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Distance learning presents language teachers and learners with a new set of challenges, opportunities and practical realities. This book presents a comprehensive overview of important issues within the field and explores the ways in which all participants are adapting their practices in response to the new learning environment.

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This article provides a critical overview of the field of distance language learning, challenging the way in which the field is often narrowly conceptualised as the development of technology-mediated language learning opportunities. Early sections focus on issues of concept and definition and both theoretical and pedagogical perspectives on the field. Emphasis is placed on evident shifts from a concern with structural and organisational issues to a focus on transactional issues associated with teaching/learning opportunities within emerging paradigms for distance language learning. The next section reviews choices and challenges in incorporating technology into distance language learning environments, foregrounding decisions about technology made in particular sociocultural contexts, the contribution of 'low-end' technologies and research directions in developing new learning spaces and in using online technologies. The investigation of learner contributions to distance language learning is an important avenue of enquiry in the field, given the preoccupation with technology and virtual learning environments, and this is the subject of section six. The two final sections identify future research directions and provide a series of conclusions about research and practice in distance language learning as technology-mediated interactions increasingly come to influence the way we think about the processes of language learning and teaching. Important themes explored in the literature include traditional and emerging paradigms for distance language learning, the development of hybrid learning opportunities, course development and evaluation, teaching roles, learner support, the advent of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and new learning spaces, technology choice in particular sociocultural contexts, and learner contributions to the process of distance language learning, all of which are reviewed here. Throughout the article emphasis is placed on the complexity of distance language learning and teaching given the presence and interplay of human, institutional and sociocultural influences; emphasis is also given to the value of adopting a learner-centred focus in exploring the actual experience and potential of the distance learning of foreign languages.

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