Maintaining the dialogue

In 1999, Bridges To China, a 40-unit, intermediate level, Web-based course in Modern Standard Chinese was produced. The design drew on the work of Vygotsky, Bruner and Halliday for an integrated linguistic, learning and instructional framework. The course is now being extended to a standalone CD-ROM version, with consequent loss of peer interaction and live teacher guidance. Access to other people in joint involvement episodes (Schaffer, 1996) was fundamental to the goals of the original course. Consequently, attempts have been made to “maintain the dialogue” in the CD-ROM course. The paper will report the trialling of one such attempt: an innovative mode of self-assessment in tasks of length where the learner’s efforts are novel, using annotated sample texts generated by other students. The trials show that using annotated samples facilitated by the computer allows learners to assess their own work, learn a great deal from the language used by others, identify and even correct formal errors of their own, and enjoy contact with virtual classmates. The result means that a major limitation on CD-ROM CALL design can be considerably lessened.

Published online: 01 January 2003
https://doi.org/10.1075/aralss.17.03ort