Networked Classrooms and Networked Minds: Language Teaching in a Brave New World

Abstract

There are daily reminders of how our lives are interconnected through globalisation. One is continuously reminded that we are citizens of a ‘global society’, ‘a global village’, or ‘global communities’; terms which, despite their seeming paradox, are widely accepted as the status quo of much of humanity today. Even in geographical regions with the lowest amount of Internet population penetration (e.g. Africa has 15.6 per cent; Asia 27.5 per cent), access and use are growing at fast rates (3,606.7 per cent in Africa and 841.9 per cent in Asia in the last decade; see De Argaez 2013). Almost half the population of the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean are Internet users (40.2 per cent and 42.9 per cent respectively) while in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Australia more than half of the population access the Internet daily (63.2 per cent, 78.6 per cent, and 67.6 per cent). Even in countries with lower Internet penetration, there is substantial undocumented impact since indirect access, through cybercafés and Internet kiosks, is quite frequent, as well as ‘informal’ means to access through other parties (Oyelaran-Oyeyinka and Nyaki Adeya 2002).