Utilizing Web Information Resources in the Classroom for Language Teaching

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Abstract

This article examines the design and implementation of a teaching intervention that explores how web information resources can be utilized as teaching material in the context of Greek language instruction. Its objectives are twofold. The first objective is to investigate how teachers utilize web resources as lesson material in the classroom while teaching language. The second objective is to delve into the ways in which students interpret and communicate the content of these resources through the production of new constructions and representations of reality by acting as critical thinkers and interacting with various systems of meanings. Twenty-two sixth-grade students who attended a state primary school in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece participated in this study. The materials used consisted of web resources in relation to the topic “employment,” as well as texts produced by the students at the end of the teaching intervention. The web resources were selected according to their a) objectivity, b) author or creator, c) purpose and the ways they involve students in the learning process, d) content, e) current events, and f) suitability for the students’ age. Working in groups, the students were called to study the material they were given and produced various genres of text in order to produce a newspaper. The discussions during the intervention and the final texts provided evidence that students reached a degree of competence that enabled them to exhibit critical-thinking skills toward web information resources. These findings highlight the need for designing and implementing critical web literacy teaching scenarios, so that both teachers and students are able to judge web information resources.