Literature Review for Proposal - Research Paper Example

The researcher attempts to carry out this research thoroughly, to examine as many dimensions of this methodology as feasible and necessary. For this purpose, the literature review will cover all the aspects of CALL stated above. Finally, the review will examine the different contexts where the researcher could carry out the necessary research in the most beneficial way. This brief review aims to discuss the existence of CALL and the development that it has undergone in the field of language learning, as well as the teaching.

It will not describe the basic features of CALL again, since the introduction of this research proposal has already shed some light on that. According to research, CALL used to focus on disciplines like artificial intelligence, computer science, and psychology. Currently, however, researchers have observed its development in the area of language teaching and learning. CALL first became popular in the field of language learning when it was a major tool in Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI), which is when computers are used as instructional tools to fulfill the requirements of the student group (Ruffin, 2000).

There is a one-line definition of CALL states earlier in the proposal. However, other experts still argue over the different interpretations of this term and this debate is especially relevant to the role of CALL in the field of language learning and teaching. There are several other terms for CALL as well, for example ‘Computer-Assisted Learning (CAL), Computer-Enhanced Language Learning (CELL), Web Enhanced Learning Language (WELL), Intelligent Computer Assisted Language Learning (ICALL), and Computer-Medicated Communication (CMC)’ (Johnson, 2008).

Apart from the debate, which exists on the actual term itself, there is also another debate related to the history of CALL, about its origins and development. One side of the debate believes that CALL has been in existence since the 1940s, after World War II (Johnson, 2008). Others, however, believe that the Americans made the first use of CALL or CAI, in the 1950s. Furthermore, Chapelle suggests that the use of this methodology in language learning and teaching did not begin until the 1960s.

Even then, he specifies that they did not use it commonly in the face of necessity. Instead, it was only as a luxury, which was not part of ordinary classrooms, but used for a specific learning group. In addition, some experts also add, perhaps as a way of explanation for this, that there were a very few teachers present until the 1970s who were computer literate, only they were able to fully implement the use of CALL in their classrooms (Ruffin, 2000). Research shows that the Americans first implemented CALL in Stanford University’s Mathematical Institute (Swarbrick, 2002).

Experts (Swarbrick, 2002) recognized it very early for its efficiency and benefits, and realized the importance of its development and emergence. However, due to its requirement of expensive technological equipment, it was not used in classrooms until a lot later. For instance, ‘EVDAC’ (Swarbrick, 2002), the first computer in the 1960s has the price of over half a million dollars. In the 1980s, this price had gone down, but not by much, as the Model 30