The Role of Technology in Language Learning in the Twenty-First Century: Perspectives from Academe, Government, and the Private Sector

Since the end of the 1990s, teachers of all disciplines have been experimenting with content delivered in a hybrid/blended format and entirely online. In the general education field, research—whether empirical or action—has been conducted for a number of years on different aspects of blended and entirely online learning, the term "online learning" typically encompassing both. This essay will provide an overview of developments in online learning at the K–16 levels, in government, and in the private sector, closing with information about technology trends that offer a glimpse into what the language learning field might look like five years from now.