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CALICO Journal, 29(1) SoftwareReview

CALICO Journal, 29(1),p-p177-194. ©2011CALICO Journal

Rosetta Stone Portuguese (Brazil) levels 1, 2, & 3 Personal EditionVersion 4 (TOTALe)

Reviewedby

Victor D. o. SantoS

Iowa State University

PRODUCTATAGLANCEProductType:Drillandpractice,tutorial,game,andlivesimulation

Language:BrazilianPortuguese

Level:Beginningtointermediate,age6andabove;forRosettaStudioandRosettaWorld,minimumageis13

Activities:word/phrase-picturematching,pronunciationpractice, transcription,multiple-choicegram-marexercises,vocabularylearningthroughassociation,listeningcomprehension,variousre-inforcementgames,onlineinteractionwithotherlearnersandnativespeakers

MediaFormat:CD-ROMs(version4)withsoftwareinstallationandrespectivelanguagelevels;QuickStartguide(leaflet)pluson-the-gocapabilities(CDswithaudiofromtheprogram)

OperatingSystem(s):Windows(XP,Vista,7,orhigher)Macintosh(MacOS10.4orhigher)

HardwareRequirements:1GHzprocessororfaster,1GBofRAM,600MBdiskspaceperlevel,16-bitsoundcard,mi-crophoneandspeakers(aheadsetwithmicrophoneisincluded),CD/DVDdrive,1024x768displayresolution,USBportforheadsetwithmicrophone

SupplementarySoftware:None(onlynecessaryforonlineversion)

Documentation:ActivationcardandQuickStartguide;transcriptionsofallaudioforeachlevelareincludedonCD-ROMsOnline:FAQ,QuickStartguides,TroubleShooting,User’sManual,updates

Price:Eachlevel,$179;Level1&2set,$279;Level1,2&3set,$379;nodiscountformultiplecopies;sitelicensesnotavailable;separatepackagesmustbepurchasedforeachworksta-tion;eachpackageincludesfreeonlineaccessforthefirst3months

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GENERALDESCRIPTIONRosettaStone(hereafterreferredtoasRS)isanacclaimedandaward-winningsoftware1forlanguagelearningwhichiswidelyusedthroughouttheworldbyindividuallearners,compa-nies,andgovernments.ThedevelopersofRSclaimthatthebestmethodforlearninganewlanguageistobeimmersedinanenvironmentthatemulatestheconditionsunderwhichwelearnedourfirstlanguageandtotapintothesamenaturalisticandintuitivemechanismsweusedinordertolearnthenewlanguageinafunandeffortlessmanner.Theyhaveforthispurposedevelopedamethodtheyrefertoasdynamicimmersion,thefoundationofwhichrestsonassociationbuildingandoninteractionswithotherlearnersandwithnativespeak-ers.Thereisnouseoftranslation,memorization,explicit(metalinguistic)discussion,orfocusonform(mappingoflinguisticformstofunctions).Theassociationduringlearningismadepossiblethroughthejointuseofpictures,audio,andtextthatprovidescontextualcuesandpushesthelearnertothinkinthelanguagewithoutmakinguseoftheirfirstlanguage.Thefocusofthemethodisthusmoreonmeaningandfunctionsthanonform,assuchtermsaredefinedbyDoughtyandLong(2003).

ThefourthversionofRS(TOTALe)2hasbothofflineandonlinecomponents.RosettaCourse3(whichdoesnotdependonaninternetconnection)isexactlythesameasinthethirdversionofRS.Version4offersonlinecomponents(theserequirethatusersbeconnectedtothein-ternetatalltimes),namelyRosettaStudioandRosettaWorld.InRosettaStudio,learnerscanscheduleliveclasseswithnativeteachersofthelanguagetheyarelearning,andinRosettaWorldlearnershavetheopportunitytoengageinaseriesofactivitiesandgameswithotherpeoplelearningthesamelanguageorwithnativespeakersofthatlanguage.

RosettaCourseusesbasicallythesameunit/lessonsorganizationandtopics,pictures,activi-ties,anddialogues(seeFigure1)foreveryoneofthe31languagesinwhichtheprogramisavailable,butwithsomevariationinthetreatmentoflinguisticconceptstoaccommodateeachlanguage’sneeds.

Figure1LanguageBasics

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Formost languages (including theBrazilian Portuguese version reviewedhere), there arethreedifferentlevels(somelanguageshavefewerandothersmorelevels)thatincrementallybuilduponeachother.Eachlevelcanbeboughtseparately(buteachlevelislessexpensiveifboughtaspartofaset)andcontainsfourunitsinwhicheachunitcontainsfourCoreLes-sonsanda“Milestone”exercise(seeFigure1above).EachCoreLessonfocusesonasingletopicandspecificgrammarpoints(thelatterbeingdoneimplicitlywithnoexplicitfocusonlinguisticstructure).AftereachCoreLesson,userscanchoosespecificexercisetypes(e.g.,listening,writing,reading,speaking,andgrammar)andcanalsodoaReviewsectionattheendinordertochecktheirunderstandingofthematerialcovereduptothatpoint.MostoftheexercisesfoundintheFocussectionsare,however,alreadyincludedintheCoreLesson(thesearemarkedincolorinsteadofingray)withthesameformatandcontent.

Attheendofeachunit,thereisaMilestoneexercise,whichtakestheformofaphotonovelandrequiresusersto“interact”withthecharactersinthestorybyspeakingpredeterminedsentences/wordstheyhavelearnedintheunitintothemicrophone,eitherbyreactingtoaquestionmadebyoneofthestorycharactersorbyaskingaquestionthemselves(seeFigure2).

Figure2MilestoneExercise

Thetopicsexploredinthethreelevelsandunits,regardlessofthelanguagebeingstudiedare

Level1languagebasics(unit1),greetingsandintroductions(unit2),workandschool(unit3),andshopping(unit4);

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Level2travel(unit1),pastandfuture(unit2),friendsandsociallife(unit3),anddin-ingandvacation(unit4);andLevel3homeandhealth(unit1),lifeandworld(unit2),everydaythings(unit3),andplacesandevents(unit4).

TheproductcomeswithfourCD-ROMs(onecontainingtheinstallationsoftwareandtheotherthree the specific language levels).Also includedareaheadsetwithamicrophoneandamultiple-CDsetcalledAudioCompanioncontainingtheaudiomaterialpresentedinthesoft-ware.RSalsoincludesa6-monthmoney-backguaranteewithano-questions-askedpolicyifcustomersarenotsatisfiedwiththeproduct.

RosettaWorldinteractsdirectlywithRosettaCourse,giventhattheactivitiesandgamesinRosettaWorldareonlyunlocked(i.e.,madeaccessible)asuserssuccessfullycompletetheCoreLessons.RosettaWorldalsohasalivefeedwhichindicatesinrealtimewhatotherRSusershaveachievedandallowsuserstointeractwitheachother,eitherbyplayinggamesin-dividuallyorjointlyorbyengaginginasortoftandempractice.ThistandempracticeiscalledSimbioandmakesitpossiblefortwopeopleinterestedinpracticingeachother’slanguagetointeractwitheachanother.AlongwithRosettaStudio,RosettaWorldaddstheopportunitytointeractlivewithotherswhospeakthelearner’stargetlanguage,anaspectoftheimmer-sionenvironmentthatwaspreviouslylackinginthethirdversion.RosettaWorldandRosettaStudioareavailablefora limitedperiodof3monthsbutcanbeextendeduponadditionalpayment.Figure3showstheRosettaWorldinterface.

Figure3RosettaWorldInterface

DocumentationThedocumentationaccompanyingtheproductincludestheUser’sManual,transcriptionofallaudio,andaQuickStartguide,aswellasonlineaccesstoQuickStartguides,TroubleShoot-

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ing,User’sManual,FAQs,videotutorials,andtranscriptsofallcoursecontents.Inaddition,giventhewidespreaduseofRS,therearevariousforumsonthewebwhereuserscanaskquestionsandgetanswersfromotherRSusers.The78-pageUser’sManualisaccessiblebothfromwithinthesoftwareinterfaceandonline,andthecoursecontentscanbefoundinafolderintheCDaccompanyingeachlevel.Usersarehowevernotmadeawareofthisandmightnotcomeacrosstheseusefuldocuments.Ontheotherhand,RSoffersanaward-winning24/7livechatandtelephonecustomersupport.

EVALUATIONTechnological FeaturesForpurposesoftesting,allthreelevelsofRosettaStonePortuguese(Brazil)wereinstalledonbothaMacintoshlaptoprunningMacOSXSnowLeopard(10.6)andonaWindowslaptoprunningWindows7.Thecompleteinstallationprocedure,includingthesoftwareandaddingeachlanguageleveltothesoftware,took20minutesbutransmoothly;noproblemswereencountered.Whenrunningtheprogramforthefirsttime,usersareaskedtocreateanac-countwhichconsistsofenteringausername,selectingtheirgenderandageforthepurposesofspeechrecognition,choosingwhichcoursemodetheywouldliketofollowfromamenu(Standard,SpeakingandListeningFocus,ReadingandWriting,etc.),andsettingupthemi-crophoneforspeechrecognition.Theselectionofcoursemode(seeFigure4)influencesthetypeofactivitiespresentedaftertheCoreLesson,theorderandlengthofeachactivity,andthepointsatwhichthereviewsectionsarepresented(theCoreLessonisthesameregard-lessofmode).

Figure4CourseModeSelection

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AnimportantassetofRSisitsperformancetrackingcapability.Atanypointineachlesson,usershavethepossibilityofexiting,pausing(onlypossibleattransitionsbetweenexercises,andthepausebuttononlyappearsforacoupleofseconds),orskippingtheexerciseorlessonaltogether(afeaturenotpossiblefortheReviewsections).Theprogramkeepstracknotonlyofusers’performanceineachactivity(score,correctandincorrectanswers;seeFigure5)butalsowhichactivitieshavebeenexploredorskipped,makingiteasyforuserstopickupwheretheyleftoffatafuturepointintime.

Figure5Tracking

Another featureofRSis itsproprietary speech recognition system.4Users canspecify thespeechprecisionlevel:easy,normal,medium,ordifficult.TakingadvantageofthefactthatthisreviewerisanativespeakerofBrazilianPortuguese,heexperimentedextensivelywiththespeechsystem.Atallthedifferentlevelsofprecisionoffered,hedistortedhisaccenttoalevelofthicknesssimilartothatofastereotypicalnonnativespeakerofPortuguese(evenleavingoutwords,mispronouncingseveralsounds,changingseveralstress-bearingsyllablesinasingleutterance,etc.).Inquiteafewofthesecases,theinputwasacceptedbythesys-tem,evenwhenthespeechrecognitionthresholdwassettomaximum.Inotherteststhesystemrefusedtoaccepthisnormalnativepronunciation.Thesystemcanbeuseful(italsoindicateswhichwordshavebeenmispronounced)providedthattheinputspeedandprosodyinparticularareclosetothatusedbynativespeakersemployedintherecordingsandaslongasusers’inputcouldbeunderstoodbyanativespeaker.Itisworthnotingthatwhennoinputiscapturedbythesystem(e.g.,duringapronunciationactivity)foraperiodof15secondsorso,thesysteminformsusersofthisfactandaskswhethertheywouldliketoeithersetupthemicrophoneagain,ignorethewarningandcontinuewiththeactivity,orsimplyturnoffspeechrecognitionforthatsession.

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Insomeoftheexercises,itispossibleforuserstocomparetheirownpronunciationtothatofanativespeakerbyallowingthemtoseethesoundwavesandpitchcontoursofbothpro-nunciations(similartowhatoneseesinthePraatprogram5).Userscandecreasethespeedoftheaudiotoincreasetheirawarenessofthespecificsoundsineachword/sentence,butitisnotpossibletoplaybothaudiofilesatthesametime.Thereviewerbelievesthatlisteningtobothaudiofilessimultaneouslyinsteadofplayingoneaftertheotherwouldgiveusersamuchbetterideaoftheirprogressinpronunciation.Moreover,despitebeingaquiteinterest-ingtechnologicalfeature,hedoesnotseehowordinarylanguagelearnerscouldbenefitfromsuchgraphicdepictions(seeFigure6)withoutproperlinguisticorphonetictraining.

Figure6GraphicRepresentationofPronunciation

OnemorecomponentofRSworthyofmentionistheinclusionofanoptionalvirtualkeyboardthatcanbeusedduringthewritingexercises,whichisespeciallyusefulforlanguageswithanon-Latincharacterset.

BothontheWindowsandMacintoshtests,theprogramranwithgoodspeedandonlyoncewasacrashorunexpectedproblem/procedureencountered.Moreover,thenavigationthroughtheprogramwassmooth.

Activities (Procedure)EachunitinRSexploresadifferenttopicandintroducesuserstorelevantvocabulary,sen-tences,structures(implicitly),andfunctionsassociatedwiththattopic.

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Theactivities offeredby the coreprogram fall into the following categories (see Figure1above):pronunciation,vocabulary,grammar,listening,reading,writing,andspeaking.Thegreatmajorityoftheseactivitiesaretutorials,andafewofthem(pronunciationandspeak-ing)areactuallymoretypicalofdrill-and-practiceexercises.Alltheactivitytypes(withtheMilestonephotonovelbeingslightlydifferent)generallyfollowaformatoftwotosixpicturesonthescreen.Forsomeactivities,itisnotveryclearwhatusersneedtodo.ThisissueismoreproblematicatLevel1andespeciallyifitisthefirsttimelearnersuseRSbecausemostusersarelikelynottohavereadtheUser’sManualthatcomeswiththeproduct(somemightnotevenknowofitsexistence).Theinstructionsforeachactivityarenotautomaticallydis-playedonthescreenatthestartoftheactivitybutareinsteadaccessiblethroughaneverpresentquestionmarkthatattimesblinksfornoapparentreason(seeFigure7).Thelackofdirectinstructionsonthescreenseemstobeanunfortunatepoint.Furthermore,insomecases,theinstructionsaremisleading.AsFigure7(asupposedreadingactivity)shows,usersarerequiredtoclickonthephrasethatmatchesthepictureshown,despitethefactthattheinstructionsread“Clickonthepicturethatmatchesthephrase.”

Figure7ReadingActivity

Theactivitiesinaunitserveasameansnotonlytopracticeindividualskillssuchasreading,listening,writing,andpronunciationbutalsotocoverthepredeterminedtopicoftheunitin-volvingthevocabularyitemsandgrammaticalfunctionstobelearned.Forexample,vocabu-laryitemsinLevel3Unit1areprepositions,objectnames,andnamesforopenspaces(e.g.,park,swimmingpool,etc).Functionssuchasgivingorders,expressingpredictions,makingcomparisons,andsoforthareexploredandgrammarpointssuchasprogressiveaspectand

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“it is+adj+todosomething”areemphasized.There issomeimplicitattentiontosyntax,vocabulary,andspellingintheunits,butnoexplicitfocusonmorphologyordiscourse.ThelackoffocusondiscourseiseasilynoticeablethroughoutthethreelevelsofRosettaCourse,giventhatthemajorityofexchangesareeitheroneortwosentenceslong,withthesentencesbecomingconsiderablylongerinsomepartsofLevel3.Evenathigherlevels,however,veryfewofthesentencesareinsertedinmoreelaboratediscoursecontexts.RosettaStudioandRosettaWorld,ontheotherhand,providediscoursecontextsinwhichlearnersholdconversa-tionswithStudiocoaches,aswellaswithotherlearnersandnativespeakers.

ThegreatmajorityoftheexercisesinRosettaCourseconsistsofoneofthefollowing:click-ingontheappropriatepicturethatdescribesaword,asentence,orasituation(Vocabulary,Listening andReading, Listening, andReading); repeating theword/sentenceheard (Pro-nunciationandSpeaking);typingwhatusershear(Writing);providingaudioinputinalim-itedexchange(CoreLessonsandMilestone);orselectingthecorrectwordoutofashortlist(Grammar).

RosettaWorldandRosettaStudio,however,areawelcomeadditiontoRosettaCoursebe-causetheyhaveimprovedonsomeoftheflawspresentinpriorversions(thesewillbedis-cussedshortly).RosettaWorld(seeFigure8)allowsuserstoputintopracticetheknowledgetheyhaveacquiredinRosettaCoursebytakingpartinengaginggamesandactivitieseitheralone(Solomode),withotherlearnersofthesamelanguage(Duomode),orevenwithnativespeakersofthelanguagetheyarelearning(Simbiomode6).

Figure8SoloMode,DuoMode,orSimbioMode

ThereadingpassagespresentedinRosettaWorldmakeitpossibleforuserstobothreadandlistentothecontentandalsotoseepicturesofselectedwordsinthetext(seeFigure9).

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Figure9ReadingandListeningtoContentwithPicturesofSelectedWords

InRosettaStudio,userscanschedule livepracticesessions ledbyanativeteacherofthelanguageandattendedbyuptothreeotherlearnersofthelanguage.WhiletheactivitiesandstoriesinRosettaWorldareincrementallyunlockedaccordingtotheprogressmadeinRosettaCourse,RosettaStudiosessionsforagivenlevelcanbescheduledregardlessofthefactthatusersmightnotactuallyhavecompletedthespecificlessonthatthelivepracticesessiontar-gets.

Teacher Fit (Approach)Inthepastdecades,therehavebeenaplethoraofapproachestolanguagelearning,someemphasizingtheRSpointofview(e.g.,thenaturalapproachadvocatedbyKrashen),othersadheringtoamuchmoreexplicitfocusonlanguagestructureitselfalongwithuseoftrans-lation(grammartranslation),andstillothersmakinguseofablendedmixtureofusefulap-proacheswithoutdogmaticallystickingtoasinglemodel(communicativeapproach).Thenat-uralapproachdefendedbyRSisinfactfarfromthewayadultsactuallylearnalanguage(seeBley-Vroman’s[1988]fundamentaldifferencehypothesis).Aschildren,weinteractthroughlanguagewithotherspeakers,thuslearningthelanguageinahighlysocial,affective,andrichmanner.Inaddition,childrendonothavethelinguisticbackgroundthatadultscanrefertoinordertomakethelearningofasecondlanguageeasier.TheseaspectsaremissinginRosetta

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CourseandwhatRScallsinteractionis,inthisreviewer’sopinion,aratherpoorandlimitedversionofwhatonewouldencounterinareal-lifeconversation.Theuser/learnerassumesapassiveattitudeinRosettaCourse,asanativeUkrainian-speakertherevieweraskedtotestthesoftwarenoted.Nevertheless,someestablishedprinciplesoflanguageacquisitionarein-tegratedintothemethod,suchasconstantreviewofpreviouslycoveredmaterial,multimodalintegration(sounds,pictures,andwords),anduseofadiverserangeof targetstructures(Chapelle,2001).RosettaWorldandRosettaStudio(thenewfeaturesofversion4)managetobringthewords“immersion”and“interaction”considerablyclosertotheirtruemeaningwhencomparedtoRosettaCoursealone.However,inordertobringatrulysociallyandlinguisticallyrichenvironment to themethod, thetypeof immersionand interactionprovidedbythesecomponentsstillshowsroomforimprovement.

AsDoughtyandLong(2003,p.51)put it,“[m]ethodologicalprinciplesareputativelyuni-versallydesirableinstructionaldesignfeatures,motivatedbytheoryandresearchfindingsinSLA,educationalpsychology,andelsewhere….Thetheoreticalandempiricalsupportmakethemfeatureswhichshouldprobablycharacterizeanyapproachtolanguageteaching,task-basedorotherwise.”Duetoalackofspace,delvingintoeachprincipletheyexposewillnotbepossibleinthisreview,butthereviewerwouldliketodrawattentiontofourofthemwhicharemostrelevantforindependentlanguagelearningthroughtutorialsoftware:providerich(notimpoverished)input,encourageinductive(“chunk”)learning,focusonform,andprovidenegativefeedback.

Intermsofrichinput,thisisnotthecasewithRSmostofthetime,butRosettaWorldandRosettaStudiopresentsomewhatmorenatural-soundinglanguagethanRosettaCourse.Thelanguage(andpronunciation)usedintheexercisesandbytheteachersinthelivesessionsofRosettaStudiocanbesaidtobeeitherneutralormanytimesquiteartificialcomparedtohowPortugueseisactuallyspokeninBrazil.ThelengthofthesentencesinRosettaCourseistooshortinthemajorityofcases(evenforLevel3),withagreatdealofthe“interaction”ex-periencedbeinglimitedtoeitheransweringaquestionaskedbythenativespeakeremployedintherecordings,askingaquestionwhichthenativespeakerwillrespondto,ormatchingapicturetowhatwasheardorshownonthescreen.

InRosettaStudio,theamountofinteractionisconsiderablyhigher.Thestudentsparticipatinginthelivesessionsinteractbothwiththeteacherandwitheachother,throughroleplaysledbytheteacher.Havingrequestedanacquaintanceofmine(Romaniannationality)whospeakssomePortuguesetotakepart intwolivesessionswiththreeotherspeakers,thereviewernoticedhoweverthateachofthestudentsprobablyspokeforlessthan10minutesduringthe50-minutesessions.Inspiteofthefactthatsomedesirablefeaturesarepresentduringtheselivesessions,suchastheabilityfortheteachertomoveobjectsaroundinthepictures(seeFigure10)andwritebothpromptsandunknownvocabularyonthescreen,oneoftheteach-ersquiteoftendidnotcorrecterrorsmadebythestudents.

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Figure10LiveSession

Itmustbenoted,however,thattherewassomevariabilityintheapproachoftheteachersleading the livesessions;bothprioritizedfluency,butoneof themprovidedslightlymorecorrectionthantheother.Inaddition,the“immersion”experiencedintheselivesessionsisingreatpartlimitedtointeractingwithotherlearnersofthelanguage,whohavetheirownlanguageproblems.TheinfrequentcorrectionofwronginputbytheteacherandthefactthatagoodshareoftheinteractioninRosettaStudioandinRosettaWorldisbetweennonnativespeakersofthelanguagemightleadtotwoundesirableeffects:fossilizationofwrongstruc-turesandafalsesenseoflinguisticaccuracyinthelearners.

DespitetherebeingawelcomeanddesirablefocusonfluencydevelopmentinRosettaStudioandRosettaWorld,thereviewerbelievesthathavingthelivesessionsindividuallywiththenativeteacher(bestoption)andperhapsoneotherstudent(secondaryoption)wouldbringRosettaStonemuchclosertoits“immersion”and“interaction”claim.

Even though therearesome interestingphoneticphenomenaofBrazilianPortuguese thatwerepaidattentiontointherecordings(suchasthevowel[o]beingpronouncedas[u]andthevowel[e]beingpronouncedas[i]inunstressedsyllables),thespeedofdeliveryandin-tonationofthespeakersisquiteoftenartificialandnotrepresentativeofthelanguageonehearsinBrazil.Inoneexample,thesentenceOs estudantes estão carregando suas mochi-las‘Thestudentsarecarryingtheirbackpacks’(theuseofonlythewordcarregandointhiscaseimpliescarryingwiththehands)wasusedinanexercise,butthecorrespondingpictureshowedstudents“wearing”theirbackpacksinstead,whichinPortuguesewouldberenderedbythesentenceOs estudantes estão usando mochilas‘Thestudentsarewearingbackpacks’orOs estudantes estão carregando suas mochilas nas costas‘Thestudentsarecarryingtheirbackpacksontheirbacks.’ApartfromtheMilestoneexercise,theexercisesinRosettaCoursecannotbesaidtobeauthenticinthesensethattheyreflectwhattheusersmightencounteroutsideoftheclassroom(Chapelle,2001).

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AnotherareainwhichRosettaCoursecouldimproveisthesocioculturalaspectofthespecificlanguagebeingstudied.Thefactthattheverysamepicturesandword/sentencesareusedinthegreatmajorityofcases,regardlessofthelanguagebeinglearned,resultsinconsider-abledissociationbetweenthepeopleinthepictures,thecurrenciesused(e.g.,dollars,euros,pounds,etc.),theculturerepresentedinthepicturesandwhatonewouldfindinthecountryinquestion.However,itmustbesaidthatusingthesamelinguistictranscriptregardlessoflanguageisalsocommontoothermethods(suchasPimsleur)andofferstheadvantageofmakingsurethatusersareexposedtoandlearnthemostfrequentwords,chunks(congru-ent with principle of encouraging inductive (“chunk”) learning above), and functions in alanguage(e.g.,apologizing,requesting,etc.),whicharguablytendtobeuniversal.However,thiscouldbedoneinawaythatreflectsthecultureandcustomsofthecountry(ies)inwhichthelanguagesarespoken.ThetextspresentedinRosettaWorlddohowevershowthatRSisbecomingmoreawareoftheneedtoincludeculturallyandsociallypertinentmaterialsinthesoftware.SeveraltextsdealwithtraditionalBrazilianculture(suchassambamusicanddance,citieslikeRio de JaneiroandOuro Preto,andtypicaldisheslikefeijoada).

Withregardtotheprincipleoffocusonform,focusisdone(implicitly)onlyduringthegram-marexercises(seeFigure11).

Figure11GrammarExercise

Some researchers (SchmidtandRobinson,as cited inChapelle,2001,p.47)believe thatlearnersneedtoattendtolinguisticformforacquisition.TheimplicitwayinwhichgrammaristreatedinRSismorecongruentwithafocusonmeaningthanonform.Thisisadouble-sidedcoin.Somelearnersaremoreanalyticalandmightpreferamoreovertfocusonformsuchas

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theoneadvocatedbytheFluenzlanguagelearningsoftware(http://www.fluenz.com),where-asothersmightpreferamoreimplicitapproachliketheoneusedinRS.Thefactthatthemethodisavailabletousersaged6andabovedemonstrateshoweverthatthedeveloperschosenottotaketheintrinsicdifferencesbetweentheseagegroupsintoaccount.

Regardingtheprincipleofprovidingnegativefeedback,almostnoexplicitfeedbackispro-vided,apartfromthepossibilityofhearingasoundindicatethatananswerisincorrect(whichcanbeturnedoff)orhavingawordshowningraywhenpronouncedincorrectlyduringapro-nunciationorspeakingexercise.Evenduringthelivesessions,thefocusisconsiderablymoreonfluencythanonaccuracy,withtheteacherprovidingpositivereinforcementsentencessuchas“Welldone!”evenincaseswhentheinputisnotaccurate.Itmustbesaidhoweverthattheteacherdidinafewoccasionsrepeatthecorrectformofthesentenceafterthestudent’sinput.

Lastly,thedivisionintoareassuchasspeaking,reading,andlisteningseemstobequitelooseandmanytimesinaccuratewhencomparedwithhowsuchconceptsaretreatedintheAppliedLinguistics literature.The speakingandpronunciationexercises lookquite similar.Despitetherebeingsomesequencinginasetofpicturesinthespeakingactivitiesandsomemodel-ingofa2-sentence-longexchange,mostareconcernedwithrepeatingwhatwasheardandarethusmoretypicalofpronunciationexercises.However,itsvalidityevenasapronunciationactivitymightbequestioned,giventhatthespeechrecognitionsystemdoesnotworkasac-curatelyasonemightwish.ThereadingexercisesinRosettaCoursearebasicallythesameasthelisteningexercises,exceptthattheprogramprovidestheinputinwrittenform,withverylittlediscourseuse ineithercase,becausethesentencesareeither independentfromoneanotherorusuallyrestrictedtotwopictures.ThetextsinRosettaWorldaremuchmoretypi-calofreadingactivities.Theirlengthislonger,thediscoursemorecomplex,andusersneedtobeawareoftheinternalcoherenceandcohesionofthepassages.Anotherexampleofques-tionableconstructvalidityisthewritingsection,whichisinfactmoreofaspellingexercise,sinceitcontainsnoneoftheaspectsthatawritingexerciseshouldcontain(e.g.,coherence,cohesion,organizationofideas,freewordchoice,etc.).Asaspellingexercise,however,theseactivitiescertainlyhelptoimprovespelling.

Insummary,thisreviewerwouldarguethattheRosettaCourseisquitegoodforvocabularyacquisition,chunklearning,andspelling.Fortheotherareasandskills(grammar,listening,writing,speaking)itcouldbeimprovedinmanyaspects.ListeninghasseenanimprovementwiththeintroductionofthetextsinRosettaWorld(textsthatcanbelistenedto,read,orboth)andwiththelivepracticesessions.SpeakinghasseenanimprovementwiththelivesessionsinRosettaStudio.TheuseofpicturesinRosettaCourseisquitebeneficialformoreconcreteconceptsbutcanleaduserstomakewronginferencesifthepictureisambiguous.InFigure12,forexample,thewordbeingpracticedisOlá‘Hi,’butthefirstpictureisambiguousandledmytest-subjecttomakeawrongchoicerightatthebeginningofUnit1Lesson1.

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Figure12Olá‘Hi’

Itmustbesaid,however,thattheconstantreviewinganduseofpreviouslylearnedvocabu-laryandstructuresmakesitmuchmorelikelythattheywillberememberedinthelongerterm.

Learner Fit (Design)OneoftheadvantagesofRSisitsmodern,colorful,andappealingdesign.Thepicturesarevivid,theuserinterfaceisattractive,anditisquiteeasytonavigatethroughtheprogram;userscanmovefreelybetweendifferentpartsoftheprogramandreturnatalaterpoint,withtheadvantagethattheirperformanceandactivitiesarealwaystrackedwithnolossofinfor-mation.Inaddition,allsettingsusedbytheprogramcanbeeasilyandquicklychangedwithnoneedtoleavethecurrentlesson.

RSaccounts,toacertainextent,fordifferentlearningstyles(especiallyvisualandauditory)throughitsjointuseoftexts,pictures,andsounds.However,itsmethodologyofusingasso-ciationinthevastmajorityoftheexercisesinthebasicprogramandputtinglearnersinapas-siveroleinRosettaCourserenderstheactivitiessomewhatmundaneovertime(asmytestsubjectsalsonoted),especiallygiventheiroveruseofthe4-picturescheme.Theexerciseslookquitesimilarandinfact,giventheloosedefinitionoftheskill/areabeingpracticedmen-tionedabove,userscanbecomeunsureofwhatthepurposeofanexerciseis.Moreanalyti-callearners(orevenmoredeductiveones)whopreferamoreexplicitapproachtolanguagelearningwillsimplynotfindsuchanapproachinRS.However,RosettaStudioandRosetta

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Worldbringtoversion4amoreengaginglearningenvironmentbygivingusersthechancetointeractwithoneanotherandtoputwhattheyhavelearnedinRosettaCourseintorealpracticebothwithotherlearnersandwithanativespeakerofthelanguagetheyarelearning.Despitethepossibilityofleadingtosomeundesirableaspects(suchasfossilizationofwrongstructuresandpronunciation),thesearecertainlywelcomefeatures.

Lastly,giventhefactthatthespeechrecognitionsystemisquiteoftenunreliable,manystu-dentsmightbelievethattheyarepronouncingthingsinawayclosetothewaytheyshouldbepronouncedbecausetheprogramacceptstheirinput.Otherstudentsmightnoticethisprob-lemandbecomequitesuspiciousofthespeechrecognitioncomponentandthesoftwareingeneral.Theobviousrisktonothavingtheirpronunciationproperlycorrectedisthatitmightleadtoentrenchedpronunciationproblems.

Thesoftwareseemsmoresuitabletoyoungerlearnersandadolescentsthantoadults,de-spitethefactthattheprogramiscommerciallyadvertisedassuitableforages6andabove.Itsmarketingpremisethatthebestwaytolearnaforeignlanguageisbyemulatingthewaywelearnedourfirstlanguagenotwithstanding,thecognitiveskills,demands(cognitiveandemotional),andprocessesofolderlearnersarequitedifferentfromthoseofchildren(Bley-Vroman,1988),andRSdoesnottakethesedifferencesintoaccount.

SUMMARYTheaward-winningRosettaStonesoftwareisbuiltonthepremisethatthebestwaytolearnforeignlanguagesisbyemulatinghowfirstlanguagesarelearned,whichisreflectedinitspervasiveintegrateduseofpictures,sounds,andtexts.Althoughitcontainssomefeatureswhicharedesirableforlanguageacquisition(e.g.,constantreviewofmaterial,useofassocia-tions,andnowinversion4engagementwiththelanguage),thereisstillprogresstobemadeintermsofaddressingdifferentlearningstylesandsocioculturalfactors.Moreover,inRosettaCourse,itisattimesachallengetounderstandthepurposesofsomeexercises,whichmaycauseonetoquestionthevalidityofcertainexercisesandresultinaprogrammoresuitablefortheacquisitionofvocabularyandchunkexpressions.Thenewcomponentsofversion4,namelyRosettaStudioandRosettaWorld,arecertainlyawelcomefeatureandallowlearnerstointeractwiththelanguageinamorerealisticandengagingway.Thereis,however,stillroomforimprovementandusersshouldbeawareofboththestrengthsandweaknessesofRSifusedasastand-alonemethod,especiallyifonedesirestodevelopaccuracyaswellasfluency.

SCALEDRATING(1low-5high)

PedagogicalFeatures:2(offline),3.5(online)SociolinguisticAccuracy:1.5(offline),3.0(online)UseofComputerCapabilities:4(offline),5(online)EaseofUse(student/teacher):4(offlineandonline)OverallEvaluation:2.0(offline),(3.5online)ValueforMoney:2.0(offline),3.5(online)

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PRODUCER’SCONTACTINFORMATIONRosettaStoneLtd.135W.MarketSt.Harrisonburg,VA22801-USAPhones:8668346115(support,USA);8002808172(sales,USA)Email:Noemailavailable(onlyonlineformorchat)

NOTES1AwardsincludeGoldAwardforBestCD-ROMsusedinSchool,BestSoftwareinSecondLanguageFor-eignLanguageLearningProgramannualawards(ComputEDmagazine),andBestCD-ROMforLanguageLearningi-MagicAward.2RosettaStoneversion4PersonalEdition,releasedinSeptember2010,wasinstalledandusedforthisreview.Thereisanothereditionavailable,calledHomeschool,whichcontainsadditionalresources.3Fromthispointon,RosettaCoursewillalwaysrefertotheofflinecomponentofRosettaStone.4RosettaStoneclaimsthattheperformanceoftheirspeechrecognitionsystemisbetterifusedincon-junctionwiththeheadsetincludedwiththesoftware.5PRAATisafreeandwidelyusedsoftwareforphoneticanalysis(http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat).6Thisisdoneinasortof tandempractice,inwhichtwolearnersinterestedinpracticingeachother’snativelanguageinteractandsociallyengageinactivitiesandconversations.

REFERENCESBley-Vroman,R.(1988).Thefundamentalcharacterofforeignlanguagelearning. InW.Rutherford&

M.SharwoodSmith(Eds.),Grammar and second language teaching: A book of readings (pp.19-30).Rowley,MA:NewburyHouse.

Chapelle, C. (2001).Computer applications in SLA: Foundations for teaching, testing and research. Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress

Doughty,C.,&Long,M.H.(2003).Optimalpsycholinguisticsenvironments fordistance foreign lan-guagelearning. Language Learning & Technology, 7(3),50-80.Retrievedfromhttp://llt.msu.edu/vol7num3/doughty/default.html

Krashen,S.D.,&Terrell,T.D.(1983).The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom.London:PrenticeHallEurope.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThereviewerwouldliketokindlythankLaraLomicka(UniversityofSouthCarolina)andSte-venThorne(PortlandStateUniversity)fortheirvaluablecommentsandsuggestionsondraftsofthisreview.

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REVIEWER’SBIODATAVictorD.O.SantosholdsaB.AinLinguisticsfromtheFederalUniversityofMinasGerais(Bra-zil)andanM.A.inLanguageandCommunicationTechnologiesfromtheUniversityofSaarland(Germany)andtheUniversityofGroningen(Netherlands).HeholdsanICELTCertificateinEnglishLanguageTeachingfromtheUniversityofCambridgeandhastaughtEnglishformorethan6yearsinhisnativeBrazil.Atthemoment,Mr.SantosisaPh.D.studentinAppliedLin-guisticsandTechnologyandaTeachingAssistantatIowaStateUniversity(USA).

REVIEWER’SCONTACTINFORMATIONVictorD.O.SantosDepartmentofEnglish-ALTPh.D.IowaStateUniversity439RossHallAmes,IA50011Email:[email protected]

rosetta_stone_review_santos

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