The JALT CALL Journal
Vol. 1, No. 3, December 2005, pp. 50-61

Comparing CALL Approaches: Self-access versus hybrid classes

Michael Redfield & Peter Campbell
Osaka Keizai University

Introduction:

With the steady increase of computer laboratories dedicated to language learning in many institutions in recent years, it is hardly surprising that self-access learning materials have attracted a significant amount of attention from second language learning textbook and software development companies. As Little (2001, p. 29) describes, the development of these self-access environments over the past two decades has been the “single most important development affecting the learning of foreign languages in the world.” Different researchers advocate different reasons for using self-access materials. Wolff (1997), for example, argues that CALL can be used to promote certain aspects of learner autonomy such as working at one’s own pace, freedom to choose materials and one’s pedagogical path. Researchers such as Jones & O’Brien (1997) and Tamburini (1999) have suggested that self-study environments give learners the opportunity to work around tight scheduling constraints that make it difficult for them set aside time required for conventional language courses. There is, however, little documented evidence at this point to show how self-access environments compare to other language learning environments, in particular when CALL is used as a component of each environment.