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Annotated Bibliography

Bancroft, W. J. (1978). The Lozanov Method and its American adaptations. Modern Language Journal 62, 167-175.
Jane Bancroft, of the University of Toronto, is the leading North American authority on Suggestopedia, also known as The Lozanov Method. This article was possibly the first serious piece of literature on Suggestopedia, a revolutionary methodology based on a mixture of yoga, classical music, parapsychology, and autogenic therapy.
The importance of Suggestopedia for this dissertation was its use of simulation, role play, fantasy, visual thinking, and direct experience in language education. The most important element was that each member of the class was given a new identity, complete with biographies. The main purpose was to lower the anxiety of the students by allowing their new identities to experiment and make mistakes, rather than their real-world identities, which might be too fragile to take risks. In the process, the students had to role play the new identity and interact with the new identities of the other students.
Many articles dealing with ESL/EFL methodology have referred to Bancroft's work.
Bancroft, W. J. (1995). The Two-Sided Mind: Teaching and Suggestopedia. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 384 244)
In this document Bancroft presented an extended update on the work of Dr. Georgi Lozanov, a Bulgarian physician and psychotherapist who created Suggestopedia. (Please see previous item in this bibliography.)
Brown, H. D. (1993). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, Third Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Brown presented, compared, and integrated the various theories in Second Language Acquisition. He then demonstrated how the principles had been transformed into classroom methodology. This book and its reference list have been an essential starting point for ESL/EFL research. Brown set the foundations on which this dissertation's Review of Literature was built.
The author started with a description of research in the field of first language acquisition and then applied the findings to second/foreign language instruction. He also brought into consideration learning theories outside of linguistics (e.g., classical behaviorism, Skinner's Operant Conditioning, concepts of cognitive learning and systematic forgetting, and issues of intelligence) and then applied them to the language classroom.
Brown dealt with cognitive, affective, and sociocultural issues that influence language learning. Some of the cognitive issues included: styles and strategies of language learning, mother language transfer and interference, overgeneralization, inductive versus deductive learning, field dependence/independence, issues of left-brain and right-brain learning, tolerance of ambiguity, and the issue of reflection on learning. Affective issues included: self-esteem, inhibition, risk taking, anxiety, empathy, issues of extroversion and introversion, and motivation - both instrumental and integrative. The sociocultural issues touched upon stereotypes, attitudes, acculturation, social distance, second vs. foreign language learning, and the connection between language and culturally accepted thought.
Brown, J. S., Collins, A. & Paul Duguid. (1989, Jan-Feb). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18, 32-42.
Brown, Collins, and Duguid criticized traditional schools for separating learning and knowledge from the natural environment of the subject material. According to them, knowledge was situated in a set of interactive realities; it was the product of a meaningful learning activity within the culture of the subject matter. They claimed that students have to become acculturated into a community of the subject matter to truly learn that subject matter. Contrary to this prerequisite, the culture of the traditional school community demanded its own type of activities, which often were not the ones needed in the real world of the subject area.
The authors noted that many times students learn information in traditional school, but could not make use of it in the real world. Knowledge was a like a tool in that it could only be used correctly if the user understood the environment in which he usedthe tool and to what end. Traditional classrooms separated knowledge from the real world environment and set artificial tasks for the students to do.
Connected to the concept of knowledge as a tool was the concept of the community that uses that tool. A student had to become a real member of a community to acquire the knowledge of that community. This stood in stark contrast with having students excel in the community of exam takers and homework doers. Closely linked with this concept was the concept of authentic activities. Knowledge came from doing real things with the tools of the community, with the members of that community.
School had a particular culture of its own, with its own community. It assumed that subjects had fixed and clear laws that could be described with clear symbols (usually writing) and that there were well-defined problems waiting to be solved. This was howschool presented subjects to the students, when in fact, the world was full of fuzzy problems that professionals had to negotiate among themselves and with the problem itself to arrive at a solution. Very often this real world solution was an intuitive one, the type that was frowned upon in schools.
The authors called for cognitive apprenticeship to rectify the situation. Just as people in the real world entered into formal, or informal, apprenticeships to learn how to use certain tools in real life situations and to join communities that use those tools; students should be able to become cognitive apprentices. The process of cognitive apprenticeship presented increasingly difficult, but real, tasks that were embedded in familiar activity so students could draw on previous experience and intuitive thinking. The process also taught students that there were many ways of solving problems and encouraged them to generate their own unique solutions.
Brown, Collins, and Duguid frequently returned to the social aspect of learning. They mentioned the modeling and guidance offered by professionals in the community. In addition, they stressed the importance of collaborative learning, which lead to solutions that the individual would probably not have discovered. Group work also allowed the students to share the roles and skills needed to solve the problems. Finally, group analysis could often find faults in suggested solutions and then correct them, in a way that the individual could not.
Bruckman, A. (1997). MOOSE Crossing: Construction, Community, and Learning in a Networked Virtual World for Kids. Ph.D. Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [On-line] Available:
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/Amy.Bruckman/thesis/index.html
URL accesed: February 8, 1998
Author's e-mail address: asb@cc.gatech.edu
Author's home page: http://www.media.mit.edu/~asb
Bruckman represented the second generation of constructivism stemming from Piaget's work: Seymour Papert (the creator of LOGO) studied with Piaget in Geneva; Bruckman studied with Papert at M.I.T. Bruckman noted how Papert, in the 1980s, had coined the term constructionism to include and expand upon Piaget's constructivism. Piaget's concept of constructivism posited that learners construct internal (mental) models of what they learn rather than receiving such models ready made from teachers. Papert opined that this learning process happened more efficiently when the learners constructed external objects (sand castles, maps, LEGO machines, computer programs, etc.) which could be shared with others. Thus there was a interaction between the internal models and the external models: each reflected and fostered the other. Bruckman quoted Mitchel Resnick, another MIT researcher, emphasizing the social nature of the construction. Building on this theoretical base, and referring to the work of Vygotsky, Bruckman's dissertation claimed that community and construction reinforced each other.
Bruckman also noted that American educators were increasingly coming to terms with the problems of the Internet, rejecting the hype and asking what could be done with it. She listed four general educational responses to the Internet: distance education, informational retrieval, knowledge-building communities, and technological samba schools.
The Open Universities (in Britain and other countries) have adopted the Internet as the most modern means to transfer information and to check the students' mastery of that information. A slightly different mode of Internet-based distance education was the use of certain MUDs (multi-user domains), such as Diversity University, as a place where students met in virtual classrooms, sat at virtual desks, and read virtual lectures. Bruckman posited that both modes of information transferal were based on Skinnerian theories of behaviorism.
Internet-based information retrieval is a skill that the teacher can employ wisely or otherwise. Wisely used, this skill can be the base of exploratory learning and the preliminary stages of project construction. Bruckman saw the theoretical justification of this practice in Dewey's exploratory learning. On the other hand, used in isolation, information retrieval could become a trivial game of trivial pursuit.
Bruckman was much more enthusiastic about the last two models: knowledge-building communities and technological samba schools (a term coined by Papert). Here the Vygotskyan demand for learning in a social environment came to the fore. In the former, communities form to share knowledge, and thereby creating an environment for the creation of more knowledge. In the latter, individuals and groups actually constructed things (physical things, intellectual things, or virtual things) and shared them with audiences who were important to the builders of the projects. These audiences were based in the communities that the learners considered their own.
As an example of this type of Internet use, based on the learning theories of constructivism and constructionism, Bruckman programmed and operated a virtual world called MOOse Crossing for elementary school students. The analysis of this learning environment was the basis of her dissertation.
Cardwell, P., Jr. (1995). Role playing games and the gifted student. Gifted Education International, 11 (1), 39-46.
Cardwell posited the value of role playing games in education. In specific, Cardwell examined "Dungeons and Dragons". This was important for the current study since the MOO environment had its origins in "Dungeons and Dragons" and has still maintained aspects of fantasy and role playing.
Carrell, P. A., Devine, J., & Eskey, D. E. (Eds.). (1988). Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
This collection of articles by many of the leaders in the field of reading theory has been the classic starting point for research on schema theory and interactive reading models. Its importance for the current research lied in the evaluation of MOO's contextualized themes, based on schema theory.
Conoscenti, M. (1997). Technological learning environments: From theory to practice. CALICO Monograph Series, 4, 112-121.
Michelangelo Conoscenti, of the University of Turin, offered a perceptive analysis of how computer technology could be properly, and improperly, recruited to the task of language learning. During this analysis, he rejected the equation of learning with instruction and urged the creation of a technological learning environment which reflected the needs of the learners. Conoscenti also pointed to the problems of definitions when dealing with educational interactivity.
At the outset of the article, Conoscenti took a constructivist view: learning was a moment of construction. Learners had to feel responsible for learning, had to feel in control of the process, and had to see the relevance of their activities. Nevertheless, Conoscenti did not accept the totally undirected possibilities offered by hypermedia. For successful learning, there had to be direction which was based on students' prior knowledge and individual learning styles. The author also rejected the traditional assumptions of interactivity. "Click here" and "Press any key" were, in fact, passive navigational tools, not requiring any cognitive processing. Truly interactive software had to demand more creativity and had to offer various levels of creativity to the learners. Yet Conoscenti did not view this as a black-or-white proposition, there was a range of possibilities that software designers could adopt. The author called the software with the most control over the student computer determined learning. On the other end of the spectrum, with the greatest student control, was computer based learning.
Although Conoscenti's article dealt with learning theories and technology in general, he focused on language learning. His analysis of educational technology stemmed from the following constructivist principles of language learning:

Foreign language learning would occur in authentic, stimulating situations that were meaningful to the students.

The linguistic content of the courseware should also be rich, authentic, and meaningful.

During the learning process, attention should be drawn to the everyday application of the learning point, in order to make it relevant to the learners.

The author recognized the power of the computer to create simulations and to provide cognitive models, thus responding to the above principles. There was an almost limitless ability to present texts, audio sections, and graphics to the learner. Nevertheless, the question of proper organization of this material remained. Because individuals had different learning styles, Conoscenti rejected the strict ordering of content. In addition, he rejected the breaking of the content into discrete and disjointed bits. On the other hand, he recognized the need for some type of direction. His suggestion was to offer a flexible system which would offer more computer control for beginners and less computer control for advanced learners. In both cases, there would be a directed flow, but with the option given to the learners to take necessary detours to concentrate on certain points, when needed. The learners would then return to the directed flow of learning.
Conoscenti urged that the computer become a slave for the learner, much in the way that ancient Greek pedagogues were slaves to their student-masters. Courseware had to be designed to allow a dialogue between the student and the computer. Rather than merely transferring information, the courseware should be designed to interpret the student and provide the needed assistance.
Conrad, K. B. (1996). CALL-Non-English L2 instruction. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 16, 158-181.
Conrad reviewed the research, to 1996, on using computer mediated communications (CMC) within a class, finding greater motivation and production of language. At the same time, Conrad warned of fossilization due to consistent interlanguage input. One solution put forth was the use of synchronous Internet communications, which would bring non-native speakers (NNSs) into contact with native speakers (NSs).
Crookes, G. & Schmidt, R. (1991). Motivation: Reopening the Research Agenda. Language Learning, 41 (4), 469-512.
Crookes and Schmidt questioned the sufficiency of the long standing integrative/instrumental dichotomy developed by Gardner (1988) and associates (Gardner & Lambert, 1975; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1991; Gardner & Tremblay, 1994; Gilksman, Gardner, & Smy the, 1982; Lalonde & Gardner,1985; Lambert, Gardner, Barik, & Tunstall, 1963; MacIntyre, 1995; MacIntyre, & Gardner, 1991). In doing so, Crookes and Schmidt built the conceptual base for Dornyei (1994) to analyze course-specific motivational components in the foreign language classroom.
Dornyei, Z. (1990). Conceptualizing motivation in foreign-language learning. Language Learning, 40 (1), 45-78.
Dornyei argued for a separate construct for motivation in the foreign language classroom as opposed to motivation in second language environments. In the process he questioned the sufficiency of the traditional integrative/instrumental dichotomy developed by Gardner (1988) and associates (Gardner & Lambert, 1975; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1991; Gardner & Tremblay, 1994; Gilksman, Gardner, & Smythe, 1982; Lalonde & Gardner,1985; Lambert, Gardner, Barik, & Tunstall, 1963; MacIntyre, 1995; MacIntyre, & Gardner, 1991).
Dornyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and motivating in the foreign language classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 78 (3), 273-284.
Dornyei built on the concepts of Crookes and Schmidt (1991) to analyze the foreign language learning motivation construct. He posited a three level model consisting of: a language level, a learner level, and a learning situation level. Within the learning situation level, he noted course-specific motivational components, teacher-specific motivational components, and group-specific motivational components. Dornyei's work is central to the current research because he offered four of the five constructs to be used in the questionnaires.
Dunkel, P. (Ed.)(1991). Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Testing: Research and Practice. New York: Newbury House.
Dunkel and others reviewed the state of empirical research in the area of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) to 1991. Their findings supported the view that empirical research could not directly prove the efficacy of any particular CALL procedure in terms of improving linguistic competence. Because the language classroom was not a scientific laboratory, there were too many interfering variables affecting the student's language development for such unequivocal proof. Nevertheless, CALL researchers could find empirical evidence to support or question theories, both directly and indirectly.
Falsetti, J. (1995). What the heck is a MOO? And what's the story with all those cows? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (29^th, Long Beach, CA, March 26-April 1, 1995).
In 1994 Falsetti, along with Schweitzer, established schMOOze University as the most well known MOO site for ESL/EFL students and teachers. Falsetti is an instructor at the International English Language Institute of Hunter College (City University of New York) and Schweitzer is a computer science instructor at Hunter College. This paper presented schMOOze University's goals and functions.
Hall, C. (1998). "Constructing" language at MundoHispano. Unpublished manuscript, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
Cathy Hall is a practicing foreign language teacher in Madrid. Her paper dealt with using MOO (Multi-user domain Object Oriented) technology within the framework of constructivist pedagogy. In specific, she studied the use of Mundo Hispano, a Spanish language MOO site for language instruction.
Hall's theoretical starting point was a radical sociocultural persective of Lev Vygotsky's constructivist writings. This learning theory rejected the widely accepted input/output theories, claiming that they were based on an information transmission model. Instead, sociocultural theorists focused on the nature of language as a tool in situated cognition and cognitive apprenticeships. Knowledge was seen in the context of a larger culture and various tools (such as language) allowed members of the culture to perform real tasks. Vygotsky's caregivers were seen as the masters aiding the student-apprentices into the authentic activities of the culture. As an example of this, Hall pointed out that although students in traditional classroom might learn about a particular grammatical form, they would be hard pressed to use it correctly. On the other hand, in the situation of immersion in the target language culture, the students would not only learn how to use the grammatical structure, they would also learn the cultural norms of using the target language: how to start conversations, how ask for information, how to persuade, how to end conversations, etc.
Hall described how MOO language sites could offer such immersion situations for students who were physically isolated from the target language culture. Hall also stressed the ability of students to extend the MOO site by constructing new locations and objects in those locations. This construction allowed the students to develop a sense of ownership of over their own learning process and increase their identification with the members of the MOO community. In the case of foreign language MOO sites, this meant a sense of identification with the speakers of the language and their culture (or at least the part of the culture that was portrayed in the MOO site). This sense of ownership and identification would lead to future visits to the MOO site and future language acquisition in a low anxiety, high motivation environment.
Nevertheless, Hall warned that a MOO site could only function as a constructivist environment if the teacher allowed it to. Hall noted the tendency of a growing number of traditionally minded teachers to use technology to recreate traditional forms of pedagogy. Real life classrooms, embedded in the culture of traditional education (which did not use language as a tool to further cognitive apprenticeship), could be turned into traditional virtual classrooms. Students would be transported to virtual chairs, sitting at virtual desks, reading information being presented on virtual blackboards. Such situations would lead to widespread virtual failure, just as they did in real life classrooms. Instead, Hall called student-centered methodologies where teachers would be facilitators and guides. It would be ultimately the students who would do the learning and they would be most successful if they were placed in authentic learning situations with a maximum amount of control over their own learning.
Haynes, C., & Holmevik, J. R. (Eds.). (1998). High Wired: On the Design, Use, and Theory of Educational MOOs. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Cynthia Haynes is an assistant professor of at the University of Texas, where she is the Director of Rhetoric and Writing. Jan Rune Holmevik is an assistant professor of Humanistic Informatics at the University of Bergen in Norway. In 1995, Haynes and Holmevik cofounded Lingua MOO, a site for writing classes. In this volume, they brought together the most well-known experts in the field of educational MOOing, including Amy Bruckman of the Georgia Institute of Technology (formerly from MIT), Pavel Curtis formerly of the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Sherry Turkle of MIT, and many others. This seems to be the first full volume published on educational MOOing. The academic quality of some of the articles indicated the serious nature of educational MOOing, despite its roots in "Dungeons and Dragons". Indeed, according to the various articles in the book, the use of educational MOOing was growing, despite its text-only interface.
Kern, R. G. (1995). Restructuring classroom interaction with networked computers: Effects on quantity and characteristics of language production. The Modern Language Journal, 79 (6), 457-476.
Kern's empirical findings showed radically different forms of linguistic interaction when a class used computer mediated communications (CMC) as opposed to normal classroom conversation. There were significantly more turns taken, more sentences produced, and a greater variety of discourse functions used when using CMC procedures. Also important for the current research was the fact that Kern compared student output in the written-speech mode of CMC with the oral-speech mode of normal conversation procedures in class.
Krashen, S. D.(1976) Formal and informal linguistic environments in language acquisition and language learning. TESOL Quarterly 10, 157-168.
Krashen is one of the most controversial figures in the field of second language acquisition theory. While many of the extreme positions of his original hypotheses have been refuted or refined, Krashen set the theoretical agenda for decades of second language acquisition research. This article set forth the distinction between "language learning" and "language acquisition".
Krashen, S. D. (1981). The case for narrow reading. TESOL Newsletter, 15 (6), 23.
This article presented one of Krashen's major contributions to the area of schema theory in reading. Krashen suggested "narrow reading", letting students read many works by one particular author or works by different authors about the same subject.
Krashen, S. D. (1985). The Input Hypothesis. London: Longman.
Here Krashen presented his theory of comprehensible input. This was the linguistic version of Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978).

Krashen, S. D. (1997). The comprehension hypothesis: Recent evidence. English Teachers' Journal (Israel), 51, 17-29.

Stephen Krashen, of USC, has been a key figure in the area of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theory. His concepts have included: the monitor hypothesis, the affective filter, the distinction between learning and acquisition, and the i+1. These concepts have generated great interest and controversy in the profession. Although many of his theories have been questioned and modified, Krashen marked the starting point for examining how contemporary applied linguists think about learning processes.
In an original article for the English Teachers' Journal (Israel), Krashen defended his basic hypotheses about language acquisition. He used recent empirical and anecdotal data to do so. In addition, Krashen claimed that he was not the first to make these claims, tracing the theory back to the 1960's.
Krashen posited that the two prerequisites for facilitating second language acquisition were the presentation of comprehensible input and a lowered affective filter. Although accepting some modifications to his work over the last 20 years, Krashen has defended the validity of his main hypotheses. According to Krashen, students learned a language in a controlled academic setting by focusing on forms and rules, and then by reproducing these forms and rules during exams and exercises. Language acquisition occurred subconsciously in naturalistic settings, while using meaningful language in an environment of low stress (i.e., a weak affective filter). Krashen's input hypothesis defined students' current level of comprehension as i and theinput that would increase linguistic competency as i+1, a bit beyond the students' current level, but within the students' developmental capabilities. Students internalized the i+1 by subconsciously comparing it with their previous mental models of the language. If there was a discrepancy between the input and the model, the model was modified; thus moving the students along the interlanguage continuum toward the target language. Krashen defined the affective filter as a screening device in the internal processing system, governed by the acquirers' "motives, needs, attitudes, and emotional states" (p. 17). This screening device allowed or prohibited new input to be accepted. In other words, a lowered affective filter was "an open attitude" (p.17).
Krashen's concepts were similar to the works of Chomsky, Piaget, and Vygostsky. The input hypothesis paralleled Chomsky's theory that the brain had a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) whose language specific switches were set with the presentation of input from a particular language. Krashen's explanation of the movement along the interlanguage continuum resembled Piaget's concepts of equilibration, including assimilation of information into existing schemas and accommodation of mental models to accept information that did not fit previous schemas. Finally, the i+1 was the linguistic parallel to Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, the new knowledge a learner could reach with the aid of a parent, a caregiver, or more advanced peer.
In this article, Krashen defended the continued validity of his concepts and offered recent support from research in first language acquisition (particularly in the field of reading), second language instruction, and foreign language instruction.
Lightbown, P. M. & Spada, N. (1990). Focus-on-form and corrective feedback in communicative language teaching: Effects on second language learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 12, 429-448.
Lightbown and Spada presented empirical data that supported using some deductive teaching, in the form of corrective feedback, within a general communicative environment. This article was representative of a move to question the extreme communicative teaching position.
Long, M. (1983). Native Speaker/Non-Native Speaker conversation and negotiation of comprehensible input. Applied Linguistics, 4, 126-141.
Long, along with Pica (1994) and others, refined Krashen's input hypothesis to include negotiated interaction. This was similar to Vygotsky's claim that learning occurred in a social situation (Vygotsky, 1978).
Loschky, L. (1994). Comprehensible input and second language acquisition: What is the relationship? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16, 303-323.
Loschky reported on two empirical studies that may well have demanded additional refinements in the input hypothesis. While conforming to Long's modification of Krashen's input hypothesis, that interaction was needed to create comprehensible input; the new studies indicated that such input, in itself, was not sufficient to lead to acquisition. The findings called for a more complex relationship between comprehensible input and acquisition.
Lundstrom, P. (1995). Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication: Will Internet Talkers Improve the Communicative Competence of ESL/EFL Students? Unpublished Master's thesis, The University of Hawaii, Manoa
This is one of the first empirical works on using multi-user domain programs (talkers) as a possible ESL/EFL procedure. The author questioned the wisdom of using such programs because there was no control over the production of Cyber-English. Since the paper did not mention construction of objects and rooms, it was not clear if talkers were indeed MOOs. Subsequent correspondence with the author did not clarify this point.
MacIntyre, P. D. & Gardner, R. C. (1991).Methods and results in the study of anxiety and language learning: A review of the literature. Language Learning, 41 (1), 85-117.
MacIntyre and Gardner presented an extensive review of literature dealing with the construct of second and foreign language learning anxiety. Gardner (1988) and associates (Gardner & Lambert, 1975; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1991; Gardner & Tremblay, 19 94; Gilksman, Gardner, & Smythe, 1982; Lalonde & Gardner,1985; Lambert, Gardner, Barik, & Tunstall, 1963; MacIntyre, 1995) were pioneers in the fields of language learning motivation and anxiety. Their theories were the standards against which further development in these fields would be compared.
Meunier, L. E. (1997). Affective factors and cyberteaching: Implications for a postmodern pedagogy. CALICO Monograph Series, 4, 122-132.
Lydie Meunier, of the University of Tulsa, questioned claims of cyberenthusiasts that all students responded positively to computer mediated communications (CMC) as a procedure in second/foreign language instruction. In order to study the question, she performed a meta-analysis of various affective elements in empirical studies, including her own.
Starting from the traditional instrumental-integrative dichotomy in motivation for language acquisition presented first in the 1970s by Gardner and Lambert (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991), Meunier dealt with the concepts of intrinsic-extrinsic motivation and the concepts of task-situational motivation. Meunier also examined the reactions to CMC by students with different learning styles, as demonstrated by the Briggs Myers Types Indicator (BMTI). Instrumental motivation referred toan evaluation that knowing the foreign language would be profitable in some way. Integrative motivation referred to a desire to associate with the speakers of the foreign language. The BMTI indicated how people learn. Extraversion-Introversion related to how people interacted with their environment in order to receive information. Sensing-Intuition related to how people gathered information. Thinking-Feeling related to how people processed the information. Judging-Perception related to how people organized their lives, which influenced how they learned. In addition; Meunier also examined how gender and affective traits such as anxiety, risk taking, sociability, and teaching style influenced students' attitudes towards CMC procedures.
In her conclusions, Meunier reported that CMC procedures in second/foreign language class resulted in high level situation and task motivation and a general positive attitude on the part of the students. The students were more intrinsically and socially motivated online than in face-to-face conversations. Nevertheless, there were elements of CMC that impeded, rather than facilitated, language acquisition on the part of certain students who had particular learning styles.
Unfortunately, the findings indicating which types of learners responded well, or poorly, to CMC procedures were extremely complex and often contradictory. For example, it was reported in one section that Intuitive/Feeling students had more intrinsic motivation to use CMC than Sensing/Thinking students; yet in another section, it was reported that Feeling students were prone to computer-related anxiety. So, were the Feelers ultimately more or less motivated? While speaking of anxiety, Meunier presented a "hypothesis that the proficiency level of foreign language students can exercise both a positive and a negative effect on participants." (p. 125) This paradox, and other interesting findings, were examined by Meunier. Unfortunately, the complexity of the findings offered little specific help to teachers in the field.
Despite the inability to draw specific conclusions from each of the findings, Meunier offered general suggestions to alleviate the problems of students suffering from problems stemming from particular learning styles. On the technical level, Meunier suggested having log-in procedures posted near each computer. One important suggestion was the integration of CMC material with classroom material. The two learning experiences should not be isolated from each other. On the contrary, CMC and classroom procedures should relate to each other. Another general suggestion was the need to change teaching styles from frontal teaching to individualized and collaborative learning, moving the emphasis from the teacher to the students. And in specific, students having particular problems, could be coached in the skills of skimming and scanning.
Murphy-Judy, K. A. (1997) Literacies for foreign language learners in the information age. CALICO Monograph Series, 4, 133-144.
Murphy-Judy postulated that the information age has created a number of new literacies, among them computer mediated communications (CMC), including MUDs and MOOs. This article was important for the current project because of its recognition of MOO as a valid tool for ESL/EFL instruction.
Oller, J. W. & Richard-Amato, P. A. (Eds.).(1983). Methods that Work. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.

This collection of papers dealt with the theory and practice of various second/foreign language teaching procedures. Of particular interest, for the purposes of this paper, were the sections on simulation, role play, and fantasy.
Oxford, R. & Shearin, J. (1994). Language learning motivation: Expanding the theoretical framework. The Modern Language Journal, 78 (1), 12-28.

Oxford and Shearin summarized the contemporary questions about the sufficiency of the long standing integrative/instrumental dichotomy developed by Gardner (1988) and associates (Gardner & Lambert, 1975; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1991; Gardner & Tremblay, 1994; Gilksman, Gardner, & Smythe, 1982; Lalonde & Gardner,1985; Lambert, Gardner, Barik, & Tunstall, 1963; MacIntyre, 1995; MacIntyre, & Gardner, 1991) by a new generation of second/foreign language acquisition researchers including Ely (1986), Au (1988), Dornyei (1990, 1994),Crookes and Schmidt (1991), and Young (1991). While questioning Gardner's theoretical sufficiency, Oxford and Shearin stressed that they were using Gardner's work as a base for expansion.
Pica, T. (1994). Research on negotiation: What does it reveal about second-language learning conditions, processes, and outcomes? Language Learning, 44 (3), 493-527.
This was an important analytical review of the research done about negotiated interaction in second language acquisition from 1978 to 1994. Pica, along with Long, modified Krashen's extreme position that the mere existence of comprehensible input was sufficient for second language acquisition. They argued that such comprehensible input had to take the form of negotiated interaction in order to be effective input.
Pica, T., Holliday, L., Lewis, N., & Morgenthaler, L. (1989). Comprehensible output as an outcome of linguistic demands on the learner. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 11, 63-90.

Pica, Holliday, and Morgenthaler were leaders in the field of second language acquisition. Here they developed the concept of comprehensible output as a necessary addition to Krashen's concept of comprehensible input.
Pica,T., Lincoln-Porter, F., Paninos, D. & Linnel, J. (1996). Language learners' interaction: How does it address the input, output, and feedback needs of L2 learners? TESOL Quarterly, 30 (1), 59-84.

Pica et al. returned to the theme of negotiated interaction, composed of: input, output, and feedback. One of the findings supported the view that non-native speakers (NNSs) could supply only part of their own linguistic needs for movement along the interlanguage continuum. Beyond that, native speakers (NSs) were needed for necessary interaction. For the purposes of the current research project, this would support the use of synchronous Internet communications to bring NNSs in contact with NSs.
Pinto, D. (1996). What does "schMOOze" mean?: Non-native speaker interactions on the Internet. In M. Warschauer (Ed.), Telecollaboration in Foreign Language Learning: Proceedings of the Hawai'i Symposium (pp. 165-184). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center.
This was one of the few pieces of empirical research on using MOO for ESL/EFL acquisition. It appears to be the first research that dealt specifically with Schmooze University, the MOO site for ESL/EFL students and teachers.
Reid, E. (1994). Cultural Formations in Text-Based Virtual Realities. Cultural Studies Program, Department of English, University of Melbourne, Australia (master's thesis) [On-line]. Available: http://www.ee.mu.oz.au/papers/emr/electropolis.txt

Author's e-mail address: emr@rmit.edu.au or emr@crl.com

Author's home page: http://www.ee.mu.oz.au/papers/emr/index.html

URL accessed: February 8, 1998

Reid was one of the research pioneers in the area of virtual communities forming via synchronous internet communications. Here she studied some elements of community in Multi-User Domains (MUDs), a program similar to MOO. Her treatment of Cyber-English was particularly important for this paper.
Sanchez, B. A. (1996a). Le MOO Francais: Text-Based Virtual Reality in the High School Foreign Language Classroom. Unpublished master's thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
Barbara Ann Sanchez is a practicing high school foreign language teacher who actively uses MOO (Multi-user domain Object Oriented) technology in her teaching. Her M.A. thesis dealt with using Le MOO Francais, a French MOO site in high school foreign language instruction, both on a theoretical level and a qualitative/empirical level.
Sanchez reviewed the various learning theories of second/foreign language acquisition. She then narrowed her review of literature to methodologies that could relate to the use of MOO as an instructional procedure: Suggestopedia, the Silent Way, the Natural Way, Galyean's Confluent Design, and Harvey's Communicative Games. The major reason for choosing these particular methodologies was their treatment of meaning-oriented input, the access to negotiated interaction, the lowering of the affective filter, the students' ability to contemplate input during a "silent period", and the ability to find and correct errors in a low-stress environment. All of these learning hypotheses could be applied to the use of MOO as a foreign language instructional procedure.
Sanchez also made reference to more general learning theories, in particular constructivism. The students' ability to extend the MOO space and fill it with virtual objects allowed the students to develop a sense of ownership over their own learning processes.
In the framework of a qualitative study, Sanchez took eleven high school students of intermediate French as a Foreign Language to Le MOO Francais. Besides meeting people from other real world locations and exploring the preexisting virtual locations of Le MOO Francais, Sanchez's students constructed a Virtual Versailles based on their in-class studies. The students felt that they spent more time on task when online than in the classroom because of the individual, interactive, low anxiety, creative and enjoyable nature of MOO. On her part, Sanchez stressed the importance of the students' ability in the MOO environment to reflect on their utterances before sending them; leading to lower anxiety, improved comprehension of output, as well as higher grammatical accuracy during output production. In short, the students and the researcher believed that the students had improved their language skills during the time they used the French MOO site.
Nevertheless, Sanchez noted definite problems while using MOO for language instruction: occasional technical difficulties with the local network and the internet connection, the existence of faulty French found in the MOO site, the difficulty of some students to hold conversations with complete strangers and to build up relationships in cyberspace, and occasional reported boredom by weaker students. Despite these reported complaints by some students, the majority enjoyed and appreciated MOO as a foreign language procedure. They felt more secure typing French to native speakers via computer mediated communications than speaking it face to face. They also enjoyed the ability to create new locations and objects in the MOO site.
While Sanchez observed that her findings support the use of MOO in language instruction, she recognized the methodological limitations of her study. Eleven students, not randomly chosen, do not offer a statistically significant basis for generalizations to other settings. Within the qualitative framework of her study, Sanchez stated that her findings were descriptive and warned her readers of making generalizations.

Sanchez, B. A. (1996b). MOOving to a new frontier in language learning. In M. Warschauer (Ed.), Telecollaboration in Foreign Language Learning: Proceedings of the Hawai'i Symposium (pp. 145-163). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center.
After writing her master's thesis (Sanchez, 1996a) on using MOO in French foreign language instruction, Barbara Ann Sanchez summarized her personal work and research at the University of Hawai'i's 1996 Symposium on telecollaboration in Foreign Language Learning". In this article Sanchez reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of using MOO in foreign language instruction and suggested how it fit into a number of contemporary second language/foreign language methodologies.

Turbee, L. (1996). MOOing in a Foreign Language: How, Why, and Who? A paper written for the Information Technology Education Connection's International Virtual Conference/Exhibition on Schooling and the Information Superhighway, Center for Teaching Librarianship at Charles Sturt University. [On-line]. Available:

http://web.syr.edu/~lmturbee/itechtm.html

author's e-mail address: lmturbee@syr.edu

author's home page: http://web.syr.edu/~lmturbee/index.html

URL accessed: 8 February 1998

Turbee is a language instructor at Syracuse University, strongly convinced of the efficacy of using MOO to facilitate second language acquisition. To reach her goals she founded Mundo Hispano, a Spanish language MOO site. This article was one of her many position papers on the subject of language MOO sites.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society: the Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Ed. Michael Cole, Bera John-Steiner, Sylvia Scribner, and Ellen Souberman,. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
The work of Vygotsky was the basis of many current educational theories, particularly second language acquisition theory. Here, Vygotsky presented the concepts of the Zone of Proximal Development, which found its linguistic form in Krashen's (1985) input hypothesis.
Warschauer, M. (1996). Comparing face-to-face and electronic discussion in the second language classroom. CALICO Journal 13 (2), 7-26.
Warschauer compared the interactions of students in two different modes of English: the written-speech of computer mediated communications (CMC) and oral speech of traditional classroom discussions. His findings showed greater interaction and more equal participation for those subjects using the CMC mode. In addition, there tended to be more formal use of English in the CMC mode.
Warschauer, M. (1998). Interaction, negotiation, and computer-mediated learning. In V. Darleguy, A. Ding, & M. Svensson (Eds.), Educational Technology In Language Learning: Theoretical Considerations And Practical (pp. 125-136). Lyon, France: National Institute of Applied Sciences.
Warschauer concisely reviewed three currently popular learning theories in the field of second/foreign language acquisition: the input model, the output model, and "sociocultural perspectives". He then related each of these learning theory concepts to field of computer-mediated learning.
Input theories stemmed from the work of Stephen Krashen and were modified by later researchers. A number of claims were made by these modified input theories: comprehension of the meaning of messages was necessary for the internalization of new linguistic forms, negotiated interaction leading to increased comprehension facilitated language acquisition, and some conscious awareness of forms was beneficial to language acquisition.
Output theories were developed, contradicting Krashen's opinion that output's only function was to invite more input. Swain and others posited four roles that output played in language acquisition: it enhanced fluency, it augmented the speakers' awareness about their linguistic competence, it allowed speakers to test outhypotheses about the target language, and it allowed the speakers to ask other people (on a metacognitive level) about the target language.
The theories of input and output were related and stemmed from the work of Stephen Krashen. The third learning theory, sociocultural perspectives, stemmed from a radical interpretation of the constructivist concepts of Lev Vygotsky, taking a totally different direction than the input-output theories. This third theory held that speakers used language to understand, create, and transform reality. First of all, the use of language allowed speakers to learn the rules of acceptable behavior. Second, speech was a tool used in solving problems. Third, speech was a form of apprenticeship to obtain modeling of linguistic activities and to learn how to generate new meanings with language.
After reviewing these three theories (in greater detail than it is possible in this paper), Warshauer related them to the use of computer-mediated learning. Well constructed courseware and communications programs aided the input-out processes in a number of ways. Help options and the opportunity to review previous screens facilitated comprehension. In addition, the slow-motion nature of textual communications programs allowed students to examine input more closely, to contemplate new forms and structures, to make necessary changes in their mental model of the language, and to monitor their output more effectively. Computer mediated communications programs also met the needs of the sociocultural perspectives theories in that the students became apprentices in linguistic environments and learned the norms of the members of those environments. (Of course, these norms were not necessarily the norms of face-to-face communications, but they did represent authentic language usage.) In addition, language could be used as a tool in these environments to share knowledge and to collaborate in the creation of new knowledge.
Warschauer, M, Turbee, L., & Roberts, B. (1996). Computer learning networks and student empowerment. System, 24 (1), 1-14.
This paper focused on three aspects of using computer networks, within in a classroom or between classrooms, to facilitate ESL/EFL acquisition: student autonomy, equality, and learning skills. The findings indicated potential for computer learning networks if used in appropriate ways.
Williams, L. V. (1983). Teaching for the Two-Sided Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Williams reviewed the left brain/right brain dichotomy in learning theory. In the light of schools' traditional left-brain procedures, Williams supported a balanced approach to the dichotomy. As a result, she suggested procedures that would utilize right brain thinking processes in the classroom.
The author recognized various learning styles, classifying them into three major categories: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Visual learning styles were all those that included reading and seeing things happen. Auditory learning styles included hearing lectures, explanations, and gaining information from other types of sounds. Kinesthetic learning styles included gaining knowledge by moving the body or parts of the body. Although there were people who learn in only one general style; most people had mixed abilities, using more than one of the learning styles, depending on the task.
Although Williams's work was based on theoretical research, her audience was the teacher in the field. Based on the research, she suggested a number of teaching techniques that would access the right brain in order to make instruction and learning more effective and, in the process, more enjoyable. Some of these techniques included: visual thinking, fantasy, evocative language, metaphor, direct experience, multisensory learning, and music.
Visual thinking included pictorial or symbolic signs that convey information into a school environment that was usually limited to words, sentences, and paragraphs. Research had shown that presenting information both verbally and symbolically was more effective than presenting the same information just verbally. (In linguistics this was called dual encoding of messages.)
Fantasy was an important example of visual thinking, allowing students to create internal (mental) pictures that convey meaning and information. This technique was particularly powerful for explaining physical events that students could not easily experience themselves. Williams offered the visualization of the process of osmosis as an example of educational fantasy.
Evocative language returned to the realm of words, but went beyond the analytical language of left-brain functions. By adding powerful images associated with the words, the students had an easier time understanding and recalling information.
Metaphors allowed the students to develop an alternative, parallel way of accessing concepts and knowledge. The teacher could offer metaphors, but a more powerful technique was to have the students generate their own metaphors.
Direct experience offered a holistic approach to knowledge instead of the analytically fragmented and linear approach presented in books. Williams suggested filling the classroom with real items that could be manipulated by the students. Another type of experiential learning was the use of simulation and role play.
Multisensory learning stressed simultaneously opening various channels of information and ways to understand that information. Teachers should supplement the passive traditional verbal techniques with more active experiential techniques. Nonverbal sounds should be added to traditional verbal information, whether it was written or spoken.
Music was an extremely powerful instructional technique, as any nursery school or kindergarten teacher has experienced. Most children loved songs and used them to mediate many types of information. Unfortunately, traditional schools quickly repressed the use of music. (Fortunately for language teachers, songs have been seen as valid learning tools, even in traditional schools.)
Wright, S. (1998). The effect of simulations on second language development. CAELL Journal, 8 (2), 3-10.
Wright presented a thorough review of the literature dealing with simulations in second language instruction, noting that most of it was theoretical and anecdotal rather than research based. The few research projects mentioned supported the theoretical assumptions that students were more motivated and more activated in their studies, but felt that they had learned less grammar than their peers in more traditional classes. Wright designed a research project that indicated that students using simulations learned as much grammar as more traditional students. The project also supported the hypothesis that simulations developed critical thinking skills.
Young, D. J. (1991). Creating a low-anxiety classroom environment: What does language anxiety research suggest? The Modern Language Journal, 75 (4), 426-439.
Young presented an extensive review of literature dealing with the construct of anxiety in the language classroom and suggested procedures, based on the literature, to lessen the anxiety for students. This practical orientation distinguished Young's work from that of MacIntyre and Gardner (1991) who concentrated on the research findings. Another difference was the numerous references to Krashen's (1976, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1997) concept of the affective filter, which tended to be dismissed by the many researchers.

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