Publisher's Synopsis
This book places the computer firmly in context and underlines its positive role in language learning and teaching. The book looks at currrent views of language learning and teaching and considers the implications for computer assisted language learning (CALL).;By setting CALL in the wider context of contemporary trends and practices in language learning, the authors provide a picture of the present theories and practice of language learning. They discuss language comprehension and production, emphasizing the differences between oral and written performance, and possible interactions between their associated cognitive sub-systems.;The book investigates what the computer has to offer to a communicative approach to language learning, surveying the two trends of syllabus design and curriculum development, and examining in detail how these trends might suggest the kind of contribution the computer can make to language teaching. Issues related to curriculum and methodology are discussed, and the question of how the computer can promote language acquisition, as well as conscious language learning, is raised.