Innovation in Language Learning

The development of the Internet opened new prospects for improving the global education system. It is reflected in the technical equipment of educational institutions, their access to global information resources and new types, methods and forms of education. It is focused on active cognitive activity of students and cooperative learning. In distance education the learner and teacher are separated spatially from each other, but they can be in constant interaction with the help of interactive technologies of educational process, forms of control, methods of communication through e-mail and other Internet technologies, and specifically the ongoing organizational and administrative measures. Distance learning is based on the use of the Internet technologies, runs a number of new features and involves the implementation of certain principles, among which great importance is the principle of distributed cooperation, integration, joining the world network for the education community.

The article studies the problem of distance education in cross-cultural and multicultural environment. It is emphasized that state-of-art information and communication technologies allow schools to expand their students’ number by entering the international educational market. The demand for new professions and specialization of traditional ones significantly broadens the target audience for teaching. However the teaching and learning in international educational space is connected with important problems. In the students’ body, which was relatively homogeneous and within national borders, cultural diversity becomes more obvious.

Many obstacles in cross-cultural communication may occur due to the differences between cultures, in which teachers and students were born and live. Such problems are sometimes caused by differences in teachers’ and students’ social status in their respective societies, acceptability of certain curricula positions, differences in cognitive skills between teachers and students and students themselves. It is underlined that learning efficiency substantially increases provided that the instructional material is adapted to the deeply internalized cultural values and thoughts.