g. Atmosphere with an ideal stressanxiety level
The seventh principle is learners work in an atmosphere with an ideal stressanxiety level.
What is meant by “ideal” here is that the appropriate stressanxiety level of the learning atmosphere in which the students feel
comfortable to learn and are still willing to do the learning activities. Experiencing an ideal level of anxiety in the language learning environment is
essential to support students‟ comfort, confidence, and motivation before they are engaged and willing to express their ideas Egbert, Chao, and Hanson-Smith
1999. Promoting students‟ self-confidence is important because as Brown 1994,
cited in Johnston 1999 suggested, it is an essential element that determines their success. As with the asynchronous communication form of computer-mediated
interaction in CALL applications, students can work on tasks according to their own preferred time and place. Such more relaxed situation is expectedly help
students complete tasks more successfully. In addition to this, teacher‟s role is
also significant , especially to deal with students‟ “technophobia” or “computer
anxiety” Johnston 1999: 339. As stated by Johnston 1999, teachers can overcome this by establishing, facilitating, and maintaining a pleasing classroom
atmosphere, such as by involving the class and making it into a collaborative and cooperative learning situation.
h. Learner autonomy
The last principle is learner autonomy is supported. Learner autonomy can be defined
as “people‟s ability to take charge of their own learning” Holec 19791981, as cited in Smith 2008: 395. It is believed that such learning capacity
can be earned through learner-centered learning. Thein 1994, as cited in Egbert,
Chao, and Hanson-Smith 1999: 6, describes a learner-centered classroom as a classroom situation that “develops learners‟ confidence and skills to learn
autonomously and to design and coordinate tasks in a variety of contexts .” Here,
learners have „freedom‟ in deciding their own learning goals. However, the jobs of creating the boundaries in terms of modeling, mediation, and scaffolding of
learning are still in the hands of the teacher as the facilitator. In a learning environment where students become the center of the
learning and teachers as facilitators, such in CALL, learner autonomy is somewhat important for the students to get the most benefit of learning.
Autonomous learning, however, cannot be earned in one night. Students need to be initially “directed” to learn independently before moving into a full autonomy.
To realize an autonomous learning setting, the teacher-facilitator can advantage the use of technology and thus help students to be more independent in learning.
In relation to autonomy and technology, Healy in Egbert Hanson-Smith1999: 400-402 suggests four aspects concerning the content and the structure of the
learning that a learner must be able to control for realizing autonomy. They are control over time, control over pace, control over the path to the goal, and access
to the measurement of success. A learning environment should, therefore, foster such self-learning management for optimal language learning.
The eight condition principles for optimal language learning are not standing separately. They overlap and influence one another Egbert, Chao,
Hanson-Smith 1999. Feedback, for instance, can take place within teacher- student or student-student interaction. Then, when a collaborative learning
situation is formed, it can lead to a classroom atmosphere with an ideal stress
anxiety level. In fact, teacher-student and student-student interactions can also create a “space” for language production, while the notion of authentic tasks can
determine the amount of language exposure. It should be noted that “the eight
conditions act and interact in different ways in different classroom” Egbert,
Chao, Hanson-Smith 1999: 7. Related to this, studying a specific classroom applying CALL, such as a web-based Sentence Writing class, can be one of the
ways to see how the eight conditions are being met.
3. Teaching Writing Using Web-Based Technology
Kategori