Αγγλική γλώσσα | Μελέτη και διδασκλαία | Μέσα διδασκαλίας
This work advocates the use of Internet-based activities so as to foster Young EFL learners’ skills development in Greek State Primary Schools. In order to investigate the positive effects of such an endeavour, a series of Internet-based lessons were run to the learners of the 3rd Kaissariani Primary School for approximately the last two months of the third term of the school year 2002-03. Data were collected by means of video recordings of the teaching sessions and completion of two questionnaires by the learners before and after the experiment. This project has provided evidence that the Internet can be used in the EFL classroom to develop young learners’ reading, writing and speaking/listening skills and enhance motivation. More specifically, findings indicate that the integration of Internet-based activities in the teaching practice can provide learners with ample opportunities to practise a range of reading strategies, experience the various stages of the writing process and develop their language awareness while at the same time communicating orally in the target language. In addition, the findings of this small scale experiment suggest that the young learners’ interest in learning English can be aroused by the motivational power entailed in the use of the Internet. Similarly, the Internet-based activities can promote collaboration and peer teaching, thus resulting in the development of learners’ autonomy. However, certain shortcomings also need to be acknowledged. First, during the experiment we encountered limitations and constraints due to the fact that it was conducted with a mixed-ability class comprising primary school learners of grades four, five and six. So, although a great deal of task grading/simplification was employed for certain student groups and peer instruction was exploited to the maximum, any conclusions drawn by such a class can only be tentative and pending further research. Moreover, we firmly believe that the more young learners are familiarized with the new technology, and the more they are exposed to instances of communicative use of the target language, the better equipped they become for real life use of the Internet and the English language alike. To that end, we propose the integration of Information Technology and the use of authentic web sites with young learners in the EFL teaching context. On the whole, this study demonstrates that the use of the Internet as a tool in the EFL classroom is quite likely to contribute positively towards the practice of the four skills and to endorse the linguistic, sociocognitive and affective development of young EFL learners.
Hellenic Open University
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EFL use of the internet and skills development in the upper classes of Greek primary school - Identifier: 83250
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