Language development with web-based tools: Friends or Foes?

By

Sandra Liliana Cortez Campiño Paulina Gloria Cruz Valenzuela María Angélica Flechas Vera Rosemary Raygada Watanabe

Web-based tools have become a very powerful tool that provides teachers, parents and students with endless possibilities and unimaginable access to resources for improving their language development and comprehension skills. Web-based tools use can range from the level of teacher enthusiasm and expertise, to principal and parental support to quality software and hardware availability and its selection (Burgess & Trinidad, 1997, p.16). How does one define then the application of this multipurpose, multifaceted tool integration? The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) (2000) defines curriculum integration as follows:

«Curriculum integration with the use of technology involves the infusion of technology as a tool to enhance the learning in a content area or multidisciplinary setting. Web-based tools enable students to learn in ways not previously possible. Effective integration of these tools is achieved when students are able to select technology tools to help them obtain information in a timely manner, analyze and synthesize the information, and present it professionally. The technology should become an integral part of how the classroom functions—as accessible as all other classroom tools.» (p. 6)

Technologies for Learning and its benefits

In the same way, ISTE lists some of the several benefits for learners when using technology to further their knowledge. Some of those benefits are:

• Up to date information.
• Learn to retrieve information from multiple sources. Students learn to teach themselves needed skills and information.
• Used as an aid to communicate and collaborate (all over the world). Increase cooperative learning. Access to an extensive worldwide library.
• Computer-assisted learning. Research indicates students benefit learning to author Web documents (Smith, 1993).
• Students are highly motivated by the opportunity to create Web sites. Internet projects require use of research skills and helps students to improve those skills.
• Internet projects require higher order thinking skills. Increase of knowledge and skill when creating web projects. Increase community of learning, not just teacher centered and directed.

So why bothering using technology in the foreign language classroom? Well, because computers and other electronic technologies have come to be part of our daily activities and also, they are a huge part of our students lives. For this reason, teachers and administrators are turning to computer-based tools to make many of their language teaching and learning tasks more efficient. The following conditions for optimal language learning environments were outlined in Egbert & Hanson-Smith’s (1999) now classic CALL Environments: Research, Practice, and Critical Issues:

• Learners have opportunities to interact with each other and negotiate meaning.
• Learners interact in the target language with an authentic audience.
• Learners are involved in authentic tasks. Learners are exposed to and encouraged to produce varied and creative language.
• Learners have enough time and feedback.
• Learners are guided to attend mindfully to the learning process.
• Learners work in an atmosphere with an ideal stress/anxiety level.
• Learner autonomy is supported. (Egbert, Chao, and Hanson-Smith 1999, 6)
• Learner combines authentic tasks with Internet resources to develop critical thinking skills.

A technology-rich environment can support all these conditions and thus become an optimal setting for language acquisition, a setting that breaks out of the constricted environment of the typical paper-and-chalkboard classroom. Web-based tools can be very powerful instruments to help our students develop a language because…

• They are global! They are the keys to unlock the future and can help us change the way we live, work, think, play, teach, learn and create.
• They can be easily shared. Students can co-create with their teachers to make their learning environment more meaningful.
• It is personal. Everybody has the potential to become successful, but in different ways.
• It is Instant! You can have it at your finger tips!

Technology enhances motivation, interaction, feedback cooperation and collaboration

Over the years, research has highlighted may benefits of using web-based tools with language learners. It allows them to have the most control over the directions of their learning by controlling their time, speed in their learning, autonomy, choice of topics or even their own identity (Hoven, 1992). To many students, technology is motivational and nonjudgmental. It gives them prompt feedback, individualizes their learning, and tailors the instructional sequence. Web-based tools can meet specific student needs, increase their autonomy, allow for more responsibility, promote equal opportunities in an early nonsexist environment, encourage student cooperation with peers, and encourage them to make decisions. By using web-based tools, students can learn in a rich linguistic environment and find opportunities to interact with the multicultural world, extend their language skills, and not be embarrassed for not knowing answers (Padrón & Waxman, 1996, p. 344; Lee, 2000). In other words, it greatly helps build on their confidence. The effect of engaging language learners through web-based tools can be multi-layered. When they are used as part of a model that involves students in complex authentic tasks, the results can be student-centered cooperative learning, increased teacher-student and peer interaction, and more positive attitudes toward learning (The President’s Educational Technology Initiative, 1998, as cited in Kasper, 2000). When students work out a problem that requires research on the Internet, they are working closely as a team to solve the problem, allowing for greater interaction and sense of responsibility for the team.

Looking ahead

Learning Languages through web-based tools reflects the fact that there are now as many ways to use computers and the Internet as there are traditional, land-based methods of teaching, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find classrooms that do not somehow make use of electronic technologies in most countries. It is also true that students have a variety of learning preferences or styles. Researchers also note that the more different neuro-systems are deployed in learning, the better something is learned and the more easily it is accessed again later. Computer technology is superbly adapted to this concept in that it can provide sound, color, graphics, animation, video; in addition to or layered onto text. A lot of schools today are seeking the ultimate in multimedia software: programs with all the bells and whistles, where students can receive comprehensive, instruction in all the skills simultaneously listening, speaking, reading, and writing with record-keeping and adaptive testing to boot.

Computers are patient, they speak clearly; however, the current success of multimedia software may be that the student is kept busy and feels safe: He or she doesn’t have to perform real communicative acts with other people. Students may do well on the drill software, but not show marked improvement in real life written and oral communication. The initial hope for multimedia technology, perhaps not clearly articulated, was that computers could replace teachers; the student, alone with the private computer tutor, would make immense progress. This, very clearly, is not going to happen, no matter how attractive the multimedia packaging is. However, technology lends itself to other; perhaps more appropriate pedagogical models that use multimedia in highly effective ways. But, the reality in a lot of countries still is that most classrooms are still four walls, desks and chairs, and a chalkboard. The teacher and the textbook are relied upon as the primary inputs, models, and sources of interaction. The injection of even a modest level of technology in the form of an Internet link can mean an enormous expansion of this impoverished physical space. Visual aids, such as photographs, drawings, and even video; sound to provide more linguistic diversity and extended listening practice; e-mail to chat with neighbors across the ocean, the whole world can be brought into the classroom and students can interact over the Internet with other learners and native speakers. The computer has the potential to allow individuals to use the learning styles they prefer, and to proceed through programmed learning at their own pace, with instant correction, explanation, and reinforcement.

On the other hand, it is important to clarify that computers will not replace teachers because they cannot do most of the significant things teachers can: lesson planning, individual counseling, preparation and selection of materials, evaluation of process and product, and so on. Teachers of the future will perform the very same functions they do now, but will make use of technology to give students a richer, more stimulating learning environment. But as computers become our new tools, or slaves, we will find that the technology demands new kinds of student-teacher relations: Students must become more autonomous, active learners, and teachers must relinquish some of their power and authority not to the computer, but to the students themselves. The effect of the digital revolution on teaching and learning will be enormous, and the teaching profession must prepare now for the changes ahead of it.

Selecting a multiple web-based tool: WEBQUESTS

A webquest is a model of «inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet” (Dodge & March, 1995).  It was created by Bernie Dodge and Thomas March at San Diego State University in 1995.  Webquests are projects that give the students a project to do. They provide the students with the websites they need to start their work, and they are designed to get students to use the Internet in a meaningful way and to help keep them on-task when using the Internet. Webquests are composed by five main elements;

• Introduction: it is where you set the stage for the activity by catching the reader’s attention to draw them into the quest and to provide background information.
• Task: it is where you state what the students will be required to do. Here, you need to avoid surprises down the road and to detail what products will be expected and the tools that are to be used to produce them.
• Process: here you find a step-by-step description, concise and clearly laid out and also, you provide links to Internet sites interwoven within the steps.
• Evaluation: For this part, you would need to display a rubric to measure the product as objectively as possible, and to make sure to leave little room for question.
• Conclusion: Finally, summarize the experience allowing reflection about the process. At this point you can add higher level questions that may be researched at another time. You can also give food for thought as to where they can go with the info they have learned, using it in a different situation.

A webquest is a scaffolded learning structure that uses links to give the most important resources on the Internet. It is a very interesting tool to motivate students’ investigation of a central and open-ended question that will allow them to develop their own knowledge, and it will also foster the individual expertise and participation in the class. Webquests are in simple words, a set of activities that engage students in technological practices.

There are two types of webquests; the short term webquest and the long term webquest. The goal of the short term webquest is knowledge acquisition and integration. The idea is that by the end of a webquest, the learners have been able to internalize a new knowledge not only in terms of language but also in terms of their content area. The difference among this short term webquest is not the time it will stay in our students’ memory, not at all, but instead the number of lessons the students will spend working on a specific webquest. The short term webquests are a good way to start introducing our students to the creation of their own learning through the use of a technological device like the Internet. Short term webquests are designed to be completed in one to three lessons.

On the other hand, long term webquests are designed to last from a week to a month, and their purpose is to extend and refine knowledge. This kind of webquest is designed to develop critical thinking. By the end of the webquest assignments, the learners should be able to analyze a body of knowledge deeply, and then to use it in order to demonstrate that they understand what they studied. Usually, this “student’s own creation” is something they write where other students can comment on it, either on or off line.

The main idea underlying both types of webquests is to challenge students with a task that will allow them to use their imagination and problem solving skills. These problem solving skills allow the L2 learner to construct their own knowledge of the foreign language.

So the paradigm under which webquests are created is constructivism. Constructivism is a theory which is based on the observation and scientific study about the way people learn. This theory states that students should construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. Constructivism states that when we experience our own process of learning, it becomes more meaningful to us so we internalize it faster and better than if we were given all of the information on what we are learning.

Constructivism has a series of benefits that are seen clearly in webquests. Some of the most important ones are: students learn more, and they enjoy learning when they are actively involved, rather than passive listeners. This helps them to concentrate on thinking and understanding, rather than on memorization. With webquests, there is sense of own creation that gives students the sense of ownership of what they learn.

Together with constructivism, there is another theory that is closely related to the process of learning involving the interaction of five types of thinking. This theory is what we call the five Dimensions of Learning. These five dimensions of learning are direct descendants of the Dimensions of Thinking framework (Marzano, Brandt, Hughes, Jones, Presseisen, Rankin, and Suhor 1988). The Dimensions of Thinking model was meant to influence the theory of schooling, whereas its progeny is meant to influence the practice of schooling.

The five dimensions of learning presented by Marzano (1992) are the following:

Dimension 1: Positive Attitudes and Perceptions about Learning Attitudes and perceptions color our every experience. They are the filter through which all learning occurs. Some attitudes affect learning in a positive way and others in a negative way.

Dimension 2: Thinking Involved in Acquiring and Integrating Knowledge Acquiring and integrating knowledge involves using what you already know to make sense out of new information, working out the kinks in the new information, and assimilating the information so that you can use it with relative ease.

Dimension 3: Thinking Involved in Extending and Refining Knowledge Knowledge doesn’t remain static, even when we learn it to the point of automaticity. If we continue the learning process, we extend and refine what we know.

Dimension 4: Thinking Involved in Using Knowledge Meaningfully We acquire knowledge or develop skills so that we can use that knowledge or skills.

Dimension 5: Productive Habits of Mind

Our mental habits influence everything we do. Poor habits of mind usually lead to poor learning, regardless of our level of skill or ability. Even skilled learners can be ineffective if they haven’t developed powerful habits of mind. From these five dimensions of learning we can easily draw conclusions on the way these dimensions support the webquest theories. One last thing that might be very important to highlight is that webquests are also a motivating tool for the teacher, since they enable him/her to assess the progress of students through networking, and to actually see and evaluate the process and not only the results with a non-formal evaluation.

To encourage you even further into giving WEBQUESTS a try:

Based on the article by Tom March in the article “The Learning Power of WebQuests”, WebQuests go beyond than Web-Based Activities. Look at the following chart:

Source: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/webquest_orig/webquest_orig004.shtml

Useful tips

By now, you might be wondering if there is ANYTHING wrong with webquests, right? Well, there are a few limitations, but here we give you the solutions :

Technologies are useful tools for learning but tutors should be aware of certain limitations on the effective use of them. Webquest as any other resource should be planned carefully or it may become a “treasure hunt” of data and information (Dooly Melinda, 2008:p.120).

We should be aware that:

• It is necessary access to the Internet because the tasks and resources are only available on-line. One way to work around this is to include a printable (word) version of the webquest.
• Getting students use critical thinking will depend upon the design of the webquest. It is neccessary again to be careful in the planning stage.
• Basic computer skills are required. This can distract from the actual knowledge constructing process. Thus, it is better that students and the tutor should have a previous training.
• Webquest may depend heavily on reading skills and are not interactive in themselves, though interaction can be a result of the tasks included in the web quest. (Dooly M, 2008:p.120)

Conclusion:

Finally, all left to do is to encourage you to see how webquests and all the other web-based tools can help you in your teaching labor and help your students learn and stay motivated toward the foreign language.

Finally, all left to do is to encourage you to see how webquests and all the other web-based tools can help you in your teaching labor and help your students learn and stay motivated toward the foreign language.

Here is a link where you can search for samples of webquests http://webquest.org/search/index.php

and here there is one for web-based tools for EFL: http://www.apac.es/publications/documents/Webquest_weblog_paper.pdf

References:

Burgess, Y., & Trinidad, S. (1997). Young children and computers: Debating the issues. Australian Educational Computing, 12(1), 16-21.

Concept to classroom: Thirteen Edition. 2000. The benefits of ISTE. Retrieved May 24th, 2009from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/classroominternet/index.html

Dodge, B and March. 1995a. Some thoughts about WebQuests. Retrieved May 28th, 2009 from http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html

Dodge, B. 1995b. WebQuests: a technique for Internet-based learning. Distance Educator.

Dooley, M. (2008). Telecollaborative Language Learning. A guide book to moderating intercultural collaboration online, Peter Lang AG, International Acdemic Publishers, Germany.

Hanson-Smith, E. (1997). Technology in the classroom: Practice and promise in the 21st century. TESOL Professional Papers #4. Retrieved June 20, 2003, from http://www.tesol.org/pubs/catalog/downloadable/hanson-smith-2.html

Hoven, D. (1992). CALL in a language learning environment. CAELL Journal, 3(2), 19-27.

Kasper, L. F. (2000). The Role of Information Technology in the Future of Content-Based ESL Instruction. In L. F. Kasper, D. M. Brinton, J. W. Rosenthal, P. Mastera, S.Myers, J. Egbert, et al. (Eds.), Content-based college ESL instruction (pp. 202-12). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Marzano, R. J., Brandt, R. S., Hughes, C. S., Jones, B. F., Presseisen, B, Z., Rankin, S. C. and Suhor, C. 1988. Dimensions of Thinking: A Framework for Curriculum and Instruction.Alexandria VA: ASCD.

Marzano, R. J., 1992. A Different Kind of Classroom. Teaching with Dimensions of Learning. Alexandria, VA, ASCD.

Padrón, Y. N., & Waxman, H. C. (1996). Improving the teaching and learning of English language learners through instructional technology. International Journal of Instructional Media, 23(4), 341-354.