This text provides a critical collection of recent research in on-line communication for second language learning. The paperback edition provides a critical collection of recent research in on-line communication for second language learning, including uses of e-mail, real-time writing, and the Web. Chapters analyze the theories underlying computer-assisted learning, explore the contexts that affect network-based teaching, and examine the linguistic nature of computer-mediated interaction in both textual and multimedia environments. This book will be of vital importance to language teachers...

From the origins of writing to today's computer-mediated communication, material technologies shape how we read and write, how we construe and share knowledge, and ultimately how we understand ourselves in relation to the world. However, communication technologies are themselves designed in particular social and cultural contexts and their use is adapted in creative ways by individuals. In this book, Richard Kern explores how technology matters to language and the ways in which we use it. Kern reveals how material, social and individual resources interact in the design of textual meaning, and...