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Advanced Language Proficiency  \nJack Burston1 and Kelly Arispe2  \nAbstract  \nThe goal of this meta-analysis is to evaluate how instructional technology has impacted advanced second language (AL2) development. Although numerous metaanalyses have been conducted within the CALL literature over the past two decades, they primarily focus upon learning outcomes and related effect sizes. None focus on advanced learning per se. Where AL2 is even mentioned, which is only rarely, little or no attention is paid to critical research parameters within the studies that are analyzed. Most notably, in summarizing learning outcomes, the linguistic competence of learners claimed to be at advanced level is simply taken at face value. So, too, no consideration is given to the difficulty level of tasks undertaken by students or their appropriateness to students’ claimed proficiency. It is the intent of this general overview of the contribution of CALL to AL2 to address these issues through a comprehensive analysis of the publications in four prominent CALL journals (CALICO, CALL, Language Learning & Technology, and ReCALL) over some 30 years. In so doing, the Performance Descriptors (PD) and NCSSFL- Can-Do Statements (CDS) of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) are adopted as external criteria for establishing student competence level, task difficulty, and appropriateness. This study concludes that not only are CALL AL2 studies extremely limited in number and focus, but also that they suffer from serious design flaws that call into question a great portion of the claims made regarding the contribution of instructional technology to the furthering of advanced-level foreign language competence.  \nKeywords: advanced language, meta-analysis, proficiency, ACTFL, instructional technology  \nAffiliations  \n1Cyprus University of Technology.  \n[email: jburston@cut.ac.cy](email: jburston@cut.ac.cy)  \n[2](2Boise State University)[Boise State University](2Boise State University).  \nemail: [kellyarispe@boisestate.edu](kellyarispe@boisestate.edu)  \ncalico journal vol 35.1 2018 77–102 [https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.31594](https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.31594)  \n©2017, equinox publishing   \n78 Looking for a Needle in a Haystack  \n1. Introduction  \nThis meta-analysis evaluates the contribution of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) to the learning outcomes of advanced-level foreign language instruction (AL2) from 1983 to 2015 as reflected in the pages of four prominent CALL journals: CALICO Journal, CALL, Language Learning & Technology (LL&T), and ReCALL. Firstly, it summarizes descriptive data for CALL AL2 implementation studies in these four journals. Secondly, it evaluates the experimental and pedagogical design within those studies to determine if CALL was effective in moving learners along the continuum to advanced language proficiency. To date, no meta-analysis within CALL has looked at these two parameters.  \nWithout undertaking a worldwide, or at least nationwide, survey of classroom implementations, there is of course no way of knowing the full extent to which CALL has helped to improve the teaching and learning of AL2 . Published CALL research, however, arguably provides a valid and informative measure of what the most professionally engaged technology adopters have done in this respect. In considering the contribution of instructional technology to AL2 teaching, one is immediately struck by how little of the published CALL research concerns itself with advanced language learners. In fact, fewer than 3% of the articles in the selected journals fall into this category. The paucity of work in this area stems from three contributing factors: technological, pedagogical, and institutional. Although computer technology has been applied to language instruction for over 50 years, it has only been within the past decade that multimedia comm","cbCaiqBxWJ6cfc1H","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqBxWJ6cfc1H","pdf",1713619,26,"English","# Introduction\n## Purpose and scope of the meta-analysis\n## Prior CALL meta-analyses and their limitations\n## Rationale for focusing on AL2 and research design issues","[{\"question\":\"What is the main objective of the meta-analysis?\",\"answer\":\"To evaluate how instructional technology (CALL) impacts advanced second language development by addressing shortcomings in earlier meta-analyses that did not examine critical research parameters for advanced learning.\"},{\"question\":\"Which journals and time span does the study analyze?\",\"answer\":\"It reviews publications from four prominent CALL journals—CALICO Journal, CALL, Language Learning \\u0026 Technology, and ReCALL—covering about 30 years, with the study described as focusing on 1983 to 2015.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the study assess student competence and task characteristics?\",\"answer\":\"It adopts ACTFL Performance Descriptors and NCSSFL Can-Do Statements as external criteria to establish student competence level, task difficulty, and appropriateness.\"}]","Looking for a Needle in a Haystack: CALL and Advanced Language Proficiency | PDF",1792081720,66]