Computer Assisted Second Language Learning: A Multimedia Interactive Environment … ·...

Computer Assisted Second Language Learning:A Multimedia Interactive Environment for Teaching Greek

as a Second LanguageMaria Tzevelekou

Vicky ChondroyanniStefanos Paschalis

Computer Assisted Second Language Learning:A Multimedia Interactive Environment for Teaching Greek

as a Second Language

Maria TzevelekouVicky ChondroyanniStefanos Paschalis

Paper Presented at The Eighth International Literacy & Education ResearchNetwork Conference on Learning, Dimotiko Skolio of Spetses, Spetses, Greece,

4-8 July 2001

Offprint from:

Learning for the FutureProceedings of the Learning Conference 2001

Edited by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis

www.LearningConference.com www.theLearner.com

Learning for the Future • Proceedings of the Learning Conference 2001 • 3

Computer Assisted Second LanguageLearning: A Multimedia Interactive Environmentfor Teaching Greek as a Second Language


Paper Presented at The Eighth International Literacy & Education ResearchNetwork Conference on Learning, Dimotiko Skolio of Spetses, Spetses,Greece, 4-8 July 2001


Computer Assisted Second Language Learning:

A Multimedia Interactive Environment for

Teaching Greek as a Second Language


1. Introduction

The aim of this paper is twofold: a) to give an overview of the process of

introducing educational technology into the minority schools of Thrace, a

remote and underdeveloped area of Greece, and b) to present the process of

constructing a computer system for teaching Greek as a second language to

children having Turkish as a native language.

The objective of the project1 under discussion was the construction of an

integrated computer assisted language learning system. Its specific outcome

consists of two multimedia-disks (CD-ROMs):

1. A knight in the castle of letters, addressed to children from 7-9 years old.

2. A knight in the castle of words, designed for children from 10 to 12 years

old.

The above educational systems were developed by the Educational

Technology Department of the Institute for Language and Speech Processing

and are currently used in the minority schools of Thrace and in certain

multicultural schools of Athens.

1 This program was developed within the framework of a general educational reform project forthe Muslim minority in Greece, initiated by the Greek Ministry of Education and the EuropeanUnion and carried out by the University of Athens.


2. Principles and objectives

Design and development was carried out along the following guiding

principles:

a. Greek should be taught as a second language, without prerequisite ofprevious knowledge.

b. Native language (i.e. Turkish) should optionally appear in the system as asupport language.

c. Language literacy should be viewed within the technological environmentprovided by the computer.

d. The system should help the children acquire a certain degree of computerliteracy.

e. The system should be autonomous, i.e. it should contain all theinformation required for the interpretation and the handling of linguisticmaterial.

f. It should allow the learner to regulate her/his exposure to manageableamounts of language.

g. It should provide evaluation procedures, such as immediate feedback andtools showing the degree of coverage and the general performance of thepupil (Stubbs 1992).

h. It should be playful and rewarding.i. An effort should be made in order to avoid cultural stereotypes, often

observed in methods of language teaching

The main objectives for introducing a computer-assisted language learning

system in the minority schools were the following:

i. To improve teaching and learning by using the computer as a tool that canenrich existing teaching practices and open up new ways of presentinglinguistic information.

ii. To promote a self-determined learning instrument that can be usedcollectively at school, as well as individually at home.

iii. To increase motivation by supporting a decision making and problemsolving activity.

iv. To have an effect on the cognitive level by providing a combinatorialenvironment. In order to operate in this environment, children should learnhow to handle and evaluate different types of non-linear information.

v. To help the children acquire a certain degree of computer literacy. Thisknowledge may be a valuable ingredient in their curriculum, and may helpthem to cope more effectively with the demands of their scholarly andprofessional life.

vi. To give access to information by introducing basic features of informationtechnology. Access to information would eventually lead to a greaterindividual freedom and to the breakdown of rigid and standardisedclassroom practices.


3. Why use a Computer-Assisted Language Learning system (CALL) in

the classrooms of this particular area?

The idea of integrating software packages in the minority schools curriculum

was received with ironic comments on the ‘incongruity’ of introducing

computers in an area with vital socio-economic problems, such as high

degree of illiteracy, poverty and isolation.

The obstacles were indeed plenty. Schools did not have the necessary

infrastructure to support computer equipment. Major difficulties also emerged

in organising a steady technical support for computer systems, especially in

remote areas. In addition, the majority of teachers were not familiarised with

new technologies.

3.1 Arguments and counter-arguments

Besides the practical side of the issue, many objections were raised

concerning social and educational side effects deriving from computer use. In

an area where children need to socialise, computer was considered as a

device that promotes individualistic attitudes. Furthermore, computer use was

felt as a threat to the relationship between teacher and pupil and to classroom

collective activities.

A second set of negative reactions derives mainly from considerations in

terms of investment return. Social as well as pedagogical expectations from

introducing computers into primary schools were regarded as ‘panacea of

technology’ (Snyder 1999, Murray & Barnes 1998). Moreover, the high cost of

producing an almost ‘immaterial’ product - immaterial in the sense that the

contents of a CD-ROM are inaccessible without the proper equipment – was, -

and still is - considered as a fruitless investment.

Although, these arguments point out to a number of possible negative aspects

concerning computer use, they should be weighed up against advantages that

follow from the use of information technology in the particular setting of


minority schools. Besides the educational advantages, there is a social factor

worth taking into account: the distribution of information technology in regions

facing problems, might have a positive effect and might be seen by people

who have suffered from social prejudice and impoverishment, as an attempt

to reduce social divisions and to increase individual opportunity by giving

more people access to information.

From the educational point of view, it is clear that computers promote a

student-centred way of learning, and in this particular sense we might say that

the teacher is no longer the key factor of the learning process (Drenoyianni &

Selwood 1998). In the context of minority schools, however, the relationship

between teacher and pupil has not always a positive effect on educational

process. Most teachers fail to recognise the cultural identity of children, and

all too readily assign particularities in behaviour and learning difficulties into

inferior intellectual capacities. Consequently, no learning flow can be

established between the main participants in the educational process.

It is clear that technology cannot solve these problems. It can, however,

create a learning environment where social conflicts are neutralised, or, to be

more accurate, they are temporarily suspended. Thus, children’s energy is

focused on learning and not on handling matters of social antagonism.

Secondly, information technology allows children to work in their own pace, to

organise their learning approach in a way that corresponds to their needs, to

their interests and to their proper faculties, without the paralysing effect of

academic evaluation. On the other hand, the educational software provides

an evaluation procedure, i.e. an immediate feedback, which helps the learner

assess her/his performance.

Thirdly, linguistic information provided by the computer software is modular,

with multiple links and joints forming a comprehensive system which reflects

more accurately and in a more systematic way the actual linguistic

organisation, than does, for instance, the sequential linear presentation found


in printed books. Moreover, with hypertext techniques, different kinds of

information may be hidden or revealed, according to the interests of the user.

Fourthly, via computers, written texts are merged with audio sequence and

graphics. Thus, effective ostensive techniques and different strategies are

available in constructing new ways of representing knowledge.

And last, but not least, a CALL system introduces new literacy practices.

Parallel to language teaching, computer use provides a certain degree of

awareness concerning information technology.

4. Linguistic Infrastructure

As mentioned in section 2, an effort was made to set up an integrated

language learning system. The term integrated used in this context refers both

to the autonomous use of the system and to a coherent and layered set of

linguistic information.

As far as the former feature is concerned, it is worth noting that every

linguistic item appearing in the program is defined either by means of the

support language or by a statement of its meaning or essential properties.

The latter feature refers to a stratified coverage of linguistic knowledge. A pre-

determined hierarchy, a syllabus that establishes a sequential learning of

linguistic phenomena was set up. This syllabus was fleshed out in a creative

way by the famous children’s book author Eugene Trivizas. Eugene Trivizas

wrote, for this specific purpose, a stimulating quest narrative that, in the

multimedia environment, was converted to a game. This narrative, even if it is

created within the narrow limits of grammatical and lexical specifications, has

been written by a talented author, who considered the specifications provided

by the linguistic team rather as a challenge than as a barrier. By using poetic2

2 The term ‘poetic’ is based on the definition given by Jakobson (1960), i.e. the projection ofparadigmatic to syntagmatic axis.


techniques he brought out in an amusing way the essential features of

linguistic phenomena under consideration.

5. Syllabus structure

Intermediate successive grammars constructed by second language learners

are subject to two kinds of pressure:

• The structure of native language interferes with the learning of the second.• The typology of the second language.

Whether SLA researchers consider intermediate grammars as an

interlanguage or an interference phenomenon, the learning of the second

language clearly involves some degree of recategorisation (Culioli 1977).

Learning Greek as a second language by Turkish native speakers requires a

wide range of recategorisation. The structural differences between the two

languages explain to a large extend the number and the type of difficulties

encountered. Turkish is an agglutinate language while Greek is an inflectional

one. This typological difference between the two languages is reflected both

in the relation between morphemes and meaning and in the way major

syntactic categories are constructed. Furthermore, in the phonetic level,

phonemes that appear in the Greek phonological system do not appear in

Turkish. Therefore, the syllabus that served as a starting point for the texts is

based:

(a) On idiosyncratic features of Greek grammar, especially the complexinflectional system.

(b) On linguistic deviations (phonetic, grammatical, syntactic or lexical)observed during our work in schools. 3

(c) On the syllabus of the primary education established by the Greek Ministryof Education.

5.1 Grammatical categories driven grammar

In the grammar component, emphasis is given in the presentation of

grammatical categories, such as gender, case, tense, aspect, person, number

etc. which are expressed in Greek by highly fusional inflectional morphemes.

3 Many of these deviations are analogous to the deviations observed by Stephany 1997, in theprocess of acquisition of Greek as a native language.


Syntactic structures and grammatical functions are determined by the

distribution of these morphemes along linguistic sequences. This particular

way of organising the grammar is based on the assumption that the crucial

part of the Greek grammar is the interface between morphology and

syntax/semantics.

5.2 Basic vocabulary

The choice of vocabulary used in the systems went through different phases.

The initial list of lexical items, which served as a basis for Eugene Trivizas,

was constructed according to the following principles:

(a) All inflectional paradigms should appear in the corpus. Therefore, a list oflexical items exemplifying the inflectional paradigms was set up.

(b) All phonemes or phonetic clusters that present difficulties should appear inthe corpus. Therefore, a second list with words containing specificphonetic features was established.

E. Trivizas chose some of the words from the list and wrote the texts. All

words appearing in texts became lexical entries in the dictionary. Lexical

entries were followed by examples of use. Words appearing in the examples

were introduced in the dictionary as lexical entries. The recursive nature of the

process was blocked in the third series of words.

A fourth list of lexical items was set up in order to integrate in the system a

basic vocabulary based on the following thematic areas:

home, school, locations (organised, natural), transport, sports /leisure time,animals / insects, cloths / jewellery, body and face, quantity / measures,plants, natural phenomena, professions / occupations, food and beverage,kinship relations, time, materials / colours / shapes, location in space, health

The current bilingual dictionary contains 4.200 entries


6. Design of the system

6.1 Interactive activity as a contribution to the plot

As mentioned before, each CD-ROM is based on a tale of quest consisting of

eight and sixteen episodes respectively. The plot goes as follows: a knight in

order to decipher the messages of his beloved princess has to gain a certain

number of letters, in the first part, or words, in the second part. In his attempt

to find the missing parts of the messages, the knight visits the rooms of an

imaginary castle or the residences in an imaginary country. In each room or

residence he encounters strange creatures and undergoes various

adventures. Finally, letters and words come to his possession after he has

gone through, with the child's help, certain "ordeals", which, in this case, are

grammar, phonetic and vocabulary exercises.

The development of the story demands the participation of the user, while the

plot of both fairytales is the thread that holds the various parts together and

gives the user the boost to continue in order to find out the end of each story.

The pupil has the possibility to see and hear the fairytale as it unfolds, as well

as plan her/his way through the various rooms or buildings. Thus, s/he

becomes aware of the autonomy of her/his decisions and choices and gets to

see their results.

6.2 Modules, components and functionality of the system

The system comprises five modules: the fairytale narration, the parallel text,

i.e. the translation into Turkish, the exercises, the grammar, and the bilingual

dictionary. It contains also some additional components serving as signposts

that help the users in their orientation in the browsing environment.

6.2.1 Fairytale narration

The narration, read by various professional actors, appears in written form at

the bottom of the screen. This module enables the user to follow the plot of


the story. The user can adjust the rhythm of the narrative by clicking on a

button.

6.2.2 Parallel texts

Each time the user stops the narration the parallel texts appear. The parallel

texts consist of the text in Greek and its translation into the support language.

In this section the user can control the reception of the information concerning

the previous story narration. S/he can gradually read and listen to each

sentence that appears and at the same time read its Turkish translation.

6.2.3 Bilingual Dictionary

Full words that appear in the parallel texts are highlighted and underlined.

This notation indicates that these specific words are also listed in the

incorporated bilingual dictionary, which is linked to the parallel texts and can

be retrieved by clicking on each highlighted word.

Each word listed in the bilingual dictionary is followed by a set of information:

(a) Grammatical information (part of speech, inflectional forms which areconsidered difficult for foreign learners, hyphenation).

(b) Examples of different uses.(c) Pronunciation of the word.(d) Turkish equivalent.(e) A photo or a drawing (when this is possible).


Different uses may correspond to different illustrations as well as to different

translation equivalents.

As mentioned before, all the words used in the examples are included in the

bilingual dictionary. Consequently, the dictionary has a robust internal linkage.

There are five ways of retrieving a word:

1. By clicking on the parallel texts2. By clicking on the words of the examples3. By typing the word4. By scrolling down the vocabulary list5. By choosing one of the letters of the alphabet the user will be

automatically transferred to the first word of each letter.

The variety of ways for searching and ‘looking up’ a word allows the user to

develop her/his own way of retrieving and acquiring information.

6.2.4 Grammar

Grammar is integrated into the software as a book, which can be recalled by

the ‘help’ or the ‘grammar’ button on the navigation bar. It has the outlook of

an unfolded papyrus, on which each grammatical phenomenon is described


on a single page. All the phenomena covered in the grammar are gathered in

the table of contents.

In the grammar book different fonts, sizes or colours indicate the important

parts of the phenomenon under consideration. This pattern is used in order to

help the user focus on the different items and to enhance the storage of the

information in her/his visual memory. Similarly, internal links are used in order

to demonstrate the relation among the various phenomena covered in the

grammar. By clicking on a highlighted word, the user can be instantly

transferred to the related linguistic phenomenon. The independent navigation

in the grammar book is facilitated by the incorporation of additional buttons,

which give the user the possibility to decide whether s/he would prefer to go

through all the grammatical phenomena in a consecutive way or jump from

and to the different parts of the grammar.

6.2.5 Exercises

The grammatical phenomena covered by the texts are being tested in the

exercise section. The immediate correction of the exercises allows instant and

continuous feedback. One or more grammar pages covering the phenomenon

under consideration are linked to the exercise. Each time the user needs help,

while trying to solve an exercise, s/he may instantly be transferred to the

relevant page

In order to cover most aspects of language skill, different types of exercises

have been incorporated:

(a) Phonetic exercises (acoustic and recording) which encourage interactiveuse and provide the possibility for self-assessment and evaluation.

(b) Lexical exercises, where the user using the drag and drop techniquematches words to objects and to their acoustic forms.

(c) Grammatical exercises.(d) Word Formation exercises.(e) Semantic exercises.

Although the testing techniques adopted are rather simple and do not require

complex procedures of data handling, they can be regarded as an introduction


to a new technological environment where new skills are being acquired. The

user learns how to carry out a set of explicit instructions. Furthermore, the

non-linear construction of the exercises with the possibility to hear the

instructions, to use another module, i.e. the grammar, or to exit the exercise,

gives the user the chance to develop new strategies for handling the

information provided.

6.3 Free navigation

In order to give the user the possibility of self-planning, the system allows free

navigation through its main modules and auxiliary components. This

possibility generates different modes of seeking and retrieving information.

The navigation through the various components of the software is realised

either by a hidden toolbar or by indices, such as an arrow, a hearer, a hand, a

door, underlined or highlighted words, etc. On the toolbar, an icon followed by

its verbal description represents each module and component, i.e. the

message of the princess, the translation, the dictionary, the texts, the

grammar and the exercise instructions. A number of complementary buttons,

such as the “back”, the “first page”, the “continue” or the “exit” button are

designed in order to facilitate the modular navigation.

As the child goes from the first to the second CD-ROM, s/he experiences a

greater freedom in data handling. Similarly, the plot becomes more complex

and its deployment follows various paths. The knight is no longer restricted in

the interior of the Castle of Letters, but goes on a journey and visits various

buildings, with the Castle of Words being his final end. In the course of his

journey, he has the possibility to explore different cultures by meeting people

(a French painter, an English detective, a Dutch dancer, a Danish whale-

saver etc) and by hearing and reading traditional folk tales, such as A story by

Nastredin Hotza, The Princess and the Pea, The Rabbit and the Turtle and

The Little Red Riding Hood. S/he also has the possibility to get pragmatic

information concerning countries, monuments and authors.


Correspondingly, the general structure of A Knight in the Castle of Words is

different from the structure of A Knight in the Castle of Letters. The user has

an overall view of the program. The range as well as the nature of the options

is characterised by a greater degree of diversity and variety, e.g. the user has

the opportunity to select among different buildings, exercises, and even

games, such as tic-tac-toe, hangman, mastermind and naval battle.

In addition, in the Castle of Letters the exercises are ordered in a stable

sequence without a possibility of deviation from it. In the Castle of Words the

user has the possibility to choose from a variety of exercises corresponding to

each room or building. Furthermore, the exercise requirements are not

restricted to grammatical phenomena, but they also cover pragmatic

information about countries, cities and monuments, authors and people from

different parts of the world with a variety of cultural backgrounds.

6.4 Computer literacy

As far as computer literacy is concerned, the user gets progressively

acquainted with information handling techniques, such as filling, classification

and matching, alphabetic ordering, lists of contents, indices, symbols etc.

Furthermore, by learning to navigate through the various rooms or buildings

appearing in the system, the user becomes acquainted with a restricted

language use which gives her/him an insight into another frame where

language can be deployed (Kukulska-Hume 2000). For instance the button

“help” is an item of the ordinary language, which in this particular contexts

refers exclusively to “grammar” help.

7. Concluding remarks

The above-presented educational CALL systems were used experimentally in

fourteen schools, all of them located in remote areas. Even though they were

originally accepted with enthusiasm, their use was not introduced in the

curriculum on a regular basis. Their integration in the classroom practice was

only partial, and went on decreasing as the contact between teachers and the


members of the team who created the CD-ROMs strung out. The teaching

staff wasn’t ready to face the technical problems which arose and, thus, many

computers ended up in teachers’ offices and were used for administrative

work or recreation.

This situation did not allow a proper and objective evaluation of the CALL

systems with respect to the target group, even though the software was

awarded a 9 on a scale to 10 in an evaluation conducted by a distinguished

magazine specialised in IT matters4. In this respect, only the technical and the

linguistic features were assessed and not its actual effectiveness.

A systematic assessment of the program efficiency could not be realised

unless two preliminary conditions are fulfilled: a) a stable technical support for

computer hardware and software, and b) the education of the teachers in

computer use. In order to answer questions such as “In what degree does the

educational software promote language literacy?” or “Does the pupil acquire

certain skills in computers use?”, we first have to address the question “What

is the teachers’ behaviour towards computers in the classroom, and to what

degree, if any, do they believe that computers promote language teaching?”.

As Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991) have justly pointed out, integration and

implementation of any educational innovation into existing practices depends

heavily on the teachers. The integration of the educational software in the

classroom environment requires a strategy: it should be carefully planned and

it should be supported both by a technical infrastructure and by a continuing

professional development of the teachers.

4 RAM, January 2002


References

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Fullan, M and S. Stiegelbauer (1991) The New Meaning of EducationalChange, London: Cassell Educational Ltd.

Jakobson, R. (1960) “Linguistics and Poetics” in Sebeok, A.T., 1960, Style inLanguage, MIT Press.

Kukulska-Hulme, A. (2000) “Communication with users: insights from secondlanguage acquisition”, Interacting with Computers 12, pp.587-599.

Murray, L. and A. Barnes (1998) “Beyond the “wow” factor – evaluatingmultimedia language learning software from a pedagogical viewpoint”,System 26, pp. 249-259.

Selfe, S. (1999) “Global literacy practices? Cultural perspectives on the WorldWide Web”, Conference on Communication - Information Technology andFirst Language Teaching: The International Experience, Salonica.

Snyder, I. (1999) “Literacy, technology and classrooms: The challenge forteachers”, Conference on Communication - Information Technology andFirst Language Teaching: The International Experience, Salonica.

Stefany, U. (1997) ‘The acquisition of Greek’ in Slobin, D. I. (ed.) TheCrosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition, Lawrence ErlbaumAssociates Publishers.

Stubbs, M. (1992) “English Teaching, Information Technology and CriticalAwareness”, in Fairclough, N. (ed.) (1992) Critical Language Awareness,London and New York: Longman, pp. 203-222.

Tzevelekou, _. (2000) ‘Integrating Language Tools into a Computer Assisted2nd Language Learning: Remarks on the Methods of Teaching Greek inthe Primary Schools of the Turkish-speaking Minority of Thrace’Second International Conference on Language Resources andEvaluation, Language Resources and Tools for EducationalApplications, Workshop Proceedings, 2000.

This paper is published at http://LearningConference.Publisher-Site.com/a series imprint of theUniversityPress.com

First published in Australia in 2002 by Common Ground Publishing Pty Ltd athttp://LearningConference.Publisher-Site.com/

Selection and editorial matter copyright © Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis 2002Individual chapters copyright © individual contributors 2002

All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism orreview as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by anyprocess without written permission from the publisher.

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