Web-Enhanced English Learning:Integrating Pedagogy and Technology in the EFL Classroom

Abstract

Calls for materials and methods in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum which establish learner-centeredness and provide for greater expressive opportunities have been made by instructors and researchers alike (i.e., the natural approach, learner-centered curricula, the "output hypothesis"). Subsequently, the Internet, especially the World Wide Web (the Web), has been hailed as the medium by which such materials may be created and disseminated, and methods applied and conducted. Unfortunately, recent practical results in this area have not been encouraging with many web-based courseware suffering from a lack of a solid grounding in learning theory. To assist instructors in overcoming this obstacle, an experimental courseware design approach is being offered. WEEL, or Wsb-Enhanced English learning, is a theoretically-grounded guideline for designing and implementing web-based components to provide the EFL learner with an enhanced environment for language acquisition and development. Accordingly, the first section of this paper establishes a conceptual framework for designing web-based courseware based upon the concepts of situated learning, or constructivism, and the output hypothesis. Next, a rationale is given for integrating hypermedia and Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) into the EFL curriculum. Finally, a prototype web-based college EFL courseware-internet Skills and English Expression (ISee)-will be presented and analyzed in the context of learner-centered instruction and expressive opportunities.