PROMPT 7

The results of the Grgurovic and Hegelheimer study in cases of listening comprehension breakdowns revealed that participants used subtitles more frequently and for longer periods of time than a transcript. The four patterns of participant interaction with help options were; subtitles, transcript, non-interaction, and mixed interaction. Subtitles were the preferred help option before and after the activity. The higher proficiency group used subtitles more frequently and for longer periods of time than the lower proficiency group. Additionally, participants spent less time interacting with help options than was anticipated. The subtitles and transcript groups performed similarly on comprehension during and after the activity, while the non-interaction group varied the most in behavior and performance from all other groups. Implications for instruction are: making subtitles the help option in multimedia listening materials, offering a choice, and giving users more control over the choice of help. Grgurovic and Hegelheimer also suggested ways of encouraging the use of help with CALL materials such as: implementing software demos and tutorials to promote use of help, create CALL tasks that would require the use of help. Additionally, the teacher could train the students to use help options to the students’ advantage.

The most important factor for implementing CALL practice in my classroom would be to identify the language learning objectives. Levy states that successful use of CALL depends on teachers having a clear idea of what they want to achieve in the classroom. Therefore, the most important factor would be to identify the language learning objectives. Next, I would consider the choice of technology appropriate for achieving the language learning objective as well as the way in which it would be utilized.