A Case Study Of EFL Learners' Perceptions Of CALL-based Writing Instruction: Voices From Six Students In A Senior High School In Shenzhen

In order to investigate Chinese learners' perceptions of CALL-based Writing Instruction,explore the factors contributing to learners' perceptions and further the research of computer-assisted language learning(CALL),this study adopted a case study,which was carried out in a senior high school in Shenzhen,China and the participants are Chinese learners studying English as a Foreign Language(EFL).The research was conducted by implementing a CALL-based English writing course,which lasted for a week during the winter vacation.During the course,six Senior-two Chinese students participated in a CALL program framed on the process approach to teaching writing.In the classes,students were guided to select a writing topic,navigate the Internet to find relevant information,write drafts,evaluate peers' essays via Wechat,and revise their works online.The data were collected from reflective learning journals and interviews.The learners were asked to write a reflective journal,regarding knowledge,skills and experiences they gained from the course and their perceptions of the use of new technologies,and their feelings about them in Chinese immediately prior to the dismissal of each class to ensure truthfulness,accuracy,and reliability of data.Besides,interviews were used as supplement to learning journals and an effective method in understanding complex and deep issues because it gathered information that was difficult to be explained,including participants' feeling,interpretation of certain events and description of past events.Two kinds of interviews via Wechat were carried out.One was follow-up interviews,which were conducted after analyzing the journals of each period and the other was focus-group interviews as a means to expand results gathered after analyzing all the learning journals and the individual interviews.Analyses of these journals and interviews indicated that despite some limitations,CALL was a helpful tool for learning writing.The students reported to a higher level of preferences of CALL-based Writing Instruction because of the following aspects:(1)the easy accessibility,(2)a helpful peer learning atmosphere,(3)a better and authentic language-learning environment and(4)the process writing approach after one winter vacation e-learning experience.Some Limitations and suggestions for creating better CALL-based instruction in L2 education are also given by the participants.In addition,factors that might have affected students' perceptions were also explored by adopting GTA(grounded-theory analysis)and AD(Affinity Diagram).The results showed that factor covered five dimensions including technology,learner,instructor,course design and social and cultural context.