Computer-Mediated-Communication and Foreign Language Education

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, the increasing availability of the computer and the advent of the Internet have led to a new form of communication which helps overcome the limits of time and space, namely that which researchers and scholars refer to as Computer-Mediated-Communication (CMC). The aim of this paper is to provide a brief description of CMC, its distinctive features and its potential benefits for foreign language learning. The paper begins with a brief historic perspective on CMC in relation to Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) practices and Network-Based Language Teaching (NBLT), i.e. language teaching activities carried out by means of local or global communication networks. It then looks at the potential benefits of CMC in foreign language education.