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Title
The roles of the teachers using web-blog as a cultural teaching resource in an EFL literature course
Presenter
Dr. Pin-hsiang Natalie Wu
Abstract
Internet technologies are providing dramatic new opportunities by which EFL teachers can provide their students with authentic materials in the target language, as well as distance interaction with native speakers. This paper describes the roles of two teachers, one Taiwanese and one American, in a course in which contemporary American short stories were collaboratively taught to Taiwanese students during 2008. The primary interface for students was a blog on the popular Taiwanese social networking site wretch.cc with the video provided through youtube.com. The local Taiwanese teacher presented the stories in a typical classroom format. The American, in the United States, placed custom-made videos and other entries on the blog about stories the students were studying, discussing cultural references unfamiliar to the students. The students and the American then exchanged ideas about the stories via the blog “comment” system.
The perspectives of both teachers on the stories, as well as the blog interaction stimulated the students’ thinking and learning, beyond what might be possible in the traditional classroom. The teachers filled multiple roles in this unique course, including leader in the conventional classroom setting, cultural interpreter, mentor, facilitator for blog/video usage, video producer, on-camera performer, cross-cultural collaborator, experimenter, learner, and cultural ambassador.
This presentation will:
Provide a significant literature review
Describe the methodology and technology used
Present student reactions based on qualitative student interviews
Analyze the multiple roles of the two teachers using this methodology
Provide findings and recommendations for others wishing to use the same methodology
Keywords:- Internet technologies, authentic materials in the target language,
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