In this article we examine how instructors make decisions about task design in telecollaboration and the factors that influence these decisions during the actual implementation of the tasks. We begin with a review of the recent literature of online intercultural exchanges to identify and describe a typology of 12 different types of tasks and task…

We describe a computer assisted language learning (CALL) system that uses human-machine dialogue as its medium of interaction. The system was developed to help students learn the basics of the Maori language and was designed to accompany the introductory course in Maori running at the University of Otago. The student engages in a task-based…

This paper reports on a year-long project in which students participated as both readers and writers of blogs. Specifically, this study examines the steps students progress through while reading and writing blogs, students' reactions to blogging, and how self-expression is characterised in the blogosphere. Data from student blogs, reports, and…

In the past decade, providing language instruction via computer-mediated communication (CMC) has seen tremendous growth throughout the world. With this increase in asynchronous instruction have come questions concerning the role of the instructor as it determines the quality and impact of learning and of what optimal faculty development might…

With the development of new digital technologies and their gradual introduction into the language classroom, the Internet enables students to reach out beyond the confines of traditional teaching and learning settings, allowing previously non-existent access to foreign languages and cultures. On the one hand, the web allows learners to find…

This pilot study investigates how the use of audioblogs can help to meet an instructor's need to improve instruction in English as a second language (ESL). In this study, the instructor uses audioblogs to manage oral assignments, to interact with learners, and to evaluate performance outcomes. Learners record oral assignments through cellular…

This study examines potential designs in the usage of synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) for communicative language learning in learner-centered communication. In this study, the authors compared four types of SCMC: text-based chat with and without interlocutors' image, video conferencing, and audio conferencing, each supporting of…

This study investigates the effect of a cross-cultural bilingual communication project on students' second language learning. A collaborative key-pal project was conducted between Japanese university students learning English and Canadian university students learning Japanese. Ethnographic data were collected from the students' exchanged messages…

Examines the impact of new forms of communication technology on our concepts of literacy and literacies, particularly in relation to personal computer use, and argues that the unique quality of hypertext structure underlying computer-mediated communication, asynchronous and nonlinear, challenges many accepted notions of the nature and structure of…

Looks at on-line tutor strategies for the support of students learning a second language with the help of a Web-based asynchronous textual conference. Looks specifically at strategies used by three tutors who participated in a project with students of French. (Author/VWL)

While interaction in online language learning in the area of written computer-mediated communication is well researched, studies focusing on interaction in synchronous online audio environments remain scarce. For this reason, this paper seeks to map the nature and level of interpersonal interaction in both online and the face-to-face language…

Self-access centres are sometimes portrayed as being at the forefront of pedagogical innovation. They are also said to be technology-rich language learning environments. In practice, however, the application of technology in a self-access environment has proven to be a challenge. This article focuses on 10 self-access centres that were found to be…

This article presents a survey of computer-based tracking in CALL and the uses to which the analysis of tracking data can be put to address questions in CALL in particular and second language acquisition (SLA) in general. Adopting both quantitative and qualitative methods, researchers have found that students often use software in unexpected ways,…

Compares the effect of pedagogical tasks implemented in synchronous face-to-face tasks versus text-based computer mediated communication. Analysis reveals that the first signs of change in developmental stages of morphosyntactic development are more clearly identified in the computer-based interaction task than in the face-to-face oral task.…

This paper is about the learning that happens in the synchronous text chat forum of on online group of English Language learners and tutors. It is a socioculturally oriented case study of an informal virtual community called "Webheads", who meet online in various places on the internet. Although dedicated to English Language learning, much other…