Using Multimedia in the Foreign Language Classroom | Page 11

students and thus help them to develop speaking and listening skills as well. In this
way, the computer is not just the ‘knower-of-the-right-answer’ but it becomes, as
Jones (1991) emphasizes, a ‘stimulus’ to classroom interaction.
2.1 The world wide web (www)
Carrier, (1997 :281) refers to the www as one of the basic types of internet
access that can be used in EFL activities. As the www is not intended to serve
educational purposes but, rather, it is available to anyone processing or having access
to computers, Motteram and Slaouti (2000, Unit 10: 13) classify it as a ‘generic’ tool
in language teaching.
Similar to what has been claimed earlier about computers, Carrier (1997: 3)
stresses that, although the www cannot teach students to speak English it is, however,
a resource which can provide a wealth of authentic materials to be exploited in ELT.
The notion of authenticity is well discussed in the literature. According to Little et al
(1989: 28), authentic texts promote acquisition because they challenge learners to
activate relevant knowledge of the world, of discourse, and of the language system,
and thus construct the conditions for further learning. Another advantage of the www
is, according to Carrier (1997: 282), that it can encourage the development of cultural
awareness, by exposing students to international influences and new cultures.
However, the www is so vast that, as Shea (2001) stresses, any kind of
research on the web is nearly impossible for inexperienced students. Sheerin (1991)
also stresses the danger of presenting the learner with masses of information. To
overcome this, Slaouti (1997) considers that some ‘careful’ integration is necessary, at
least during the first stages. Thus, within the context of ‘scaffolding’ as it was defined
above, the teacher can provide ample assistance at the beginning, which she can
reduce as the students’ competence increases till they become able to cope with a
situation without the teacher’s intervention. In practice, what the teacher can do is to
start exploiting the web by initially presenting students with materials which she
herself has found on it in order to show them what the web is capable of offering. A
next stage would be for students to try and find a specific site under the teacher’s
guidance. Finally, after students have acquired some competence both in the use of
the language as well as the use of computers, they can use the various search engines
in order to have access to a number of different sources.

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