MOOCs for language learning offer opportunities for communication to help develop learners’ productive skills in the target language, but these environments can also be challenging for learners, which may result in a disconnect between promise and reality. The chapter introduces MOOCs and language MOOCs (LMOOCs), considering their purposes and the reasons why learners enrol in LMOOCs. Communication opportunities and challenges in LMOOCs are reviewed, and relevant findings from research and practice are identified. Special consideration is given to the provision of feedback to learners. Fostering speaking among learners has generally been a challenge, due to the scale and openness of LMOOCs. The chapter offers recommendations for research and practice relating to the educator’s role, learners’ autonomy, affordances of communication technology, integration of LMOOCs into classroom practice, and cultural issues in communication. It is also recommended that MOOC providers should work together with educators to provide learners with adequate and innovative technological tools to facilitate their productive skills practice. Future directions are identified, emphasizing scalable methods of analysing learner activity and taking advantage of developments in artificial intelligence, including ways of supporting learners through interactions with conversational agents.

Educators have always harnessed the power of ludic activities for facilitating learning in low-tech teaching contexts, including for the teaching of foreign and second languages (L2s). Most current research on L2 learning with games has focused on informal (naturalistic) learning, has adopted a technology-centric perspective that prioritizes digital games which are ill-suited for most teaching contexts, and, particularly, has neglected the role of teachers. As teacher mediation is critical for enabling student learning, this chapter surveys work that shows how language teachers can leverage the opportunities inherent in games and play with a view to strengthening the naturalistic learning of their students. We spotlight the key role of the teacher in mediating learners’ language and literacy development, before, during, and after L2 activities through and around games. We also consider how the purposeful use of digital technology around games and play supports both learners and teachers in reaching their goals. We illustrate this through exemplary studies that are grounded in various pedagogies, and utilize both analogue and digital games that can be implemented in real classrooms. In doing so, we give equal importance to tools and technology (ludic materials), language learning goals, and pedagogical rigor.

This chapter focuses on digital collaboration when learning an additional language (L2), a specific type of learner–learner interaction. In CALL contexts, collaboration has almost exclusively been researched in connection with writing, which will be the focus of this chapter. The chapter first provides a definition of collaboration versus cooperation and then a literature review of digital collaboration, mainly in writing contexts. We conclude with a list of strategies for promoting collaboration and suggestions for future collaboration contexts and research.

The use of technology in language learning classrooms depends largely on its availability and accessibility. Language practitioners in the twenty-first century continue to face the issue of digital divide, as some developing countries struggle to provide basic hardware such as computers, projectors, and speakers in every language classroom and rely heavily on the technology they and their students bring to class. This is complicated further when language learning must be done online and remotely, as reliable internet connectivity is required but not always available. Numerous language teachers in these low-tech environments have adopted the low-tech approach by maximizing the affordability of “simple” hardware such as feature phones and “common” tools such as email and mobile applications such as chat apps. They engage in technology literacy, which reaches the level of inventive use of “common” technology that has long been used to bring sound pedagogy to various modes of language learning. The chapter attempts to describe how language is taught in low-tech environments and how an inclusive approach must use technology that assures that no one is excluded. It also describes how the incorporation of simple technology into various modes of language teaching and learning has supported sound language pedagogy through creativity and flexibility.

The issue of whether technology is inherently motivating for learners and teachers has often been discussed in the literature around computers and language learning. Yet, there is more to this relationship than initially meets the eye. This chapter outlines the ways in which symbolic power plays a part in both personal and institutional motivations for the adoption of technology. The chapter also looks at the way motivation is often credited as a key to success, though rarely with much empirical evidence. Finally, the article takes on a practitioner’s viewpoint to share several motivational techniques that can assist with practice and research.

Distance learning has grown in popularity since the beginning of the century, and the affordances of the rapid development of online audiovisual and mobile technologies have made it easier to learn languages at a distance. This chapter defines the concept of distance language learning as learning that is designed to take place when teachers and learners are not together in the same physical space and learning is mostly mediated through technology. It focuses on distance learning that both students and teachers have chosen as their method of delivery, as opposed to an imposition in response to an emergency situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter presents a brief history of the evolution of distance language learning, exploring current and past tools, methods, and beliefs in the teaching and assessment of languages in a distance learning context. It also outlines the characteristics of successful distance learners and teachers, as well as some of the challenges they face. It concludes by arguing that the rapid improvement in speech recognition and translation software is likely to transform distance language learning in the near future.

This book has explored a broad variety of ways in which technology can be conceptualized, used, viewed, and researched in the teaching and learning of a second language. This concluding chapter brings together some of the overall trends that the chapters have revealed and explores how technology in second language education can be best capitalized upon for best practice. It also provides insights into how teachers, learners, and administrators can prepare themselves for the advances that are happening in the field, and how these are likely to impact upon research and practice.

Although technology has transformed the landscape of pedagogy, some language teachers are still reluctant to use educational technology, and this is referred to as “resistance to change.” This resistance is complex, and as a result, the biggest challenge in language pedagogy is to prepare teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms. This chapter provides an overview of historical and current explanations for teacher resistance to computer-assisted language learning (CALL), discusses factors influencing teachers’ technology use, and critically examines challenges for CALL teacher education in specific sociocultural contexts. Additionally, suggestions for breaking down resistance are provided for educational institutions, teacher educators, in-service and pre-service teachers. Finally, this chapter concludes with recommendations for future research and classroom practice to guide professional development.

This chapter examines the concept of L2 speaking by detailing several technologies that can be used to support the development of oral production in a foreign language. Relevant theoretical and historical concepts are first discussed to give readers a foundation to understand the factors that influence the L2 speaking process. The next sections delve into emerging technologies that show promise in supporting speaking development. The chapter concludes with future directions related to L2 speaking teaching and learning.

Literacy is the ability to make use of visible language, and it is fundamental to language education. This chapter focuses on what teachers should know about digital technologies but begins with broad background and context related to multiliteracies, metaphors, and cultural dimensions of technology use. It then focuses on four key areas where teachers play an important role in the development of their students’ language and literacy abilities via technology: autonomy, mobility, creativity, and communities. It then discusses two controversial areas of current pedagogical research and practice: artificial intelligence and machine translation. It concludes with a call for greater attention to two additional areas highly relevant to language development: literacies related to film and digital communication in the context of study abroad.

This chapter focuses on why researchers and teachers who are involved in technology-enhanced language learning and teaching might find theoretical approaches useful and provides an overview of more established as well as emergent theories. In order to identify the more recent approaches used to conceptualize CALL today studies are reviewed from leading CALL journals. Key theories and approaches identified from studies were socioculturalism, mediated learning theory, activity theory, social presence, social justice education, maker culture, design thinking, rewilding, social semiotics/multimodality, multimodal interaction analysis, multiliteracies, geosemiotics, gesture studies, dual-coding theory, second language acquisition, dynamic systems theory, translanguaging, connectivism, willingness to communicate, self-determination, sports psychology, and identity and investment. The chapter demonstrates the increasing influence of concepts, theories, and methodologies that originate from other disciplines, resulting in “transdisciplinarity.” Many of the theories deployed highlight the transformative nature of language learning and teaching via an increasingly diverse range of tools and contexts, offering considerable scope for further methodological and pedagogical innovation.

This chapter introduces and explores the impact of context on technology in second language teaching and learning and the emerging theories that are shaping its future. The focus of research in this field has shifted toward blended and distance learning, flipped classrooms, and the use of mobile devices in low-tech environments. Teaching languages through games, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and virtual reality are also becoming popular. Social interaction, collaborative learning, learner motivation, and training are key factors in successful CALL implementation. Digital media are also being used to promote interculturality and develop literacies for teaching. Teacher resistance can be overcome through online communities for professional development. Task-based language teaching can improve the four language skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, as well as pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. The chapter concludes by outlining how technology can provide opportunities for language learning that can be tailored to individual needs and preferences.

Blended, or hybrid, approaches to language learning continue to gain prominence. Resonant with established definitions of CALL, such approaches seek to promote ecological perspectives and embrace the ubiquity of technology. Questions of effectiveness and the justification of resources may result in a greater need for argument-based evaluation. Future research in blended language learning must take into account concepts inherent in multimodality, social semiotics, and computer mediated communication. Rather than revisit blended learning, however, porosity of environments may forge new metaphors of understanding and research.

Learning takes place in social interaction. In social interaction, participants co-adapt to reach a commonn goal. Adaptive instruction describes a pedagogic paradigm, in which both learners and the learning technology co-adapt. This chapter provides an overview of the research on and the development of adaptive instruction in CALL.