The learner-context interface: Emergent issues of affect and identity in technology-mediated language learning spaces

In this article we argue that inquiry into digital language learning needs to be extended and refocused by adopting a larger frame of the process, one that incorporates recent calls for studies focusing on the interplay of language, agent and environment in the language learning process (Dörnyei, 2009). To do this we revisit the learner-context interface theory of language learning (White 1999, 2003, 2005), to investigate learner encounters with technology-mediated learning spaces in terms of emergent issues of affect and identity. Data is gathered from two focal participants who are advanced learners of Spanish as they participate in voluntary, non-assessed Adobe Connect role-play sessions via videoconferencing; archival data, stimulated recall reports, learner diaries and tutor journals comprise the data set. Findings focus on the complex and mutually-constitutive relationship between technology-mediated language learning contexts, learners as individual agents, and the nature and influence of the interface they develop with the learning context. Conclusions align with contemporary concerns to bridge the gap between the interior worlds of language learners and their social worlds, identifying how affect and identity are implicated in those processes.