VIDEOCONFERENCING IN A LANGUAGE-LEARNING APPLICATION

Can videoconferencing substitute for face-to-face contact sufficiently well for collaborative task-based learning to take place at a distanc e?. The paper reports on the use of videoconferencing in the context o f remote users' learning of a foreign language. Video-mediated communi cation was placed at the centre of an integrated system for the learni ng of business French, and students used it in performing collaborativ e role-plays, leading to the joint enactment of a communication task ( such as the setting up of a subsidiary company in the Nord Pas de Cala is). Observations of the system in real use are reported, and some pos itive conclusions are drawn about the potential role of videoconferenc ing in language learning.