SOSYAL BİLİMLER ENSTİTÜSÜ YABANCI DİLLER EĞİTİMİ ANABİLİM DALI
İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRETMENLİĞİ BİLİM DALI
THE IMPACT OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY ON THE SUCCESS
OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
YÜKSEK LİSANS TEZİ
Danışman Doç. Dr. Hasan ÇAKIR
Hazırlayan EMİNE KARACA
THE IMPACT OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY ON THE SUCCESS OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
The Institute of Social Sciences Of
Selcuk University
By
EMİNE KARACA
In partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS
In
THE DEPARTMENT OF
TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE SELCUK UNIVERSITY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Associate Professor Dr. Hasan Çakır, for his invaluable guidance and support throughout this study. I owe special thanks to Barbaros Yalçın for his invaluable guidance, support throughout my education at university and MA TEFL Program. Without his encouragement, I would not have achieved my ambitions.
I am also indebted to Associate Professor Dr. Ali Murat Sünbül for his help with statistics and his support. I also would like to thank to Assistant Professor Dr. Ece Sarıgül, Assistant Professor Dr. Abdülkadir Çakır, Assistant Professor Dr. Abdülhamit Çakır and Assistant Professor Dr. Ahmet Ali Arslan for their assistance, support and kindness in their courses throughout the MA TEFL Program.
I owe special thanks to Kakan Family, who are my second family in Konya, for their hospitality, support and encouragement throughout the MA TEFL Program.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved family who supported and encouraged me throughout this study. I owe much to my father, Ali Rıza Karaca, and, my sister, İlknur Tapan, my brother, Mustafa Karaca, Esma Karaca and Edip Tapan for their invaluable support, patience, care and understanding. I would like to thank to my mother, Mümine Karaca; without her, I would not have achieved it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS...iv LIST OF TABLES...vii ABBREVIATIONS ...viii ABSRACT ...ix ÖZET ...x 1. INTRODUCTION ...1 Introduction ...1
1.1. Background of the study...3
1.2. Statement of the problem ...3
1.3. Purpose of the study ...4
1.4. Significance of the problem ...5
1.5. Research Questions ...5
2. LITERATURE REVIEW...6
2.1. History of CALL ...6
2.2. Teaching English as a foreign language to young learners ...9
2.3. The integration of CALL into language teaching ...10
2.4. Computers and four skills ...11
2.5. The inherent advantages of computers in language learning...15
2.6. The advantages of computers in language teaching ...16
2.7. The advantages of computers in language learning ...17
2.8. The disadvantages of computers in language learning...19
2.10. Computers’ and Teachers’ roles in CALL classrooms...23
2.11. Teachers’ attitudes towards the use of CALL in the classroom ...26
2.12. Students’ attitudes towards the use of CALL in the classroom ...27
2.13. The scope of computer in language teaching...29
2.13.1. Drill and practice ...30
2.13.2. Tutorial ...31 2.13.3. Adventure games ...31 2.13.4. Word processor...32 2.14. Authoring packages ...32 2.14.1. Questionmaster ...33 2.14.2. Gapkit...33 2.14.3. Storyboard ...34 2.14.4. Copywrite ...34 2.14.5. Speedread ...35 2.14.6. Choicemaster ...35 2.14.7. Vocab ...35 3. METHODOLOGY ... 3.1. Setting and Participants ...36
3.2. Instruments ...36 3.3. Procedure...38 3.3.1. Information on experiment...39 3.3.2. Pre-test...39 3.3.3. Treatment ...40 3.3.4. Post-test ...40
3.3.5. Data Analysis...40
4. FINDINGS ...41
4.1. Overview of the study...41
4.2. Results of the study ...41
5. SUMMARY OF THE STUDY ...47
5.1. Summary of the study...47
5.2. Discussion of findings ...48
5.3. Limitations of the study ...49
5.4. Suggestions ...50 6. CONCLUSION...51 Conclusion ...51 REFERENCES ...53 APPENDICES...61 Appendix A:...61 Achievement Test...61 Appendix B:...64 Attitude Scale ...64
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE 1 The Experimental Design Applied in the Research... 38 2 The Comparison of the Pretest Scores of the Experimental and Control
Group ... 42 3 The Comparison of the Posttest Scores of the Experimental and Control
Group ... 42 4 The Comparison of the Achievement of the Experimental and Control
Group ... 43 5 The Comparison of the Pretest – Posttest Scores of the Experimental
Group ... 44 6 The Comparison of the Pretest – Posttest Scores of the Control Group ... 44 7 The Comparison of the Pretest Attitude Scores of the Experimental and
Control Group towards English Classes ... 45 8 The Comparison of the Posttest Attitude Scores of the Experimental and
ABBREVIATIONS
CALL : Computer- Assisted Language Learning
PLATO : Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations BASIC : Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code CAI : Computer-Assisted Instruction
CMI : Computer-Managed Instruction CEI : Computer-Enriched Instruction CAL : Computer-Assisted Learning
ABSTRACT
THE IMPACT OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY ON THE SUCCESS OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
KARACA, Emine
M.A., English Language Teaching Department
Supervisor: Associate Professor Dr. Hasan ÇAKIR
2007
This study investigated the effects of computer technology on the success of teaching English as a foreign language to secondary school students.
This was an experimental study conducted at Sabri Balcı Primary School in Soma, Manisa with 7th grade students. The data was collected through an achievement test and an attitude scale which were applied as pre- and post-tests to the control and experimental group before and after the treatment.
The findings revealed that there was no significant difference between the pre-test achievement and attitude scores of the both groups. The post-test achievement scores revealed that compared to the control group, the experimental group achieved a higher success and treatment caused no significant difference in the attitudes of the students towards learning English.
The results indicated that computer technology has positive effects on the success of teaching English as a foreign language to secondary school students.
ÖZET
BİLGİSAYAR TEKNOLOJİSİNİN ORTAOKUL ÖĞRENCİLERİNE İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRETİMİ BAŞARISI ÜZERİNE OLAN ETKİSİ
KARACA, Emine
Yüksek Lisans, İngilizce Öğretmenliği Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Doç.Dr. Hasan ÇAKIR
2007
Bu çalışma, bilgisayar teknolojisinin ortaokul öğrencilerine yabancı dil olarak İngilizce öğretimi başarısı üzerine olan etkisini incelemiştir.
Bu, Soma, Manisa’da Sabri Balcı İlköğretim Okulu’nda 7. sınıf öğrencileriyle yürütülmüş deneysel bir çalışmadır. Çalışma için gerekli bilgi, uygulamadan önce ve sonra kontrol ve deney gruplarına ön-test ve son-test olarak uygulanan başarı testi ve tutum ölçeği aracılığıyla toplanmıştır.
Çalışma sonuçları, her iki grubun ön-test başarı ve tutum puanları arasında önemli bir farkın olmadığını göstermiştir. Öğrencilerin son-test başarı puanları, kontrol grubuna göre deney grubunun daha yüksek bir başarı elde ettiğini ve uygulamanın öğrencilerin İngilizce öğrenmeye karşı olan tutumlarında önemli bir farka neden olmadığını göstermiştir.
Sonuçlar, bilgisayar teknolojisinin ortaokul öğrencilerine yabancı dil olarak İngilizce öğretimi başarısı üzerinde olumlu etkileri olduğunu göstermiştir.
1. INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Recently, the computer has become indispensable part of our lives. It makes life easier and more comfortable. A few decades ago, it was used merely by authorities. Its cost has decreased in time whereas its power and capacity have increased. As a result it has become available for everybody. Today, it is used in our daily lives for various purposes such as; banking, word-processing, accounting, keeping records, shopping, playing games and so forth.
The computer offers many useful opportunities via its technical capabilities; it can process, analyse, and store a great deal of information. Hence it is utilized by various fields one of which is education. The introduction of computers into education is a great revolution in that it can be used for presenting information, testing the students and providing feedback if necessary.
Both the teachers and students have used computers or if they have not used yet, they will use them for one purpose or another. It has become a means of education. The computer technology has taken place in language teaching as well. The computers are very attractive for language teachers who want to keep pace with new developments in technology.
In the same way, teaching foreign languages to young children has gain importance in recent years, as a result, the age of foreign language teaching has dropped; the students, in Turkey, start learning English at 4th grade.
This study explores whether the computer technology can be used in teaching foreign languages to young learners, moreover it examines if the computer technology use affects the achievement and attitudes of the students at secondary school towards learning English or not, or in what ways it affects their achievement and attitudes.
Before 1997, there were primary schools which were covering 1st to 5th grade and secondary schools which were covering 6th to 8th grade in Turkey. According to the law code of 4306, the primary and secondary schools were joined under the name of ‘primary education’. Nevertheless, in this study ‘secondary school students’ refer to the students attending 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.
This study consists of six chapters; they are introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, summary of the study and conclusion. In literature review part, the researcher made use of different recourses written about computer technology and language teaching. Here are the main resources utilized by the researcher: Computers in Education by Merrill, P. F. and others, Computers, Language Learning and Language Teaching by Ahmad, K. and others, Computers as a Tool in Language Teaching by Brierly, B. and Kemble, I., New Developments in Computer- Assisted Language Learning by Hainline, D., Computers and English Language Learning by Higgins, J., Computers in English Language Teaching and Research by Leech, G. and Candlin, C. N., Language, Learners and Computers by Higgins, J., Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Testing by Dunkel, P., Teaching Languages with Computers by Pennington, M. C., and Teaching English to Children by Scott, W. A. and Ytreberg, L. H.
This was an experimental study investigating the impact of computer technology on the success and attitudes of secondary school students towards learning English. In methodology part, the setting where the study was conducted, the participants of the study, the process of the study, instruments used for data collection and data analysis were presented. In findings part, an overview of the study and the results obtained from the study were given. A brief summary of the study, the discussion of findings and limitations of the study were presented in summary of the study part. Finally, as a result of the experimental study carried out and literature review, inferences of the researcher, in other words conclusions of the study were given.
1.1 Background of the Study
After the introduction of computers into education, a lot of studies were carried out in order to explore their efficacy. In these studies, the students who were instructed via Computer-Assisted Language Learning materials constituted the experimental group, and the students who were instructed via traditional methods constituted the control group.
Various results were noted; some of them were positive, namely, the experimental group made better than the control group in post-tests; some of them were neutral, that is there were no significant difference between the post-test results of the two groups, their achievement were equivalent to each other. And there were a few negative records in which the experimental group made worse than the control group. But in general the results were positive and neutral.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
As mentioned before, thanks to the decrease in their price and increase in their power and capacity, the computers have become a means of education. Therefore, the schools devoted some of their budgets to computer technology. Today, they are available in most of the schools, but some teachers are still unwilling to use this new technology; since it takes too long for older people to accept novelties. On the other hand, the younger people can get accustomed to adapting innovations more easily than adults, thus they use computers better than adults and they are extremely interested in computer technology. Most of the students have some prejudice towards learning English; they think that foreign language learning is a difficult and boring job. The teacher can make use of their interest towards the computer by using it in teaching English as a foreign language to persuade the students that foreign language learning is not so much difficult as they think. The teacher can take the advantage of their willingness to use computer by using it as a teaching aid in teaching English as a foreign language and allowing them to do some
exercises on the computer, in this case the teacher can provide something negative via something positive and enjoyable for the students.
When teaching to young learners, the teacher should not rely on only written words because of their inherent features. It is quite difficult to draw and sustain their attention, they easily get bored, and it is really difficult to keep them motivated. Hence, a variety of teaching aids should be used in order to cater for the different needs of students who have different motivation span, learning styles, learning paces and interests. The computer provides a wide range of audiovisual aids that contain graphics, sound, animation, colour and so forth, thus it is a useful teaching aid for the language teachers. The language teachers need to keep up with the innovations in language teaching. However, the foreign language teachers continue to hesitate to use the computers as a teaching aid. There are various reasons for this; some of them are afraid of using technology because they think they are not adequate, some of them do not want to leave old fashioned teaching methods because they have the tendency to teach in a way he was taught English, some of them think that it is useless to combine the technology and language teaching, and so on. As mentioned before there have been many studies about the usefulness of the computer technology in teaching foreign languages to students at different grades. This study aims to show once more that computer technology can be used in language teaching as a teaching aid. Furthermore, it particularly aims that computer technology can even be used in teaching English to secondary school students.
1.3. Purpose of the Study
The aim of this study is to find out the effects of computer technology use in teaching English as a foreign language on the success and attitudes of secondary school students towards learning English. Also, this study aims to present the computer technology as a teaching aid which has been used in language teaching for many years to the interested secondary school language teachers.
1.4. Significance of the Problem
‘Computer literacy’ and speaking foreign languages are requisites of this era. Using computer technology in teaching English as a foreign language is of great importance in that it provides opportunities for practicing both computer technology use and foreign language learning.
There have been a few studies carried out about Computer-Assisted Language Learning, but there are not any studies about using computer technology in teaching English as a foreign language to secondary school students in Turkey. This study aims to show that computer technology can be used in teaching English to elementary level students as well.
Today, most of the schools in Turkey have computer laboratories. This study is also significant in that the language teachers can make use of that available technology at schools; this study will provide them a new teaching aid if they have not been aware of it yet.
1.5. Research Questions
The study addresses the following questions:
1- How does computer technology use in teaching English as a foreign language to secondary school students affect students’ success in learning English?
2- How does computer technology use in teaching English as a foreign language to secondary school students affect students’ attitudes towards learning English?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. History of CALL
In order to understand something well, the background and development, in other words the history of it should be known well. The Computer-Assisted Language Learning did not arise immediately; the development of it took a long time. Thus, in this part in order to understand Computer- Assisted Language Leaning well, the history of Computer-Assisted Language Learning would be summarized by utilizing the information in Computers, Language Learning and Language Teaching by Ahmad, K.; Corbett, G.; Rogers, M. and Sussex, R. In their book, they explained the history of Computer- Assisted Language Learning under the heading of ‘The development and background of CALL’ in detail. Ahmad and others (1985:27) assert that understanding the nature and importance of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) can be possible by understanding when and how it came out and developed. They also add that there were two main factors that contributed the Computer-Assisted Language Learning to arise; they were ‘educational needs’ and ‘technological means’. As a result of the decrease in its prize and the increase in its power and capacity, the computer is used in various parts of daily life. In order to keep pace with the new technology, in time the computer took place in education.
Ahmad and others (1985:27-28) have the following claim about the development of Computer-Assisted Language Learning:
Modern CALL is the result of the convergence of several lines of research into the use of computers in handling language. Some of this work has been directly concerned with language teaching, and the history of this component of CALL shows how computers and programming have been combined for specific teaching purposes. But there are three other lines of research which have had an important influence on the evolution of CALL, and of ideas about the working relationship between computers and language: experiments in programmed instruction, developments in computational linguistics, and work on machine translation. Experiments with programmed instruction have had a direct bearing on CALL. Developments in computational linguistics and machine translation had an indirect but important influence on CALL, since research efforts in the two
fields clearly determine the ‘limits’ of computer usage in the literary and linguistic research and so by implications also define the ‘limits’ of computer usage in language teaching and learning. Computational linguistics and machine translation are of importance to CALL for two reasons: first, those working in these areas have provided some of the tools for CALL, such as particular features of programming languages; second, they form part of the groundwork for future developments, as they will lead to more intelligent processing of grammar and meaning and therefore to more sensible responses from the computer.
The late 1960s and early 1970s are particularly significant for the history of Computer-Assisted Language Learning. The technological developments about computers and the use of computers by linguists and literary researchers caused the introduction of computers in language teaching and learning. Also, the opportunity of ‘easy access to computer systems’ made great contributions to the use of computer material in language teaching.
The projects, the Stanford and the Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations (PLATO), constituted the first attempts to use Computer-Assisted Language Learning. The former one, the Stanford project was in 1960s, and the supervisor of this project was Van Campen in the Slavic Languages Department. In this project, most of the teaching material of a computer-based introductory Russian course was on the computer. The students were asked to answer the questions on the screen. Ahmad and others report from Karriker (1976), Schupbach (1973), Van Campen (1973), Van Campen, Markosian and Seropian (1980) that Van Campen‘s introductory Russian course constituted the basis of further computer-based courses in Old Church Slavonic, Bulgarian, the History of the Russian Literary Language, and recently initial Armenian .
The Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations (PLATO) system was another project about Computer-Assisted Language Learning. It was developed at the University of Illinois, and the Control Data Corporation manufactured the computers and terminals. The system consisted of these computers and the special purpose software. The PLATO system was successful because of its ability to survive for years and to maintain the interest of teachers. Curtain and others
were among the first teachers using the PLATO system in language teaching. Their aim was to make translations from Russian to English. The PLATO system has achieved keeping up with the state of the art in computer technology. Via the PLATO system terminals, it was possible to ‘generate sophisticated graphics and to display text in a variety of non-Roman scripts’.
Ahmad and others (1985: 32) assert that Dartmouth College was one of the first academic institutions which provided a system which can interact with the user and the BASIC programming language (Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), which was specifically developed for the inexperienced programmer. They report from Roberts (1973) Scherr and Robinson (1980), and Waite (1970) that the language teachers of Danish, French, German, Latin and Spanish and later English and Russian started to use the Dartmouth system in 1970. Ahmad and others (1985: 32-33) quoted Allen’s ideas who developed some teaching programmes for French and Danish to assist regular classes as follows:
There is a direct relationship between a student’s ability in a language and the proportion of time he spends with a computer and that it is possible to decrease the amount of time spent in class and still progress at a normal rate, if students supplement their work with well designed programs on a computer.
The other project was Scientific Language Project in University of Essex. It was led by Alford who asserted that a resource can be adjusted according to the needs of different users. The researchers and academics in science and engineering constituted the majority of its users. Ahmad and others (1985:33) quoted that with the aid of computers ‘any individual can read material of his own choice at an acceptable speed after about 25 hours of initial study’.
Ahmad and others (1985: 35) put forward that there was a ‘boom’ of microcomputers in 1970s, and they became a consumer product. Besides ‘micros’, a
great deal of programmes were categorized as ‘recreational, commercial, educational’. The educational programs contained some ‘language-teaching programs’. As a result of the decrease in the prize of ‘micros’, the number of houses and schools that have computers increased. The teacher has the opportunity to use it at home or at school, moreover the students can work individually at computer labs. Today, the computers are available in almost every house and school.
2.2. Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Young Learners
There is a controversy about what the word ‘child’ means. It is difficult to call someone as a child, since everybody has different physical and psychological developments. The students attending secondary school in Turkey are 11-14 years old. Some of them can still be called as child whereas some of them can be called as teenagers. In general, there are great differences between adults and children, Maddison and others (1987: 22) agree with Krashem and others (1979) that ‘there are distinct differences between adults and children both in approach and speed of learning and in eventual frequency’. Their interests, motivation span, learning types, learning paces, sense of humour are all different from each other. Therefore, the teacher of young learners should bear in mind these differences and provide variety in the materials and teaching type. Scott and Ytreberg (1990:5-6) state that ‘Since concentration and attention spans are short, variety is a must- variety of activity, variety of pace, variety of organization, and variety of voice... Children have an amazing ability to absorb language through play and other activities which they find enjoyable’. Today, most of the children find using computers enjoyable, and they spend most of their time dealing with computers, because of this reason the computers can be used as a teaching aid in teaching English to young learners. Ahmad and others (1985: 57) note that ‘working with a computer appeals more to some learners than to others, and particular program types have different degrees of success with various students’. Computer provides the variety the young learners need when learning a foreign language. The students can enjoy the language learning
activity if the computer technology is involved in language teaching. Of course it is difficult to say that all of the students will enjoy using computers at the same degree, but generally the young generation enjoys using computers. Similarly, it is difficult to say that all of them will enjoy the same language teaching programme, but today there are various software programmes that can be used with students with different features.
Dunkel (1991: 15-16) reports from Crosby (1983), Edwards and others (1975), Kulik and Bangert-Drowns (1983-1984) that today it is rejected that CAI or CALL might be used as the only teaching aid by the researchers and users. Some researchers have found that CAI is considered more effective as an aid to, rather than as a replacement for, traditional or alternative methods of instruction, particularly for young learners. As Dunkel reports, it would be wrong to depend only on Computer-Assisted Language Learning in language classes, it should be used as a supplement to other teaching methods. Otherwise, it will be against what has been told before about variety in teaching to young learners.
2.3. The Integration of CALL into Language Teaching
The language teacher should avoid relying on one method; instead he or she should make use of various methods, and techniques in order to address to different needs of students with different characteristics. Ahmad and others (1985: 116) acknowledge that:
Language teaching tends in practice to be eclectic: there are languages not only exceptionally many paths and educational means for arriving at a given educational goal, but there are also very many types of educational materials which can be used to achieve that goal.
Chapelle and Jamieson (1989:55) ask ‘Do students who use CALL learn more efficiently than those who do not?’ To answer this question, the characteristics of Computer- Assisted Language Learning materials and language learners must be
taken into consideration separately since the Computer-Assisted Language Learning materials and the learners are different from each other in many ways. Thus, it will be wrong to rely on one approach and think that all the learners learn in the same way and all the materials are suitable for all the students. All of the students are different from each other in their motivation, interest, needs, learning styles, learning paces and all of the teaching materials are different from each other in term of achieving various kinds of goals. Therefore, it is necessary to think about the characteristics of both students and materials when integrating computer technology into language teaching. Chapelle and Jamieson (1989: 47) also state that:
The evaluation of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) necessarily includes general and observable features such as whether the programs work, the screen displays are pleasing, adequate instructions are given, answers are judged appropriately. Initially, teachers are told to look for these features in reviewing CALL materials, but eventually CALL must be examined with an eye toward the curriculum of a particular language program and the learners for whom it is intended.
In short, it is both wrong to depend on only one method or material and to think that all the materials can be used at the same time when teaching English to young learners. Different programmes are designed for different students and aims, so they will be used in different parts of the classes. The aim of teaching English, the level, interests, learning paces, leaning styles of the learners and the characteristics of the software should be considered when integrating a programme into a language class. And this evaluation should be done for each class distinctly.
2.4. Computers and Four Skills
This section will present the capabilities of the computer as a new medium for the teaching and learning a foreign language. The computer makes different contributions to the development of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Wyatt (1989: 64, 78) states about reading skill that, via ‘rapidly-developing hardware and software capabilities’ the computer can make great contributions to developing
reading skills. At the elementary level it can be used to improve recognition of the alphabet, at a further stage it can be used for reading- comprehension exercises.
Wyatt (1989: 66- 67) summarizes the contribution of computers in developing reading skill as follows: ‘The enormous storage capacity and consequent ability of computer to provide highly individualized reading materials are the key contributions of the computer medium’. Reading is considered as a ‘receptive skill’ in language learning since a reading material provides invaluable input for the language learner. In order for language learners to improve their comprehension and lexicon in the foreign language, they must read a lot. Today, it is possible to reach many reading materials in English via computer technology and the internet. The teachers should make their students aware of the fact about the importance of reading skill in learning English and the opportunities for reaching those reading materials via computer technology and they should encourage their students to make use of these facilities.
The computer also contributes to develop writing skill which is considered as a ‘productive skill’. Writing skills requires handling the language, so it is also an important skill that should be improved for foreign language teaching and learning. But, many language learners have great difficulty in developing writing skills; it is not easy to produce something in the target language. The learners are scared of making mistakes, and they worry about their handwriting. As mentioned before, most of the students like using computers, so the language teacher should make use of it and integrate computer technology into writing classes. Wyatt (1989: 87) reports from Berens (1986b), Piper (1987):
The benefits of using a computer to write, far from being as wide-reaching as originally hoped, have turned out to be more modest. Improvement in the affective factors of attitudes toward English and toward writing, motivation to write, time spent writing, and perceptions about one’s writing behaviour appear to be the major benefits of computer-assisted writing. For second language students, the computer also appears to reduce the fear of errors and to reduce worries about legibility.
The computer technology can be used to change the attitudes of the language learners towards writing in the target language. This will be helpful in dealing with the prejudices about writing. The computer technology provides the opportunity to see the students’ mistakes and to change them immediately or to record their mistakes to be evaluated or compared later on; also it frees the student from the fear of bad handwriting and being unable to understood.
Pennington (1989: 85) quotes from Benesch (1987), Nichols (1986), Womble (1984) that most of the studies showed that the use of computer technology in writing compositions has positive effects on students’ attitudes towards writing; they enjoy writing when they use a computer. The feeling of success motivates them and they want to write more on computer. Pennington (1989: 86) reports that ‘in the program at the University of Texas at El Paso, classes are taught in the computer laboratory, and students often stay after class to continue writing as well as coming in during non-class hours’.
The speaking skill is the one to which the use of computer technology can contribute the least. However some says it is possible to have interaction with the computer, it is not possible to have a real interaction, and if it is possible, it will be very limited. Ahmad and others (1985: 60) note that:
Generally speaking… CALL is still forced to concentrate on the written medium, although speech output is available to a limited extend. And spontaneous interaction with the computer is ruled out. However, both of these points, while restrictive in one sense will force us to explore ways of expanding our language- teaching activities using the computer’s special capabilities.
Pennington (1989: 100) argues that although speaking and listeningskills are as important as reading and writing skills, there is a tendency among the programmers about developing CALL materials which contribute to reading and writing skills rather than the ones that contribute to speaking and listening. The CALL materials can contribute to developing speaking and listening skills: ‘(1) they
can create environments which facilitate interaction, and (2) they can provide training in production and perception of speech’.
The importance of listening skill as another ‘receptive skill’ and speaking skill as another ‘productive skill’ can not be denied, they are both important for language learning, as a result for language teaching. The four skills are important for language learning and teaching at the same level, so all of them should be developed. However, it is quite difficult to use computer technology in improving speaking skill whereas it is possible to improve listening skill via computer technology. There are various kinds of software available that help to improve listening skill. In fact, improving receptive skills helps improving productive skills. So, Computer-Assisted Language Learning helps improving speaking skill indirectly by improving reading and listening skills. There should be more researches about improving speaking skill via computer technology and some software can be developed in that way.
There are also Computer- Assisted Language Learning programs which are used to teach pronunciation. Knowles (1986: 133) explains the reason for using the computer technology in phonetics teaching as follows:
There are many reasons for using the computer in phonetics teaching. One is that innovation and increased efficiency are essential in phonetics teaching if phonetics is to maintain its position in linguistics and language teaching. A more positive reason is that the subject can be taught more effectively with a computer than without. A third reason is that it is actually jolly good fun, and makes teaching more enjoyable and more interesting than it was before.
In order to handle a word efficiently, it is necessary to know its pronunciation as well as its meaning. The computer allows the user to hear the right pronunciation of the words and it also allows the user to record their pronunciation to compare it with the correct version of it. Leather (1983: 212) states that in a ‘computer-managed pronunciation training’, both ‘synthetic’ and ‘speech models’ are used, also the production of the student is recorded for evaluation of the teacher and self-evaluation
of the student. Pronunciation can be considered as a part of speaking skill, using computer in teaching pronunciation contributes to the development of speaking skill indirectly. Despite this fact, it is not common to use computers to facilitate pronunciation.
Salomon (1984: 8) notes that the teacher can decide “the best way to use the creative potential of the medium of computers, to move this medium out of its ‘horseless carriage phase’. Similarly, Pennington (1989: 121) asserts that ‘The potential of the computer to impact on the curricular areas of speaking and listening is vast. It is hoped that the information and ideas offered… will provide some fresh directions for the creative exploration of this wide-open field’. In this part, the use of computers in developing four skills is summarized. The computer can be used in many areas of language teaching, it is the teacher to decide to use it or not or when to use it.
2.5. The Inherent Advantages of Computers in Language Learning
In their book Ahmad and others (1985: 4) categorize the advantages of computers as; the inherent advantages of computers, the advantages of computers for students and the advantages of computers for teachers. The computer offers many advantages as a teaching aid thanks to its increasing power. Furthermore, it offers interaction with the student that is; it can evaluate the student’s answer and provide feedback when necessary. If the student achieves a section then it takes the student to a different part. Ahmad and others (1985: 4) state that ‘It is also unfailingly accurate and precise; it does not tire and its attention does not falter’ like human beings. It can repeat an activity flawlessly as much as you like. The accuracy of the answers depends on the programmer or the teacher himself, namely when designing the programme, the programmer or the teacher enters the right answers and the computer checks the students’ answers according to them. It also provides different speeds of learning for students whose learning paces are different from each other.
2.6. The Advantages of Computer in Language Teaching
According to Ahmad and others (1985: 4-5), the computer is versatile in providing various kinds of materials; it can present information in the form of text, graphics, audio and video. The computer can also provide ‘question-and-answer routines’, ‘simulated dialogues’, ‘hypothesis testing’, and other types of exercises. The teacher can write the questions using authoring packages and sequence them as he or she likes. The computer can also keep records of the time spent, scores and errors of the students. This enables the teachers to observe the improvement of the students and make use of this information while taking decisions about the following subject matter. Besides, it provides flexibility for the teacher in that he or she can add some more exercises or change the existing ones in order to cater for the needs of students with different learning styles. The use of computer as a teaching aid allows the teacher free for preparing extra materials for the students. Saracho (1987: 56- 57) proclaims that:
The computer has three special operations which make it a promising educational tool: (1) it prestores programs, assesses students’ responses, and gives immediate feedback on students’ responses, and records the students’ progress to keep it up-to-date; (2) it provides each student with the opportunity to respond continuously during the session to as many questions as possible; (3) it individualizes the students’ instructional levels and paces their instruction at their own achievement level, specific interests and capacities in areas such as reading, language arts and mathematics. The computer keeps a profile of students’ progress individually and as a whole class to modify their instruction based on the individual students’ performance with the materials.
Brierley and Kemble (1991: 7) suggest video in connection with computer as a useful teaching aid in language teaching as follows:
Video, with its authenticity and predominantly spoken language, is ideally matched to communicative objectives and methods. It is reassuringly familiar, yet highly motivating to the learner. It is flexible in use- as stimulus, model, comprehension task- and gives a maximum of clues to understanding, from lip movements and gestures to the context of communication. With video, teachers have the same control of real target-language speech as they have of written language in a book or newspaper. In combination, video and computer offer an unmatched teaching and learning tool.
The video and computer can be useful teaching aids in that they offer authentic materials. The students need to hear real conversations in different contexts via video, so the computers at school can be used for students to watch some videos about different topics.
2.7. The Advantages of Computer in Language Learning
Besides providing advantages for teachers, the computers provide advantages for students as well. Ahmad and others (1985: 5) claim that ‘It is flexible in a number of significant ways’, namely; it provides flexibility of time and flexibility of place; some students might miss classes for some reason, but it does not make any problem for the computer. The student can study whenever and wherever he or she likes. The student is able to learn the subject matter without the teacher’s ‘actual presence’. Via its branching capacity, the computer provides ‘personalized and self- paced learning’ that is, the computer is made to consider the students’ learning paces and personal needs and modify the materials accordingly. When the student completes a section successfully, the computer takes him to a further section, if the student fails in completing that section the computer provides feedback and some more exercises about the same topic. The use of computer in teaching languages can also increase the concentration and motivation of the students.
Maddison and Polytecnic (1987: 25-26) claims that the computers can make learning more enjoyable and interesting and immediate feedback is one of the biggest advantages of using computers. The mistake shows that the subject matter is not understood well, the student needs an explanation and remedial work. They report from Fox (1982) that the computer is useful for drill and practice, reading comprehension, games and simulation and also immediate feedback is one of the invaluable advantages unlike other media. As mentioned before, the language learners enjoy using computers in language classes, especially when games are included in the lesson. Their attention will be on the game or task, so they learn the target language subconsciously when the learners are having fun at the same time.
Also, different simulation and reading comprehension exercises on computer can be used to facilitate language learning.
According to the experiences of Ahmad and others (1985: 6) ‘…learning with a computer is rated highly by students. There is the novelty of working with the computer, together with its diversity and sophistication’. Most of the students meet computers at a very early age while playing games, so they have an idea that using the computers is enjoyable depending on their previous experiences. The language teachers of young learners should prepare activities that contain recreation as much as possible. Saracho (1987: 56) states in her article that ‘students learn the language and the demands of computer technology without pressure while they simultaneously enjoy learning academic subjects through the computer’. A similar idea expressed by Press (1987: 122) in ‘CALL for Russian and other European languages’ as follows: ‘… through play and the acquisition of keyboard skills; the computer may well improve and even create motivation’. Today, most of the schools have computer laboratories; the language teachers can utilize the computers as a supplement to other teaching methods. The computer technology provides various kinds of opportunities together with novelty and fun for students to practice the target language.
Pennington (1989: 105- 106) regards the computer as an ‘electronic medium’ which offers advantages and variations only possible with the use of it. For example, each game has different scenes, each scene consists of different pictures, and therefore the user can continue the game with different conditions all the time. Moreover, it is possible to play the game against a rival which improves developing ‘cognitive strategies’, besides it provides practice in listening comprehension. Some students have prejudice about language learning and raise ‘affective filters’ against language learning; via using computers and games that facilitate learning and increase fun, the concentration of students will be on the activity or game. While they are completing the task or competing with their rival, they learn subconsciously and lower their ‘affective filters’ and they may even forget about their prejudice.
In his book, Higgins defines a laboratory as a place where some experiments are conducted. And he calls the computer as ‘the new language laboratory’. From an optimistic point of view Higgins (1988: 103) interprets it as follows:
…the computer turns the language classroom into an experimental environment, a place to try out ways of communicating or ways of manipulating grammar, and to study the effects, a place to collect samples of authentic usage…, and derive principles and rules from the data.
The computer offers real like environment for the learners, via simulation exercises they have the opportunity to experiment with the target language in different situations. Besides, some students are unwilling to participate in the class since they are scared of making mistakes; the computer allows the student to study individually lack of the fear of others’ making fun of themselves.
2.8. The Disadvantages of Computer in Language Learning
Besides the advantages of computers in teaching English as a foreign language, there are some disadvantages of them. Ahmad and others (1985: 6- 7) state that ‘A mystique has arisen around the computer. Somewhere between fact and science fiction, the computer is often supposed to be about to take over many of the social and economic functions now performed by humans’. This prejudice prevents people to understand the value of computers. People avoid using computers since they do not want to feel useless. Also, the use of computer technology causes alienation among human beings and makes them lazier and it makes life boring. The portability of computer programs was another problem but now it is solved, and they are available. In addition, ‘in question-and-answer learning’, the computer can not perceive all the answers; it can accept limited answers determined by the author of the program, and reject others although they are correct. For this reason, there is a serious problem with the assessment of ‘open-ended’ questions. According to Ahmad and others (1985: 105) ‘What the computer is doing is matching, not understanding.
A different problem arises with questions which have no specific right or wrong answer’. There are some more types of exercises which constitute problem for Computer-Assisted Language Learning, they are writing messages, compositions, definitions and so forth. Ahmad and others (1985: 8) come to the conclusion that ‘the computer can be used only for certain types of teaching, and only with certain types of material if used in a tutorial mode’. The types of exercises that can be used in Computer- Assisted Instruction are limited. Hartley (1985: 140) draws attention to another limitation of Computer-Assisted Language Learning materials as follows: they ‘are limited by their lack of general knowledge about the learning topic, about the student and about the teaching/ learning process’. The author of the CALL materials should also have knowledge about the subject matter, and ways of teaching language. The language teachers can learn the programming languages, and produce their own CALL programme or the programmer and the teacher can work together. Ahmad and others (1985: 8) state that ‘language teachers must be prepared to explore ways of using the computer so as to take advantage its special capacities’. The computer language is not enough just like pedagogical knowledge is not enough on its own. Producing CALL materials requires both of them.
It will be quite wrong to say that a question has only one right answer, rather some questions may have many correct answers at the same time. It is important to know all the correct answers of a question. Higgins (1995: 4) reports Chris Jones’ ideas that the students does not find the answer ‘well done’ satisfactory, they want to know other correct answers as well. Higgins suggests teachers and programmers to keep this fact in mind while designing CALL materials.
Another disadvantage of computers is that in most of the cases the student will be passive; he will answer the questions given by the computer and produce nothing. In his article Sampson (1986: 150) argues that:
One of the off-putting things about the computer as a potential partner in the teaching process is that by its nature it tends to force the learner into a passive role. The most obvious way to use computers in teaching anything is almost always to set up a program in which the computer provides information or response-eliciting stimuli that may be complex, subtle, perhaps even beautiful or fascinating, but in which the range of acceptable responses from the learner is miserably restricted.
Similarly, Ahmad and others (1985: 104- 105) assert that it is not possible for a computer to respond to a ‘spoken medium’. Other activities that fall into this category are ‘spoken dialogue, oral summaries or answering of questions, and reading aloud’. Ahmad and others summarize that “no exercise is possible which requires the computer to ‘understand’ or interpret the spoken input from the learner”. If the student produces something orally the computer can not interpret it or respond to it, so it gives the learner a passive role. Ahmad and others (1985: 131) explain this in that way:
While the student can respond orally, the computer cannot understand and respond. (Research is going on into speech-recognition systems. The problem is complex because human speech is acoustically so varied and rich; the system will literally have to be trained to ‘understand’ individual speakers, thus making the whole enterprise expensive in terms of both human and computer resources. Once the human utterance has been successfully ‘heard’, there is still the major problem of understanding it…).
Also, the learners work with computers individually during Computer- Assisted Language Learning classes. The learners concentrate on the task and do not communicate with each other or they communicate very little generally in their mother tongue. It is known that the computer use in language teaching contributes very little or non to improving speaking skill. Johnson ( 1991: 62) quotes the assertion of some educators in that way: ‘computers have no place in second language programs, expressing concern that computer will isolate students and deprive them of the kind of communicative interaction they need for second language learning’. Chapelle and Jamieson (1991: 46) report the research of Piper (1986) as follows:
Audio- and/or videotaped recordings have been used to gather descriptive information on students’ use of the target language. As L2 researchers have studied classroom interactions, CALL researchers have documented the language used by small groups of students engaged in CALL activities. Examining basic language acts of CALL students, including several quantifiable features such as the number of turns per minute, and a range of language functions and forms, Piper (1986) found that while working with two text reconstruction programs and a sentence reordering activity, students produced a very limited variety of language.
Chapelle and Jamieson (1991: 46) report the experiment of Liou (1989) in which ‘the amount and functions of native-language versus target language use by same-language-background ESL students’ were compared, she found that during the CALL process the students generally used their mother tongue rather than using the target language. Thus, the teacher should choose activities which require the students to interact with each other in the target language and he should check whether the students communicate with each other or not, or whether they use their mother tongue or not and should take some precautions against it.
2.9. Students’ Role in CALL Classrooms
Today, education is learner- centred; the classes are adjusted according to the needs of the students. Higgins (1988: 39) asserts that ‘teacher and student’ resemble to ‘salesman and customer’ as follows: ‘There is an obvious sense in which learners are more important than teachers. Just as one cannot sell until there are people able and willing to buy, so one cannot teach unless there are people prepared to learn’. In fact, it is not possible to teach something to someone if he does not want to learn, the learner should feel a necessity to learn. Higgins (1988: 39) says that ‘Learners may learn without teachers, but teachers cannot teach without learners’. However some can learn best by studying alone, it is not possible for all the learners to learn on their own, they need the guidance of the teacher. Otherwise, most of the learners can fail in learning the subject matter because they do not know how to learn.
Higgins (1988: 39- 40) mentions a study about computers in education which was conducted in 1977 by Stephen Kemmis and called ‘How do students learn?’. In this study, Kemmis and others found four ‘learning paradigms’ which are ‘instructional, revelatory, conjectural and emancipatory’. These paradigms can be matched to different roles of the learners; they are ‘absorber, experiencer, explorer, and practitioner’. According to Kemmis, the learner type called ‘absorber’ needs a teacher who sets up, conducts, and assesses the experience. The ‘experiencer’ does not need a teacher at the application phase; the ‘explorer’ needs ‘a pedagogue, a responsive teacher or an environment which is rich in feedback’ whereas the ‘practitioner’ needs a trainer. The characteristics and the needs of the learners are various, so the roles of the learners are various in Computer- Assisted Language Learning classes. Moreover, the roles of the learners are even various in a single class; different activities require different roles of both learners and teachers.
2.10. Computer’s and Teacher’s Roles in CALL Classrooms
In a Computer- Assisted Language Learning class, the roles of the teacher and computer are different. In his article called ‘Computers and language teaching’, Lewis (1986: 56) asserts that: ‘The teacher, with established skills in communication, analysis and diagnosis, was depended on to assist and, when necessary, assess the learner. On the other hand, the computer with limited communication was used to manipulate numbers and text’. According to Lewis, the role of assessing the student belongs to the teacher not to the computer.
The teacher is the person who decides which roles the computer will have by both choosing suitable Computer- Assisted Language Learning programmes, and entering the instructions himself. Ahmad and others (1985: 3) proclaim that ‘these decisions, however, are put into the computer by the teacher. Without such instructions the computer is powerless. It is the teacher who decides what degree of control the computer will have’. The computer can present texts, questions and check the learner’s answer and take the learner to next session or provide feedback according to the instructions of the teacher. The teacher decides how much strength
the computer will have, for instance which answers can be accepted right, which ones need remedial work and so on. In short, the teacher tells the computer how to assess the learner’s performance by determining the criteria.
Knowles (1986: 133- 134) identifies that there are two significant principles to be considered in order to use computer in an effective way:
First, it should do something that a human teacher cannot do, or at least cannot do as efficiently. The computer can write on the screen much faster than a human teacher can write on the blackboard, and can do lots of totally predictable and repetitive tasks which for humans are time-consuming and rather dull. This gains useful time for the teacher to do things that humans do better than computers. The second principle is that the computer should leave the user with interesting tasks to carry out. There is no point in making the computer do all the work, as that reduces the user to a passive onlooker. Nor is much to be gained by giving most of the boring work to the computer, if the task itself remains boring. This will very quickly associate the computer with boring jobs. The challenge of the new technology is that it gives us a chance to transform the tasks themselves, so that they actually become interesting.
The computer saves time of the teacher for different types of activities; however, the teacher should be careful about these jobs; he should avoid giving all the work to the computer and putting the learner into a passive position.
Higgins (1995: 80) argues that all the teachers should be ‘computer-literate’ and should also know how to design programs, because of the fact that classroom experience guides to design educational programs. A similar idea expressed by Ahmad and others (1985: 9) in Computers, Language Learning and Language Teaching as follows: ‘…there is also the whole question of learning to use a new technology, and one which may not be easily accessible, particularly for teachers in the humanities… the teacher must come to grips with the computer, and must understand the ways in which it can relate to language teaching, and to a particular class’. I totally agree with the author, the language teachers do not have to know writing computer programs in order to use Computer-Assisted Language Learning, but they should know how to use computers and integrate these programs into language classes. However, all the language teachers do not have to use Computer-
Assisted Language Learning; even so they have to know how to use computers. In fact, it is not a difficult task to enter the data into the computer, and conduct it to present the material to the students, keep record of their answers, process them and finally provide feedback to the students. The teacher should only decide what to do; the computer can execute his orders. Today, a great deal of educational programs is available, the teacher’s due is to choose the appropriate one which caters for the objectives of the language class as a result the needs of the students, thus the evaluation of the program is significant. Most of the software writers do not have any teaching experience, so they need the guidance of the teachers. It is very useful for teachers to learn how to write software; generally it is more difficult to adopt ready- made materials than creating authentic materials. In her article Saracho (1987: 65) states that:
An evaluation can become a source of information to develop an appropriate approach to use the instructional materials in teaching a specific content. Educational products are often constructed based on a theory without an awareness of practical problems. To utilize blindly an educational product hoping that it will serve some educational purpose is a waste of both the teachers’ time and effort.
If the teacher is going to use a ready- made program, he should evaluate the material well; the objectives of the class, the present level and characteristics of the learners should be taken into consideration. The following questions can be used in evaluating language teaching programs as suggested by Chomsky (1984: 61- 62):
- Is the program interesting to you?
- Does the thinking the program requires seem worthwhile? - Is the emphasis on thinking rather than on repetitive practice? - Does the program involve two or more students at a time?
- Does the program introduce activity or thought that is different from that provided by books or pencil and paper?
- Does the program allow users to customize material?
- Can the program be used many times by a student and remain interesting and worthwhile?
- Does the program allow time for reflection?
The teacher should utilize the material to cater for the needs of the learners. Newman (1983: 56) declares that ‘a teacher must build bridges between the tool, the school task, the thinking skills, and their functional significance for the culture beyond the classroom’. Therefore, the role of the teacher is of significance.
Unlike many teachers believe, the computer can never replace a teacher’s position in his job. Instead, it is a great assistant for the teacher. Moreover, as Bedford (1991: 164) states it should not be used as the only source or teaching aid:
In the language learning domain, if and when we decide to use the computer as part of language learning activity we need to be very aware that the computer is only a tool and, indeed, is likely to be only one of many tools.
The teacher should use computer technology as a supplement; Computer- Assisted Language Learning can not be used on its own. The teacher should integrate computer technology with other methods and avoid using it alone.
2.11. Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Use of CALL
As everything changes in our life, change is inevitable in education. Some teachers try to keep up with these changes whereas some neglects the existence of them. Bedford (1991: 166) maintains that ‘Education… is undergoing so much change that teachers have difficulty in keeping pace with developments’. The number of the teachers that have realized the contributions of computers is increasing day-by day. Press (1987: 121) asserts that: ‘Change creates crisis. With a few exceptions, it is only in the last few years that teachers of foreign languages have grown aware of the potential advantages to them of the computer technology’. Some teachers welcomed the computers soon after they were introduced into education, some hesitated to use them and decided to ‘wait and see’ and some totally neglected them. Johnson (1991: 62) states that some teachers reject using computers accusing
them of isolating students, being lack of ‘communicative interaction’ whereas some argues that they create an interactive environment for the students.
Some teachers are scared of writing computer programs; therefore they do not even try to learn it. As Ahmad and others (1985: 96- 97) note that:
Many teachers are daunted by the prospect of writing computer programs for CALL. While programming languages are much simpler than natural languages, they require us to think in a somewhat different way, and so take some time to learn. For this reason, some teachers never give CALL a serious trial.
As mentioned before, the teachers do not have to write the computer program, he or she can use author language as an alternative.
The computer is a new means of education which draws the attention of not only researchers, but also teachers. The teachers start to realize the importance of Computer-Assisted Language Learning recently. The computer is a promising machine for language teachers in that they can be used to accomplish various educational goals. The technology has been developing constantly, so the language teachers should keep pace with developing technology and integrate computer technology into language classes.
2.12. Students’ Attitudes towards the Use of CALL
Many researches have been conducted about computers and the attitudes of students towards computers since the computer was introduced into education. In general, some of these studies have reported positive results that the students were happy during the CALL classes, but a few of them have reported negative results towards Computer-Assisted Language Learning. Chapelle and Jamieson (1989: 53) state that ‘To adequately assess attitude toward CALL, both lesson and learner variables must be examined. If students believe lessons are appropriate and useful, they are likely to have a good attitude toward them’. The attitudes of the learners
towards the use of computer technology in language teaching vary according to the tasks chosen, the achievement of application process and so forth. Merrill and others (1986: 15) claim that:
Any computer application will have some influence on student attitudes. If the program is designed to adapt to individual needs, then the student will experience success and have a positive emotional reaction. If the program is too easy or too difficult, the student will become bored or frustrated, which leads to negative attitudes. If appropriate gaming elements are incorporated in the application, then students will be motivated to continue to interact with the program. When students have a choice, they will engage in those learning activities which are enjoyable and relevant to their interests.
The effect of computer use on the attitudes of the students depends on whether the program is adjusted to fulfil the needs of the each student, or whether the program is too difficult, too easy, or too boring and so on. All these factors affect the attitudes of the students towards Computer-Assisted Language Learning.
Ahmad and others (1985: 120) report from McEwen (1977) and Taylor (1979) that ‘Typical surveys reveal positive student reactions for motivation and continued enrolment, the quantity of learning, the pace of learning, and the type of language skills learnt’. According to Ahmad and others, some of these positive reactions result from ‘the novelty factor’, when the novelty of the medium disappears the students’ attitudes change in a negative way. But, the students usually have positive attitudes towards Computer-Assisted Language Learning.
Besides, Ahmad and others (1985: 121) claim that the students have positive attitudes towards Computer-Assisted Language Learning when the student has previous experience about how to use it. Similarly, Dunkel (1991: 12) asserts that if the students do not have previous experience with computers, they show ‘unrealistic expectations’, namely, since the students do not know the capacity of the computers, they grow expectations which the computer can not execute and when they first use it they get disappointed, or they have difficulty in using it. Thus, the learners’ level
