Introduction

The potential benefits of integrating information and communication technology (ICT) into language education seem vast. Pachler (1999) refers to a compendium of research findings published by the British National Council for Educational Technology (NCET, 1994), in which 27 claims with regard to the potential of ICT are listed. Scanning through this list and the ICT-related literature (Beatty, 2003; Chapelle, 1998; Doughty & Long, 2003; Hughes, 2000; Levy, 1997; Skehan, 2003; Warschauer, 1996; Warschauer & Kern, 2000), the potential of ICT for language learning can be summarized as follows:

1. ICT allows a high degree of differentiation. Individual needs and abilities can easily be accommodated.

2. Working with ICT elicits a high degree of learner motivation and involvement.

3. ICT offers enriched content and allows a more intense, multisensory learning process.

4. ICT makes teaching more efficient, since the teacher can focus more on supporting learners rather than having to focus on providing content.

In view of the fact that the integration of ICT in language education is a reasonably young trend, most of the above-mentioned claims remain to be empirically substantiated. In the field of language teaching, the introduction of ICT is slowly but surely gaining ground, but questions remain as to whether this should be met with great enthusiasm or great scepticism.