Review Essay: Evaluating ESL Software for the Inclusive Classroom, 2(6)

David L.E. Watt

dwatt@acs.ucalgary.ca

Associate Professor, TESL
University of Calgary

and

Dora Foscolos

tkapoyan@acs.ucalgary.ca
Graduate Student
University of Calgary

Abstract

This ESL software review essay represents a modest departure from conventional reviews. The essay proposes a series of criteria for making informed decisions about the process of selecting ESL software to support integrated classroom teachers meet the demands of inclusive classroom teaching. Our reason for writing such an article stems from our belief that classroom teachers and administrators play a distinctly different role in an inclusive educational model. They are required to access expertise from a variety of areas outside of their own. They are invested with the responsibility of making informed decisions in those areas. And they are faced with the complexity of managing a small staff of para-professinals, volunteers, parents and students, as part of their daily lives in the inclusive classroom setting. Our goal in this article is to assist teachers and administrators with this process by providing some principles and procedures that we have found useful in determining the best fit between our classrooms and available software. In addition to the criteria, we have included a range of ESL software series evaluations as a starting point.

Why CD's in the Inclusive Classroom?

As educators, we are faced with the increasing complexity of providing leadership and direction through a rapidly expanding field of information and media. The move towards a more inclusive philosophic approach to the delivery of educational support adds to the complexity of this task. It requires us to have not only a professional familiarity with our own educational areas, but also a sufficient familiarity with an array of other areas that support the diversity of learning needs in the inclusive classroom. This demand on us as educators is not a trivial problem--one that can be addressed with a one-time solution. If anything it is one that exacerbates the sensation of anxiety that Rogers aptly described as "starving for knowledge and drowning in this information".

In the inclusive classroom, teachers have had to learn a new role; that of managers. They have to direct the educational involvement of other teachers, aides, parents and volunteers, as well as orchestrate the engagement of students. Often the feeling is one of frustration at the increased responsibility for preparing instructional guides for a small staff of people, above and beyond their regular work as teachers. A common and very unsatisfactory outcome of the pressure is that teachers are sometimes forced to tell their paraprofessionals to just take some of the ESL students and "do something" with them. It is unreasonable, if not shortsighted, to expect the teacher in an inclusive classroom to have either the time or the specialist's knowledge of ESL teaching. But it is reasonable to expect inclusive classroom teachers to be able to plan out the use of human and instructional resources that support student learning. And this is where a knowledge of CD's for ESL students enters the picture. CDs of various types provide teachers with the area expertise and general direction that can aid them in their efforts to manage the learning resources of the inclusive classroom.

What are the hidden dangers?

CDs with expert level instructional capabilities do not actually solve the dilemma, but rather bring a new series of complexities to the task of teaching. We can easily be swept away by the sense of relief at finding that there are CDs that can address some of the needs we face in the classroom. We can forget the importance of our role as professional decision makers, leaving us in that humourously expressed paradox that any teacher who can be replaced by a computer, should be! And worst of all, we can become mesmerized by the production quality of a CD, unable to judge the fit between our personal and professional strengths and the strengths and limitations of the CD. We forget that it is not the quality of the CD, but rather the goodness of fit between our educational resources and those of the CD. So in this paper, our purpose is to provide teachers and educators in inclusive settings with a set of criteria for making professional decisions about CDs that offer ESL instructional assistance. To illustrate our particular approach to the evaluation, we have included some of our evaluations of educational software, from our educational context.

Our Criteria for Software Evaluation

Where did they come from?

After several years of analysing and evaluating ESL textbook series and ESL CDs that offer instruction, (e.g. multilingual books, games, programs or instruction, etc.) we came to the conclusion that it was the framework we used for evaluating that was more useful than any single review. The criteria to which our reviewing process conforms have been drawn from a number of sources related to the field of ESL education. They have emerged over time, to respond to the kinds of decision points we found necessary as we analysed material and for this reason, they do not represent a traditional list for judging material, but rather represent the process of making professional, educational decisions. For us, this has become an important distinction.

American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages. ACTFL FIT

Many series include initial statements about the intended audience in terms of English language proficiency. These statements often refer to levels like: high beginner, low intermediate, etc. But out of context, the statements are a rough and sometimes erroneous guide. What exactly is a high beginner? And how accurate is the materials claim? Fortunately there is a source for these labels; the ACTFL Guidelines. The guidelines provide holistic descriptions of English language proficiency that make sense to teachers, describing the communicative components of listening, speaking, reading and writing in detail. ACTFL now has an impressive site that can provide any inclusive classroom teacher with the background information on assessing English language proficiency in an holistic manner.

One of the first decisions that we have to make is whether the material fits the level of our students. Age appropriateness and interest are fairly obvious, but the ACTFL fit requires us to determine whether or not the material is actually accessible to our students and whether the instructional demands fit with their growing ability. The simplest way to determine this is to sample the materials from the perspective of our students' English language proficiency. There is a degree of leeway, or tolerance, in the fit depending on the type human support available to us in our classrooms. Some material is too complicated for independent engagement, but is accessible with the support of a peer, an adult volunteer, a teaching assistant, or a professional ESL teacher.

Active Quality

Some activities are exceptionally well planned and others appear to sit in isolation from the larger purpose. In order to get a sense of the activity quality on a CD, we found it useful to apply 6 criteria for evaluating the quality of language activities, originally suggested by Penny Ur. So, for a few selected, activities, we make decisions about the quality of the potential engagement with the material, following this list of criteria.

Pre-learning
This is the introduction of material that has not yet been taught. Learners should not be asked to practice material that they have not yet been exposed to in earlier lessons. If there is too great a jump between the learning demands of sequenced lessons, we will need to find a means of bridging that gap. This is a time consuming process for the inclusive classroom teacher and may be a sufficiently large problem to give us pause, when evaluating the usability of some CD's. Good instruction tends to build on prior learning and where that is not present (as in certain language learning tasks) pre-learning is essential.
Volume and Repetition
Volume is the amount of comprehensible language that is spoken, heard, read or written in the course of the activity. The goal is to provide learners with the opportunity to engage with the items to be learned as many times as possible. Repetition is simply the production of the language over and over again. The key is to combine the features of interest and repetition to design effective techniques. Volume and repetition are criteria that can easily be extended into the general classroom goals, in support of the CD instruction. Knowing where and how becomes part of any path of professional decision making.
Success-Orientation
It is important that language learners experience success in the classroom. This means that activities should be designed and presented to ensure a certain level of success for students. Students will not only develop a positive self-image but success orientation will contribute to a positive classroom climate. The opposite of a success orientation is obvious; a competitive, failure orientation. As part of our decision about the success orientation, we need to make decisions about the likelihood of students being able to work with the material either independently, with different types of assistance, or not at all.
Heterogeneity
Heterogeneous activities are those that are accessible to students at differing levels of English language proficiency. These activities are designed so that students can proceed in a variety of ways. The availability of clues, and other forms of text support have a heterogeneous effect on the activity, as do open ended questions and closed sort options. Multiple choice questions of the type found in testing material lack heterogeneity as there is only one correct answer and this type of exercise can only be done by students at a certain level of proficiency. Heterogeneous activities provide more success for more students and encourages positive learner attitudes and higher motivation. One of the great advantages of the CD medium is that it tends to provide for greater heterogeneity through hypertext, in a way that print material cannot.
Teacher Assistance
For any collection of material, it is relatively easy to predict how much teacher involvement is going to be needed and what roles the teacher is likely to have to assume in providing the assistance. CD's often provide strong support within the program's materials, so often, our role will be defined in terms of more managerial and facilitative terms. Since this relates to time and time is a precious commodity in the inclusive classroom, issues of teacher assistance are of paramount importance in the decision process.
Interest
It goes without saying, that interest is, in part, topical. The content or information that is carried in the language lesson has to fit either the personal or age related interests of the students, or it has to fit with the content being learned in the larger classroom as a whole. But there is another aspect to the notion of interest, one that Penny Ur humourously referred to as pleasurable tension. In our field tests, we have frequently noticed that CD's which appear to be nothing more than electrified worksheets can actually captivate the interest of students and thus promote prolonged practice. Pleasurable tension (a race against time, a success oriented scoring system, and even a chance to play with more than one person, etc.) Can often make an otherwise mediocre instructional activity into a highly popular one. For us, it is this element of pleasurable tension that is a key indicator of the potential interest level that a CD will generate, and so, we look for it specifically.

Motivation

Motivation is one of the most complex concepts affecting the engagement with learning. CD's have their own distinct motivational factors. As mentioned above, we have seen material which would be arduous and boring if it were on paper, but in an interactive form, this same material has proven to be highly engaging for students. However, when it comes to making decisions about the motivational factors that CD's include and exclude, we have found Keller's work on motivation in instructional design (e.g., Keller, 1983) to be a straight forward, useable framework for approaching an assessment. The ARCS model (attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction) provides us with a means of detailing our reactions, in deciding how we as teachers can complement the motivation that may be inherent in the CD's design features.

Keller outlines four major factors that influence the motivation to learn. We mention them briefly below, but for those who are interested in a more extensive and detailed look at the criteria, you can access it at an ARCS website like the one included here.

Attention
We need to get and sustain students' attention. This is not always easy. We look for high interest activities that focus a student's attention on specific learning goals. We also look for what Keller called inquiry arousal in the form of conspicuous signs prompting the student's curiosity to learn more about something in the program. One evident shortcoming of CD's that are part of a language learning series is that they tend to be quite formulaic in the patterning of their instructional sequences, from unit to unit. Being aware of this limitation, allows us to plan ways of offsetting any negative side effects that might cause students to merely go through the motions, rather than engage with the material.
Relevance
It is important for students to feel that the instruction and activities they are attempting are relevant to them. Students need to know that instruction is meeting their personal needs or goals. This will positively influence students' motivation to learn. Since CD's are generic and relevance is a highly personal reaction, we look for ways to link CD instruction to real world experiences, either with the general classroom material or with other students in the class.
Confidence
Confidence is that precarious and somewhat delicate balance between prior success and new challenges. If the distance between the two is either too great or too small, a student's confidence can be undermined. Fortunately, CD designers tend to be sensitive to the need to foster confidence in students as they work within the program's structure. However, we have come to realize that a critical feature in the evaluation of software for the inclusive classroom is the degree to which the confidence gained from engagement with the software can be transferred to engagement in the classroom as a whole. In some instances, the transferability is clearly evident. In others, the software appears to have very much of a stand alone value, that does not easily integrate to the learning experiences of the classroom as a whole. The idea of a direct relationship, or a transferability of communicative confidence has become a key ingredient in our assessment of this aspect of instructional motivation.
Satisfaction
Without some sense of satisfaction, it would be difficult to remain motivated to learn. Whether satisfaction results from an extrinsic factor such as a certificate (i.e., achievement) or from advancement (i.e., progress), or from some intrinsic factor such as meaningful learning, the need to experience a sense of satisfaction from our learning is of paramount importance. Just as recognition and value for the student's learning are important within the context of the CD, it is equally important to establish a means for recognizing and valuing that same learning in the inclusive classroom context. Again, the fit between what the CD values and what we value may or may not be a good match for each other.

Sequencing and Difficulty

Typically, instructional materials have had an inherent sequence to them, caused partly by the paper medium. CDs, particularly the types of instructional series that are reviewed in this paper, maintain an element of sequencing, but the CD medium itself allows for a much more learner driven engagement with activities. As we try to understand the sequenced effect of engaging with the language learning potential of the material, it is useful to consider some of Nunan's criteria for assessing the degree of difficulty associated with processing (i.e. comprehending) and producing (i.e. using) language (Nunan, 1990). Do the tasks have different demands? Do they require engagement in listening, speaking, reading and writing? And does the change in the demands keep pace with the learners developing level of English language proficiency. If they do not keep pace with the learner's development, or they are skewed in terms of the types productive and receptive language use that they require, then we will need to plan for a certain amount of adjustment to the overall picture. Again, the availability of educational support gives us a degree of leeway, allowing on the one hand for us to adjust the type of collaborative assistance from independent to expertly supported, and on the other hand, to plan for the integration of language activities in the whole class setting.

Language Learning Principles

Finally, in order to enhance the likelihood of language learning while the student is engaged with the CDs, we need to consider the degree to which the CD supports what has been identified as key language learning and teaching principles. By knowing what the CD provides and what it doesn't, we are able to make decisions about what and how we will direct our side of the educational plan. Suffice it to say that many of the language learning and teaching principles are difficult to address fully in CALL medium of instruction. However, knowing about the principles is an invaluable asset to our decision making process.

These principles, summarized from the Australian Language Levels documents, are most succinctly stated as follows:

Learners learning a language best when they are:

treated as individuals with their own needs and interests
provided with opportunities to participate in communicative use of the target language in a wide range of activities
exposed to communicative data which is comprehensible and relevant to their own needs and interests
focusing deliberately on various language forms, skills, strategies in order to support the process of language acquisition
exposed to sociocultural data and direct experience of the culture embedded within the target language
becoming aware of the role and nature language and of culture
provided with appropriate feedback about their progress
provided with opportunities to manage their own learning

The Importance of Criteria:

Every inclusive classroom teacher needs to have a degree of comfort and a sense of confidence in their ability to make professionally sound decisions about ESL software and the role it can play in enhancing the quality of the learning environment. Having a set of criteria for articulating one's view of software is essential. If nothing else, it allows us to articulate our reasons for choosing particular CDs over others. More importantly, the criteria also help to focus our attention on what constitutes good teaching, not on the production quality of the material. It is the fit between ourselves, our educational context, and the expertise of the software that ultimately determines the face value of the software.

Tapping into our managerial sides:

Once we have chosen CDs that offer meaningful ESL instructional assistance, we must then take advantage of the human resources that may be available to us in the inclusive classroom. This is where we need to connect the managerial side of our teaching responsibilities with support from ESL teachers, paraprofessionals, volunteers, and classroom native speaking peers.

With a modicum of planning, teachers can prepare teaching assistants, parents, other volunteers and students to provide specific assistance to ESL students, both while they are using the software and after their initial learning . Learning to manage a staff of classroom assistants does not happen over night. However, understanding the software resources is a definite asset in orchestrating the support that is available to us. There is some consolation as teachers in knowing that while we are honing our ability to make best use of our human resources, the ESL students are, if little else, engaged in authentic communication, asking questions, working with others, and getting a rich variety of support for their learning.

Balancing the curriculum:

Whether we have planned for additional human resources to help students use the software or students are accessing the activities independently, we must also keep in mind that integrating ESL software is one of the many resources that we can use to support the diversity of learning in the inclusive classroom.

We need to provide our students with a balanced , integrated curriculum that takes into account the language learning principles that were previously mentioned in the article. As teachers in an inclusive setting we need to make sure that all four strands: listening, speaking, reading and writing are evenly focused on within a communicative environment where students have the opportunity to use the language in authentic situations. We need to know which of our objectives the software will help us meet and where we will need to supplement instruction to provide students with the balanced curriculum they need.

Closing Remarks:

Everyday, classroom teachers are faced with important decisions that they must make to best facilitate student learning. Surrounded by a rapidly expanding and intimidating field of information, teachers, now more than ever, are accountable for decisions about the best use of educational software, human resources in the classroom, and their personal and professional strengths. We hope the criteria that we have set out in this article will help teachers make this connection when evaluating ESL software in support of the diversity of learning needs in the inclusive classroom.

The following section provides a very brief review of the Dyn ED Series. It is included in part to provide a potential source of information and also to demonstrate how we have undertaken the task of software evaluation, following our own criteria. If you are interested in seeing demonstration copies of this software, so that you can get a real feel for how our criteria apply, you can access the Dyn Ed website directly.

FIRSTHAND ACCESS

Firsthand Access is an interactive novice to novice-high course that focuses on English for communication and is primarily designed to help students develop their listening and speaking skills. The course targets junior and senior high school students by using characters, and situations that students can relate to. It is adapted from the textbook: Firsthand access: English Firsthand Beginners' Course/ Longman Group. This software uses multimedia in a setting that allows students the opportunity to participate in listening with native speaking models, including listening tasks and follow up exercises. Features of the software include: the option for repetition, seeing the written text, recording your voice and comparing it with native speaking models. There are also bilingual versions of the program that allow students to get a translation in many native languages.

The twelve unit structure of the course concentrates on language needed for communication in the classroom and social situations. This units focus on functions such as introducing yourself, asking for information and describing daily activities. Students have the option of moving through the units in order, or studying them as self contained units.

Firsthand access presents students with good quality activities. Students pre-learn the material through listening to the conversations presented at the beginning of each unit. Following this, students move into the specific listening and practising tasks where the vocabulary and grammar are reviewed as new material is being introduced. Thus allowing for volume and repetition. The listening tasks are well graded and provide students with the opportunity to experience success. Through using the various software features such as the pause, repetition, text and record buttons, students have the chance to interact with the language and work at their own pace in which they are able to experience success.

Given this software's target level, (focusing on junior and senior high students), this software captures the students' attention with the snappy background music and situations that they can relate to. While this series is successful in attracting the students' attention and providing them with good quality activities, in order for the motivational factors to remain high, teachers need to supplement the CD's with authentic classroom situations that allow students to extend the tasks presented on the CD's. By personalizing and extending the activities, the students will feel that the activities are relevant to their personal learning needs and goals.

Teachers can effectively use these CD's to reinforce or supplement their speaking and listening instruction. Used as a center, teachers may choose to have students work individually on the software to reinforce and recycle key vocabulary structures or have students work cooperatively with teaching assistants, parents, or other volunteers to provide students with additional feedback. Although this series tries to provide students with appropriate feedback regarding students' answers, this feedback is limited to words of encouragement. Although choosing the correct answer is important, if students are to experience success and have positive learner attitudes, they will need to have the opportunity to ask more questions, clarify any confusion and be presented with real life examples to meet their learning needs. The use of software and human resources should be linked together to provide students with powerful learning experiences.

With supplemental instruction and the linkage between technology and human resources, this software can be used to effectively to help students communicate in the classroom and in social situations at the beginner level.

DYNAMIC CLASSICS

The Dynamic Classics series focuses on the use of stories from literature to develop vocabulary, reading, listening comprehension, basic grammar and critical thinking skills in English. Each CD in this series is accompanied by a popular, simplified story from the Longman Classics editions. The titles include Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood (which are both at a 500- word vocabulary level and, according to ACTFL are at an intermediate-low level) and Round the World in 80 Days as well as A Christmas Carol (which are based on a 900 word vocabulary and are at the intermediate-high range). The CD's and the accompanying books are intended to be used to complement one another as students partake in listening, speaking and reading tasks to prepare them for the reading experience.

The series is structured around three major activities. The activities start with a narrative, where students are exposed to the pre-learning of the material through listening to the chapters of the story. Following this, students work on the dictation's and fill-ins where they review the language, grammar and vocabulary from the narrative. There are also Story Summaries and Matrixes that review and test students' comprehension. These activities incorporate both processing and production skills and account for task continuity. Increased demand is placed on the students as they progress through each activity.

Volume and repetition is emphasized as the focus is on controlled practice, meaningful repetition and the incorporation of vocabulary building, grammar study, listening comprehension and pronunciation practice. Students have many opportunities to engage in narration, fill- in and dictation activities that recycle the vocabulary and allow them to develop their comprehension and language.

By providing interactive CD's with accompanying books of literature classics, students will be motivated and interested in exploring the stories with the support they need to experience success. Students can study at their own pace with Dyn Ed features such as repetition, translation, text display, and glossary screens that provide additional supporting information. By providing students with additional resources to help students access text, then we can make their reading experiences relevant and satisfying for them.

Nevertheless, we must caution that although there is the support that allows students to manage their own learning and work at their own pace, the software is limited when it is asked to provide students with the meaningful feedback that students need when they do not experience success with an activity. This is where teachers, teaching assistants, parents and volunteers should play a facilitating role to provide students with the guidance, constructive feedback, and clarifications that students will need to meet their learning needs.

This series can be effectively tied in with the language learning curriculum. Whether teachers choose to have students use these books for independent reading books, community of reader's material or chapter book novel studies, teachers can integrate the books and CD's into their instruction to help students participate in meaningful, and successful reading experiences. This would benefit both ESL and non- ESL students. While the options are endless, we must also take into consideration that teachers will need to supplement the use of these books and CD's with opportunities for students to interact with other students in order to engage in critical thinking and problem solving skills. This is where students communicate their feelings, attitudes and views about their reading. With a balanced use of the software teachers will provide students with a positive learning environment where they can feel confident and satisfied.

LET'S GO

Let's Go is an interactive novice to novice-high CD ROM series that is based on the Let's Go Series published by Oxford University Press. This software focuses on the vocabulary and language structures needed for everyday communication by incorporating songs, conversations, games, graphics, and animation. It's integrated approach to language provides tasks that incorporate listening, speaking, and reading with heavy emphasis on listening.

There are eight units on two CD ROM's that develop sequentially starting with simple vocabulary and language structures that become progressively more challenging. The units are centered around familiar themes such as classroom objects, the alphabet, colours and numbers, which give context to the vocabulary, grammar, and expressions in the unit. As students progress through the units, there is a recycling of vocabulary and structures from earlier units to ensure volume and repetition.

The series captures the interest of young children( ages five to eight) through the eyes of two playful cats "Sam and Ginger". As they guide students through the beginning units, they are exposed to songs and conversations, that sustain their attention through providing them with heterogeneous and success oriented activities. Students have access to features such as repetition, text display, translation, speaking and recording buttons which allow them to spend as much time as they need with the language. Activities include vocabulary, phonics and games that reinforce the targeted vocabulary and language structures.

Teachers can effectively use the series in the classroom to enhance the teaching and learning process. In the integrated classroom, teachers can use the software to supplement instruction for beginning concepts in the early grades such as colours, numbers and the alphabet. This software would appeal to both first and second language speakers. The series can be used both in a supported and unsupported environment.

Teachers may choose to have parents, teaching assistants or other volunteers to work individually with the students as they work through a specific unit. This would allow for more guidance, feedback and extension of the concepts.

There is also the opportunity, once students are introduced and guided through the way the software works, for students to manage their own learning and work on the units for short periods of time. The series allows for appropriate feedback through the use picture clues and encouraging words from the software characters to allow students to experience some success.

Although the software can be used in both supported an unsupported environments, teachers need to provide students the opportunity to use the vocabulary, language structures and expressions in authentic communicative situations in order to make it meaningful and relevant to their learning. Integrating the software into instruction will provide young learners with motivating and interesting activities while learning vocabulary and language structures needed for everyday communication.

DYNAMIC ENGLISH

Dynamic English is a four level introductory course for novice-mid to intermediate-high adult students. Emphasis is placed on building listening and speaking skills that are necessary for basic communication in English. Lessons focus on subject matter that is relevant to students' lives at the college level. Topics vary from family and daily routines to environmental issues. There is a strong foundation in grammar and vocabulary as students are introduced to the language needed for effective communication

The series is well sequenced as the activities build on one another and there is an increasing vocabulary as students move through each CD. With the program shuffler feature, students are gradually introduced to new language as the students' level increases. Students are exposed to comprehensible activities that balance communicative and linguistic needs.

Dynamic English is successful in presenting students with quality activities to help them learn about their lives and topics that are relevant to them. There is initial presentation of the material followed by numerous intensive practice activities which emphasize volume and repetition. Through a well sequenced, interactive syllabus, students are exposed to heterogeneous activities that ensure a certain level of success for students. With instant access to repetition, optional translation, English text, and glossary screens, students can feel confident in completing the activities with added support. This series also features speech recognition which motivates students to improve their speech articulation and fluency.

Intended for ESL adult students, this series can be used effectively to increase listening and speaking skills. Students can use the software to study the topics independently or collaboratively with other students. With the variation in topics, teachers can use the software to both introduce and reinforce concepts in the classroom. The program provides students with the opportunity to manage their own learning thus allowing the teacher to take on more of a facilitating role.

With the heavy emphasis on the listening and speaking strands, teachers need to provide students with supplementary instruction to integrate reading and writing. Students also need to practice the key structures and vocabulary in authentic, situations where students have the chance to interact with one another and continue to make their learning relevant to their personal needs.

With supplementary instruction, Dynamic English can be integrated into the adult beginner and intermediate classrooms to assist students with the language that they need to communicate confidently in English.

References

Firsthand Access, DynEd Software Corp.

Dynamic English, DynEd Software Corp.

Dynamic Classics, DynEd Software Corp.

Let's Go!, DynEd Software Corp.

Let's Go!, Oxford University Press

Rogers, R. as quoted on the cover of English Quarterly vol. 28, no. 4 (1997) Canadian council of Teachers of Language Arts.

Nunan, D. (1990). Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. London: Cambridge University Press.

Ur, P. (1988). Grammar Practice Activities: A practical Guide for Teachers. London: Cambridge University Press.

Keller, J.M. (1983). Motivational design of instruction. In C.M. Reiguluth (Ed.), Instructional design theories
and models: An overview of their current status (pp. 386-434). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbraum
Associates.

Scarino, E. (1990). Australian Language Levels, New South Wales.

Reviewer Note

David L.E. Watt Associate Professor, TESL University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta dwatt@acs.ucalgary.ca	Dora Foscolos Graduate Student University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta tkapoyan@acs.ucalgary.ca