ICT in English teaching
ICT in English teaching
Searching for information on the Internet, chatting
and game playing (often in English) are obvious parts of the lives of many
young people in the 21st century. The opportunities that digital media provide
today's language teachers with are enormous. Never before has it been so simple
to bring the world into the classroom and have students use authentic materials
and participate in real communicative contexts. Many teachers, however, are
still afraid of bringing computers and the Internet into the classroom.
In our project group, which started in the autumn
of 2006, we made a survey of how computers are used in the teaching of English
in the southeast of Sweden. The results tally with other Swedish
investigations. Computers are mainly used for word processing, information
searching and e-mail, and to many English teachers the use of ICT is limited to
these areas, in spite of all the other possibilities of practicing English are
offered by computers and the Internet. They are, for instance,
- using ready-made language exercises on
the Internet
- using media sites and other websites
from organisations and authorities, in order to - for example - work with
current events or thematic projects
- communicating with students in other
countries via e-mail and chat, or participating in subject-based
discussion forums
- exploit the many reference tools on
the internet, such as on-line dictionaries
- create and publish student work, in
the form of, for instance, digital storytelling, blogs and wikis
There are several pedagogical gains to be made with
well thought through use of ICT, observed by, among others, practicing teachers
which we have interviewed, such as:
- the possibility to connect the
teaching of English to reality, that is to “bring the world in to the
classroom”, by, for instance, using authentic texts, reading or listening
to current news and creating opportunities for “real” communication
- the possibility to offer more
variation in one's teaching compared to only or mainly using a textbook
and workbook
- the possibility to offer a form of
teaching which is more adapted to individual students' interests, learning
styles and abilities
- the possibility to motivate students
by having them publish their work for a potentially bigger audience than the
teacher only
The focus in this project has been on simple
technology (a regular computer and an internet connection), material that is
free and has a concrete connection to the subject of English. We believe that
this is the best way of reaching a group of teachers who have not yet started
using ICT on a regular basis, and we have had a lot of positive feedback on
this approach.
The work of the project has been finished but has resulted in
- a number of courses at different
levels
- a large number of in-service training
seminars and lectures
- several articles and student papers
- the book Lära engelska på internet (by
Maria Estling Vannestål)
- Språklänkportalen, a web resource for
English teachers including URL addresses to a number of different websites
in different categories, reviews of many of these websites made by
practicing teachers, a discussion forum etc.
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