Ceci est la version HTML du fichier http://www.elitnet.at/Docs/An%20Electronic%20Literacy%20Approach%20to%20Network-Based%20Language%20Teaching.pdf. Lorsque G o o g l e explore le Web, il crée automatiquement une version HTML des documents récupérés. Google n'est ni affiliée aux auteurs de cette page ni responsable de son contenu. Les termes de recherche suivants ont été mis en valeur :  an  electronic  literacy  approach  to  network  based

---

Page 1

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network-Based Language Teaching

Heidi Shetzer & Mark Warschauer

Shetzer, H., & Warschauer, M. (2000). An electronic literacy approach to network-based language

teaching. In M. Warschauer & R. Kern (Eds.), Network-based language teaching: Concepts and

practice (pp. 171-185). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Introduction

For the past decade, English language teaching professionals have tried a variety of ways to make

use of the Internet to promote language learning and practice. These range from the creation of self-

access online quiz collections to the use of authentic online materials as input for content-based

projects and activities (Hegelheimer, Mills, Salzmann, & Shetzer, 1996).

However, the Internet is much more than just a teaching tool. It is becoming one of the primary

media of literacy and communication practices in the current era. The estimated number of

worldwide users of the Internet topped 130 million in August 1998 (Nua Ltd., 1998) and continues to

grown a rate of 40-50% a year, with growth rates in China, Indonesia, and other developing

countries as great or greater than in the United States (Glave, 1998). Electronic mail (e-mail) is now

surpassing face-to-face and telephone conversation as the most frequently used communication tool

in certain business sectors (American Management Association International, 1998), while Internet-

based publishing and collaboration is posed to revolutionize scientific research (Harnad, 1991).

Meanwhile, students of all ages must learn to find, share, and interpret online information as part of a

necessary shift from "just in case" to "just in time" learning (Lemke, 1998). Even in the personal

sphere, the Internet has become a major arena for entertainment and socializing in the U.S. and other

developed countries. Thus it is no exaggeration to say that the development of literacy and

communication skills in new online media is critical to success in almost all walks of life. Finally,

with an estimated 85% of the electronically-stored information in the world in the English language

(Crystal, 1997), the overlap between English language learning and the development of electronic

literacy is especially pronounced.

So while previously educators considered how to use information technology in order to teach

language, it is now incumbent to also consider how to teach language so that learners can make

effective use of information technology. Working toward both these objectives, rather than just the

first one, is what distinguishes an electronic literacy approach to network-based language teaching.

In developing and implementing an electronic literacy approach we must address a number of

questions. How should ESL and EFL teachers make best use of new online opportunities to

maximize language study and practice while also helping students develop computer-based

communication and literacy skills? What strategies for communicating and networking should

students be taught? What goals should language teachers aim for and what kinds of online projects

could students carry out to accomplish those goals? Which are the most crucial electronic resources

and tools that teachers should learn so they can teach them to their students? How can teachers

encourage students to become autonomous learners who can continue to learn how to communicate,

conduct research and present their ideas effectively using information technology beyond the

confines of the class or semester?

To address these questions, we begin by presenting a conceptual framework for the development of

electronic literacy. We then discuss classroom applications derived from this framework. Finally, we

examine the research implications of an electronic literacy approach.

Page 1 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer & ...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 2

An Electronic Literacy Framework

An electronic literacy framework is based on several premises. First, it assumes that becoming

literate is not just a matter of learning how to decode and put to paper letters and words, but rather a

matter of mastering processes which are deemed valuable in particular societies, cultures, and

contexts. Thus, just as the development of the printing press helped redefine literacy in Europe and,

eventually, the whole world (Eisenstein, 1979), the spread of online communication is reshaping

literacy today, and this time at a much faster pace (Warschauer, 1999). Within the industrialized

world, virtually all academic and professional writing now involves computer use, and according to

some predictions, most reading will likely take place on computer screens within another few

decades (Bolter, 1991). Literacy is a shifting target, and we have to prepare students for their future

rather than our past.

An electronic literacy approach also assumes that there is not just one literacy, but many kinds of

literacy, depending on context, purpose, and medium. While reading and writing online is a close

relative of reading and writing in print, it is also sufficiently different to demand theoretical and

practical attention.

Finally, an electronic literacy framework differs sharply from the notion of computer literacy, a

concept now largely discredited for its minimalist focus on matters such as how to turn a computer

on and operate simple programs (Papert, 1980). Rather, an electronic literacy framework considers

how people use computers to interpret and express meaning. Electronic literacy thus involves what

has been called information literacy-the ability to find, organize, and make use of information-but

electronic literacy is broader in that it also encompasses how to read and write in a new medium.

We divide electronic literacy skills into three broad overlapping areas: communication, construction,

and research (c.f. Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 1998; Eisenberg & Johnson, 1996; Lemke, 1998). In the

rest of this section we will examine these three areas conceptually, and then return in the following

section to discuss practical applications.

Communication

By allowing us to communicate with groups of people all over the world, simultaneously, at little

cost, and in an archived format that allows us to record, reflect on, and refine our previous words as

well as those of our interlocutors-computer-mediated communication serves as an intellectual

amplifier bringing about a revolution in human interaction and cognition (Harasim, 1990; Harnad,

1991). It is no surprise that such a powerful communications tool is transforming how we interact in

business, education, and personal life.

Yet, like many powerful tools, computer-mediated communication is difficult to master and, if used

poorly, can do as much harm as good. There are several features of computer-mediated

communication that deserve attention.

First of all, computer-mediated communication (CMC) has been found to exhibit certain

characteristics typical of written communication, certain characteristics typical of spoken

communication, and other characteristics unique to the computer medium (Collor & Bellmore, 1996;

Werry, 1996; Yates, 1996). CMC, for example, includes its own forms of salutation and greetings,

and, in some forms, its own special uses of abbreviations and symbols (Werry, 1996). Online forums

develop their own complex rules for turn-taking and topic-shifting, which differ greatly from those

of other oral or written media. Just as in all communication, those who master the particular stylistic

and sociolinguistic features required by the context and medium will best reach their audience.

Computer-mediated communication strips away factors that tend to control or delimit face-to-face

conversation. CMC reduces social context clues related to race, gender, handicap, accent and status,

Page 2 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer & ...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 3

as well as non-verbal cues, such as frowning and hesitating, (Sproull & Kiesler, 1991). CMC also

allows individuals to contribute at their own time and pace, neutralizing the advantage of those who

tend to speak out loudest and interrupt the most (Sproull & Kiesler, 1991). The result is free-flowing

communication that, if handled well, can result in the fruitful exchange of ideas, but, if handled

poorly, can quickly erupt into hostile outbursts. In the "Classroom Applications" section of this

chapter we offer suggestions for structuring effective electronic literacy activities.

The result is that learning how to communicate effectively via computer involves more than just

translating from one communications medium to another; it involves new ways of interacting and

collaborating. To use an urban metaphor, the Internet is analogous to the typical postmodern city,

such as Los Angeles; it is "pluralistic, chaotic, designed in detail yet lacking universal foundations or

principles, continually changing, linked by centreless flows of information" (Relph, 1991, p. 104-

105). And the newcomer to the Internet, as to Los Angeles, must learn to negotiate the decentered

terrain.

Construction

Construction more or less corresponds to what would be considered "writing" in traditional

pedagogy. However, the term construction is used to designate three important shifts: (1) from essay

to hypertext, (2) from words to multimedia, and (3) from author to co-constructor.

Though essays are never read in a linear fashion, they at least appear in a linear form. The hypertext

that appears on the World Wide Web, with its decentralized linkages to other materials at the same

Web site or to other Web sites around the world, represents a radically different way of presenting

information. Hypertext is far from replacing traditional linear genres of writing, but at the very least

is supplementing them as an important new way of way of presenting written information and ideas

(Bolter, 1991; Lanham, 1993). Creating a good hypertext involves many challenges, from the

rhetorical to the organizational to the technical.

Hypertext authoring is not only a matter of reconceptualizing how to arrange words, it also involves

creative use of other media, such as graphics, audio, and video. Document appearance has been an

important feature since long before the Internet. However, with each decade of the electronic era, the

value of the visual is growing, as witnessed by changes in everything from newspaper styles to

television news to school textbooks (Kress, 1998). The Internet represents a further extension of this,

with quality Web documents judged as much for their appearance and presentation as for their texts.

It is not a matter of starting with a text and then prettifying it, but rather of knowing how to combine

various media to most effectively communicate to an audience (Kress, 1998; Lemke, 1998).

Finally, online construction of documents is generally a collaborative process, in several ways. First,

most Web sites are the joint effort of a team of people, rather than just one person. Secondly, Web

sites inevitably link to the work of other sites and authors; while this is also done via footnoting in

traditional texts, it becomes a much more dynamic form of interaction in Web site design, as the

original author(s) must consider that the reader will link to the other site in the middle of reading and

thus engage in the two (or more) pieces in a back and forth fashion. In this sense, then, the readers

also become co-constructors, as they play a more active role in piecing together texts to make

meaning (Landow, 1992). Finally, the hypertext author must consider not only the possible

interaction and response of the intended audience, but also of a much broader audience which might

happen across the Web site.

Research

The amount of information available worldwide to the average individual has exploded in recent

years, and an increasing amount of it is available online. Knowing how to navigate Internet sources,

search for information, and critically evaluate and interpret what is found represents perhaps the

Page 3 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer & ...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 4

most crucial set of electronic literacy skills.

To understand how research, and other related skills such as reading, have changed in the online

environment, let us examine the example of a student who is assigned to do a research project on a

contemporary topic. In a traditional print environment, the student will go to the library, gather some

source material, bring it home, read through it, and write up an essay to turn in to the teacher. The

student would assume that the sources were valid because they were (a) published in a book, and (b)

included in the library's holdings. If any questions came up about the sources, these could clear these

up with the teacher later.

Students looking for information on the Internet though would have to use very different reading and

research strategies. On the Internet, reading skills are intimately bound up with searching and

evaluation skills, just to find the material that one wants. This involves a person first knowing how to

use search engines effectively, and then being able to skim and scan to see if what was found is

remotely of interest, while simultaneously making judgements as to its source, validity, reliability,

and accuracy-and then making on-the-spot judgments about whether to continue perusing that Web

page, go to other links from the same page, go back to the search engine, or give up the Internet

altogether for this particular investigation and try another source. Thus reading in the online realm by

necessity becomes critical literacy-because those who cannot make critical evaluations can not even

find what they need to read on the Internet.

Finally, as suggested earlier, online reading and research also involve the ability to critically evaluate

not only texts, but also multimedia documents. One important advantage of having students

construct multimedia is that they will then be in a better position to critically interpret the multimedia

of others.

There is one other principle of electronic literacy that intersects with all of the others, and that is

learner autonomy. Lemke (1998) distinguishes between a curricular learning paradigm which

dominates much of education today, and an interactive learning paradigm of libraries and research

centers. In the former, someone else decides what you need to know and when you need to know it;

in the latter, determining your own learning goals and interests is the key feature of the educational

process. Flexible, autonomous lifelong learning is essential to success in the age of information

(Reich, 1991 ; Rifkin, 1995). Autonomous learners know how to formulate research questions and

devise plans to answer them. They answer their own questions through accessing learning tools and

resources online and offline. Moreover, autonomous learners are able to take charge of their own

learning through working on individual and collaborative projects that result in communication

opportunities in the form of presentations, Web sites, and traditional publications accessible to local

and global audiences. Language professionals who have access to an Internet computer classroom

are in a position to teach students valuable lifelong learning skills and strategies for becoming

autonomous learners.

Table 1 summarizes some of the key differences between an electronic literacy approach and earlier

approaches to language and literacy instruction.

Table 1:

Earlier Approaches vs. Electronic Literacy Approach

Earlier Approaches

Electronic Literacy Approach

Communication

Based on speaking and

listening

Also includes computer-

mediated communication

Page 4 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer & ...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 5

Classroom Applications

The framework described below is designed to be used as a tool for planning tasks and projects for

the language classroom that use computers and the Internet as tools for personal and professional

empowerment. The framework expands on the three areas discussed above: communication,

construction and research. Within each section of the framework, skills and activities are suggested

to promote autonomous learning and meaningful language use.

Table 2:

Electronic Literacy and Language Use

Communication

• How to contact individuals to ask a question, give an opinion, give advice, share

knowledge, and survey (i.e. how to function as a change agent who initiates contact).

How to be contacted to receive an answer to a question, receive feedback, receive advice

or some other communication (i.e. how to function as the recipient of contact).

• How to contact groups of people using a variety of online technologies in order to

read for comprehension, ask a question, share an opinion, give advice, share knowledge,

conduct surveys, and post summaries and original research. How to be contacted and

interact with groups of people.

• How to participate in collaborative projects with people in different places to

Construction

Based on linear texts

Also includes hypertexts

Excludes non-print media

Combines texts and other media

Tends to focus on individual

writing

Strong focus on collaboration

Reading &

Research

Restricted to print sources

Includes online sources

Focuses on linear texts

Also includes hypertexts

Excludes non-print media

Combines texts and other media

Tends to separate reading

skills from critical evaluation

skills

Views critical evaluation as

central to reading

Focuses on library search

skills

Includes searching and

navigating online sources

Learning

Paradigm

Often based on curricular

learning paradigm

Based on interactive learning

paradigm, with emphasis on

autonomous learning

Page 5 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer & ...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 6

accomplish a shared goal. (i.e. how to set up and participate in communication

networks).

• How to select the available asynchronous technologies such as e-mail, e-mail lists,

Web bulletin boards, newsgroups, etc.

• How to select the synchronous technologies such as MOOs, chat rooms, IRC, person

to person and group videoconferencing via CU-See Me, Internet Phones, etc.

• Understanding implications: Netiquette issues, privacy issues, safety issues, corporate

advertising issues

Construction

• How to create Web pages and Web sites, individually and collaboratively, through

effective combination of texts and other media in hypertext format.

• How to store, maintain, and manage Web sites so they can be viewed locally and

globally.

• How to market Web sites, and encourage communication about topics presented in

Web sites.

• How to select the available Web technologies: HTML, Web page creation software

programs, Web page storage options.

• Understanding implications: Copyright issues, intellectual property issues, corporate

advertising issues, safety issues [reworded] and censorship issues.

Research

• How to come up with questions to investigate, how to develop keywords, how to

categorize and subcategorize, how to map ideas and concepts (non-linear idea

development).

• How to find information online using Web indices, search engines, and other

specialized search tools.

• How to evaluate and analyze the value of information and tools.

• How to determine authority and expertise.

• How to identify rhetorical techniques of persuasion.

• How to distinguish primary and secondary sources.

• How to cite online sources and give credit to others.

• How to select the available search technologies: search indices and engines, software

packages for brainstorming etc.

• Understanding implications: Corporate advertising issues, authority issues, privacy

Page 6 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer & ...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 7

issues, quality issues, theft/crime issues.

Access to technological tools and resources varies from context to context, and technologies change

rapidly. Therefore, in order to practice the skills suggested in each part of Table 2, flexibility is given

for the instructor to select and choose from the technologies available in the context. Each section of

the framework suggests potential implications with the activities that are listed. Many of these

implications challenge the boundaries of traditional teaching. Teaching students to ask questions and

find answers in a global, online context raises provocative sociopolitical issues that teachers need to

comprehend in order to effectively teach strategies for autonomous learning and language use.

Instructors are encouraged to draw from the suggestions presented here to develop new, integrative

activities that combine all three parts of the framework.

Communication

Many of the ideas presented in the communication section of the framework encourage the teaching

of speech acts and conversational strategies and functions reminiscent of notional-functional

syllabuses. In this case, though, they are taught not as part of an abstract syllabus, but in response to

the real needs of students as they engage in authentic interaction. Through e-mail and other

electronic communication tools, students have the opportunity to contact speakers of the language

studied in the classroom and they also have the opportunity to encounter and study asynchronous and

synchronous examples of the language in practice. The Internet opens multiple communication

channels for interpersonal communication, group discussion and information sharing.

For explicit language practice, in the networked computer laboratory, students might study questions

that other people ask, and the responses given to the questions in public places on the Internet. This

can be done by studying the language of e-mail discussion groups, newsgroups, and Web bulletin

boards, for example. The teacher could bring in examples of questions and answers she has collected

from these media for an initial class discussion (with permission from the authors). She could start

with questions and answers posted on e-mail lists, for instance. Next, students could be taught how

to find and subscribe to e-mail lists for their own monitoring and communication. Each student cold

choose an e-mail list to join and monitor during the semester or quarter for language study activities.

Students can also compose answers in response to the questions other people ask in public forums as

an experiential learning activity. Students can select a question and respond either publicly to the

forum or privately by sending an e-mail message directly to the person who posted the message.

Students can print out the question and their response and any replies that happened after they made

contact. These could be used as part of communication-based journal entries.

Besides asking and answering questions, students can also study opinions given in public forums and

reactions to the opinions made by other people participating in the discussions. To initiate the class

activity, the teacher can distribute examples of people giving opinions and reactions to different

ideas. The class could study these examples and develop their own hypotheses about the best way to

phrase opinions to share in public spaces.

Another type of communication opportunity online is the ability to share recommendations for

useful resources and tools found on and off the Internet. Students can do research on the Web, for

example, and share their results on an e-mail list relevant to the topic of their research. Students can

also ask for recommendations of Web sites and journal articles related to their topic. They can then

summarize and post the results they have collected for the entire online forum. These activities

happen repeatedly on academic e-mail lists. Students can be thus be taught important networking

skills with immediate relevance to their academic work.

Page 7 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer & ...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 8

Many instructors like their students to survey groups of people and report their results in class (see,

for example, Ady, 1995; Kendall, 1995). Students can work in groups to develop research questions,

write up surveys, contact survey participants via the Internet, and interpret survey results. They can

also post and discuss their results online.

Integrating communication-focused activities like those described above takes a good deal of

preparation, organization, and time. In many cases, instructors must first learn how to use the

associated Internet communication forums (e.g., e-mail discussion lists, Web discussion boards)

themselves in order to understand how they can be used for structuring language practice

opportunities. It might also take considerable time to collect examples of communicative acts. So

there are professional development and institutional implications involved; teachers need to learn

how to use tools, and they also need support and encouragement from their teaching institutions to

design classes that contain components like these.

If students join and participate in online discussion forums they, as well as their teachers, might

encounter a range of problems dealing with netiquette, privacy, and safety. These are all topics that

should be included into the classroom lessons. Students can discuss together the role of proper

netiquette (polite online behavior) as well as basic notions of online privacy. They need to be made

aware that electronic messages sent to public forums online are many times archived and

permanently made available to the public. Teachers can integrate online "street smart" strategies into

their lessons to promote effective, safe online communication practices. The goal should be that

students learn to effectively network and promote their ideas online, without taking unnecessary

risks.

Construction

Creating Web pages and Web sites is an activity increasingly common in business and academic

environments. Using tools available in the learning context, such as text editors for writing Hypertext

Markup Language (HTML) or Web page creation software, students can create their own web sites

to express themselves through text, graphics, audio and video. What is unique about having students

create Web pages for communication and expression is that their work may be stored on a world-

accessible Web server. This provides opportunities for public online publishing that can result in

students receiving rapid attention and feedback for their writing.

Some teachers might assist students to publish the writing of their students in their own Web server

space or publish student work in online magazines devoted to publishing student writing. In this

case, the editing and/or maintenance of these documents is in the hands of the people other than the

students. An alternative is to teach students how they can publish, maintain, and control their own

writing online. Students can be taught how to manage their own Web sites by controlling their own

Web server space, which is now made available free through many venues. Essentially this lets

students become the writers, editors, and publishers of their own information and provides personal

power that might bring results well beyond the language classroom. For example, some students

might create online résumés and portfolios of their professional work to help them apply for jobs in

their countries or elsewhere. Students in the Business English Program at the University of

California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) create portfolio Web sites consisting of professional biographies,

résumés, and useful resource pages for projecting their professional online presence.

Students can also be encouraged to market their creations to the Internet community to get feedback

on their work and to encourage a dialogue with others that share similar interests. Students can

announce their work on e-mail lists, register their work with search engines and indices, and do

research on the Web for information on how to further promote their work. Web page creation can

be a supplementary component to a language class that meets occasionally in a computer lab or it

can be a course in itself, like the "English through Web Page Creation" course offered at the English

Language Program at UCSB, which involves students in a series of increasingly complex Web

Page 8 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer & ...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 9

design projects resulting in online publishing of student-created sites.

The teaching challenges that arise when students create Web pages include issues of plagiarism and

copyright violation. The ease with images or text can be copied from one Web pages to another

raises intellectual property issues that need to be discussed in the classroom. Students need to be

taught how to ask for permission to copy graphics that are not from copyright-free image archives.

The also need to learn to properly cite works created by others.

Research

The Internet is a powerful tool for finding information from educational organizations, governmental

organizations, businesses and individuals. With online search tools like search engines and indices,

students can learn how to answer questions they devise themselves or their teachers devise for them.

Research tasks that can be done using online tools can be learning activities themselves or can form

a part of larger projects that integrate reading, writing, listening, and speaking tasks.

In order to promote autonomous learning, teachers might progress from teacher-directed projects,

which provide necessary scaffolding for beginning Internet users, to student-directed projects.

Beginning steps might include having students scan pre-selected Web sites for answers to specific

questions or to complete a "scavenger hunt". Later, students can use Web search engines and indices

to answer other specific questions. Later still, they might jointly conduct research on a topic agreed

upon by the entire class for compilation into a document to be shared by all, such as a handout or

Web page. After doing initial training activities like these, students should have mastered the basics

of searching for information and will likely be ready to do a research activity based on their own

interests. Combinations of group discussion, teacher-student meetings, dialogue journals, and needs

analysis questionnaires can be used to help students define their interests and establish research

questions. Students can then write a written statement of interest that explains and proposes their

research, or develop learning contracts (Davidson, 1997) to structure their projects and determine

final outcomes. The research itself can involve collaboration and communication with their peers or

with distant interlocutors, and can result in online publication, thus achieving an integration of

communication, construction, and research.

Research Implications of an Electronic Literacy Approach

Finally, we examine the concept of "research" in a slightly different guise than that described above.

We now look at professional research into the learning process itself. We are concerned not so much

with general research into network-based language learning (as discussed throughout this book), but

the specific kind of research meant to yield insight into the development of electronic literacies.

And in this consideration, we would contend that just as the development of electronic literacies

affects notions of student research, so the investigation of electronic literacies affects notions of

professional research. In our opinion, excellent models of research on electronic literacies (1)

involve teachers themselves as autonomous investigators involved in life-long learning (rather than

having research relegated exclusively to outside experts); (2) involve students as well as co-

investigators into their own learning processes (since students are essential co-constructors of

knowledge in a learner-centered classroom); and (3) take advantage of the new types of collaborative

interaction and co-construction of knowledge facilitated by electronic communication.

An outstanding model of this type of research is provided by Heath (1992), who corresponded by

distance with the teacher and students in a ninth-grade English class as they collaboratively

investigated the students' uses of oral and written language in the classroom and community.

Although Heath's project did not involve electronic communication (as either an object of study or a

medium of interaction), it is not hard to imagine the advantages of similar action research projects

involving students, teachers, and, where appropriate, outside researchers jointly communicating via

Page 9 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer & ...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 10

e-mail or the World Wide Web about their own electronic literacy practices. One of us has in fact

successfully employed such triangular electronic communication in investigating electronic literacy

practices (see Warschauer, this volume).

We do not contend that action research is the only viable model for investigating electronic

literacies, just that it is a research approach especially congruent with this topic of investigation.

Teachers and students can work collaboratively to look at the types of language they use in different

media, their attitudes toward communicating in a variety of media, and the problems and successes

that arise as they try to implement their own goals related to technology-enhanced learning and

teaching. Computer-assisted discussion sessions, online dialogue journals, and other forms of

electronic communication provide an excellent means for engaging interactively while saving

interactions for future reflection. Writing up their analyses in the form of online presentations can

provide opportunities to further practice what they have learned and also to get feedback and input

rapidly from the broader language teaching and learning community. Such a process provides

opportunities for both teachers and students to reflect critically on the issues they discovered during

their research and to revise future teaching, learning, or research plans (Eby & Kujawa, 1994;

Richards & Lockhart, 1994; Ross, Bondy, & Kyle, 1993).

To return to our earlier urban metaphor, it has been noted that the postmodern city "renders doubtful

most of the conventional ways of thinking about landscapes and geographical patterns. It is also a

serious challenge for cartographers" (Relph, 1991, p. 105). We would contend that the rapid growth

of the Internet equally complicates the work of those of us who are trying to map out theories of

language and literacy development. By engaging students, teachers, and scholars in collaborative

investigative activity, we can at least begin to describe the terrain of electronic literacy and inquire

into its myriad sources of diversity.

References

Ady, J. (1995). Survey across the world. In M. Warschauer (Ed.), Virtual connections: Online

activities and projects for networking language learners (pp. 101-103). Honolulu, HI:

University of Hawai'i, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.

American Management Association International (1998). E-Mail tops telephone, say HR execs

at 69th annual human resources conference [Article]. Retrieved May 29, 1998 from the World

Wide Web: http://www.amanet.org/survey/hrc98.htm

Bolter, J. D. (1991). Writing space: The computer, hypertext, and the history of writing.

Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Collor, M., & Bellmore, N. (1996). Electronic language: A new variety of English. In S. C.

Herring (Ed.), Computer-mediated communication: Linguistic, social and cross-cultural

perspectives (pp. 13-28). Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Davidson, F. (1997). Contract learning [Online article]. Retrieved August 25, 1998 from the

World Wide Web: http://ux6.cso.uiuc.edu/fgd/contract.learning.text

Eby, J. W., & Kujawa, E. (1994). Reflective planning, teaching, and evaluation: K-12. New

York: Macmillan.

Eisenberg, M., & Berkowitz, B. (1998). Curriculum initiative: An agenda and strategy for

Page 10 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer &...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 11

library media programs. Norwood, NY: Ablex.

Eisenberg, M., & Johnson, D. (1996). Computer skills for information problem solving:

Learning and teaching technology in context [ERIC Document]. Retrieved August 20, 1998

from the World Wide Web: http://ericir.syr.edu/ithome/digests/computerskills.html

Eisenstein, E. L. (1979). The printing press as an agent of change: Communications and

cultural transformations in early-modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Glave, J. (1998, February 16). Dramatic Internet growth continues. Wired News. Retrieved

August 25, 1998 from the World Wide Web:

http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/10323.html

Harasim, L. (1990). Online education: An environment for collaboration and intellectual

amplification. In L. Harasim (Ed.), Online education: Perspectives on a new environment (pp.

39-64). New York: Praeger.

Harnad, S. (1991). Post-Gutenberg galaxy: The fourth revolution in the means of production

and knowledge. Public-Access Computer Systems Review, 2(1), 39-53.

Heath, S. B. (1992). Literacy skills or literate skills? Considerations for ESL/EFL learners. In

D. Nunan (Ed.), Collaborative language learning and teaching (pp. 40-55). Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Hegelheimer, V., Mills, D., Salzmann, A., & Shetzer, H. (1996, March). World Wide Web

Activities that Work (and Why!). International Conference of Teachers of English to Speakers

of Other Languages, Chicago, Illinois. (Available online at

http://deil.lang.uiuc.edu/resources/Tesol/WWW_Activities.html).

Kendall, C. (1995). Cyber-surveys. In M. Warschauer (Ed.), Virtual connections: Activities

and projects for networking language learners (pp. 97-100). Honolulu, HI: University of

Hawai'i, Second language teaching and curriculum center.

Kress, G. (1998). Visual and verbal modes of representation in electronically mediated

communication: The potentials of new forms of text. In I. Snyder (Ed.), Page to screen: Taking

literacy into the electronic era (pp. 53-79). Routledge: London.

Landow, G. P. (1992). Hypertext: The convergence of contemporary critical theory and

technology. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.

Lanham, R. A. (1993). The electronic word: Democracy, technology, and the arts. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press.

Lemke, J. L. (1998). Metamedia literacy: Transforming meanings and media. In D. Reinking,

M. McKenna, L. Labbo, & R. D. Kieffer (Eds.), Handbook of Literacy and Technology:

Transformations in a Post-Typographic World (pp. 283-301). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Nua Ltd. (1998). How many online? [Online article]. Retrieved August 25, 1998 from the

World Wide Web: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how_many_online/index.html

Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. New York: Basic

Books.

Reich, R. (1991). The work of nations: Preparing ourselves for 21st century capitalism. New

Page 11 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer &...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html

---

Page 12

York: Knopf.

Relph, E. (1991). Post-modern geography. The Canadian Geographer, 35(1), 98-105.

Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms.

New York: Cambridge University Press.

Rifkin, J. (1995). The end of work. New York: Tarcher/Putnam.

Ross, D., Bondy, E., & Kyle, D. W. (1993). Reflective teaching for student empowerment.

New York: Macmillan.

Sproull, L., & Kiesler, S. (1991). Connections: New ways of working in the networked

organization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Warschauer, M. (1999). Electronic literacies: Language, culture, and power in online

education. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Werry, C. C. (1996). Linguistic and interactional features of Internet Relay Chat. In S. C.

Herring (Ed.), Computer-mediated communication: Linguistic, social and cross-cultural

perspectives (pp. 47-63). Benjamins: Amsterdam.

Yates, S. J. (1996). Oral and written linguistic aspects of computer conferencing: A corpus-

based study. In S. C. Herring (Ed.), Computer-mediated communication: Linguistic, social and

cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 29-46). Amsterdam: Behjamins.

Page 12 of 12

An Electronic Literacy Approach to Network Based Language Teaching, Shetzer &...

02/11/2003

http://www.newtierra.com/nblt.html