Blurb:

This chapter provides an analysis of students’ choice of language when e-mailing their foreign/second language (Spanish) teacher. Current pedagogical emphasis on maximizing the use of students’ second language and minimizing, or excluding, their use of their first or native language is described in light of these students’ e-mails. Students’ actual messages are analyzed in terms of the language(s) in which they were composed; these findings are reported in terms of students’ Spanish course level and the function(s) for which they were written. Students’ use of humour in their second language and their perspectives on e-mail language choice are also considered. Related pedagogical implications and areas of future research are also included.