The Open University (OU) is UK's largest modern foreign language learning provider with a current enrolment of approximetely 8000 students, all of whom study individually at home, at a distance from each other and their tutors. However, while most OU students work with trditional course material such as books, video- and audio-cassettes and face-to-face tutorials, research at the centre for Modern Languages (CML) has also investigated alternative methods in order to account for those learners who might be unable to attend face-to-face tutorials. The study described in this paper outlines work in progress that is part of a larger, long-term project seeking to establish a framework for the use of networking technologies in distance language learning with a particular emphasis onl the ldevelopment of scenarios – that is task design and learning environments – which will enable participants to improve their spoken and communication skills in the target language.

Variable and frequently inadequate grammatical competence among language learners is well-documented in school examiners' reports. Aside from curriculum requirements this has a deleterious effect on the acquisition of fluent and generative second (and third) language competence, both productive and receptive, and makes the task for learners much more onerous than it need be. We look to computer assisted learning for help, because of its ability to handle rule-governed domains such as grammar. For once there is a pleasing synergy between what learners need, and what computers can offer. Fluency in foreign languages has improved greatly since the introduction of the ‘communicative method’, so there is less need for computers to address this kind of problem, which is fortunate as they are quite unable to help with feedback on productive performance, or to act as a realistic interlocutor.

Several Modern Languages departments and Directors of Language Centres have approached the CTI Centre for Modern Languages for advice on networking CD-ROMs. Tim Hooton of Aston University has dealt with many of these queries on our behalf, and it is hoped that this article will prove useful to others who may be considering this issue.

Research articles on CALL frequently proceed from the general to the specific. The general can take the form of a survey of the literature, a theory or theories of language teaching, learning or acquisition, or a summarised appraisal of a number of pieces of software; the specific is usually a collection of examples from a variety of sources to illustrate a principle. The merits of such an approach are widely recognised and are in no way disputed by the present writer. It is easy, however, for lack of attention to detail to leave the reader with many unanswered questions: Wouldn't it be alright to include/omit a given feature if… or if…? How did they come up with that technique? Why did/didn't they present the information this way? Exactly who was this designed for? How and when was it intended to be used? What constraints were they working under? In this article we have chosen to proceed in the opposite direction and trace the processes involved in developing one piece of software.

This paper presents our research on developing an ontology-based framework that can represent morphological characteristics related to assembly joints. Joints within the physical structure of an assembly are inevitable because of the limitations of component geometries and the associated, required engineering properties. Consequently, a framework is needed that can capture and propagate assembly design and joint information in a robust assembly model throughout the entire product development processes. The framework and model are based on an understanding of the morphological characteristics of an assembly and its different physical effects. The morphological characteristics are consequences of the principal physical processes and of the design intentions. Therefore, the morphological characteristics should be carefully represented while considering the geometry and topology of assembly joints. In this research, assembly joint topology is defined by a mereotopology, which is a region-based theory for the parts and associated concepts. This formal ontology can differentiate often ambiguous assembly and joining relations. Furthermore, the mereotopological definitions for assembly joints are implemented in Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) rules and Web Ontology Language triples. This process provides universality to the mereotopological definitions. Two geometrically and topologically similar joint pairs are presented to describe how the assembly joints can be defined in mereotopology and be transformed into SWRL rules. Web3D is also employed to support network-enabled sharing of assembly geometry. Finally, the proposed modeling framework is demonstrated using a real fixture assembly. This case study demonstrates the usability of the proposed framework for network-based design collaboration.

This paper is about the development of an authoring tool for computerised reading comprehension exercises. The software tools used and some problems encountered using them are described. Using the authoring tools and running the program are discussed and the first experiences reported.

This paper stems out of the author's work developed thanks to her secondment as the representative for Languages to the Task Force for Teaching, Learning and Assessment at Coventry University. The aim of the secondment is to disseminate a recognised model of good CALL practice, the FREE - Fluid Role-Exchange Environment (Orsini-Jones and Jones 1996, Orsini-Jones 1999), to other areas of Italian Studies, to languages other than Italian and to the rest of the university. This paper will show how the model was disseminated to the teaching of EFL and Italian translation studies via the use of the Web. The paper will finally consider a few issues relating to the impact of the implementation of C&IT change in Languages.

This article attempts to define Expert CALL, siting in between traditional data-based CALL and intelligent CALL (ICALL). It relies on the concapts of expert knowledge and expert interaction and feedback. These are explored in the context of inflexional morphology, using as reference the auther's own ‘The Spanish Verb’ program. An electic computational algorithm, rather than a fully-fledged linguistic for malism suffices to deliver a stable and reliable lingustic knowledge basa on which to base Expert CALL applications. A similar ‘intermediate technology’ approach to syntax may bypass current difficulties encountered by ICALL to deliver linguistic reliabity.