31 July, 2011

Making The Most Of Free Web Applications for Language Learning

There is no doubt that we are living in the era of ICT and our students are so computer-literate that it is a shame to waste this tremendous potential to make use of their knowledge and interests to our and their advantage. We have argued endlessly about theories and concepts like the communicative use of language, CLIL, using authentic materials, extending learning beyond class time, motivating learners, collaborative learning, promoting autonomy and self-directed learning. The time has come to blend all these concepts into new, authentic and motivating tasks.

The advent of Web 2.0 and beyond has brought to light myriads of free web applications that we can use to enhance language learning, while at the same time engaging students through the use of the same technology they use every day, but of which WE may be ignorant or unskilled in using.

In this presentation I give a user friendly overview of the use of search engines, blogs, wikis, mindmapping tools, social bookmarking, voice and video recording tools, media integration and presentation tools, podcasting, digital storytelling tools, startpages, geo-referencing tools and more. For some of these, I show a number of practical web applications and specific examples from my own classes and how they can be used to improve vocabulary, listening, reading, speaking and writing, as well as critical thinking skills.
 Making The Most Of Free Web Applications for Language Learning

Presented at 
  • E-Schooling Educational Conference (April 2009 ,  Santiago de Chile, Chile)
  • International Online Conference for Teaching and Learning (March 2010 , USA)
  • 2nd Virtual Round Table Conference (April 2010 , Germany)

 

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