Distance Language Learning

This article provides a report on NetMeeting as an appropriate fourth-generation tool for interactive language learning in distance mode. It follows on earlier research by Wang and Sun (2000, 2001) on the most urgent problem facing distance language education—lack of provision of oral-visual interaction and the emergence of a fourth-generation distance language learning. The article proceeds through three cumulative parts. The first part is a definitional context of interaction and computer-mediated communication (CMC) as a framework for the article. The second part focuses on interaction as a core problem in the language learning literature and suggests a new taxonomy through CMC in terms of the potential for written, oral, and, more recently, oral-visual interaction. The third part, and the substance of the article, is an empirical investigation of Internet-based videoconferencing tools focusing on NetMeeting as the most appropriate one in terms of meeting criteria proposed for such tools.