Index / Go on to next event
The Firewall in the Mind (Slide 46)
In conclusion: no CALL curriculum

First, there is no CALL. curriculum. This is one I think I've wrestled with successfully at my office. At least people are no longer asking me about developing one. They are developing a language curriculum in which computers play a key role. The curriculum however, at essence, is the same as it always was. The goal is communication, for that is the only reason that I can think of, offhand, that most of us want to learn a language.

There is a set of skills one needs to know in order to perform work these days in any modern workplace, but they are closer to typing skills than they are to language skills. You need to know how to do certain things with computers. You need to know how to prepare documents, manage a database, and manipulate graphics on a computer. Hyperlinking skills are also important to modern day communication. But these skills are as important to doctors and lawyers as they are to applied linguists. If we teacher these skills, as language teachers, they we are exploiting a topic for our language curriculum more so than we are teaching the skills themselves. The skills are common to many disciplines. If our students want us to help them learn them then as far as we are concerned it's to learn computer skills as tools for communication