EUROCALL, full name the European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning, is a not-for-profit educational association devoted to the promotion of the use of information and communications technology in teaching and learning foreign languages

Language education

Language education is the teaching and learning of a foreign or second language. Language education is a branch of applied linguistics.- Need for language education :...

: v. Davies G. (2004).

History

EUROCALL was set up by a small group of enthusiasts in 1986, and in 1993 it was launched as an official association with the aid of European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 funding, with Graham Davies as its Founder President (1993-2000.

Conferences

A EUROCALL conference is held in August/September annually in a European country. Since 2006 the annual EUROCALL conference has included an online Virtual Strand for participants who are unable to attend the conference in person.

Publications

The main publication of EUROCALL is ReCALL, which is a refereed journal published three times a year by Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...

. The online EUROCALL Review also appears at regular intervals.

Administration

The administrative headquarters of EUROCALL moved from the University of Limerick

University of Limerick

The University of Limerick is a university in Ireland near the city of Limerick on the island's west coast. It was established in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick and became a university by statute in 1989 in accordance with the University of Limerick Act 1989...

 to the University of Ulster

University of Ulster

The University of Ulster is a multi-campus, co-educational university located in Northern Ireland. It is the largest single university in Ireland, discounting the federal National University of Ireland...

 in July 2010. The current President of EUROCALL is Ana Gimeno, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain (2010). The President is supported by an elected Executive Committee.

Second Life

EUROCALL shares a virtual headquarters with CALICO

CALICO (consortium)

CALICO, full name The Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium, is a non-profit, self-governing, international organization devoted to the dissemination of information concerning language learning technology....

 in Second Life

Second Life

Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...

.

Annual awards

EUROCALL offers the following annual awards:

• A Research Award that aims to encourage newcomers to research in the field of computer-assisted and technology-enhanced language learning by providing an opportunity to submit an original article for publication in the ReCALL journal.

• The János Kohn Scholarship, which commemorates and celebrates the life and work of János Kohn, a highly valued and respected EUROCALL colleague who died in March 1999. The annual scholarship enables a young teacher or researcher permanently based in a Central European member state to participate in a EUROCALL conference by providing funding towards the cost of attendance.

Membership and affiliations

A total of 19 European states maintain national EUROCALL websites. A total of over 30 countries worldwide are represented in EUROCALL's membership.

EUROCALL is affiliated with its sister associations CALICO (Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium)

CALICO (consortium)

CALICO, full name The Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium, is a non-profit, self-governing, international organization devoted to the dissemination of information concerning language learning technology....

 and IALLT (International Association for Language Learning Technology) in the USA.

EUROCALL is also a member of WorldCALL.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

EUROCALL currently has five Special Interest Groups:

• Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)

• CorpusCALL

• Natural Language Processing

• Virtual Worlds

• Teacher Education

External links

• CALICO (Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium)
• EUROCALL main website
• IALLT (International Association for Language Learning Technology)

See also

• Computer Assisted Language Learning
  Computer-assisted language learning
  Computer-assisted language learning is succinctly defined in a seminal work by Levy as "the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning"...