On-Line Communication: An Innovative Language Teaching-Learning Method in Encouraging Autonomous Learning

 

 

Endang Lestari

 

 

Language teaching has changed and improved the focus of instruction time to time. Recently, creative self-expression has come to be valued over memorizing dialogues, and negotiation meaning has become an important aspect in language teaching. The focus of school language acquisition syllabus is also broadened, from acquiring linguistics skill (grammar, phonology and syntax) to acquiring discourse skill. However, some general and enduring language teaching and learning problems in Indonesia, which are probably influencing the learning processes, are still remaining. Teachers need to pay a lot of attention to find suitable method as well as to do a lot of efforts in overcoming the problems such as lack of exposure to the native English, big classes with limited time of classroom learning as well as learners’ psychological problem in learning and expressing their idea in English.

 

One possible teaching method, which might be able to answer those problems, is on-line communication. This method requires the learners assisting with a multimedia computer, which are connected globally using internet and which can give the opportunity to the learners to access foreign language documents through World Wide Web as well as to communicate with their teachers, fellow classmates and native speakers and to conduct on-line composition and other attractive and interactive activities by electronic mail or on-line chatting. Hence, problems of lack of exposure can be answered by conducting this method, since students can make communication with my body in the world included English native speakers. Teachers do not need to spend a lot of time in class activities, since students can conduct the assignments at home in their own room at any time autonomously.

 

Small project on student vs. foreign speakers on-line chatting conducted by the writer suggested that in doing the chatting, learners can express their idea freely, they tend to use longer sentences to express their idea, they can negotiate meaning and maintain the conversation by actively take the turn and put himself on the dominant position tin conversation. Meanwhile, in research on online composition the writer found that the students could freely check their friend’s composition and freely suggest something – in their own words-to their friend related to the mistake made.

 

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Lestari, E. (2002, March). On-line communication: An innovative language teaching-learning method in encouraging autonomous learning. Paper presented at the national conference on Autonomy, Bandung, Indonesia.

 
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