This study examined the effects of pretask training to promote peer collaboration, encourage learning opportunities, and foster individual L2 writing development in web-based L2 collaborative writing (CW) tasks. The participants were 48 students from two junior English composition classes at a Taiwanese university. One class (n = 24) was assigned…

The importance of argumentative writing has long been recognized. However, many foreign language learners struggle to make effective argumentation and use appropriate language in argumentative writing. In this study, we proposed a blended learning design to address students' problems with argumentation and language use in argumentative writing…

The advance of educational technologies and digital devices have made computer-assisted language learning (CALL) an active interdisciplinary field with increasing research potential and topic diversity. Questions like "what topics and technologies attract the interest of the CALL community?," "how have these topics and technologies…

Two of the original authors of "Giving a Virtual Voice to the Silent Language of Culture: The Cultura Project", published in "Language Learning & Technology" in 2001, look back on the origin of the Cultura project, its goals, and the approach and materials used. Their commentary then focuses on the features and the…

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…

This study investigated the affordances for autonomous learning in a fully online learning environment involving the implementation of task-based instruction in conjunction with Web 2.0 technologies. To that end, four-skill-integrated tasks and digital tools were incorporated into the coursework. Data were collected using midterm reflections,…

While research has reported generally enthusiastic results regarding L2 blogging, some studies have found contrasting blogging experiences among individual learners. Consequently, this study investigated the factors underlying such discrepancies by exploring 33 EFL learners' experiences of participating in a blog project at a Taiwanese university.…

With the growing prevalence of Web 2.0 technologies and use of online resources in their classrooms, language learners have increasing exposure to online texts. In this study we attempted to understand how university level second language (L2) readers construct meaning when reading online. We investigated L2 readers' information-seeking strategies…

This study explores the writing of Wikipedia articles as a form of authentic writing for learners of English in Hong Kong. Adopting "Second Language Socialization and Language Learning & Identity" approaches to language learning inquiry, it responds to an identified shortage of research on computer-mediated language socialization.…

Although language learning in 3D Virtual Worlds (VWs) has become a focus of recent research, little is known about the knowledge and skills teachers need to acquire to provide effective task-based instruction in 3D VWs and the type of teacher training that best prepares instructors for such an endeavor. This study employs a situated learning…

This study focuses on the use of wikis in collaborative writing projects in foreign language learning classrooms. A total of 34 intermediate level university students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) were asked to accomplish three different wiki-based collaborative writing tasks, (argumentative, informative and decision-making) working…

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…

This study examines how blogs and their interactive and collaborative features help academically-advanced graduate students process academic writing knowledge and make sense of their writer identity. Seven graduate students undertaking Master's level study in TESOL and Linguistics participated. The research questions are: (a) What kinds of…

Online collaborative writing tasks are frequently undertaken in forums and wikis. Variation between these two communication modes has yet to be examined, particularly type of feedback and its effects. We investigated the type of feedback and the impact of English native-speakers' feedback on Spanish peers' discourse restructuring in the context of…