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).
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