Presents what's happening in Web-based language learning drawing on the experience of hands-on teachers, professional and amateur developers and students of all ages in a variety of approaches and settings. Presents a substanial body of new research into students' perceptions of the Web environment.
This document is intended for teachers and students who want to use the resources offered on the World Wide Web for second language instruction and learning. It assists in a comprehensive exploration of resources with different types of delivery, content, and level of interaction. The book is free of technical jargon, making insight into the complexity of the task all the easier for the user who is not technically-inclined. Resources include the following: comprehensive lists of URLs in a large number of languages, typically including a wide range of links; comprehensive lists of URLs for a single language, also extensively linked; and sites that focus on a single language. Selection of resources has focused on resources that have the potential to be integrated into existing courses; are instantly usable, in some cases without a teacher; are free or available at a reasonable cost; and are substantial and/or provide useful self-contained activities. Resources are not judged or rated by the author beyond the stated selection criteria; they are merely offered for the reader to pick and choose among. The book is divided into four parts: an introduction; annotated lists of example sites; making sense of the technology; and getting the language right--text input and output. Four appendices are included: useful sites for English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language; selected links pages for languages in general and specific languages; on-line readings related to MUDs and MOOs; and sites included at the last minute that bear watching. (Contains 66 references.) (KFT)
This important and accessible book identifies the key elements in the quest for best practice in online language teaching. The authors, all of them international experts who have made significant contributions to the debate about how to exploit the new technologies, consider online language teaching from three crucial perspectives: design, tools and pedagogy. Their recommendations are such that they can actually be realised in spite of the limitations of today's educational environments. The book demonstrates that the new technologies offer far greater potential for authentic encounters and constructivist learning than even the best classroom simulations; that automated exercise and feedback structures can be individualised and meaningful; and that if we have to teach fully by distance, these ventures no longer need to represent impoverished versions of live classes but can engender a strong sense of community. To achieve this we need to understand what elements constitute good design both in technical and pedagogical terms, to think seriously about providing the best feedback possible, and to have the courage to take the risks associated with letting go of traditional learner/teacher relationships.
English Magic moves through fields and parklands, estates and empty beaches. It lands at Heathrow Airport, takes a taxi to the suburbs, finds emptiness and oppression. It strikes out for the countryside on May Day, to where maypoles whirl and haybales blaze, and where blessings sound like threats. It's in a flat, drags itself out of half sleep... and there's something tapping behind the gas fire... In her debut collection of short stories, Uschi Gatward takes us on a tour of an England simultaneously domestic and wild, familiar and strange, real and imagined. Coupling the past and the present, merging the surreal and the mundane, English Magic is a collection full of humour and warmth, subversion and intoxication. It announces the arrival of a shining new talent.
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