English Language Teaching with Web 2.0 and Faculty 2.0

English Language Teaching with Web 2.0 and Faculty 2.0

BATTENBURG, John

Key words: Language Learning, Information/Communication Technology ABSTRACT The Internet has the potential to enhance the collaborative and communicative goals of English language teaching. Use of online resources in language learning has dramatically increased in recent years with online courses and use of smart technology within the classroom. “The problem,” as reported by the Pew Higher Education Roundtable at the dawn of this information age in 1994, continues to be “that faculty—and hence the institutions they serve—have approached technology more as individual consumers than as collective producers.” This paper considers the risks and rewards with creating and integrating information and communication technology into the English language classroom. Benefits to using online resources for language learning will be considered: authentic language, contact with a wider world of English speakers, motivating, entertaining, current, and applicable to content based-instruction. At the same time various drawbacks will be discussed: slow or non-functioning websites, navigation problems, high cost, and inadequate resources for language teaching. Brown and Alder (2008) applaud the paradigm change brought about by recent instructional technology from “what we learn” to “how we learn.” Other issues, of course, that must be addressed include the “who”, “where”, and “why” of learning. This discussion about innovations forces us to rethink the process of “learning about learning.” The presenter will discuss how online resources can be accessed through the use of computers, tablets, mobile phones, and other electronic devices as well as demonstrate free online resources he has developed for teaching pronunciation and vocabulary. He will also distribute an annotated “Webliography” of resources for teachers and students. This presentation will suggest that use of online resources can increase democracy and equity in the English language classroom while making these spaces more student-centered.

Article
PeerReviewed

IBU Publishing

2013-05-03

1817