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| The Internet
The Internet
Index
Making Use of the Internet
for English Studies
by Stefan
Kirchmair
Preface
The Internet. The media everybody talks about and wants
to get use of. Newspapers and magazines are covered with articles about this
complicate network, even though they are presenting the issues on their own
homepages in the Internet; every single company, may it be a little store or a
tycoon, presents itself and its products throughout the web. Today, on every
letter head and buisnesscard email addresses can be found.
Yet today, thousands of students in dozens of countries
around the world are living the reality of the global village in interactive
ways. Through the medium of networks and telecommunication technologies these
students are learning to think of themselves as global citizens for the first
time, seeing the world, and their place in the world, in ways much different
than their parents.
1. The Internet - What is it?
The Internet is basically a connection of many
computers located all over the world. What these computers really do is exchange
information. The Internet seems to be chaotic at first sight. What else should
we expect of a system which is not controlled or organized by anybody. But it
works anyway. It is the playground for everybody. All of us can take use from
this network. It might be disappointing for some newbies when they notice
that life on the net is just normal and trivial. But it must be obvious that
netters won`t change fundamentally only because they are connected by a
computer. Horror fictions like "Newromancer" are exciting and
breath-taking, but this has nothing to do with the Internet of today, (Cole,
page 10). Still, the world`s biggest computer network is surrounded by an aura
of mystery.
In contrast to controlled flow of information, however,
the global interconnection of networks gives millions of people direct access to
information in ways the world has never seen before. Information of every sort
flows freely, across national borders and around the world, directly from where
it`s happening to where it`s needed.
1.1 History of the Internet
The history of the Internet is something else than
everybody would expect. It was a planned system by the US Army. In the early
1960`s, in the time of the Cold War, the American government was faced with the
problem, how the country was to communicate after a nuclear war. So they created
a non-centralized network that linked city to city and military base to base.
The network works even if some parts of it were destroyed. In 1969 the ARPANET
was created, to give civilians access to it. The users changed this high speed
network to an electronic post office (->Email). Scientists and researchers
used ARPANET to collaborate on projects. Eventually, people used it for leisure
activities such as chatting or mailing lists (-> Usenet).
In the 1980`s, the National Science Foundation (NSF)
started a program to establish Internet access. They created a "Backbone" called
NSFNET to connect college campuses via regional network, (Cole, page 10). But
despite of the switching off of the NSFNET by the US government in 1995, which
was misunderstood as the breakdown of the Internet, too many host-computers
existed already to keep the Internet alive. Bill Clinton said in his 1997`s
inauguration address: "Ten years ago, the Internet was a mystical province of
physicists; today, it is a commonplace encyclopedia for millions of
schoolchildren", (Clinton, 1997).
In the early 1990`s the Internet experienced explosive
growth. "Traffic on the Internet expands at a 341,634% annual growth rate",
(PBS, http://www.pbs.org/internet/history/). The main reason of this
growing was the creation of the World Wide Web.
1.2 History of the World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW) was created at CERN
[http://www.cern.ch/] a physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland in
1989. The World Wide Web is the fastest growing Internet resource, but it is a
part of it. Its development was based on the transmission of web-pages over the
Internet, called HTTP, by using the HTML technology. The WWW is able to include
text, pictures, sound, music, voice, animations and videos on its web-pages. The
user can simply click on a link and than switch to a new page, because the
WWW-pages support hypertext. The Internet was previously black and white, text
and files. By improving the HTML-Mode technology, the color mode was added.
(cf. Gromov,
http://www.internetvalley.com/intval.html)
A web-browser is needed to get access to the WWW, like
the Netscape Navigator or the Microsoft Explorer. The two companies, Netscape
and Microsoft are fighting "an epic battle" for the number one position in the
web market, (Cooper, page 52). Nobody knows exactly how big the WWW really is.
Search engines try to index the whole WWW, like the Web Archive Organization.
The huge collection of online books at the Library of Congress
[http://lcweb.loc.gov] is amazing.
2. Internet in Students` Lives
"The Internet offers the researcher access to a vast
source of information scattered at locations around the world.", (Campbell, page
1). It gives you more information or working materials than a local library can
offer. You can gain access to written materials, but it is possible to link to
video, audio, and listening resources as well.
Most students still have problems using the English
language. Firstly, students are not native English speakers and have to learn
everything right from the beginning. Secondly, students live in a non-English
speaking country and cannot use the language in normal life, only in the
classroom. There, they skip into an English-speaking world and read English
texts, articles, poems, short stories and novels to improve their speaking
skills. On this way, they get used to speak the foreign
language.
But the effort, students must make in order to do well
in the LK English is on a high level. In tests and exams they have to analyze
short stories of famous authors or articles, out of Time
[http://www.time.com]
or Newsweek
[http://www.newsweek.com].
In those articles they must find the style and form of the writing or the point
of view out of the given texts. Recognizing stylistic devices, irony or satire
is even harder.
Once connected to the web, students can find needful
material for the years of their English classes. The variety and diversity of
the wide ranged links are amazing and unbelievable. You will never cover
everything, but surely enough for your studies. English learning students can
improve their abilities in every area. Especially when they have problems in
writing, grammar or spelling, lack of vocabulary or not enough knowledge about
English speaking countries. The Internet faces all these problems and offers
everything and unlimited material to fill these gaps.
"The Internet holds the potential for revolutionizing
the way research is done", (Campbell, page 2). This sentence might be true, if
you take a look on the advantages of it. The Internet is available 24 hours a
day and is the best stocked global library. Finding material is easier and
faster than it is in a huge library. Students can share information, material
and ideas via chat or email, not only in their city, but they can exchange all
over the world. The Internet comes into every students house and appears on the
computer screen.
3. What do I need to get started?
Nearly every household has a computer these days. In
the time of multimedia the PC or Mac is able to arrange presentations,
calculations and well organized texts. As easy as this, it is to get access to
the Internet. Only a few things are needed.
3.1 Hardware Requirements
The only thing you need beside your computer is a
modem. A modem is the key to the vast resources. Modems can transfer datas out
of the big networks of the Internet. The transferring rate can reach 115.500
bauds with 56.000 kps (kilobytes per second). The cost of an Internet connection
varies tremendously with your location and the kind of connection that is
appropriate to your needs.
Right now, the development of ISDN offers the user an
access rate of 64.000 kps to the Web. This is a very high rate and makes
Internet surfing to a fantastic experience.
3.2 Software Requirements
As soon as you are registered to an commercial online
service, you can use a simple understandable software, which is based on Windows
9x or Windows NT.
The most important part of the online software is the
Internet browser. This is the door to the wide world of information. Today, the
most used browser is the Microsoft Explorer 5.0 and the Netscape Navigator 4.7.
They offer you easy access to the Internet. With additional software, you are
able to get the whole multimedia features, like Internet phone or voice mail.
These additional software is called "Plug-In", like Real Audio.
4. How to Find Needed Resources
If you are new on the Internet it will be hard for you
to get along in this jungle. The easiest way to find needed resources would be
to contact a search engine like Yahoo
[http://www.yahoo.com]
or AltaVista
[http://www.altavista.com].
They are the biggest and best filled engines on the web. Meanwhile, different
engines can be found, some German web crawlers, too.
At the main page of one of this engines, you can use
the search feature by filling in a keyword about your wanted material and within
seconds all related links (called matches), which include your keyword, appear
on the screen and can be visited.
A good example would be to use the Internet in order to
find material about the `96 American presidential election. Using the Yahoo
search engine is the simplest way. Contact Yahoo and fill in the keyword
"Election 96" in the given search-field. After a few seconds the Yahoo
server tells you that it found 10338 matches including the word "Election 96".
Now it is possible to crawl through all this 10338 matches, which would take
nearly a year. But after finishing the first twenty links, you probably already
got all information you wanted to know about the American presidential elections
and this might be sulficient. In the first twenty matches of our example you
find an explanation about the electoral system
[http://www.bga.com/~jnhtx/ec/ec.html]
or the website address of the Project Vote Smart Campaign
[http://www.vote-smart.org/campaign_96/presidential/ index.html].
On this page you get everything about the candidates, parties, the election
process or the campaign strategy. On nearly every web page you find additional
or related links which can be visited.
To get information about a nation, important persons or
happenings, fill in the keyword and receive the needed results. If students need
any background-knowledge about things they have talked about in class they
should contact a search engine.
5. How Can the Internet be Used for the LK English
Once connected to the net you will have the biggest
information data server of the world. Especially for students, a lot of
resources are offered.
5.1 Dictionaries
Many dictionaries are based on the Web, most of them
are easy to use and reply quickly. It is amazing that most dictionaries are
located on German university`s servers.
Englisch-Wörterbücher aller Art
These online dictionaries are a collection of
English-German and German-English dictionaries. If a word can`t be found in your
dictionary at home, it is possible to go online and try it in these huge filled
"Online Dictionaries". Using an online dictionary saves money. You don`t have to
buy new and expensive dictionaries anymore, because the web-dictionaries get
continuously updated. But you do not get detailed information about the
different ways the word can be used, like you find in the books of Langenscheidt
or Ponds.
5.2 Resources for English Stylistic Devices and Writing Skill
In English classes, students often have to analyse
stories, articles or texts. This takes a main part in English learning. They
should be able to deal with an given text, to understand and to interpret it.
Common questions about a text are to figure out the theme, plot, point of view
or a characterization. In the Internet, you find pages which explain these
objects and tell you how to express and find them in a given
text.
5.2.1 Stylistic Resources
How to Critique Fiction
At this website you find different styles of literature
criticisms. You find a plan how to go through a text most effectively step by
step. In order to improve your writing, it is shown how to analyse a given text
and to deal with questions. It provides hints about `Plot`,
`Characterization` or `Point of View` and many other important things
about critiquing.
Victory Crayne, the author, did a fantastic job in
writing this page to give everybody an outlook about the way of analysing texts.
Before a forthcoming test it is helpful for LK students to contact this page,
because it prepares them perfectly to deal with questions in LK English tests
and in the final exam, the Abitur.
Writer`s Web
One of the best writing-related link on the web is the
Writer`s Web. It is set up by an American college from the University of
Richmond/VI. It gives students a sophisticated tools to help them formulate
better English. This web-page includes links to wonderfully explained websites
about problems every student must face, like drafting a paper, punctuation,
sentence structure or quoting. For example, you see on the page ‘Using
Paraphrases’ the right way to restate another person`s idea.
There are not only stylistic devices, but also hints
about how to write an essay or a text good enough that it can passed to
teachers, professors or employers. Another helpful link is the site about the
right way of integrating resources in an essay or expert work. The sites of
Writers Web are easy to understand and are a pearl of online English learning
resources. It is an important reference page for students to consult in about
forgotten forms.
5.2.2 English Language Learning Resources
To learn a foreign language is hard. In most cases the
language you want to learn has no roots together with your own language. Some
resources in the Internet help you to deal with the English language and get
most out of your efforts.
BenJX
One of the oldest educational resource on the Internet
is offered by BenJX. These websites explain the visitor how to learn a foreign
language and how to get used to the world of the Internet. There are texts ready
to download about learning English on the Internet, but also general texts about
the "normal" way of language learning. They teach you to achieve the best
results in further studies and explain, how to succeed in other areas, like
reading, writing or speaking. They go deeper into debating and negotiating in a
foreign language. You can download texts about courses to improve your language
skills in a very short time.
Further Internet addresses are useful for advanced
English students. They can be visited as well, because they include more
material to gain the language knowledge, like Writing Help
[http://www.hut.fi/~rvilmi/LangHelp/Writing].
This is a collection of links to other writing sources.
5.3 Grammar Resources
The most important thing about speaking a language
correctly is the right use of its grammar. The English grammar is not very
difficult, but it still provides a lot of problems to students. The Internet
offers many web sites dealing with grammar.
5.3.1 Online Grammars
If you want to use the Internet like a big
grammar-encyclopaedia, you should try the following resources.
An online-English Grammar
This is the best grammar on the net. It is set up by
the Edunet International Organization and written by Anthony Hughes. On these
pages lots of explanations about the use of adjectives, adverbs or nouns can be
found. The definite and indefinite articles: the, an, a, or the
distributives: either, neither, nor, each, every , are explained. Not one
chapter is missing in this excellent online grammar.
It is very helpful for students, because it gets
updated continuously and gives more examples than any school book can
offer.
Grammar Help Page
Ruth Vilmi set up this link page. You can find
information about punctuation, spelling, but also lots of grammatical
information, like explanations about the right use of pronouns, the passive or
vocabulary.
The Perdue Online Writing Lab
http://owl.trc.perdue.edu/
The best organized and best filled grammatical and
style library on the Internet is offered by Perdue College/Indiana. An Online
Writing Lab(oratory) shows you how to use English grammatically correct and
explains you how to use several terms. The list of explanations last from
sentence structure, commas, quotations to spelling and gerunds. If you have
questions about these terms, you will find good examples and comparisons. It is
the best website for students to surf in and explore the rules and the use of
the English language. As far as I am concerned, it is the best help for students
on the web.
Grammar and Style Notes
This website was invented by Jack Lynch. It is a little
encyclopaedia about grammatical rules and explanations and comments on style.
The material is ordered in alphabetical capitals and therefore you can find your
grammatical term easily by using this search feature.
If you search for the difference between "affect" and
"effect", you will get this result:
Affect versus Effect:
Affect with an a is usually a verb; effect with an e is
(usually) a noun.
- When you affect something,
you have an effect on it. The usual adjective is effective.
- Effect as a verb is a
different word altogether, which means to bring about or to accomplish, as in
"to effect a change."
If you read this
phrase you recognize that it is not explained correctly. It is wrong that
"affect" is usually a verb and "effect" usually a noun. It is wrong as well that
the noun "effect" is a different word altogether, because it has the same
meaning like the verb. The whole text does not exactly explain the diversity of
the words "affect" and "effect".
5.3.2 Advanced Grammar Resources
Grammatical Support, which tries to go deeper into the
English grammar, is located on the web, as well. It will be helpful for every
student to use these resources to improve the capability of using English
correctly. But these sources will not produce gifted students or improve their
skills dramatically after they went through them. They only support learning
beside school.
The English Grammar Clinic
This `Clinic` was also set up by Edunet International.
It is an outstanding resource for students as well as for native English
speakers. You can send your English grammar questions to the Lydbury English
Centre (Email-link on the website). Your email will be answered by professional
teachers. For answers you can enter a forum, or the so called "Grammar
Cafe" for a chat. If you think your question is a common question, that it
might be answered at once, you can visit the FAQ-page, where you find a lot of
common answered grammar questions.
I myself downloaded the whole FAQ-page and saved it on
a hard drive, because it already covered all my grammar problems and so I did
not have to contact the teachers in the forum.
CNN Newsroom for ESL
These websites contain grammar, vocabulary and
comprehension questions based on real stories. You can choose between
vocabulary, grammar and discussion material right at the frontage. The resources
are only available during the school year, but you can get access to previous
exercises at any time.
5.4 Homework Support
Students often have problems doing their homework. The
worst case which can happen is not to understand what it is all about or lack of
knowledge in a science area. There are two good homework supporting pages on the
web.
Homework Helper
A teacher from Trabuco Hills High School will help in
nearly every subject, no matter whether maths, physics or English. You can leave
an email with your question and it will be answered in about 2 or 3
days.
Study Help
On this website five different forums are located. One
of them is the English-Help Forum. You can send an email with your
problem and you will receive help. The support you will get is not a perfectly
solved homework, it is only to make you understand the
material.
5.5 Reading Resources for Students
The Internet is the biggest library of the world,
because it contains huge sources of written materials. "In the broadest sense,
literature is everything that has been written from the classical novel or
sonnet to a soap opera script or comic book", (Campbell, page 267). So most of
it might be interesting and helpful for students, because reading improves your
ability to talk and gains your
vocabulary.
5.5.1 Literature
There are many magazines, newspapers and books located
on the Internet and beside that, they are available in local stores. On many
pages you can find links to famous books or magazines, which get updated daily
in the style of the printed copy. There are many specialized areas of literature
accessible through the Internet. College campuses around the world have
electronic literature resources available. The opportunity for students to
download their working material freely is one of the best things about the
Internet.
Online Book Page
This web-page has a large collection of electronic
books that can be distributed freely. Finding your recommended book is easily
done by using the search option. You can search by asking an author`s name or a
book title. On this server, most of the known books of world`s literature are
located for downloading.
English Literature Main Page
On this page lots of links can be found to works of
British authors like Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Oscar Wilde and many more. The
main page is divided into the different literature periods from medieval to
modern time. On the different time periods pages, you find the full author`s
works. It does not matter if book or poem, short story or novel, most works are
ready for downloading together with some information about the authors. This
page is very helpful for LK students, because they will learn a lot of British
authors and have a good collection of facts and works.
The Complete Works of Shakespeare
The complete dramas of Shakespeare, including Hamlet,
Mac Beth, the sonnets and many more are available on this web-page. You find a
simple tablet already divided into the sections Comedy, History, Tragedy and
Poetry. In these scales you find further links to your required work.
Banned Books Online
The Banned Book Page is a part of the Online Book Page
and maintains a page for books that were banned or were attempted to be banned
by legal authorities at some time in the past. You find books like Ulysses by
James Joyce or Chaucer`s Canterbury Tales.
The information is very interesting and can be used for
a report in front of the class.
5.5.2 Newspapers, Magazines
"Although literature has lagged behind the sciences in
getting journals in an electronically format, there is a move in this
direction", (Campbell, page 276). But every big newspaper or magazine is already
offering an Internet issue of its printings. They are well organized and easy to
read by using the HTML Standard for scrolling through the different
pages.
The biggest American newspapers, also available
throughout the world, maintains their daily issue on the web, like USA Today
[http://usa-tday.com/usafront.htm]
or The New York Times
[http://www.nytimes.com/].
A mouse click on the headlines on the front-page leads to the articles. To read
a newspaper online is cheaper than it is to buy it in the store. It is a good
resource for students, if they need articles for a news report.
CNN Interactive World News Main Page
Ted Turner`s world`s biggest news channel offers daily
updated news from all over the world, together with fantastic pictures and
sometimes audio and video files. You can also read all the written news from
past days and weeks, but without audio and image support.
5.5.3 Comprehension Reading Resources
Impact Online
The University of Illinois set up this page. It
maintains older English articles. In these articles, you can click on the
important words and look up their meaning. The articles are based on a lower
level and shouldn`t be a big problem for LK English students.
Tongue Twisters
Tongue Twisters are funny chains of alliterations.
These two web sites offer lots of English tongue twisters. Look them up and
start laughing!
Fluency Through Fables
On this page you can read fables, mostly written by
Aesop, check the vocabulary and answer given questions about them. The new
learned vocabulary can be used in a completion text right away. The Comenius
Group [http://www.comenius.com] offers a lot of learning material. The
start-up main page can be also received in German.
The fables and exercises should not be a big problem
for students. I think they are easy to understand and help only very little to
improve your English.
Biography
Here you find a library about mostly every known
writers`, scientists` or artists` biographies. A search function helps to get
information within seconds about the person you look for. This page is very
important for LK Students, especially for their reports. Here they get material
about the persons they have to talk about.
5.6 Listening and Speaking Resources
The Internet does not only contains written material.
Beside graphics, it contains audio-files. This kind of "multimedia" can be used
wonderfully in all sorts of education.
Learning Oral English Online
This page, provided by the University of Illinois,
offers conversational texts, which are connected to audio-file by using HTML
technology. The easy and understandable dialogues deal with situations taken out
of daily life. They won`t be a real support for the LK student, because they are
too easy. To receive the audio-dates, you need a special plug-in. A link to get
the required software is on the page.
Weekly Idiom
The weekly idiom, offered by the Comenius Group, is a
term which is a common expression in the English language. The idiom is defined
and other dialogue examples are given, it can be downloaded in an audio form as
well.
The idioms are good for students, because they are
mostly not part of the normal vocabulary. This website really helps to gain the
students` vocabulary.
Audio On-Demand
Since everything is possible on the Internet, many
radio stations can be received via the web. On this page are resources offered
by radio stations from all over the world, like from Radio Australia, Radio
Canada International and many more. So if you want to listen to English
language, you can turn to this page. I think the Internet`s radio feature is a
nice little tool, but the quality of listening to it is not as good as it is of
a normal radio.
5.7 English Tests and Comprehension Materials
5.7.1 English Tests
The SAT and ACT exams are used for college admission.
The result of your exam counts 30% of the admission decision. You will have to
attend these tests if you apply for a college in America. You do not need to
take both tests. It depends on the college you are interested in, which test is
preferred. But normally you take both tests, especially if you don`t do well in
one of these tests. The exams are offered nation-wide seven times throughout the
year.
If you are not a native English speaker you will have
to take the TOEFL test as well. It is a exam in which your English language
skills are tested. The TOEFL is designed to measure the English proficiency of
people whose native language is not English. It is required for admission to
almost every university in the United States and Canada. This test is offered in
schools in the United States, but you can take them in most major cities
throughout the world. In our area the Amerikahaus in Nuremberg offers this
exam.
If an Austrian student wants to study in the USA or
Canada, all three tests will have to be taken to be accepted in a college. The
following web addresses might be very helpful.
TESTPREP.COM ™
This web-page is the only one which offers free and
complete online SAT test-preparation courses. It helps and supports you in all
the different areas of the test: maths, vocabulary and 700 practice problems.
Now, the course is only available for the SAT test, but pages for the TOEFL and
ACT will soon follow. You can start working with some useful practice pages
right away and find links to offered prep-products on the web, which you can
order online.
To take the test is not only helpful if you want to
study in the US, but it will also improve your English
knowledge.
Red Rock International
An Australian web-page can be found on this address,
which offers some preparation resources for the TOEFL. This is more an
advertising page for their product, called "The Test Taker", which can be
purchased online. You can download only 1/4 of the commercial software as
shareware, but still it helps to get along with the TOEFL. Images of the
available software give an example about the software before you order
it.
TOEFL
These Internet websites set up by the ETS-NET Server
(Educational Testing Service) offer everything you need for the exam. This page
helps you to get the best preparation. It provides hints about taking the test,
the dates of the test and where you can take it. You can click on a
bulletin-board and look at international test dates. The page gives you a wide
overview about available preparation products. Examples and parts are ready to
be downloaded in order to tell you more about the test.
BEAT THE TOEFL
The whole previous TOEFL test can be downloaded on this
web-page. You find the questions to all areas: `Listening Comprehension`,
`Structure and Written Expressions` and `Reading Comprehensions`. To take a look
at the previous TOEFL test would be a good support before you take the latest
issue of the test.
5.7.2 Comprehension Courses and Tests
If you don`t want to study in North America, you still
have chances to get your English skills tested, beside the tests in school. Some
organizations offer online tests or courses in which every online user can take
part.
The International Writing Exchange
On this website one of the best online English courses
is located. "Taking part in this course you will have the opportunity to study
English with other students from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North
America.(...) You can find ways to make your English writing more effective on
the international stage." (http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/
Exchange/main.html).
The whole course works in a cycle of three weeks. In
the first week you will write an article about one of the given topics. In the
second week you will find several articles about your or other topics and you
can write short comments about their writings. In the third week you will be
able to join a conference and talk about your and other articles, telling and
explaining them your ideas and your efforts.
The International Writing Exchange is the best way to
improve LK English students` writing, because English professors and teachers
will correct your writing as well.
To participate you only have to send a short Curriculum
Vitae and your email address.
Test Your English
This web-page is set up by the Colchester English Study
Centre . This Centre designed a English test for ESLS (English as a Second
Language Students). The first questions of this text are quite easy, but if you
go on, they will get more complicated.
After downloading the whole test, fill out the test
offline and sent it back to the centre. There it will be corrected and the
results will be sent back to your email address. Taking part in the test is free
and a good training for LK English Students.
ESL QUIZ CENTER
You can take part in a test to improve your English
writing and grammar skills. You can choose tests out of different sections like
"count/no count nouns" or "if-clauses". You need to fill out a form by clicking
on the answers you think would be right. After finishing the test, you click on
the submit button and you will receive your result and score. The correction
tells your mistakes and the percentage of your right answers.
This web-page is the best online self-test for students
to check in which section they have still problems in. These quizzes are well
made, but they don`t tell how well you exactly do.
5.8 Corresponding on the Web
5.8.1 The Email
"The Internet email feature sends messages from one
place to another. It is an ideal resource for checking with students at other
universities in subject areas of interest or for contacting professors doing
research in an area you are studying", (Campbell, page 16).
If you sign to a commercial online service you already
will have got your email address. In most cases it is the User ID, which is used
to connected you to the service.
Emailing is like a post-box. It is even more simple
than that. No stamps, no envelope, no letterbox is needed. You just fill in the
address of the receiver and it will arrive within minutes. Much quicker than a
normal letter. You also can transport files together with an
email.
The email feature is a fantastic tool for students. The
Internet was built up on the email function. The best example would be the
Usenet, a data library like the Internet, but built on thousands of forums and
messages sections. If you join a Usenet group, you will be able to read former
messages and add new messages to topics you are interested in or concerned
about.
On nearly every website you find an Email-HTML, the
link to an Internet address. You can use it, if you need further information or
just want to join a registration.
A Word A Day (AWAD)
If you subscribe to this free service, you will receive
a new English word daily. The word will be explained and defined with occasional
commentary to the subscriber. Every month the organization sends out a
FAQ-message. "More than `51,000 linguaphiles in more than 100 countries` already
subscribed", (AWAD, http://www.word- smith.org).
An example is the following abridgment of the Email I
received on the 29th Nov. 1999:
lee.way \`le--.wa-\ n
1a: off-course lateral movement of a ship when under
1b: the angle between the heading and the track of an
airplane
2: an allowable margin of freedom or variation :
TOLERANCE
Marcus, Steve, Key Div. I Step for SUNY., Newsday,
10-08-1996, pp A66.
"While the funds do not represent a new source of
revenue, Laskowski
said he will have leeway toward freeing some of the fee
for scholarships."
The aim of AWAD is to support learning English. But
this example is rather difficult for non native English speakers. The
explanation of the word `leeway` is hard to understand, because the word lateral
is probably unknown by most students and must be explained as well. In the given
example, is the structure "leeway toward" used metaphorically and not in the
sense of one of the explained meanings. The word "While" is not used correctly
in this context, because it is temporal. To use a causal word like "because"
would be better.
This example tells us that not every educational
resources on the Internet is really correct. No matter which page will be
visited it is not guarantied that the received information is 100% right.
Another good use of the email feature is to correspond
with other students, teachers and classes throughout the world. Many websites
are available about pen pals (online expression: Key Pal).
The Email Key Pal Connection
This website is also offered by the Comenius Group. It
wants to bring thousands of people together from all around the world. Everybody
can subscribe to the list of pen pals. You only have to write a little bit about
yourself, hobbies, interests and your email address. Your facts will appear on
the website and can be read by every visitor. If you find someone interesting,
you can contact him. The Pen Pals are from all around the world, but most of
them are Asian college students.
Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connection
This link goes a little bit further than the Key Pal
Connection. This site, built up by the St. Olaf College, wants to connect
classrooms throughout the world by discussing and working out intercultural
programs. It starts with a key pal friendship of two or more classes and than
they can continue to work together on projects, to bring closer their classes,
countries and cultures. The project`s aim is simple and broad: by connecting
schools and students nationally and internationally which use the Internet, it
hopes to demonstrate how the Net can be used as a tool for research and as a
medium for interactive and collaborative learning.
BYU`s English Language Cybercentre
This Page contains a list of people throughout the
world who would like pen pals to help them to practice English (or would like to
help you practicing English).
5.8.2 Chat and Online Contact with Other Users
Chatting allows users in different locations to chat
back and forth, because it follows the Client/Server model. The common interface
for chatting via the Internet is the IRC, the Inter Relay Chat. The most used
and simplest client software is MIRC and available at
[http://www.mirc.com]. But also commercial online services offer talking
to other online users. The best developed chat systems belongs to CompuServe,
with its well organized and filled forums. Lots of useful software, shareware or
text files about major topics can be found in the CompuServe`s forums
additution. You can get in contact with thousands of other current users in an
public chat room or a private box.
Especially for students chat systems can be very
helpful. If you leave a message in a Newsgroup of the Usenet, it may be never
answered or it take a long time to get it answered. If you join a student forum
[htttp://www.stufo.com], it will be possible to get in contact with other
students from all over the world. You just can get new friends or receive help
for your studies. Chatting has a lot of advantages for students. You communicate
and type the English language. You can ask American or British forum staff to
correct or help you in your English studies and they will help you as good as
they can. Another good thing about corresponding is that you must try to express
yourself in English well enough in order to get understood.
Classroom Net
At this address you find a chat forum for teachers,
students and other people to talk about educational questions or just for a
small talk. Mostly it is visited by American teachers, but sometimes there are
students as well. No special client software or plug-ins are needed. These
websites are well organized and provide helpful educational links to
material.
If you really want to chat with other students from all
around the world, you will have to sign to a commercial online service, because
in their chat rooms there are more people than you can find on any IRC-page on
the Internet. In CompuServe are many forums for students and they are well
visited. So if you want to see real results in improving your English spend a
few more dollars or schillings for a commercial service.
6. Who Offers all these Resources?
Mostly the American universities offer resources for
other students. Every single college in the USA. has its own domain, which means
that it has its own server ability. If it is an educational institution like a
high school, college or university it will always have the domain ending ".edu"
in its address.
In these colleges there are small Internet workgroups
who create all this material and information mainly for other students at their
campus, but also for everybody to whom it may concern. These students can take
such workshops as a college class and get tested in it.
In America, every college student has their own email
address. Professors do not hand out student`s facts, results or information in
class anymore, they send it directly to the student`s email post box. In some
colleges, like the Perdue University/IN, students must have an own homepage
during their stay at this college.
Nowadays you find very few Austrian and German schools
online. Basically the problem is attitudes, application, access and
accomplishment, because the electronic frontier is not something that the
education system has embraced with open arms in our country. Schools do not see
the advantages of this new media as a learning tool and are still fearful
towards this technology. Nearly all Austrian universities are connected to the
Internet and present with their own homepage. But Austrian universities do not
offer as much educational material as American colleges do.
Austria is still developing with regard to the
Internet. A new online market was created by companies, because the WWW had
grown so rapidly. These companies used their homepages for business reason, even
if the access is free. Companies like Edunet earn money, by means of
advertising. They offer ESL-students free access to their websites, but other
companies pay money to get their advertising on this frequently visited
web-pages.
Criticism and Conclusion
The extend of the Internet`s resources is overwhelming.
Indeed it is. But you need a lot of background knowledge to get access to its
resources and to deal with them. Knowledge about computers and about the
Internet would help LK English students in every kind of research. Especially
for them the Internet is the best thing, beside a trip to an English speaking
country, to improve their English and find resources for class. The problem is
that not many students have Internet access or know somebody who might have
it.
But the Internet does not occur in any area of the
students` school career. They leave school without knowing anything about the
usage of the world`s best filled library and resource provider or the advantages
it offers in their area of education.
In Austria, not many schools have computers or an
Internet access. Teachers can not deal with it, as well. The government started
a project to teach its teachers the use of the net, but the project just started
and it will take a long time until every school is linked to this
technology.
Another problem is that the Internet language is
English, and sometimes, if you don`t know specific words of the Internet jargon
or slang it is hard to understand. Words like ‘modem’,
‘provider’ or ‘baud’ might be foreign and meaningless to
most students.
Besides the problem that students don`t get taught in
computer techniques, another major problem is still the cost of being online.
Besides charges for accessing the Internet, the user must pay the incurred phone
calls, because you take the phone line as the data`s receiver.
The cheapest solution to get connected to the web would
be the Freenet link, offered by most universities. The University of
Erlangen/Nuremberg presents it own freenet.
Beyond that, the low transfer rate is a problem,
because of the overstrained phone lines. Receiving web-data in the evening is
nearly impossible. So you can`t always get your wanted information at the time
you need them.
But companies try to integrate the Internet in our
life’s. So it is already possible to phone by using the Internet
connection, Internet banking or Internet shopping. Software will help us to get
the most out of the Internet and, I am sure, the Internet will change our
future, but only to our advantage.
The glamour of words like "Internet" or "Online" is too
much emphasized in our society. Today it is the best helper and supporter for
people who are using it. Internet makes life easier and therefore education as
well. But it can`t take over the place of the common, old-fashioned English
book. The question, whether the Internet will really replace the old-fashioned
way of learning English, can not be answered yet. Every attempt to head in this
direction is a step in the wrong direction . The voice and video tools can`t
supersede the teacher`s role. The Internet assist the learning ability and aids
if questions occur and does not make a native English speaker out of LK English
students.
But we, the students, should know: there is somebody
supportive out there.
Appendix
I. Bibliography
Campbell, Dave and Mary: Doing Research on the
Internet. Reading/MA, 1998
Clinton, William, Inauguration Address.
Washington, 20. January 1997
Cole, Tim: Für jeden etwas. In PC go, 5
(1998), page 8-11
Cole, Tim: Für jeden etwas, Wie das
Internet enstand. In PC go 5 (1998), page. 10
Cooper Ramo, Joshua: Winner Takes All. In Time,
September 16, 1996, Vol 148 No.12, page 52-59
Gromov, Gregory: The Roads and Crossroads of
Internet History.
@
http://internet-valley.com/intval.html
Sanjana, Marian: In-A-Flash. @
http://inaflash.com/testinfo.htm
II. Websites
Democratic Party @
http://www.democrats.org/
Republican Party @
http://rnc.org/
Bill Clinton`s Homepage @
http://www.vote-smart.org/campaign_96/democrat/clinton.html
Writer`s Web @
http://www.urich.edu/~writing/wweb.html
Using Paraphrases @
http://www.urich.edu/~writing/paraphrs.html
Online English Grammar @
http://www.edunet.com/english/grammar/toc.html
The English Grammar Clnic @
http://www.edunet/english/clinic-h.html
Homework Helper @
http://www.trabuco.org/
The Complete Works of Shakespeare @
http://the-tech-mit.edu/Shakespeare/ works.html
The New York Times @
http://www.nytimes.com
CNN Interactive World News @
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/index.html
Impact Online @
http://www.eduiuc.edu/Impact/Articles/
Biography: Jane Austen @
http://www.biography.com
Weekly Idiom @
http://www.comenius.com/idiom/index.html
TESTPREP.COM™ @
http://www.testprep.com/tpsatete.html
TOEFL Online @
http://www.toefl.org/index.html
ESL Quiz Center @
http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/quiz/
ESL Quiz Center: Results @
http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/Quiz
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