A study of distance teaching of modern languages in institutions around the world is reported. An introductory section provides an overview of the status and role of distance education in modern language learning, including an examination of related linguistic and educational theory, the objectives of distance language instruction, the behaviorist and cognitive approaches, and a number of classroom instruction issues, such as teaching pronunciation, use of the native language in class, contrastive and direct language teaching methods, and the learning of oral skills at a distance. A worldwide survey concerning the provision of distance language instruction is described and summarized. Institutions surveyed were asked about: institutional characteristics; course offerings; language course goals and content; the language skills targeted; the preferred instructional approaches (inductive vs. deductive); the preferred method of teacher-student correspondence; instruction in pronunciation, stress, and intonation; and the instructional techniques used. Conclusions are drawn regarding current thinking and practice in distance language instruction. (MSE)