O n f e r e n c e

Obstacles in CALL 
Percentage Rank 
 
No computers at home 
6.3% 
7 
High price of CDs (available in the market) 
13.9% 
4 
High price of Internet service 
12% 
5 
Lack of computing service 
8.2% 
6 
Be afraid of learning English on computer 
14.6% 
3 
Time constraint 
18.4% 
2 
Technical problems of the CD attached to the 
course book and lack of instruction 
26.6% 
1 
Table 2: 
Findings in terms of students’ obstacles in CALL
The similarities in students’ and teachers’ survey responses confirmed the factors 
contributing to the use, or lack thereof, of CALL at CITD. Distance learning was hindered 
by distance learning facilities a
nd the teacher’s role to the use of computers in English 
learning at the centre. The findings also raise awareness about the strong contribution of 
teacher and student training to CALL implementation. It is to say, if their learning 
conditions are improved, for both student and teacher, their CALL will probably be 
practical. The issues concerning the impact of teacher training, facility improvement and 
management on the English program are beyond the teaching staff’s ability to solve. It 
requires the role of administration. 
Interview with school administrators
An interview with the two school administrators who were in charge of teacher 
development and teaching and learning facilities for English program implementation was 
conducted with the aim of underst
anding of the administrators’ idea on CALL at the 
school. The interview contents were mainly on the school managers’ evaluation on CALL 
at school and whether any further support they think it would be.
First, in terms of the evaluation of CALL at the university, the managers considered it 
quite good currently, as they said:
I think students and teachers are happy with the facilities provided (e.g. the CDs) 
because they have not had such support before, you know. The school invested 
money in designing the CDs of English for IT to provide students and teachers. The 
CDs were made up with the supports of expert teachers in the field. Furthermore, 
each classroom has been equipped with a computer to serve teaching and learning. 
We think the investment is highly evaluated by the teachers.
Accordingly, the administrators showed their reluctance in terms of holding workshops in 
CALL for teachers and students. Some reasons for this were revealed in their responses. 
In fact, we are not sure if workshops are necessary. The teachers would own better 
knowledge of English language than us (or someone else) and in CALL. They then would 
instruct the students to learn in the best way. In terms of the technical issues of the CDs, 
we think the teachers find it fine to 
use, there are just some buttons such as ‘start’, 
‘forward’ and ‘backward’ to press for the contents.
In addition, the manager indicated little concern about research which should be 
undertaken to investigate in the real world of CALL implementation. The fact that they 
neither agreed nor disagree with the idea revealed their uncertainty of the necessity of 
research in the field.
 
The interview data showed that the administrators believed that the support at school 
was enough for CALL. In fact, there are a lot more that need to be done. It was obvious 
that their comments were influenced by their intuitive perception of CALL and of how 

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2014 CALL Conference 
LINGUAPOLIS
www.antwerpcall.be 
CALL could be done. It was an intuitive understanding because they did not do any 
investigation into it. For example, they did not experience CALL in the context such as 
classroom observation or discussion with the teachers to see how CALL actually 
happened in classrooms or what were really needed for CALL as the study showed out.
In sum, there was an oversimplification i
n the school managers’ conceptions of CALL 
which could be interpreted as simply as teaching English with the computers and the CDs 
provided.