Strangely enough I've had this question asked of me several times in the last few days.  I say strangely because I've not really had it asked before, and I thought the answer was very obvious.  After being asked so many times however I was forced to rethink that opinion.

Trying to give a clear answer to  the question "What computer assisted language learning?" is as simple as it is complex.  You see CALL is nothing more than using computer technologies to assist in the process of learning a language.  It is in that simplicity that the complexity lives.   CALL can be anything you want or need it to be.  It can be extremely basic and simple (like using a plain text editor to learn how to type in English), very complex (like having a class develop and maintain a series of interconnected blogs).  It can be very mundane (like researching a topic on wikipedia), to completely sublime (writing, filming, editing and ultimately distributing an original student created film over the net).

CALL can be a major, or minor part of your class, course, or curriculum.  It can involve a wide variety of computer related technologies.  It can make use of pre-made software packages specifically designed to help language learners, or it can simply involve using computer technologies of any kind as a tool to assist in the process of learning a language.

In the end, there is no simple answer that explains exactly what CALL is all about, other than to say that computer assisted language learning happens whenever computer technology is involved in the process of learning a language.  That involvement changes from teacher to teacher, class to class, and student to student.

Like so many other practices in teaching and learning, CALL is whatever each individual makes out of it.

Hope this helps make it all a whole lot more vague

Cheers,

Eric

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