INTRODUCTION

In this chapter we are concerned specifically with language teacher education by distance (LTED). In addition to a brief historical sketch and the discussion of terms related to this topic, we provide an overview of the existing literature on LTED and closely related areas, and discuss a number of key issues emerging from current practices in LTED.

SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

Distance learning can be traced back to ancient Greek and Jewish traditions (Guri-Rosenblit 1999: 2), and correspondence courses were offered as early as the early eighteenth century in the United States and in the early nineteenth century in the United Kingdom (Mood 1995: 1). More recently, a strong relationship has developed between distance education and teacher education, with a large proportion of distance learners being teachers or teacher-trainees (Robinson and Latchem 2003: 32), and Perraton (1995: 30) counting “over a hundred programs that have used [distance education] for the initial training or the continuing education of teachers.”

More specifically, LTED has experienced strong growth since the beginning of the 1990s. In her review of LTED programs conducted in 1990–91, Purgason (1994) identified 23 providers, and concluded that LTED programs were available in most parts of the world, but that “the options are still rather limited” (p. 59). Our own survey conducted in 2006–07 (Hall and Knox, in preparation) identified more than 120 LTED providers worldwide with enrollments numbering in the thousands, and probably in the tens of thousands. It is noteworthy that many of these providers are private institutions offering certificates rather than academic degrees.

In early writing on distance education, the terms extension services and extension studies were used as near-synonyms of distance learning, and, reflecting the most common mode of communication, the term correspondence courses gained currency and was the most common term used until the last quarter of the twentieth century. In 1983, Sewart et al. characterized distance education as “a fairly new term” (1983: 1). Here, we adopt the description of Mood (1995: 19), which is based on a review of other peoples’ definitions and debates, and suggests that distance learning has four characteristics:

• • the physical separation of teacher and learner

• • the influence or control of an organized educational institution

• • the involvement of “media”

• • two-way communication in some form.