Interacting at a distance: a critical review of the role of ICT in developing the learner–context interface in a university language programme

The Open University's repository of research publications and other research outputs Interacting at a distance: a critical review of the role of ICT in developing the learner–context interface in a university language programme Journal Article How to cite: Hampel, Regine and de los Arcos, Beatriz (2013). Interacting at a distance: a critical review of the role of ICT in developing the learner–context interface in a university language programme. Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online's data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. This article examines the introduction of new online technologies to support distance language learning in a higher education institution in the UK, charting the development from using telephone conferencing in the 1990s to the implementation of Moodle and videoconferencing more recently. It uses the sociocultural concept of the learner–context interface (White 2003) to emphasize the centrality of both learners and context in the design and delivery of technology-supported language courses rather than making the development of computer-mediated learning opportunities the main focus. Building on research and evaluation work carried out over more than 15 years, the authors of this article analyze the issues that have arisen and that have affected change regarding technology and pedagogy. Central areas of investigation in terms of the learners were found to be interaction, learning communities, metacognition, literacy, affect and learner support; in terms of context they include task design, teacher roles and teacher skills. In the conclusion, limitations of the research and new developments are outlined. Introduction The past two decades have seen a growth in distance and online language learning. The Open University has been at the forefront of this, with a current population of approximately 9,000 language learners. At the same time, the nature of classroom-based language learning has been changing with the introduction of distance learning elements brought about by technological developments (Murphy 2011). Learners and teachers in these blended environments potentially experience similar challenges to those involved in more traditional distance settings, and they are likely to benefit from insights gained in distance learning research. At the Open University the Department of Languages has been engaging in research 2 across a wide range of topics related to distance language learning, from autonomy and intercultural competence to task design and mobile learning. A central theme …