I've had a couple of people write me recently asking about CMC (computer mediated communication) and how it relates to CALL, so I thought I'd do a quick post about what the two are and how they connect with each other.

In essence computer mediated communication has nothing to do with learning (although it is very closely tied to learning).  CMC is simply the use of computers to help with communication tasks.  A person with a severe speach impediment or condition that restricts speach (Multiple Sclerosis  for example) may use computer technology to assist with their communication.  In a sense the computer is used to mediate (manage) the communication act.

Now given that CMC is the idea of using computers to help out with communication, it should be easy to see how it can be tied into learning environments and CALL.  In fact you could quite easily say that CALL is in some ways a form of computer mediated communication.  When we use computer to help with language learning tasks, we are doing computer mediated communication.

However non-language learning activites like participating in a forum discussion, reading this blog, using Skype to phone someone, using MSN chat are all forms of computer mediated communication.  Unless these activities are being done as part of a language class, we wouldn't normally refer to them as CALL activities.

Clearly this is a very simple overview of the two concepts, but it should be enough to help you see the basic differences between the two and how they relate to each other overall.

Cheers,

Eric

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