Role of the Internet in English Language Teaching

The Role of Internet in English Language Teaching There is a way in which you can wander around the world and see wonders of the world while you 're laying on your comfortable sofa at home . Using the same way, you can talk to your parents or friends who are living in another city or a country face to face without having to pay a high cost . You can also use this way to find information to fulfil your curiosity and make comprehensive researches. You can even watch a tv show which you have missed or listen to the radio or any music you want. This way is called "internet", which is a worldwide virtual network. Since the 1990s, with the increase in its popularization, internet has brought advantages to the many fields. One of these fields is
English Language Teaching. Even though there are many people who claim that internet causes learners to learn English in an improper way, internet has improved student-teacher interactions and expedited finding sources and learning the stress pattern of the language in English Language Teaching. Most visible and evident advantage which internet has brought to English language teaching is that communication between instructors and students has gained an important speed and has become more efficeint. In today 's world ,it is hard for instructors to pay attention to every student individually since classes are crowded or schedules are tight and strict. Yet, with the services internet provides, it 's possible to give feedback personally to every single student quickly and to ask the instructor about the points which was not clear enough in the class or they are curious to know. Thanks to internet, a fast and efficient flow of information can be provided between students and instrustors. As well as communicating with students personally, instructors can also create e-mail lists web pages such as web boards and forums to interact with the whole class and share documents for students. (M. Warschauer & H. Shetzer & C. Meloni, 2000, p.36) Furthermore, through some English teaching websites, instructors have the chance to follow the performance of the students constantly and easily, and see the changes in their performances with the help of graphics and schemas. For example, there is a web site whose address is wordtest.com and this web site gives its members vocabulary tests according to their English level and when members take tests, it automatically evaluate your score. If a whole class enrolls to the site, the instructor can see the scores of all students. The site currently has 909.796 members and both students and instructors who use wordtest.com consider that it is very useful and fruitful. That internet has made it possible for instructors to find reliable sources both for their own personal development as a teacher and the students is another advantge internet has introduced to ELT field. To be able to convey their knowledge of language to students properly and to make every point clear in students ' mind, English teachers benefit from a great deal of resources. Instructors spend a lot of effort and time to reach these resources and pay attention them to be reliable . However, internet has simplified finding resources for the classroom. Internet is fast and efficient to search for and find any kind of source.
Moreover, since it is worldwide, internet has a pretty rich variety of sources. In contrast to general belief that internet is not regarded as a reliable source, there are many ways to reach reliable documents on web. These days instructors can use "virtual libraries" which includes full articles and other documental sources with the names of their authors in return to a fair charge (M. Warschauer et al, 2000, p.22). In addition to virtual libraries,
"professional journals and magazines" are other sound options to the resources which you can reach via internet and instructor can also choose an appropriate text from an online newspaper or magazine for the class reading (M. Warschauer et al, 2000, p.22-23). Furthermore, internet can actually help with understanding and obtaining the stress pattern of English. Like every language on earth, English has a special rhythm and stress pattern which is used when speaking. To make students comprehend this pattern, teachers sometimes use auditory materials such as songs and dialogs from educational listening tapes and internet is rather wealthy in terms of this kind of auditory material. An instructor can find any kind of auditory material on internet with little effort. Songs especially are one of the most found, educationally practical and encouraging auditory materials on internet. Thanks to internet, instructors can select an appropriate song for the class from a wide range and also find its lyrics to make it easier for students to catch up with the rhythm and stress pattern. Moreover, on internet, a student himself can do this very same with joy and improve both his pronunciation and intonation without getting bored. Instructors can also reach dialogs in English which is formed especially for educational purposes. The author Roberto Quesada, for instance, implies that repeating words aloud and listening to other people 's speaking to practice his English played a great part in his learning phase in "How I Learned English", which is a compilation work by Tom
Miller (1994, p. 249). In spite of these beneficial services and advantages internet provides, several people argue that internet may lead students to learn English improperly. They allege that there are so many incorrect or unorganized sources on internet that it is a huge risk to use it for learning or teaching English. However, with the guidance of an instructor and internet research skills, which nearly all of people who use web has these days, it is not difficult to reach a reliable and correct source on internet. There are lots of educationally professional web sites which can be effectively used in English classrooms and you can reach them in a minute by just typing key to a search engine. Official web sites of newspapers and magazines in English such as the New York Times and GQ are available on internet, as well and these can be found easily and used in classroom for reading activities. If the instructor or the student is aware of the criteria of a reliable source, it is not challenging to obtain dependable sources. In conclusion, Internet can be quite helpful to the English Language Teaching field when used consciously. To take the best outturn out of internet, instructors and students should be informed about the services of internet more efficiently and should be educated about how to reach reliable sources and how to use internet for educational purposes.
Since internet enables instructors to reach a wide range of sources and obtain various course material, supporting the usage of internet in ELT may give rise to effectiveness of teaching and learning. Considering the advantages internet brought to the
English teaching field, ELT society should welcome internet and try to benefit from its services more frequently. References;
Miller, T. (2007). How i learned English. Washington D.C.: National Geographic.
Warschauer, M., Shetzer, H. & Melon, C. (2000). Internet for English teaching. TESOL.

References: Miller, T. (2007). How i learned English. Washington D.C.: National Geographic. Warschauer, M., Shetzer, H. & Melon, C. (2000). Internet for English teaching. TESOL.