3.605 CAI acronyms and meanings (135)

Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Wed, 18 Oct 89 19:06:34 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 605. Wednesday, 18 Oct 1989.


(1) Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 00:32:35 EDT (38 lines)
From: LNGDANAP@UOGUELPH
Subject: CAI acronyms

(2) Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 00:23:26 EDT (34 lines)
From: unhd!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield)
Subject: "Computer-Assisted Instruction terms"

(3) Date: 18 Oct 89 13:26 -0330 (25 lines)
From: dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: Acronyms

(4) Date: 18 Oct 89 13:34 -0330 (8 lines)
From: dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: P.S. on acronyms

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 00:32:35 EDT
From: LNGDANAP@UOGUELPH
Subject: CAI acronyms


Willard asks what the following acronyms mean:

CAI (computer-aided instruction)
CALI (computer-aided language instruction)
CALL (computer-aided language learning
CALT (computer-aided language teaching)
ICAI (intelligent computer-aided instruction)
ICALI (intelligent computer-aided language instruction)

EAO (enseignement assiste/ par ordinateur)
ELAO (enseignement des langues assiste/ par ordinateur)
EIA0 (enseignement intelligemment assiste/ par ordinateur)

CAI, EAO are generic terms referring to any sort of pegagogical
use of computers. CALI was the original term coined to refer
to computer-assisted instruction specifically for language
learning; the term "instruction" made teachers uneasy, seeming
to imply that a machine was doing the teaching, and CALL replaced
CALI, placing the focus on what the student was doing, not what
the machine was doing. CALT is a variant which no one liked
and which withered on the vine. CALL is now the generally
accepted acronym. ELAO is the accepted French equivalent.

ICAI is generic for any CAI which uses so-called "artificial-
intelligence" techniques, most of which have nothing to do with
artificial intelligence, but have been so classifed traditionally.
EIAO is the French equivalent. ICALI has yet to be accepted on
a general basis, but is the subclassification of ICAI which
pertains to language learning. The French language, retaining
some ties to cartesian values, rightly balks at this point. But
probably not for long.

Dana Paramskas, University of Guelph.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------46----
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 00:23:26 EDT
From: unhd!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield)
Subject: "Computer-Assisted Instruction terms"

I'd like to comment on just 4 of the various terms that Greg Lessard
referred to, CALL, CALI, EAO and ELAO. First, of all, on the matter
of pronunciation, my usual colleagues and myself have always sounded
out the first two as words ("call," "cali" ["cal" as in "Cal Tech,"
"i" as in "ee": "kal'-i"]. The latter two, from my experiences in
France & Switzerland, we usually pronounce letter-by-letter with
French pronunciation ("e-a-o," "e-l-a-o"). But this latter approach
may not be representative save for some of those people who have to
use the acronym often.

Regarding the distinction between CALL and CALI, some (Frank Otto of
CALICO and others whom I see relatively often) have commented in
oral & written form that they prefer "CALL" because of the learner
orientation ("computer-assisted language learning"). While this
is attitudinally sound, I think a strong factor is that it's a
nicer acronym. Since I often conduct authoring workshops where
language teachers review methodological principles applicable to CAI,
evaluate commercial foreign language software and learn to write their own
using various types of authoring sofware, we often talk about "CALI,"
"computer-assisted language instruction," because of:
1) the instructional and technical component of learning to design and
author language software and; 2) the strong teacher-oriented component present
in the authoring process, which is often collaborative. Also, their
attentiveness to the learners' strategies and to their anticipated strengths
and weaknesses is assumed as a "given" since it formed such a powerful
component of the initial methodological & evaluative phases.

--Joel D. Goldfield
Plymouth State College (NH)
J_GOLDFI@UNHH.bitnet
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------34----
Date: 18 Oct 89 13:26 -0330
From: dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: Acronyms

My experience with the acronyms mentioned by Greg Lessard is fairly
limited (some were new to me) but perhaps the following may be useful
(all comments based on personal but naive observation):

CAI pronounced see-eh-eye
CAL* " to rhyme with "gal"
CALL " to rhyme with "gall"
EAO " euh-ah-oh [cf "EDF"]

*not listed by G.L. but often used here (we have a local
newsgroup called anews.mun.cal, for example).

Willard invites comment about the *meaning* to us of these acronyms.
I would suppose that those focussing on "instruction" take the
computer [or teacher] to be the active participant, while those
emphasizing "learning" would see the student as more actively engaged
in the process, but this is presumably only the most obvious reaction.

David Graham dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Department of French & Spanish munucs!dgraham
Memorial University of Newfoundland
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------17----
Date: 18 Oct 89 13:34 -0330
From: dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: P.S. on acronyms

I just remembered this: people here seem to take the "A" in CAI, CALL
etc to mean "assisted" rather than aided. Same difference, I guess...

DG dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca