Distance learning presents language teachers and learners with a new set of challenges, opportunities and practical realities. This book presents a comprehensive overview of important issues within the field and explores the ways in which all participants are adapting their practices in response to the new learning environment.

Practical and accessible, this book comprehensively covers everything you need to know to design, develop, and deliver successful online, blended, and flipped language courses. Grounded in the principles of instructional design and communicative language teaching, this book serves as a compendium of best practices, research, and strategies for creating learner-centered online language instruction that builds students’ proficiency within meaningful cultural contexts. This book addresses important topics such as finding and optimizing online resources and materials, learner engagement, teacher and student satisfaction and connectedness, professional development, and online language assessment. Teaching Language Online features: A step-by-step guide aligned with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment, and the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) standards Research-based best practices and tools to implement effective communicative language teaching (CLT) online Strategies and practices that apply equally to world languages and ESL/EFL contexts Key takeaway summaries, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading in every chapter Free, downloadable eResources with further readings and more materials available at www.routledge.com/ 9781138387003 As the demand for language courses in online or blended formats grows, K-16 instructors urgently need resources to effectively transition their teaching online. Designed to help world language instructors, professors, and K-12 language educators regardless of their level of experience with online learning, this book walks through the steps to move from the traditional classroom format to effective, successful online teaching environments.

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Teaching and Learning at a Distance is written for introductory distance education courses for preservice or in-service teachers, and for training programs that discuss teaching distant learners or managing distance education systems. This text provides readers with the basic information needed to be knowledgeable distance educators and leaders of distance education programs. The teacher or trainer who uses this book will be able to design courses, evaluate programs, and identify issues and trends affecting the field. In this text we take the following themes: The first theme is the definition of distance education. Before we started writing the first edition of Teaching and Learning at a Distance we carefully reviewed the literature to determine the definition that would be at the foundation of our writing. This definition is based on the work of Desmond Keegan, but is unique to this book and has been adopted by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology and by the Encyclopedia Britannica. The second theme of the book is the importance of research to the development of effective courses and programs offered at a distance. The best practices presented in Teaching and Learning at a Distance are validated by scientific evidence. Certainly there are “rules of thumb,” but we have always attempted to only include recommendations that can be supported by research. The third theme of Teaching and Learning at a Distance is derived from Richard Clark’s famous quote published in the Review of Educational Research asserting that media are mere vehicles that do not directly influence achievement. Clark’s controversial work is discussed in the book, but is also fundamental to the book’s advocacy for distance education—in other words, we authors do not make the claim that education delivered at a distance is inherently better than other ways people learn. Distance delivered instruction is not a magical approach that makes learners achieve more. Equivalency theory is the fourth theme of the book. Here we present the concept that instruction should be provided to learners that is equivalent rather than identical to what might be delivered in a traditional environment. Equivalency theory helps the instructional designer approach the development of instruction for each learner without attempting to duplicate what happens in a face-to-face classroom. The final theme for Teaching and Learning at a Distance is the idea that the book should be comprehensive—that it should cover as much of the various ways instruction is made available to distant learners as is possible. It can serve as a stand-alone source of information.

Distance learning presents language teachers and learners with a new set of challenges, opportunities and practical realities. This book presents a comprehensive overview of important issues within the field and explores the ways in which all participants are adapting their practices in response to the new learning environment.

This book explores foundational theories that have been applied in open and distance education (ODE) research and refined to reflect advances in research and practice. In addition, it develops new theories emerging from recent developments in ODE. The book provides a unique and up-to-date source of information for ODE scholars and graduate students, enabling them to make sense of essential theory, research and practice in their field, and to comprehend the gaps in, and need for further enquiry into, theoretical approaches in the digital era. It also offers theory-based advice and guidelines for practitioners, helping them make and justify decisions and actions concerning the development, implementation, research and evaluation of ODE.

Distance learning was associated for many years with the endeavour of a correspondence course. Based on a symposium, this book presents current research and practice in the field.