RECALL
(Research at Erindale in Computer-
Assisted Language Learning)
"The scholarship we pursue and share
must be perceived as the 'Information' the
world outside is so frantically seeking.
Otherwise, the difficulties we face in
defending universities in these changing
times will only grow. Teaching and
Learning in a ... classroom, and Teaching
and Learning in a Global University
promise--threaten?--to be two radically
different propositions."
( "Generation W3",
group presentation, March 1996)
REPORT ON ACTIVITIES
(1995-96)
Erindale College
University of Toronto
RECALL (Research at Erindale in Computer-Assisted Language Learning)
Department of French at Erindale College
University of Toronto in Mississauga
3359 Mississauga Road North
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario L5L 1C6
Tel.: (905) 828-5497
FAX: (905) 828-5202
e-mail: trott@chass.utoronto.ca
Since 1985, RECALL members have been in the forefront of experiments with the use of
computerized learning. With seed money from Erindale College, the Department of French,
the Centre for Computing in the Humanities, the central administration of the University of
Toronto and the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities, the team was able to establish
an experimental computer lab in which it assessed over 20 software applications, adopted
several for autonomous remedial work, developed a new course on Computer Applications
in French, created a prototype French grammar checker ( French Kit - currently acquiring
a pedagogical manual through the efforts of a funded project at the University of
Sherbrooke), set up a writing course using e-mail exchanges with Glendon College, began
requiring the use of grammar checkers ( Hugo+, Grammatique, Correcteur 101) on written
work by students, gave workshops and demonstrations to other universities and colleges on
CALL, and began the development of an on-line, multimedia anthology of French Literature
( Marianne) for its core introductory course to French Studies (FRE 180Y). Beyond the
solving of technical problems that most other units at this University are also tackling, our
project offers a uniquely coordinated, collaborative approach that allows us to address and
resolve a number of the tactical, pedagogical and curricular content problems of the current
shift to information technology.
Annual Report on Activities (1995-96)
RECALL gained access for the first time to a new, 14-position multimedia language lab in
September 1995. Through the acquisition of Macintosh Power-PC computers equipped with
DOS cards and including ethernet links to the Internet, we simultaneously bridged the
technical gaps plaguing single-platform users who struggle to take advantage of the full range
of resources currently appearing on several different horizons. Further to the achievement
of convergence per se, this event also represented a major leap from the previous decade of
limited-enrolment pilot courses to the challenge of bringing computing support to all French
learners in our programs. Predictably, since each technological breakthrough brings its own
problems, the 1995-96 term has seen the raising of several crucial issues of pedagogy,
infrastructure, management and development that must be addressed urgently.
Internal reorganization resulting from new faculty appointments in 1994-95 led to a
reinvigorated mission within the Erindale French group. Numerous collective endeavours
brought the entire membership together throughout the past academic session. Emmanuel
Nikiema, Michel Lord and Elizabeth Aubé combined a cultural evening with the launching
and demonstration of the new computer lab which drew teachers from the surrounding high
schools. Pascal Michelucci provided numerous showings of his hypermedia project,
Marianne, and has vigorously led the way toward the integration of World Wide Web
resources into all levels of French Studies. Charles Elkabas devoted part of a research leave
to writing and lecturing on CALL. Marie-Paule Ducretet steered two new undergraduate
programs on the didactics of second language acquisition through the curriculum approval
process. David Trott chaired a new multi-department users' committee for the refurbished
computer lab. The entire RECALL team combined to deliver a public lecture-demonstration
on future prospects for computer-based learning, and lobbied intensively for additional
support in the form of equipment as well as internal and external grants.
At the end of what has been a fruitful year for all, RECALL was instrumental in obtaining
a doubling of computing capacity in the Erindale Humanities lab which will increase from
14 to 29 positions in September and subsequently receive a server and improved printing
services. It is also poised to contribute a new course, "FRE 335H - Teaching and Learning
French with Technology" to the major and joint specialist programs which some of its
members will inaugurate with Italian Studies in September 1996. Three RECALL members,
Charles Elkabas, Pascal Michelucci and David Trott, will share expertise with their
colleagues on the Saint George campus as it moves to inaugurate a 35-position multimedia
lab for students at that location.
RECALL members believe that the kinds of problems we face are germane to other units
in the College and at the University. A generalized move to new information technology
raises issues of interfacing at the following levels:>
Transfer interrupted!
rner;
faculty -- machines;
academic staff -- technical support infrastructure;
home department -- other departments concurrently using same facilities;
on-campus -- off-campus [ie. worldwide];
class/lab-based learning -- autonomous/ home-based learning;
ongoing staff - temporary staff requiring on-the-job training.
As the Division of Humanities continues with its planned incorporation of technology into
its teaching and learning programs, the knowledge and experience (in the form of reports and
articles) gained from our project will be of direct relevance to other colleagues also.
1. Pedagogy.
Over a period of several years, our ultimate intention is to involve all Erindale students in the
six major, specialist and joint specialist programs offered at the college (some 350 FCE's in20 courses/sections from the 100 through to the 400 series). This implies recourse to a wide
range of tools and types of application, as well as coordinating efforts spanning the gamut
of interfaces needed.
RECALL members take the view that the effective use of computer labs for the
enhancement of French Studies requires that they be fully incorporated into the teaching-
learning process. Classroom instructors should accompany their students to the lab, and the
use of computerized tools (such as word processors and grammar checkers) should be a
required part of course work involving writing assignments. Students acquiring linguistic
proficiency by this approach will coincidentally gain the increasingly valued advantage of
familiarity with modern technology.
The introduction of computing aids in the teaching-learning process significantly changes the
interaction between instructors and students. Armed with a powerful search tool, the latter
more readily engage in self-paced inquiry with teachers who assist more than they control.
The current trend toward student-centered learning which predates the incorporation of
computerized aids into classrooms is being further intensified by the introduction of
multimedia.
Working with groups of ten to thirty students seated in front of video monitors and faced
with a mouse and keyboard requires different approaches to maintaining learning
momentum. The unpredictability of new equipment as well as student unfamiliarity with its
use very quickly result in the divergence of class focus; brief presentations using computer
screen projectors or computer-to-TV adapters prove helpful, but make considerable technical
demands on traditional classroom instructors who must display technical proficiency as well
as academic mastery of their field.
The introduction of Marianne into FRE 180Y has highlighted the tension between tight
course syllabi that aim for "coverage" of a prescribed set of concepts and texts and the need
for what Pascal Michelucci calls "more in-depth personal exploration" by students.
Michelucci foresees a shift away from "factual knowledge and monological positions" in
favour of the development of a critical perspective, the presentation of conflicting views and
the encouragement of debate among students as they encounter differing opinions. Perhaps
even more than the presentation of French literature and grammar in a hypertextual format
(allowing greater freedom of movement to curious students who more quickly encounter a
diversity of views), the continued use of e-mail correspondence with remote students by
Elizabeth Aubé (FRE 282) and David Trott (FRE 320) places learners in authentic
communicational situations where their desire to exchange ideas with a stranger leads them
to additional writing practice and more varied dialogues than in the traditional French
classroom.
2. Infrastructure.
Using a computerized classroom on a regular basis creates a significant increase in the need
for technical support. This occurs on the level of equipment configuration as well asinstallation, setup and maintenance services. Given the sophistication and variety of current
computer applications, constant monitoring is required, particularly during the academic year
when computer downtime can seriously interfere with academic progress. Furthermore, it
is important that the technical individual, or team, provided be conversant with and sensitive
to specific Humanities computing needs.
Site licences, versatile servers and limited access by students to program areas on hard disks
are required to ensure the operational integrity of equipment and software holdings. To
minimize user interference with system setups, as well as to protect against unauthorized
copying or altering of commercial programs, the disk management utility At Ease protects
the inner workings of the Macintosh partition in the lab Power-PCs. A similar protective
utility on the DOS-Windows partition limits students to the floppy disk reader (drive A) by
which they can create, edit and save their personal files. Individual departmental folders
group software titles according to the particular needs of four separate disciplines
(Anthropology, French, German, Italian).
One of the major concerns for RECALL members and their students is the ability to read
and write text which includes accented letters. As the frequently-seen technical description
"non-ascii characters" implies, e-acutes and c-cedillas create considerable problems for users
who regularly see them denied by campus servers or disfigured by cumbersome setups that
substitute unrecognizable character strings in their place. Considerable technical support and
good will is required to enable word-processing and printing in French, not to mention e-mail
exchanges with Francophone correspondents and file transfers which leave accents intact.
On the level of support services, it rapidly became obvious this year that constant equipment
and software monitoring is essential to the operation of an effective lab. While more and
more academics in the future will become familiar with the operation of software
applications in their field, they cannot be expected to configure hardware, set up complex
technical demonstrations or load multiple copies of class material into between a dozen to
30 computers. Nor can they be expected to carry out accurate troubleshooting diagnoses and
minor system repairs. In the absence of immediate off-site service for the above operations,
the most reasonable solution in our view is to provide daily, if not full-time technical support
in the computer lab.
As well as receiving proper technical support, the computer lab should have sufficient full
and part-time staffing to enable it to be kept open more than the traditional five-day week
running from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monitors are needed to allow lab users access on
evenings and weekends; as our expectations of computer-assisted work increase, not to
mention the growth in numbers of scheduled class-lab hours, longer access hours should be
provided to allow sufficient individual use of the facility. Furthermore, as off-site access
increases with the adding of a server and links to the campus backbone, services and
resources should also be provided to licensed users working from home via modems.
3. Management.
A third dimension of the incorporation of computer-assisted learning is the need to modify
course and program management. RECALL members believe it is not sufficient to send
students to work alone in computer labs that are staffed by monitors and assistants whose
connection with specific courses is at best tenuous. Students who increasingly judge course
assignments in terms of demonstrated instructor enthusiasm and "relevance-as-percentage-
of-mark" have already displayed their collective disregard for language labs (which were just
as much "state of the art" in their day as computer labs are now) by generally ignoring them
when they were offered as free access resource centres. We therefore consider it important
that computer lab sessions be much more integrated into course work than language labs ever
were.
The recommendation to integrate leads immediately to timetable administration problems.
Individual users carrying out assignments compete with scheduled classroom sessions for a
limited number of times and spaces. The problem is made more complex by the sharing of
a single computing facility among several different disciplines, with the result that we now
have to anticipate specific days and times on course schedules, and book them in advance,
to avoid colliding with other courses and departments.
Our lab records indicate that some 4,000 (3,944 precisely) person computing sessions (1
student working for 15 minutes to several uninterrupted hours=1 session or "hit") occurred
in the 1995-96 term; these involved the use of the new, 14-position facility (74.5%) and the
original pilot lab with its assortment of outdated computers (25.5 %). Just under 20% (19.4
precisely) of these "hits" were in formal classes, with the remaining 80% being taken up by
individual users working unsupervised. In view of the fact that a major increase of scheduled
class sessions is being projected for 1996-97, the pressures already encountered in attempting
to balance individual and group users promise to increase in spite of the doubling of the
number of new computers available for the coming term.
Rather than deploy all new computers in a single location, we have decided to place a small
number in an adjoining space (the old pilot lab) to allow for some individual work while the
computer lab is in use for scheduled classes. We see this as an interim accommodation that
could become less necessary as the numbers of students working from home or residences
via modem increases.
A further management problem to be addressed is the provision of networking facilities to
all users; this includes e-mail services, World Wide Web access, server access from off-site
locations and printing and word-processing possibilities across the campus. We require our
students to obtain their personal e-mail account from the college, then to use their entry
number and password for all additional services. The monitoring of individual user patterns
and expenses incurred cannot be handled within the realm of our single group of computing
students.
4. Development.
On the basis of a considerable amount of hands-on experience in classroom situations since
1986 we are confident that the University can make a more serious and concerted move into
systematic use of information technology. RECALL has been able to accomplish much with
the seed money it has received over the years, but in the final analysis, we have had to
pursue the move to technology on shoestring budgets, without adequate technical support
and while pursuing career objectives required by the University that have not been
compatible with a mandate to enhance our teaching programs with new technologies. If now
the University is serious about shifting its focus, our experience tells us that it can be done,
how to do some of it, but that it will need a truly major application of resources to be
accomplished. RECALL members are committed to make the changeover where it must
truly count: in all their classrooms. At the same time, they remain anxious to provide aid and
to collaborate in the realization of more costly program and equipment development on the
St. George campus where the establishment of a fully equipped and adequately supported
computing lab for French Studies is now underway.
The next stage in the University's shift in the direction of computer-assisted teaching and
learning must include an assessment of whole-unit switchovers in addition to specific course
and individual instructional tool development. As the cost of taking the latter beyond the
prototype stage becomes increasingly prohibitive--$30,000 to $40,000 for the further
development of Marianne--for a research-oriented team, RECALL will maintain the
application and theorizing thrust of its inception. Accordingly, these are the goals we intend
to pursue in a widened collaborative thrust during the 1996-97 term:
- To incorporate the array of instructional tools with which RECALL is familiar,
and of which Marianne, grammar checking software, and e-mail will serve as
centrepieces, into the entire undergraduate French program at Erindale.
- To develop brief "how to..." manuals and video instruction clips to assist with
the initiation to the computer lab.
- To coordinate RECALL sub-projects (in second-language acquisition, reading
analysis and literary text retrieval, linguistic studies, distance learning and didactics)
with parallel research elsewhere via networking.
- To include the knowledge gained by the incorporation of information technology
into the new joint specialist program on Teaching and Learning French and
Italian.
- To develop WWW-based course materials in semantics (Marie-Paule Ducretet)
and lexicology (T.R. Wooldridge) in the context of an effort to examine the
possibilities in distance education which the Web facilitates.
- To continue the primary mission of RECALL, which is to analyze and reflect
on the incorporation of new information technology into the general area of French Studies.
June 1996
David Trott,
Director of RECALL
LIST OF RECALL MEMBERS (1995-96)
Elizabeth Aubé
Marie-Paule Ducretet
Charles Elkabas
Michel Lord
Pascal Michelucci
Emmanuel Nikiema
David Trott (Director)
CURRENT SOFTWARE HOLDINGS & SOFTWARE ON ORDER
At Ease
Auteurs français
Clef
Collins on-line French-English Dictionary
ComPOST
Déredec
Dictate
Director 4.0.3
Fetch
French Kit
French Pronunciation Tutor
Hugo Plus
Hypercard 2.2
Grammaire informatisée (IVY)
La Communication écrite
La Disquette linguistique
Le Correcteur 101
McDrill Master
Mise au Point
MTAS
Netscape
Orthograf +
Prompt
Real Audio
Signalize
TACT 1.2
TextureScape 1.5
Verbapuce
Word 5.1 (for Macintosh)
Word Patterns
WordPerfect 4.2 (French version)
WordPerfect 5.1
WordPerfect 3.1 (for Macintosh)
LIST OF PAPERS, PUBLICATIONS AND SOFTWARE
SINCE 1985
1. Papers, Demonstrations and Invited Lectures.
Aubé, Elizabeth, Christine Besnard, Charles Elkabas & Sylvie Rosienski-Pellerin,
"Traitement de texte, correcteurs et échanges électroniques: pour une pratique
authentique de l'écrit", International colloquium on L2 Speaking and Writing,
Université d'Ottawa, December 13, 1995.
Ducretet, Marie-Paule, Charles Elkabas & David Trott, "Programme, ne vois-tu rien
venir?.... ou Intégration de l'enseignement assisté par ordinateur à l'apprentissage
du français langue seconde", Glendon College, York University, March 13, 1991.
---------------, ---- & ----, On-site Workshop for Glendon College French Department
faculty members, Erindale College Language Laboratory, April 16, 1991.
---------------, ---- & ----, "La Technologie au service de l'enseignement/apprentissage
du français langue seconde: Survol du projet RECALL, 1985-91", APFUCC
(Association des Professeurs de Français des Universités et Collèges
Canadiens), Learned Societies, Queen's University, Kingston, May 29, 1991.
Elkabas, Charles, "Interrogation sur la pédagogie de l'enseignement assisté par
ordinateur", GERSELF (Groupe d'Étude et de Recherche sur l'Enseignement de la Langue
Française), University of Toronto, October 26, 1987.
--------------- & T.R. Wooldridge, "Le français en contexte, ou l'ALAO (Apprentissage
des Langues Assisté par Ordinateur) avec TACT", APFUCC (Association des
Professeurs de Français des Université et Collèges Canadiens), Learned Societies,
Carleton University, June 1, 1993.
--------------- & ------, "La lecture assistée par ordinateur: un modèle pratique
d'application", GRALEF (Groupe de Recherche sur l'Apprentissage et l'Enseignement
du Français) / CST (Centre for the Support of Teaching), Glendon College, October 28,
1993.
----------------, C. Besnard & S. Rosienski, "The Acquisition of Writing by e-mail",
Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, University of British
Columbia, June 1994.
-----------------, "Second-Language Learning via E-mail" (Panel Discussion on "Adapting
to the Changing Internet"), Global Learning Networks in the Language Curriculum -
A Conference for Teachers and Researchers of Second Language Learning,
Language Learning Research Centre at New College, University of Toronto, May 3,
1996.
Leslie, Peter, Janet M. Paterson & David Trott, "Possible Uses of Micro-Computers in
the Humanities: A Selective Introduction", Victoria College, University of Toronto,
November 24, 1986.
-----------------, "PROMPT: la compréhension écrite à l'ordinateur", APFUCC
(Association des Professeurs de Français des Universités et Collèges Canadiens),
Learned Societies, McMaster University, May 27, 1987.
Paterson, Janet M. & David Trott, "L'Ordinateur littéraire: considérations
méthodologiques sur l'utilisation du micro-ordinateur dans une classe de littérature",
APFUCC & ACLQ, Learned Societies, University of Manitoba, May 31, 1986.
------------------- & ----, "The Use of Computers for Textual Analysis in a Literature Class:
Practical and Methodological Considerations", McMaster University, March 23, 1987.
Trott, David, "Language in the Graffigny Letters: Some Reflections on a Computerized
Approach", Annual Meeting of American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies,
University of Toronto, April 1985.
------------------- & RECALL colleagues, "Generation W3: Teaching and Learning in
the Global University", Humanities at Noon series, Erindale College, March 4,
1996.
2. Publications.
Ducretet, Marie-Paule, Charles Elkabas & David Trott, "La Technologie au service de
l'enseignement/apprentissage du français langue seconde: Survol du projet
RECALL, 1985-91", The Canadian Modern Language Review / La Revue
canadienne des langues vivantes, vol. 48, no. 4, (1992) pp. 719-735.
Elkabas, Charles, "L'Enseignement des langues assisté par ordinateur: nouvelle
pédagogie?", The Canadian Modern Language Review / La Revue canadienne des
langues vivantes, vol. 45, no. 2, (1989) pp. 258-70.
(this article has been re-published in L'Apprentissage et l'enseignement des
langues. Les liens entre la théorie et la pratique, Sally Rehorick et Viviane
Edwards, (North York: CMLR/RCLV, 1995), pp. 9-22.)
----------- & T.R. Wooldridge, "Le français en contexte avec TACT", The Canadian
Modern Language Review / La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 52, 2,
January 1996, pp. 224-247.
------------ & ----, "Le français en contexte: Le Chien jaune de G. Simenon. Manuel et
Base de données", (Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press), Forthcoming.
------------, Christine Besnard & Sylvie Rosienski-Pellerin, "Students' Empowerment:
E-mail Exchange and the Development of Writing Skills", Mosaic - A journal
for Language Teachers, Winter 1996, pp. 8-12.
Paterson, Janet M. & David Trott, "L'Ordinateur littéraire: considérations méthodologiques
sur l'utilisation du micro-ordinateur dans une classe de littérature", Enjeux, no. 12, mai
1987, pp. 133-47.
Siemerling, Winfried, Artificial Intelligence in the Humanities: A Practical Introduction
to Déredec, Toronto: Department of French, University of Toronto, 1989, 55
pp.
-------------, Pamela Russell & David Trott, French Kit. Users' manual, with selected
texts and appendix, Forthcoming.
Trott, David, "French Studies and the Computer: Bridging the Gap between Second
Language Learning and Advanced Text Analysis", Computers and the
Humanities: Today's Research, Tomorrow's Teaching (Proceedings), Toronto: Centre for
Computing in the Humanities, 1986, pp. 72-81.
---------, "La SATOR et l'informatique: expériences, directions et perspectives", Colloque
de la SATOR à Fordham (Actes du 3e colloque international de la SATOR, Université
Fordham, 25-28 juillet 1989), éd. Jean Macary, Biblio 17, Papers on French Seventeenth
Century Literature, Paris-Seatle-Tùbingen, 1991, pp. 9-14.
3. Software.
Michelucci, Pascal & Thomas Reynier, Marianne - a multimedia presentation of French
texts and authors from the Middles Ages to the Nineteenth Century.
------------, ComPOST - a four-part Director presentation gathering some 2000 real, student-
generated grammatical mistakes which sorts errors by grammatical "stumbling blocks", and
which guides users through a critical correction of these errors. ComPOST should be
available as freeware by September 1996.
Siemerling, Winfried, David Trott & William Winder, French Kit - a prototype elementary
parser for French texts. A user's manual is currently being prepared.
Last updated: June 24, 1996