| CALL Tools for ILL |
Main Points:
Milton (1997: 246) describes the development of writing tools available for learners at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (UST). His premise is "that it is technically and pedagogically more effective to provide learners with writing tools than to present them with a computer program that models a human tutor." His tools are e-mail for ‘higher order’ writing skills; concordancers to use to see how expressions and structures are used in authentic situations; and on-line language resources such as dictionaries and thesauri. All these, and instructions on how to use them, are available from the CILL site.
UST has a program integrated into the students’ word-processing program that includes five features, four of which are also available, although in a simpler form, from the CILL site. The other is not technically possible in HTML ( the Hyper-text Markup Language of the WWW).
Firstly there are style templates for various formats. The CILL site has a style template for report writing.
Secondly there are idea generation tools. The CILL site has both a mind-map template and details of the ‘journalistic questioning’ technique.
Thirdly, there are tools to help users organise text. This is integrated into the CILL site’s mind-map template.
Finally there are referencing tools such as concordancers, dictionaries and grammar resources.
Milton, John (1997) Providing computerized self-access opportunities for the development of writing skills. In Benson, Phil & Voller, Peter, eds. (1997) Autonomy and Independence in Language Learning London: Longman, 237 - 248