Feedback In Het Computerondersteund Talenonderwijs

One of the most important questions that has to be answered before we can start developing courseware for computer assisted language learning concerns the role feedback could or should play in this type of courseware.This question is the more important because in the last few years two tendencies seem to be developing in CALL:-one that stimulates and elaborates 'traditional' CALL-programmes, adapted as much as possible to the characteristics of the individual learners, taking into account the level of knowledge of the learner and providing feedback that is specifically adapted to the learners' responses; -other CALL-developers tend to propagate 'open-ended' programmes like adventures, simulations, that they consider more interesting and more motivating because they are closer to real-life situations.Making the first type of programme requires a huge amount of work: foreseeing and analyzing learners' responses and developing adequate feedback. The second type of programme is available and ready for use, no programming is necessary - but individual control and correction are not possible. Moreover, it is not very clear what learners do learn when working with these programmes.An essential difference between the two types of programmes is in the feedback they provide. If we want to be able to make a choice between these two approaches to CALL, we should know more about the role of feedback. That is what the project at the Univer-sity of Amsterdam described here wants to achieve.