Beyond Babel: Language Learning Online. INSTITUTION Language Australia, Melbourne (Victoria)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 457 684 FL 026 906 AUTHOR Felix, Uschi TITLE Beyond Babel: Language Learning Online. INSTITUTION Language Australia, Melbourne (Victoria). ISBN ISBN-1-876768-25-8 PUB DATE 2001-00-00 NOTE 359p.; Accompanying CD-ROM not available from ERIC. AVAILABLE FROM Publications and Clearinghouse Manager, Language Australia, GPO Box 372F, Melbourne, VIC 3001. PUB TYPE Books (010) Collected Works General (020) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC15 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Chinese; Class Activities; Classroom Techniques; *Educational Technology; English (Second Language); Foreign Countries; German; Hypermedia; Information Technology; Japanese; Learning Modules; Multimedia Materials; Second Language Instruction; *Second Language Learning; Uncommonly Taught Languages; *World Wide Web IDENTIFIERS Australia ABSTRACT The book and accompanying CD-ROM is designed to assist teachers who want to develop their own materials on the World Wide Web, are interested in integrating interesting Web sites and ideas into their curriculum, or are interested in students' perspectives of the Web. It is also for anyone who wishes to refresh a language or get a feel for a new one or who wants to learn more about Web-based language teaching. The book is divided into three parts and several chapters. Part one, "Development: Doing It with More or Less," includes eight chapters and an introduction: "InterDeutsch: Going Solo: First Steps into Virtual Teaching on a Zero Budget" (Claudia Popov); "Advanced EFL Online: How Can It Help? (Miriam Schcolnik); "A Resource Centre on the Net: A Model for Less Commonly Taught Languages" (Injung Cho); "Going Online: Can Language Teachers Go It Alone and Is It Worth the Heartache?" (Sally Staddon); "Sakura: An Interactive Site for Japanese Language Learners" (Takako Tomoda, Brian May) ;"Online German for Secondary School Students" (Stefo Stojanovsjki, Fred Hollingsworth, Jennifer Saynor-Locke); "Building Bridges: Design Issues for a Web-Based Chinese Course" (Jane Orton); and "Worlds of Words: Tales for Language Teachers" (Truna Aka J. Turner) .Part two, "Practice: Virtual Language Learning Revisited," and part three, "Research: Absolutely Worth the Effort," are not divided into chapters. Web site references appear throughout the text. (Contains 67 references.) (KFT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Beyond Babel g language learning online e'r U S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Office of Educational Research and Improvernent DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION BEEN GRANTED BY 'CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as , received from the person or organization originating it. Q NinOitec 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or opinions stated in this INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. 0(.1.) 1 -43 uschi felix with contributions by practitioners BEST COPY AVAILABLE V Beyond Babel: language learning online Us chi Felix with contributions by practitioners published by Language Australia Ltd. 3 Beyond Babel: language learning online National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Felix, Uschi. Beyond Babel : language learning online. Bibliography. ISBN 1 876768 25 8. 1. Second language acquisition Computer-assisted instruction. 2. Second language acquisition Computer network resources.I. Felix, Uschi. 407.85 Cover design by Peter Stagg. The CSIRO Parkes radio telescope photo'by R. Twardy, CSIRO. Pieter Bruegel the Elder "The Tower of Babel" image courtesy of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Published by Language Australia Ltd. 0 Uschi Felix, 2001. No parts may be reproduced by any process except with the express written permission of the authors or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act. All enquiries in relation to this publication should be addressed to: Language Australia Ltd GPO Box 372F Melbourne, VIC 3001 The views expressed in this publication are those of the author or the editor and do not necessarily reflect the viewsor policies of Language Australia Ltd. Contents Foreword 5 About this book 7 About the CD-ROM 9 Part 1Development: Doing it with more or less 11 Introduction 13 Inter Deutsch Going solo: First steps into virtual teaching on a zero budget 15 Claudia Popov Advanced EFL online: How can it help? 29 Miriam Schcolnik A resource centre on the Net: A model for less commonly taught languages 59 Injung Cho Going online: Can language teachers go it alone and is it worth the heartache? 81 Sally Staddon Sakura: An interactive site for Japanese language learners 99 Takako Tomoda & Brian May Online German for secondary school students 121 Stefo Stojanovski, Fred Hollingsworth, Jennifer Saynor-Locke Building "Bridges": Design issues for a Web-based Chinese course137 Jane Orton Worlds of words: Tales for language teachers 163 truna aka j. turner 5 Part 2Practice: Virtual Language Learning revisited 187 Developments since 1998 189 Reflections on the pedagogy 190 Resources surveyed 191 Acknowledgements 193 Verification of sites 193 A Integrated materials 195 B Substantial materials or whole subjects 199 C Substantial materials commercial or protected 211 D Small courses and bits and pieces 221 E Grammar and grammar-based material 229 F Publishers' sites 239 G Magazines and creative writing 243 H Tools 247 I Self-contained interactive tasks 251 3 Web tasks 257 K Webquests and simulations 259 L Cooperative ventures 261 M MOOS, MUDS and MUSHES 267 N Chat sites 271 0 Sites for children 273 P Structured teaching plans for interactive tasks 279 0 Professional development and resources for teachers 281 R Metasites 291 More thanks 296 Index by language 297 Part 3Research: Absolutely worth the effort! 2 99 Introduction 301 Is the Web a viable language learning tool? Study 1: Tertiary students' views 305 Focus: Learning strategies Study 2: Tertiary, secondary and primary students' views 317 Focus: Learning styles Delights and dilemmas Perceived advantages and disadvantages of Web-based language learning 337 General conclusions, implications and recommendations 351 References 361 Appendices 367 6 Foreword That this book came off the ground is a miracle. It was produced during a time of enormous personal stress. The balancing act of holding together the countless individual components, together with coping with the volatility of the technology, often bordered on the overwhelming. In the end the task was made possible through the unerring reliability of my research assistants, the generosity of the numerous contributors and the no-nonsense and speedy professionalism of the publisher. All are being thanked in appropriate places throughout the book but I am especially grateful to Nina Dow for her contribution to the data gathering and statistical analyses; to Judith Bothroyd for her ability and willingness to attend to any emergency at any time with supreme calmness; to Ria Hanewald for recruiting and coordinating participants in one of the research studies; to Peter Stagg for producing the CD-ROM and wonderfully creative ideas for the cover; and to Dave Tout, Nicole Hayes and Gabrielle Markus for producing this fine version of the book. Most of all I am indebted to my husband David Askew, who in the face of very serious illness, committed grumpily to endless hours of Web searching and laborious proofreading well beyond the call of any research assistant on the market. 7 BEYOND BABEL LANGUAGE LEARNING ONLINE 5 About this book Rationale This book follows on from Virtual Language Learning: Finding the Gems Amongst the Pebbles published late in 1998. While it updates some of the information in the earlier book Part 2 provides a variety of example language sites in an expanded set of categories this work is essentially a new book that provides information about the development of online resources for language learning, practical examples across a large variety of approaches and results of research into student responses to this form of learning. Two new parts have been added. Part 1 includes a series of contributions exploring the development of specific language resources on the World Wide Web in a large variety of settings and approaches. Part 3 presents a substantial body of new research into students' perceptions of the environment and the relative influence of learning strategies, learning styles, study preference and gender. Presented in jargon-free language, the emphasis is on what can be done with few resources and relatively little expertise. The information is intended to be relevant to teachers of all languages in all sectors of the education system. Audience In preparing this book we had several groups of readers in mind: Teachers who wish to develop their own courses or materials on the World Wide Web. Part 1 provides a peer perspective on how resources might be developed and Part 2 includes a large number of examples of approaches to the task. This latter section is not intended as a training manual but rather as a first port of call for novice developers. The major rationale here is to discourage the reinvention of the wheel and to encourage global cooperation. In many cases desired materials may already exist, so there should be more to gain from developing complementary resources than duplicating what is already available. 8 BEYOND BABEL LANGUAGE LEARNING ONLINE 7 Teachers who wish to integrate interesting Web sites and ideas into their curriculum.