Distance Education: Distance Context for Language Learning

Rapidly developments in e-learning, both within and beyond the margins of distance education have raised questions about the roles required of tutors and learners. A distance context for language learning presents tutors and learners with new demands and new opportunities compared with face to face classrooms. In other words, distance language learning context makes demands of a different order on tutors and learners and tutors and learners are faced with numerous roles and decisions which are typically carried out in distance contexts. Thus, it is essential for both tutors and learners to develop awareness of what it means to be a distance language learner or tutor and what is required of them. Namely,  it is crucial for both tutors and the learners to have a clear understanding of their roles is in the wider learning context, as the need to identify and understand principles for supporting learning at a distance is now more critical than ever.

Hence, before developing any distance teaching program, it is essential to take into consideration all the nuances to ensure the success of the program.

Firstly, as a distance language learning context differ significantly from a face-to-face classroom, and the immediate demands of the new context require new conditions for teaching and learning,  tutor and learner training should be incorporated into the program.  Namely, the training will be a way for both the tutors and the learners to adjust to a new learning environment easily.

Moreover,  the knowledge about the context of delivery in distance education will give the tutors the opportunity to have the answers to the questions: 'What do they do?' and 'Why do they do?' which in turn will lead tutors to make decisions which are conscious rather than conditioned. Furthermore,   half of the success of distance learning is based on the personal link that tutors establish with learners through a range of interactions: feedback, offering guidance, assessment, support and motivation.  Distance education cannot exist without tutors who provide feedback and guidance to students. Thus, the tutors' status should not be underestimated in the development of distance courses.

Moreover, knowing the nature of distance learning context will help the learners to develop the ability to engage with aspects of the learning context in ways which are personally meaningful and useful for themselves.

 Hence, only by training teachers and learners along with the appropriate chosen materials they can achieve a fuller understanding of what it means to teach and learn in a distance context.  Moreover, only by the training, the quality of teaching by the online tutors and the quality of learning by online students can be ensured.