This process-oriented study focuses on contradictions that emerged in a WebCT bulletin board collaboration among English learners from Japan, Mexico and Russia, and explains them from the perspective of activity theory (Leont'ev, 1978, 1981; Engestrom, 1987, 1999). The study identified a) two "intra-cultural" contradictions--to post or…

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)

Considers implications for distance learning of negotiations by a group of intermediate learners of Italian interacting in dyads on a Web-based Italian native speaker (NS) chat program. Explores whether NS chat rooms are likely to offer an optimal environment for second language acquisition. (Author/VWL)

Addresses issues surrounding the effect of mode of presentation on second language (L2) reading test performance, reviewing the literature in cognitive ability testing in educational and psychological measurement and the non-assessment literature in ergonomics, education, psychology, and first language reading research. Generalization of the…

Describes a study of a content-based instructional model that engages high intermediate English-as-a-Second-Language students in sustained content study within collaborative learning communities and uses information technology resources to hone linguistic, academic, socioaffective, and metacognitive skills through an activity called focus…

Presents a Web-based, cross-cultural, curricular initiative entitled, "Cultura," designed to develop foreign language students' understanding of foreign cultural attitudes, concepts, beliefs, and ways of interacting and looking at the world. Focuses on the pedagogy of electronic media, with particular emphasis on the ways the Web can be used to…

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)

Reviews visual anthropology, educational anthropology, and ethnographic filmmaking literature on questions concerning collection of valid video recorded data in the second language context. Examines h an interaction should be video recorded, who should be video recorded, and who should do the recording. Examples illustrate the kinds of research…

The World Wide Web is very much a part of many people's everyday lives now, whether it be for personal or professional reasons. The Foreign Language Teaching Forum (FLTEACH) was inaugurated in February of 1994 to provide a forum where foreign language (FL) educators could engage in collegial dialog about work issues on a regular basis. A great…

Reading in a second language (L2) is important for a variety of reasons. Reading authentic materials, in particular, allows L2 learners to engage with native speaker content, and ultimately the target culture. One body of authentic materials is that of literary texts, including those of more traditional prose fiction, poetry, and drama, but also…

This study combines interlanguage pragmatics and speech act research with computer-mediated communication and examines how native and non-native speakers of English formulate low- and high-imposition requests to faculty. While some research claims that email, due to absence of non-verbal cues, encourages informal language, other research has…

Presents data from a qualitative case study examining secondary English-as-a-Second-Language students' attitudes toward and perceptions of a collaborative email exchanges between a Form 4 (10th grade) English-as-a-Second-Language class in Hong Kong and an 11th grade English class in Iowa. (Author/VWL)

Reflects on what has transpired in the second language (L2) testing field in relation to technology and situates developments within the larger language testing, general measurement, and educational contexts. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the parameters for the application of computer technology in Cree and Naskapi language programs, and shows that the deliberate and structured introduction of these technologies to indigenous language programs can facilitate indigenous language stabilization and development. (Author/VWL)

Provides an afterword to a special issue of the journal on technology and indigenous languages. (Author/VWL)