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The Firewall in the Mind (Slide 47)
In conclusion: no CALL either?

The second point, after no CALL curriculum, might as well cut to the chase, there is no CALL. Computer assisted language learning, what's that? How about library assisted language learning, or chalkboard assisted language learning.

What we call CALL is merely a label for the emergence of a tool. When the tool was a novelty and little understood, then it was of interest to refer to CALL. But we are approaching the day when CALL will be seen as a meaningless term. Computers are useful in helping us to accomplish what we have always wanted to do, and they are most useful when they are part of the woodwork.

Some examples? Well, the whole Y2K scare was about all the little microprocessors you never realized were there, the ones that controlled your elevators, and managed all the surgeries, and timed your pizza, and you name it. So it is not too far in the future that you won't be paying too much attention to the presence of computers in your school (unless they go down, as we notice our electricity grid when it fails). That's the ideal in my mind, seamless integration of the technology into the workplace. We teach as we always did, but we snap our fingers, and examples of target linguistic features are called forth, our students are talking to target language speakers in other countries, and we can consult our database to locate the video to perfectly accompany the lesson of the day.


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Last updated: May 24, 2001 in Hot Metal Pro 6.0