Computer Assisted Second Language Learning: A Multimedia Interactive Environment for Teaching Greek as a Second Language

Maria Tzevelekou Vicky Chondroyanni Stefanos Paschalis

Computer Assisted Second Language Learning: A Multimedia Interactive Environment for Teaching Greek as a Second Language
Maria Tzevelekou Vicky Chondroyanni Stefanos Paschalis

Paper Presented at The Eighth International Literacy & Education Research Network Conference on Learning, Dimotiko Skolio of Spetses, Spetses, Greece, 4-8 July 2001

Offprint from: Learning for the Future Proceedings of the Learning Conference 2001 Edited by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis

www.LearningConference.com

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Computer Assisted Second Language Learning: A Multimedia Interactive Environment for Teaching Greek as a Second Language
Maria Tzevelekou Vicky Chondroyanni Stefanos Paschalis

Paper Presented at The Eighth International Literacy & Education Research Network Conference on Learning, Dimotiko Skolio of Spetses, Spetses, Greece, 4-8 July 2001

Learning for the Future Proceedings of the Learning Conference 2001 3

Computer Assisted Second Language Learning: A Multimedia Interactive Environment for Teaching Greek as a Second Language

Maria Tzevelekou Vicky Chondroyanni Stefanos Paschalis

1. Introduction The aim of this paper is twofold: a) to give an overview of the process of introducing educational technology into the minority schools of Thrace, a remote and underdeveloped area of Greece, and b) to present the process of constructing a computer system for teaching Greek as a second language to children having Turkish as a native language. The objective of the project1 under discussion was the construction of an integrated computer assisted language learning system. Its specific outcome consists of two multimedia-disks (CD-ROMs): 1. A knight in the castle of letters, addressed to children from 7-9 years old. 2. A knight in the castle of words, designed for children from 10 to 12 years old.

The above educational systems were developed by the Educational Technology Department of the Institute for Language and Speech Processing and are currently used in the minority schools of Thrace and in certain multicultural schools of Athens.

This program was developed within the framework of a general educational reform project for the Muslim minority in Greece, initiated by the Greek Ministry of Education and the European Union and carried out by the University of Athens.

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2. Principles and objectives Design and development was carried out along the following guiding principles: a. Greek should be taught as a second language, without prerequisite of previous knowledge. b. Native language (i.e. Turkish) should optionally appear in the system as a support language. c. Language literacy should be viewed within the technological environment provided by the computer. d. The system should help the children acquire a certain degree of computer literacy. e. The system should be autonomous, i.e. it should contain all the information required for the interpretation and the handling of linguistic material. f. It should allow the learner to regulate her/his exposure to manageable amounts of language. g. It should provide evaluation procedures, such as immediate feedback and tools showing the degree of coverage and the general performance of the pupil (Stubbs 1992). h. It should be playful and rewarding. i. An effort should be made in order to avoid cultural stereotypes, often observed in methods of language teaching The main objectives for introducing a computer-assisted language learning system in the minority schools were the following: i. To improve teaching and learning by using the computer as a tool that can enrich existing teaching practices and open up new ways of presenting linguistic information. To promote a self-determined learning instrument that can be used collectively at school, as well as individually at home. To increase motivation by supporting a decision making and problem solving activity. To have an effect on the cognitive level by providing a combinatorial environment. In order to operate in this environment, children should learn how to handle and evaluate different types of non-linear information. To help the children acquire a certain degree of computer literacy. This knowledge may be a valuable ingredient in their curriculum, and may help them to cope more effectively with the demands of their scholarly and professional life. To give access to information by introducing basic features of information technology. Access to information would eventually lead to a greater individual freedom and to the breakdown of rigid and standardised classroom practices.

ii. iii. iv.

v.

vi.

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3. Why use a Computer-Assisted Language Learning system (CALL) in the classrooms of this particular area? The idea of integrating software packages in the minority schools curriculum was received with ironic comments on the incongruity of introducing computers in an area with vital socio-economic problems, such as high degree of illiteracy, poverty and isolation.

The obstacles were indeed plenty.

Schools did not have the necessary

infrastructure to support computer equipment. Major difficulties also emerged in organising a steady technical support for computer systems, especially in remote areas. In addition, the majority of teachers were not familiarised with new technologies.

3.1 Arguments and counter-arguments Besides the practical side of the issue, many objections were raised concerning social and educational side effects deriving from computer use. In an area where children need to socialise, computer was considered as a device that promotes individualistic attitudes. Furthermore, computer use was felt as a threat to the relationship between teacher and pupil and to classroom collective activities.

A second set of negative reactions derives mainly from considerations in terms of investment return. Social as well as pedagogical expectations from introducing computers into primary schools were regarded as panacea of technology (Snyder 1999, Murray & Barnes 1998). Moreover, the high cost of producing an almost immaterial product - immaterial in the sense that the contents of a CD-ROM are inaccessible without the proper equipment was, and still is - considered as a fruitless investment.

Although, these arguments point out to a number of possible negative aspects concerning computer use, they should be weighed up against advantages that follow from the use of information technology in the particular setting of

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minority schools. Besides the educational advantages, there is a social factor worth taking into account: the distribution of information technology in regions facing problems, might have a positive effect and might be seen by people who have suffered from social prejudice and impoverishment, as an attempt to reduce social divisions and to increase individual opportunity by giving more people access to information.

From the educational point of view, it is clear that computers promote a student-centred way of learning, and in this particular sense we might say that the teacher is no longer the key factor of the learning process (Drenoyianni & Selwood 1998). In the context of minority schools, however, the relationship between teacher and pupil has not always a positive effect on educational process. Most teachers fail to recognise the cultural identity of children, and all too readily assign particularities in behaviour and learning difficulties into inferior intellectual capacities. Consequently, no learning flow can be established between the main participants in the educational process.

It is clear that technology cannot solve these problems. It can, however, create a learning environment where social conflicts are neutralised, or, to be more accurate, they are temporarily suspended. Thus, childrens energy is focused on learning and not on handling matters of social antagonism.

Secondly, information technology allows children to work in their own pace, to organise their learning approach in a way that corresponds to their needs, to their interests and to their proper faculties, without the paralysing effect of academic evaluation. On the other hand, the educational software provides an evaluation procedure, i.e. an immediate feedback, which helps the learner assess her/his performance.

Thirdly, linguistic information provided by the computer software is modular, with multiple links and joints forming a comprehensive system which reflects more accurately and in a more systematic way the actual linguistic organisation, than does, for instance, the sequential linear presentation found

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in printed books. Moreover, with hypertext techniques, different kinds of information may be hidden or revealed, according to the interests of the user.

Fourthly, via computers, written texts are merged with audio sequence and graphics. Thus, effective ostensive techniques and different strategies are available in constructing new ways of representing knowledge.

And last, but not least, a CALL system introduces new literacy practices. Parallel to language teaching, computer use provides a certain degree of awareness concerning information technology.

4. Linguistic Infrastructure
As mentioned in section 2, an effort was made to set up an integrated language learning system. The term integrated used in this context refers both to the autonomous use of the system and to a coherent and layered set of linguistic information.

As far as the former feature is concerned, it is worth noting that every linguistic item appearing in the program is defined either by means of the support language or by a statement of its meaning or essential properties. The latter feature refers to a stratified coverage of linguistic knowledge. A predetermined hierarchy, a syllabus that establishes a sequential learning of linguistic phenomena was set up. This syllabus was fleshed out in a creative way by the famous childrens book author Eugene Trivizas. Eugene Trivizas wrote, for this specific purpose, a stimulating quest narrative that, in the multimedia environment, was converted to a game. This narrative, even if it is created within the narrow limits of grammatical and lexical specifications, has been written by a talented author, who considered the specifications provided by the linguistic team rather as a challenge than as a barrier. By using poetic2

The term poetic is based on the definition given by Jakobson (1960), i.e. the projection of paradigmatic to syntagmatic axis.

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techniques he brought out in an amusing way the essential features of linguistic phenomena under consideration.

5. Syllabus structure
Intermediate successive grammars constructed by second language learners are subject to two kinds of pressure: The structure of native language interferes with the learning of the second. The typology of the second language. SLA researchers consider intermediate grammars as an

Whether

interlanguage or an interference phenomenon, the learning of the second language clearly involves some degree of recategorisation (Culioli 1977). Learning Greek as a second language by Turkish native speakers requires a wide range of recategorisation. The structural differences between the two languages explain to a large extend the number and the type of difficulties encountered. Turkish is an agglutinate language while Greek is an inflectional one. This typological difference between the two languages is reflected both in the relation between morphemes and meaning and in the way major syntactic categories are constructed. Furthermore, in the phonetic level, phonemes that appear in the Greek phonological system do not appear in Turkish. Therefore, the syllabus that served as a starting point for the texts is based: (a) On idiosyncratic features of Greek grammar, especially the complex inflectional system. (b) On linguistic deviations (phonetic, grammatical, syntactic or lexical) observed during our work in schools. 3 (c) On the syllabus of the primary education established by the Greek Ministry of Education.

5.1 Grammatical categories driven grammar

In the grammar component, emphasis is given in the presentation of grammatical categories, such as gender, case, tense, aspect, person, number etc. which are expressed in Greek by highly fusional inflectional morphemes.

Many of these deviations are analogous to the deviations observed by Stephany 1997, in the process of acquisition of Greek as a native language.

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Syntactic structures and grammatical functions are determined by the distribution of these morphemes along linguistic sequences. This particular way of organising the grammar is based on the assumption that the crucial part of the Greek grammar is the interface between morphology and syntax/semantics.

5.2 Basic vocabulary

The choice of vocabulary used in the systems went through different phases. The initial list of lexical items, which served as a basis for Eugene Trivizas, was constructed according to the following principles: (a) All inflectional paradigms should appear in the corpus. Therefore, a list of lexical items exemplifying the inflectional paradigms was set up. (b) All phonemes or phonetic clusters that present difficulties should appear in the corpus. Therefore, a second list with words containing specific phonetic features was established. E. Trivizas chose some of the words from the list and wrote the texts. All words appearing in texts became lexical entries in the dictionary. Lexical entries were followed by examples of use. Words appearing in the examples were introduced in the dictionary as lexical entries. The recursive nature of the process was blocked in the third series of words. A fourth list of lexical items was set up in order to integrate in the system a basic vocabulary based on the following thematic areas: home, school, locations (organised, natural), transport, sports /leisure time, animals / insects, cloths / jewellery, body and face, quantity / measures, plants, natural phenomena, professions / occupations, food and beverage, kinship relations, time, materials / colours / shapes, location in space, health The current bilingual dictionary contains 4.200 entries

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6. Design of the system 6.1 Interactive activity as a contribution to the plot

As mentioned before, each CD-ROM is based on a tale of quest consisting of eight and sixteen episodes respectively. The plot goes as follows: a knight in order to decipher the messages of his beloved princess has to gain a certain number of letters, in the first part, or words, in the second part. In his attempt to find the missing parts of the messages, the knight visits the rooms of an imaginary castle or the residences in an imaginary country. In each room or residence he encounters strange creatures and undergoes various

adventures. Finally, letters and words come to his possession after he has gone through, with the child's help, certain "ordeals", which, in this case, are grammar, phonetic and vocabulary exercises.

The development of the story demands the participation of the user, while the plot of both fairytales is the thread that holds the various parts together and gives the user the boost to continue in order to find out the end of each story. The pupil has the possibility to see and hear the fairytale as it unfolds, as well as plan her/his way through the various rooms or buildings. Thus, s/he becomes aware of the autonomy of her/his decisions and choices and gets to see their results.

6.2 Modules, components and functionality of the system

The system comprises five modules: the fairytale narration, the parallel text, i.e. the translation into Turkish, the exercises, the grammar, and the bilingual dictionary. It contains also some additional components serving as signposts that help the users in their orientation in the browsing environment.

6.2.1 Fairytale narration The narration, read by various professional actors, appears in written form at the bottom of the screen. This module enables the user to follow the plot of

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the story. The user can adjust the rhythm of the narrative by clicking on a button.

6.2.2 Parallel texts Each time the user stops the narration the parallel texts appear. The parallel texts consist of the text in Greek and its translation into the support language. In this section the user can control the reception of the information concerning the previous story narration. S/he can gradually read and listen to each sentence that appears and at the same time read its Turkish translation.

6.2.3 Bilingual Dictionary

Full words that appear in the parallel texts are highlighted and underlined. This notation indicates that these specific words are also listed in the incorporated bilingual dictionary, which is linked to the parallel texts and can be retrieved by clicking on each highlighted word.

Each word listed in the bilingual dictionary is followed by a set of information: (a) Grammatical information (part of speech, inflectional forms which are considered difficult for foreign learners, hyphenation). (b) Examples of different uses. (c) Pronunciation of the word. (d) Turkish equivalent. (e) A photo or a drawing (when this is possible).
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Different uses may correspond to different illustrations as well as to different translation equivalents.

As mentioned before, all the words used in the examples are included in the bilingual dictionary. Consequently, the dictionary has a robust internal linkage.

There are five ways of retrieving a word: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. By clicking on the parallel texts By clicking on the words of the examples By typing the word By scrolling down the vocabulary list By choosing one of the letters of the alphabet the user will be automatically transferred to the first word of each letter.

The variety of ways for searching and looking up a word allows the user to develop her/his own way of retrieving and acquiring information.

6.2.4 Grammar
Grammar is integrated into the software as a book, which can be recalled by the help or the grammar button on the navigation bar. It has the outlook of an unfolded papyrus, on which each grammatical phenomenon is described

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on a single page. All the phenomena covered in the grammar are gathered in the table of contents.

In the grammar book different fonts, sizes or colours indicate the important parts of the phenomenon under consideration. This pattern is used in order to help the user focus on the different items and to enhance the storage of the information in her/his visual memory. Similarly, internal links are used in order to demonstrate the relation among the various phenomena covered in the grammar. By clicking on a highlighted word, the user can be instantly transferred to the related linguistic phenomenon. The independent navigation in the grammar book is facilitated by the incorporation of additional buttons, which give the user the possibility to decide whether s/he would prefer to go through all the grammatical phenomena in a consecutive way or jump from and to the different parts of the grammar.

6.2.5 Exercises
The grammatical phenomena covered by the texts are being tested in the exercise section. The immediate correction of the exercises allows instant and continuous feedback. One or more grammar pages covering the phenomenon under consideration are linked to the exercise. Each time the user needs help, while trying to solve an exercise, s/he may instantly be transferred to the relevant page

In order to cover most aspects of language skill, different types of exercises have been incorporated: (a) Phonetic exercises (acoustic and recording) which encourage interactive use and provide the possibility for self-assessment and evaluation. (b) Lexical exercises, where the user using the drag and drop technique matches words to objects and to their acoustic forms. (c) Grammatical exercises. (d) Word Formation exercises. (e) Semantic exercises. Although the testing techniques adopted are rather simple and do not require complex procedures of data handling, they can be regarded as an introduction

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to a new technological environment where new skills are being acquired. The user learns how to carry out a set of explicit instructions. Furthermore, the

non-linear construction of the exercises with the possibility to hear the instructions, to use another module, i.e. the grammar, or to exit the exercise, gives the user the chance to develop new strategies for handling the information provided.

6.3 Free navigation

In order to give the user the possibility of self-planning, the system allows free navigation through its main modules and auxiliary components. This possibility generates different modes of seeking and retrieving information.

The navigation through the various components of the software is realised either by a hidden toolbar or by indices, such as an arrow, a hearer, a hand, a door, underlined or highlighted words, etc. On the toolbar, an icon followed by its verbal description represents each module and component, i.e. the message of the princess, the translation, the dictionary, the texts, the grammar and the exercise instructions. A number of complementary buttons, such as the back, the first page, the continue or the exit button are designed in order to facilitate the modular navigation.

As the child goes from the first to the second CD-ROM, s/he experiences a greater freedom in data handling. Similarly, the plot becomes more complex and its deployment follows various paths. The knight is no longer restricted in the interior of the Castle of Letters, but goes on a journey and visits various buildings, with the Castle of Words being his final end. In the course of his journey, he has the possibility to explore different cultures by meeting people (a French painter, an English detective, a Dutch dancer, a Danish whalesaver etc) and by hearing and reading traditional folk tales, such as A story by Nastredin Hotza, The Princess and the Pea, The Rabbit and the Turtle and The Little Red Riding Hood. S/he also has the possibility to get pragmatic information concerning countries, monuments and authors.

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Correspondingly, the general structure of A Knight in the Castle of Words is different from the structure of A Knight in the Castle of Letters. The user has an overall view of the program. The range as well as the nature of the options is characterised by a greater degree of diversity and variety, e.g. the user has the opportunity to select among different buildings, exercises, and even games, such as tic-tac-toe, hangman, mastermind and naval battle.

In addition, in the Castle of Letters the exercises are ordered in a stable sequence without a possibility of deviation from it. In the Castle of Words the user has the possibility to choose from a variety of exercises corresponding to each room or building. Furthermore, the exercise requirements are not restricted to grammatical phenomena, but they also cover pragmatic information about countries, cities and monuments, authors and people from different parts of the world with a variety of cultural backgrounds.

6.4 Computer literacy

As far as computer literacy is concerned, the user gets progressively acquainted with information handling techniques, such as filling, classification and matching, alphabetic ordering, lists of contents, indices, symbols etc.

Furthermore, by learning to navigate through the various rooms or buildings appearing in the system, the user becomes acquainted with a restricted language use which gives her/him an insight into another frame where language can be deployed (Kukulska-Hume 2000). For instance the button help is an item of the ordinary language, which in this particular contexts refers exclusively to grammar help.

7. Concluding remarks
The above-presented educational CALL systems were used experimentally in fourteen schools, all of them located in remote areas. Even though they were originally accepted with enthusiasm, their use was not introduced in the curriculum on a regular basis. Their integration in the classroom practice was only partial, and went on decreasing as the contact between teachers and the

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members of the team who created the CD-ROMs strung out. The teaching staff wasnt ready to face the technical problems which arose and, thus, many computers ended up in teachers offices and were used for administrative work or recreation.

This situation did not allow a proper and objective evaluation of the CALL systems with respect to the target group, even though the software was awarded a 9 on a scale to 10 in an evaluation conducted by a distinguished magazine specialised in IT matters 4. In this respect, only the technical and the linguistic features were assessed and not its actual effectiveness.

A systematic assessment of the program efficiency could not be realised unless two preliminary conditions are fulfilled: a) a stable technical support for computer hardware and software, and b) the education of the teachers in computer use. In order to answer questions such as In what degree does the educational software promote language literacy? or Does the pupil acquire certain skills in computers use?, we first have to address the question What is the teachers behaviour towards computers in the classroom, and to what degree, if any, do they believe that computers promote language teaching?.

As Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991) have justly pointed out, integration and implementation of any educational innovation into existing practices depends heavily on the teachers. The integration of the educational software in the classroom environment requires a strategy: it should be carefully planned and it should be supported both by a technical infrastructure and by a continuing professional development of the teachers.

RAM, January 2002

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References
Culioli, A. (1977) Why teach how to learn to teach what is best learnt untaught, Confrence au Seameo Regional Language Centre, Singapour. Drenoyianni, H. and I.D. Selwood (1998) Conceptions and misconceptions? Primary teachers perceptions and use of computers in the classroom, Education and Information Technology 3, pp. 87-99. Fullan, M and S. Stiegelbauer (1991) The New Meaning of Educational Change, London: Cassell Educational Ltd. Jakobson, R. (1960) Linguistics and Poetics in Sebeok, A.T., 1960, Style in Language, MIT Press. Kukulska-Hulme, A. (2000) Communication with users: insights from second language acquisition, Interacting with Computers 12, pp.587-599. Murray, L. and A. Barnes (1998) Beyond the wow factor evaluating multimedia language learning software from a pedagogical viewpoint, System 26, pp. 249-259. Selfe, S. (1999) Global literacy practices? Cultural perspectives on the World Wide Web, Conference on Communication - Information Technology and First Language Teaching: The International Experience, Salonica. Snyder, I. (1999) Literacy, technology and classrooms: The challenge for teachers, Conference on Communication - Information Technology and First Language Teaching: The International Experience, Salonica. Stefany, U. (1997) The acquisition of Greek in Slobin, D. I. (ed.) The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Stubbs, M. (1992) English Teaching, Information Technology and Critical Awareness, in Fairclough, N. (ed.) (1992) Critical Language Awareness, London and New York: Longman, pp. 203-222. Tzevelekou, _. (2000) Integrating Language Tools into a Computer Assisted 2nd Language Learning: Remarks on the Methods of Teaching Greek in the Primary Schools of the Turkish-speaking Minority of Thrace Second International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation, Language Resources and Tools for Educational Applications, Workshop Proceedings, 2000.

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