Case Study: the Telephone and Language Learning

Abstract

This chapter brings together the ideas expounded in the previous chapters by means of a case study of the telephone and language learning. After outlining the exemplary significance of the telephone, I review the main milestones in its evolution. Next I turn to the place of the telephone in everyday life. I start by considering the traditional role of the telephone as a means of interpersonal oral communication before discussing the changes brought by recent developments such as call centres and SMS. In the last part of the chapter I examine the use of the telephone in education and language learning. Again I focus first on conventional telephony before considering the rise of mobile learning.