Hundreds of top researchers from more than 46 countries will converge on Banff next week to compare keystrokes in what’s being billed as the world’s largest conference on computer-assisted language learning (CALL).
WorldCALL 2003 will be jointly hosted by the Universities of Calgary and Alberta, and will showcase more than 200 studies into the uses of computers and new media technologies used to help people learn a new language.
Other research to be presented at the May 6 to 10 conference will include developing cyber-literacy in French immersion, learning classical Japanese online and developing hybrid language courses.
The Internet has completely changed the way languages can be learned, noted Brian Gill, associate director for the U of C’s Language Research Centre. He added that developers can access the Internet’s store- house of language materials and create new ways of communicating with those who speak the language – using both text and voice.
WorldCALL is a consortium of more than seven international and continental associations dedicated to advancing the science of computer- assisted language learning.
