An Examination of Online Grammar Teaching Materials Available for Young Learners

Abstract

The Internet is widely used in foreign language education both inside and outside language classrooms. The most important reason that makes the Internet a popular tool used in foreign language education is its great number of materials that are easy to access. Currently, theory of foreign language education supports the use of the Internet both as a tool as well as a resource bank. However, this paper posits that the Internet should not be seen as an accurate tool and resource bank especially when the place of grammar learning is taken into account. In this particular study, I critically examine grammar materials found online to understand their value from a communicative language teaching perspective. Results of this study show that although there are accurate and appropriate online materials that are prepared for the teaching of the grammar, many of these materials are traditional in nature without much communicative value. Hence, teachers and learners are invited to understand this fallacy characterized by relying on the Internet as a powerful, accurate, and appropriate tool and resource bank that can be used in foreign language education.