Teacher Education in CALL (review)

I teach an introductory course in CALL in a master's program in TESL, and so when I saw the title of this publication, my interest was immediately piqued. Like me, editors Philip Hubbard and Mike Levy apply the term CALL in the broadest sense to include any use of technology in teaching and learning language. The book therefore takes a wide-ranging approach to exploring teacher training in CALL, covering a number of situations from around the globe through a variety of lenses. To help the reader make connections among the different perspectives, and to the broader picture of teacher education in CALL, the editors introduce each chapter with a short preface.

The book includes 15 chapters organized into five parts. Part 1 introduces the reader to the field in general. In the first chapter the editors propose a descriptive framework for CALL education based on five institutional roles and four functional roles. Each cell of the resulting matrix includes the technical and pedagogical knowledge and skills for the specific role combination. The resulting framework is fairly representative of the field. The second chapter reports on a survey of practicing teachers, providing insight into the experience of receiving CALL training (Greg Kessler). To finish this foundational section, we are provided with an overview of the activities of governments and professional bodies regarding standards for CALL teachers in the United States and internationally (Kathryn Murphy Judy and Bonnie L. Youngs).

Part 2 looks at CALL programs and begins with an insightful description of the rise and fall of a master's program in the United States (John Partridge). This is followed by a discussion of the processes embedded in a master's program in the UK (Diane Slaouti and Gary Mottera), and the examination of project-based learning in a master's program in Australia (Robert Debski).

In Part 3, the individual CALL course is examined. It begins with a discussion of the appropriate timing for a singular course (Volker Hegelheimer). This is followed somewhat awkwardly by a detailed description of a course project that uses speech recognition in developing language-learning software (Maxine Eskenazi and Jonathan Brown). Next, we learn about a study that looked at student satisfaction with a CALL course and resulted in the reorganization of a TESL program in Quebec (Martine Peters). The last two chapters in this section deal with online courses. A somewhat confusing discussion of a course that emphasized situated learning (Joy Egbert) is followed by a detailed description of another online course, which includes numerous references to research and literature on distance learning and online courses (Christine Bauer-Ramazani).

Part 4 focuses on CALL in-service opportunities. A description of a successful country-wide training initiative in Ireland (Angela Rickard, Francoise Blin, and Christine Appel) is followed by discussion of a CALL course that used WebQuests to challenge teachers' assumptions (Chin-chi Chao). Teachers' reluctance to use CALL in Siberia is addressed by a special initiative in the next chapter (Larissa Olesova and Christine Foster Meloni). In a report of two case studies from a longitudinal study of Hong Kong teachers who took a short in-service, we witness what is involved in integrating IT from a teacher's perspective (Lillian Q. Wong and Phil Benson). Finally, an attempt is made to deal with training for teaching online, with somewhat disappointing results (Christopher M. Jones and Bonnie L. Youngs).

A highlight of the book is Part 5, 'Alternatives to formal CALL training.' The effectiveness of collaboration is demonstrated in a description of a three-way mentoring relationship between in-service teachers, graduate students in IT, and pre-service student teachers (Carla Meskill, Natasha Anthony, Shannon Hilliker-VanStrander, Chi Hua Tseng, and Jieun You). In an especially exciting chapter, we are treated to an enthusiastic description of communities of practice (Elizabeth Hanson-Smith). From there we move to an examination of the ongoing challenge of helping faculty to 'think outside the box" and to shift with technology (Marianna Kolaitis, Mary Ann...