Volume 18 Number 3 539 Yuping Wang and Chengzheng Sun Internet-Based Real Time Language Education: Towards a Fourth Generation Distance Education Yuping Wang Chengzheng Sun Griffith University ABSTRACT Through the examination of the development of distance education for foreign languages, this article puts forward a theory on the emergence of a fourth generation of distance language education, challenging the gener- ally accepted three-generation theory. It is argued that with the use of Internet-based real time technology distance language learning becomes synchronous for the first time and that the immersion of distance and campus-based education into a new education system is inevitable. KEYWORDS Distance Education, Generation, Correspondence, Interaction, Computer- Mediated Conferencing (CMC), Real Time Technology, Internet, Web, E- Mail, Virtual Reality, Multimedia, Re-engineering, On-Line, Distributed Learning, Collaborative Learning, Synchronous, Asynchronous INTRODUCTION While distance education can claim its status as a separate mode of education (Holmberg, 1995), our research in this area shows that the de- velopment of distance education is, in fact, a process of simulating the traditional face-to-face mode of education. As education is essentially a form of communication, efforts have been made from the very beginning to improve communication and interaction between the education pro- vider and the learner, as one generation gives way to another. A recurrent theme has been Holmberg’s concept of “guided didactic conversation,” © 2001 CALICO Journal