Digital Shifts in Language Learning: Analysis of CALL in Beginner, College-Level French SLA Public

Abstract

The rapid technological innovations of the past century have engendered significant changes in language use, societal habits, and educational practices. These changes have resulted in digital shifts in language education—shifts in the resources used to teach and learn languages and shifts in sentiment and discourse regarding educational technology. The present study addressed a need for a diversification of approaches to analyzing technology in the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Two studies—a case study and an experimental study—were conducted to fill this gap in the literature. Through the combination of classroom observations, student questionnaires, instructor interviews, and syllabus analysis, a case study described the current state of sentiment toward CALL and implementation of CALL in a beginner, college-level French program. Examining the same learner population, an experimental study measured the efficacy of a CALL resource offering audio-visual feedback for prosody learning through Praat. Case study results indicated that educational technology guided daily class practices, contributing to at least 40% of students’ course grade and facilitating the realization of many pedagogical objectives, such as the prioritization of flipped classrooms, learner-centeredness, authentic materials, and cultural competence. While students and instructors expressed substantial frustrations with some technological resources used in the course, they conveyed positive sentiments regarding CALL use generally. In the experimental study, the Praat-based CALL intervention was effective in facilitating students’ acquisition of French-specific patterns of final syllable lengthening. Students’ and instructors’ optimistic attitudes toward CALL, coupled with the proven effectiveness of the Praat-based CALL resource, illustrated a rich potential for CALL development and implementation in beginner, college-level language programs.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1

           1.1 What are Digital Shifts? ……………………………………………………………………………………………1

           1.2 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………………………………………..4

           1.3 CALL in Language Pedagogy………………………………………………………………………………………4

           1.4 Objectives and Research Questions………………………………………………………………………….….9

           1.5 Context of Study…………………………………………………………………………………………………….10

II. Case Study……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..12

           2.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………….12

           2.2 Methods……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14

           2.3 Results & Discussion………………………………………………………………………………………………18

           2.4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………35

III. Experimental Study………………………………………………………………………………………………………...37

           3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………….37

           3.2 Methods……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….41

           3.3 Results…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………51

           3.4 Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….56

           3.5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………60

IV. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….62

Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..66

References…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………74

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Linguistics
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Language, Modern Education, Foreign Language Language, Linguistics
Mot-clé	pronunciation training language pedagogy second language acquisition computer-assisted language learning
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Kim, Yun, Emory University
Committee Members	Mendes, Alexander, Emory University Coropceanu, Lilia, Emory University

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