Amplifying affordances for language learning: Rewilding and desire lines as vectors for innovation

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Language use, second-language development, and technology mediated human activity are complex processes situated in, and in some cases demonstrably interwoven with and catalyzed by, specific material and social contexts. Due to this complexity, world language (L2) education has long-attempted to simulate real-world settings in order to address the sense of artificiality this is endemic to many instructional contexts. In recent decades, there has been growing research and innovation relating to the use of digital technologies and pedagogies that interface formal L2 education with opportunities for interaction and learning that occur primarily or fully outside of classroom contexts (Reinders et al., 2022; Thorne et al., 2009, 2021), with the goal of increasing the ecological validity of both the content and interactional processes of language learning. This presentation describes a 20-year trajectory of research-informed pedagogical innovation using the metaphor of “rewilding.” Similar in some respects to other extramural and language learning beyond the classroom projects, “rewilding” language education (Thorne, Hellermann, & Jakonen, 2021) involves reverse engineering from studies of learning in the wild (Hutchins, 1995; Thorne, 2008, 2010, 2012) in order to augment and restore a diversity of realworld activities and interactional affordances into instructional curricula. The rewilding approach addresses the challenge of how to dynamically integrate formal learning settings with the vibrancy and diversity of linguistic, experiential, and situational contexts out in the world. Included are case studies of design interventions that attempt to rewild instructed language learning. These include use of mobile augmented reality, engagement with online fandom and gaming communities, and use of Large Language Model Generative Artificial Intelligence tools. Together, these projects apply multiple approaches (i.e., sociocultural theory, usage-based linguistics, ethnomethodology, posthumanism), evince social justice commitments, and address diverse L2 and ELT learning contexts.