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.
About the Virtual Round Table conference
The Virtual Round Table conference is a live online conference dedicated to language learning with technology. It is aimed at educators and language teaching professionals in language schools, institutes or other language related organisations.
It purposes to introduce to its participants a number of tools and best practise on how to use these tools in class for the benefit of our language learners.
With so many tools around, often the very decision on ‘how to use which tool’ for creating blended learning experiences or for selecting digital teaching and learning material and also for building a web-presence and using tools for online marketing are difficult and time consuming and pales the efforts of learning those tools into insignificance.
During this conference these issues will openly be discussed by small groups of experts in certain fields of technology so that the participants will be equipped with solid information so as to be able to make informed decisions.
Additionally we purpose to hold a number of workshops as we hope that this conference will hold a practical value for everyone attending it and for this watching the recordings long after it.
Presenters are encouraged to keep their presentations concise (pecha kucha style) so as to allow two or three different presentations during each session allowing all to engage in a virtual round table discussion.
We welcome product presentations if these products and services are web-based, electronic, software, digital or other technology driven. May we ask you to tag your presentation clearly as a product presentation?
The conference is free of charge for all participants. If you wish to support this conference as a sponsor, we ask you kindly to contact the conference organiser
For further information, please visit the website
http://virtual-round-table.ning.com/page/conference-1
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).