Issues related to design and implementation of Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) programs on the university level are discussed. First, three points are noted that affect the way materials are conceived: the type of user and the way of giving choices regarding exercises, the fact that the computer is primarily a medium adapted to the written word,…

A comparison of the effectiveness of different ways to organize instructional materials and different strategies for error feedback used the computer as a research tool and took as subjects first-year junior high school Spanish students, who were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. To investigate materials organization, computer…

A project to convert part of a Chinese language course ("Standard Chinese: A Modular Approach") to the PLATO computerized teaching system is reported. The project involved: (1) transcribing all the first sequence audiotapes for the first six instructional modules (these tapes present the material of each lesson); (2) rewriting the lesson…

Reports on the state of the art in software development for computer-assisted language instruction, with some emphasis on Russian, and describes 10 areas in which much current software is deficient. It is suggested that our best teachers be given time to work in teams to develop good software. (Author/SED)

Technical aspects of the PLATO system, the language work done on PLATO thus far (specifically in foreign languages), and areas for further research in computer-based language instruction are reviewed. PLATO-IV, designed and implemented by the Computer-Based Educational Research Laboratory of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is…