O n f e r e n c e

 
Theoretical frameworks 
We envisioned that the aforementioned learning activity would benefit learners according 
to 
a number of theoretical perspectives. It elicits ‘imitation’ (Tomasello, 2002), a 
fundamental process in learning from the perspective of Vykotskyan sociocultural theory. 
It also provides production practice, hypothesized to offer a number of benefits that input 
alone does not provide. Particularly, it helps internalize and deepen learners’ linguistic 
knowledge (Swain, 1995), thereby transforming declarative knowledge into procedural 
(De Bot, 1996). This task condition should also present sufficient opportunity for 
beneficial focus on form, meeting the criterion for CALL appropriateness in language 
learning potential (Chapelle, 2001). As learners create their own dialogues, convert 
dialogues into comics, record voices for the characters, and view and hear p
eers’ comics 
in order to vote for best works, they receive the input iteratively.
Although we expected that the learning potential provided by this CALL task would be 
broad, we also took individual differences and learning styles (Cohen, Oxford, & Chi, 
2002) into account. It is possible that kinesthetic/tactile learners and learners with lower 
language aptitude and proficiency improve more from this learning activity than when it 
is lacking. 
CHALLENGES 
The effect expected on learning has to come from a well-designed learning environment 
(Colpaert, forthcoming). Accordingly, we made modifications to improve the research 
design before and during the implementation of the CALL task based on reflection and 
observation. 
Design modification to improve learner fit and practicality 
We decided to use comic strips as input, eliminating soap opera clips, so that there is a 
direct match between the input that learners receive and the output they produce and 
learners have sample comics from which they can model for their owns. We modified the 
plots of soap operas and created new ones to fit the comic environment. We authored 
comics from scratch and recorded voices for the characters. In doing so, we gained 
numerous benefits. First, since we had full control over the topics of the stories, we 
created plots in line with college students’ lives. Second, the newly created storylines 
were streamlined and focused, redundancies typical in the storylines of soap operas were 
eliminated. Third, because we gained a lot of experience with the tool, we were better 
able to anticipate learning or technical issues learners might encounter, improving the 
practicality of this CALL task (Chapelle, 2001).