Discourse on new technologies in the field of CALL

the construction of the “traditional” and the “new”

Abstract

Based upon Michel Pêcheux’s discourse analysis, we reflected on the CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) field by analyzing scientific articles which discuss new technologies in foreign language teaching and learning. Our aim was to investigate the discursive construction of the “traditional” and the “new.” The analysis carried out indicated that in the field of CALL the “traditional” is constructed in contrast with the “new,” as a discouraging space in which teachers control the lessons, and collaboration, interaction and autonomy are not fostered among learners. The dichotomy “traditional x new” appears, then, as pure ideological evidence which idealizes the “new” to the detriment of the “traditional.”