Computer - Assisted Language Learning is a good method of helping our students to succeed in learning a foreign language. It is well-known that "computers play a crutial role" in people's life. Nowadays, people can hardly imagine how life would be without computers. The learners of the new generation are born in this high tech environment and are, as Georgia calls them, "digital natives". Although, far from being a digital native myself, I have to keep pace with my students so that I don't lose them in the endless labyrinth of links, and, instead, guide their search.
I liked what CALL softwares can offer now to improve namely oral skills. I think that the fact that they can be used at home, thus, making the student feel comfortable and at ease. He / She doesn't have to hurry and can practice as long as they please. I also liked the fact that the computer with such a program can give feedback, moreover, it can simulate a dialogue.
However, I would say that it is better for the mechanical aspect rather than meaningful aspect of spoken language competence. And even in the first case, "there is still some inaccuracy in speech recognition" [Gong 2002: 4]. Concerning this tiny drawback, I have come across a video on youtube. Probably you have seen it as well. Definitely things are exaggerated here, but overstatement is a strategy creating humor :)
I hope nobody will get offended. It is just for laugh.