The role of WebQuests in learning a foreign/second language

It’s interesting to me in this course exactly how much it takes me deeper in learning technology than I've ever been before. In addition, the most important advantage in learning technology is more obvious in TEL class that will help me as a future EFL teacher to facilitate my students learning process. One of the most benficial tool in learning English as a foreign /second language is a WebQuest.

Bernie Dodge, of San Diego State University, was the original creator of the webquest concept. He defines it quite adequately as an "inquiry oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing."

To define it simply, in webquests teachers can design a small quest and ask their students to solve the activities of a particular webquest by searching on the World Wide Web.  

Webquest is clearly structured into 5 components, which include an introduction (why do this activity), tasks (what is supposed to be accomplished), process (how to go about it), evaluative, and conclusion.

The role of the teachers is basically in webquest represented in two ways either the teacher can choose a ready-made webquest for the students or design a new webquest for them. In this course as a future teacher of EFL we create and design a webquest by using “Zunal.com”. It was an organized and beneficial website that I saw ever and I will use it with my students if possible. As a teacher I can decide how much information I want my student to learn by providing this information in my webquest. Also, I can decide how much information I will let my students to search about and find it by their own.

The role of the students in webquest:

The webquest is basically for the students in order to lead them to an effective learning and facilitate their learning process. So, they suppose to do most of their works in webquest by their own such as accomplish various activities and tasks. Moreover, Students learning process will be developed. For example, in webquest students have been exposed to many instances of authentic language which enable them to learn it unconsciously.

Webquest has a major role in many important areas in TEFL/TESL field like activating critical thinking, student-oriented activities, class environment, cooperative and collaborative learning and Project-based learning. It enhances the students’ critical thinking because students have to gather information, analyze and solve/ ask various questions and summarize some other questions/ information. This will help students to become independent learners.

Webquests tend to be student-oriented and collaborative:

In webquest students will be working in groups as a team work in most cases. Also, they will collaborate with each other in solving the activities and to accomplish the tasks. It also enhances a high level of critical thinking of the students while they are searching about useful information.

Most of webquest tasks could be used in a task-based or "project-based" language learning approach to teaching. Students can benefit from these tasks while accomplish their tasks which relevant to their own lives. Also, project-based learning (PBL) can give a variety of learning styles and multiple forms of intelligence have a real world authentic orientation.

As a future EFL teacher, I would like to use a webquest if it’s suitable to my students learning process and there will be no objections from the administration of the school and my students. Also, I will take into account my students’ satisfaction and enjoyment in using it. Otherwise, I will not use it if my students do not find it helpful and enjoyable for them. Also, if the administration of the school does not allow me to use it or does not provide an internet connection within classroom.

How can my students learn from a webquest if they do not accept it or refuse it?
 So, it depends on these circumstances or factors if it’s allow me to use a webquest with my students or not.

Website Evaluation

http://a4esl.org/

This website belongs to an organization, and it is about how to enhance ESL grammar and vocabulary. This website produces various quizzes with many languages and activities to improve your vocabulary and grammar knowledge, and this website considered as a good website.

 For the content and content accuracy categories, this site has a clear purpose and theme that will help students to develop their learning process. This site about grammar and vocabulary, and the content matches the purpose of the website. Moreover, all the instructions are clear for the students, and the ambiguity is not being available in it. Also, the information provided by the organization is accurate.

For the background, layout, navigation, and the links, the design of the website has an attractive and colorful design.  Also, this website has a usable layout, and the links allow the reader to easily move from one page to another one, and user rarely becomes lost. Most of the links open with us, so these links have high quality and clearly label. Also, the learners can discover all the important elements easily.

For the background, color choices and fonts, this website has an attractive background, and it does not reduce from readability. This colorful background can get ESL learners attentions to each sections. Also, the color choice of the background is appropriate with the fonts and does not reduce the importance of the content. In addition, varies size of fonts are appropriately for heading and text. This consistency between the background, colorful choices and fonts will make this site as a useful site for the users.

For the copy right category, this site points to high quality copyright because all the pages of quizzes, puzzles and activities have at the bottom the citation, and this considered one of the strength point of this website. 

Suggestions:

In this website, we have several criticisms:

First, it needs more attractive layout to capture the attention of the learners.

Second, we suggest for this website to put attractive graphics and images to attract the users and to put more attractive background because the use of graphics and images can enhance readers understanding of the questions.

Third, it’s important to have lessons about learning vocabulary and grammar in this website, so the learners can benefit from the explanations of the lessons and solve the activities in more accurate way.

As Future English language teachers:

From the knowledge about website evaluation, we learned how to evaluate any website, and how to direct our students to a good website which is appropriate to their levels and will improve their skills.

Wordle

Interactive Language Learning on the Web

Web based language learning activities is one of the best recourses for language teaching and learning. Also, using web will be attractive to both instructor and learners and the learning process will be interactive too. Moreover, using online language materials, exercise and test will provide authentic material for language teaching and learning and that will be helpful for students. So, teachers can create their own interactive language learning activities that relate to their courses and help the students to develop their learning process. There are many advantages for creating this kind of activities. These advantages are accessibility, renewability and adaptability.

There are many challenges in creating web-based activities. The first challenge is depending on the teacher who does not have the technical skill and knowledge to do so. In addition, many teachers have lack in learning the basic HTML skills. Also, they do not have time to get these skills. The second difficultly is depending on students such as the variability of students access to computers, the type of computers and browsers that student are used and the connection speed they are used. Teachers must ask students about this information and take it into account while  designing online activities.  Moreover, teachers can design web pages for students with special needs. Also, teachers can provide an activity for individual and help them to develop their thinking and learning process.

As a result, basic language skill can be improve with the use of web-based activity and the teacher can use the basic tools of discussion boards and web.

In our context, Saudi Arabia:

Teachers do not use web-based language activities in language teaching and learning but if they used, they will make a big differences in language learning process. The most important difference is student’s basic language skills. It can be enhanced with the use of web-based activities. If the web-based activities will be used in our educational field, it will improve the student’s performance. For example, Students can solve the activities and teacher can correct it to them directly. Also, he/she may explain to them why it’s not correct and giving them his/her feedback by this way student will learn from her/his mistakes directly. Moreover, they will not have to go to their teachers and ask them face to face about any difficulties or question they may faced in these kinds of activities. Some of the students feel shyness in asking the teachers face to face in contrast to asking them on the web, they may fell more much comfortable than face to face interactions.

  If the teachers will applies the web based language learning activities in our context, they will change the traditional way of teaching completely. Also, the traditional way of testing could be changed and become online tests instead of paper tests of face to face tests.      

As a result of this way of learning, students will become proficient in using the internet and especially the web. Also, web-based language learning has a positive effect on our students today and they may master the difficulty of learning the skills through solving the online activities daily. Then, they can achieve the level of proficiency in language learning. So, why teachers do not try to applied in our schools? 

How would English language teachers use blogs, wikis and delicious with their students?

 Now a day, technologies are an important part of the new generations’ life. They used technology most of their days and they cannot get along without it. Regarding to Saudi Arabia schools most of our teachers were not used technology such as blogs, wikis and delicious in Saudi EFL context but if they use they will make differences in English language learning. Most of our teachers in Saudi Arabia do not see the importance of using technology in teaching English as a foreign language. Many teachers disregard the importance of using technology in teaching to those students. They did not realize that today's students are different from old generations’ students or from 40 years old age. So, teaching method should be change and traditional way of teaching should be change too. In additional, teachers should enhance the important of technology by using it with their student. Definitely, students learning will develop because they will feel that learning is relevant to their real life. Moreover, students’ education will be more interesting and enjoyable.

•          Teachers can use blog to encourage students’ skills. For example, teacher gives them an activity such as reading an artical and writes the meaning of underline words on the texts. In this activity teacher will check students understanding of the texts and their writing skills at the same time. Also, she can give them a story and ask them to write a conclusion of that story. This will test their writing skill. Also, if the students faced any difficulty in English language, they can use blog in order to share it with others and learn it. For example, most of the students have a problem in making perfect tenses. In this case, teachers can use blog to help student to learn how to use this tense correctly. She could ask them to write some sentences by using perfect tense. Then, she will correct it to them and give them her feedback. In addition, in blog students can comment on their friends’ blog to develop their writing skills.

•           Wiki is an amazing source for sharing information with other people. Teachers can give their student an activity or assignment that requires the student to create their own Wiki and to fill it with the information that related to their course. For example, if the courses about Phonetic and Phonology, the students would have to seek out about information that related to this course and fill the information on their Wiki. This searching will enhance students’ knowledge about their course because they read a lot of the material and seek out for the information by their own. Moreover Students can put a picture in their personal profile and can edit information or link easily. Wiki is a helpful web site for a large class student. It’s easy to use for both, the teacher and students.
  
  
  
  

• Using Delicious in language classroom could help student to develop their foreign language skills.  For example, the teacher could ask the students to create a delicious a count, fill it with links that could lead to various web sites or links. Teacher could ask the students to put labels or key words in order to facilitation the searching process for the links.

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants By Marc Prensky

-Who are Digital Immigrant teachers and Digital Native students as categorized by the author? 

Digital Native students are those students who are well known with this new technology. Also, they are all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet.

 Digital Immigrant teachers are those teachers who were not born into the digital world but they know this technology at some later point in their lives. Then, they follow these changes of the new technology and became captivated by it.  

-  List down 3 differences between Digital Immigrant teachers and Digital Native students? 

Digital Native students are used to receiving information really fast, and they like to parallel process and multi-task. Also, they prefer their graphics before their text, and they prefer random access (like hypertext). They function best when networked, and they prefer games to serious work. But Digital Immigrants are different from digital native students. They prefer to teach- slowly, step-by-step, one thing at a time, individually, and above all, seriously. Digital Immigrants don't believe their students can learn successfully while watching TV or listening to music because the immigrants can't. Also, they think learning can't be fun.

-What is meant by Digital immigrant accent? List down three examples of “digital immigrant accents.”

 It is a language that used by Digital Immigrants' and it shows the lack of technology.
The "Digital Immigrants accent" can be seen in such things as turning to the Internet for information second rather than the first, or in reading the manual for program rather than assuming that the program itself will teach us to use it. There are hundreds of examples of the digital immigrants’ accent. They include printing out your email (or having your secretary print it out for you- an even "thicker" accent); needing to print out a document written on the computer in order to edit it(rather than just editing on the screen); and bringing people physically into your office to see an interesting web site (rather than just sending them the URL). 

-According to the author, what is the biggest serious problem facing education today?

According to the authors, our digital immigrant teachers who teach lessons/lectures by using the traditional way of teaching is the biggest problem facing education today. The reason for that is this way of teaching does not fit with these kinds of students (Digital Native students). 

They need a new way of teaching that fit with their generation and their way of thinking. Moreover, it will facilitate their learning process. Also, they will be very interesting and get a benefit at the same time.

-   “Should the Digital Natives learn the old way, or should their Digital Immigrants learn the new?”

The world has become a sophisticated with new technology now a days and by the time this technology evolution and show a lot of hardware and software. So it is not easy for students to go back forward and teachers must keep pace with this development.

- What should the Digital Immigrant educators really want to reach Digital Natives?

Digital immigrant teacher are able to reach Digital native students if they have a strong desire to learning the use of technology. They just need time to learn step by step in order to achieve it. 

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