Introduction to Internet-based language teaching
by Dr Jarosław Krajka
Department of Applied Linguistics,
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland
1. Internet-based Lessons – Introduction.
The question which needs to be
answered in the beginning is the following: what is an Internet lesson and how
is it different from a traditional lesson of English? An Internet lesson (also
called an Internet-based lesson, a Web-based lesson or an online lesson) is a
lesson, in which the Internet and computers are used in some way in the
teaching process. Usually, the Internet is used as a source of materials, as a
basis for some language work or skills focus, and Internet websites are used
instead of coursebook materials. An Internet lesson may also make use of new
means of communication made possible by the Web, namely email, chat, discussion
groups or videoconferencing.
2. Internet Lessons vs.
Coursebook Lessons.
In order to justify the use of
Internet lessons in learning English, and to convince teachers of the need to
introduce them into their teaching, some advantages over coursebook lessons
could be given here:
Ø
authenticity: the teacher may use authentic materials from the Web, which are
made not for a particular group of learners, but for the whole English-speaking
community. In this way, students can get the feeling of more meaningful and
realistic learning.
Ø
recency: in contrast to the coursebook, the Internet is updated very often, and
consequently the Internet websites are much more current and therefore
appealing to students.
Ø
variety and choice: during a Web-based lesson, students do not have to read the
same text and answer the same questions – on the contrary, each of them can
choose a review or biography he/she is interested in. In this way, online
lessons foster independent learning.
Ø
novelty: the materials found on the Web and the methods of work with them bring
an element of novelty, as students do not know the materials and are not able
to read the texts or see the pictures beforehand. Thus, Web-based lessons are
unpredictable as for content and methods of work, which is in contrast with the
coursebook, highly predictable and repetitive.
However, there are also drawbacks
and dangers posed by Internet lessons. Here are some of them:
Ø
fast Internet connection is necessary, as otherwise the whole lesson may break
down
Ø
it may be difficult to schedule a computer lab for English lessons
Ø
online tasks are more consuming and less predictable than coursebook tasks
Ø
the content of many sites may be too difficult for lower-level learners, as
most websites are not meant for any special level of students
Ø
sites with offending material are easy to encounter, either willingly or not
Ø
some sites may have factual mistakes and/or spelling errors.
Thus, teachers should be aware of
these limitations and problems, and try to find some solutions.
3. Internet Lessons – Technical
Requirements.
What should a teacher have at
his/her disposal to conduct an online lesson of English? Below, some
requirements are given:
Ø
fast and reliable Internet connection
Ø
computers, but not necessarily very new and powerful
Ø
sound cards
Ø
headphones
Ø
an optional networked printer
Ø
an optional scanner
Ø
website space and individual email accounts.
Surely, most Internet or computer
labs possess all these features, and the only obstacle could be the low quality
of the Internet connection. In such a case, the teacher should carefully plan
the lesson, give students specific sites to work on, preload the sites before
the lesson, use the time when websites load for some other offline language
activities (speaking, pair work, etc.)
4. Internet Lessons – Students’
Computer Skills.
Web-based lessons require some
amount of computer skills, and students should know how to:
Ø
type
Ø
launch applications (the Internet browser, the word-processor)
Ø
search the Net effectively for sites with a given keyword
Ø
send and receive email messages
Ø
use a chat program
Ø
save a complete site or a picture from a site (providing the copyright law is
not violated)
Ø
copy and paste some text from a website to a word-processor
Ø
edit documents in a word-processor.
5. Internet Lessons – the
Teacher’s Role.
Internet-based lessons, as
opposed to coursebook lessons, demand the active role of the teacher in
searching for materials, adapting them to the level of the class, creating
tasks to be executed in the classroom. In this way, teachers become material
developers, and they use the Internet as a great treasure trove of authentic,
interesting and current materials to choose from. Of course, preparing such a
lesson demands a lot of time and effort, and that is why beginning online
teachers are advised to use ready-made lesson plans (the ones published on this
website or in academic journals such as Teaching English with Technology,
http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/callnl.htm) before they start creating their own materials. At
the same time, teachers are advised to treat Internet-based instruction as a
means of supplementing coursebook instruction, help the coursebook by
introducing new, interesting and current texts, relate the coursebook contents
to the current moment, give students the opportunity to interact with students
from other countries learning with the same coursebook.
6. Internet Lessons – Stages of
the Lesson.
Web-based lessons, similarly to
lessons with reading or listening focus, can be divided into three basic
stages: pre-, while- and post-stage. Below some characteristics of each can be
found:
a) Pre-stage.
It is usually offline (done with traditional methods without the Net or
computers). It might be devoted to the introduction of the topic of the lesson,
some speaking warm-up, the revision of key structures and vocabulary which will
be useful later on. Also in this stage the teacher should familiarise students
with the instructions for the while-stage, present the computer tasks if
necessary, and guide learners through the materials to be completed during the
while-stage, so that all students know exactly what they are supposed to do and
how.
b) While-stage.
It is online, and students work individually, in pairs or groups on the Web,
executing tasks assigned by the teacher, looking for and extracting the
information necessary to complete the assignments. Internet sites serve here as
a source of materials and stimulus for speaking and/or writing.
c) Post-stage.
In the final, offline, phase of the lesson, the teacher should focus on
checking the way the assigned tasks have been accomplished, and students should
report their findings to the whole class or the other group. The teacher should
draw their attention to interesting words or structures encountered when
working online, as well as give some feedback on the errors they have made. On
the other hand, students should give feedback to the teacher on how they felt
about the task, the problems they might have met and the solutions they have
come up with.
7. Conclusion.
It is hoped that the above
introduction has managed to explain the idea of Internet lessons and some of
the most important issues connected with them. Obviously, it was impossible to
discuss all possible problems here, which leaves the matter open for
discussion.
Lesson 1. Explorers – going
beyond limits.
Objectives
Ø
To find out more about people performing unusual feats
Ø
To practise reading for general idea
Ø To
work on vocabulary connected with exploring, adventure and travel
Ø
To learn how to use online reference tools
Time: two 45-minute periods
Resources used
Computers, Internet websites,
word-processor
Possible problems
Intermediate students may find it
difficult to understand some websites, which are not specially made for them,
but are meant for the whole English-speaking community. Due to that, students
need to not only work out meanings from the context, but use fast online
dictionaries to get help. Thus, the teacher should devote some of classroom
time to showing students how to use such dictionaries.
Before you start
Ø
Go to the sites of online dictionaries (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/, www.dictionary.com, http://www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm, http://www.yourdictionary.com/, http://nhd.heinle.com/), see which one is the fastest, the most
comprehensive, the easiest for students to understand the definitions.
Ø
Make a Web search for "dictionary +online" to find some more sites,
perhaps not only monolingual but also bilingual
Ø
Check the sites for explorers given below, to see whether the URLs have not
changed and whether the sites still exist.
Procedure
1.
Refer to the text "The Race to the Pole" (p. 8). Ask students to
summarise what the text was about, as well as describe Amundsen and Scott. Ask
them if they would like to be in their shoes, or become explorers.
2.
Students work in pairs on creating a profile of an explorer. They could be
given some prompts to talk about such as: age, sex, marital status,
physical appearance, personality/character, greatest dream, biggest worry,
greatest achievement, a goal to pursue, etc.
3.
After that, students should be given the URL with texts about some explorers
(Antarctic Explorers, Ernest Shackleten, http://www.south-pole.com/p0000097.htm, Robert F. Scott, http://www.south-pole.com/p0000089.htm, Richard E. Byrd, http://www.south-pole.com/p0000107.htm, Jean Baptiste Charcot, http://www.south-pole.com/p0000096.htm, William S. Bruce, http://www.south-pole.com/p0000093.htm; Space Explorers, Marc Garneau, http://www.space-explorers.org/bios/garneau.html, Loren W. Acton, http://www.space-explorers.org/bios/acton.html, Scott D. Altman, http://www.space-explorers.org/bios/altman.html, - go here for a list of space explorer biographies, http://www.space-explorers.org/bios/) and asked to read two of them. Now they have to go
through the texts quickly, see whether the profile they have come up with fits
particular people, and try to note the information under their headings.
4.
Then it is the time to summarise chosen texts to the whole class, and using the
detailed information gathered students need to retell the life and adventures
of a chosen explorer. The whole class needs to listen attentively and try to
decide which explorer performed the most extraordinary feats.
5.
The teacher points students to some Web dictionaries (see URLs above) and shows
them how to look up meaning. Students should practise toggling between two
windows of the Internet browser, namely one with a text to read and the other
with a dictionary lookup window. Next, they should practise highlighting words
in the text, copying them, switching to the dictionary window and pasting words
to get the definition. In this way, dictionary lookup is the fastest and the
most effective.
6.
To practise those skills, the teacher asks students to go back to one of the
texts they read, find ten new words, look them up in a Web dictionary and note
down the meanings.
7.
As a further dictionary practice, students should find some other 10 unknown
words and pass them on to another group, which would have to look them up in an
online dictionary, highlight, copy and paste their definitions to a
word-processor and save a document.
8.
The teacher should collect documents with dictionary definitions and distribute
them among students to read and learn, which would act as a further vocabulary
practice. At home students should use the words and definitions to make
vocabulary exercises for each other, such as complete an example sentence with
an appropriate word or match a word and a definition. When making the
exercises, students should use the word-processor, practising such operations
as moving the text, copying and pasting, making tables, etc. During the next
class students should exchange vocabulary exercises and test their retention of
the new lexis.
Jarosław
Krajka,
Ph.D., graduated with an M.A. degree from the English Department of Maria
Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, specializing in English
linguistics and foreign language methodology. Since 2002 he has worked as an
assistant professor (adjunct) at Maria Curie-Skłodowska in Lublin, Poland, and
Warsaw School of Social Psychology, Warsaw, Poland. In 2007 he published a
major book entitled English Language Teaching in the Internet-Assisted
Environment. Since 2001 he has been the editor-in-chief of the
international refereed journal Teaching English with Technology (http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/callnl.htm), published
by IATEFL Poland Computer SIG.
