Effects of Using CALL on Advanced Chinese Foreign Language Learners

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of a CALL application designed to enhance speaking and listening in Mandarin Chinese on advanced students' verbal skills, learning attitudes, and self-efficacy. A pretest/posttest experimental/control-group design with intact classes was employed to minimize treatment diffusion. Over the course of 14 weeks, students in the treatment group previewed the Chinese CALL application, based on a culturally rich and popular Chinese talk show, prior to classroom instruction and reviewed similar materials during and after class. The control group received traditional instructions from a different instructor and used a different textbook. Students in both the control and treatment groups were given criterion-referenced pre- and posttests in which lab computers were used to record their verbal responses. Students in both groups also completed a language experience survey and two questionnaires on using CALL in their Chinese learning and their self-efficacy in Chinese-speaking fluency. Analysis of test data showed that the students in the treatment group significantly outperformed those in the control group. The CALL application also fostered positive learning attitudes and a self-efficacy in students' Chinese fluency. Students considered the CALL application to be a time saver and an effective means of learning advanced Chinese.