Where possible, distance education courses should make use of computers and applications which either provide a new, worthwhile learning experience or improve on existing methodologies. For reasons of accessibility, CALL software and other applications will for some time yet have to be considered as peripheral enhancements. While very sound and obvious pedagogical reasons suggest that computers will probably never represent the ideal complete learning system for those interested in acquiring a second language, the fact remains that as part of a distance education system computers could perform important functions which are at present either done inadequately or not at all.

Note

1. The author of this article is currently conducting a detailed survey of CALL in distance learning situations and intends to report his findings later this year.