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 .