Development of Remedial CALL Materials for Improving English Listening Skills of Japanese College Freshmen

本研究的目的有三个：1)开发一个写作系统，使英语教师和研究人员能够更有效率和低成本地开发CALL软件；2)开发迎合日本大学新生兴趣的中级前英语教材；3)评估所开发的教材和写作系统的表现。在美国纽约州、新泽西州和阿拉巴马州进行了拍摄，总共录制了8个小时的自然对话和采访，并拍摄了6000张照片。该系统的主要特点是：1)用Excel文件描述课件；2)用转换程序将EXCEL文件转换成链接到特定音频、视频和静止图像文件夹的XML文件；3)用一系列的Java脚本程序，利用MS Internet Explorer的功能，将经过XML转换的课件和链接的信息呈现给学习者。大学生对所开发的呼叫材料的评价表明：1)教材比以前开发的初级教材更难，比预先开发的中级教材更容易，3)与之前开发的评价较高的材料一样，该材料同样能吸引学生的兴趣。4)使用该材料4个月后，大学生的托业成绩提高了56.2分。通过使用该系统开发其他呼叫材料，对该创作系统的可用性进行了评估，结果表明，该系统使我们能够减少90%的时间和费用来创建呼叫软件。

The present study served the following three purposes : 1) to develop an authoring system which enabled EFL instructors and researchers to create CALL software more efficiently and cost-effectively, 2) to develop pre-intermediate level CALL English material appealing to the interests of Japanese college freshmen, 3) to evaluate the performance of the developed material and the authoring system.As a result of a questionnaire survey given to college students, "daily life in the US" was adopted as the main theme for developing new CALL material. Filming was done in the US in the states of New York, New Jersey, and Alabama where a total of eight hours of natural conversation and interviews were videotaped and 6000 photographs were taken. The Three-Step Auditory Comprehension Approach was adopted as the basic theory in the development of the courseware.The principal specifications of the authoring system are : 1) the courseware is described in Excel files, 2) a converter program converts the Excels files to XML files which are linked to particular audio, video, and still image folders, 3) a series of JavaScript programs present the XML-converted courseware and linked information to the learners using the functions of MS Internet Explorer.The evaluation of the developed CALL material by college students revealed that : 1) the material was rated more difficult than previously developed elementary-level material and easier than pre-developed intermediate-level material, 3) the material appeals to the students' interests as much as the highly-evaluated material previously developed, 4) English skills of the college students measured by TOEIC score improved 56.2 points by the use of the material for four months. The usability of the authoring system was evaluated by developing other CALL material using the system which showed that it enables us to reduce 90% of the time and expense for creating CALL software.