Reflection 2: Evolution of CALL, Search Engine and Online Database
Hello again!
In this week entry, I will share with you
about my reflection from this week’s lesson on the topics: Evolution of CALL as
well as Search Engine and Online Database.
Evolution of CALL
I've learnt that just as much as human was
said to be evolved in the theory of Darwin, CALL has undergone its evolution
throughout the years; starting from Behaviouristic CALL (BC) to Communicative
CALL (CC) and finally to Integrated CALL (IC) that we have today.
1. Behaviouristic CALL
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| Stanford Project (1960) |
BC is based on Operant Conditioning theory
by B.F Skinner whereby it talks about how learners’ behaviors are shaped from
the application of positive or negative reinforcement. Basically, what I
understand about this theory is, so long as you get a reward, you’ll have the
motivation to do more.
Because it was the beginning of CALL, BC only aims to
transfer textbooks and worksheets onto computer based application for audio
lingual teaching. At the time, instead of having the teachers to repeat parts
of the lesson again and again (like the pronunciation of certain words), BC
allows audio-lingual repetitive drilling and practice to the students without
straining the teachers’ tasks.
The Stanford Project (1960) is the perfect
example to show the implementation of BC back in the early years. In this
project, a teletype was used to coordinate with tape recorder. The students
would first listen to the recorder and type in their answers using the teletype
or typewriter. After they have finished answering, they could check their
answers by comparing their work with the provided answer sheets. These elements
of personalized drilling provide the students with opportunities to work at
their own pace outside of the classroom, thus enable them to be responsible of
their own progress and improvements throughout the course of their subject.
Although
BC started the evolution CALL, it received several criticisms as the theory
used in this stage is directly related to the training of animal. Instead of
continuing this element in BC, CALL activities then progress towards intrinsic
motivation and foster interactivity to enhance students’ critical thinking.
2. Communicative CALL (CC)
This program teaches grammar to the students implicitly, creating an environment where the usage of language becomes natural and authentic while at same time allowing them to generate their own original utterances rather than a ‘forced’ accent. In CC, the computer plays several roles in students’ education: as a tutor, stimulus and tool. Role of CC focuses more on stimulus, communication and non-drill format skill practice. Students are trained to enhance their critical thinking in ESL; they have more control, choices and interaction in answering and responding to the questions. In games such as Pronunciation Coach and Rosetta Stone, not only does the computer gives guidance, it also does not judge students if they got their answers wrong, instead, it encourage them to try again and again until they got it right.
These practices in CC is made possible through usage of computer as a tool – without generic software, it wouldn’t be possible for us all to have applications such as Word Processor or Excel Spreadsheet, just imagining the difficulties of doing them manually makes me shudder (literally!)
3. Integrated CALL (IC)
Integrated Call (IC) is the integration of
real world materials into CALL. IC became popular with the development of high
speed internet and widely accessible hypermedia. When we were in CC stage, CALL
is only made available to be used through usage of CD-ROM, but in IC, it is
made available anywhere, anytime – so long as you have internet access.
In IC,
I’ve learnt to understand that ‘hypermedia’ is simply interconnected doors that
direct you from one information to another in the web. You see, our advances in
internet progressed towards Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) and enable us
to have an authentic two way communication – in education case, between
students and learners, to help our students to improve their learning. For
instance, blogs or websites could be used to search and provide school
materials and worksheets to the students, and students in turn could write
their review or reflection in their own blogs. Through IC, learners now are not
only merely recipients of information, but they are also the communicators and
creators of part of the information that we have in our web. However, as English
teachers, it is always good to filter the materials used because as it is; some
of the materials on the net may not have full credential or certification and
they may not even be produced for ESL purpose; making it harder to be adapted
in language learning. As much as IC helps us to have more information, the
information that we have are prone to human mistakes.
Search Engine and Online Database
Now, as mentioned before, IC is very much interrelated to internet.
With internet, information could easily be accessed through the usage of search
engine like google, yahoo and Bing. From what I understand, Search Engine is
like the beginning of endless doors of information. There are four parts of
search engine: database to store reference to webpages, web-crawlers to find
and compile indexes of Web Pages, user interface (the first page you
encountered when you are on google for example) and Information Retrieval
System (one that make sure that the results you find on the web is ranked
according to its relevance to the information you require).
I’ve also learnt that there are specialized search engines for
specific purpose. Specialized Search Engine such as google scholar, education
world, art cyclopedia and pipl.com is a type of search engines tailored to
search for a specific area of knowledge. This is because, the database in this
search engine only stores webpage relevant to specific field. For instance,
google scholar specifies on webpage related to academic writings and pipl.com is
the type of search engine that specifies on finding people.
However, if I want to get more search results on the web, I’ve
learnt that I could use Meta Search Engine instead. Meta Search Engine such as
MetaCrawler, SavvySearch and Dogpile is a search engine that matches the user’s
query to multiple search engines. For instance, when you type the keyword
‘bottle’ in Meta Search Engine, the crawler would collect the information from
each different search engine ( google, yahoo, Mozilla, bing for instance) before
presenting the search results to the users.
Surface Web, Deep Web, Dark Web
There are three types of web: surface web, deep web and dark web.
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| 3 stages of web |
I’ve learnt that the information that we usually find through
google, Bing and Wikipedia are the surface web information. While the information
that requires me to have a specific username, password and registration are the
kind of information classified in the deep web. Dark web on the other hand is
accessible only through certain browsers such as Tor, to ensure anonymity. The
element of anonymity is important in the dark web to avoid getting caught by
the authority; more than often, due to exchanges of illegal information among
the users.
As much as I have learnt in this week lesson, I wish we could
touch more on the dark web. I think it’s because that part of web remains a
mystery to us normal peasant of surface and deep web and it’s that part of
mystery that tingles my personal curiosity to learn more about it. But like
they say; curiosity might kill the cat. I guess, I kinda understand why we didn’t
learn more about it. But, there’s no harm in wishful thinking isn’t it?
I guess this is a goodbye for now. See you in next post!
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