This paper concerns language learning with online technologies, with a particular focus on the influence of the social web on language learning. In particular, this paper considers the discourses of web-assisted language learning in detail, and argues the necessity of investigating its 'new' affordances from a perspective that is more learner-centered, contextualized and language learning focused. This paper reviewed the relatively long history of using pre- 'Web 2.0' technologies and identified the ways in which these applications have been perceived to enhance language learning. This paper enables us to think more clearly about the 'novelties' that are associated with online technologies in language learning contexts.