CALL and the Learner
An AILA Research Network
You have found the AILA Research Network for CALL and the Language Learner. On this website you can read about our activities, conferences, and publications and contribute to research. Join us as as free member to be able to submit papers and contribute to our AILA symposium in Beijing.
Dear colleagues
The JALT CALL Journal is one of the leading peer-reviewed international CALL journals and is published three times per year. Following on from its very successful conference last week, which saw 126 presentations from nine countries, it is now publishing a special issue on the topic of ‘CALL and the Learner’.
We are inviting contributions in one of the following areas:
- Learner motivation
- Computer-mediated communication (with a focus on the role of the learner)
- Learners’ beliefs in CALL
- (Materials development for) individualising instruction
- Social networking and computer games and second language acquisition
- Mobile-assisted language learning
- Supporting out-of-class language learning
- Teacher education for CALL
Submitted papers will need to make a link with the theme of the special issue which ties in with that of the AILA Research Network for CALL and the Learner, which was recently launched. More information about the network and its background can be found here: www.callandthelearner.info Prospective authors are encouraged to read the information about the aims and scope of the network in order to ensure their contributions fit with this theme.
Papers are due by September 30.
More information about the journal and guidelines for the submission of papers can be found here:
http://www.jaltcall.org/journal/
For questions about submitting papers or the publication process, please contact the guest editor, Hayo Reinders at ‘jaltcall at innovationinteaching dot org’.
We look forward to your paper submissions!
Kind regards
Hayo Reinders
Please post your comments, suggestions and feedback on the Wall below. Or just drop us a note to say you visited!
Background of the ReN
Through the emergence of communication technologies, the past few years have produced a new body of research where the learner is given a more central role in a range of different ways, including having the learner express their opinions through blogging (e.g., Pinkman, 2005) or computer-mediated communication such as chat (e.g., Darhower, 2007), tailoring software that adapts to learners’ needs (e.g., Huang & Liou 2007), training learners to use existing software more effectively to facilitate the social-affective aspect of learning (e.g., Hubbard, 2004), or the development of learner autonomy (e.g. Reinders, 2007; White, 2007). Social networking sites such as Active Worlds and Second Life have also empowered learners to make decisions about who they wish to converse with, by what mode (i.e., text chat or oral communication), and freely engage in discussion with a real audience who shares similar interests (e.g., Dudeney, 2008). This is a growth area, where researchers examine the way technology facilitates interaction between teachers and learners, between native speakers and learners, and between learners themselves and the unique characteristics of this type of communication.
Convenors Hayo Reinders and Glenn Stockwell have combined to create an AILA Research Network which aims to bring together people working in the different areas related to the role of the language learner in CALL. Committee members are established researchers in the field of CALL, and
include Jozef Colpaert (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
Phil Hubbard (Stanford University, USA)
Hsien-Chin Liou (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan)
Kazunori Nozawa (Ritsumeikan University, Japan)
and Cynthia White (Massey University, New Zealand).