The effort to develop CALL can be thought of as progressing through three eras. In the first era, the technology itself led the way; constraints on hardware and software dictated the pedagogical uses to which we could put the machinery. In the second era - where we still find ourselves - language teaching leads the way. In the third era - the golden age of CALL - it will be language learning which motivates and controls the development of the whole effort, but we are not there yet. (I shall discuss in more detail why I believe that current developments in ‘learner-centred’ and ‘learner-controlled’ activities on the computer do not as yet really qualify as computer-assisted language learning.)

After attending the 1989 Exeter CALL Conference, David Shaw and John Partridge, two teachers from the University of Kent, recommended to the School of European and Modem Language Studies that the School should establish its own Computer Assisted Language Learning Laboratory. Several of us had been ‘keeping an eye’ on CALL for quite a few years, from the days when BBC micros were innovative marvels. The Applied Languages Board had acquired a BBC and some software and had gained some experience with it in postgraduate courses. David Shaw had been supervising practical programming projects for MSc students in Computing in the area of CALL and natural language processing. Our recommendation was that, with a new generation of microcomputers supplanting the trusty but limited BBC micro, a point had been reached where it would be realistic for the School to establish a CALL teaching laboratory on a more ambitious scale.

The retrieval of information by electronic means can involve several media: remote searching of large commercially-produced databases, utilising CD-ROM and multimedia applications, and electronic mail. Both the information retrieval techniques used in this process and the information retrieved are of relevance to those involved in computer-assisted language learning.

This paper is about the development of an authoring tool for computerised reading comprehension exercises. The software tools used and some problems encountered using them are described. Using the authoring tools and running the program are discussed and the first experiences reported.

Since 1984, CALL materials have been used on a regular basis in the German Department at the University of Aberdeen in integrated language courses, in order to practise and consolidate the material taught in face-to-face contact classes. CALL work essentially forms a backup to the taught part of the course. What the students are taught one week, they practise in their CALL class the following week, and additionally have the opportunity to work on further exercises on a private-study basis. Within the field of language learning, our experience suggests that the computer can be above all a superb tool for revision and consolidation. With the development and use of hypertext materials, there is more than just the possibility that it can now become even more effective than hitherto.

This database, containing information about articles in the Madrid daily El Independiente, fills a major vacuum in Spanish information sources. It started off as a personal tool to help the author update information on specific topics and prepare teaching materials. It is now used both by staff and students of Spanish at Newcastle Polytechnic for a variety of purposes. The purpose of this contribution is to offer Spanish colleagues a brief insight into the system and its possible use.

This paper looks at a variety of CALL systems on offer to the learner of Japanese. Systems developed in America and the UK as well as in Japan are reviewed, with particular focus on systems to help the learner read Japanese. Comparisons are made with conventional leaching methods. From this a summary is produced of how computers are currently used to help the learner read Japanese.

LLCP - the acronym covers the Learning Latin Computer Package and the Learning Latin Computer Project - started as a Computers in Teaching Initiative project under my direction in April 1986. Its aim was to create PC software to support Latin parsing and metaphrasing exercises based on the course book Learning Latin: an Introductory Course for Adults by John Randall et al, which was published to coincide with the project. Learning Latin is unique among Latin courses in a number of ways: it uses only real Latin, that is, Latin by classical Latin-speaking authors, it is in essence intelligence-based rather than rote-memory based, and it was designed to lead to computer assistance. Learning Latin is aimed primarily at beginners; but it can and does function also as a rapid revision course for students who have already studied and gained qualifications in Latin al secondary or high school.