Language, Identity and Positioning in Virtual Exchange

In language education, virtual exchange (VE) is hailed as a form of experiential learning that offers language learners opportunities for (semi)authentic interactions with distant peers, mediated by technology. This conceptual contribution explores how - as a result of often implicit language ideologies - languages are organized in VE and the possibilities offered for identity work in VE by the framing and design of the exchanges. Using two instantiations of VE models - Tandem and Online Facilitated Dialogue (OFD) - as examples, we consider the identity categorizations and language ideologies made salient in the design of the VE.