Abstract
In a recent article, George Kalbouss broadly described a variety of ways in which the computer can be used in the teaching of Russian.' The purpose of the present article is to elaborate on Kalbouss' contribution by describing in detail one use of the computer in Russian language instruction: the system which is in operation in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California. The system to be described is an automated, interactive drill routine for first-year Russian which allows students to do homework at a typewriter terminal under the supervision of a computer. It does not aim at replacing the teacher, only at lessening his burden of paper correcting while making possible more creative use of class time. By interactive is meant allowing an interplay between the student and the computer: the student and the computer take turns typing messages to each other. I will first present a sample session with a student using the computer-aided instruction (CAI) package for first-year Russian, and I will then offer some commentary. The student sits down at the terminal, turns it on, picks up a telephone which links the terminal with the computer, dials the computer's telephone number, and places the receiver on an acoustic coupler which serves as the interface between the telephone and the terminal. Next he signs on. This is a procedure which tells the computer the student is entitled to use the Russian CAI package. It may thus be compared to opening a combination lock: one must know the numbers in the correct sequence or the lock will remain closed. The student types 3A3A, hits the return key, types ) (a right parenthesis), and hits the return key again. The computer responds by printing out SIGN-ON PLEASE: 0000000000000000, which tells the student to type his account number in the sixteen spaces provided. (They are blanked out so that others will not learn the student's account number.) After the student types his account number and signals he is finished by hitting the return key, the machine responds with a standard message giving the date and time, indicating that the machine has recognized the student's account number, for example:
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