| Language&Technology |
Lesson 1: Readings (3) |
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The Internet For English Teaching: Guidelines for Teachers
Marl Warschauer & P. Fawn Whittaker
TESL Reporter 30, 1 (1997), pp. 27-33
Abstracted by Anne Daugherty
The purpose of this article is to provide clear-cut guidelines, all research grounded, to assist teachers to successfully plan and implement network-based learning projects. The authors do not hope to cover the topic of network-based language teaching in this relatively short article. However, many citations are included to assist interested readers to pursue the current research on the topic.
Five guidelines are included in this article, designed to help teacher with network-based activities for their second language classroom. The guidelines are:
- Consider carefully your goals. Random inclusion of online activities into a classroom is rarely successful. Teachers should be clear on what they hope to gain when assigning activities.
- Think integration. Teachers should integrate online activities into the class, rather than adding them on top of classroom activities.
- Don't underestimate the complexity. The authors advise teachers not to be overly ambitious in the beginning. Rather, it is better to start small and build into more sophisticated usage.
- Provide necessary support. Teachers need to ensure their students are supported in their use of the Internet. Detailed handouts, in-class technology training, assistance from the computer center, and requiring students to work in pairs are some of the authors' recommendations for support.
- Involve students in decisions. The teacher must learn to become a "guide on the side" rather than a "sage on the stage." Anonymous surveys, class discussion, and other means of encouraging students to express their opinions about the process of implementing technologies is encouraged.
