alextheteacher

02:03 am: Week 4. Webquests
So, we are starting to discuss specific ideas about integrating the internet in our language programs. And we are beginning with some activities that can help in developing reading skills.

One of the obvious ways to incorporate web into a reading lesson is to treat it as a virtually bottomless pool of authentic texts in the target language on any conceivable topic. Some of you mentioned this in your applications and introductions. While I don't want to discourage you from using up-to-date materials on the web for reading, one should notice that if they are essentially treated like stories from textbooks or newspapers, one can hardly design an approach significantly different from using offline texts. Such activities may be authentic as we defined earlier, but we are not going to talk much about them because of a low level of interactivity they provide.

Instead, I suggest we focus on one type of internet-based activity that can promote developing reading skills, namely, webquests. Invented by Bernie Dodge, webquests are inquiry-oriented activities in which most or all of the data students interact with come from online sources.

Traditional format of a webquest includes
(1) an introduction to set the context and give background information,
(2) a motivating task,
(3) a list of resources (usually websites) necessary to complete the task, (4) a clearly described process that learners should go through to accomplish the task, and
(5) conclusion reminding students of what they have learned.

Some scholars say that using webquests fits in constructivist teaching as students are offered an authentic task and real resources to work with and finally become experts in a particular aspect of the topic (you can read the article Why WebQuests? by Tom March, 1998). In one of the assigned readings for this week, Koenraad and Westhoff, looking at webquests from the perspective of the SLA theory, list some features of a well-designed linguistic webquest: it should elicit the activities that exposure learners to a rich input, provide both content-oriented and form-oriented processing, push output, and develop a repertoire of strategies to compensate always existing gaps in language knowledge. An ideal SLA webquest is conceived with a product in mind (such as a report, webpage, project proposal, etc) which is evaluated against explicit criteria. Finally, the presentation of the product should be important for a real or make-believe "recipient."

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As part of your assignments for this week you should browse the WebQuest page at http://webquest.sdsu.edu for the webquests that are designed for language learners (if you know some other WebQuest sites, feel free to explore them). Select one webquest that you think might be useful for language learners and do it. Do you think it provides an opportunity for authentic language learning? Put a brief reflection in your blog.

Please refer to the syllabus for the other assignments.