ABSTRACT
Those influences which seem at the moment to be favoring the development and dissemination of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) are chiefly to be located under an umbrella of stretching from learning theory to computer applications. The integration of learning theory and practice, disciplined by assessment, and extended from the classroom onto computer has brought both effectiveness and legitimacy to CALL. Those influences which seem at the moment to be retarding CALL development and dissemination fall chiefly under the category of the ‘Gatekeeper’ phenomenon, that is, projects, small companies, sometimes publishers, finding alliance with powerful institutions, institutions often with a cultural mission, to limit access to the marketplace along regional or national, but also international lines. This kind of technological mercantilism has had disproportionate success and has inclined to keep CALL a few years behind the times in the markets in which it dominates. The Internet and, more importantly, the World Wide Web, have rewritten the terms on which information is stored and conveyed, including the information inherent in CALL. The Gatekeeper has actually lost his job, though it may be some time before he and his victims realize it.
