A Study Of Teacher And Learner Attitude To CALL

Effectiveness of CALL has long since been a hot topic for researchers; however, it remains a controversial issue. It seems urgent and necessary to evaluate this new teaching mode today since CALL is becoming popular in college English teaching in China. In order to systematically evaluate the currently used college English learning system, a questionnaire survey is conducted to students and teachers to seek their attitudinal data about the CALL effectiveness. And the following aspects are especially addressed: teachers'and learners'general perception of the overall effectiveness of CALL, learners'attitude to the effectiveness of CALL learning program and its weaknesses; obstacles impeding the popularizing of CALL. Observing the evaluation principles and criteria of Chapelle, this study conducts a questionnaire survey to 60 students using the Experiencing English learning system and 35 college English teachers. After statistical analysis to the valid questionnaires collected, it is found in this study: users prefer CALL to traditional teaching models; however, they do not see CALL as a worthwhile replacement of traditional teaching modes; learners generally perceive the learning on the system effective, and they find fault with the learning system in that it lacks precise and sufficient feedback and is in need of providing more opportunity for interaction; shortage of qualified soft wares and users'poor computer skills are major obstacles impeding the popularizing of CALL. It is also found in this study learners'attitudes to CALL are positively correlated with their scores in the final exam; students of different groups in terms of computing skills differ differently in their attitudes to CALL. And it is recommended in this paper that teachers'and students'training of computing skills and CALL theory should be carried out; meanwhile, the development, testing, revising, and evaluation of computer soft wares should be enhanced.