What happens to old paradigms during a paradigm shift? Wilfrid Decoo (http://www.didascalia.be/mortality.htm) points out that they are often repudiated to make the new paradigm seem all the more revolutionary, "the denigration of others." Some paradigms indeed do seem to disappear under the assault of the new, others to live on and on, yet others to transform their externals while their substance continues to shape the way we act. The dynamic by which this process is made real in the language teaching profession is the acid test of the classroom and the language lab and their successors in an online universe. If it works, keep it; if it fails, chuck it.

The following is taken from Professor Borchardt's biography page at Duke University.

Professor Borchardt received his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1965. He was otherwise educated by the Jesuits (Saint Peter's College, Regis HS), the Dominicans, and the Brothers of the Christian Schools (FSC). His career took him from Hopkins to Northwestern University, Queens College of the City University of New York, and finally to Duke.

He has dual interests, (1) Early Modern German Culture and (2) Technology; he has published widely in both areas. Press here to see a comprehensive Curriculum Vitae, and here for a history of the language projects at Duke, and here for a practical application of artificial neural networks to a problem in language analysis. For a glance at an open agenda for computer based instruction and testing, press here.

Interest in Professor Borchardt's research around the world has provided him the opportunity for irregular visits to Argentina, Austria, Belgium, China, England, Germany, Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, and Spain to consult with like-minded visionaries. He regularly teaches German cultural topics to seniors (in the ot her sense) at Duke's Institute for Learning in Retirement (DILR) and taught an HTML tutorial there in May 1999. He conducts a FOCUS course on Educational Technologies (Fall 1998) -- (Fall 2000). He has also been a Faculty Associate, most recently for Blackwell. He taught the "Märchen" course both in the college and DILR, Fall 2000, and an undergraduate course, Spring 2001, in Rilke - Kafka - Mann. He will be teaching German Drama and Goethe's Faust in Fall 2001. If you have time, check out his personal website, which has links to his on-line writings.

It has often been pointed out that the advent of technology enhanced learning materials requires a re-thinking of the methodological framework of language learning. Many assume that computer tools in particular will facilitate the implementation of a methodology for language learning that focuses more than in the past on authenticity in contents, context, and task. New technologies used as learning tools rather than instructional software may solve a large number of practical problems, particularly in the area of exploiting authentic resources in the context of authentic learning scenarios. Of course, authenticity in content, task, and classroom interaction is "a crucial issue" in language learning methodology (cf. van Lier, 1996:123). It is therefore argued that technology-enhanced tools are the perfect aid to assist teachers in their "need to broaden their scope for creative pedagogical initiatives." (Little et al., 1989:I) When reflecting the current state of the art with regard to language learning in general and to the use of new technologies in the foreign language classroom, however, two issues tend to come up again and again: On the one hand, it cannot be denied that even today, in the so-called post-communicative era, the effects of traditional instructivist theories of language learning with their transmission-based modes of learning are still somewhat dominant, in
particular at the grassroots level. This is all the more surprising, as a discussion on constructivism as an appropriate platform for new approaches to language learning and acquisition seems to have dominated the debate at least on a theoretical level in recent years. On the other hand, it is becoming more and more apparent that the available offline and online software tools offer exciting opportunities for the language classroom that cannot be adequately attended to without calling the paradigm of instruction into question

This paper is an attempt to contribute to the ongoing debate on this crucial issue by offering some key principles that move the discussion further in the direction of constructivist learning theories. Key elements of a technology enhanced learning environment, enriched by technological tools, will be presented. On a methodological level, construction of knowledge and information processing are regarded as key activities in language learning. In conclusion, template-based learning is discussed as a possible metaphor for the design of technology enhanced learning materials for the next
millennium aimed at providing learners with more flexible and authentic learning scenarios.

Bernd Rüschoff is the president of EUROCALL and holds the Chair in Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) at Essen University, where his R&D focuses on aspects of SLA and TELL exploitation based on cognitive-constructivist approaches. He has been involved in a number of CALL & TELL projects on behalf of the European Commission and the Council of Europe.

"Regarding my own involvement in language leaning and acquisition theory, in CALL and TELL, and, of course, in EUROCALL, I’d like to mention a few facts and also refer you to a few websites which present some information on my current activities as Chair in Technology Enhanced Language Learning at Essen University. My background is in English and Russian studies, initially with a focus on theoretical linguistics, but through my involvement with language teaching and media quickly shifting towards language learning methodology. I first got involved with CALL in the early eighties in London, where I had the good fortune to work and become friends with some of the pioneers in the field, notably Graham Davies, John Higgins, Tim Johns, and many more. Upon my return to Germany in 1983, I was then able to build on the expertise acquired in my ‘London years’, and was instrumental in establishing CALL as a recognised area of research and development in my home country and beyond. As far as my involvement with EUROCALL is concerned, some of you may remember that I was part of a large number of the activities of the original group of people, which first met in 1986, and whose initiative and persistence actually led to the founding of EUROCALL in 1993."

Prof. Dr. Bernd Rüschoff studied English, Slavonic Languages, Philosophy and Education at the University of Münster (Germany). He continued his studies at the University of Alberta (Canada) and at the University of London, where he obtained a PhD in Russian Linguistics. Since then, his research focus has been in applied linguistics and second language acquisition as well as Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL).
During his early academic career, he was involved in developing and organizing language learning programmes for in-company training and vocational language programmes at university level.

Furthermore, he has wide experience in developing technology enhanced learning systems. Over the past decades he has participated in a number of projects dealing with the development and assessment of such systems and multi-media resources for language learning as well as the integration of Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) into language learning.

He has been involved in a number of European projects (LINGUA, TEMPUS as well as SOCRATES and LEONARDO) and contributed to various Council of Europe activities, e.g. as a director of studies in Modern Languages "New Style" workshops.

From 1993 to 1998 he held a professorship in Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) at the Pädagogische Hochschule Karlsruhe, where his research focussed on aspects of second language acquisition and TELL exploitation based on cognitive-constructivist approaches. Currently, Prof. Dr. Rüschoff is chair and head of the didactics section of the Dept. of English at the University of Essen.