Designing computer- assisted language learning tools as platforms for data collection in applied linguistics
Evgeny Chukharev‐Hudilainen, Wren Bouwman, Nadezhda Dobrynina, Emily Dux Speltz, MacKenzie Novotny, Noëmie Sollier · 2024
Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) tools and applications have substantially changed the landscape of language learning and instruction. In this chapter, we will present an important angle of CALL tools that is frequently overlooked: how these tools can be designed and implemented to serve as a platform for research. We will present three case studies illustrating the use of newly developed and existing CALL tools for observational and experimental data collection. Specifically, we will demonstrate (1) how design-based research can be conducted in the context of a real-world CALL application; (2) how fine-grained behavioral data can be collected during the use of an automated writing evaluation tool in second-language classrooms, and how experiments involving biometric data collection can be deployed at scale and at a distance using specially-designed software; and (3) how pre- and post-tests can be seamlessly integrated into CALL tools for robust data collection for research studies. The chapter will conclude with a general discussion of the benefits and challenges of using CALL tools and applications as a platform for research in applied linguistics.