Editing Language education (section)

===Internet and software===
Software can interact with learners in ways that books and audio cannot:

# Some software records the learner, analyzes the pronunciation, and gives feedback.<ref>{{cite web|title=Scoring Your Pronunciation|url=http://lastly.weebly.com/3/post/2012/08/pronunciation.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130209054038/http://lastly.weebly.com/3/post/2012/08/pronunciation.html|archive-date=9 February 2013|publisher=Lang1234|access-date=5 August 2012}}</ref>
# Software can present additional exercises in areas where a learner has particular difficulty, until the concepts are mastered.
# Software can pronounce content words in the target language and show their meaning by using pictures<ref>{{cite web|title=Language Guide|url=http://Languageguide.org|publisher=Language Guide|access-date=17 July 2012}}</ref> instead of oral explanations. The only language in such software is the target language. It is comprehensible regardless of the learner's native language.

Websites provide various services geared toward language education. Some sites are designed specifically for learning languages:

# Some software runs on the web itself, with the advantage of avoiding downloads, and the disadvantage of requiring an internet connection.
# Some publishers use the web to distribute audio, texts and software, for use offline. For example, various travel guides, for example Lonely Planet, offer software supporting language education.
# Some websites offer learning activities such as quizzes or puzzles to practice language concepts.
# [[Language exchange]] sites connect users with complementary language skills, such as a native Spanish speaker who wants to learn English with a native English speaker who wants to learn Spanish. Language exchange websites essentially treat ''knowledge of a language'' as a commodity, and provide a marketlike environment for the commodity to be exchanged. Users typically contact each other via chat, [[Voice over IP|VoIP]], or email. Language exchanges have also been viewed as a helpful tool to aid language learning at [[language school]]s. Language exchanges tend to benefit oral proficiency, fluency, colloquial vocabulary acquisition, and vernacular usage, rather than formal grammar or writing skills. Across Australasia, 'Education Perfect' – an online learning site- is frequently used as it enables teachers to monitor students' progress as students gain a "point" for every new word remembered. There is an annual international Education Perfect languages contest held in May.

Many other websites are helpful for learning languages, even though they are designed, maintained, and marketed for other purposes:

# All countries have websites in their own languages, which learners elsewhere can use as primary material for study: news, fiction, videos, songs, etc. In a study done by the [[Center for Applied Linguistics]], it was noted that the use of technology and media has begun to play a heavy role in facilitating language learning in the classroom. With the help of the internet, students are readily exposed to foreign media (music videos, television shows, films) and as a result, teachers are taking heed of the internet's influence and are searching for ways to combine this exposure into their classroom teaching.<ref>{{cite web|title=What We Can Learn From Foreign Language Teaching in Other Countries|url=http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0106pufahl.html|publisher=Center for Applied Linguistics|access-date=8 May 2012}}</ref>
# Translation sites let learners find the meaning of foreign text or create foreign translations of text from their native language.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://translate.google.com/ | title=Google Translate | access-date=3 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bing.com/translator | title=Bing Translator | publisher=Microsoft | access-date=3 May 2014}}</ref>
# [[Speech synthesis]] or text to speech (TTS) sites and software let learners hear pronunciation of arbitrary written text, with pronunciation similar to a native speaker.
# Course development and [[learning management system]]s such as [[Moodle]] are used by teachers, including language teachers.
# [[Web conferencing]] tools can bring remote learners together.
# Players of computer games can practice a target language when interacting in [[massively multiplayer online game]]s and [[virtual worlds]], commonly [[Extramural English|English]]. In 2005, the virtual world [[Second Life]] started to be used for foreign language tuition, sometimes with entire businesses being developed.<ref>{{cite news |first=Xavier |last=Dorveaux |title=Study and teach in Second Life |url=http://www.its-teachers.com/destinations/second_life/second_life03.asp |work=iT's Magazines |date=15 July 2007 |access-date= 15 July 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Xavier |last=Dorveaux |title=Apprendre une langue dans un monde virtuel |url=http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0,36-935560,0.html |work=Le Monde |date=15 July 2007 |access-date= 15 July 2007 }}</ref> In addition, Spain's language and cultural institute [[Instituto Cervantes]] has an "island" on Second Life.
Some Internet content is free, often from government and nonprofit sites such as [[BBC Online#Knowledge and Learning|BBC Online]], Book2, [[Foreign Service Institute]], with no or minimal ads. Some are ad-supported, such as newspapers and YouTube. Some require a payment.