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.
Building on the success of the three previous events, 4th International Wireless Ready Symposium focuses on the broader context of digital technologies in Asia. Entitled Digital Asia: Language, Technology & Community the event address a number of debates about the use of digital learning technologies in Web-based educational communities.
The conference is ideally located in downtown Nagoya, Japan, close to the central business district and only a five-minute walk from the shopping area. The NUCB Graduate School campus is located in Fushimi, only one stop on the subway (Higashiyama Line) from Nagoya Central Station. Accommodation is easy to find at a range of hotels in the vicinity. The campus is surrounded by numerous restaurants to fit evry occasion.
Keynote presentations, conference papers and posters will consider the use of learning technologies in community building, both in relation to students, inside and outside of formal learning environments, as well as for professional development purposes. Presenters from a range of interdisciplinary research areas in the humanities and sciences are invited to attend, including computer assisted language learning. Human Computer interaction, educational technology, and sociology, to name but a few.
Anyone with an interest in the impact of digital technologies on teaching and learning environments will find much to interest them.
Michael Thomas Ph. D.
Conference Chair
Nagoya University of Commerce & Business- Japan
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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).