Where do we go from here - and who is leading the way?

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

E-ISSN: 1474-0109|3|5|3-5

ISSN: 0958-3440

Source: ReCALL, Vol.3, Iss.5, 1991-11, pp. : 3-5

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Abstract

The effort to develop CALL can be thought of as progressing through three eras. In the first era, the technology itself led the way; constraints on hardware and software dictated the pedagogical uses to which we could put the machinery. In the second era - where we still find ourselves - language teaching leads the way. In the third era - the golden age of CALL - it will be language learning which motivates and controls the development of the whole effort, but we are not there yet. (I shall discuss in more detail why I believe that current developments in ‘learner-centred’ and ‘learner-controlled’ activities on the computer do not as yet really qualify as computer-assisted language learning.)