Robert Goodwin-Jones opens his discussion with the thought "If you want to attract attention to a new online course, the foolproof strategy today is to label it a MOOC, a massive open online course." The hype surrounding MOOCs has resulted in substantial interest--from the general public to university presidents--in online learning, as…

Five years ago in the February, 2007, issue of LLT, I wrote about developments in digital video of potential interest to language teachers. Since then, there have been major changes in options for video capture, editing, and delivery. One of the most significant has been the rise in popularity of video-based storytelling, enabled largely by…

Discusses the possible use of automatic speech recognition (ASR) for training students to improve their accents in a foreign language. Principles of good language training as well as the limits of the use of ASR and how to deal with them are discussed, and an example from the Carnegie Mellon FLUENCY system is used to show how such a system may…

Analyzed the patterns and types of collaborative interactions taking place in three online teacher education classes and used the findings as a guide in the design of instructional interventions. (Author/VWL)

Discusses a pilot study that sought to determine whether a parallel corpus and a concordancer would be appropriate tools to supplement a teaching program of German at the beginner level in an unsupervised environment. (Author/VWL)

Analyzes negotiation of meaning and code switching in discourse between 29 language students from classes at a German and a North American university, who teamed up with their peers to collaborate on projects whose results hey had to present to the other groups in the MOO during the final weeks of the project. (VWL)

Presents a situated study--based on a prominent pedagogical framework--of the implementation of threaded discussions, a widely used instructional technology, to meet constructivist curricular goals in university English-as-a-Second-Language classes. (Author/VWL)

Describes what a computer-adaptive test (CAT) is, examines its roots, and points out some of the challenges this approach to assessment presents. (Author/VWL)

Examines the nature of peer exchanges in two partial network-based classes and the conflicts learners face in this situation where all information is text-based and archived. Provides a picture of how learners used the available technology to interact with peers and their comments on how this mode of delivery extended their traditional notions of…

Following a preliminary experience in a low-tech environment for distance language learning and teaching, two challenges were identified in the design of university language courses: the necessity to build sufficient flexibility into materials to cater to learners' styles, interests, and skill levels, and a need to design materials that would…

Investigated effects of multimedia reading software on reading comprehension. Twelve college students enrolled in a second semester French course were instructed to think aloud during reading of text on the computer screen. They read text under one of three conditions: full glossing, limited glossing, no glossing. Suggests computerized reading…

Reports on experiences using the Contemporary Written Italian Corpus in teaching intermediate students at Griffith University in Australia. Evaluates the effectiveness of students' investigations of the corpus, how they go about their investigations, and how successful they are at extracting information without help from a teacher. Outlines…

Draws on the experience of a cohort of 22 multinational and multilingual students enrolled in a Master's in Education distance learning program administered by a British university. The purpose was to locate aims and philosophies of distance learning within the experiences of actual distance learners to see if learners needs were being met by the…

Investigates the potential role of Internet resources as a means to gain a deeper sense of the culture of the Spanish-speaking world for college students. Data collected demonstrate that the Web is a suitable tool to increase language and cultural knowledge, as well as a means to increase motivation. Pedagogical implications are discussed.…

Examined negotiation of meaning that took place between students and native speakers of Japanese over a series of computer-based chat conversations and attempted to categorize the difficulties encountered. Data showed that the difficulties in understanding each other triggered negotiation meaning between students even when no specific…