ERIC Number: EJ1090963
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 2
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1083-5415
EISSN: N/A
Communicating with the World: Connecting the Language Classroom to a Global Audience Using Web 2.0 Tools
de Ramirez, Lori Langer
Learning Languages, v18 n2 p6-7 Spr-Sum 2013
Webtools provide language students a uniquely authentic audience with which to share their creativity and growing proficiency in the target language. Students tend to write/speak more--and better--when using these tools in the language classroom. Webtools form an enjoyable and pedagogically sound way of getting students to create and have fun with language, but most importantly, they provide language students with a global platform through which to engage in collaborative creation of content and sharing of information across time zones and cultures. This article discusses how these tools allow students to meet the five Cs: "communicate" in the target language; explore "cultures;" "connect" to other disciplines; "compare" their first language to the target language; and participate in "communities." Four webtools that can be incorporated into the World Languages and English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom are discussed: (1) VoiceThread (www.VoiceThread.com); (2) podcasts (e.g., www.Podomatic.com, www.PodBean.com); (3) blogs (e.g., www.Blogger.com, www.EduBlogs.com); and (4) Wikis (e.g., www.WikiSpaces.com, www.WikiDot.com). Webtools provide K-12 students with interlocutors who may not speak their language, but who "speak their language" in more ways than is known.
Descriptors: Second Language Instruction, English (Second Language), Official Languages, Language Role, Web 2.0 Technologies, Global Approach, Student Journals, Electronic Journals, Web Sites, Collaborative Writing, Elementary Secondary Education, Intercultural Communication, Interlanguage, Electronic Learning, Language Proficiency
National Network for Early Language Learning. Winston-Salem, NC. e-mail: nnell@wfu.edu; Web site: http://www.nnell.org/publications/journal.shtml
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A