Abstract

This new edition of Teaching Languages Online supports the professional development of language educators as they teach all or part of their courses online. Containing extensive additions, this revised edition includes new models, illustrations and heuristics to further support research-based conceptualization, creativity and practice. In non-technical prose with emphasis on excellence in pedagogical practice, the text takes both the new and experienced language instructor through the nuts and bolts of online teaching practices, using a wide range of examples to illustrate these practices. As well as providing new resources and models, this new edition also considers the impact of broader technological and pedagogical changes, including mobility (learning on the move) and learning in 3D environments.

In the authors' words, ‘Language educators are the crux’ (p. xi) and they need to upgrade their skillset to include knowledge on how to put new technologies to good pedagogical use. The result is a succession of real-life online TeachereStudent dialogues together with accompanying analysis, with page after page of helpful illustrations provided by computer screenshots. As you work your way through them, you encounter a wide assortment of languages being taught and this adds a degree of both breadth and weight to the authors' claims, in addition to being a rather nice exotic touch.We are, in fact, informed that there are indeed seventy more examples of instructional conversations than in the first edition and this is a statistic worth pausing over, because it gives a sense of just how replete the book is with concrete cases.

Carla Meskill is Professor in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her research and teaching explores new forms of technology use in language education as well as the influences of new technologies on developing language and literacy practices.

Natasha Anthony is Director of the International Language Laboratory and Assistant Professor of Russian at Hudson Valley Community College in New York. She also teaches graduate online courses in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her research focuses on Computer Assisted Language Learning and, more specifically, on the use of synchronous and asynchronous oral components in online language courses.

This is a must-read for anyone teaching languages in an online environment. It is certainly my go-to book on the topic. Extensive revisions from the earlier edition make it an absolutely up-to-date resource.

In this second edition of Meskill’s and Anthony’s milestone contribution to the field, the authors describe the fundamental shifts in online teaching and learning over the past decade in the wake of social media, gaming and mobile devices. They consider the impact these techno-pedagogical developments continue to have on a conceptual and practical level on the roles and skills of new and established language educators. The work is enriched with many new models and illustrations designed to support research-based creativity and practice.