structure).

Davidson and Tomic (1994) stated that students who produce texts in a lab have the opportunity of a moreimmediate access to an audience. Their instructors and peers can give a response to them very soon. So, it is a great advantage that students can change their work while producing them. Besides, their text on the screen helps students see their work more objectively as readers. Writing on the computer helps students to consider the reader’s position as they can see their work as one step removed from themselves.
 

DISADVANTAGES OF COMPUTERS

It shouldn’t be forgotten that computer itself is a tool incapable of action. It performs the instruction given to it by a human user. It is the teacher who can make computer responsible during teaching (or practicing) process (Ahmad, Corbett, Rogers and Sussex, 1985).

It is not possible to see the behavior of a teacher -a human being- on computers. Howie (1989) pointed at the characteristic that computers lack: Addressing the affective sides of learners which means personality, self-worth and personal values. Computers do not try to guess -as teachers do- what you really mean when you don’t type exactly the right thing. They just announce you have made a ‘Syntax Error’ or something similar and stop. Because of this reason they are found to be ‘pedantic’ by programmers  (Kennington 1983).

Costanzo (1989) takes the attention to the great amount of time wasted by learners on typing and retyping because of spelling errors and how this brought about complete hatred towards writing.  Learners are frustrated especially at the early stages of CALL as they had such problems in addition to learning commands, saving works on disks. Galavis (1998) observed classes in which computers are used in Caracas in Venezuela and saw that there are some students and teachers discouraged by computers as they can not type fast and/or don’t know how to use computer well enough.

Costanzo (1989) stated that pen and paper have become kind of ‘traditional’ instruments for some learners while writing and using the keyboard might seem to be difficult for them so they see the keyboard and the screen as a physical obstacle between themselves and their prose.

Hanson-Smith (1999) mentions some difficulties with reading on the computer screen. She  claims that reading on the computer monitor can give harm to eyes.
 

TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS USING COMPUTERS IN CLASSES

The way teachers view using computers in their classes is an important issue as a positive approach can help them to be more effective while teaching in a computer lab. There might be teachers who have negative attitudes towards using computers in their classes. According to Brickner (1995) one of the obstacles to integrating computers into schools is related to teachers’ beliefs about teaching, beliefs about computers, their established classroom practices and unwillingness to change. Mc Meniman (1986) and Rado and Foster (1990) also stated that language teachers do not change their beliefs by decree but by practicing and when they are presented with the evidence that technology has positive effects on learning. Another possible reason for this kind of attitude might be because they do not feel confident enough and feel a need to be trained about the use of computers in classes.

One very important thing that shouldn’t be forgottenis that the presence of computer itself will not increase student motivation or enhance success inlearning and CALL has an enormous potential in the hands of skillful teachers (Mc Meniman and Evans 1998). Levy (1992) points to the burden that falls on the language teacher who has to integrate CALL into the curriculum. Because teacher is expected to know how to use the programs, create materials that are suitable for CALL classes and for students at different levels, train the students about not only using computers but also being able to proceed in CALL lessons (e.g., using software, doing the exercises
that they are assigned), to integrate the work into the program (as a whole). This teacher should, in addition, undertake all the responsibilities of a language teacher who teaches in a classroom. Support (being trained about teaching by means of computers) is essential for teachers, otherwise they may be resistant to such a change in which they have to be quite good at using computers not just for doing basic things such as typing documents and searching topics on the internet but also using computers in their classes to be able to teach or guide effectively totheir students.

Mc Williams and Taylor (1998) stated that if teachers are going to use computers in their classes they should know the pedagogical issues related to technological change. They should also be aware of the current perspectives on the roles and functions of CALL. For example, there might be some people who are enthusiastic about computer use and view CALL as a technique that is innovative and a technique in which computers play a central role while some people might believe that computers do not really make an important contribution to teaching/learning. There might also be people who view computers just as an addition to traditional classes.

Hawkes  (1999) indicated that if teachers contact with other teachers they will gain new perspectives via computer networks and this is great for professional development. Network communication can have very useful effects for learning different ideas by discussion, it is a great potential. These networks give teachers opportunity to determine how learning communities might be professionally and effectively structured.

Mc Meniman and Evans (1998) mention a study which was undertaken in 1994 and 1995 by teachers of Asian languages at Griffith University in Brisbane. They aimed to deal with the problem of low proficiency outcomes and getting benefit from technology to assist in the self management of student learning. The interest was in technology as communicative acts can be simulated and interaction can occur by it. It was suggested that technology would allow students an interactive communicative study. 19 teachers were interviewed (to investigate their attitudes and beliefs related to teaching language and the importance of computers in classes). For CALL to be understood better visits to other universities were organized. In addition, a series of research seminar, workshops (e.g., about the use of  language software) were held. In the interviews almost all of the teachers expressed a that they need an inservice training for using computers. Generally they were interested in knowing more about computers and some of them were very much interested in the authoring of interactive programs. The attitudes of teachers towards using computers in language teaching ranged widely. There are some positive comments such as they believed that language teaching through the computer can be developed in many ways and that computer facilities will help although they can not teach everything. The possibilities for self-paced learning and self access, for various drills, the virtual input that is provided by computers are appreciated by many teachers. The negative answers included comments such as there is the danger that some students might only use computers for having fun. They added that too much time is wasted  in order to develop software and/or getting used to using software (both for students and teachers). At the end of 1995 teachers were again interviewed and it was found that there are significant changes (positive) in teachers’ attitudes towards using computers. This was of course due to the training they got within the year.

Pilus (1995) mentions a study which aims to investigate the interest in CALL and level of computer literacy of English teachers at International Islamic University, Malaysia. 441 ESL teachers were required to answer the questionnaires which mainly aimed to find the general level of computer literacy of the ESL teachers and whether they would be interested in attending courses related to CALL (or computer use in classes). The results showed that they are interested in integrating computers in teaching. 43 teachers (97.73%) indicated that they are keen to learn or improve their skills in computing. There are also 33 teachers (75%) who stated that they are willing to learn programming. Favorable attitudes were found. The level of computer literacy among the teachers ranged widely. Majority of the teachers are quite interested and motivated to participate in CALL.

A very important fact that should never be forgotten is the changing role of teacher in the computer lab. This might be a very important factor in teachers’ accepting or refusing to teach with computers.
 

TEACHER’S ROLE

When teachers are in the lab they are regarded differently than they are regarded in a classroom. Howie (1989) states that teacher monitors the learning and should be available as a guide for students.

In a computer lab teacher might be seen as;
* a guide
* a technician
* a resource person

Although the lessons become student-centered more than teacher-centered in a computer lab teacher has a lot of responsibilities. Teacher has to;

* Determine students’ needs and expectations
* Try to find support for students’ access to computers
* Know about computer’s internal workings, in addition has to know how to use programs at least the most necessary ones for himself and the students
* Be extremely careful while deciding for the software which is appropriate for the level and interest of students, if necessary examine and review the software many times
*Integrate the linguistic material into computers and instruct computers how to present the material to students to students
*Create materials and various tasks for CALL classes and for students with different learning styles and from different levels.

It should never be forgotten that computers are not used to replace what teachers do but to complement what they do. It is more helpful to consider computers as a teaching like any other.
 

THE STUDY AT OSMANGAZI UNIVERSITY

I conducted a study at Osmangazi University (OGU), Foreign Languages Department (FLD) in 2000. My aim was to find out the attitudes of teachers towards using
computers in classes. For this, I prepared questionnaires and gave them to the teachers in FLD. These questionnaires included questions about whether teachers know how to use computers and how much they use computers and for what purposes, whether they are aware of the term CALL, their ideas about using computers in FLD for practicing and teaching skills, their general attitudes and opinions about using CALL in this department. Most of the questions were Likert-scale type, while there were a few open-ended and some multiple choice. The results showed that, teachers in the FLD at OGU are willing to use computers as a supplementary activity to their classes. they were aware of the term CALL but needed to know more about it. It was seen that they believed that students’ language abilities will increase by
using computers and we should definitely start tu use computers. They were in favor of the idea of teaching in computer lab for about 3 hours a week.  They were given a chance to state their choice for teaching and practicing skills. Out of these questions, it was revealed that, teachers were slightly in more favour of practicing subjects by using computers than teaching.  One very important thing that almost all teachers emphasised was the need to learn how to use computers while teaching. They stated the need of in service training  for using computers in classes, although they all knew how to use computers for many purposes and have been using them.  It was obvious that the results were quite similar to the results that came out of those studies we mentioned. Teachers have really positive ideas towards using computers as a supplementary activity to the lessons but they strongly emphasised a strong need for being trained about how to teach by using CALL. As ananswer to open ended questions, they suggested many ideas, such as there should be a change in the system from integrated skills to separate skills, their needs about being trained, knowledgeable teachers shouldfirst start teaching in the lab and then the others (after being trained) should teach in the lab.
 

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