This commentary offers a brief reflection on the state of CALL in 1997, when "Language Learning & Technology" was launched with my paper entitled "CALL in the year 2000: Still in search of research paradigms?" The point of my 1997 paper was to suggest the potential value of research on second language learning for the study…

The computer-assisted language learning (CALL) field seems to change overnight with new technological affordances. Blake revisits his 2000 "LLT" article on computer-mediation communication (CMC) in order to reflect on how the field has examined this topic over the past decade or so. While the Interaction Hypothesis continues to guide…

Meta-analytic methods are often used to determine the effectiveness of certain treatments across studies. However, we are often unaware of how a meta-analysis can provide value to researchers and practitioners. This paper offers a brief commentary on a meta-analysis conducted by Lin, Huang and Liou (2013) in LLT, providing further statistical…

Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) is attracting a great deal of attention at present (Stockwell & Sotillo, 2011). However, it is important that teacher and researcher exploitation of technological developments be guided by more than just enthusiasm. "Language Learning & Technology's" commitment to empirical studies is admirable but, for…

Ideas that resulted from reading Jean LeLoup and Robert Ponterio's tele-collaborative projects, Monsters.com, are discussed. (Author/VWL)

Discusses two recent innovations made available via the Internet that are useful to language educators: blogs and wikis. Blogs are on-line journals that offer opportunities for collaborative use. They are easily linked and cross-linked, thus creating larger on-line communities. Wikis feature a loosely structured set of pages, linked in multiple…

Focuses on tools and technologies that are likely to be important to language teachers entering the classroom for the first time. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the noticing hypothesis in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) reading materials. Reviews the problem of assessing noticing in classroom and experimental settings through conditions for noticing, retrospective assessment, and concurrent assessment. Concurrent assessment is illustrated through CALL materials that gather data on…

Provides a description of the following speech technologies for language learning: recorded speech (from analog to digital); speech recognition; speech synthesis; multilingual speech to speech; speech on the Web. A resource list is also provided. (Author/VWL)

Commentary on an article presented in a previous issue of this journal titled "'To Gloss or Not to Gloss': An Investigation of Reading Comprehension Online." The commentary is supportive of the conclusions drawn in the original article and offers arguments to spur serious research on the topic of glossing in the future. (Author/VWL)

Fifty intermediate second language Spanish learners were asked to carry out networked discussions in pairs during their lab time using a synchronous chat program that records all textual entries. Findings suggest that computer mediated communication (CMC) can provide many of the alleged benefits ascribed to the Interaction Hypothesis, but with…

Develops a conceptual framework for understanding how intercultural communication, mediated by cultural artifacts, creates compelling, problematic, and surprising conditions for additional language learning. Three case studies of computer-mediated intercultural engagement draw together correlations between discursive orientation, communicative…

Suggests that some design features and evaluation criteria for multimedia computer assisted language learning (CALL) might be developed on the basis of hypotheses about ideal conditions for second language acquisition (SLA). Outlines a relevant theory of SLA and enumerates the hypotheses it implies for ideal conditions such as input saliency,…

Describes a computer assisted word acquisition program (CAVOCA) that tries to operationalize current theoretical thinking about second language vocabulary acquisition. Its contents are based on a systematic inventory of the vocabulary relevant for the target group. To test its efficacy, the program was contrasted in a number of experimental…

Considers how to bring foreign language students with limited vocabulary knowledge, consisting mainly of high-frequency words, to where they can comprehend authentic texts in a target domain. Proposes bridging the vocabulary gap by determining which word families account for 95% of the target domain's running words, and having students learn these…