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Exploring Theory in ComputerAssisted Language Learning
Glenn Stockwell
Waseda University
gstock@waseda.jp

Abstract: The field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is, by the very nature of its
dependence on technology, one that is in a constant state of change. As a result of thischange, it may be argued that theory, research, and even practice in the field struggle
to keep pace with these technological developments. Given the centrality of technology
in CALL, any discussions of theory, research or practice must take into the consideration
the impact that technology has, not only on the learning process, but also on the reasonsfor and the focus of research undertaken in the field, and the range of factors which may
contribute to how and why technology is employed in a given context. Although eachhas featured in the CALL literature over the past several years, the complex interrelation
between them remains largely unexplored. This paper examines the elements of what
theories of CALL must include, and provides some examples of theories that are fromoutside the mainstream language learning literature that may be of relevance to teachers
and researchers in CALL. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the complexities oftheory in CALL, and how a rethink of the position of theories that draw more heavily on thetechnological aspect of the field may help lead to a deeper understanding of the role thattechnology plays in the language learning process.
Introduction

Although there was some sporadic use oftechnology in language teaching environments
prior to this time, if we look at how long the major
journals and books in the field have been around, we
could say that CALL as a discipline has been around formore than a quarter of a century. The ReCALL journal
is now into its 25th year, Computer Assisted Language
Learning journal into its 26th, and the CALICO Journal
into its 30th, and it has been nearly 20 years since
Higgins and John’s (1984) seminal work was published.
Needless to say, the development of an interdisciplinary
field such as CALL has not been without difficulties, andmany researchers over the years have stopped to take alook at what has been done and the future directions of
the field (e.g., Warschauer, 1996; Bax, 2003).
As A. N. Whitehead (1911, p. 233) very famously noted,“It is a well-founded historical generalization that thelast thing to be discovered in any science is what thescience is really about.” It would not be too much of an
exaggeration to say that this is also applicable to thefield of CALL. We may say that it is widely agreed that
CALL refers to the use of technology to facilitate thelanguage learning process, but exactly how technology

can be applied to achieve this has gone throughseveral stages of thought. One factor that has made it
particularly difficult in CALL when compared with otherfields is that one of the major players, technology, keeps
changing at a phenomenal rate, and the effects of thischange reach not only to the classroom, but rather
into virtually all aspects of our daily lives. Technologies
have become more accessible, smaller and more
portable, and exponentially more powerful. At thesame time, there has also been a significant change inthe educational environment itself, with a shift in focus
from the teacher to the students, from centralized to
distributed. In the midst of this ongoing change, thefield of CALL has pushed steadily onwards, and this has
been evident in the myriad of ways that technology has
found itself into a wide range of language teaching andlearning contexts, the scope and scale of the research
conducted, and the theories that have been applied to
explain the various phenomenon that have emerged.
The purpose of this paper is to take a look at theory,
research and practice in the field of CALL, considering
how they interrelate and how they have developed.
It will aim to examine how CALL research has been
conducted, and provide some suggestions for how
research and practice in the field may be carried out toExploring Theory in Computer-Assisted Language Learning25

be of maximum benefit to language teachers who wish
to implement technology smoothly and effectively into
their individual language learning contexts.
Interdependency of theory, research and practiceAs alluded to above, the essence of CALL is
to determine how technology may play a role in theteaching and learning of a second language. How
exactly technology may be used to achieve this will
depend very heavily on what technologies are used,as this will necessarily have an effect on when, where
and how the technology can be applied to the language
learning context. Technologies that are fixed, such as
desktop computers, will mean that their usage is limited
to a time and place that they are available, which may
entail setting aside a certain amount of time on aregular basis in a computer laboratory. Technologies
that are portable, such as MP3 players, mobile phones,
tablet computers or laptops, have meant that there isa far greater amount of freedom with regard to timeand place, but their usage is still very much dependent
upon what the technology is capable of doing (e.g.,mobile phones are easy to carry around, but there
are limitations in screen size and text input) and, ofcourse, the types of tasks or activities that students are
required to use them for. Thus, practice in CALL—thecollective term we might use for how technologies areused to teach languages—is highly dependent on thetechnologies, but at the same time, one might question
whether the technology itself is the primary factor
which determines the language learning uses that it
is put to. Underlying the use of the technology are thelanguage learning goals that the teacher (or learner) has
in mind, and it should be kept in mind that technology
itself cannot contribute to learning a language. Healy(1999) puts this very accurately with her metaphor that,“…technology alone does not create language learning
any more than dropping a learner into the middle of alarge library does” (p. 136).
Practice in CALL is exceedingly complex, and isconstantly affected by the context in which it occurs,
be this at an individual level, an institutional level, ora societal level (see Stockwell, 2012a, for a discussion).
The way in which learners use technologies in theireveryday lives will, for example, have an effect on
how they apply these technologies to other usages
as well (Levy & Stockwell, 2006). Similarly, if there are
institutional preferences for using technologies, such as
an institution-wide learning management system (e.g.,
Blackboard, Moodle, etc.), this will also likely have someinfluence on not only what technologies are used, butalso what they are used for. At a societal level, sometechnologies are more readily available than others.
Tablet computers are quite popular amongst students
in Australia (Fujimoto, 2012), but ownership by students
in Japan still seems to be very much in the minority(Stockwell, 2010). As a result, requiring learners to use
their tablets to complete tasks in Australia might beconsidered as a possibility, but in Japan it would meanthat only a very small number of learners would be able
to do this. In this way, the context will always have aneffect on the ways that technologies could and should
be used to achieve language learning goals.
How, then, does this relate to research? The terms
research and practice appear frequently together inthe titles of books and journals in a range of fields,
and CALL is no exception to this. There is clearly aninterrelationship between the two, and one could not
be carried out effectively without at least some minimalreference to the other (Hinkel, 2005). The nature of therelationship depends very much on the focus of what isbeing undertaken, however, with research often being
the point of departure for what happens in practice, andpractice being the point of departure for what ends up
being researched. For example, if a developer of CALL
software has a desire to see whether some tool thatthey have developed is effective for learners to acquire
vocabulary, it is likely that the teaching environment
will be shaped to make such a study possible. Should anexperimental or quasi-experimental type of approach
be undertaken, then it is likely that learners will be—at times rather arbitrarily—divided into two separate
groups, where one uses the technology and the other
does not. Given the ethical concerns of having one groupof students potentially advantaged by the use or nonuse of a technology, the researcher may decide to use
a matrix approach, where the two different groups are
given access to the technology at different times during
the course. While in this case both groups of learners
have had access to the same technology, the timing inwhich this access occurs is necessarily going to havesome kind of effect, be it on the content which is taught,
or in the way that it relates to other material which has
been taught. In this way, it becomes clear that research
has clearly shaped what happens in practice.
In CALL contexts, the starting point for research may
also be the technology itself, where a teacher may havean interest in a new technology, and be interested in
its applicability to a learning situation. In this case, thetechnology itself has shaped not only what has happened
in practice, but research is likely to be undertaken at
the same time, meaning that it has also shaped what
is researched. In this way, it becomes evident that therelationship between practice, research and technology
is a mutually dependent one, where it would be rather
difficult for one element to exist without some effect on
the other two.
What about the role of theory? Before embarking on
the discussion, it helps to have a view of what we mean
when we refer to theory. Mitchell, Myles and Marsden
Exploring Theory in Computer-Assisted Language Learning26

describe theory as, “...a more or less abstract set ofclaims about the entities which are significant within
the phenomenon under study, the relationships which
exist between them, and the processes which bringabout change” (2013, p. 2). Whether the theory that is
applied is formalized or just an informal perspective
on a given situation, we would assume that teachers
applying theory would maintain some perspective of
how learning will occur.
The role of theory is always going to be present in any
discussion of research or practice, and, for that matter,technology. This perspective will obviously directly
shape what happens in the classroom, but at thesame time, it can also have an impact on research. It
is likely to affect not only on what data are collected,
but also how these data are viewed and interpreted.
An interactionist may look at the turn-taking that takes
place between learners interacting via Skype or someother audiconferencing tool, while a socioculturalist,
with the same data set may look at instances ofscaffolding. In this case, it is possible to think of theory
as a means of bringing some elements to the foregroundor the background (Levy & Stockwell, 2006). A researcher
who is looking to investigate turn-taking may adopt
a different data collection method from a researcher
who is interested in scaffolding. To this end, as Mackey
and Gass (2012, p. 1) argue, “…research methods are
dependent upon the theories that they are designed
to investigate.” Indeed, the theory which is applied
can bring about a completely different view of thesame situation, shading it in the unique characteristics
inherent in the theory.
The same may be said of the choice of technology andhow it is used. A strong advocate of drills may see thetechnology of choice—be it a desktop computer, mobile
phone or tablet computer—as a tool in which to achievethis, providing answers to questions generated fromsome kind of a database. The types of activities thatthey design will likely fit this view, and as such thetechnology and the software that is used will need tomake this possible. In contrast, a person who advocatesnatural communication between learners may believethat social networking service (SNS) sites provide
exactly the environment that they would like to use
with their learners, allowing them to communicate witheach other through Facebook or some other tool. In thiscase, the choice of technology has become something
completely different from the advocate of drills, andthe manner in which the technology is used would be
affected by this view. In this way, it becomes very clearthat the impact of the theory that is applied to a given
situation is likely to have a very wide-reaching impact
on all aspects of how CALL is conceptualized andconducted. Theory is discussed in more depth in thefollowing section.

Theory in CALLAs the discussion above has alluded to, theory
has always had a place in CALL. It may seem somewhat
odd to point out, then, that at times its position has beenrather tenuous. CALL practitioners for the most part
recognize the importance of theory, and several theories
have been cited in the CALL literature over the past
three decades. How could this position be considered
as being “tenuous” then? A reality is that there has beena not-insignificant body of research in CALL that does
not cite any theoretical framework at all, particularlyin the early years. Even when it is not cited, there going
to be, as described above, a view of how languages arelearned in the background behind how technology has
been implemented in the language learning context.
In many cases, however, it has remained somewhat
tacit, and it is only in the past decade or so that theory
has featured more prominently in CALL research. It is
certainly possible to argue that it has been this lack ofreference to theory that has been at the base of somecriticisms directed towards the field of CALL, which isseen very much as an extension of second language
acquisition (see Chapelle, 2005; 2007; Egbert & Petrie,2005).
There have in fact been very few serious attempts atlooking at theory in CALL. While it has received passing
reference in many publications, these are generally
limited to a particular study or environment. Two of themore notable analyses of theory and CALL have been
carried out by Levy and Stockwell (2006) and Hubbard(2008). Levy and Stockwell (2006) suggest that theory
can be used for different purposes in CALL, including
theory for design, theory for teaching, and theory for
research. It is conceivable that practitioners in CALL
apply multiple theories at the same time, dependingon their needs in a given teaching and learning
situation. This means that it is important to be awareof the purpose of theory and to ensure that conflicts intheories are avoided.
In Hubbard’s (2008) research, he examined theories
cited in the CALICO Journal from 1983 through to 2007,
finding that theories that pertained to second language
acquisition or linguistic theory made up 38 of the 90
articles that mentioned a theory, and a further 27 being
based on educational, pedagogical or learning theory.
Of some concern in his study, however, was that alarge number of theories were mentioned only once,
indicating that while there is an attempt to look beyond
the mainstream theories, very few of these have been
given serious consideration beyond a cursory mention.
It is probably not that surprising that CALL shouldhave reference to second language acquisition (SLA)
theory. The acronym that forms the word CALL entails
two primary components – “computer” and “language
learning.” Without underplaying the importance of
Exploring Theory in Computer-Assisted Language Learning27

the “assisted” part of the equation either, it becomes
obvious that these two parts will certainly affect the waythat CALL is conducted, and of course the theories that
underlie CALL research and practice. The argument for
the use of SLA theories is in many ways a convincing one,and there have been those who suggest that CALL is, inessence, and extension of mainstream second language
teaching and learning. One would argue, however, that
this view is one that underplays the role of technology
in the language learning process. Is it possible to simply
view the technology in the same way as any otherlanguage learning tool, such as a textbook, a cassette,or even pen and paper? While it is indeed possible thattechnology may take on the role of at least one of thesetools, we could argue that its role goes beyond them,and into a wider scope within our daily lives. Technology
has become ingrained in many of the things we do on adaily basis, and where once we may have memorized
telephone numbers, addresses, important dates andother events in our lives, much of this is now being left
to the range of devices that we choose to own.
To this end, it is possible to argue that, particularly inthis current day and age (although this was evident toa degree in the past as well), that technology has taken
on more than the facilitator role as might have been
assigned to it in the past, much as a textbook was. In our
everyday lives, we often choose not to remember details– who needs to when they can easily be looked up in ourelectronic address books or calendars, or, depending on
what it is we wish to find out, simply searched for on theInternet. It is possible to take pictures of signs, menus
or other scenes and then forward these on to others,
rather than taking the time and effort to describe them.
In language learning contexts as well, where we use thetechnology to take on certain roles that might once havebeen within the domain of the learners themselves. Thisof course would relate to the process through which
languages are learnt. Based on this idea, it becomesapparent that any theory of CALL needs to look at theprocess of learning the language, and at the same timethe effect the technology has on this process. This would
largely need to consider how the learner interacts withthe technology, and the impact that the technology
has during the SLA process. The concept itself is not anentirely new one, as Levy (1997, p. 184) pointed out, thetechnology when used as a tool (as opposed to tutor)
serves to “augment learner capacities,” meaning thatin many ways, it amplifies and enhances the capacities
the learner has, or in some cases, making up for thosecapacities the learner may lack.
While there are several theories that relate to howhumans interact with technologies, two theories thatappear to be immediately applicable to the way inwhich technology may be used in language learning
are distributed cognition and situated learning. These

are by far the only theories that may be applicable, but
for illustrative purposes, a brief overview of these twotheories and how they may be used in language learning
context is provided here.
Distributed cognition
The concept of distributed cognition was first
conceived by Hutchins (1995a) as a means of examining
the real-world flow of representations in cooperative
work settings. Since then, the concept has been
expanded to include the way in which cognition occurs
as a process that combines both internal and external
memory and processing functions. Hutchins’s viewemphasized the external nature of human cognition,and he argued that, “…a complete theory of individual
human memory would not be sufficient to understandthat which we wish to understand because so much of
the memory function takes place outside the individual”(1995b, p. 286). That is to say, in many of the activities
that take place in our daily lives, a large proportion ofthem occur as a combination of processes that takeplace within individuals and the tools that are used tofacilitate these activities. While distributed cognition
can also refer to sharing of information between
individuals during processing (see Cole & Engström,1993), the discussion here has been limited to the rolethat technology can play in sharing the cognitive load.
In a CALL context, the application of distributed
cognition is immediately obvious. For instance, if welook at the process of learning vocabulary, it is evident
that there are several ways in which the learning process
may be somewhat different than learning through nontechnological means. One example might be that rather
than relying on the human memory to keep track oflists of vocabulary, the learner can have these stored ina place where they are easily accessible and then use
them for self-study as they see fit. This particular use isperhaps not very different from what may be done using
pen and paper methods, but there are some aspects
where the affordances of the technology can be put intoplay. Learners may be able to input the vocabulary thatthey wish to learn into software that can automaticallycreate questions for them, be they in context or using
other tools. Links to dictionaries that provide thepronunciation of the word, or examples from corpora ofactual use can be accessed very easily. Even the reading
process itself can be affected by the technology, where
pre-installed technology can remove the need to lookup unknown vocabulary at all, rather allowing words tobe automatically highlighted when touched or clicked
on, with a list of information about the word being
made available. In this way, the load on the learner isnecessarily different from what it would be without theuse of technology.
In the first example given here regarding the vocabulary
Exploring Theory in Computer-Assisted Language Learning

28

lists, the process of writing itself may have somedifferences. In the case of ideographic languages such
as Japanese, using a keyboard/keypad removes theneed to actually handwrite the character, with thedevice bringing up the suggested character from alist. This puts the focus on recognition rather than on
production, requiring different skills than physicalhandwriting. Using a system that can automaticallycreate questions for learners can often mean that therange of questions used can be more varied than might
be the case with books or self-written lists, while theautomatic showing of word meanings reduces theneed to access sources such as a dictionary that are
external to the activity itself. This may have the effectof decreasing the amount of time spent on looking up
new words, but of course at the same time there is thedanger of not giving due attention to new words as
the meaning is available without cognitive load (seeNation, 2001, for a discussion). Thus, while the effectsof the technologies may be viewed as either positiveor negative, depending on what is being used for what
purpose, suffice to say that there is indeed an effect,
and this effect is something that needs to be taken into
consideration when looking holistically at the language
learning process.
Situated action
The underlying idea behind situated action isthat people will behave differently depending on thesituation and the options available (Suchman, 2006). If
one were to imagine a large room with a single green
button on the wall, labeled, “Push the green button.” Insuch a situation, there may be people who happily push
the button, and others who feel would be reluctant todo so. The reason for this difference is that many people
are unlikely to take risks if they do not know what theoutcomes of a particular are. Even when faced withthe same circumstances, people will decide on rather
different outcomes, depending not only on what theoutcome is, but also on what the perceived outcome
might be. Those who envisage that the green button
might link to a door opening would likely be far lesshesitant in pushing the button when compared to those
who might imagine something terrible would happen
like an explosion. The strength of the perceived outcome
is not to be underestimated, as it can have play a role indetermining actions and behaviors that occur.
The application of this theory to CALL design is also
evident. Learners need to be aware of what theoutcomes of actions that they are required to undertake
will be so that they can make informed decisions about
what actions to perform. For example, in the design of
CALL applications, if learners do not know the functionsof buttons or other features within the application, thereis the chance that they will not be used in the way thatis intended by the designers of the program. Options

need to be clear and logical, and leave as small amountof doubt as possible for the learner so that they feel
comfortable about navigating around the environment
in the application.
The two theories described here are meant to beillustrative rather than exhaustive, but they do serveas an example of the field of CALL may benefit from thedifferent insights that human-computer interaction (HCI)
provides. While of course SLA theory should maintain acentral role in the view of technology in second language
learning, it is somewhat naïve to underplay the role thattechnology plays in the learning process. As Levy (2000)
argues, “…technology always makes a difference; thetechnology is never transparent or inconsequential”(p. 190). This suggest that a knowledge of both theories
that apply to learning as well as theories that apply to
how humans interact with technology are essential inbetter accounting for the complex relationship between
technology and language learning that make up thefield of CALL.
Complexities of theory in CALL
While the discussion provided here into CALL
theory is somewhat simplistic, it is intended to suggestthat there is potentially far more to CALL than can be
simply explained by theories of SLA that do not involve
technology. This will very definitely depend, however,on the role that technology plays. When the computer
assumes a more tutor role (see Levy, 1997, for a
discussion), then the interplay between the learner andthe computer will be completely different from what
it would be when the computer is used as a tool. As atutor, in addition to the cognitive aspects, we may also
see psychological ones (and perhaps even social ones),
with the computer taking on the “presence” of a teacher(see Hubbard & Bradin-Siskin, 2004). The simulated roleof the teacher may include that of provider of various
activities, feedback, and assistance, all of which may beperceived by learners in different ways.
As described earlier, the cognitive load of the learner
may also be strongly affected by the technology, not onlyin what it can facilitate (as was seen in the discussion
on distributed cognition) and in that it might make itpossible for people who are geographically separated
to communicate, but also in potentially more negative
aspects. For example, as was discussed earlier, somelearners become less inclined to learn certain elements
as the technology has the potential to take over thistask for them, but this may simply be a direction that we
as humans are going in, and one that language teachers
will need to adjust to in the future. Alternatively,
when using tools such as videoconferencing, the highquality of sound and video give the impression that
communication is as smooth as what takes place inface-to-face environments, but often there are minor
glitches and pauses in these that can cause a different
Exploring Theory in Computer-Assisted Language Learning29

meaning being transmitted or understood than what
was originally intended.

5.

Thus, technology will, as I have pointed out throughout
this paper, make some difference, and there is a needto researchers in CALL to consider the entire range ofcomplexities. This might mean that time will need to
be spent on discussion of theories that go beyond themainstream, and explore other areas of thought. When
we look at what is happening in the field at present, asHubbard’s (2008) study suggested, many researchers
in CALL appear to be dabbling in theories, without
concerted attempts at investigating how they may or
may not be applicable to the field. Such an outcome
can only be achieved through following up on previous
research, which may include walking down sometentative tracks that daring researchers in CALL haveleft behind, in an attempt to see if they lead anywherethat will be of value to the field.

6.

Conclusion
The range of issues which could have beenraised in a paper such as this are far too broad to becovered in sufficient detail, so this paper has aimed to
provoke thought regarding the considerations that must
be kept in mind regarding theory, research and practicein CALL. At the risk of oversimplifying the complexities,
the paper has provided a basic overview of how there isa necessary relationship that exists between these threeelements, and how these are further complicated by the
introduction of technology.
As technologies change, the ways in which humans
interact with the technologies and with each other are
destined to change. Those who implement CALL areencouraged to keep a firm eye on the developments
in SLA, but to not do so at the expense of the researchwhich looks at the ever-changing relationship between
humans and the technologies that have become almost
ubiquitous in our daily lives.
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