The role of WeQuests in learning a foreign/second language
Webquests
have been used in one form or another since the Web began to become
popular and to be used in instruction with the arrival of the Mosaic
browser in 1993. Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University is usually
identified as the originator of the concept of the Webquest, which he
which he defines as "an inquiry oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet.
Webquest is useful and has its role in learning second or foreign language .One is that Students
are enthusiastic about learning through webquests. In participating in
one of the Classroom connect quests (Galapagos) the students begged not
to go back to the standard curriculum after the month longendeavor. This is a particularly good medium for low achievers. Our
results with those students using Webquests were outstanding.
Also,
With a quest students can be exposed to materials, people, activities
and ideas that are not available in our standard text and are highly
meaningful. In addition, Students
tested after the quest experience achieved higher scores, had better
retention of the information we were trying to get across. Quests
offer the student self pacing and self learning. Whether they work individually or in groups does not change this.
Furthermore, Students learn through discovery and synthesis with a quest. (if structured properly) This
higher level of thinking is what we are striving for all students to
achieve. Webquests offer an organized approach to using the web. Students have resources at their fingertips and make the best use of time.
In addition, Students using webquests
must use their thinking abilities. They are required to compare, contrast, make decisions and recommendations. They cannot lean on a quick cut and paste for their answers. So, Webquest is very useful for learning foreign and second language.
No comments:
Post a Comment