CALL Research Journal Entry #2

Today, we learned a general idea of the history of CALL. The biggest issue presented in CALL now is the gap between pedagogy and technology. Program designers, who are dexterous in designing programs, usually know very little or nothing about education. On the other hand, few educators would devote to studying the computer technology. I think it is very important to break the psychological barrier of the educators. Their unwillingness or resistance to embrace the technology blocks the path that leads to a more sophisticated CALL model. After all, how greatly the computer technology could contribute to the language teaching relies upon the successful and innovative integration of them. No doubt educators play a crucial role to serve as an interface in this task. Computer technology is a very powerful tool. Anything powerful is mostly a double-sided blade. If well applied, computer technology could be a good partner in language teaching. However, if we ignore the influence of the computer technology and cause the gap to grow deeper, it could be like a runaway horse that damages both teachers and students in language teaching and learning.