Scaling up computational thinking skills in computer-assisted language learning (CTsCALL) and its fitness with language learners’ intentions to use virtual exchange: A bi-symmetric approach

Many studies have demonstrated that Virtual Exchange (VE) for teaching languages can have a positive effect on learners' intercultural awareness or achievements. However, during this century, the teaching process has shifted from teaching with technology to solving problems with it. In this reg...

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Main Authors: Amir Reza Rahimi, Ana Sevilla-Pavón
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Computers in Human Behavior Reports
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958825000223
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author Amir Reza Rahimi
Ana Sevilla-Pavón
author_facet Amir Reza Rahimi
Ana Sevilla-Pavón
author_sort Amir Reza Rahimi
collection DOAJ
description Many studies have demonstrated that Virtual Exchange (VE) for teaching languages can have a positive effect on learners' intercultural awareness or achievements. However, during this century, the teaching process has shifted from teaching with technology to solving problems with it. In this regard, pedagogical experts in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have developed programming and robotics based on Computational Thinking skills (CTs), which have been regarded as the core of 21st-century skills. In the field of CALL, this skill has received very little attention. Accordingly, we have attempted to switch the process and outcome of language learning in VE. Thus, we developed the conceptual framework that integrated CTsCALL and Individual-technology-task-environment Fit (ITTEF). Having designed our VE tasks based on CTsCALL, we provided the opportunity for 92 Spanish language learners in our project to exchange language and culture with Cypriot and Irish students and solve VE tasks based on CTsCALL. The result of the symmetric phase of the study validated the five-dimensional structure of CTsCALL and the four-dimensional structures of ITTEF in VE and CALL. It also revealed that language learners, who focused on the key information rather than the details while solving language tasks, as well as recognizing the pattern of task solving and applying them to other tasks, found VE, and CTsCALL to be aligned with their current capabilities, learning environment, and problem-solving skills that mediated their intention to learn and exchange information in this context in the future. Furthermore, the asymmetrical part of the study revealed that sixteen solutions are available to shape language learners' continued intention to use VE by combining the components of CTsCALL and ITTEF. Thus, the study developed the CTsCALL questionnaire and its theory into CALL together with the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and recommended that CALL researchers and educators take a broader view of VE, as well as continuing to validate CTsCALL in other CALL disciplines to show that this skill belongs to CALL as well.
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spelling doaj-art-3e059857c6a2489ab7c6e8e5dcdfd55d2025-02-09T05:00:43ZengElsevierComputers in Human Behavior Reports2451-95882025-03-0117100607Scaling up computational thinking skills in computer-assisted language learning (CTsCALL) and its fitness with language learners’ intentions to use virtual exchange: A bi-symmetric approachAmir Reza Rahimi0Ana Sevilla-Pavón1Language, Literatures and Cultures and its Applications, Universitat de València, València, SpainIULMA/Universitat de València, Spain; Corresponding author.Many studies have demonstrated that Virtual Exchange (VE) for teaching languages can have a positive effect on learners' intercultural awareness or achievements. However, during this century, the teaching process has shifted from teaching with technology to solving problems with it. In this regard, pedagogical experts in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have developed programming and robotics based on Computational Thinking skills (CTs), which have been regarded as the core of 21st-century skills. In the field of CALL, this skill has received very little attention. Accordingly, we have attempted to switch the process and outcome of language learning in VE. Thus, we developed the conceptual framework that integrated CTsCALL and Individual-technology-task-environment Fit (ITTEF). Having designed our VE tasks based on CTsCALL, we provided the opportunity for 92 Spanish language learners in our project to exchange language and culture with Cypriot and Irish students and solve VE tasks based on CTsCALL. The result of the symmetric phase of the study validated the five-dimensional structure of CTsCALL and the four-dimensional structures of ITTEF in VE and CALL. It also revealed that language learners, who focused on the key information rather than the details while solving language tasks, as well as recognizing the pattern of task solving and applying them to other tasks, found VE, and CTsCALL to be aligned with their current capabilities, learning environment, and problem-solving skills that mediated their intention to learn and exchange information in this context in the future. Furthermore, the asymmetrical part of the study revealed that sixteen solutions are available to shape language learners' continued intention to use VE by combining the components of CTsCALL and ITTEF. Thus, the study developed the CTsCALL questionnaire and its theory into CALL together with the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and recommended that CALL researchers and educators take a broader view of VE, as well as continuing to validate CTsCALL in other CALL disciplines to show that this skill belongs to CALL as well.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S245195882500022321st-century digital skills21st-century digital competenceEnglish language learningTechnology acceptance modelsEnglish language teachingApplied linguistic
spellingShingle Amir Reza Rahimi
Ana Sevilla-Pavón
Scaling up computational thinking skills in computer-assisted language learning (CTsCALL) and its fitness with language learners’ intentions to use virtual exchange: A bi-symmetric approach
Computers in Human Behavior Reports
21st-century digital skills
21st-century digital competence
English language learning
Technology acceptance models
English language teaching
Applied linguistic
title Scaling up computational thinking skills in computer-assisted language learning (CTsCALL) and its fitness with language learners’ intentions to use virtual exchange: A bi-symmetric approach
title_full Scaling up computational thinking skills in computer-assisted language learning (CTsCALL) and its fitness with language learners’ intentions to use virtual exchange: A bi-symmetric approach
title_fullStr Scaling up computational thinking skills in computer-assisted language learning (CTsCALL) and its fitness with language learners’ intentions to use virtual exchange: A bi-symmetric approach
title_full_unstemmed Scaling up computational thinking skills in computer-assisted language learning (CTsCALL) and its fitness with language learners’ intentions to use virtual exchange: A bi-symmetric approach
title_short Scaling up computational thinking skills in computer-assisted language learning (CTsCALL) and its fitness with language learners’ intentions to use virtual exchange: A bi-symmetric approach
title_sort scaling up computational thinking skills in computer assisted language learning ctscall and its fitness with language learners intentions to use virtual exchange a bi symmetric approach
topic 21st-century digital skills
21st-century digital competence
English language learning
Technology acceptance models
English language teaching
Applied linguistic
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958825000223
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