(PDF) Using the Web to support language learning

Using the Web to support language learning DENISE E MURRAY PAM MCPHERSON SERIES EDITOR DENISE E MURRAY TEACHING WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY SERIES USING THE WEB TO SUPPORT LANGUAGE LEARNING Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv SERIES INTRODUCTION v Published by the National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research INTRODUCTION 1 Macquarie University, Sydney NSW 2109 for the AMEP Research Centre on behalf of the CHAPTER ONE Finding and selecting information Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs on the Web 6 McPherson, Pam, 1946– . CHAPTER TWO Using ESL websites 17 Using the Web to support language learning. Bibliography. CHAPTER THREE Listening online 26 ISBN 1 74138 102 9. CHAPTER FOUR Reading webpages 36 1. English language - Study and teaching. 2. Educational technology. 3.World Wide Web. 4. Internet in education. I. Murray, Denise E. II. National Centre for English Language CHAPTER FIVE Content-based instruction 45 Teaching and Research (Australia). III.Title. (Series:Teaching with new technology series). 407.1 CHAPTER SIX WebQuests 56 CHAPTER SEVEN Learning management systems 65 CHAPTER EIGHT Creating webpages 75 GLOSSARY OF COMPUTER TERMS 83 © Macquarie University 2004 BIBLIOGRAPHY 88 The AMEP Research Centre is a consortium of the National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research (NCELTR) at Macquarie University in Sydney, and the School of Educational Studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne.The Research Centre was established in January 2000 and is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. Copyright This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Project Manager: Louise Melov Production Supervisor: Kris Clarke Design and DTP: Helen Lavery Cover design: Helen Lavery Printed by: Ligare Pty Ltd Contents iii USING THE WEB TO SUPPORT LANGUAGE LEARNING TEACHING WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY SERIES Acknowledgments Series introduction This book reports on research conducted collaboratively by Adult Migrant Teaching with New Technology is a series that provides teachers with practical, English Program (AMEP) teachers and the authors as part of the Special research-based approaches to using computer-based technologies in their Project Research Program at the AMEP Research Centre, funded by the language classrooms. Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, We have deliberately chosen to use the term ‘computer-based technologies’ Canberra.The book frames this research within the broader research on to highlight the technologies where the computer is an obvious tool. using the Internet for communication in language teaching and learning. Many other classroom tools and artefacts use digital technology, but they Special thanks are due to the AMEP teachers who collaborated in these do not involve computers as machines in any obvious way. Such tools and action research projects. Also, we thank the AMEP service providers artefacts include VCRs, mobile phones, clocks and language labs.These who encouraged participation of their teachers and the curriculum new computer-based technologies were initially taken up by teachers coordinators who helped organise professional development sessions who had a passion for computer technology. Now that these technologies and made it possible for teachers to be released from their classes. have been used in language education for almost two decades, many other teachers want to explore their use in their own classrooms. Language The teachers whose work is referred to here are: teachers are interested in using computer-based technologies both to acl Pty Ltd, Sydney facilitate language learning and to help their learners acquire the new Ali Baharlou Peter Norton literacies of the digital age (see, for example, Snyder 2002). In English Najia Haimd Cathy Tun language education in particular, teachers of migrants and refugees realise Sarah Houston Hale Unat they need to help their learners acquire computer skills since students are Stephen Mansfield likely to take jobs that require familiarity with a range of digital literacies. In many countries where English is being learned as the global language Qld TAFE Language and Literacy Services for wider communication, students want to learn English to access the Bojan Blatnik Philippa Lipscomb new technologies.While still only 10 per cent of the world population is Steven Endres Sven Puetter online, digital literacies are increasingly becoming an essential tool for Norma King Koi social, educational and occupational worlds. West Coast College of TAFE (Perth,Western Australia) The goal of this series is to provide teachers who are new to using Nita Johnson computer-based technologies in language teaching with practical techniques and lessons they can use in their classrooms.There is [I]t is not so much the computer but the an assumption that teachers are kinds of tasks and activities that learners familiar with the Web in other do on the computer that can make the aspects of their lives and that they difference … are experienced language teachers. (Hoven 1999: 149) iv Using the Web to support language learning Series introduction v The philosophy behind the series is that, as language teaching • observing their practice; and professionals, teachers want more than hints and techniques; rather, • reflecting on their observations. professional teachers want to understand the research and theory on This process is then repeated, with teachers changing their practice which teaching approaches are built.They are also interested in based on their observations and reflections, and then beginning the understanding which issues surrounding the use of computer-based cycle again (see, for example, Kemmis and McTaggart 1988; Burns 1995). technologies still need to be explored and in conducting research in their An extensive bibliography is provided for teachers who want to explore own classrooms.While this series focuses on the adult learner, many of any of the concepts and findings discussed in this series.The bibliography, the activities can be used in classrooms of children and young adults. which includes both referenced materials and materials for further Although the various features of the new technologies often overlap in reading, is organised by chapter at the end of each book. use inside and outside the classroom, teachers (and learners) need to be able to approach teaching (and learning) with these new technologies in incremental stages.Therefore, each book in the series focuses primarily on one aspect of using computer-based technologies in the language classroom. Each book: • summarises the principal findings about the use of computer-based technologies to support teaching and learning in language programs. This section includes specific research from the AMEP action research projects of teachers we worked with over two states. It also includes relevant research reported elsewhere. • offers practical suggestions for teaching using these technologies. These suggestions are provided to help teachers who have not used the new technologies very often (or at all) in teaching. Some suggestions include a series of steps; others provide an idea that could be incorporated in a lesson. • provides general lesson plans for some suggestions.These lesson plans are indicative, rather than prescriptive so that teachers working in a variety of contexts with learners from a variety of different language levels might find them useful. • raises issues that teachers can explore in their own classrooms. Many of the suggestions for teachers to explore involve action research, a research methodology for practitioners to investigate their own work practices. In educational settings, action research provides teachers with a tool for: • planning what and how they will investigate; • teaching based on what they want to investigate; vi Using the Web to support language learning Series introduction vii USING THE WEB TO SUPPORT LANGUAGE LEARNING Introduction The chapters in this volume are organised around a variety of different ways learners can use the World Wide Web to achieve their language, content and Web learning goals.This does not mean, however, that technology should be driving the curriculum. Our assumption is that teachers will first decide on their objectives and then choose Web resources that facilitate student learning of those goals, where appropriate. While some of the activities are necessarily technical in nature, the teaching suggestions and lesson plans are situated in language learning. The perspective we take in this volume is that Web-based activities should have a technical skill teaching purpose, a pedagogical reason (for example, distance learning) or a language learning purpose – or all three. We have included the Web strategies and activities most commonly used by language teachers and structured the chapters around those different uses, while recognising that we are using a linear organisation for a non- linear, interconnected phenomenon.This linear organisation, however, will help teachers find teaching activities and tasks easily. Participating in a digital world For language learners to participate in an increasingly digital world, they will need to use the technology via English to meet their social, personal and educational needs.To do this, they need to learn to navigate the Web, using it to find information and often to provide information. Many of the learners in our studies were unfamiliar with computers and being online, and they needed scaffolded instruction on how to acquire the skills and literacies of this new digital world.To access information on the Web, learners need to be online, that is, using a computer that is connected to the Internet.The Internet is the worldwide network of computer networks that connects computer users who gain access through an ISP (Internet Service Provider), which may be provided through school or work or for which learners can sign up in the same way as for a telephone service. The World Wide Web, on the other hand, is a hypertext-based system for Introduction 1 accessing a variety of resources on the Internet. It is possible to navigate dressed up as information.While webpages designed by schoolchildren the Web at work, school, library or Internet cafe without having a may be interesting and may even be accurate, they may not be. Many personal Internet account. However, since research has shown that using personal sites or sites selling a particular product or idea may present computer-mediated communication (CMC) can facilitate language biased or incorrect information. It is therefore necessary for learners to learning (see Communicating on the Net, a volume in this series), we will learn the skills for and practise evaluating websites. include teaching suggestions and lesson plans that combine using CMC Additionally, since the Web is now an essential part of the fabric of work, and information from the Web. CMC skills that learners need include personal life and education in many countries, using the Web to find communicating through chat, email and discussion lists, and also being information for classroom tasks mirrors what many learners will need to able to send and manage information via CMC such as address books or do in their lives. However, for learners to be able to apply their classroom sending and receiving attachments. learning outside the classroom, teachers will need to design tasks that are To frame our discussions, we will first summarise some of the findings in fact similar to those outside the classroom. about teaching and learning using the Web: the advantages and Scaffolding learning disadvantages of the authentic language on the Web, the importance of scaffolding learning, and the literacies learners need to use the Web Because of the vastness of the Web, teachers need to carefully scaffold for language learning. tasks and activities. ‘Scaffolding refers to support that is designed to provide the assistance necessary to enable learners to accomplish tasks and Authentic language input develop understandings that they would not quite be able to manage on Second language learning research has discussed the importance of their own’ (Hammond 2001: 3).While scaffolding has been used to refer authentic materials and tasks in language learning. Little, Devitt and to both planned or designed-in instruction and in situ or contingent Singleton (1994), for example, have instruction (see, for example, Hammond 2001), here we are primarily shown that learners find authentic texts referring to the scaffolding teachers build into their lesson plans and Letting English language learners onto activities.To scaffold searching for information on the Web, teachers need the Internet is like dropping them in an more motivating than pedagogical texts. Others (for example, Bachman to consider the language, content, navigation and design of webpages. ocean of words, concepts, genres, tenses, and Palmer 1996) have noted that Some teachers (for example, Mansfield 2002) have developed a series of even other languages. communicative language ability is structured activities that have helped learners acquire the skills to search (Mansfield 2002: 3) and navigate the Web by themselves. Others (for example King Koi 2002) situation-specific and that therefore pedagogical tasks should mirror as have structured learning by choosing websites and categorising them much as possible tasks learners will engage in outside the classroom. using a learning management system.Yet another teacher (Puetter 2002) has designed his own website for learners to use, while others (for example, The Web has potential for both types of authenticity. It provides learners Blatnik 2002; Unat 2002) have chosen only ESL sites where learners can with unlimited opportunities for accessing authentic language; however, learn the language through structured activities.Teachers also need this very access may be a disadvantage. Learners may find a site with strategies for determining appropriate sites – in terms of language, language beyond their current linguistic competence, or they may find content and Web design (see Chapters One and Four). sites that use inappropriate language or culture for the particular learners (for example, pornographic sites), or they may come to rely on the Learning new literacies Internet for accurate information, but use information from a site written While the Web contains texts that follow the conventions of print-based by schoolchildren or a site that uses propaganda or a site with advertising texts (for example, narratives, information texts), the Web also contains 2 Using the Web to support language learning Introduction 3 new configurations of texts, • Explicitly teach students how to copy and paste an URL into a The Internet is a virtual minefield. In order to where more than one genre document so they can readily keep the source of the information with negotiate this minefield (or at least reduce might appear on one the online text they have copied and saved. casualties), classes need to be well thought through webpage, for example. and websites (where possible) chosen discerningly. In addition, not all Web (Norton 2002: 7) literacy is text-based; indeed, visual literacy (see, for example, Kress 1997; Snyder 1999, 2002) can be found alongside text and may even be supplanting it. Familiar genres may develop new features, while new genres may appear. Additionally, the Web provides a hypertextual environment, rather than a linear one, presenting yet another literacy for learners to acquire (Tindale in press).Therefore, literacy skills learners may have acquired to read critically and write print text may not suffice when learners encounter the Web (Lipscomb 2002). Not only do our learners need the technical skills of computer literacy, but they also need the language and literacies the The Web invites a nonlinear, nonsequential, new technologies require. Being interactive medium for students, and reading literate in this technological era skills must incorporate strategies to deal means making sense of varying with multimedia and visual elements. combinations of text, signs, symbols, (Sutherland-Smith 2002: 64) pictures and even sounds and moving pictures. And, making sense of it requires searching for multimodal information and evaluating, interpreting and synthesising it. This book will help teachers and learners achieve the goal of becoming information literate in this information rich world. Some useful general principles when using the Web in language teaching are (Robb,T 2004, personal communication, 23 November): • Students working on computers are ‘functionally deaf ’; they are often mesmerised by the flickering screen. Devise some method to ensure students are paying full attention when you address the entire class. For example, students can be asked to turn off their monitors, turn their chairs away from the computer or put away their keyboards. • Explicitly teach students how to bookmark sites that they may want to go back to later and how to categorise their bookmarks into useful groupings. 4 Using the Web to support language learning Introduction 5 CHAPTER ONE suggested they use actual species names (for example, koala, kangaroo), only to find a list of (mostly) companies that had named themselves after Finding and selecting information on the Web Australian animals. He finally found that a search for ‘Australian animals’ produced a list of appropriate sites. It is therefore wise for teachers to preview the search results of any search engine and search words they As learners develop their ability to find and select information on the Web, plan to use to avoid accidentally displaying inappropriate material. they will learn to integrate a variety of critical literacy skills – skimming, Directories such as Yahoo! were designed to bring some order to the chaos scanning, discriminating and categorising.When learners learn how to and plethora of websites.They are designed around categories and sub- find and select information on the Web, they will be able to: categories.While these may be easier to navigate, they require the learner • identify words or concepts on a given topic; to categorise the topic they are looking for. So, if learners were looking • use search engines to find items based on words or phrases; for Australian animals, they could categorise this topic either under animals or under travel (Australia). Since the categories have been predetermined • use Web directories to find items based on topics or themes; and by the company, the learner needs to understand what subcategories • select appropriate and relevant information from a Web search. might appear as part of the higher level categories, which in itself can ‘Surfing the net’ is a term in current usage. However, such an be a useful language learning activity. unstructured approach to finding information on the Web is unlikely to Once learners have conducted result in finding useful information and often results in frustration. a search, they need to be able If a student is searching for factual data, Consequently, Internet companies have developed two different ways to to scan the list of search results an official site like a government site is find information: search engines and directories, each of which requires and select a website that might often the first one they may want to check. different skills and uses a different approach. have the information they need. While their search shouldn’t stop here, it Search engines such as Google or Yahoo! are based on words or phrases Teachers have found that learners is always a good place to start. while directories are based on topics and themes.This difference is need to be able to identify sites (Mansfield 2002: 4) blurring somewhat as Google and written by children that may Single words often presented the surfing Yahoo! also have a directory and or may not have accurate student with hundreds of pages of material Yahoo! actually uses Google as its information; or sites that are primarily advertising tools.Teachers have which was too time consuming to sort out search engine. Most search engines suggested strategies such as scanning all the options before choosing, and get to the required information. rank the results by popularity or choosing on the basis of the URL, or conducting another search, but (Baharlou 2002: 5) relevance; Google ranks by both with more specific words (see, for example, Mansfield 2002). popularity and relevance.The Once learners have selected a site, they still need selection skills. Again, teachers we worked with found that teachers have found a number of strategies that assist learners: avoiding sites their learners found Google and Yahoo! the simplest search engines to use. with difficult language; avoiding sites that are primarily selling; scanning To use a search engine effectively, learners need to know exactly the word for relevant keywords and vocabulary; skimming for overall gist; and, or phrase on which to base their search. One teacher in our studies recognising relevant genres (see Chapter Four for more specific research on (Mansfield 2002), having elicited from students what they wanted to write this issue). Once at a site, learners encounter another method for finding a report on (Australian animals), had students search for ‘animals’, only to information – links. Again, they need to use critical thinking and selection find that the search resulted in a long list of pornographic sites. He then skills in deciding which links might be productive and on the topic. 6 Using the Web to support language learning Finding and selecting information on the Web 7 As well as learning the reading Effective searching of the Web is a complex Teaching suggestions skills of skimming and scanning reasoning and decision-making process. and the generic skills of critical Not using email, chat or other CMC (Todd 2000:119) thinking, problem solving and evaluating information, students • Demonstrate in class the procedures for finding a search engine page also learn technology skills needed for the workplace and engage in and typing in a search word. experiences in contexts similar to those in which technology is used • Have students list topics of interest and then subtopics within outside the classroom (Ginsberg 1998).Teachers have also noted that each topic. pre-teaching offline how to search the Web can also be used to assess • Divide the class into two teams. Have each team think of a topic and (and teach) other aspects of language such as how to respond to complex then five subtopics within it. Have teams give each other the super- spoken instructions or read a procedural text. ordinate topic. Have each team guess the subtopics the other team chose. • Have students choose a topic.Write it on the whiteboard and then ask students to think of as many subtopics as they can.Write or have the students write these subtopics as a mind map. Ask students to think about what subtopics might appear that are not relevant to their topic and that they would therefore want to eliminate. • Have students choose a topic and determine at least three aspects of the topic that they want to find out about on the Web. Have students write the topic and its aspects as Boolean functions (that is, using the operators and, not, and or). • Print out the results of a Web search. Have each student choose a different site to investigate. Have students find their site and report back to the class on its usefulness. (Provide a list of criteria for evaluating sites. A useful set of criteria can be found at http://www.scu.edu.au/library/tgcc/guides/websiteeval.pdf) • Have students use a directory to find websites on a specified topic. Have students use a search engine to find websites on the same topic. In class, have students compare the findings – do the same websites appear in each search method? Conduct a class discussion about the reasons why the results might be different. • Have students read the URL of the results of a search engine and identify the different domains (edu, gov, mil, com, net and ~ for personal webpages). Discuss with students which they think would be most reliable and why. • Divide the class into three teams. Provide a general topic and specific information students are to find about that topic. Have each team use 8 Using the Web to support language learning Finding and selecting information on the Web 9 a different search engine (for example, Google, Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves, • Write a set of questions about a topic recently covered in class. Have Web Wombat, AltaVista, Excite, MSN Search) to find the specific students search the Web to find the answer to the questions. Make this information. Have the whole class evaluate the information found activity a game, with a prize for the student who finds the most and discuss what criteria each search engine seems to be using. correct answers first. Discuss which would be the most useful criteria for their search. Using email, chat or other CMC • Divide the class into four teams. Provide a general topic and specific information students are to find about that topic. Have each team use • Have each student use a search engine for a specified topic. Ask a different search engine. Have two use world-wide search engines students to select an URL, go to the website and copy the URL and and two use Australia-specific search engines (for example, Google send it in an email to the class. Have students select two websites from Australia, Yahoo! Australia & NZ, Web Wombat) to find the specific those that have been sent to them, go to the website and evaluate the information. Ask the whole class to compare and contrast the different usefulness of the information. (Provide criteria for how to evaluate the appropriateness of the information.) lists of URL sites from each search. • Have each student use a search engine to find an e-greeting card site • Divide the class into two teams. Provide a general topic and specific and then email a greeting card to friends and family. information students are to find about that topic. Have one team use a search engine and the other use a directory. Have the whole class • Ask students to use a directory to find an online version of a local evaluate the information found and the ease of the different newspaper and choose an article that would be of interest to friends search types. and family in their home countries. Have students cut and paste the URL for this article and send it to friends and family in their home • Have all students go to a specific website. Ask each student to choose countries. one of the links on the site and go to that site.With the whole class, compare the different sites for relevance, level of language, accuracy of information and ease of reading. • Demonstrate, using the data projector, how to move through a chain of links and how the browser shows ancestors (path to the current website). • Demonstrate, using the data projector, how to move through a chain of links and how the site takes users outside the original site. Explain how to go back to the original site by retyping the URL or searching in the pull-down menu and how to read the history of the links to help them. • Have students use a search engine to find websites about their town. Have students in groups choose different websites and find specific information about their town. Have students evaluate which site had relevant information and which was the most accurate. Have students categorise sites according to their readability, the reliability of the information and the age groups of the authors. Ask students how they decided their categories. 10 Using the Web to support language learning Finding and selecting information on the Web 11 Lesson plans Lesson not using email, chat or other CMC Objective: Students will be able to find websites specifically Lesson not using email, chat or other CMC designed to help learners of English. Objective: Students will be able to refine Web searches. Materials: Data projector, Internet-connected computers. Materials: Data projector, Internet-connected computers. Procedure: Procedure: • Have students brainstorm words they think they will find on an Search 1 ESL/EFL website. • Have the class choose a topic on which to do a search on the Web • Using a data projector, type each suggestion into a well-known (for example, events in their city, Australian animals, a current search engine and display the results of the search. political event). • Compare and contrast the results of each search with the • Using a data projector, type the suggested topic into a well-known whole class. search engine and display the results of the search. • Have students choose websites from these searches to visit. • Print out the first page of the results. • Using the data projector, display the homepages of these websites. • Identify the types of information that are likely to be found on each • Ask students whether they think each website is in fact a language of the websites with the class. teaching website. Have them evaluate the usefulness of each website Search 2 from viewing the homepage. • Have students refine the topic by narrowing it. Extension: • Using a data projector, type the suggested refined topic into a • See Chapter Two for activities using ESL websites. well-known search engine and display the results of the search. • Print out the first page of the results. • Identify the types of information that are likely to be found on each of the websites with the class. Search 3 • Have students refine the topic using Boolean operators. • Using a data projector, type the suggested refined topic into a well-known search engine and display the results of the search. • Print out the first page of the results. • Identify the types of information that are likely to be found on each of the websites with the class. • Compare and contrast the websites from the three different searches with the whole class. Extension: • Have students in groups select a topic, refine it and then conduct a search. • Have groups report their findings to the class. 12 Using the Web to support language learning Finding and selecting information on the Web 13 Lesson not using email, chat or other CMC Lesson using email, chat or other CMC Objective: Students will be able to evaluate the results of a Objective: Students will be able to collaborate on a project in which Web search. they retrieve information from the Web, write a report and Materials: Data projector, Internet-connected computers. share information. Procedure: Materials: Internet-connected computers. • Have the class choose a topic of interest. Procedure: • Use a well-known search engine to carry out a search on the • Divide the class into groups and have each group choose a topic topic. Use the data projector to display the search. for their project, for example, movies, Australian animals, restaurants, • With students, evaluate each entry on the first page of the search a country. results. Develop criteria for evaluating Web search results and • Have each student choose one aspect of the topic, for example, a predicting useful sites, such as relevance, commercial sites versus particular movie, Australian animal, restaurant or city, and do a government and educational sites, and level of language. search on the Web for a photo and information on that aspect. • Choose one of the websites. Go to that website and evaluate the • Ask each student to copy the photo and write a report on their information in terms of whether it meets the class predictions of particular aspect of the topic. its usefulness. • Have each student email the photo and report to the other • Have students brainstorm subtopics within that topic and choose members of the group. one of the subtopics. • Ask the students to meet in their groups and decide how to present • Divide the class into groups of five and have them carry out a their project to the class, using a presentation program. search on the subtopic. Ask each group to choose a website they • Have groups present their projects to the class. think will be the most useful from the first page of results and then Extension: evaluate it. • Have groups report back to the class as to which website they • Organise students to post their presentation on the class website. chose and why and whether their predictions held. Note: Sending email attachments is taught in Communicating on the • Based on the whole class and group activities, jointly develop Net, a volume in this series. criteria for choosing useful and appropriate websites from search engine results. • Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of choosing a narrow topic (the subtopic above) or a broader topic (the original topic above). Extension: • Have each group summarise the information they found on the subtopic and topic. 14 Using the Web to support language learning Finding and selecting information on the Web 15 Issues to explore CHAPTER TWO Issue Teaching offline Using ESL websites Do students benefit from having particular skills demonstrated offline? Exploration – action research Many ESL websites offer teaching materials, lessons plans, games and other Using an overhead projector to demonstrate using a search engine instructional resources that are freely available to students and teachers. They continue a long-standing practice of sharing and collaboration • Using an overhead projector and printouts, demonstrate how to use a among TESOL teachers. Now through the Internet, this sharing extends search engine and how to select a website from the search results. world-wide and reaches out directly to students. A large number of these • Have students search the Web and choose one appropriate site. websites have been created by ESL teachers and along with instructional • Observe and take notes on whether students can do the task easily, materials for students, they offer teachers opportunities for professional what questions they ask and what problems they have. development by inviting contributions, ideas and discussion from teachers Using a data projector to demonstrate using a directory around the globe. An example is The Internet TESL Journal where ESL/EFL teachers all over the world contribute to the self-study quizzes for • Using a data projector, demonstrate how to use a directory and how ESL/EFL students. (See http://iteslj.org/) to select a website from the search result. • Have students search the Web and choose one appropriate site. These ESL websites provide a valuable online service for teachers and learners alike.Teachers can find prepared lessons and materials addressing • Observe and take notes on whether students can do the task easily, English language development in diverse content areas, curriculum and what questions they ask and what problems they have. academic disciplines. Students of all ages, interests and learning goals can • Decide which demonstration medium is most effective for your independently choose online instructional materials and activities that learners – overhead or data projector. meet their specific language learning needs, and access them in their own Issue Scaffolding learning time and at their own pace. Which is the most appropriate teaching/learning approach for learners to Jones (2000) in Moote (2002) examines the characteristics of some online acquire the skills for retrieving information from the Web – explicit learning materials for students and describes three models of online teaching, scaffolded instruction or discovery learning? learning sites for students: distributive, tutorial and cooperative. Exploration – questions to think about In the distributive model, materials or lesson sheets are available for learners to study independently. Students respond to reading or listening • Think about your particular learners. How familiar are they with passages by completing multiple-choice, gap-filling or other exercises. searching the Web? Are those that are unfamiliar anxious about using The software allows students to get immediate feedback on their answers. the Web? What is the cause of this anxiety? How do they adjust their goals to minimise anxiety? The tutorial model is often found on fee-for-service websites that offer • Think about learners in an entirely different context from yours (for two-way communication between the teacher and the learner using example, young learners/older learners; ESL/EFL; conversation email, chat, telephone or video conferencing. class/academic English class). How might they respond to scaffolded The cooperative model allows students in the course to communicate instruction or to discovery learning? with each other as well as with the teacher. 16 Using the Web to support language learning Using ESL websites 17 Ho Mei Lin (1997) advises teachers some difficulties for her students and prevent them from accessing the There is a need to consider if the online to evaluate online ESL materials learning materials. After teaching them the structure of an ESL website, resources teach students grammar items carefully before assigning them for the functionality of hypertext links, drop-down lists and drag-and-drop or merely test them. independent study. She reminds us buttons and the language accompanying these functions, students are (Ho Mei Lin 1997) that learning activities which only able to locate and complete engage students in achieving scores online learning activities What I experienced was that because they on tests and quizzes do not necessarily help develop their proficiency or independently on ESL sites. [students] were unclear about the instructions ability to use the language effectively and appropriately. The Web has opened up a most of them were unable to use their time wealth of language learning effectively to do the activities. She recommends that teachers ‘select self-directed tasks and programs that resources for ESL/EFL (Unat 2002) teach students how to work independently’ (1997: 3) rather than direct them to a series of mindless drills or limit the choices they can make. It is students. ESL websites have crucial to provide feedback to the student, to offer choice of activity and general and special interest collections that are adequate for most students’ to let them have ownership of their independent learning program. needs. By taking the time to select websites and activities carefully and by monitoring their students’ progress, teachers can offer a good online King Koi’s (2002) approach to using learning experience and provide their students with skills to continue With a diverse range of links, the students ESL websites with her students in an their language learning independently, in their own time and at their are directed to different sites to suit their adult community education class own pace. level of language and computer skills. For draws on Jones’s three models. She example, a word search puzzle, game or creates a class website that is grammar task can be done at all levels. password-protected and only Students often choose their own activities accessible by her students. and work at their own pace so no one has She constructs a page of carefully time constraints or feels threatened. researched links that includes ESL (King Koi 2002) websites offering skills development in grammar, speaking, listening, reading, writing, spelling, pronunciation, general games and puzzles (distributive).These links are regularly updated and reviewed to keep pace with student learning. She begins each day with a lesson (tutorial) and assigns Web-based learning tasks to the class, many of which require interaction among the students (cooperative).While these tasks are in progress she monitors each student, giving individualised support where needed. Later, students choose independent learning activities and at the end of the session complete an evaluation sheet outlining what they have learned from each site. Unat (2002) uses a range of ESL websites with elementary level adult students. She notes that the interactive instructions on ESL websites pose 18 Using the Web to support language learning Using ESL websites 19 Teaching suggestions evaluate the learning activities they have just completed. Ensure they or you keep a record of completed activities. Requiring students to have computer skills • In computer lab sessions, provide a range of different learning tasks, including teacher-led instruction, independent practice, extended • When planning your course and assembling teaching materials, search learning and Web-based communication activities with you and the Web widely for ESL websites and learning activities that address classmates. the language skills you plan to teach. Over a number of courses you • Have regular reporting sessions where students take turns to introduce will develop a substantial list that can be categorised by language level, a favourite ESL website to the class, describe its best features and say function or elements. why they like using it. • Teach browser functions like back, forward and stop and ensure students • As students become more confident and independent, encourage have developed the mouse skills required for interactive activities them to reflect on their learning needs, develop their own found on ESL websites. individualised learning plan and select a sequence of learning activities • Give explicit instruction on how to interact with learning activities using ESL websites. so students become familiar with selecting from drop-down lists, responding to true/false questionnaires and using their mouse well for drag-and-drop responses. • For students at beginner language levels or new to the Internet, offer a structured guide to the generic features of ESL sites and ensure they understand what is available on the site, and how to select preferred activities using links, buttons and other navigational devices. • Beginners may need to learn the language of instructions commonly used on ESL websites.Teach the meanings of phrases like click on, select, choose, go to and allow a lot of structured practice before you expect them to work independently. • Scan websites to choose those that meet your students’ learning needs and then collate them on a class webpage of links.To accommodate the disparate learner levels in your class, categorise them by difficulty level. • On your class webpage, categorise links in ways that help students find learning activities easily, for example, pronunciation practice, listening to conversations, past tense quiz, making sentences, automotive wordsearch. • Encourage students to note the name and URL of sites they use and like so they can locate them independently. • Create a monitoring system that allows you to check students’ progress in using the ESL websites you select for them. • Ask students to report quiz results, print out their responses, or 20 Using the Web to support language learning Using ESL websites 21 Lesson plans Lesson requiring students to have computer and Internet skills Objective: Students will use the class webpage to develop an Lesson requiring students to have computer skills individualised language learning program. Objective: Students will learn to use interactive learning activities Materials: Class webpage and printout, ESL websites, individual on ESL websites. evaluation form, computer lab. Materials: Class webpage, ESL websites, computer lab with Procedure: Internet access. Week 1 Procedure: • Set up or revise your class homepage to ensure, for example, that all • Prepare a class webpage with four to five links to ESL websites links are up to date and categorised in levels, that various language that use interactive functions, for example, drop-down list, learning functions are listed and that you have included any other drag-and-drop, multiple-choice with feedback; true/false features of your choice. with feedback. • If your students need printouts, copy the webpage to a document, • Ensure activity samples are within your students’ linguistic range include check boxes for each item and print one for each student. so they are not distracted by unfamiliar language. • Outline to your students the course goals, your approach to • Using a data projector, click on a link to an ESL website’s teaching these and examples of Web-based, print and classroom drop-down list. learning activities. Discuss the program with students, ensuring they • Point out the instructions to an activity and elicit from students the understand which learning activities are mandatory, which are imperative used in the phrase, for example, choose, select. Elicit from negotiable, and which can be done by individual choice. students other synonyms that might be used. • Demonstrate the links on the homepage, selecting samples at • While you demonstrate, describe to students: different levels and for different language learning functions. – the mouse skill you use to select an item; • Hand out a simple needs analysis that invites students to choose – the next action you take to submit the response; and individual priority learning areas within the framework of the – how to use the browser back button to undo an action. course goals. Ensure that a manageable range of choices is offered. • Repeat the language and sequence of actions several times, inviting • Ask students to select from the homepage the websites that may students to say the spoken instruction as you complete each action. assist them in their priority learning areas. • Invite students to practise the same activity.They should follow • Ask students to prioritise some selected sites to use over the next the link to the same website activity, make a selection from the week in free computer lab time, or for homework. drop-down list, submit the response and then return to the list Week 2 by using the back button. • Assist individual students and invite pairs and groups to work • Ask students to form groups and discuss and evaluate their together. experience of the websites they used, and the extent to which they • Select a few students to demonstrate the procedure on your had supported or extended their learning. computer, using the language of instruction as they do so. • Ask students to complete an individual evaluation form of the • Allow students free practice with the remaining two to three links previous week’s learning through ESL websites. on the class homepage and assist where necessary. • Ask students to review their first week’s choices and choose links again for the second week’s individual work. 22 Using the Web to support language learning Using ESL websites 23 Issues to explore Lesson to use ESL websites to complete a task Objective: Students will use ESL websites as a resource to support Issue Using Web-based practice drills individual learning needs. Can ESL practice drills assist with language learning? Materials: Class webpage and printout, ESL websites, individual evaluation form, Internet-connected computers. Exploration – action research Procedure: • Assign a writing activity to a small group of students to establish their • On your class homepage, provide a list of ESL resources and ESL level of English. websites that provide those resources, for example, thesaurus, • Assign Web-based practice drills to these students on the basis of the dictionaries, grammar points, pronunciation. language learning needs demonstrated in the test activity. • Divide the class into groups and allocate to each group the task of • Monitor the amount of time students spend on each practice drill. constructing one or more spoken or written texts, for example: application letter for a public service position, a set of possible job • At the end of the course or semester, assign the same writing activity interview questions and responses, a short report on a recent work and see what improvements the students have made. project, a resumé, a letter of complaint to a public authority. • Interview the students about their attitudes to the practice drills and • Have groups identify the subgroup of tasks to be done and allocate how they believe they assisted them. them among themselves based on the skills in their group. • Make sure groups identify gaps in their knowledge, for example, Issue Selecting learning resources what does a resumé look like? Which learning resources on ESL websites do students prefer? • Have groups construct their texts, using ESL sites to find information and resources to assist them, and keeping records of the Exploration – action research sites they used and their usefulness. • Prepare and administer a questionnaire asking students about their • Ask groups to report back to the class, demonstrating their language learning needs and preferences for language learning completed text, listing information they acquired, the sources they materials and resources. used, and their evaluation of their usefulness. • Prepare a portal page with links to a number of ESL websites. Ensure students’ preferences are included, but also add an equal number of other ESL websites and learning activities that you believe will be useful. • Ask students to record the sites they used, the ones that were helpful and the most enjoyable to use. Include other questions of interest to you. • At the end of the course, ask students to complete an individual evaluation form. In addition, conduct a group evaluation. • Repeat this evaluation with a number of classes over a year or so. Look for patterns in the students’ evaluations. 24 Using the Web to support language learning Using ESL websites 25 CHAPTER THREE Until recently, limitations in Web technology prevented ESL website developers from offering the wide range of spoken texts and instructional Listening online activities that learners need to develop listening and comprehension skills. Advances in Web technology and personal computing have led to a [My] study results show that even very ‘Teaching listening’ has frequently been described as one of the more sudden and rapid increase in the low-level students with no computer and problematic areas of second language teaching and learning. Buck (1999) number and range of online language skills can benefit from suitable points out that the issues learners face in responding to spoken language resources available to teachers types of [Internet] listening resources. are that: and learners (Peterson 2001; (Blatnik 2002) • Speech is a set of acoustic signals and knowledge of the sound system Blatnik 2002; Cziko and Park of the language is needed to process the spoken text. 2003). Media players are now included in commercial software packages and are just as easily • Spoken language is different to written text. It is constructed downloaded for free from the Internet. It is now almost standard practice differently, is more disjunctive and has ‘disfluencies’ like pauses, for websites to include video and audio files on their sites including audio hesitations, self-corrections and repairs. chat, and ESL websites in particular have been quick to capitalise on the • Speech is fast and delivered in real time which means listeners need to opportunities for language learning that multimedia offers. process and respond quickly. The increasing range of online Although we may not precisely understand learners’ experiences when video and audio offers ESL User-friendly computer technology empowers they hear spoken English, studies in second language acquisition, students a multitude of students to access vast numbers of extremely psycholinguistics and the sociocultural aspects of spoken discourse offer opportunities to develop their diverse online resources that can cater for the some insights into the physiological aspects of hearing (Rost 2002), the understanding of spoken individual needs of students. psycholinguistic processing, and the dynamics of interaction between English.Teachers can increase (Blatnik 2002) speaker and hearer (Chaudron, Loschky and Cook 1994; Rost 1994, 2002; students’ exposure to spoken Nunan and Miller 1995, 1997; Hoven 1999). texts so that they hear spoken We now have a better understanding of the features of spoken texts English more frequently; are exposed to more varieties of English and and the teaching strategies that will help our students to understand and spoken texts; and can develop teaching programs tailored to their learners’ respond to spoken English in different situations (Ur 1984; Brown 1990; individual needs and preferences. Nunan and Miller 1995; Burns 1997). With these resources teachers can be highly selective about the kinds of Teaching strategies can include those that focus on ‘bottom-up’ processing texts they choose for learners.Teachers are now less reliant on unnaturally skills and ‘top-down’ processing skills. Using ‘bottom-up’ processing skills, scripted stretches that misrepresent students decode the sounds of English from small meaningful units or L2 teachers will need to change their natural speech and don’t prepare phonemes to whole stretches of discourse, as in a conversation, for methods and lessons in order to allow learners well for hearing the ways example. Using ‘top-down’ processing, listeners draw on their own and encourage their students to use the English is spoken in everyday life perceptions of the context or situation, their previous knowledge of the Internet to interact with native speakers (Burns 1997).They can demonstrate the topic and their familiarity with the structure of the spoken text to of the language they are learning. differences between spoken and written ‘reconstruct’ what they hear from the speaker (Nunan 1997). Cziko and Park (2003) English more easily, choosing realistic 26 Using the Web to support language learning Listening online 27 representations of spoken discourse with natural features such as pause, Teaching suggestions hesitation and backtracking. They can choose good models of spoken English using conversations, Requiring students to have Web skills reports, interviews, and discussions in differing contexts, in a wide range • Decide what kind of listening texts and activities you want to include of dialects, varieties and accents and with a variety of participants, in your listening program before you search the Internet. It is easy to allowing students to hear and identify the features of natural discourse be distracted by the exciting range of resources, and a list of specific in spoken English. needs will speed up your search. Students can access ESL listening sites that include different genres of • Refer to your analysis of student needs when planning the kinds of spoken texts, and topics that include academic, vocational, and general spoken language texts your students should listen to. Decide if they interests such as the family, the arts, sports and music, and day-to-day need to hear news reports, lectures, interviews or casual conversations. activities such as shopping. • List the interaction strategies your students are learning to use and need to hear demonstrated in the conversations they listen to. ESL sites offer audio and video texts for beginners that are shorter or delivered at a slower pace. Some provide transcripts and learners can read • Identify specific or general interest topics that are most useful or as they listen, replay as often as they like, and progress at their own pace. interesting to your students. Advanced learners can choose audio or video on news sites with • Prepare a rubric that includes types of spoken text, topics, language interviews and reports or discussions that exemplify natural features of levels, learning activities and other criteria for choosing your online authentic spoken discourse. In some cases, these sites also offer transcripts. audio and video resources.This rubric will speed up your classification of resources and your search for materials when on the Web. Ultimately, we can now provide learners with individual choice. • In the classroom, teach the features of natural spoken texts. In this We can design learning programs that respond to individual listening way, you can discuss issues about the context and register with comprehension needs using a wide range of text styles and types, taking students before they practise their listening skills online. learner interests, needs and preferences into consideration (Burns 1997; • In the classroom, teach listening strategies like listening for specific Hoven 1999). information and listening for gist so that learners understand their purpose and can apply them in online activities. • Teach vocabulary related to the content before students listen to the text and encourage students to listen selectively for the vocabulary in some listening exercises. • Have regular reporting back sessions in class where students evaluate their online experiences, and report on the usefulness of sites and materials and how they perceive the online learning experience. • Have students report to the whole class on interesting topics, reports, dialogues or lectures they listened to online. 28 Using the Web to support language learning Listening online 29 Finding listening websites Lesson plans • With your prepared list and rubric for choosing and evaluating resources, browse specialist ESL listening sites, general ESL sites, Lesson requiring students to have Web skills and non-educational sites in that order. Most ESL listening websites Objective: Students will become aware of the different varieties of have extensive catalogues and links to their collections, making your spoken English used on websites. research task easier, while many general ESL sites have audio Materials: List of media websites, comprehension questions, collections as well. evaluation checklist, print-based articles, Internet- • Access public broadcaster sites, like ABC and BBC. Many of these connected computers. have excellent English language learning sites and the technical Procedure: features of their audio and video files are generally more efficient and workable than non-expert sites. Beforehand • Create a class website that is a portal to online resources, categorised • Prepare a list of URLs from different countries for media websites by genre, level of difficulty, or any other criteria that are useful to that use audio, for example, CNN, Fox (USA); BBC (UK); ABC, your class. ABC Asia Pacific (Australia). • Create a WebQuest (see also Chapter Six) that requires students to • Prepare a list of questions students can use to show their collect and collate information only available from audio/video sites. understanding of audio news items. • Prepare a checklist that students can use to evaluate the • Use news, sports and other special interest sites to make the listening comprehensibility of audio items. program interesting and motivational. • Use websites that have both audio and written text to support both On the day reading and listening skills. • Provide students with print-based newspaper and magazine articles • Develop individualised plans with sites, exercises and activities for about a current news topic. students to complete. Ensure they report on learning achieved rather • Review their understanding of the issues in the article and the than sites visited. language used to describe them. • Create an online evaluation rubric so students can report on sites or • Discuss the perspectives of the writers and how they use language tasks as they complete their exercises. to convey them. • Provide students with the list of news websites. • Ask students to listen to online news from three different countries and respond to the listening comprehension tasks. • Download transcripts of the audio so students can check their listening comprehension. • Ask students to evaluate the sites according to how well they understood the news items. • Discuss with students the different varieties, accents and language usage in the news items they have heard. • Encourage students to read website forums on the news item topic and contribute an opinion of their own. 30 Using the Web to support language learning Listening online 31 Lesson requiring students to have Web skills Lesson plan requiring students to have Web skills Objective: Teachers will manage disparate student needs. Objective: Students will develop prediction skills for listening to Materials: Class webpage, Internet-connected computers. spoken texts on the Web. Procedure: Materials: Three different spoken texts for the Web, Internet-connected computers. Beforehand Procedure: • Prepare a list of websites that include ESL sites with good listening activities, as well as websites with ‘authentic’ audio and transcripts. Beforehand • Create a class webpage of links to the websites you have chosen. • Find two to three different kinds of spoken texts on the Web, • Classify the links in folders for advanced, beginner and for example, a job interview, a conversation between friends intermediate learners. (or strangers), a news report. • Within each folder, create another set of classifications according • Prepare a rubric that lists the pre-listening activities. to the special needs or interests of each group, and label tasks as In class compulsory or voluntary. • Show students the different websites containing the listening texts. • For each subgroup of the class, create a list of compulsory and • Encourage students to find clues on the website that explain the voluntary websites. context for the listening texts. In class • Using one text, ask students to focus on clues in the images or • Demonstrate to students the folders of URLs and any other aspects of the website that will help them predict the content accompanying activities. of the exchange, for example, number, age, gender, dress style of the • Indicate which website activities are compulsory, which they can people involved. choose themselves, and the time they have to complete a set • Ask students to predict the purpose of the spoken text and some number of tasks. vocabulary items they might expect to hear. Be sure to let students • Allow a period of time for reporting back on their progress and explain their reasons for their predictions. their levels of satisfaction and/or difficulties they had with the • Ask students to predict the opening and closing statements or Web-based listening activities. greetings, based on the clues they have just found. • Encourage students to focus on the listening skills they have • Ask the class to listen to the text and note which of their worked on and new language uses they heard. predictions they heard. • Divide the class into two groups. Ask each group to prepare for the second and third texts by repeating the same sequence of activities. • Compare the groups’ predictions.Then allow students to hear the text and judge which predictions were closest. 32 Using the Web to support language learning Listening online 33 Issues to explore been using. Compare their results using different kinds of listening strategies. Find out if some strategies work better with particular Issue Listening online kinds of listening texts, or whether they use the same strategies for most listening. What kinds of learning tasks and activities help learners to develop • When comparing students’ results, note the kinds of preparation and listening comprehension skills? listening strategies preferred at different stages of listening proficiency. Exploration – action research For example, do learners at beginner stages find it helpful to read transcripts while listening? Do more advanced learners use this • Keep records of the website audio texts your students listen to and the strategy less? learning activities they do. • Ask students to help you evaluate the online listening texts. Ask them to rate them for clarity, usability and relevance to their individual language learning needs. • Have frequent conversations with students about the listening texts they hear in the classroom and on websites. Discuss their understanding of speakers’ meanings. • Teach students a variety of listening strategies for different kinds of spoken texts, for example: predicting the vocabulary or content of a news item from its headlines; reading news items in a newspaper then listening for these items on TV and radio news; noting the context and participants in a conversation and predicting the content and the level of formality; listening for interaction strategies used by the participants in a conversation. • Talk to your students about their experiences of listening to real life texts such as television, radio and conversations. Ask them about the strategies they use to hear and learn and how they manage interactions with others. • Select some of their preferred strategies and allow students to choose them for online and classroom listening texts. Ask them to evaluate how well they worked and why. Keep records of their results. Have students work in pairs and use one of the strategies that their partner selected for a particular activity. • Introduce your preferred preparation and interaction strategies, explain their purpose, then encourage students to use them when listening to their website texts. Keep records of their results using these strategies. • At different points of the course, discuss the strategies students have 34 Using the Web to support language learning Listening online 35 CHAPTER FOUR rather than delivering extended [Students] entered sites that used first texts in comparable paragraph person, past tense, narrative form while Reading webpages form to print texts.These chunks they were searching for factual information. may appear as dot points, in (Mansfield 2002: 3) boxes, or as short paragraphs. As learners develop their ability to retrieve information from the Web, Additionally, websites whose they will learn to expand their literacy skills from reading print-based pages are easier to read make use of organisers such as headings or bold or texts to reading online texts.When students learn how to read and use coloured keywords.Websites whose structure is easier to navigate provide information on the Web, they will be able to: limited choices of links that are transparently labelled. No more than two or three clicks beyond the homepage are recommended (Whitbread • read homepages critically; 2001). Counter-intuitively, the research has also found that graphics • skim and scan a variety of genres; do not facilitate reading of webpages. In fact, graphics, video and text • evaluate information presented in a variety of genres; and compete for our attention and working memory space (Kalyuga 2000; • synthesise information from several different sites. Hoven in press). While finding and using information on the Web is a useful life skill for Teachers (for example, Lipscomb 2002) have found that they have needed second language learners, it also provides opportunities for language to explicitly teach the structure of webpages through scaffolded activities, learning. As well as skimming and scanning to select texts, they also learn especially for learners with no or minimal exposure to the Web in their to read a variety of online texts for meaning, some of which are similar home language. Such explicit instruction has often been best achieved in linguistic features to print-based texts, but some of which are specific through print in the classroom, away from the distraction of colour, to the Internet. Additionally, they are challenged to read authentic texts; flashing pop-up windows and the mouse. however, this poses the problems of language level and readability. Our In addition to explicit, scaffolded teaching of the structures of Internet- teacher-researchers have found that even advanced second language specific texts, teachers have also found that their learners need instruction readers have difficulty reading these new Internet-specific texts if they in how to recognise more standard texts they find on the Web. Since have no experience with the Web in their home language (Lipscomb finding appropriate information on the Web requires skimming and 2002).These teachers have found that they need to explicitly teach not scanning, learners need to be able to scan for point of view, genre and only print literacy, but also the digital literacy (Glister 1997) or silicon other grammatical features (Mansfield 2002). Mansfield, for example, literacy (Snyder 2002) required to work with and understand the range found that his learners did not know how to do this and, as a result, of new texts on the screen. wasted considerable time reading texts that did not provide appropriate Usability research has shown that the most information such as factual information compared to personal experience [The CNN homepage] presented no common and readable homepages use a or point of view. problem to those students familiar three-column format (Nielsen 1998): the with the Internet. However those centre column containing content, the with poor Internet literacy were ‘lost’ left column being a table of contents and – unaware of where to look to source the right column providing functional the information. links.This research has also found that (Lipscomb 2002: 8) readable websites chunk information, 36 Using the Web to support language learning Reading webpages 37 Teaching suggestions order to compare the information from each text for reliability.With the class, develop criteria for determining reliability of information Not using email, chat or other CMC on the Web. Be sure to include the URL so students can use the information in the URL to help them decide. • Using printouts of webpages and screens, demonstrate offline the • Have students choose an online shopping site, go to it and select items three-column homepage design, embedded windows, scroll bars they would like to purchase. Ask them to compare the prices with and links. those at a local store. • Then, using a data projector or overhead projector, demonstrate offline • Divide students into groups and have each group choose a university the three-column homepage design, embedded windows, scroll bars or college they would like to study at. Have them search the site to and links offline. find out how to apply for a specific degree or course. Have groups • Demonstrate frames and non-frames versions of homepages. Show compare their findings and decide which has the simplest students how to resize frames to make the text easier to read. application process. • Use printed versions of different texts available on the Web such as • Ask students to choose a topic of interest, for example, movies, narrative and information texts, report and opinion texts. Have Australian animals, restaurants, a country. Ask them to write a report learners scan the texts and decide which genre each text is. on this topic, using information from at least three different websites. • Teach skimming skills. Provide students with URLs that take them to a variety of different genres such as narrative and information texts, Using email, chat or other CMC report and opinion texts. Have learners skim the texts and decide • Have students use a search engine to find websites on a chosen topic. which genre each text is. Have students compare the reliability of the Ask them to choose one of the sites, and cut and paste the URL into information from each text. Ask students to list the criteria they used an email to a classmate, indicating why they think it would be a useful to identify the different genres and also to determine the reliability of website for the topic. the information. • Divide students into groups and have each group access a weather site • Teach the features of a particular genre relevant to the course for a different city. Ask groups to collect specific information about objectives. Have students search the Web for a text of that genre. Ask the weather in that area, for example, minimum and maximum them to state why their chosen text meets the criteria for the genre. temperatures, rainfall. Tell groups to email the data they found to each • Teach the language of argument. Choose a topic of interest to other. Have each group prepare a ‘weather report’ to present to the students. Choose a topic for which students will have differing class using a presentation program. opinions. Divide the class into groups. Source Web texts of different genres on the topic. Assign each group a different text and have them read their text for its information.With whole class, compare the genre and register of each text. Have students write an argument essay on the topic using information from all genres. • Teach skimming and scanning skills. Source several websites on the same topic but use websites of differing reliability, for example, an advertising site, a university site, a government site, a primary school site. Print out the texts and have students skim and scan the texts in 38 Using the Web to support language learning Reading webpages 39 Lesson plans Lesson not using email, chat or other CMC Objective: Students will be able to determine the reliability of Lesson not using email, chat or other CMC information sourced from different websites. Objective: Students will be able to read information on websites. Materials: Internet-connected computers. Materials: Data projector, Internet-connected computers, Procedure: presentation program. • With the class, choose a topic of interest. Procedure: • Source texts on this topic from several different websites, for • Brainstorm and list questions students would like to ask about their example, an advertising site, an elementary school site, a government town or city, such as population, children’s holiday activities, festivals. site, a newspaper, a university site. Print out the texts. • From the list, develop a set of questions that are appropriate for • With the whole class, determine the reliability of each text. As a searching on the Web. result of this analysis, develop criteria for determining reliability • Using a data projector, use a search engine to find websites about of information on the Web. the town or city. • Source texts from several different websites with information on a • With students, choose the websites they want to investigate. different topic. • Divide the class into groups and assign each group a • Divide the class into groups and give each group a different URL. different website. • Have each group read the text and determine its reliability, based on • Have each group use its website to find as many answers as it can the jointly constructed criteria. to the questions. Have students write their answers. Extension: • Ask students to compare the answers from the different websites. • Have groups rate their websites based on the answers they were • Have students search the Web for another text on the same topic able to find to the questions. and determine its reliability. • Have students categorise the websites according to which is good • Have students compare one of the online texts determined to be for what kind of information and what kind of searches. reliable with information available in print from a reliable source. Extension: • Have students post the answers to the questions on the class webpage. • Organise students to write the answers to the questions using a presentation program and then present the information to the class using a data projector. • Encourage students to write to a website if they find errors in the information they collected. 40 Using the Web to support language learning Reading webpages 41 Lesson not using email, chat or other CMC Lesson not using email, chat or other CMC Objective: Students will be able to read homepages and obtain Objective: Students will identify different genres on the Web. information from the text. Materials: Internet-connected computers. Materials: Homepages with three-column formats, data projector, Procedure: Internet-connected computers. • Have students choose a topic of interest, for example, movies, Procedure: Australian animals, restaurants, a country, a festival. • Choose homepages whose structure follows that recommended by • Search the Web for a variety of genres on this topic, for example, researchers so as not to confuse students at the beginning. narratives, information texts, opinion texts. • Print out the homepages and give copies to students. • Divide the class into groups and give each group a different URL. • Identify the various features of homepages for students, for example, • Have groups read their text online and identify its genre. Ask them three-column structure, scrollbar, links. to name the features of the text that led them to identify the genre. • Ask comprehension questions about the information displayed on • Have groups report back to the class, summarising the information the homepage. Include both content information and navigation in their text and describing its generic features. information, such as menus, links. Extension: • Once students are familiar with the structure of homepages in print, move to the computer. • Have students individually write a report on their topic of interest, • Using a data projector, demonstrate the various features of based on the information gathered from all of the websites. homepages. (Use homepages whose structure follows that recommended by researchers.) • Ask comprehension questions about the information displayed on the homepage. Include both content information and navigation information, such as menus, links. • Have students compare reading homepages in print and reading them online. Ask them what is different and what is more difficult and why. Extension: • Have students answer questions about the content of a homepage that does not follow the traditional design. Have them explain what was different and difficult about this task. • Have students design their ideal homepage and explain why it is ideal. 42 Using the Web to support language learning Reading webpages 43 Issues to explore CHAPTER FIVE Issue Teaching offline Content-based instruction Do students benefit from having particular skills demonstrated offline? Exploration – action research Content-based instruction (CBI) includes approaches to language • Provide students with a printout of an Internet-specific text such as learning and teaching in which learners engage in a topic of interest or homepages or the results of a Web search. importance to them (Williams 2004) and where the form and sequence of language instruction is dictated by the content. As learners engage in • Teach students the features of the Internet-specific text. CBI using the Web, they engage in tasks that expand their language and • Have students answer questions about the text. Include questions literacy skills, as well as their knowledge of specific content areas relevant about navigation as well as about content. to their lives. As a result of CBI (depending on the CBI model used), • Observe and take notes on whether students can do the task easily, learners will be able to: what questions they ask and what problems they have. • plan how to use the Web to select information and to communicate • Using a data projector, teach students the features of another Internet- with peers or others; specific text. • collaborate and negotiate in English with peers to meet objectives; • Ask questions about the text. Include questions about navigation as well as about content. • evaluate information on the Web; and • Observe and take notes on whether students can do the task easily. • synthesise information from several different websites. • With the class, decide which demonstration medium is most effective CBI can be organised in a number of different ways (Brinton, Snow and for your learners – print or computer. Wesche 1989) by using: • themes (such as the law) or topics (such as tenants’ rights), often Issue Scaffolding reading on the Web chosen by the students themselves, around which English language Lipscomb (2002) found that she needed to explicitly teach and scaffold instruction is planned; for learners how to read texts on the Web, especially for students with • adjunct programs where language teachers support learners in minimal or no exposure to the Internet even in their L1. discipline-specific courses; and • sheltered programs where a language teacher teaches the content so Exploration – questions to think about that it is accessible to learners who are not fluent in the language. • Think about your particular learners.What exposure do they have to While the Web can be used in all such programs, its major use is for the the Internet in their L1 and in English? first approach and so this will be the focus of this chapter.Themes or • To what extent do you need to scaffold and explicitly teach your topics include a range of different instructional models, from teacher- students how to read texts on the Web? selected topics to project-based learning. For the former, the Web provides a library of materials from different sources and in different genres from which teachers can select. Many of our teacher-researchers chose, often in collaboration with learners, a topic of interest to explore such as Australian animals (Mansfield 2002), cyclone warnings (Lipscomb 2002), 44 Using the Web to support language learning Content-based instruction 45 The Melbourne Cup (King Koi 2002), and job searching (Tun 2002). information.The Internet can be used at any or all of the stages in Even though these researchers found that learners needed to be guided in the project. their search of the Web, once learners could navigate and read the Web Brainstorming can be done via email or on a shared space on a network; (Murray and McPherson 2004), they found themes engaging and planning can be done via email or a discussion list; interviews to gather therefore motivating (Norton 2002). information can be done via Teachers can also use the Web as a source of material for classroom email; data can be gathered To my surprise, most students were far more activities that do not require the learners to go online. from reading information interested in the topic of Australian animals on webpages; reports can than music, or anything else I could think of. Project-based learning, one implementation of CBI, is the use of simulated real-world tasks that are complex and open, ones that challenge learners be written in the form of (Mansfield 2002: 2) to think critically and creatively a webpage.To utilise the We were doing letter writing in class. I made (see, for example, Debski 2005). Internet in this way requires the mistake of showing them how to add clip Project-based learning has been explicit teaching of computer skills: presenting reports on a webpage, art and borders to create their own stationery. implemented in a variety of using Powerpoint to present a report, using email and discussion lists to In that instant I lost them.They had great fun educational contexts, with the discuss issues, sending documents as attachments via email and navigating experimenting and making Christmas cards. goal of motivating learners to the Web. (King Koi 2002: 4) construct knowledge and link school learning with problems they encounter in the non- educational world. In language teaching, project-based activities provide a bridge between in-class tasks that focus on language learning and using language outside the class (Fried-Booth 1997). Researchers and teachers have found that learners use language to solve complex problems as they work on their collaborative projects. Computer-based technology provides a mechanism for learners to search and collect the information for their projects and to collaborate with their groups to achieve their goals. Project-based learning needs to be open so that learners can explore their topic in ways that are meaningful to them. Several steps are critical in project-based learning: choosing a topic, collaboratively planning the project, conducting research, developing a product and evaluating the product. Learners need to be actively involved in each stage. For project-based learning to be more than assigning tasks to students, learners need to be explicitly taught the language skills needed to engage in each step of the process – offering and negotiating topics, planning and negotiating a process, searching and selecting information from the Web, report writing and evaluating language and 46 Using the Web to support language learning Content-based instruction 47 Teaching suggestions – present their graphic to the class and explain it; or, have the students load their graphic onto the class webpage. Not requiring students to have computer skills • Teach the language and structure of information texts and have students, in groups: (See also Chapter Four for additional suggestions.) – decide on a topic of interest; • With the class, brainstorm topics of interest and concern.Then have – divide the topic into subtopics so that each student has a subtopic; students vote for the topic they would most like to research. and • With the class, brainstorm topics of interest and concern and have – search the Web for information on their topic and write an students rank the topics. information text on that topic. • Search the Web for a text on a topic of interest to the class. Use the • Have students search weather sites for specific cities and monitor their text for classroom-based activities such as cloze, matching headings to weather over a two-week period. Have students record the text or having students reassemble a text that has been cut into information on charts around the room. At the end of the two weeks, paragraphs or sentences. ask students to present the data using bar graphs or pie charts, using a • Choose one topic. Find print-based and Web-based information on wordprocessor or presentation package. the topic and ask students to compare and contrast the information. • Organise groups of students to do collaborative projects by sending • Provide students with printouts of a variety of different genres on via email to each other attachments of work they have found on the their chosen topic from the Web such as narrative and information Web, for example, different information on a project about a particular texts, report and opinion texts. Have learners scan the texts and decide country or culture or a recent news item. which texts provide the most useful information for their specific • Have groups of students do collaborative projects in their field of project or task. study by emailing to their classmates attachments of work they have • Source several different websites on the same topic, but using websites created individually through searching the Web. of differing reliability, for example, an advertising site, a university site, • Have students choose a topic and search the Web individually for a government site, a primary school site. Print out the texts. Have several sites with information on the topic. Ask students to compare students decide which text provides the most useful information on the information from each site on the basis of genre, reliability, the topic and then explain why their chosen text is more useful. accessibility of language and interest level. Requiring students to have computer skills • Teach comparison and contrast language by having students: – choose a topic of interest in the current news; – read a local newspaper online and then read an online newspaper from their own country (www.onlinenewspapers.com is a useful site to find such newspapers); – compare and contrast the news in the local paper with that from their own country; – display these similarities and differences using a graphic, for example, a Venn diagram; and 48 Using the Web to support language learning Content-based instruction 49 Lesson plans Lesson using email, chat or other CMC Objective: Students will be able to determine the reliability of Lesson requiring students to have computer skills information sourced from different websites. Objective: Students will be able to retrieve and synthesise information Materials: Internet-connected computers. from webpages to complete a joint project. Procedure: Materials: Internet-connected computers. • With the class, choose a topic of interest. Procedure: • Source texts on this topic from several websites, for example, an • Teach the language and structure of information texts. advertising site, an elementary school site, a government site, a • Brainstorm a theme of interest to the whole class and then topics newspaper, a university site.Then print them out. within the theme. • With the whole class, determine the reliability of each text. • Divide the class into groups and assign a topic to each group • As a result of this analysis, develop criteria for determining within the larger theme.Tell groups how many websites they need reliability of information on the Web. to find information from, the types of websites to use, and the • Source texts from several websites with information on length their final information text should be. another topic. • Have each group search the Web for information on their topic. • Divide the class into groups and give each group a different URL. • Teach students how to summarise information from texts and how • Have each group read the text and determine its reliability based on to use data from different sources for a written text. the jointly constructed criteria. • Have students collaborate in their group offline to write an • Have students decide which of their criteria are more useful than information text. others in determining reliability. • Have students display their information texts around the classroom or in a class folder. Extension: Extension: • Have students search the Web for another text on the same topic and determine its reliability. • Ask groups to post their information texts on the class webpage. With the students’ permission, this webpage can be shared with • Ask students to compare one of the texts determined to be reliable future classes. with a print-based text from a reliable source. • Have groups email their information text to the whole class. • Have groups compile a list of questions that can be answered from the information in their texts. Have students use the answers to these questions as the outline for their presentation or posting on the website. • Have the students collate the information from the different groups to create a class text on the theme and its subtopics.This text can be shared with students in another class. 50 Using the Web to support language learning Content-based instruction 51 Lesson not using email, chat or other CMC Lesson using email, chat or other CMC Objective: Students will be able to use websites to collect and Objective: Students will be able to collaborate on a project in which synthesise information. they retrieve information from the Web, write a report and Materials: Internet-connected computers, electronic spreadsheet. share information. Procedure: Materials: Internet-connected computers, presentation program. • Introduce students to the topic of nutrition. Procedure: • Divide the class into groups of five and have students access websites • Teach the language and structure of reports and the language of about food and nutrition, a balanced diet and shopping online. interview questions. • Ask each group to plan a week’s menu for a family of four. Provide • Divide the class into groups and have each group choose a topic the following guidelines about the menu: it must meet nutrition for their project. Ask groups to choose a topic people are likely to guidelines and must be within a budget assigned by the teacher. have opinions about, preferably something of relevance to their local • Have each group prepare the week’s budget, using an electronic community, for example, city services, community festivals, children’s spreadsheet and using prices from an online shopping site. holiday activities, a restaurant. • Have groups present their menu and budget to the class. • Have each student in a group choose one aspect of the topic, • Organise the class to vote for the menu that is the most nutritious for example, restaurant food, service, location. and economic. • Have each student search the Web for a photo and information on • With students, discuss what language and Internet skills they their chosen aspect of the topic. have learned. • Based on the information gathered, have students develop a questionnaire about their chosen aspect of the topic. Extension: • Have students conduct interviews with people from the community • Have groups post their menu and budget on the class homepage. about their chosen topic, some online via email and others face-to-face. • Ask each student to copy an appropriate photo and write a report on their particular aspect of the topic, synthesising the information they have gathered from the Web and from their interviews. • Have groups present their joint project to the class, using a presentation program. Extension: • Have students post their presentation on the class website. • Create a book about the topic to share with other classes or people in the community. • Have different groups create different types of webpages or books for different audiences, for example, for young children, for older beginner ESL learners. 52 Using the Web to support language learning Content-based instruction 53 Issues to explore Issue Content-based instruction Does working with relevant content motivate students? Issue Project-based learning Exploration – questions to think about Do students benefit from project-based learning? • Think about your particular learners.What types of content would Exploration – action research motivate them? Why? • Have students engage in a project using the Web that meets the • Think about learners in an entirely different context from yours principles of project-based learning (Moss and Van Duzer 1998), (for example, young learners/adult learners, ESL/EFL, vocational which state that project-based learning: classes/academic preparation classes).What types of content would – builds on previous work; motivate them? Why? – integrates speaking, listening, reading and writing skills; – incorporates collaborative team work, problem solving, negotiating and other interpersonal skills; – requires learners to engage in independent work; – challenges learners to use English in new and different contexts outside the class; – involves learners in choosing the focus of the project and in the planning process; – engages learners in acquiring new information important to them; – leads to clear outcomes; and – incorporates self-evaluation, peer and teacher evaluation. • Observe and take notes on how students collaborate and how they synthesise information. Note particularly how they negotiate, organise and arrive at a consensus. • Evaluate the language they use to be able to complete this project. • Decide what students have learned doing this project (language, computer skills and life skills). 54 Using the Web to support language learning Content-based instruction 55 CHAPTER SIX knowledge structures while increasing their skills of communication in a variety of spoken and written genres. WebQuests WebQuest projects can be tailored to meet individual learner needs or to address specific learning areas.Teachers have reported positive results and achievements for learners who previously demonstrated low levels of ‘WebQuest’ is the name given to an instructional model for Web-based motivation, below group norm performances, or social disadvantage learning projects that draw on information and communication resources (Al-Bataineh, Hamann and Wiegel 2000). Equally, teachers have reported on the Internet. Originally developed as a means of helping school similar results for students who were highly motivated, well-resourced teachers integrate computer technology into curriculum learning areas and with substantial experience of using information technologies (Dodge 1995, 1997; Starr 2000, 2004),WebQuests are now used widely in for learning. diverse educational sectors and curriculum areas. These teachers report that WebQuests engaged learners’ interest and The WebQuest instructional design is based on constructivist principles motivation, encouraged critical thinking and supported cooperative and is sometimes referred to as inquiry-based learning.The constructivist learning.Working in cooperative learning groups, students improved their approach emphasises the role of students as primary agents of learning. spoken language skills through interaction with peers, content experts Learners engaged in WebQuests find, analyse, classify, synthesise and and community members and improved their writing skills when creating evaluate information they source on the Internet, and integrate new information texts in electronic, print and audiovisual formats. concepts into established knowledge structures.The originator of WebQuest projects are usually designed with a scaffolding framework that WebQuests, Bernie Dodge, describes the concept as ‘an inquiry-oriented helps students navigate through the process, and includes: activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web’ (Dodge 1995: 10). • the goals of the WebQuest; Teachers have used WebQuests successfully with students of all ages • step-by step guides through the process; and levels (see, for example, Burleson 2001; Emmert 2003; Joyce and • tasks that structure the development of required skills; Stohr-Hunt 2004).They design WebQuest projects for students of ESOL • guides to resources and information; and (see, for example, Brown 1999), English for Specific Purposes (see, for • clear descriptions and models example, Marco 2002), academic ESL (see, for example, Emmert 2003; of the outcome students must When students are asked to understand, Peterson, Caverley and MacDonald 2003), citizenship and social sciences produce. hypothesise or problem-solve an issue (see, for example, Burleson 2001), literary studies, history, anthropology, that confronts the real world, they face an WebQuests call for careful mathematics and a range of science subjects (see, for example, Dutt-Doner authentic task, not something that only planning, and interested teachers 2002; Perrone, Clark and Repenning 1996). carries meaning in a school classroom. will find a great deal of (March 1998) TESOL teachers find that WebQuests can broaden their learners’ computer information and support to help and information management skills while furthering language and literacy them on the WebQuest website development. Using a WebQuest framework, students can work (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/).This individually or in cooperative groups to collect, analyse, and synthesise website offers training materials for teachers on how to prepare effective information sourced from the Internet, then transform it in a variety of WebQuests and gives many WebQuest examples in a variety of school different textual forms. Students demonstrate new understandings and subject areas, rubrics for evaluating WebQuests and an online template to 56 Using the Web to support language learning WebQuests 57 help teachers plan each stage of their own WebQuest.There is even a Teaching suggestions professional development activity for groups of teachers that leads them through a process for evaluating WebQuests. Requiring Web skills WebQuests can be time-consuming to design. ESOL teachers need to • When planning a WebQuest for the first time, consider combining be especially careful that the with other classes. It may help to share ideas with other teachers and The answer the student teams develop can be websites they choose for their divide the planning tasks among you. posted, emailed or presented to real people for students are appropriate for the • Before creating your first WebQuest, review those that are published feedback and evaluation.This authentic purpose.They need to be sure on the Internet.There might be a WebQuest already available that assessment motivates students to do their best. that their student teams have suits your purposes, or that can be modified to suit your class. (March 1998) the computer, Internet and • Key ESL WebQuests into your search engine to find those that focus online literacy skills necessary particularly on language learning. Many well-known ESL websites to undertake WebQuest tasks, have a section devoted to WebQuests that have a stronger focus on especially the navigation skills of keeping track of where they are and where they have been. Equally, a well-designed WebQuest should language than those with a curriculum focus. challenge learners to use speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in • WebQuests can be used to introduce second language learners to new and meaningful contexts, while providing opportunities to extend Internet-based research.These learners may find search engine results these and develop new skills. difficult to evaluate, so a WebQuest that has a list of sites already chosen for them will assist them to concentrate on the communication tasks. • Use ESL WebQuests to teach note-taking, report writing and presentation skills and other academic skills required at the tertiary level. Assessment and evaluation is more manageable when the teacher has chosen the sites and is familiar with the content. • Teachers can use ESL websites as a basis for WebQuests. Mature learners can learn to evaluate their individual learning needs by selecting and evaluating the learning resources on these sites, then reporting to the whole class on their effectiveness. In doing this, they will become familiar with the language learning resources on the Internet while developing independent learning skills and increasing their experience of using ESL resources on the Internet. • When planning WebQuests, think carefully about how students will report their results. Ensure they all have opportunities to present their findings in ways that enhance their speaking and writing skills. • For adolescent and young adult learners,WebQuests can be a fun way to explore topics of interest to their age group.They can explore websites for sports, music and arts while developing critical thinking 58 Using the Web to support language learning WebQuests 59 skills and exploring attitudes and values and how language is used to Lesson plans express these. • For some learners it may be useful to include tasks that require them Lesson to familiarise students with WebQuests to evaluate the authenticity of information on some websites. As learners mature in their use of the Internet, they can learn not only Objective: Students will identify and describe community services available to immigrants in their geographic area. how to evaluate the quality of information on the website, but also the features of the site that indicate the reliability of the information Materials: Internet-connected computers. (see also Chapter Two). Procedure: • WebQuests can be useful for adult learners living in new • Have a class discussion about the kinds of services needed by communities.They can explore unfamiliar cultural norms and immigrants in their first 12 months in the country and those that practices with their classmates and critically analyse their meanings. students are familiar with. • When your students have experienced some WebQuests and are • Discuss students’ experiences of seeking these services, the spoken familiar with the procedures, allow them to design one for another and written interactions they experienced and the role language class group to complete. played in the success or difficulty of these interactions. • Give students a simple description of WebQuests. • Explain that the goals of this WebQuest are to: identify the kinds of services available to immigrants in the local area; identify any gaps in these services; and learn and use new language skills to interact with local people and community service organisations in order to locate and use services. • Design a rubric to evaluate students’ language, communication and research skills. (See http://webquest.sdsu.edu/ for help with rubrics.) Ensure students have this rubric for reference from the beginning. • Organise resources such as: a list of URLs of useful websites, or if creating a class website for their WebQuest, include a page of links to relevant organisations; a list of community organisations in the area on the class website or in print; a local community services directory, if available;Yellow pages telephone books, especially of the local area; guest speakers from local community service organisations; and visits to local child care centres, health centres, aged services centres. • Divide the class into small teams or allow students to organise their own teams. Have each team choose a group in the community service to focus on, for example, preschool children’s services, school age children’s services, adult groups, family groups, or people interested in particular sports and hobbies. 60 Using the Web to support language learning WebQuests 61 Issues to explore • Have each team identify the needs of their chosen community group by carrying out surveys and interviews with their classmates, friends, family and others, for example. Issue Communication skills • Ask teams to find the organisations, groups and people who offer When gathering information for WebQuests, your students may need to these services and then locate and make contact with them. Have interview people in the community, or request certain kinds of teams get information about the services they currently offer by information. How well prepared are they for these communication using the resources you have provided (see the previous page). activities? What spoken discourse skills do students need in order to • Have teams report to the class on their findings on the range of request information in spoken exchanges? services available to their chosen community group. Allow students to choose from a range of reporting options, for example: Exploration – action research flowcharts, maps and diagrams; Powerpoint presentations; webpages; written reports. Provide links to these models on the Internet or in • Teach students the discourse structures of transactional interactions. classroom resource materials. Ask guest speakers to use these models, • Have students list the information they need from a community where possible and model these yourself in your lessons. group they wish to approach. Extension: • Ensure students are familiar with essential vocabulary related to the organisation and its services. • Have students evaluate the range of services available and identify gaps based on their needs analysis survey and the group reports. • Audit students’ spoken discourse skills, for example, openings and • Ask students to describe issues of cultural sensitivity that might arise closings; requests for repetition, clarification and feedback; from people using (or not using) community services. and turn-taking. • Have students list issues that arose from the perspectives of • Have students rehearse with you. Challenge their skills by feigning community service providers, for example, access to funding, extent misunderstanding, terseness and other responses. of reach into their constituency. • Ask students to try out their skills by making requests for information • Ask students to evaluate their language experiences, difficulties that from your school office. arose and the strategies they used to overcome them. • Evaluate the results of the trial: did they return with the appropriate information and experience success, or did they have difficulty? Ask the school office member to give you and the students constructive feedback. • In your teaching, prioritise the discourse features that were most problematic. Issue Reading strategies for print-based and Web-based texts WebQuest activities usually involve a great deal of reading from webpages. Do print-based information texts and Web-based reading texts require the same kinds of reading skills and strategies? 62 Using the Web to support language learning WebQuests 63 Exploration – action research CHAPTER SEVEN • Give your students a print-based text on a familiar topic in a familiar genre to read. Learning management systems • Give your students the URL of a website text of similar length, genre and level of reading difficulty, and on the same topic. • Assess students’ comprehension of both texts. Use the same Web-based learning management systems such as WebCT, comprehension assessment strategy for both texts, for example, design Blackboard, LAMS (Learning Activity Management System: see a flowchart, draw a picture, answer questions. Be sure that the answers http://www.melcoe.mq.edu.au/projects/lams.htm), eBoard and Lotus can only be drawn from one of the texts, not both. LMS (formerly Learning Space) bring together communicating on the • Analyse the results. Are they the same across both texts? Do some Internet (McPherson and Murray 2003) and the delivery of content in students display different reading abilities across the two texts? If so, an online environment.These systems can be used to support face-to-face talk to the students about the reasons for the difficulty and plan future instruction or for complete online distance learning. In either case, such reading lessons that address the differences. systems help learners to: • participate in a course from a distance or at their convenience; Issue Language learning using WebQuests • collaborate and negotiate in English with peers to meet objectives; Exploration – questions to think about and • What kinds of Web-reading skills do students need in order to locate • review course content in their own time. information in Web-based reading texts? In addition, they can help teachers reflect on both the product and • What kinds of written language skills do students need to request process of learning (Johnson 2003) because student interactions can be information by email from community organisations? captured and archived.They • How do we evaluate the language gains students achieve through Preparation is the same as for any multi-level help teachers integrate the Web their experiences in WebQuests? class – extremely time consuming and as an information source with challenging but also extremely rewarding. teacher-produced materials (King Koi 2002: 4) and with interactive online communication. Also, they provide the opportunity for individualised instruction to meet the needs of disparate learners in the same class (King Koi 2002). However, such advantages come at a considerable cost of time to develop a seamless online learning environment tailored to the specific learning objectives of their learners (see, for example, Palloff and Pratt 1999). Most commercially available learning management systems include tools such as chat, email, discussion lists, tracking of student progress, auto-marked tests, calendars, individual student homepages or work areas, group project organisation, course content pages and systems for 64 Using the Web to support language learning Learning management systems 65 collecting and collating student marks. Some systems also have audio One open source LMS, Moodle (http://moodle.org), has been developed capabilities. Most teachers who use systems such as WebCT make use of by an educator based on social constructivist pedagogy and is contributed the threaded discussion tool on topics in to by many language teachers.This system provides interactivity in I also think it [online discussion] the course content. teacher-created activities (such as drag-and-drop matching), video and saves time in that it gives students All research and advice on using a audio features, as well as the more usual LMS features such as chat, more time to process, question, and learning management system (LMS) notes discussion lists, and quiz tools. get feedback as opposed to just that merely uploading information directly being in a classroom setting. from print text onto the Web is not (Dabbagh 2002) appropriate and does not facilitate student learning. Rather, the most effective use of content delivery is with the addition of interactive activities for learners to respond to. Since these are not automatically built into the system, they require additional computer programming skills on the part of the teacher or the institution, as well as advice from instructional designers. However, most of these systems are only available at the institutional level. Open source systems such as Stanford University’s CourseWork (http://coursework.stanford.edu/) or simpler systems such as eBoard (http://www.eboard.com/) have fewer tools, but are more readily available for teachers and simpler to upload information to. Most open source systems do not have built-in communication tools so that the teacher has to link to communication tools such as email, rather than it being an integrated part of the LMS. One of our teacher-researchers (King Koi 2002) used eBoard as the online environment for all her online class activities.This system uses a corkboard with post-it notes to display the table of contents. Over several semesters, King Koi developed a series of modules, which were ‘a collection of Internet sites for students to access easily and quickly’ (page 2). Each module was on a specific theme such as ESL sites, Australia, study/work, each of which had subtopics such as study skills, job search skills, resumés.Then, under each subtopic was a list of links to appropriate websites. In this way, she, as teacher, selected the websites for her students to visit, thus alleviating the problem of students finding inappropriate sites. Since the site she constructed was password-protected, students were able to post their own messages to share with their class and often with future classes. 66 Using the Web to support language learning Learning management systems 67 Teaching suggestions topic.When students do their presentations, use an LMS with audio capability. Upload the audio files for peer comment to the class Requiring online and face-to-face interaction webpage. Provide students with detailed criteria for peer comment. • Using a data projector, demonstrate the drafting and editing tools that Requiring online interaction only allow students to undo errors or make changes to their messages on • Divide the class into groups and have each group work on a the class discussion site, and how to post messages to threads. Allow presentation using the discussion list tool of an LMS. Have students students time to practise and encourage them to check that the share documents and other resources online to produce their message appears as they intended. presentation by pasting them to the class shared area of the LMS. Get • Using a data projector, demonstrate how to delete messages on a them to load their presentation onto the class shared area in the LMS. discussion list. This can also be done with audio, rather than print, if the LMS has • Divide the class into groups and have each group work on an oral audio capability. presentation. Have students within each group share documents and • Set a writing task and ask students to post their drafts to the class other resources online to produce their presentation. Get each group shared area on the LMS. Put students in pairs and provide a rubric to present their presentation online. for students to evaluate their partner’s paper for homework. Have • In groups, have students discuss a topic of interest or one that is part students provide feedback to their partner via the email tool. of the course content. Have each group summarise their discussion • Have students practise summarising by: and post their summary onto the class discussion list. – loading content or links to websites onto the class shared space on • Set a writing task and ask students to post their drafts to the student the LMS; work area on the LMS. Put students in pairs and provide a rubric for – dividing the class into groups and allocating different content to students to evaluate their partner’s paper for homework. Have each group; students provide feedback to their partners in class. – getting groups to access their content on the class shared area; and • Choose a topic that meets course goals and divide it into subtopics. Load content or links to webpages on each subtopic on the LMS. – having groups use a group online forum to prepare a summary of Divide the class into groups and assign each group a task related to its their content and then paste it in the class shared area. subtopic. Ask students within each group to complete the task by interacting in group discussion lists online. Have students present their completed task orally to the class. • Have students choose a topic about which they have different views. Divide the class into groups and have each group discuss the topic in class. Record the discussions and transcribe sections of the discussions. Repeat the activity using another topic but have students conduct the discussions on the discussion list of the LMS. Print out the discussion. Have students compare the language used online with the language used in face-to-face discussions. • Have students choose a topic and prepare an oral presentation on the 68 Using the Web to support language learning Learning management systems 69 Lesson plans Lesson requiring students to have computer skills Objective: Students will be able to identify and use different genres in Lesson requiring students to have computer skills online discussions. Objective: Students will be able to collaborate online to produce a Materials: Internet-connected computers, an LMS, a printout of a group presentation. threaded discussion list conversation. Materials: Internet-connected computers, an LMS. Procedure: Procedure: Part 1 – offline • Teach the linguistic features of a report. • Analyse a threaded discussion list conversation with the whole class, • Teach the language of agreement and disagreement and of helping students to identify the markers inserted automatically by negotiation that would be appropriate for an online forum. the computer program (for example, From:) or through choice by • As a class, choose a topic of interest to the class and then the sender (for example, >>> to represent different turns). brainstorm different subtopics of this topic. • Divide the class into groups and assign each group a different topic. • Divide the class into groups and assign each group a different Ensure the topics range from very personal to abstract so students subtopic. will write in a variety of genres, for example, narrative, recount, • Upload content and links to websites on each of the subtopics. report, argument. Pre-teach the features of the different genres • Have students read the content on the LMS and then link to if necessary. several websites. Part 2 – online • Using an online forum, have students negotiate to write a report • Have students post their responses to the assigned topic to their on their subtopic for presentation to the whole class. group’s discussion list; ensure that the discussion list has been • Have students present their report on the class shared space on adjusted so it reports threads based on topic. the LMS. • Have students print out their group’s conversation and identify Extension: turns and genre features. • Have students attach photos from webpages to their reports. Part 3 – offline • Organise students to send their reports to other class members. • With the whole class, compare turn-taking and genre features in the different discussions. • Work with students to develop a ‘theory’ of how the context shapes the generic features of texts. • Have groups exchange their discussions so that a group that wrote narratives exchanges with a group that wrote reports; have groups choose one posting and rewrite in a different genre. Extension: • Have students compare the generic features of their discussion list postings with a set of their in-class print writing. Help students analyse the differences so they can see that it is the context that shapes the text, rather than the medium. 70 Using the Web to support language learning Learning management systems 71 Issues to explore Lesson requiring students to have computer skills Objective: Students will be able to use appropriate language in Issue The effectiveness of learning management systems online discussions. Do students benefit from learning via a learning management system? Materials: Internet-connected computers, an LMS, tape recorder. Procedure: Exploration – action research Part 1 – offline • Observe a colleague using WebCT or another system; ‘lurk’ on the • Divide the class into groups of five and assign each group a different online student discussion in that colleague’s class. topic about which people have varying opinions. • Interview the colleague about the kinds of activities she has students • Have each group discuss their topic in class. Record each group’s engage in, their level of engagement, their language development and discussion and transcribe short sections of each discussion, especially the time it takes for her to work with learners online. ones around language features taught, for example, agreeing • Observe one of your own classes.Take notes on the kinds of activities and disagreeing. students engage in, their level of engagement, their language Part 2 – online development and the time it takes for you to prepare and respond to • Assign each group another topic about which people have student learning. varying opinions. • Determine which tools on the learning management system are the • Have each group discuss the topic in the online discussion of most effective for student learning. the LMS. • Develop a course for your students using the tool you deem most • Print out the online discussions. effective. Part 3 – offline • Observe and take notes on student engagement and learning and • In class, have each group compare the linguistic features of their your own time spent on the course. face-to-face discussion with their online discussion. • Continue this cycle until you have determined which learning • Have each group list the similarities and differences in linguistic management system tools support learning and which add too much features of the online and face-to-face discussions. to the teacher’s workload. Part 4 – online Issue Should students do courses entirely online? • Ask each group to paste their findings on the class shared space of Is the most appropriate use of learning management systems as an adjunct the LMS. to face-to-face instruction or as a delivery mechanism for an entire • Have each group compare the findings of other groups with their course? own, using the online discussion tool. Extension: Exploration – questions to think about • Ask the class to develop a list of linguistic features of discussions • Think about your particular learners.Which mode best suits their for both online and face-to-face modes to be posted on the needs? Why? class webpage. • Think about which types of learners could benefit from an entirely online delivered course.Why would they benefit? 72 Using the Web to support language learning Learning management systems 73 Issue Flexibility CHAPTER EIGHT Vazquez (2002) quotes a teacher who changed his lesson plan to take advantage of a ‘learning moment’. Creating webpages Exploration – questions to think about • What advice do you have for other teachers about how to be flexible When the Internet became more widely available to language teaching to take advantage of unexpected events resulting from online schools and programs, ESL/EFL teachers saw possibilities for language teaching? teaching and learning that went beyond information seeking, • How can teacher education and professional development programs communicating by email, chat, MOOs and MUDs. teach such flexibility? Some teachers saw opportunities for developing students’ writing skills with the Web’s function as ‘publisher’.The Web’s open environment allows any individual to publish their own materials, and language teachers were quick to see the motivational effects of publishing students’ own work on the Web. One advantage of publishing on the Web is its immediacy. Students can see their work published virtually as soon as it is written. And after the materials have been published students can continue to edit, amend and update their work at any time, with ease. Early adopters quickly developed skills in writing Hypertext Markup Language (html), the programming script for the World Wide Web.They taught their ESL students to write simple webpages in html for personal and class websites. Now, Web-authoring can easily be done by students at any level of second language proficiency and even with elementary computer skills. Teachers are discovering that Web editors bundled with commercial wordprocessing applications have simplified the task enormously. Teachers and students who consider themselves not proficient with html can be guided through a Web editor by its tutorial, allowing more attention to the design of language tasks and texts to be published and avoiding the technicalities of manually writing html and uploading files (Endres 2002). Teacher webpages are a useful way to collect and collate resources and materials for students and for directing students towards resources that will facilitate their learning. In her class, King Koi (2002) prepares a webpage with links to resources that help her students achieve the 74 Using the Web to support language learning Creating webpages 75 learning tasks assigned at each lesson. As well as links to ESL sites, she students said their computer skills had improved a lot and 62 per cent has tutorials for letter-writing, puzzles and games, online newspapers, stated their English skills had improved a lot. Webpage activities were dictionaries, and TV and radio sites. She creates a class information nominated as a particularly useful part of the course. section in which she and students can upload personal information for Teachers planning to each other, for example, photographs, messages, and announcements. begin Web-authoring for The students with more advanced (computer) Her site is password-protected so only she and her students can access themselves or their class knowledge used their understanding to circumvent it from the ISP hosting it. may find the advice of L2 difficulties by using the Ctrl+F function to Puetter (2002) describes a more experienced TESOL locate vocabulary on the page rather than scanning My pages therefore are not an electronic version different model for a class colleagues helpful.They for textual information, and by cutting and pasting of the printed page, but contain elements that webpage. He creates a language recommend using website sentences rather than writing them. reflect an understanding of the language learning webpage in which design principles that take (Puetter 2002) learning and acquisition process. students link from his page to an into account the needs (Puetter 2002) online story or article in the of the user or reader local newspaper. Students use (Fox 1998; Kelly 2000; Burch 2001; Nielsen 2002).They advise teachers interactive functions on his to be very familiar with software before embarking on projects with purpose-built site to link to the article, locate a set of comprehension students (Endres 2002) and emphasise that they should give their first questions, and record their responses. He finds that by designing his own priority to the design of good language learning activities and tasks. webpages he can marry students’ two main needs of content and Some teachers report that class webpages help to manage large classes, language development. especially when collecting student assignments and giving feedback (see, Soltesz (1996) taught html to for example, King Koi 2002). Many report that students who previously I became curious as to ways my students could use his second-year engineering disliked writing tasks became more motivated and produced better the Internet more as a means of communication. students in an English for quality work. Could I make the communication via the Internet Academic Purposes course so Students and teachers report that an additional benefit of using class more ‘two-way’? How could my students ‘send’ as they could create their own websites to develop language skills has been improved computer skills and well as ‘receive’ information via the Internet? webpages on which to these they valued as important educational skills to acquire (Endres 2002; (Endres 2002) publish their reports and Kong Koi 2002). assignments. He reported that the students were very motivated to create attractive webpages and took great pains with their grammar, syntax and spelling as well as with the design of their websites. When Endres (2002) suggested to the students in his ESL writing class that they publish their own biographies on a student webpage, at first they ‘couldn’t see the point’.Why would anyone want to read their page? Who would read it? What was so interesting about them? However, when completing a questionnaire at the end of the course, 75 per cent of 76 Using the Web to support language learning Creating webpages 77 Teaching suggestions • Explain issues of copyright and the hazards or bad manners of copying and pasting from other people’s sites. Requiring no Web skills • Encourage students to go outside the class to get information for their website.They can interview other students, class guest speakers, • Ease students into an understanding of the versatile nature of website members of the local community or local politicians. Keeping the publishing by creating a class website on the school Intranet or on a information to local issues helps to give the site a ‘community’ feel. private site. Create two to three pages of classwork information, photos and short biographies of staff and students. Update it regularly Requiring Web skills so students become familiar with the notion of the changing nature • Organise students into teams with responsibilities for the website.The of Web-based information. more technically minded students can learn to create navigation links • When planning out of class excursions, take along a camera and take and upload files; some can be responsible for eliciting contributions photos of interesting sights, events and student activities. As a class from classmates or other people; and others can have an editorial role activity, have students write short descriptive pieces about the photos and proofread items selected for publication. and publish them on the website. • Ask students to view and evaluate other class websites in your • Ask students to bring in their own photos and interesting pieces of institution or those they have found on the Web. Discuss the kinds information or stories. Encourage them to write about them in their of information they find interesting and useful and what ideas it own words and publish them on the website. generates for their own website. • When students are reluctant to write and publish their own • To get students into the habit of checking their site, have a regular biographies, brainstorm other topics of interest such as your school class activity in which you view the website together, discuss the history, local sites of interest, favourite sports and sports heroes, an new items, and elicit new ideas for making the site interesting and interesting job. effective. Let them see you make editorial changes ‘on the spot’ to • Encourage students interested or skilled in design to suggest new show how easily it can be done. layouts, colour schemes, font styles and so on. Show these students • Think about making links with another class in another part of the how to change the design features of the class website and allow country or overseas. It will increase your students’ motivation to them to take turns in displaying their different design styles. know that another class reads their website. And for your class, visiting • Over time, encourage students to take responsibility for the design another class’s website gives them reading opportunities on a website and editing of the class website. Some may prefer the writing tasks that is at their language level and their level of interest. while others may become involved in design and navigation styles. • Start reluctant writers by involving them in group writing tasks where all contribute a short piece to begin with. Ensure they choose topics they are interested in and gradually increase the requirements for length and complexity as a condition of publication on the website. • Discuss issues of privacy with students, and the difference between publishing material on the World Wide Web for all to see and of publishing on a protected class site which only they can view. 78 Using the Web to support language learning Creating webpages 79 Lesson plans Lesson plan requiring students to have Web skills Objective: Students will create their own biographic webpages. Lesson plan not requiring students to have Web skills Materials: Internet-connected computers,Web editor. Objective: Students will participate in planning a class website. Procedure: Materials: List of class websites, data projector, evaluation sheet, Internet-connected computers. • Discuss with students the purposes and readership of personal webpages and the kinds of information that make them interesting Procedure: to others. • Before class, review a variety of school or class websites. Choose • Divide the class into groups and ask them to discuss the design of a those suited to your purposes and create a page of links to the sites. template for personal webpages. Ask them to think about the kinds Add two or three more than necessary in order to compensate for of information they should include, the appropriate length of text any that fail during class time. and the use of images that would be suitable for personal webpages. • Divide the class into groups of three or four and send each group • Discuss the design with students and the cultural meanings behind an email with links to your selected websites. colour, patterns, font styles and sizes. • Before students access the websites, use a data projector to • Distribute the agreed template to students and allow them to add demonstrate each website to students. Draw attention to the source, one piece of personal information. authors, date, and other kinds of information about the site. • Show students how to use the design tools on the Web editor and • Design an evaluation sheet for students to comment on features and encourage them to play with colours, patterns, font style and other design of the websites, for example, the kinds of information on a tools to design their personal pages. site, how interesting they find the site, how readable it is and how • Ask students to begin preparing texts to be uploaded on their sites. well it uses images, colour and design features (see also Chapter Four). Establish a protocol for proofreading and editing, either as a • Have students use the evaluation sheet for each website. collaborative activity or with final proofing by a teacher. Encourage • Ask each group to give a short verbal report on what they saw and students to use dictionaries, a thesaurus and grammar manuals to liked best on each website and the reasons for their rating. check their work. • Ask groups to put the reports together and draw up a priority list • Plan a webpage launch.When students introduce their page, have of publishing and design recommendations for their class website. them describe how and why they made design decisions and why Discuss the feasibility of the recommendations and agree on which they wrote particular texts. ones they will use for their class website. • Encourage students to update and review their sites on a regular • Discuss copyright issues and plagiarism and how to acknowledge basis to keep them fresh, relevant and interesting. sources when others’ materials are used. • Discuss who will take on different roles and responsibilities for the class website. A minimum requirement should be that all students contribute some written work.Writing tasks can be adapted to a variety of literacy levels, for example, students at beginner literacy levels can prepare captions for images or alphabetise lists, while others can write opinion pieces, stories or reports. 80 Using the Web to support language learning Creating webpages 81 Issues to explore Issue Using Web publishing to improve writing skills Glossary of computer terms Many teachers report on the motivational effects of having students write for the class website.They say that students demonstrate a renewed interest in writing tasks and pay close attention to editing append include a previous email attached to the current one and proofreading their own work.While increasing the frequency and attachment a document sent along with an email quantity of writing output, students may also use their language skills banner a graphic image on a website, usually for advertising in more complex and creative ways. Does Web publishing lead to improvements in students’ writing skills? Blackboard a suite of software for online teaching and learning that integrates teaching, learning, student services Exploration – action research and back office systems • Select a small number of students whose written work you will bookmarking saving an URL for future use; clicking on the monitor over the period of a course in which they write for the bookmark takes the user to the URL; used for class website. frequently visited websites so the URL doesn’t have • Take notes on the writing tasks they do. Note how many they to be entered each time complete, the genres they use in their writing and the size of the text. Boolean operators terms that narrow searches, such as and, or, not Ask about their attitudes to writing tasks, for example, do they enjoy writing or find it a chore? browser a program such as Explorer or Netscape that allows • Develop a protocol of language skills you want to monitor, for the user to browse the World Wide Web example, use of single or multiclause sentences, use of tense, CBI content-based instruction punctuation, paragraphing. chat synchronous written communication between • Take notes on the number of consultations you have with the people who are logged onto computers that are students and the kinds of assistance you provide. networked • At the end of the course compare their early writing samples with later work. Examine the variety of genres they used, the size of the click press and release a button on the mouse to start an texts and the complexity of the language they used. activity such as opening a webpage • Discuss the results of your findings with your students. Ask how they clip art computerised art or graphics available online to be feel about writing and if their attitudes have changed. imported into a document CMC computer-mediated communication: communication between people using computer networks; CMC includes email, chat, instant messaging and discussion lists computer network computers linked together so that files and messages can be sent from one to the other 82 Using the Web to support language learning Glossary 83 CourseWork an open source learning management system html Hypertext Markup Language, the programming available from Stanford University script for the World Wide Web data projector an electronic projector for displaying images from hyperlink a way to link text or other information in a Web-like, computers onto a screen rather than a linear, manner directory an online tool that helps users find sites on the Web; icon an image that represents a concept, for example, a organised by topic/theme closed envelope to represent an unread email message discussion list asynchronous communication where many people Internet a network of computer networks that links computers ‘post’ messages to be read by everyone with access around the world; often abbreviated to ‘Net’ to the discussion list Intranet a private network inside an organisation that uses eBoard An LMS that allows teachers to post information the same kinds of software that you would find on the Internet, but it is only for internal use and links for student access ISP Internet Service Provider, a company that provides email written messages sent asynchronously across a access to the Internet for a fee computer network; email can be sent to one or many people if you know their email addresses LAMS Learning Activity Management System: a tool for designing, managing and delivering online email account a personal account for sending email; email accounts collaborative learning activities; available can be with an email client, either through a through Macquarie University stand-alone client or an Internet Service Provider LMS learning management systems: an LMS brings email address an address for people to send your email to; includes together communicating on the Internet and the userid and the server you are using to connect you delivery of content in an online environment. to the network Examples include WebCT, Blackboard, LAMS, file a computer document with a name (given by the eBoard and Lotus LMS. writer); a set of data stored on a computer login a protocol used for opening an email account or a forum group online discussion computer that is connected to a network genre a staged, culturally specific text with specific Lotus LMS an integrated system that manages classroom-based organisational and linguistic structures; sometimes and e-learning resources, courseware and events also called a text type. MOO Multi-object-oriented MUDs: one of several kinds of multi-user role-playing environments homepage first screen (page) of a website MUD Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension: an interactive hostname unique name by which a computer is identified on virtual game played on the Internet by several a network people at the same time. Some are for hot link highlighted area on a Web page; a hyperlink to other entertainment, others for serious software sites or documents development or educational purposes 84 Using the Web to support language learning Glossary 85 moodle an open source learning management system with a userid (username) identification (name) used for a computer system constructionist pedagogy and communicators to identify a person; used navigate to find a route through hyperlinks and commands or for many accounts and systems; a password is other online pointers in software or on the Web also required offline working without a computer or with a computer WebCT a learning management system (LMS) designed that is not currently connected live to a network principally for higher education institutions online working on a computer that is actively connected to Web editors computer programs for designing and creating a network webpages open source software available free to users webpage a document housed on a server on the World Wide Web password private identification for a computer system to identify a person; a userid is also needed; the website a collection of files/documents on a specific subject, password is to protect people’s information and housed on a server connected to the World Wide should not be shared with anyone else Web; the website is identified in the hostname section of the URL pop-up a graphic or text in a small window that jumps off the screen to attract attention; often used for windows the frame in which one section of information is advertising presented; different pages can be displayed in different windows on the computer screen at the post add a comment to a discussion list same time pull-down menu a menu of choices that can be found by clicking a computer mouse over a header on a computer wordprocessor a computer program that helps people write, using a computer screen scrolling using the mouse to move up or down the document World Wide Web a hyperlinked database residing on the Internet, to see information beyond what is on the viewable providing network-accessible information in text, screen graphics, video and audio formats search engine an online tool that helps users find sites on the Web by searching for key words or phrases server a computer that links one computer to another threaded discussion discussion in which all postings to the same topic are linked upload move a document from a wordprocessor or spreadsheet to an online space URL Uniform Resource Locator: the address for a website or other Internet facility 86 Using the Web to support language learning Glossary 87 Introduction Bachman, L. 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