Abstract:

This paper outlines an electronic language learning environment that was created for the teaching/learning of Greek as a second or foreign language. It was designed to enable the teaching and learning of the Greek language and history among pupils (K-12) who attend various forms of Greek-language education worldwide. This European Union- and Greek-state- funded project, run by the Centre of Migration and Intercultural Studies of the University of Crete and supervised by the Greek Ministry of Education, is designed to combine language learning with language use.

It is based mainly on the combination of theoretical frameworks:
(a) the Combined Dynamic Model of Language Learning (CDMLL) (Spantidakis 2010) and
(b) The Framework for Academic Language Learning (Cummins 2001), both of which stress the combination of language learning with language use In the environment, students and teachers can:
(a) engage in interactive and multimodal learning tasks promoting language learning by choosing their language level (A1 to B2) and
(b) become part of a Community of Learning through global learning networks or "sister-classes".

In this way, students are able to use what they have learned in the environment in order to:
(a) communicate, synchronously and asynchronously with the students in their sister-class
(b) take part in collaborative activities that promote creativity and metacognition. Likewise, students can refer back to the interactive and multimodal learning tasks in the environment when they are in need of language prompts.

This paper will:
(a) outline the importance of language use by drawing upon relevant theories,
(b) describe how language use is combined with language learning in the actual environment and
(c) describe electronic learning environments as Socio-cognitive tools which provide the necessary and essential procedural facilitations for students to construct the desired text.

Keywords:

Language Learning Innovations, Greek language education, Communities of Learning, Socio-cognitive tools, Language Learning.