ReCall Special Issue: Multimodal Environments in CALL

Abstract

The pervasive use of technology has changed dramatically how we create meaning and interact with one another. Smartphones, tablets and laptops have equipped us with a plethora of applications that we can use creatively to communicate in ever more effective ways. We can now have a text-based conversation on our devices with photos, web links (possibly to audiovisual media) and even GPS locations. Videoconferencing platforms enable us to combine voice and text chat, share all kinds of files (documents, pictures, audio/ video recordings, whiteboards) and work on them collaboratively. The immersive platforms of virtual worlds integrate written and oral communication tools, which can be complemented with an array of bodily movements that avatars can reproduce in different scenarios while engaging in action. Additionally, in online games, and more specifically in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), gamers interact as avatars with other players in complex ways resorting to different communication modes to solve problems, complete quests, plan strategies and coordinate action to achieve the game goals. The widespread availability and sophistication of multimodal communication tools have captured the imagination of practitioners and scholars alike, who have identified interesting learning opportunities and fields of enquiry for language teaching. Many studies have been carried out in the past three decades looking at the affordances that digital. tools have for facilitating meaningful communication among peers and for enhancing second language.