Adapting to Virtual Third Space Language Learning Futures

Abstract

This chapter provides a basis for thinking about the dynamics and boundaries of foreign language learning in virtual learning communities of the future. It is suggested that their members increasingly create and operate in so called Virtual Third Spaces. Teaching and learning in these environments requires an adaptive pedagogy that goes beyond mere enthusiasm and technophilia to render them successful. Adaptations of pedagogical practice are proposed in three categories: (1) affective, (2) cognitive, and (3) operational. Consideration is given to the roles of both the learner and educator. Attention is also drawn to an important ethical dimension pertinent for the online virtual environment, but seldom mentioned in the language learning literature: data and information privacy. The chapter concludes by imagining some online language learning futures.