Investigation on Advantages and Disadvantages in using English CALL According to the Opinions of Thai University Students and Lecturers

Abstract

This research intended to study the opinions of Thai university students and lecturers about Englishcomputer-assisted language learning (CALL) materials. The data was collected by Quata Sampling from167 students who were studying English and 70 English lecturers at 8 leading universities in Thailand. Thedata was collected from the questionnaires and analyzed by standard means and compared by Mann-WhitneyU-test. It was analyzed for correlations by Pearson Chi-Square and Cramer's V-test. The results of the studycould be summarized as follows:

Both groups of subjects appreciated most the advantages of using CALL materials in terms of freedomin studying, followed by the specific characteristics of CALL such as automatic buttons, animation,sound effects and colors. The lecturer groups valued these advantages significantly more than studentgroups at 0.05 levels.

The most disadvantageous problem in using CALL for student groups was time consuming in loadingthe program but the lecturer groups rated problems in developing CALL programs as the most disadvantageous.In voting an appropriate ratio between CALL and books, all subjects preferred to use 60%-80% books and 20%-40% CALL.

The results of this investigation reflected the present situation that both lecturers and students arefacing in Thai universities. It will be beneficial to educational administrators for policy planning to supportthe use and development of CALL for learner autonomy and life-long learning. This study can be appliedfor universities in other countries that are sharing the same problems as in Thai universities.