Sites of struggle, sites of opportunity: Constructions of identity, relationships and participation in online communities or practice

Shifts in language teaching and learning to incorporate multimedia modes of delivery have occurred in recent decades. In South Africa the use of multimedia technology in educational contexts has been viewed with some ambivalence. This article reports on a case study of the implementation of a web course, which was designed and run parallel to a face-to-face undergraduate university English language course, the aim of the case study being to examine the extent to which the participants engaged in online communities of practice. To explore participation, I examine the relationships and networks participants develop and sustain, as well as how they construct their identities in the online space. The article theorises communities of practice from the perspective of Lave and Wenger's (1996) and Rogoff's (2003) interpretations of the term. The students engaged in different types of communities simultaneously, which are identified as the 'communities within', 'communities beyond', and 'global communities'. The article suggests that the implementation of online classes in developing countries should not be viewed as a solution to the 'digital divide' only, but as a means of social transformation, by transforming what has the potential to become sites of struggle, into sites of opportunity.