EUROCALL

The European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL) aims to provide a European focus for the promulgation of innovative research, development and practice relating to the use of technologies for language learning.  A complete overview of this association may be found at http://www.eurocall-languages.org/  

 
Aims and Objectives of EUROCALL include the following:
  • Promote the use of foreign languages within Europe.
  • Provide a European focus for the promulgation of innovative research, development and practice relating to the use of technologies for language learning.
  • Enhance the quality, dissemination and efficiency of CALL (Computer Aided Language Learning) materials.
  • Support Special Interest Groups.
 
Membership fees are 50 Euros (approx. $75) for students, 80 and 200 Euros to become a corporate member. 
 
Although over 30 countries are represented, the association’s membership is small, with approximately 80 corporate members and over 330 individual members.   These members appear quite active in the support of language learning strategies and their journal, ReCALL, published by the Cambridge University Press three times a year, contains articles relating to this topic as well as software reviews and selected papers from previous EUROCALL conferences.
 
Conferences are held annually in August/September in a European country.  The 2009 conference will be held Sept. 9-12, in Spain at the University of Valencia.  The 2008 conference was held in Hungary, Sept. 3-6, and the theme was  CALL: New Competencies and Social Spaces.  http://www.asszisztencia.hu/eurocall/   The numerous sessions (over 100) covered many topics including Blogs, Wimba, Podcasting and Hypermedia, but the majority of sessions presented were language specific topics such as Computer-mediated Communication, Voice Morphing Technology and Online Language Learning in several different languages. 
 
My favorite link on the website had to be Learn Survival Hungarian. http://www.asszisztencia.hu/eurocall/index.php?c=64 
The European focus of this website was intriguing and I enjoyed seeing the emphasis placed on learning foreign languages not prevalent in today’s global business society.  This association is very involved in the use of current and developing technology in language acquisition in many countries of the world and will continue to promote progress in the future.
 
 
 
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Disclaimer

Any opinions expressed here, except as specifically noted, are those of the individual authors or commenters and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, or Utah State University.