The paper reports the results of a naturalistic enquiry into written request strategies in emails sent by Chinese learners of English to their teachers. A corpus of 600 emails was collected in the course of an academic year. CCARP (Cross-Cultural Speech-Act Realisation Project) segmentation and coding was used to analyse the requests contained in…

Foreign language teachers are continually searching for better ways of accessing authentic materials and providing experiences that will improve their students' knowledge and skills. The Internet has transformed communication around the world and can play a major role in the foreign language classroom. This digest illustrates how Internet software…

This pilot study shows that the use of Internet resources is a meaningful way to integrate language and culture and to provide opportunities for students to learn about the target culture while using e-mail to discuss cultural aspects with native speakers. Results of the study showed that e-mail increased students' interest and motivation.…

Describes a keypal project that paired Grade 10 students learning Spanish with students in a classroom in Russia who were learning English. (Author/VWL)

Presents a case study of the development of intercultural competence in a German-American e-mail partnership by examining the electronic interaction produced in this exchange within the framework of appraisal theory, a Hallidayan-inspired linguistic approach to the investigation of evaluative language. (VWL)

The gradual development of Canadian interest in computer-assisted language learning is chronicled. The need for language specialists to continue designing and refining CALL software is noted, and an article on using the Internet and its language-related listservs is summarized. (Contains 21 references.) (LB)

An international group of teachers discusses the collaborative development and benefits of an on-line mentoring exchange. Sample e-mail questions and responses are included. (Author/VWL)

Groups of editors and authors used a variety of technologies to create a cohesive team that produced a textbook series with instructor manuals along with a supporting Web site. Describes the development of the groups for this materials publication project in terms of six areas--situation, leadership, individual versus group goals, norms, roles,…

This paper outlines the findings of a research project studying the effects of task modification on learner interaction when using email. Taking as its starting point interactionalist theories of SLA, it argues that if those interactional features characteristic of negotiation of meaning which have been identified as promoting SLA are to be…

Based on recent studies, computer-mediated communication (CMC) has been considered a tool to aid in language learning on account of its distinctive interactional features. However, most studies have referred to "synchronous" CMC and neglected to investigate how "asynchronous" CMC contributes to language learning. Asynchronous CMC possesses…

Though e-mail has become a common interpersonal communication medium, it does not mean that this medium is used without difficulty. While people can write e-mails to peers in any manner they like, writing e-mails to authority figures requires higher pragmatic competence and critical language awareness of how discourse shapes and reflects power…

The tips discussed here center around favor asking and English as a Second Language, a collaborative writing activity, e-mail assignments nd online correction, and facilitating full-time employment in TESOL (Author/VWL)

Describes a cross-cultural e-mail project implemented to provide a group of English-as-a-Foreign-Language teachers in Taiwan with he opportunity to interact with bilingual/English-as-a-Second-Language pre-service teachers in the United States. Analyses of the e-mail entries revealed that the Taiwanese participants obtained from their U.S. partners…

Discusses the advantages and challenges of using e-mail in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learning, focusing on synchronous versus asynchronous computer-mediated communication; what online English is like; the advantages of computer-mediated communication; and how to make communication available to ESL learners. (SM)

Outlines reasons why electronic mail, and specifically e-mail exchanges, are valuable tools for promoting authentic target language interaction in the second language (L2) classroom. Research examining the use of e-mail exchanges on the L2 learning process is outlined, followed by one specific example of an e-mail exchange in a secondary core…