The Internet as a Teaching and Learning Tool in the ESL Classroom

A basic definition of the Internet and how it works is necessary to begin setting
the framework for which it can be used as an educational tool for language
learning. Flavell in an interview with the BBC world service states that the
Internet "has got two component parts - 'Inter', meaning between and 'net',
short for network. So the Internet is a network of computers - connected
computers." (BBC). Each computer is capable of contributing or accessing
available information from the Internet. Computers use telephone lines transfer
information to and from one another. Information can exist in an array of
forms the following are just a few (databases, library services, graphs, maps,
electronic journals, etc.). The Internet has often been described as the most
massive unorganised library ever imaginable. Because of the unorganised
nature of the information on the Internet, software programs such as Netscape
and search engines within Netscape have been constructed to retrieve
information requested by the user. Through the Internet there are various
mediums in which information can be sent or received the following are just a
few of these mediums used; the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail (E-
mail), newsgroups (USENET, listservs, professional on-line discussion groups.
Over the last decade the amount of information compiled on the Internet has
grown at absolutely phenomenal rates. Rough figures estimate that the amount
of information on the Internet has double every three months since it
conception over a decade ago. Information on education and specifically TESL
has also grown at similar rates, and today the Internet provides both teachers
and students with an invaluable resource at the fingertips of a personal
computer. Because the information available on the Internet is almost entirely
written in English, students learning ESL must really be at an intermediate
level if they are expected to effectively utilize this resource. The range of
activities and skills which can be improved by using the Internet as an
educational tool in second language learning is impressive to say the least.
Many of these activities and skills which can be used and improved upon on
the Internet are not used in the normal ESL classroom, and hence, the Internet
is becoming and integral part of many educational language programs. With
the advantages of such a resource there are inevitably disadvantages which
must also be considered. The following body of this essay will present a range
of activities which can be used in the ESL classroom via the Internet, and the
language skills these activities aim to develop.

A brief description of the term meta-site is necessary at this stage as it is these

sites which are probably the most useful resource locations available to ESL
users on the Internet. "A meta-site may be most simply defined as a site which
consists of (links to) other sites"(Harvey, 1998). Meta-sites are constructed buy
individuals or groups interested in certain topics. "Finding a good meta-site is
akin to finding a helpful, personal librarian, and saves the user untold hours of
"surfing" the Web in search of applicable websites" (Harvey, 1998, Review of ESL
meta-sites). From these meta-sites exists access to an array of established ESL
communication mediums. The following meta-sites a just a few of the many
that exist. For a more detailed review of some meta-sites consult. Daves ESL
Café , TESL journal, Yamada Language Centre

The use of E-mail in the ESL classroom was one of the earliest and still one of
the most successful means to establish communication links between ESL
students. There are numerous examples where by entire ESL classes have
established keypals (penpals via E-mail) with other ESL classes from other
countries. Liao (link provided in next paragraph) an English teacher in Taiwan
has established E-mail links with various countries across the world with her
class and comments on the benefits and difficulties with such an exercise.
Various other ESL teachers have written on this topic all of which tend to
experience similar benefits and difficulties. After the initial establishment of
keypals for each student within the class (an exercise which has been made
easier in recent time with the development of TESL meta-sites), students
proceed to communicate on a regular basis to there keypal as part of there on
going studies. Reading and writing skills are exercised with the written English
used in an authentic matter (not necessarily grammatically correct, but
commonly used). Intercultural communication is an important skill which is
learnt in combination with the technical use of the communication tool (E-mail
program), both of which will be extremely important in the effective language
development on any ESL student. Pillemer, 1997 (link in next paragraph)
details his experience with individual and class E-mail projects offering tips
for anyone planning to undertake such a task. Both Liao and Pillemer highlight
motivation and the attention to detail shown by their students when performing
these tasks. Again both authors comment on the fact that there are numerous
technical and communication difficulties that must be overcome if the project
is to be successful, here are main hitches associated with such a program:

• Outdated computer equipment

• Limited computer terminals and E-mail accounts

• Organization and goals of such a program must be clearly identified

and adhered to

• Some students may not have an individual keypal

• Communication with the keypal is not personal and motivation soon

decreases
The following two articles ‘Internet Teaching Learning Tool’ (Pillemer, 1997) an ‘E-
mailing to Improve EFL Learners' Reading and Writing Abilities: Taiwan Experience’ (Liao,
1999) provide detailed accounts of two E-mail projects and are essential reads
for anyone planning to undertake such a program. As part of my research on
keypals I decided that I would post my name and details on one of the
USENET notice boards found on one of the most popular ESL meta-sites.
Within one week I had received E-mails from students studying TESL in
Spain, Argentina, Germany, Poland and Taiwan.

USENET is like a large notice board. Users can both post notices on the board
or reply to notices already on the board. This differs from E-mail in that E-mail
sends a message to specified address’s and hence only those receiving the
message can read and reply. USENET notices can be read by anyone browsing
that particular page. Most ESL meta-sites will have a USENET link which
may be used for variety of purposes. Teachers of ESL programs will find such
pages particularly useful. Teachers can request or offer information to/from
other teachers on anything associated with teaching programs. Individual and
class keypal notices are popular topics found on these sites.

Chatrooms are another form electronic communication used by ESL students

and teachers. Chatrooms are real-time sites in which two or more individuals
can talk online about various topics. The computer screen displays the users
name, the names of other participants in the discussion are also visible. As
participants type in messages from there keyboard the information appears on
the screen and is visible to all involved in the discussion. Many ESL meta-sites
have an online discussion group which can be entered at anytime by anyone.
Entire ESL class discussions allow two classes to connect in a private online
discussion group in which certain topics can be discussed between the two
classes. Although this may sound confusing it is not that difficult to achieve.
Because the discussion is held in real time the greatest difficulties are
associated with arranging exact times for which groups will connect. Whether
the discussion groups take place on an individual basis in ‘out of class’ time or
in an ‘in class’ organized setting there are numerous benefits to the user. The
experience…. "stimulates authentic communication and assists students in
developing specific communication skills such as arguing, persuading, or
defending a particular point." (Singhal, 1997). Dave ESL Café meta-site has a
discussion room from which students and teachers can simply enter and ‘talk’
to others in the chatroom or use private chatrooms rooms if two or more
individuals wish their discussion to unobservable by others. Many believe that
this type of medium used for communicating across the Internet is particularly
good for those students who are reserved and tend not to practice aloud or
volunteer to speak out in front of groups of people (traditional classroom). It
also requires students to read, write and respond immediately to others in the
chatroom and hence develops active communication skills. It is currently
possible to connect via video conferencing watch and listen in real time to a
lecture. When in the near future this type of technology decreases in price and
becomes widely available to the masses, chatrooms will have a visual and oral
aspect and hence the spoken English can be practiced as well as the written
form.

Some of today’s courses in ESL for teachers and students are conducted via
distance education through ‘virtual universities’ in private discussion rooms.
Lecture material is read by students or presented via video link prior to
entering the chatroom for a formal tutorial with their lecturer. In an article by
Grosse and Leto titled "Virtual Communities and Networking in Distance Education" it
was highlighted that distance education via the Internet this was an ideal way
of undertaking a University degree for many people. Those with jobs, families
and other commitments were particularly excited about being able to undertake
studies at prestigious US institutes without leaving their home or country.
"Similarly, TESOL's proposed on-line academies and workshops would be
able to reach new populations of ESL/EFL professionals and students who
could not leave their work and families to attend a traditional TESOL
convention or academy." (Grosse & Leto, 1998). Clearly with the development
of organized courses and programs in TESL everybody involved (teachers,
students, other professionals) stand to benefit tremendously from such
technological developments.

The WWW provides an enormous, up-to-date reference library for studies in

ESL. Meta-sites such as the TESL journal and Yeronga Institute of TAFE Virtual
Library provide access to mass of free journal articles, activities, lesson plans
and tests. The information available is of a creditable nature with articles being
written and reviewed by leading authors before being added. Many of the
articles used as references in this paper were sourced from the TESL Journal.
Many meta-sites possess their own search engines which makes searching for
articles of interest much easier and quicker than using a wider search engine
such as Alta Vista which often return useless hits. The Internet also has ESL
meta-sites in which one must subscribe to in order to have access to the
information, students using this meta-sites receive detailed making from
teachers and may also receive a more personalised ESL program to suit their
needs. The task of searching, locating and assessing the quality of articles on
the Internet utilizes many skills necessary not only for language studies but
also all other academic facets and future job opportunities. These skills include
general computer skills with the programs associated with the Internet
(Eudora, Netscape, chatrooms, USENet…..etc). There are numerous web
pages in which teacher tips and suggestions are provided for each of the
functions associated with the Internet and how best to integrate these into
classroom educational programs. Teachers are therefore able to avoid making
the same mistakes that those who have gone before them have.

There are a variety of activities and teaching programs suggested for use on the
Internet. One that seems to have be well documented is that of the discipline-
based studies. "Students can effectively expand their linguistic, rhetorical, and
research skills through a focus discipline study." Students select a particular
discipline from a range of say 10 choices (biology, psychology, geography….),
students then begin intensive research on this particular topic completing
assignments for assessment. Students choosing the same discipline may form
discipline-based study groups, these groups cooperatively research their
particular discipline sharing information gathered. The discipline-based studies
are used in many non-ESL classrooms but it has be suggested that benefits of
the discipline-based studies are "especially valuable for college ESL students
because it engages them in extended practice with both language and
discipline-based concepts, enabling them to become "content experts" in a
subject area of their own choosing." (Kasper, 1998). Additional texts specifically
written to assist with discipline-based studies are commercially available to
provide teachers with a wide range of activities and assessment techniques for
numerous disciplines. Again the Internet provides a medium which immerses
the students in authentic English language. Because the students are required to
sample a diverse range of articles on particular issues within the discipline, the
Internet… " provides a wonderful opportunity to teach students the discourses
of comparison/contrast and argumentation in which they describe and evaluate
differing viewpoints in an essay."(Kasper, 1998). Kasper goes on to highlight
numerous other benefits associated with the discipline based studies. "As they
carry out this Internet search activity, ESL students become actively engaged
in the linguistic tasks of reading English, developing vocabulary, and
interpreting language structures used in the Internet text and in the research
tasks of searching for, accessing, and evaluating information. They then are
asked to articulate this newly gained knowledge in an oral and a written
format."…. "Thus, Internet research becomes a highly motivating vehicle to
developing language and content knowledge, as students actively practice the
linguistic, critical thinking, and analytical skills necessary for college-level
work." (Kasper, 1998).
Treasure hunts are another particularly good activity that can be undertaken by
students of varying language competencies. Students are required to follow
instructions searching the WWW for the answers to set questions. There are a
multitude of treasure hunts available for free on the Internet for both ESL and
non-ESL students with levels ranging from beginner/intermediate to expert. A
good sample of Treasure hunts can be found on the TESL Internet Journal treasure
hunt page. Students begin their Treasure hunts at a particular address from
which hyperlinks allow the students to proceed to access the next web page in
order to answer the next question in the Treasure hunt. To maximise the
benefits of such an activity students are often grouped in pairs or threes in
order to develop oral communication skills that would not be used if the
students were working alone at a computer terminal. For particularly creative
teachers or those not satisfied with the available Treasure hunts there is an
option to create your own Internet Treasure hunt relatively easily. This maybe
extremely useful if a teacher wants a Treasure hunt to be more detailed or
focused on a particular topic. The following address is a guide to help with the
construction of Treasure hunts for those interested in making there own. Treasure
hunts primarily focus on the development of the reading skills of the student.
Students must learn to selectively identify relevant information and hence must
learn to quickly scan through large amounts of information in search for the
answer to the question. Again exposure to such a large authentic sample of the
English language will increase both the vocabulary and the ability of the
student to use the language in an authentic manner. In addition to the linguistic
benefits associated with this activity students develop a range of computer
skills that will become essential to their professional development.
Dave Sperling’s Workbook presents a commercially available supplement to
any ESL educational program. The program consists of 2 components; the
workbook itself (text) and the accompanying Internet sites. There are 30
theme-based topics in which students work through various activities recording
information and performing exercises in the workbook and on the Internet.
Activities include keypal correspondence with other participants of Sperlings
Workbook, role plays, group discussions, writing activities and much more.
The 30 themes cover a wide range of topics both of educational value and
general interests to keep the Workbook stimulating for learners. Sperlings
Internet workbook companion web page can be found at the following URL,
http://www.prenhall.com/sperling/. For a review of Sperlings Internet Wookbook consult
Bradley, 1999.

The Internet also provides a range of online grammatical exercises and

activities that provide immediate feedback for the ESL student. Most of these
pages are part of a meta-site such as TESL Internet Journal and The English Institute,
they also cover a range of other components of the English language such as
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs, Slang and Vocabulary. Students can therefore continue
to improve on the technical aspect of language learning whilst also interacting
in the activities already mentioned. The immediate feedback provided by the
commuter programs although not as comprehensive as personally hand marked
feedback by a teacher, allows students to undertake independent learning.
There are numerous issues that a teacher must consider when suggesting a
URL for grammatical practice, Lin, 1997 provides teachers with an overview of the
various issues that need to be addressed before advocating specific
grammatical URL’s.

Finally the Internet provides an invaluable resource for those planning to

undertake language proficiency test. There is an abundant amount of
information, exercises and practice tests which will no doubt improve the
results of individuals who take these internationally recognised tests such as
the IELTS and the TOEFL. The results of such tests can dramatically influence
the life’s of those involved and thus additional practice and information on the
tests is of vital importance. These sites are therefore possibly the most
important available to students of ESL.

To successfully implement the Internet into the classroom teachers must

consider a multitude of factors. Warschauer, 1997 details five key considerations
for teachers to successfully integrate the Internet into the classroom;

• Carefully consider your Goals

• Think integration

• Don’t underestimate complexity

• Provide the necessary support

• Involve students in decisions

The Internet is a wonderful medium for learners of the English language to

develop their skills, but there are numerous practical and technical difficulties
that will have to be overcome before the Internet can operate as a wonderful
medium. Each school will have different technical facilities which will
ultimately determine the ability to integrate the Internet in any educational
program. Many schools particular those in developing countries will have
outdated computers capable of accessing the Internet but at very slow speeds
with continual technical difficulties. Clearly if the teacher has any technical
experience with the computers or the school has staff to detail with such
problems these restrictions will be dramatically reduced, but the simple fact the
equipment is outdated may make it difficult to use the Internet with large
numbers of students. Connection fees and equipment costs are expensive and
often a schools budget may not stretch far enough to cover such a program.
Censorship is another topic of discussion that must be considered when
students are operating on the WWW, but ultimately this is controlled by higher
levels of government and shouldn’t be considered as a legitimate reason for
denying children access to such an invaluable resource. Provided classroom
rules are established and adhered to censorship should no pose a major
problem.

It is important to highlight some of the advantages that using the Internet as

teaching tool has over traditional classroom methods. Possibly one of the
biggest attractions the Internet has in the classroom is its ability intrinsically
motivate students to learn English. It has been suggested by Fox, 1998 that the
three factors that make the Internet so intrinsically motivating are;

1. Its trendy
2. Provides essential job skills
3. Provides a real life language experience
Hyper text (coloured text, linking to other pages) allows one to move between
articles to carry out further reading where they are interested. This can lead to
never ending article that continual stimulates its readers interests as well as
being instantaneous. Compare this to say a normal text book which suggests
further reading on a particular topic of interest. In my experience one doesn’t
follow up leads and hence does not expand his/her knowledge on a particular
topic. The Internet is presented in a multimedia fashion. Not all students learn
in the same way and increasing the diversity of options as to the presentation
of learning material can only increase the chance of all students to learn. The
Internet is also an excellent medium for learning about other cultures and the
world around us. It enables people to communicate with people from other
countries sharing life experiences, cultural values and a range of other
experiences previous unavailable through traditional mediums of
communication. Students are empowered by the Internet in the sense that they
are able to undertake independent, self paced learning in which feedback is
provided almost immediately. The information available on the Internet
provided it is sourced from creditable meta-sites is upto date, reliable and
easily accessible.

Traditional Language Learning Web-based Language

Learning
Linear presentation Hypertext,
Multimedia
Not motivating High motivation
Receptive learning Self-paced,
Self-access
High teacher control High learner control
One-to-many (teacher to students) Individual + many to
many
Limited resources Unlimited, update
information (Brown, 1997)

"The Net has broken down the walls of time and space, giving every individual
the ability to be a lifelong learner." (Lin, 1997). "In the end though, each
teacher will have to find her or his own way, based on the goals of the teacher
and the program, the needs of the students, and the materials and technology
available. It is hoped that the guidelines outlined in this paper can provide
some assistance to teachers attempting to optimally combine their own goals,
their students' needs, and the power of the technology-enhanced classroom".
Internet is a teaching and learning resource that will be most effectively
utilized by students that are of an intermediate to experienced level. This is not
to say that the Internet does not provide activities for students at a beginner
level, it does but, the ability of beginners to navigate within the Internet
medium is severely restricted due to the almost exclusive use of authentic
(complex) English across the Internet. It is important that all involved in TESL
be willing and motivated to embrace this new technology with the knowledge
that ESL students will benefit greatly from the experience in many ways. The
Internet is an exciting learning medium which is developing in both size and
complexity at an alarming rate. It is by no means to late for those who have no
computer experience to grasp all of the technologies discussed in this report. In
my experience time spent at the computer terminal itself and a friend or
someone that maybe consulted if troubleshooting occurs are the two most
valuable contributors to the personal development of computers skills. Current
and future developments in language learning will no doubt focus on speaking
and listening skills more intensively. Speech recognition and real audio
technologies will allow students to practice pronunciation, sentence structure,
listening comprehension skills and real communication (audio and video),
opening the door to a range of new applications for language learning. The
Internet is a must for all involved in TESL and should not be passed of as to
complex or difficult. This technology should be embraced and not considered
in anyway a replacement for the classroom teacher but instead and additional
educational tool that teachers must integrate into a normal classroom setting.
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