Stella Hurd is a Senior Lecturer in French at the Open University, where she has developed materials at all levels since 1994. As a member of the Open University? s Centre for Research into Education and Educational Technology, her main research focus is distance language learning and teaching, which embraces autonomy, affect, learning strategies and learner support. She has published on all these topics in refereed journals and books and has also co-edited three books on adult language learning.