234 LANGUAGE AND THE INTERNET
The use of e-mail in this way certainly puts traditional methods of
contact in the shade. I recall in 1960, after a multinational work
experience in Europe, attempting to work in tandem with an Alge-
rian Arab friend – my English in exchange for his Arabic. It lasted
only a few weeks, simply because of the impracticability of the only
method then available to us – exchange by slow and expensive letter.
If e-mail had existed then...
Both of the main types of chatgroup interaction are used in
foreign-language teaching. Asynchronous situations, such as mail-
ing lists and newsgroups, have been found to facilitate teacher-
level discussion of issues, opportunities for student contact, and
teacher–student interaction, the latter settings soon taking on the
characteristics of a virtual classroom. The asynchronous context
gives students time to read, understand, and respond, without the
pressures of real-time interaction. But synchronous interaction is
alsobeingused,bothasastraightforwardchatgroupandasavirtual
world. One chat procedure uses split-screen techniques, in which a
message from a student typed onto the bottom half of the screen is
seen by any other students involved in the exercise on the top half of
their screens, with messages listed in the order in which they are re-
ceived. While this procedure can take place in a local environment,
the Internet widens the options considerably.^15 The educational
benefits already noted in chapter 5, where all the students were na-
tive speakers, are enhanced in a foreign-language-teaching context,
with students participating more evenly, and teachers exercising a
lessdominantrole.Logsofinteractionscanbesavedforlaterstudy–
an extremely useful option for learners. The greater imaginative
content and authenticity of a virtual world, which can be tailored
to meet students’ interests, can also be highly motivating. However,
the constraining effects of multi-person interaction on language,
such as shorter sentence length and uncertain turn-taking, have
yet to be fully investigated. Lively and authentic MUDs may be,
(^15) An example of a programme used for local area networks is Daedalus Interchange. For a
discussion with reference to virtual worlds, see Pinto (1996).