AI in CALL--Artificially Inflated or Almost Imminent?

Abstract

The application of techniques from artificial intelligence (AI) to CALL has commonly been referred to as intelligent CALL (ICALL). ICALL is only slightly older than the CALICO Journal, and this paper looks back at a quarter century of published research mainly in North America and by North American scholars. This 'inventory taking' will provide a basis for establishing the place, context, and direction of ICALL in the CALICO Journal, CALICO organization, and CALL research and development in general. As a point of reference, I will use a list of desiderata for ICALL (Oxford, 1993) from the outside perspective of second language acquisition (SLA).