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Internet and Language Teaching

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April 9, 2000: This message was distributed by Papyrus News, a free e-mail distribution list on the global impact of information technology on language, literacy, and education. Feel free to forward this message to others, preferably with this introduction. For information on Papyrus News, including how to (un)subscribe or access archives, see <http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/web/faculty/markw/papyrus-news.html>.

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Sender:       "TESLCA-L: TESL and Technology Branch of TESL-L List"
              TESLCA-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Poster:       Mark Warschauer mwarscha@AEDEGYPT.ORG
Subject:      Re: Internet and Language Teaching
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I would suggest to Fatemeh, as well as to others contemplating research in this area, that comparative experimental research is not always the best approach. (Fatemeh has hit on the right problem: what kind of "placebo" can be considered comparable to introducing new online teaching techniques?)  Perhaps Fatemeh might want to consider qualitative research involving observation of the students, examinations of the messages they send and receive, interviews with students and teachers, etc., to try to assess the process of online language learning in a particular context.

For examples of this kind of research available online, see a couple of my recent papers:

·        http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/web/faculty/markw/online.html

·        http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/web/faculty/markw/online-learning.html

Or also Seppo Tella's 3-part study done a number of years ago:

·        http://www.helsinki.fi/~tella/95.pdf

·        http://www.helsinki.fi/~tella/99.pdf

·        http://www.helsinki.fi/~tella/110.pdf

Cheers,

Mark Warschauer

http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/markw

>>> Fatemeh Alipanahi <alipanahi@IASBS.AC.IR> 04/08 9:45 AM >>>

Dear colleagues

     I, Fatemeh Alipanahi, a student of Ph.D. in TESL at Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, IRAN, have finished my courses and have passed my comprehensive exam successfully and now I will be writing my thesis if my proposal is accepted. It is about INTERNET and LANGUAGE TEACHING. The research is experimental involving 2 groups, each 20 students. The experimental group will be taught by Internet and the control group will receive the placebo. The substantive hypothesis is "the achievement scores of the students taught with Internet is significantly greater than that of those taught by non Internet techniques. But I need help. I am stuck in the procedure of doing this research. I do not know which variable to consider to conduct it easily but perfectly, (reading comprehension or vocabulary, or..etc. ), how to apply the internet, how to act as a teacher, and what to use as placebo in control group. I also need some addresses for on line books, articles, and lesson plans, etc, to get print to read, since none is available in IRAN. I have some like Belisle 1996 e-mail Activities in TESL Writing Classes, Frizzy l995 INTERNET AS A TOOL FOR TESL WRITING CLASS, LELOuP, AND PONTERIO L998 INTERNET TECH. FOR AUTH.LANG. LEARNING EXPERIENCE AND ONE MORE THE EVAULATION OF THE INTERNET IN FL CLASSROOM L999 BY GARAUS, but as you know these are not enough for writing such a thesis, and none is experimental one to give help of the procedure. Therefore, I am impatiently waiting for help. There is no one in IRAN who can be a help. I also would like to have an advisor to help me to write my thesis who will be paid all expenses along with some payment to travel IRAN to attend the defense session. I must say that I am a beginner in using the Internet, and my subjects will be university students in chemistry, physics, maths,... learning English at Language Institute. Any help will highly be appreciated. Please excuse me for any misunderstandings caused by being a new Internet and computer user.

Sincerely yours

F.Alipanahi

A faculty member of Zanjan Universtiy

Zanjan IRAN


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Last updated: April 14, 2000