A Web- based Task on Reading Comprehension
PGDELT 2001 HUANG XIN
1. Introduction
The IT technology has widely been used in all aspects of education. In the
classroom context, researchers as well as educators have recognized its
advantages. The wide use of IT in English reading and writing classes has
proved to be an effective way not only to enlarge the knowledge of the students
but also to help them improve their strategies for reading and writing. The
activities designed under the concept of IT technology will provide possibilities
for teachers to promote the interaction between the instructors and the
learners. In a web-based activity, great creativity will be encouraged in order
to create the interests and motivations of the learners. Meanwhile, more
chances will be given to the learners to practice on the useful skills.
“ The real benefits for students begins when activities
exercise different kinds of learning styles …, provide a real
audience for communication and allow for interaction on both local and/or international
scale. In this way they can enable students to: evaluate, review, publish,
compare, negotiate, simulate, create, investigate, hypothesize, organize.
Bargain. Debate, interview, listen, watch, retell, examine, experiment, play,
survey and report” (Teeler, 2000, p. 63). This is because using IT can introduce new types
of input both in quantity and in quality. And the language learning environment
will be greatly improved. On one hand, learners will be able to access the
target language in more than one single way, which is characterized by a
classroom language teaching and learning. On the other hand, computer aided
language learning can be more focused and individualized on the part of
learners. In general, teaching and learning in the IT context increase both the
variety and the diversity of learning opportunities for language learners. And
for each individual learner, the learning task will become a true process in
which individuality and creativity can be enhanced to the maximum.
2. Using IT to Produce Web-based Tasks on Reading
Comprehension
So far we have discussed
on the advantages of the use of IT in language learning and teaching. However,
in practice, there are still important issues that we teachers as material
designers and instructors have to encounter. In digital learning, Hodgson
introduced two concepts, the “open learning “ and the “ flexible learning”. An
‘open” learning system is claimed to provide wide range of learning
opportunities and learners will have a better access to knowledge and skills.
And “flexible” focuses on the individuality of a task or learning process.
In light of these
theoretical insights, I’ll try to produce a web-based task on reading
comprehension. Reading is a complex psychological process in which both the
metacognitive knowledge and cognitive skills are involved. In this task, I’ll
try to integrate metacognitive knowledge, cognitive skills and IT facilities
into an efficient mechanism, which will bring the learners to explore through a
new way of reading.
During the pre-task
activity, learners will be instructed to search in the Internet for useful
information on which the next step of reading will be focused. The purpose of
the activity is to activate learners’ metacognitive knowledge about the target
topic in the future reading activities. While a traditional approach may also
encourage the learner to recall whatever they know about a certain topic,
learners usually can only share their own experiences. In the Internet,
learners will be able to “search” or “explore” whatever information available
and meaningful to them. Thus, their metacognitive knowledge can be more
effectively activated in a unique way.
Reading activity will be
the next stage of the task. In this activity, I designed two sub-tasks in order
to improve the cognitive skills of the learners on reading. These skills
include skimming, scanning, getting the gist, finding main ideas, etc. One way
is to use multiple-choice format. Although it was familiar to most of the
learners as well as teachers, multiple-choice had been regarded as an efficient
method to assess vocabulary in language testing. In this task, on the other
hand, we find certain possibilitiy to adapt it in reading comprehension. I
think what really attributes to the effect of multiple-choice under IT context
is the salient advantages of feedback designing. The feedback designed in this
task will not only evaluate the correctness of the reader’s answers, but, what
is more important, provide possible clues to encourage the readers using
different strategies to solve the problems. These clues well show how a certain
cognitive skill can be used properly and accurately. In this way, learners can
be frequently exposed to the reading process, thus be more open to the
learning.
Another sub-task is
cloze exercise. Cloze is a reading strategy that is based on the psychological theory of
closure. The theory states a person wants to complete any pattern that is not
complete. Cloze exercises
present few problems for transfer to the computer since alternative answers do
not often occur. While originally intended as a language test, cloze has come
to be used widely. It allows for learners assess linguistic possibilities in
the context of text. In this exercise, the focus may be on the linguistic
features of the text such as grammar points, vocabulary, etc. The value
of the cloze exercise is that
the learner must use the context of the entire passage to make the correct
selections. In this way, the learner is thinking in the target language. The
previous experience with the text provides additional clues in filling in the
blanks. Cloze exercises allow
learners to "intelligently guess" and fill in missing words from a
written passage. The Cloze method improves a learner's reading
comprehension by using a variety of skills like: background knowledge, context
cues, syntax (structure of English language), general understanding of the
material and grammar skills.
3. Conclusion
From the practice in designing a web-based task, one can see that IT can
offer interactive learning. It can conduct a two-way learning session with the
learners. It is much more than a mere programmed textbook, whose power of
interaction is virtually limited to an ability to reveal the correct answer. It
can handle a very large volume of interaction and can deliver to the learner’s
feedback of some subtlety, at more frequent intervals. Thus, interaction in the
learning process of the learner will be strengthened and more flexibility will
be pertained in the learning.
4. References
Ahmad, K.,
Corbatt, G. & Sussex, R. (1991). Computers, language learning and
language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Allan, J. R.
(1972). Current trends in computer assisted instruction. Computers and the
Humanities, 7 (1), 47-55.
Gardner, H.
& Walters, J. (1993). Multiple intelligences: the theory in practice.
New York: Basic Books.
Pennington,
M.C. (1996). The power of the computer in language education. In Pennington,
M.C. (ed.). The power of CALL. Houston, Athelstan.
5. APPENDIX:
Instructions for A Web-based Task on Reading Comprehension
VISITING MUSEUMS
5.1. Pre-task
Activity
5.1.1.You
will be invited to give a talk on a museum. Before you give the presentation,
you may find it interesting and useful to search in the Internet for the
information about museums. When you do this, try to keep the following
questions in your mind:
·
Have you had the previous experience of visiting a
museum? If so, what’s the recent visit? Can you recall any details of the
museum? What are they?
·
How can you find an interesting museum in the Internet,
which you would like to recommend to your friends to pay a visit?
·
How is a typical museum arranged? What kind of services
does it provide?
·
How can you describe a specific exhibit in a museum?
·
What are the exhibits that interest you most? Why?
·
How does a web page of a museum present itself? Are
there any differences between your web surfing and your visiting on foot? What
are they?
5.1.2.When
you do the searching, the following web sites are strongly recommended to you:
5.1.3.You may also use the
following search engine to try visiting other museums on your own if you find
the museums recommended above can’t satisfy you:
5.2. Reading
Tasks:
There are two
sub-tasks in this section. You may choose one and try on it. Wish you have fun!
Sub-task 1: Lesson
One: Multiple Choice Exercises.
Sub-task 2: Lesson Two:
Cloze Exercises.
(Please go to my web page to see
these tasks: http://www.oocities.org/winjun1118)
5.3. Post-reading Tasks:
5.3.1.After you complete the reading lessons, you must be very
interested in Natural History Museum. Do you want to go there? Ok! Now you may
go on to the following website:
Natural
History Museum
HAVE FUN AND ENJOY YOURSELF!
5.3.2.Did you like the museum? You must have some fun there.
Would you like to share with me? If so, please try to WRITE a story of
your experience in Natural History Museum and send me a copy by e-mail. You’ll
receive my comments soon!
E-MAIL: winjun1118@hotmail.com