University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Telecommunications and the second language classroom

Wickline, Kathy Jo

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125931

Description

Title
Telecommunications and the second language classroom
Author(s)
Wickline, Kathy Jo
Issue Date
1996
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Davidson, Fred
Department of Study
Linguistics
Discipline
Teaching English as a Second Language
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
  • Teaching English as Second Language
  • Audience effect
  • High school students
  • Second language writing
  • Telecommunications in language learning
Language
eng
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine whether having an audience of native speakers has any effect on high school students' attitudes towards writing in their second languages, their attitudes towards learning second languages, and their acquisition of writing skills in their second languages. The students involved in this study were from two small rural Midwest high schools and were in their second year of studying either Spanish or German. A comparison group used a more traditional approach to writing, having the teacher and one other student in their class read their three assignments. The experimental group used computers to write to a partner class of native speakers outside of the United States as their audience. paragraphs was exchanged over a two month period. A total of three Statistics show that telecommunications did influence the students' attitudes positively towards learning to write in their second languages, but its use did not influence their general attitudes towards learning second languages. While both groups did steadily improve their writing skills, the experimental group was more motivated to write and wanted to continue the writing project. On the other hand, the comparison group did not wish to continue writing to each other in their classrooms.
Type of Resource
text
Handle URL
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125931
Copyright and License Information
Copyright owned by the author.

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