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Conclusion: Improving language proficiency in EFL classes, in the formal environment of school, by exploiting the communicative potentials of the Internet What I have tried to do in the lessons under observation is to introduce communicative task-based activities inside Internet-based projects. These activities are sometimes directly contained in the online resources used - like in the cases of the Maths Websites or the students’ forum - some other times devised by the teachers – me, the teachers of the foreign classes involved in the email exchange project, or the Maths teachers in the content-based lessons. The reason of this is fundamentally one: Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is the pedagogy that best fits the principle of ‘learning by doing’. (Gonzalez-Lloret, 2003) Once again it has to be stated that the rationale behind this choice is only methodological, implying the firm belief that learning by doing through the fulfilment of communicative tasks is the best way to learn a foreign language in the formal environment of school in one’s own country. Technologies allow students and teachers to maximise the results deriving from the methodological choice by offering them a framework in which the tasks can become truly communicative and meaningful, that is to say, with the presence of real interlocutors that exchange information and ideas because an information gap exists and needs to be filled. Warschauer creates the acrostic ALIVE (Authenticity Literacy Interaction Vitality Empowerment) to list the reasons why a teacher of English should use the Internet in class: 1. authenticity. Language learning is most successful when it takes place in authentic meaningful contexts. The Internet … gives students 24-hours access to vast amount of authentic material on any topic they are interested in and allows opportunities for authentic communication and publishing. 2. literacy: The ability to read, write, communicate, research, and publish on the Internet represents important new forms of literacy needed in the 21st century. By combining English and technology in the classroom, you will help your students master the skills they will need for academic and occupational success. 3. interaction: Interaction is the major means of acquiring a language and gaining fluency… The Internet provides opportunities for students to interact 24 hours a day with native and nonnative speakers from around the world. 4. vitality: … The Internet can inject an element of vitality into teaching and motivate students as they communicate in a medium that is flexible, multimodal, constantly changing and connected to their real-life needs. 5. empowerment: mastery of the Internet increases the personal power of teachers and students. It allows them to become autonomous lifelong learners who can find what they need when they need it and collaborate with others to help construct new knowledge. (Warschauer 2000, pp. 7-8) But he concludes in the usual way: One caveat: Though the Internet provides a valuable medium for helping bring classroom alive, successful results depend on how the Internet is used. Just as students won’t learn simply by being brought to a classroom, neither will they learn by being sat down in front of a networked computer. In the end, it is not the technology itself but the teaching that makes the difference. (Warschauer 2000, p 8) |