The Discourse of Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Toward a Context for Descriptive Research

Understanding how the speed, power, and flexibility of computers can facilitate second language acquisition is an intriguing challenge faced by instructors, researchers, and theorists. Progress in this area, however, does not appear to be forthcoming from current research on computer-assisted language learning (CALL), which suffers from the same limitations as early research on classroom instruction: Little detail is provided to describe the interaction among participants during instruction (Long, 1980). Moreover, descriptions of CALL activities included in reported research are not empirically based: They fail to describe what subjects actually do while working with CALL. A third problem is that the terms used to describe CALL activities have been developed specifically for that purpose, and are therefore not comparable to those used for classroom activities. At the same time, these descriptors are not sufficiently uniform and formally stated to allow specific comparisons among CALL activities. Toward a solution to these problems, this paper proposes a discourse analysis of student-computer interaction enabled by viewing the student and the computer as two participants in a dialogue. It argues that the discourse analysis system of classroom interaction developed by Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) provides the necessary elements and structures to describe CALL discourse, analyze data from student-computer interaction, and compare CALL activities with other (classroom) activities.