Technology in education

udies have been done concerning how the use of computer for language learning affects the development of language learners four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). Most report significant gains in reading and listening and most CALL programs are geared toward these accessible skills because of the current state of computer technology. However, most reading and listening software is based on drills. On the other hand, using current CALL technology, even with its current limitations, for the development of speaking abilities has gained much attention. There has been some success in using CALL, in particular computer-mediated communication, to help speaking skills closely linked to "communicative competence" (ability to engage in meaningful conversation in the target language) and provide controlled interactive speaking practice outside the classroom. Using chat has been shown to help students routines certain often-used expressions to promote the development of automatic structure that help develop speaking skills. This is true even if the chat is purely textual. The use of videoconferencing gives not only immediacy when communicating with a real person but also visual cues, such as facial expressions, making such communication more real. However, when it comes to using the computer not as a medium of communication (with other people) but as something to interact with verbally in a direct manner, the current computer technologys limitations are at their clearest. Right now, there are two fairly successful applications of automatic speech recognition (ASR) (or speech processing technology) where the computer "understands" the spoken words of the learner. The first is pronunciation training. Learners read sentences on the screen and the co