CALL at university Level

How do we learn languages? Literature on the topic is full of theories and hypotheses (Chomsky, 1965; Halliday, 1973; Skinner, 1975; Hatch, 1978; Schuman, 1978; Krashen, 1981; Lyons, 1981) that highlight the various aspects of the issue and try to identify the elements of the process. Unfortunately, however, we still do not know in full detail how languages are learned/acquired. Several applied linguists interested in second-language acquisition stress that we learn a foreign language when we use it (Widdowson, 1978; Brumfit, 1980; Savignon, 1983), when it is meaningful (Rivers, 1983; Ellis, 1986), when it satisfies our needs (Mumby, 1978; Oxford, 1990), when it allows us to interact (Leontiev, 1981; Bakthin, 1982; Brown, 1987), to solve problems (Finocchiaro and Brumfit, 1983, Chamot et al., 1987), to manipulate concepts and words "Hansen and Krening, 1982; Omaggio, 1986), and/or when our affective barriers are sufficiently low (Schuman, 1980; Krashen, 1981). Often, however, these conditions can neither be favoured nor guaranteed at university level. Classes may be too large, teachers may be too busy and students may live far away or have conflicting time schedules. Such a situation calls for a change in both teaching and learning approaches: a change that may gradually entail independence from tutors, favour self-access and lead students toward autonomy in learning.