Virtual Communities of Practice in Web-Based Second Language Learning: Fiction or Reality?

Abstract

The work of Lave and Wenger on learning in 'communities of practice' has evoked a considerable response in e-learning environments through-out the world including Denmark in the last few decades. Within the development of web-based second language learning, the ideas of learning in communities of practice and of situated and collaborative learning have deeply inspired educators and teachers and, to a certain degree, become the theoretical and practical framework for developing web-based learning platforms, while findings from this research indicate that students perceive e-learning as a far more individual process. The aim of this paper is to investigate aspects of the Danish development of elearning platforms and, especially students’ and teachers’ very differing perceptions of e-learning and the concepts behind it. The analysis is based on student and teacher interviews, research on language interaction and case studies of e-learning language platforms within the area of teaching Danish as a second language for adult foreigners. The concepts of communities of practice are also discussed and developed.