The class is ending. The 16-year-old ESL student unplugs his notebook computer from his desk and says farewell to his teacher and fellow students. Once on the train for the ride home, he returns to his notebook to videoconference with his private tutor for a review of the day’s material, beginning with vocabulary and grammar, then moving on to the interactional patterns that give realism to the multimedia courtroom simulation that he has constructed with classmates. It is the result of their study, then application, of information that they have collected from documents, sample scenarios, and digitally recorded interviews with experts accessed through a global network. The student can now use the resources he has collected, in addition to his now commonplace multimedia editing skills, to independently create a new courtroom simulation, thereby extending his practice and reinforcing his ever-developing knowledge of English in real-world contexts. Still, the work retains a collaborative dimension; the student will submit (i.e., transmit) it from home to classmates and his instructor for their comments and suggestions. Just before he does, he checks the time: It is now 9:45 p.m., March 18th, 2005.

So begins, in brief paraphrase (pp. 459-460), "Conclusion: 20 Minutes into the Future," the 28th and final chapter of CALL Environments. As its author, Carla Meskill, notes, "such technological power is clearly just around the corner" (p. 460). Will we ESL teachers be ready to transform this vision into reality, not only through technological skill, but most importantly through sound pedagogy that best satisfies the needs of learners?

This is the fundamental question that student- and practicing teachers may wish to keep asking themselves as they read this book in conjunction with their own classroom practice and/or research. It is, in fact, a question that the book was designed to help ask.

While many texts about CALL are technology-centered (naturally, so one might think), the editors of CALL Environments have organized the volume to be learner-centered; its chapters (articles) are grouped by the conditions for language learning they are meant to address--what second language acquisition research has shown to be eight "Conditions for Optimal Language Learning Environments" and which Meskill’s scenario, summarized above, exemplifies:

1. Learners have opportunities to interact and negotiate meaning.
2. Learners interact in the target language with an authentic audience.
3. Learners are involved in authentic tasks.
4. Learners are exposed to and encouraged to produce varied and creative language.
5. Learners have enough time and feedback.
6. Learners are guided to attend mindfully to the learning process.
7. Learners work in an atmosphere with an ideal stress/anxiety level.
8. Learner autonomy is supported. (Egbert, Chao, and Hanson-Smith, p. 4)

Each of the eight corresponding parts of the book begins with a chapter on theory and/or research into the condition for learning under focus, followed by usually one chapter on related classroom practice and one on a related CALL issue.

Title:
CALL Environments: Research, Practice, and Critical Issues

Editors:
Joy Egbert and Elizabeth Hanson-Smith

ISBN:
0-939791-79-2

Price Info:
$39.95 (TESOL members: $35.95)

Quick Summary:
The focus of CALL Environments is not language learning technology, but rather how technology can best serve the needs of learners. The 28 articles in this edited volume are grouped according to which of eight "conditions for optimal language learning environments" they address. There is nearly an equal number of articles on theory/research, classroom practice, and CALL issues. Collectively, the book says at least as much about language learning as it does about technology. In addition, teachers are given many suggestions for classroom research and how to conduct it.

Book Cover: