Bots are destined to dominate how humans interact with the internet of things that continues to grow around them. Despite their still budding intellectual capacity, major companies (e.g., Apple, Google and Amazon) have already placed (chat)bots at the centre of their flagship devices. (Chat)Bots currently fill the internet acting as guides,…

This column traces the evolution of electronic resources for language learning over the past 25 years, focusing on the arrival and transformation of the "world wide web", the dramatic changes in mobile technologies, and the movement towards commercial and all-in-one solutions to online learning. In the choice and use of learning…

With the fast-paced development of technology in today's society, there has been emerging a shift from paper-based reading to digital online reading. While the benefits of exposure to print have been well-established in previous studies, how online reading may impact individuals' literacy development is largely underexplored. The current study…

In this article I revisit the cultures-of-use conceptual framework--that technologies, as forms and processes comprising human culture, mediate and assume variable meanings, values, and conventionalized functions for different communities (Thorne, 2003). I trace the antecedent arc of investigation and serendipitous encounters that led to the 2003…

As the integration of Internet-based social networking tools becomes increasingly popular in foreign language classrooms, the use of modern communication technologies is particularly critical in the context of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs), where student exposure to the target language and its speakers is usually minimal. This paper…

Online reading is evolving beyond the perusal of static documents with Web pages inviting readers to become commentators, collaborators, and critics. The much-ballyhooed Web 2.0 is essentially a transition from online consumer to consumer/producer/participant. An online document may well include embedded multimedia or contain other forms of…

Five years ago, in the January, 1998, issue of "Language Learning & Technology," this author wrote a column on Dynamic Web Page Creation, discussing options for Web interactivity and bemoaning incompatibilities among browsers. In the current column the author explores what has changed since 1998, new options that have arrived, and…

Foreign language (FL) teachers have long been leaders in the use of technology in the classroom, from short wave radio and newspapers, to film strips, to tape recorders, to records, 16 mm films, video, and now computers, as a means of bringing authentic language and culture to their students. Computer and Internet technologies require…

In order to respond to learners' need for more flexible speaking opportunities and to overcome the geographical challenge of students spread over the United Kingdom and continental Western Europe, the Open University recently introduced Internet-based, real-time audio conferencing, thus making a groundbreaking move in the distance learning and…

Despite the imperatives of policy and rhetoric about their integration in formal education, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are often used as an "add-on" in many classrooms and in many lesson plans. Nevertheless, many teachers find that interesting and well-planned tasks, projects, and resources provide a key to…