The effects of hypertextually organized CALL in cooperative learning environments

The major purpose of this study was to extend the previous research on the effects of learner control by contrasting how well university students are able to perform when working with hierarchical and hypertext CALL instructional approaches under cooperative computer-based learning environments. Performance was assessed by posttest scores, attitude scores, frequency of discussion, character of discussion, number of cards searched, amount of time spent per card, number of topics completed, and number of times cross-reference links were made.; Sixty students from three linguistics classes offered by the Department of English, Chulalongkorn University in Thailand voluntarily participated in this study. The findings of this study led to the following conclusions. (1) Hypertextually organized CALL instruction and hierarchically organized CALL instruction are equally efficient methods for teaching individual sounds of English to Thai learners in a classroom environment. (2) Hypertextually organized CALL instruction and hierarchically organized CALL instruction have an equal impact on learners' positive attitudes towards their learning and motivation. (3) Both hypertextually organized CALL instruction and hierarchically organized CALL instruction generate discussions between pairs of learners equally well. (4) Learners who experienced the hypertextually organized CALL instruction engaged in more discussion on managing strategies for accomplishing tasks than those who experienced hierarchically organized CALL instruction. Therefore, different organizational structures of CALL materials influence the students' focusing behavior. (5) Hypertextually organized CALL instruction is an extremely efficient method for highly motivated learners with high levels of learning ability. In addition, hypertextually organized CALL instruction motivates learners to exercise more reviewing behaviors than hierarchically organized CALL instruction. (6) Unless learners who experience hypertextually organized CALL instruction fully utilize the cross-referential links, less impact is made on learners' performance and attitudes.