Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | A | Academic Exchange Quarterly

Standards in Internet-based newspaper project.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

This paper discusses a study exploring the Internet as a tool to address Standards for Foreign Language Learning. Data were collected from student productions during an Internet-based newspaper project in an advanced, college-level Japanese course. Although some goal areas surfaced more frequently than others, all five goal areas of the Standards appeared in the data, indicating that the Internet can play a major role in addressing the Standards.

Introduction

One major influence upon foreign language education in the U.S. is Standards for Foreign Language Learning (1996; henceforth "Standards"). The Standards aim to provide foreign language educators with guidance in their effort to enhance foreign language learning. This paper reports a study of Standards implementation in a Japanese classroom using the Internet.

Literature Review

Originating in the educational reform movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Standards set national goals for foreign language learning in the U.S. The Standards describe what foreign language learners should know and be able to do under five goal areas known as "five Cs": Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. The Communication goal area has three content standards, and each of the other goal areas has two.

According to the Standards, Communication focuses on the mastery of spoken and written communication skills in interpersonal (Standard 1.1), interpretive (Standard 1.2), and presentational (Standards 1.3) modes. "Interpersonal" refers to two-way communication, while "interpretive" and "presentational" are the receiving and giving of information, respectively. Defining "culture" as consisting of three aspects, i.e., practices, products, and perspectives, Cultures promotes proficiency in the target culture by understanding the relationship between practices and perspectives (Standard 2.1) and between products and perspectives (Standard 2.2). Connections refers to interdisciplinary learning in which students use the target language to reinforce knowledge from other disciplines (Standard 3.1) and to obtain information about other disciplines (Standard 3.2). Aimed at intercultural exploration, Comparisons encourages students to become aware of other viewpoints through comparing the target language to their own (Standard 4.1) and the target culture to their own (Standard 4.2). The goal of Communities is use the target language both in and outside the classroom (Standard 5.1) as well as to encourage prolonged engagement in foreign language learning (Standard 5.2), thus equipping students with the skills to live in our global society.

These five Cs expand foreign language study beyond grammar and vocabulary into life-enriching skills and knowledge. In creating standards-based classrooms, many foreign language educators have utilized the Internet. Research shows that computer-mediated communication (CMC) such as e-mail enables learners to communicate in the target language with a real audience (Torii-Williams, 2004; Van Handle & Corl, 1998), corresponding to interpersonal communication (Standard 1.1). CMC is also effective in addressing Cultures: It helps students understand practices, products, and perspectives of...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!