Brave New Digital Classroom; Technology and Foreign Language Learning

Robert Blake, now with Gabriel Guillén, updates his successful book (1st ed. 2008, 2nd ed. 2013) on how to teach foreign languages using technology. Brave New Digital Classroom touches on all of the key concepts and challenges of teaching with technology, focusing on issues specific to FLL or L2 learning and CALL. Originally referred to as computer-assisted language learning, CALL has come to encompass any kind of learning that uses digital tools for language learning.

This edition reframes the conversation to account for how technology has been integrated into our lives. Blake and Guillén address the ways technology can help with L2, how to choose the right digital tools, how to use those tools effectively, and how technology can impact literacy and identity. The book is primed for use in graduate courses: terminology is in bold and a comprehensive glossary is included; each chapter finishes with a short list of references for further reading on the topic and discussion questions. The authors provide short interview videos (free via GUP website) to enhance discussions on each chapter’s topic.

Robert J. Blake is a distinguished professor of Spanish linguistics and director of the Davis Language Center at the University of California, Davis. He has developed online Spanish courses and, with Eve Zyzik, coauthored El español y la lingüística aplicada. 

Gabriel A. Guillén is an assistant professor of Spanish at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and an active practitioner in the field of language learning and technology. His research focuses on local and online intercultural exchanges and the use of language-learning social networks in the context of hybrid language education.