Reinders, H. 2007 ‘Big brother is helping you. Supporting self-access language learning with a student monitoring system.’ System 35,1: 93-111. You can read the article here.
Or this one:
Reinders, H. 2006 ‘Supporting self-directed learning through an electronic learning environment’. In: Lamb, T. & Reinders, H. Supporting independent learning: issues and interventions (pp. 219-238). Frankfurt: Peter Lang. You can read the article here or listen to it here.
If you are specifically interested in the role of technology in self-access, you may find this useful:
Lázaro, N. & Reinders, H. 2006, ‘Technology in self-access: an evaluative framework’. PacCALL Journal 1(2), 21-30. This article can be read online here.
Materials development is covered here:
Reinders, H. & C. White 2010 ‘The theory and practice of technology in materials development and task design’. In: Harwood, N. Materials in ELT: Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
New book series: New Language Learning and Teaching Environments
I am very excited to announce a new book series for Palgrave Macmillan on ‘New Language Learning and Teaching Environments’, dedicated to recent developments in learner-centred approaches and the impact of technology on learning and teaching inside and outside the language classroom. I am now inviting submissions for full-length manuscripts and edited books.
New Language Language Learning and Teaching Environments offers a multidisciplinary forum for presenting and investigating the latest developments in language education, taking a pedagogic approach with a clear focus on the learner, and with clear implications for both researchers and language practitioners.
Aims and scope:
• To publish cutting-edge research into current developments and innovation in language learning and teaching practice.
• To publish applied accounts of the ways in which these developments impact on current and future language education.
• To encourage dissemination and cross-fertilisation of policies and practice relating to learner-centred pedagogies for language learning and teaching in new learning environments.
• To disseminate research and best practice in out-of-class and informal language learning.
Work on New Language Environments encompasses research (both theoretical and applied) and development in areas as diverse as (and not limited to):
Virtual learning environments
Learner Autonomy
Self-access centres
Blended learning
Distance learning
Self-directed learning
Content and Language Integrated Learning
Work-based learning
Community initiatives
Self-study
Mobile learning
New Literacies
Situated learning
Language Support
Language Advising and Counselling
You can download more information about the series and submission guidelines here. I encourage you to consider submitting a proposal. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Call for papers: Computer Games in Language Learning and Teaching
I am also asking for contributions to an edited book on Computer Games in Language Learning and Teaching.
Recent years have seen a growing interest in the pedagogical benefits of computer games. Gee (2003), for example, identified 36 learning principles in the games he investigated. It is clear that computer games have the potential to engage learners and to encourage interaction in the target language. Immersive environments offer learners opportunities for situated learning and the adaptive qualities of most games ensure that learners are motivated to persist in their learning, thus increasing the chance of further exposure to target language input, and opportunities for output. The use of computer games in language education is based on the premise that successful learning is integrated into the sociocultural context of learners’ lives and encourages collaboration and lifelong learning (Lamb & Reinders, 2005). The use of new technologies, and in particular computer games, thus facilitates the bridging of learning within and outside the language classroom.
The potential of computer games, however, has not been investigated much from a second language learning and teaching perspective. Do games really motivate learners? Do they actually encourage more use of the target language? Do they offer opportunities for negotiation of meaning, or focus on form? Do they result in greater uptake and acquisition? Although some recent studies have started to address these questions (for example deHaan, Reed and Kuwada 2010, Piirainen-Marsh 2009, and Zheng, Young, Brewer and Wagner 2009), there is currently no dedicated collection of papers to bring together the state-of-the-art in research into game-based learning.
Similarly, for language educators it is not easy to identify the best way to include game-based learning into the curriculum (either as part of classroom or online instruction, or as a self-study complement to such instruction). There has not been much exchange of best practice in this area. Through the presentation of action research and case studies, it is hoped this volume will better inform language teaching practice about the potential role of computer games.
You can download more information about the book and how to submit a proposal here.
Special Issue of Language Learning & Technology - Learner Autonomy and New Learning Environments
Cynthia White and are currently working on a guest-edited special issue of Language Learning & Technology which will focus on the relationship between technology and learner autonomy. We had nearly 50 submissions, so this is promising to be a very exciting issue indeed.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
• Metacognitive demands of new learning environments
• New ways of using technology to foster autonomy
• Technology and social aspects of autonomy, e.g., social networking
• Effects and outcomes of technology use in relation to learner autonomy
• Sociocultural inquiry into autonomy-related aspects of learning through technology
• Technology and the measurement of autonomy
The special issue will come out October 3, 2011.
AILA Research Network ‘CALL and the Learner
Glenn Stockwell coordinate the AILA Research Network for Computer-Assisted Language Learning and the Learner, a special interest group dedicated investigating the theory and practice of learning with technology as it relates to the individual and the social context in which learning takes place. The purpose of this Network is to bring together researchers and interested practitioners to discuss ways in which the use of technology can be made more supportive of the learning process, both inside and outside the classroom. The Network organises events (conferences, roundtables, seminars), publishes research (special issues of journals, proceedings), and facilitates communication between people working in this field. We would love you to come and join us! You can visit the website here.
Computer games and L2 interaction and acquisition
One of my PhD students (Sorada Wattana) and I are looking into the effects of game play on students’ Willingness to Communicate (WTC) and their actual in-game interaction. We are also looking at the effects of different types of instructions (in the form of in-game quests) on the quantity and quality of target language use. Preliminary results have been presented at the 2010 Wireless Ready conference in Nagoya and will be posted here in due course.
New Journal - Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching
If you want to publish your work in CALL, consider Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, a peer-reviewed journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal includes a strong focus on new applications of technology in language learning and teaching. For more information see the SLA pages.
New CALL journal:
Professor Bin Zou will be editing a new journal called the International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language (IJCALLT). I will post more information about the journal here in the near future but for now you can read about it here.
