2026-09-20T13:21:58Z https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/125931 2025-02-13 col_2142_13736 col_2142_5131 com_2142_8975 com_2142_8903 com_2142_5130

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125931 Dissertation/Thesis Telecommunications and the second language classroom Wickline, Kathy Jo 1996 Davidson, Fred Teaching English as Second Language Audience effect High school students Second language writing Telecommunications in language learning eng 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. text Copyright owned by the author. Teaching English to speakers of other languages Linguistics Teaching English as a Second Language University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign M.A. Thesis