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Article published In:
Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 8:2 (2019) ► pp.137–162

Effectiveness of a dynamic usage based computer assisted language program

| University of Sri Jayewardenepura
| University of Groningen
| University of Groningen
ORCID logo | University of Groningen

The current paper explores whether a Dynamic Usage Based (DUB) approach – which takes authentic meaningful language use with repetition and scaffolding for comprehension as its basis – can also be implemented in a CALL environment. The effectiveness of the DUB-CALL program was tested in a semester-long experiment, comparing it with a teacher-fronted DUB program (using the same materials as the CALL program) and a traditional CLT program; 228 university undergraduates in Sri Lanka participated. Language gains were assessed in a pre-post design with an objective General English Proficiency (GEP) test and a writing task. The results show that the students in the DUB-CALL condition performed significantly better on the GEP test than the students in the two teacher-fronted classes. The results of the writing tests show that all groups improved significantly, but here there were no differences among groups.

Keywords: computer assisted language learning, dynamic usage based approach, L2 instruction, effectiveness study
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Rationale for a dynamic usage based teaching approach
  • 3.Principles of a DUB teaching approach
    • Competing attentional resources and exposure first
    • Frequency of exposure through repetition
    • Associative learning through real life exemplars
    • Comprehension and noticing through teacher scaffolding
  • 4.Rationale for a DUB-CALL program
  • 5.The study
    • 5.1Subjects/participants
    • 5.2Teacher participants
    • 5.3Instructional materials
      • 5.3.1DUBc and DUBp
      • 5.3.2tCLT
    • 5.4Measures and procedures
  • 6.Analysis approach
    • 6.1Results
      • GEP scores
      • Writing scores
  • 7.Discussion and conclusion
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 11 April 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.16018.irs
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