Intelligent language tutoring systems (ILTS) typically analyze learner input to diagnose learner language properties and provide individualized feedback. Despite a long history of ILTS research, such systems are virtually absent from real-life foreign language teaching (FLT). Taking a step toward more closely linking ILTS research to real-life…

In this article we examine how instructors make decisions about task design in telecollaboration and the factors that influence these decisions during the actual implementation of the tasks. We begin with a review of the recent literature of online intercultural exchanges to identify and describe a typology of 12 different types of tasks and task…

Formulaic speech has been notoriously difficult to define and identify despite its crucial importance to native-like fluency and idiomaticity. In this article, I introduce a way of identifying phraseological units in a running text. I am interested in recurrent fragments like "charged with crimes against humanity" in texts which involve multiple…

In recent years, it has become an issue of growing concern that, despite undiminished enthusiasm in the research community, the application of corpus tools and resources in the classroom remains limited. In this paper, I will argue that focusing on the role of the teacher in the process of using corpora in the classroom is an essential step…

It is argued in this article that user actions need to be monitored to understand what has happened during the learning process. Monitoring on its own is not enough; user actions also need to be controlled to some degree so that users can receive the guidance they need to help them to the successful completion of the learning tasks in CALL…

Reveals how English test item analysis is carried out with the help of a computer-programmed approach, what significance this has, and how beneficial it could be to teachers of English all over the world. (Author/VWL)

Reports on GLOSSER, an intelligent assistant for Dutch students learning to read French, and discusses the position of natural-language processing within computer-assisted instruction, using GLOSSER as an example. (Author/VWL)

Describes a computer program designed to provide language learners with the relevant knowledge to recognize or produce linguistic forms appropriate to a given setting, and to choose one form among a set of similar alternatives. Shows how the influence of pragmatic factors are explored by contrasting learner usage with a computer-based model.…

This article is divided into two parts. The first discusses theoretical issues related to the software program introduced, and the second deals with practical issues, including technical and pedagogical considerations in implementing the program. (Author/VWL)

Describes a new component called "Writing Error Analysis Model" (WEAM) in the CoCoA system for teaching writing composition in Japanese as a foreign language. The Weam can be used for analyzing learners' morphological errors and selecting appropriate compositions for learners' revising exercises. (Author/VWL)

Looks at an innovative organizational tool for syllabus design of English-as-a-Foreign-Language, computer-assisted language learning writing classes that is borrowed from the interdisciplinary field of information architecture. The tool around which this syllabus design is structured is the Location-Alphabet-Time-Category-Hierarchy (LATCH), to…

Describes the design and implementation of a computer-based listening test--the "Text dictation." The article first discusses the importance of listening centering on a coherent text, rather than short listening fragments, and discusses drawbacks of listening programs wherein the required responses consist of noninteractive test types, such as…

Discusses the assessment of learner strategies in the computer assisted language learning context, and the pros and cons. Reviews empirical studies that have used the computer to record the interactive process where second language learners demonstrate different on-line language learning behavior, operationalized as types of learner strategies.…

Introduces a computer-assisted language-learning system called L2tutor that is designed to provide an immersion experience to travelers before they leave on a trip to a country where a different language is spoken. The learner takes part in a fully mixed-initiative dialog with the system to gain fluency and hone vocabulary and grammatical skills.…

Discusses the application of digital technologies in education and questions the extent to which increases in the power of computing are reflected in the amount of progress made in using computers in the field of English-language teaching. Concludes by identifying a number of areas in digital education where research could be usefully undertaken.…