An evaluation of the use of the internet for the purposes of foreign language learning

Abstract

Linguists involved in language teaching and thereby active in the promotion of communicative skills can not afford to by-pass the opportunities presented by developments in technology. As a result many linguists are keenly interested in using such developments in technology in the language classroom. While it is true that the approaches, interests and goals of language teachers/learners vary considerably from those of specialists from other disciplines, in a sense, any and all information available on the Internet is of interest to language teachers/learners. The difficulty or challenge which language teachers may face, however, is to adapt discrete methodological and pedagogical strategies to the use of new technologies in order to meet the language learners' requirements. In this sense, and in order to guarantee the maintenance of high academic standards while ensuring language acquisition, language teachers strive to integrate new pedagogical approaches in language classes and to introduce the principles of autonomous and semi-autonomous language learning through the promotion of new technologies in the language classroom. This article considers such developments and concentrates on the means by which specific goals of language teaching/learning for groups of students from diverse specialisms may be attained. The article focuses on the means by which language acquisition has been ensured by the promotion of contemporary methodologies in language teaching/learning and by the introduction of new technologies in the language classroom. It presents examples of current practice where language acquisition has been promoted via the World Wide Web and e-mail.