O n f e r e n c e

Short paper 
 
Introduction
The centre for Information Technology Development, Vietnam National University (CITD) 
is one of few universities that initiated CALL by designing a CD and Forum aimed at 
English instruction. In addition, CITD did dedicate a computer Lab for use in practicing 
English using the CALL CDs. Besides, several class meetings before the course were 
reserved to support to reply questions that students could ask about common techniques 
to master English on a self-study basis. The effort was to support students in a distance 
learning (CALL) system with the hope that computer-assisted technology will have 
benefits to English teaching and learning. Despite the efforts made by the administration 
at CITD, teachers and students rarely utilized the computer-based facilities that were 
provided. They simply used class meetings in the traditional sense and made little 
attempt to use the CDs attached to the course book or the Forum. Consequently, the 
investment of time and energy on the part of the administration of CITD appears to have 
been wasted. This indicates a need to conduct research to identify the actual causes for 
the lack of effectiveness of CALL here. Carrying out such research, in its turn, faces 
difficulties. These constraints relate to the methodological problems encountered when 
designing, conducting and reporting the research which involve historical research in 
support of CALL, teachers’ cognition of their role in assisting CALL and administrator’s 
understanding and support to CALL. 
Research methods
The study were based on: (1) liter
ature review, (2) a survey on the teachers’ 
understanding of CALL and their experience in using computer-assisted facilities in their 
English teaching at CITD; and (1) an interview with the school administrators about CALL 
at CITD.