The object of this paper is to outline the current thinking of the European Commission, or more accurately of DGXIII in Luxembourg, on the subject of that fascinating point of intersection between language and technology. An initial presentation of background issues will serve as a platform on which to analyse the direction the Commission's policy on linguistic research might take in the 4th Framework Programme (1994–98). Finally some suggestions will be made of ways in which language teachers, and researchers in the field of CALL, could try to become involved in the R+D activities of the Framework Programme (in the short/medium term) and, perhaps more importantly, influence the scientific content of future European Community research programmes.

Variable and frequently inadequate grammatical competence among language learners is well-documented in school examiners' reports. Aside from curriculum requirements this has a deleterious effect on the acquisition of fluent and generative second (and third) language competence, both productive and receptive, and makes the task for learners much more onerous than it need be. We look to computer assisted learning for help, because of its ability to handle rule-governed domains such as grammar. For once there is a pleasing synergy between what learners need, and what computers can offer. Fluency in foreign languages has improved greatly since the introduction of the ‘communicative method’, so there is less need for computers to address this kind of problem, which is fortunate as they are quite unable to help with feedback on productive performance, or to act as a realistic interlocutor.

For the last few years an experimental course in ab initio Italian Language for postgraduate students of Renaissance Studies has been run at the University of Warwick. This paper examines the role of concordance programs in assisting the design and implementation of the course. In the light of growing request for Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP), it is argued that the concordancer provides suitable answers to the need to introduce students to subject specific language from an early stage.

Although there is now a growing volume of literature on the role of electronic mail in schools, relatively little has been published about the specific value to modern language teachers of using such technology. In the few cases where projects have been described, it is claimed that such links are ‘valuable’ (NCET, 1991), with an implication that school age students are able to go beyond ‘mere transactional language’ to develop ‘more creative use of language’. This paper describes a language project which began from the premise that for teachers to embark on e-mail, with its additional costs, new approaches to classroom learning and training requirements, it would be essential to establish what realistic learning improvements might be expected. To look closely at the ‘cost-benefit’ ratio was felt to be particularly important in the context of increasingly tight budgetary control in schools.