Let’s learn together: best-practice requirements for second language teaching in the digital age

Abstract

Repositories of educational resources, including best practices repositories, have undergone a considerable development in the last 20 years. Nevertheless, repositories of best practices in second language teaching/learning with instructional technologies have not proven to be completely adequate in their structure and organization. Moreover, they have not yet been fully embraced by the educational community. For the most part, these shortcomings are related to the variety of scenarios in which instructional technologies are implemented for second language learning. To address these challenges, the present article first analyzes the evolution of repositories as tools to store, organize and retrieve open educational resources. Second, it proposes a redefinition of the concept of best practices based on the dynamic nature of the educational contexts. Particularly, it focuses on the cultural and educational changes stemming from the hallmarks of the digital age, including key factors like translingualism, multimodality, learning autonomy and digital competence. As a result, the traditional concept of technology-enhanced learning is revised and applied from a broader perspective, addressing some concrete experiences. Last, the article provides a series of guidelines on how this reconceptualization of the theoretical framework can result in a more collaborative and integrative use of best practices repositories.