Teaching Professional German with the Use of a CD-ROM

The use of technology is becoming more wide-spread in the teaching of foreign languages. In this article, I will review some of the types and uses of technology in foreign language instruction and then present a new CD-ROM for teaching Professional German at the intermediate level. I will provide several examples from the CD-ROM and explain how they work. The use of technology in foreign language instruction has become standard in many language classrooms. It is often viewed as improving and maybe even promoting language acquisition (LeLoup and Ponterio, “Technology”). However, do we know which types of technology have proven to be benefi cial to foreign language learning and how they can be implemented in language instruction? In this article, I will present an overview of several types and uses of technology in language instruction and then introduce and provide several sample exercises from a CD-ROM to teach intermediate Professional German at the university level. COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is approximately 40 years old. Mark Warschauer refers to three distinct periods within the CALL development: behavioristic CALL, communicative CALL, and integrative CALL. These phases are not distinct but fl ow together resulting in an overlapping of one with another. They did not enjoy widespread or immediate acceptance, and they evolved rather slowly and unevenly over a period of time. Behavioristic CALL prevailed from the 1950s through the 1970s and enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, when the Audiolingual Method dominated the foreign language teaching fi eld. In this behavioristic approach, instructors drilled and practiced the language, which led to the implementation of the computer as a tutor (Taylor). Attractiveness of behavioristic CALL declined in the late 1970s and early 1980s as changes in language acquisition theory and pedagogy required new approaches to language teaching. The development of microcomputers supplied the basis for the next phase of CALL. Global Business Languages (2007) Michael Hager University of Toronto TEACHING PROFESSIONAL GERMAN WITH THE USE OF A CD-ROM