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Shrestha, Prithvi
(2024).
URL: https://www.chinacall.org.cn/conference2024/en_ind...
Abstract
CALL has become an established field of study within applied linguistics since it emerged over fifty years ago. As a field it has undergone different historical phases as identified by various CALL scholars (Structural, Communicative and Integrative; Restricted, Open and Integrative). In this historical development process, CALL has been theorised by drawing on multiple disciplines and theories. At the turn of the 21st century, it was theorised by using Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory as it influenced language education then. In 2003, my former late colleague Stephen Bax aptly called the current phase of CALL normalisation or Integrative CALL. This means CALL has become a part of our normal everyday (language learning) life. However, the CALL scholarship appears to have focused on its affordances and efficacies until Covid-19 paralysed the world in 2020 when attention was suddenly turned to access and equity issues in CALL. As a result, CALL scholarship has just taken a critical turn which examines power, privilege, equity, coloniality and social justice in CALL through different Critical Theories. In this talk, having briefly historicised CALL, I will propose and discuss how a capability theory developed by economist Amartya Sen provides us with tools to evaluate CALL regarding social justice from a novel angle. Specifically, I will discuss expansion of capabilities through CALL for social justice and conclude with some implications for research and praxis.