Chinese University Students Towards Call Attitude Of Case Studies

CALL has experienced three phases in the westem countries,which are behavioristic CALL, communicative CALL and integrativeCALL respectively In China, the research and practice in this aspect beganat the end of l970's and have made rapid progress since the end of l980's.Learning theories which support CALL have been discussed, an amount oflanguage learning software developed, leaming patterns explored, andeffects of CALL researched. However, much work still needs doing toimprove CALL in China.The paper presents a case study that uses survey methods to examinethe attitudes of Chinese college students toward CALL and their interestlevel with the multimedia software they worked with. The intention of thispaper is to produce reflections on the improvement of the software designin China and the switching of teachers' role from that of traditionalclassroom to CALL environment.It is found out that students have positive attitudes toward CALL andthey have very high interest level with the software "2l^st Century CollegeEngish". Further analysis supports the frequently-cited motivating aspectsof computer-assisted instruction:(l) the novelty of working with a newmedium, (2) the individualized nature of computer-assisted instruction;(3)the opportunities for learner control and (4) the less threateningvlenvironment provided by comPuter-assisted insmiction. On the other hand,some draWbacks are shown in the research, such as (1) the lack of realcommunication betWeen students and the insmictor and among studentSthemselves; (2) the lack of communication betWeen learners and comPuters,(3) the inflexible feedback offerd in the software.The main thrust of this paPer is to suggest the imProvemellt of thelangUage software design and to examine teachers' role under CALLenvironInnt. ln the end, direction for the fufor research is suggested.