ESP For Ecotourism: Discourse Skills,Technology,And Collaboration For Job Contexts

This capstone’s primary aim was to design a companion instructional guide for teachers of English for Specific Purposes for ecotourism professionals in Mexico. It identified gaps left by traditional EFL courses that tend to lack strong connections between language instruction and real-world job requirements for English usage. It looked at curricular reform efforts in other world regions with the intention to innovate ESP instruction in Mexico. Findings include recommendations for student-centered curricula that incorporate multimodal learning activities and authentic contexts for tourism jobs. Multiliteracies pedagogy drove the creation of the instructional guide’s components, which provide support in conducting small-group projects to develop interactive discourse, online research, and digital design skills within communities of practice. The guide includes resources, materials, and instructions to conduct needs analysis, foster mutual support, build collaboration among stakeholders, facilitate situated practice with applied technology, and increase knowledge for cross-cultural communication

Fighting Fire With Fire: The Use of A Multimedia WebQuest in Increasing Middle-School Students’ Understandings of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying, the use of personal and information and communication technologies to harass or intimidate others, is an increasingly pervasive problem in schools. This mixed- methods study explored the effectiveness of a multimedia WebQuest in teaching 156 middle-school students about the dangers of cyberbullying and examined the role of gender in learning about cyber-harassment. Set within a constructivist framework, the study provides an innovative, technological intervention for cyberbullying education for use with adolescents and is instrumental in reshaping public policy surrounding cyberbullying education and prevention. The dissertation study occurred in two phases. Phase I, WebQuest Construction, was qualitative in nature and employed stakeholder focus groups to assess middle-school students’ knowledge and awareness surrounding cyberbullying. Data from the focus groups informed the construction of the WebQuest. The second phase, Data Collection from Students, was quantitative in nature and was composed of a pre-test, WebQuest treatment, and post-test. Data analyses for Phase II included paired-sample t tests, repeated-measures analyses of variance, and descriptive statistics that focused on three dependent variables, namely awareness, safety, and knowledge. Findings indicated statistically significant increases in awareness and knowledge from the pre-test to post-test among the middle-school aged participants, while the slight increase in safety from pre to post-test was not significant. The findings support the need for school communities to begin engaging in conversation surrounding the best ways to teach students about cyberbullying’s dangers through the use of technology and issue a call for a re-examination of constructivist learning theory

CALL and Task Based Language Teaching through WebQuest: Challenges and Opportunities

Teaching English language through the Internet is gaining popularity and momentum as part of Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL). In the present article, a relatively recent English language teaching (ELT) pedagogy using WebQuest will be introduced. Some of the highlights of WebQuest are the adoption of the cutting-edge Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT), nurturing the learners’ critical thinking skills,and stretching their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is based on the principles and practices of constructivism.The author developed his original WebQuest website and have been using it to teach English in the present institution, and will critically evaluate its strength and weakness, as well as challenges and opportunities that lie ahead

Project-based learning for independent study students with technology integration

This project developed criteria for evaluating projects for independent study students through a review of the literature and a survey of teachers. The criteria are largely student directed and multi-disciplinary, they engage higher level thinking skills and incorporates a variety of resources including technology

Webquest Design Strategies: A Case Study Measuring the Effect of the Jigsaw Method on Students’ Personal Agency Beliefs, Engagement, and Learning

The WebQuest model continues to grow in popularity, with teachers from around the world and many teacher-educators and experts in the field of educational technology espousing its potential to extend content knowledge and promote higher level thinking. While the model is well received by teachers and students alike, most evidence of its effectiveness is anecdotal, and there is very little in the way of empirical research on the elements that make an effective WebQuest. Furthermore, rich descriptions of how students interact during a well-developed WebQuest are largely absent from the literature. In short, the WebQuest model suffers from a lack of scholarly research which may impede practitioners interested in using this approach to design and deliver effective Web-enhanced instruction. Successful WebQuests must address three pedagogical design challenges: Enhancing students’ personal agency beliefs; sustaining student engagement; and, promoting students’ deep understanding and critical thinking. This dissertation was a comparative two-case case study that investigated how one cooperative learning method. Jigsaw, was adapted for use with a WebQuest about living with AIDS. The researcher compared two versions of the WebQuest, one with and one without the addition of the Jigsaw method, and showed how they addressed each design challenge. Feedback from 89 students participating in two undergraduate history classes revealed significant differences by class in the following important areas: Students in the No Jigsaw class were more likely to use a negative statement to describe the quality of interaction with their teammates post-Jigsaw. Students in the Jigsaw class perceived more strengths and fewer weaknesses with the WebQuest than the No Jigsaw class, and shared more positive and fewer negative remarks regarding overall satisfaction with the WebQuest experience. Perhaps most importantly, students in the Jigsaw class spent significantly less time on task post-Jigsaw when controlling for Midterm Score and prior experience with the content domain. Finally, while students from both classes did equally well on the measures of content learned, the results suggested that the students from the Jigsaw classes were more efficient with the time they spent working on the WebQuest task outside of class

Reflective checklists to raise listening skills´consciousness through a WebQuest at CCA.

This research project, developed at the Centro Colombo Americano, emerged from the difficulties that B2 students from one of the English courses were having concerning their listening skill at the beginning of the second semester of 2016. Since they were capable of understanding audios from the textbooks, but were unable to understand real-life conversations in English, the researchers of the current study decided to carry out a project which main objective was to determine the contributions of reflective checklists as a tool to raise consciousness in listening skills through a WebQuest. As far as the methodology used in this project, its researchers decided to give it a qualitative approach, where the participants’ opinions could be taken into account. After the implementation of the current project, it was found that the participants were more conscious of the way they approached a listening exercise than before the study was implemented

Imaginary Friends: Using Guided Imagery, Line Drawings and Webquests to Incorporate Culture into the Foreign Language Curriculum

This paper examines the integration of authentic cultural experience into the foreign language curriculum through the use of guided imagery, line drawings, and a WebQuest designed to facilitate the creation of an imaginary friend living within a country where the target language is spoken. The student uses these techniques to vicariously communicate with and experience a proscribed facet of that imaginary friend’s life. Through the use of the guided imagery and web-based research, the student will breathe life into a black and white line drawing by coloring in an appropriate complexion and by giving the character a name which would typically be found within the imaginary character’s country of origin. In addition to learning about the culture of the friend’s country, the student will inadvertently be creating relevance for learning the language of this friend thereby stimulating a natural desire to study in order to communicate with greater ease and understanding. Within the parameters of the WebQuest, the student will be directed to produce various artifacts which are then shared in a culminating activity where the students introduce their “friends” to the larger group of participants. Lesson plans for the project are given in detail and implications for the use of this project are considered in terms of its flexibility and potential application to any foreign language classroom at any level or age group

Is all culture learning created equal : students' perceptions of Persian language and culture

textThis study explores how cultural inquiry was integrated into a third-year Persian class via printed texts, film, WebQuests and PowerPoint presentations, and how that cultural inquiry was made sense of and understood by the students in the course. Specifically, this qualitative study addresses two research questions: 1. How do students experience the cultural inquiry pedagogy? 2. How do students' understandings about Persian culture develop? The study’s participants were four college students in a fifth semester Persian language course at a large southwestern university during fall of 2009. Students were exposed to two sets of cultural integration including two films and WebQuest activities. The collected data included a demographic questionnaire, classroom observations, individual interviews and students’ reflective journals. Data were analyzed using Constant Comparative Method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). A major finding of this study was that that in all four cases, participants felt they benefited from the content presented through multimedia and technology and the knowledge they gained through the cultural inquiry activities contributed to the development of their cultural awareness. In addition, the development of learners’ cultural knowledge and awareness was another important finding of this study. The study also revealed the deconstruction of some of the stereotypes that students brought with them to the classroom. Through the cultural inquiry pedagogy and exposure to different types of texts and group discussions, some of these stereotypes were deconstructed and new ideas were formulated. Another important finding of the study was the importance of utilizing cultural inquiry pedagogy. This study showed in particular the crucial role of group discussions, the importance of pre- and post- viewing activities related to filmic texts and WebQuest activities as benefiting the students most in their cultural inquiry. The study’s findings have implications for educators and curriculum developers to understand better the kinds of experiences and opportunities students have when they are engaged in cultural inquiry activities and are exposed to multimedia and technology, which contribute to the development of their cultural knowledge and awareness.Foreign Language Educatio

WebQuest Depository

The purpose of this project was to create a web site that teachers could use to assist them to integrate technology into their classroom and to create a constructivist learning environment that would be conducive to teaching and learning higher order thinking skills. The federal government requires technology integration in academic institutions. As, a result, every classroom is to be equipped with five computers. Teachers must update their pedagogical proficiencies to include technology. In addition, teachers must adapt their curriculum to accommodate the use of technology. Research has shown that a constructivist teaching style is an excellent means for students to learn higher order thinking skills. Educational researchers have demonstrated that a WebQuest is an important teaching device that can accomplish these purposes