Virtual frontiers: How online spaces are redefining the value and viability of performative foreign language learning

Abstract

This paper will seek to contrast the rapidly growing commercial industry of digitally-mediated foreign language education with the gradually diminishing support for foreign language programs in American universities. After first analyzing evidence that justifies the need for foreign language education at the university level, it then digs deeper to locate the characteristics of those most successful online classroom models. It will finally draw on theories of language, teaching, and performativity in an effort to explore how digital spaces have and will shape the relationship between instructor and student and the performance of foreign language learning.