Mark War Schauer Network - Based Language Teaching

Over the past 20 years, computer networks have introduced unprecedented opportunities for language learners to access and publish texts and multimedia materials and to communicate in new ways within and beyond the classroom. Whereas computer-assisted language learning (CALL) refers broadly to a wide range of applications (e.g., tutorials, drills, simulations, instructional games, tests, concordancers, etc.), network-based language teaching (NBLT) refers specifically to the pedagogical use of computers connected in either local or global networks, allowing one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many communication. NBLT research explores what happens when learners are brought together with texts, media, and other speakers of the language in computer-mediated contexts of interaction. NBLT arose at the confluence of both technological and educational change. In the 1980s and 1990s, networking technologies and infrastructure developed with dramatic rapidity in many industrialized countries, making low-cost connections possible. At the same time, educational theory and practice were increasingly influenced by social constructivism, which emphasized the social and cultural construction of knowledge, the importance of collaboration among individuals and groups, and a learnerand problem-based approach to pedagogy.