Interactive television as a vehicle for language learning

Designers of technological support for learning have an ever-increasing selection of platforms and devices at their disposal, as desktop computers are joined by mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptops, games consoles, and wearable devices. Digital television is a recent addition to this panoply of platforms and devices. Television has always had educational aims and effects, and it is natural for digital television to continue this tendency. In this chapter we examine the potential application of interactive digital television to the learning of languages. We explore the “fit” between the capabilities of the medium and the requirements of language learners. We then describe an application that combines the strengths of interactive digital television with those of the mobile phone to create a cross-platform learning application for informal language learners.