Distance Education and Foreign Languages

Distance education in foreign languages in the United States has grown in a piecemeal, uncoordinated fashion, and it remains marginal to both distance education more generally and to the bulk of foreign language instruction throughout the country. One handicap, arising from very limited demand in business for foreign language skills, is the lack of the innovative development in the corporate sector of the kind that advances other distance learning. A major national need for adult-oriented, individual language-learning facilities remains unmet, particularly materials and facilities for remediation and maintenance of decaying language skills. Within the formal education system, distance education reaches a small fraction of all language learners and has less impact on current instructional practice than might be expected. To remedy this situation, attention must be given to upper-level skill instruction, the production of flexible modules of less than full course length, extension into the less commonly taught languages, the provision of opportunities for interactions rich in cultural context, and the adoption of a common research agenda.