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<< Continued from Internet resources in teaching extensive reading
The main goal of extensive reading classes is to ensure comprehension of longer English language texts by practicing such skills as skimming, scanning, outlining and reaction writing. But in China, high-quality discourse materials are difficult to find and even more often out of date. Teachers and students want more authentic reading materials but cannot find or afford them. As far as skimming and scanning skills are concerned, it is useless for students to understand them in theory without practicing them. What is more, students often lose their motivation because they are accustomed to merely reading textbooks and answering multiple choice exam questions. These three problems in extensive reading class account for low effectiveness and efficiency in English learning in China. Fortunately, the Internet can help solve some of these dilemmas.
The World Wide Web contains millions of electronic pages, graphics, photographs and video clips, providing immediate access to an international database of information. It provides teachers and students with not only a large repository of resources but also an opportunity to share their work. The range and freshness of such resources are invaluable for students and teachers alike.
Teachers can conveniently obtain update materials with authentic language. Since the materials are new and constantly changing, students are more enthusiastic about reading them than conventional textbooks. Discussion of the materials can take place on online bulletin boards, news groups, or email distributions school-wide, nationwide, and even across borders.
To improve skimming and scanning skills, exposure to a greater quantity of materials is necessary. Students also need to know how to research topics before they read texts in order for skimming and scanning to be beneficial. Teachers can ask students to surf the Internet and to critically evaluate the information they find. Tracking down the information they need for course projects is just a matter of skimming and scanning materials found on search engines or recommended by the teacher.
John Dewey in the 1920s called for educational reform based on experimental learning. He called his new strategy “Learning By Doing.” Today his spirit still has profound meaning, particularly in China. Chinese students historically are accustomed to passively attending teachers’ lectures. They are shy and inactive in the classroom. How can we change this situation? How can we motivate students to learn English and transform a set of static resources into something more interactive and dynamic? Again, the answer is the Internet.
The Internet surpasses any other means in motivating students to learn. Compared to traditional methods, Internet-based techniques provide teachers with unlimited resources of information written in contemporary and authentic English. It is superior to printed discourse books because it provides sound and pictures. It is so rapid, cheap and convenient that one can obtain information of any kind with a click of his computer mouse. With the Internet students can not only gather information but also use English to express their own points of view.
In addition, sharing resources, materials and ideas through email and other technologies offers opportunities for collaboration among students and teachers. Communication can take the form of electronic dialogue journals with questions and feedback transmitted electronically.
"The Death of Hitler" (in College English, Book 3, Unit 9) is taken as an example of Internet-based teaching of extensive reading.
Since the text is about Adolph Hitler, relevant background knowledge is useful and necessary. To ensure that students are exposed to enough materials to practice scanning skills, they each receive research topics. They are asked to obtain detailed information by searching the Internet. Topics for the text at hand would include:
- Hitler's early life
- the fascists and the Nazis
- the Third Reich
- anti-Semitism
- Jews and concentration camps
- World War II
Students are divided into several groups, each of which selects one of the topics and uses the Internet to find quality information which they are expected to present during the following class.
In the classroom students first make oral presentations about the information they found on the Internet. Then they would read additional materials selected and adapted by the teacher from the Internet, scanning them for background knowledge. A wider discussion would follow. The teacher would facilitate debate by helping students to judge the quality of the information found on the Internet, cross-referencing facts where possible and identifying possible misinformation.
After the Internet research method is employed, the reading assignment is easier for the students to digest because they have already “warmed up”. Armed with background research, they are now ready to skim their texts for the first time, followed by a more thorough reading. An online writing assignment is also useful, as Chinese students often have few opportunities to express their individual point of view. Students can post their reactions to the weekly readings online. Thus, it is not simply the teacher who is reading these responses but potentially all the other students in the class. Discussions might be open to other schools, perhaps even in English speaking countries.
One of the virtues of such a web-based course is that it facilitates a discourse that is more student-centered than teacher-centered. College students in this way can use English as an effective tool of communication. In this environment, the role of the teacher expands from being the sole provider of standard English to the facilitator of English communication in an online society.
The Internet provides a wealth of opportunities to improve education, and language teaching must adapt to fit the times. The traditional model of higher education in China is accordingly being challenged and reshaped. Internet-based teaching methods are not yet as popular in China as they are in many developed countries, but they are bound to become more widespread with the further development of the country. Many teachers and students are now aware that access to the Internet means access to information, to high efficiency teaching and learning, and to building profound human understanding across cultural boundaries. In the coming century, Chinese teachers can and must search for creative ways to bring English and technology together so that Chinese students have opportunity to learn by doing . The Internet will inevitably revolutionize Chinese education. Now is the time to ensure that English teachers -- who have much to gain and to contribute -- are at the forefront of that revolution.
Hill, Clifford (1998). English in China: educating for a global future. Unpublished manuscript*.
Ho Mei Lin, Caroline (1997). The Internet and English language teaching. Unpublished manuscript*.
Howatt, A.P.R. (date unavailable). A history of English language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Larsen-Freeman, Diane (1986). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stern, H.H. (1983). Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tripathi, Arun Kumar (1998). Implications of Internet education. Virtual University Conference paper*.
Turchetti, David (1998). The electronic classroom in China. Fudan Youth, 1 December 1998.
Warschauer, Mark and Deborah Healey (1998). Computers and language learning: An overview. Language Teaching, 31 (2), April 1998.
*Unpublished titles available by contacting Li Xin
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