The wealth
of information provided on the Web affords language teachers and learners
access to resources like never before. Online journals, listservs, newspapers,
and magazines provide authentic material for language learners while the
researching capabilities of the Web assist teachers in study and practice.
What makes
the Web especially exciting as a resource for language teaching and learning is
its possibilities for interactivity. Online language tutorials, exercises, and
tests are available to anyone who has access to the Web. Web-based materials
can be updated and distributed easily and quickly, and feedback for many
activities is instantaneous.
Why Create Your Own Web-Based Language Learning Activities?
There
are three advantages to creating your own interactive language learning
activities for the Web:
1- Accessibility: By putting course material on the Web.
2- Renewability: It can be updated easily.
3-
Challenges in Creating Web-Based Activities
1-Many teachers does not know
how to use technology.
2-The variability of
students' access to computers.
3-The need to design Web
pages that meet accessibility guidelines for individuals with disabilities so
that students with special needs are not left out.
What Can You Teach on the Web?
It can used different ways and activities:
Vocabulary practice, grammar lessons, comprehension exercises, reading and writing tasks, and even pronunciation exercises can be put on the Web and made interactive in a variety of ways.
Reading
Online discussion boards are a good way to hold class
discussions and create reading and writing activities for students.
Another way to create online writing assignments or
discussions is through a Weblog, or "blog.".
Vocabulary
and Grammar Exercises With JavaScript
Games and exercises designed to help students learn
new vocabulary are easily put on the Web.
Any online form used for interactive activities such as
quizzes and vocabulary and grammar exercises will require either a CGI script
or JavaScript.
JavaScript is an information collection and feedback tool that
is used to make Web pages interactive.
Listening Comprehension and Pronunciation Practice With RealAudio
Listening comprehension exercises, such as fill-in-the-gap
exercises done while listening to audio, transfer nicely to the Web. Students
download and listen to a short audio piece and fill in missing words in a provided
text. They then answer comprehension questions about the text and audio and
write a short essay. Answers are then emailed to an instructor for assessment.
Audio clips can be put into Web pages to provide
exercises for listening comprehension, pronunciation practice, and vocabulary
development.
Online Assessment With HTML Forms and CGI Script
use JavaScript are limited in their interactivity in that
they can provide a way for students to check their own answers. Teachers may
want to test their students online and do their own assessments.
*John's ESL/EFL Resources are a type of
assessment tool on the Web.
*This type of online assessment can be done through the use
of HTML forms and CGI script.
*CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is the standard method
of processing input from HTML forms.
