Technology and the Study of Awareness
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TECHNOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF AWARENESS
INTRODUCTION
A concise, comprehensive, and singular definition of language awareness in second language acquisition (SLA) is not easily found, nor constructed. Given the inclusive nature of the Encyclopedia, however, and for the purposes of this article, we accept the broadest definition possible to incorporate all knowledge of and about language. Language awareness is an internal phenomenon that can be externally affected by consciousness-raising or attention-focusing techniques. The implementation of technology in the study of second language (L2) awareness is a recent development: the field caught full speed only recently, in the mid-1990s, becoming one of the most innovative areas in SLA research. Technology is used to address questions about external conditions leading to awareness, levels of awareness attained during input processing, the association between awareness and language development, and individual variables (such as cognitive capacity) that are posited to explain the differential effects that the same conditions have on the development of awareness. The range of technology used in this subfield of SLA research—which began with audio and video recordings and old-fashioned overhead transparencies—today includes computers that deliver multimedia treatments and tests, as well as recording performance (both accuracy and reaction time), and which are fast replacing paper-and-pencil materials. Computers are also used as tools to record verbal (think-aloud) protocols and to track performance (e.g., click behavior). Furthermore, more complex devices are now being adapted from cognitive psychology and neurolinguistics for use in research on second language awareness. Computer-based research on language awareness can be classified into descriptive, question-generating designs, descriptions of procedures or best practices, reviews of specific technology or software, and quantitative, hypothesis-testing studies with designs borrowed from cognitive psychology. E A R LY D E V E L O P M E N T S
Early studies involving technology and awareness are summarized in Levy (1997) and Chapelle (2001). Levy’s volume is one of the first J. Cenoz and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd Edition, Volume 6: Knowledge about Language, 299–312. #2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.
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C R I S T I N A S A N Z A N D B E AT R I Z L A D O
books devoted entirely to the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). It describes projects from the sixties and seventies (PLATO, TICCIT), as well as advances in the eighties (Hypercard, The Athena Language Learning Project) and nineties (The International Email Tandem Network, CAMILLE). The author discusses implications of the role of computers—either as a tool, as in computer-mediated communication (CMC), or as a tutor, as in CALL—in terms of learning environment, methodology, the role of teacher and learner, implementation in the curriculum, and evaluation. Chapelle (2001) goes back to the fifties in evaluating
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