The Role of Web Quests in Learning a Foreign/Second Language

http://webquest.org/

      A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. The model was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early input from SDSU/Pacific Bell Fellow Tom March, the Educational Technology staff at San Diego Unified School District, and waves of participants each summer at the Teach the Teachers Consortium.

- Web Quests  help students meet standards focused on critical-thinking and analysis skills, and may be particularly useful for social studies and science. 

-It  also help with multiple intelligence work. 

- It can be used to develop critical thinking skills among students to learn foreign language. 

- It can promote critical thinking because it requires each member of the group to carry out a specific, meaningful role, and then pool their respective research findings to formulate a response to a complex, open-ended problem.

- It can be multiple solutions to the problem in a Webquest.

- A good Webquest focuses on an issue that has multiple viewpoints, such as social, political, environmental, or health-related.

- It also requires more than information gathering; students must process the information in order to form their opinions.

- Help develop higher cognitive thinking by requiring students to sift through extensive information from the Web until they can construct an understanding that not only connects to their schema, but also builds new knowledge .

Web Site Evaluation

Dave's ESL Café

We have decided choosing a website for EFL/ESL learners and teachers. Website is  http://www.eslcafe.com  

Dave’s ESL Café is maintained by Dave Sperling. He has a B.A in Psychology from Pepperdine University, and an MA in Applied Linguistics from California State University, Northridge. He had spent nearly a decade teaching EFL in Japan and Thailand .Therefore we sure he is the expertise in his field especially teaching English as second language. This website basically “teaches” English as second language through different kind of approaches such as

 grammar lessons-giving notes about idioms- pronunciation-tutorial-forums – quizzes- World Culture –Writing- topics like geography.

You can know more information…

In general…

Dave's ESL Cafe is a Web site aimed at a general audience of ESL/EFL teachers and students. The purpose of the site is to provide English language resources and discussion forums for ESL/EFL students as well as job announcements, professional development opportunities, instructional strategies, and discussion forums for ESL/EFL teachers.

Dave’s ESL Café, which mainly relies on interaction, is made up of 3 sections. Stuff for teachers, stuff for students, stuff for everyone – the fourth section, Jobs. Stuff for students features a help Centre, which is actually a forum where learners can post language related questions of any kind. Dave Sterling himself, or some other learner, will answer them. There are also subsections on Idioms, Slang, Quizzes on different topics, and a wide set of student Forums, ranging from Computers and Sports to Science, Learning English and even The Strange and Mysterious. Stuff for everyone, on the other hand, contains a Chat Central, to which learners can register if they wish to experience a chat in English in a protected environment, a section on Podcasting and a wide collection of EFL links.

Suggestion…

The website is very use able for the teachers and also the students. 

The content of the website can also be improved by adding more options like listening and speaking activities. Currently, it only focuses on grammar, idioms and verbs. If possible, it is better if the Pronunciation Power can be access by everyone without the need to pay for it. Other than that I am quite satisfied with this website.

I would recommend this website to the English teachers as one of the references for their teaching plan and also for students to improve their English language.

I would positively use this application in my future work. As a future teacher I definitely will need some help in planning for my lessons in class. This website gives opportunity for me to exchange information about teaching with other people around the world. It also provides notes, ideas for activities, and other material that I can always make use in my class. I would also recommend my future students to access this website.