In defence of drill and practice in CALL: A reevaluation of fundamental strategies

Decoo, Wilfried

doi:10.1016/0360-1315(94)90043-4

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The often cited 'limitations' of traditional programs do not automatically mean lower didactic value, nor technical poverty. A 'conventional' vocabulary program, meant to 'drill and practice' effectively a fixed 322 Computer Assisted Language Learning amount of specific vocabulary, can be just as valuable, if not much more so, as a hypertext browser meant to train inferencing techniques (Decoo, 1994). All depends on the objectives of the learning process in view of the initial situation and the needs of the learner.…”

Section: The Place Of Vocabulary Programs Within the Spectrum Of Leximentioning

confidence: 99%

THE STANDARD VOCABULARY PROGRAMS OF DIDASCALIA: IN SEARCH OF EXTERNAL VERSATILITY AND DIDACTIC OPTIMISATION

Decoo

Heughebaert

Schonenberg

et al. 1996

Computer Assisted Language Learning

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The lexical CALL programs of Didascalia comprise a major part of our R&D over the past ten years. After a critical look at the subdivision in qualitative generations of software, the prin-ciple of external versatility is explained as the internal adaptability of a program to external criteria. This adaptability is achieved through a selection system of contents and strategies within a multiple environment model. Other didactic aspects are finally discussed, such as the creation of tailor-made menus, the systematisation of lexical progression, the use of translation, and the embedding of words into semantic reply-forms with a high learning impact, as a middle course between an atomised approach and a whole-language approach.

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Section: The Place Of Vocabulary Programs Within the Spectrum Of Leximentioning

confidence: 99%

THE STANDARD VOCABULARY PROGRAMS OF DIDASCALIA: IN SEARCH OF EXTERNAL VERSATILITY AND DIDACTIC OPTIMISATION

Decoo

Heughebaert

Schonenberg

et al. 1996

Computer Assisted Language Learning

Self Cite

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“…For example, in a checklist for evaluating courseware for young children, Shade (1996: 19) included 'skill drilling' as a negative characteristic; however, many language teachers find drills useful for some purposes (e.g. see Decoo, 1994). There are also cases when a particular theory is advanced explicitly, as in Criswell and Swezey's (1984) checklist, which had the goal of determining "if the courseware reflects incorporation of behavioral science learning principles" (p. 45); courseware that does not incorporate such principles will be rated poorly.…”

Section: Objections To Checklistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A defense of checklists for courseware evaluation

Susser

2001

ReCALL

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This paper examines the role of checklists as a device for evaluating CALL courseware. After defining checklists, it examines the reasons why courseware is difficult to evaluate compared to other educational materials. It then covers in detail the main objections to the use of checklists for courseware evaluation; articles in the CAL literature from the 1980s through the 1990s have complained that checklists are inaccurate, cannot deal with educational issues, lack objectivity and reliability, are biased, etc. The present paper then examines these claims one by one, finding either that the criticism is unjustified or that it applies equally to any form of courseware evaluation. The paper concludes with speculations, drawn from postmodern literary theory, as to why the checklist has been the target of so many unsubstantial attacks.

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“…The Spanish Verb program is not 'intelligent' CALL, in the sense of being able to learn from interactions and update its own knowledge. This level of sophistication is still a long way from producing anything meaningful to the language teacher (Decoo 1993). Syntactical parsers used in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Translation (MT) are not reliable enough to be applied indiscriminately to any text.…”

Section: Intelligent Call and Expert Callmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expert CALL: data-based versus knowledge-based interaction and feedback

Soria

1997

ReCALL

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This article attempts to define Expert CALL, siting in between traditional data-based CALL and intelligent CALL (ICALL). It relies on the concapts of expert knowledge and expert interaction and feedback. These are explored in the context of inflexional morphology, using as reference the auther's own ‘The Spanish Verb’ program. An electic computational algorithm, rather than a fully-fledged linguistic for malism suffices to deliver a stable and reliable lingustic knowledge basa on which to base Expert CALL applications. A similar ‘intermediate technology’ approach to syntax may bypass current difficulties encountered by ICALL to deliver linguistic reliabity.

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In defence of drill and practice in CALL: A reevaluation of fundamental strategies

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

THE STANDARD VOCABULARY PROGRAMS OF DIDASCALIA: IN SEARCH OF EXTERNAL VERSATILITY AND DIDACTIC OPTIMISATION

THE STANDARD VOCABULARY PROGRAMS OF DIDASCALIA: IN SEARCH OF EXTERNAL VERSATILITY AND DIDACTIC OPTIMISATION

A defense of checklists for courseware evaluation

Expert CALL: data-based versus knowledge-based interaction and feedback

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