This paper is motived by an email message the author received recently from a practicing, 'well-qualified' (BA and MA in Linguistics and a (200 hundred hour) TESL Certificate) ESL teacher in the US who was reaching out because she felt her training as a teacher had failed her. This prompted the author to reflect on two main inconvenient truths…

While teaching written communication to international business school students in Korea, the author received an email from a student to lacked thoroughness and clarity. He decided to use the email as a learning opportunity for his students to rewrite it. He discovered that while the results were good, there was an inability to write in a register…

Using O'Dowd and Ritter's (2006) Inventory of Reasons for Failed Communication in Telecollaborative Projects as a barometer, this article details the considerations and procedures followed in a task-based, asynchronous email telecollaboration project between EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners in Japan and Chile. In a climate where…

This article takes a broadly sociocultural perspective on the development of an Armenian English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher. It focuses on how experiences and actions outside the professional development classroom influence language teacher agency. The paper is framed within activity theory and specifically draws on Galperin's orienting…

This paper presents the description of an email Tandem exchange project conducted between 94 intermediate-level students (47 pairs) from Columbia University/Barnard College in New York and Universidad Autonóma de Madrid in Spain during the Fall Semester 2010. There were several goals to this project: to help improve students' writing skills; to…

Language teachers have long been aware of the devastating effect of learners' grammatically correct, yet situationally inappropriate spoken or written communication. This volume addresses how to raise learner awareness of pragmatic gaffs through research-based, field-tested activities such as composing e-mail requests, giving advice, making…

Discusses e-mail programs to view and write in Japanese and Chinese script in a Windows setting. Notes that the big issue is not so much displaying the text but inputting it, a formidable task considering the thousands of characters to learn. (Author/CK)

This pilot study shows that the use of Internet resources is a meaningful way to integrate language and culture and to provide opportunities for students to learn about the target culture while using e-mail to discuss cultural aspects with native speakers. Results of the study showed that e-mail increased students' interest and motivation.…

Describes the design and testing process that resulted in the production of "Un Meurtre a Cinet" and "Un Misterio en Toluca," two role-playing applications that ask students of French and Spanish to collaborate to solve a murder mystery using e-mail, listservs, and a culturally-rich Web site. (Author/VWL)

Gives an overview of the history of the Hawaiian language and the decline in number of speakers, chronicles efforts to revitalize it, and discusses the role of computing and online communications in this process, focusing on the Leoki bulletin board system, the first fully based on an indigenous language. Activities in an elementary school…

Observed effects of dialogue journaling through electronic mail on the language produced by learners of Spanish as a second language, compared with the paper-and-pencil version. The electronic version was found to have a positive effect on the amount of language generated and on students' attitudes towards learning the target language but did not…

Describes a cross-cultural e-mail exchange that provided students in the United States and Chile with an ongoing source of authentic cultural input from the target country. The exchange was organized between a class of U.S. college students of advanced Spanish conversation and composition and a class of Chilean university students of advanced…

This paper describes two groups of students learning French online, one earning college credit through California's Coastline Community College and one studying for self-enrichment with the Annenberg/CPB Project and the University of Maryland University College. Students receive and are encouraged to explore weekly/semi-weekly current Web sites.…

A "driver's license" at one suburban Minnesota high school is a free round-trip ticket to the world. The Internet allows students to stroll through the Louvre, tour the White House, or examine current satellite weather photos at NASA's computer center. Students are developing friendships, exploring different cultures, and learning…

Discusses the Intercultural Learning Network, an international computer network designed to enable students from different cultures to work with one another. Questions addressed include whether it is technically possible, economically feasible, and useful for instructional purposes; what organizational structures are required; and whether it can…