CALL - Past, present and future

Abstract

This article offers a critical examination and reassessment of the history of CALL, and argues for three new categories - Restricted, Open and Integrated CALL. It offers definitions and description of the three approaches and argues that they allow a more detailed analysis of institutions and classrooms than earlier analyses. It is suggested that we are currently using the second approach, Open CALL, but that our aim should be to attain a state of 'normalisation' in which the technology is invisible and truly integrated. This state is defined and discussed. In the final section the article proposes some ways in which this normalisation can be achieved - using ethnographic assessments and action research, for example - thus setting an agenda for CALL practice in the future. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.