CALL Me Maybe: A Framework for Integrating the Internet into ELT
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G eo rge M . C h in n e r y
H u n g a r y
CALL Me … Maybe:
A Framework for Integrating
the Internet into ELT
I
magine your students practicing students—and their teachers—have
their English by playing the role some degree of access to the Internet.
of film critic on movie-review But what if you and your stu-
websites like Rotten Tomatoes (rotten- dents have only limited access to the
tomatoes.com) … or product reviewer Internet—or none at all? The aim of
on online shopping sites like Amazon this article is to present an alterna-
(amazon.com) … or reporter on digi- tive framework for Internet integra-
tal storytelling sites like Storify (storify. tion in English language teaching
com). (ELT), including ideas for incorporat-
On the Internet, students of Eng- ing Internet concepts even in schools
lish have an authentic context in that have little or no access to it at all
which to share their lives through … yet.
expressive narrative and eye-catching The article begins with a consid-
imagery on social media organizers eration of reasons for integrating the
like Pinterest (pinterest.com). Stu- Internet into ELT. It continues with
dents can, for instance, compare and a presentation of the framework,
contrast global perspectives on cur- complete with practical examples,
rent events or public figures using applications, and alternatives. And it
web analytics tools like Google Trends concludes with a discussion of reasons
(google.com/trends), survey “friends” to reconsider Internet integration.
with a polling application on social Reasons to use the Internet
networking sites like Facebook (face- in ELT
book.com), and report their findings At the time of this writing, it is
on multimedia presentation sites such believed that less than 35 percent of
as Prezi (prezi.com) or YouTube (you- the world’s population is able to get
tube.com). Engaging practices of this online (Miniwatts Marketing Group
sort are entirely feasible—as long as 2013). Although the reasons for this
2 2014 N u m b e r 1 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u mgap can be attributed to a variety of social, gies, the boundary between informa-
economic, and political factors, more wide- tion and communication technology
spread access to the Internet in the future is has become somewhat blurred. Tardy
all but certain, predominantly in the develop- (2010) used Wikipedia to develop aca-
ing world (Broadband Commission 2012). demic writing skills, Boas’ (2011) stu-
As access spreads, so will the temptation to dents used blogs and Nings in process
integrate the Internet into ELT and expand writing, and Sad (2008) and Reinders
its range of possible uses. In other words, a (2010) offered ways to integrate mobile
greater number of your colleagues around the web and other features of mobile
world, as well as their students, will be using phones into ELT.
the Internet, and all of you will find signifi- If this summary is representative of usage
cantly more applications than the wide array trends, they indicate that fairly stable access
that already exists. to the Internet offers exposure to English,
Such applications are typically aligned to along with the opportunity to manipulate
what has been referred to as “the great shift” the language and interact in it. As such, the
in computer-assisted language learning use of the Internet as a medium adheres to
(CALL)—the point in the late 1990s when widely accepted beliefs about how languages
many language teachers recognized that the are acquired.
nature of this information and communica- The literature on the use of technologies,
tions technology (ICT) “neatly paralleled such as the Internet, in ELT and general edu-
two key concepts of language learning cation also suggests that they can effectively:
and teaching” (Dudeney and Hockly 2012,
536): namely, sharing information and fos- • increase learner motivation and reduce
tering communication. A review of CALL- learner anxiety (LeLoup and Ponterio
related articles in English Teaching Forum 2003)
since 2000 reveals that for ELT purposes, • engage learners (Egbert et al. 2011;
the Internet has essentially been used in Felix 2008)
these ways: • promote learner autonomy (Gonzalez
and St. Louis 2012)
• The Internet as an Information Technology: • aid in retention (Mayer 2009; Paivio
In the early part of the millennium, 2006), particularly where certain crite-
Ellinger et al. (2001) used content- ria—such as when imagery is perceived
based websites in English for Academic as strange, funny, or interesting—are
Purposes classes, Marco (2002) devel- met (Isola et al. 2011)
oped guided webquest activities for
English for Specific Purposes students, A framework
and Kung’s (2003) students utilized If you choose to integrate the Internet
web resources to help develop and into your instruction, the next logical consid-
inform speeches. eration is how exactly to do so. The answer
• The Internet as a Communication Tech- depends in part on the level of Internet access
nology: Also early in the millennium, available. This section presents a framework
the emphasis was on webpages and for organizing instructional Internet usage by
synchronous computer-mediated com- level of access.
munication (CMC). Kayser’s (2002)
students published web-based projects Unlimited access: The Internet as a medium
for a global audience, Warschauer dis- of instruction
cussed the importance of ICT literacy If you have stable and predictable access,
(Ancker 2002), and Chinnery (2005) the Internet provides a virtual goldmine of
offered techniques for using text-based activities. Indeed, most Internet-based activi-
chat to develop oral communication ties presented in the literature seem to have
skills. been developed under the assumption that
• The Internet as a Social and Mobile Tech- teachers have infinite opportunity to use the
nology: More recently, with the growth Internet. The technologies employed in such
of social media and mobile technolo- activities have been traditionally dichoto-
E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m | Number 1 2014 3mized as being either tool or tutor (Levy and You can refer your students to concor-
Stockwell 2006). dances or corpora to analyze their own errors
or explore common language use such as
The Internet as tutor collocations. You can also use these tools to
As a tutor, the Internet can be used to model authentic examples of a particular lan-
offer advice, facilitate analysis, or conduct guage point.
activities. For Activities. Traditional activities such
For Advice. Numerous sites offer lessons as gap-fill, multiple-choice, and matching
on English language usage, such as gram- exercises have been a mainstay since the early
mar, vocabulary, and idioms. The Gram- days of using the Internet in ELT. The main
mar Girl (grammar.quickanddirtytips.com) difference with modern examples, such as
website and podcast, which provide short Free Rice (freerice.com), is their increased
lessons on specific points (e.g., “Who Versus level of sophistication. Free Rice’s glossy
Whom”) given by a lively and charismatic synonym-matching and grammar exercises
expert, are advice-giving resources that teach- allow students to learn through practice and
ers and learners might exploit. Minimally, through trial and error. Questions are pro-
you or your students can use Grammar Girl’s gressively difficult, but as added incentive,
columns simply for reference. Alternatively, correct answers help support an international
you might assign your students to present on charity.
a column of their choice to the class, submit Other ELT activity websites can be eas-
a question or tip to Grammar Girl, or write ily identified through a web search for “ELT
their own column that they can develop into exercises.” You can direct students to such
a broadcast-style show. websites for independent practice or team
For Analysis. Web-based text and speech competition. You and your students might
corpora and concordancers offer superb even develop your own web-based activities
opportunities for language analysis. Corpora by using free software such as Hot Potatoes
are collections of authentic language samples, (hotpot.uvic.ca) or websites like LearnClick
typically limited to a particular type, such as (learnclick.com).
academic speech (see the Michigan Corpus
of American Spoken English at micase.eli- The Internet as tool
corpora.info), pronunciation (see the Speech As a tool, the Internet can be used for
Accent Archive at accent.gmu.edu), and pop- a deeper level of student engagement and
ular literature and media (see the Corpus of interactivity by helping stimulate creativ-
Contemporary American English at corpus. ity; it can also foster communication and
byu.edu/coca). Search engines themselves can collaboration.
even be used as corpora (see Robb 2003). For Creativity. Even if learners lack
Google, for instance, offers custom search advanced levels of proficiency, they can pro-
engine capabilities, allowing for searches from duce creatively in English on a number of
within limited sites. sites. At Draw a Stickman (drawastickman.
KWIC (key-word-in-context) concor- com), pairs of students can collaborate on a
dance programs such as WebCorp Live (web- picture dictation activity, in which one orally
corp.org.uk/live) access corpora and organize paints a picture that the other attempts to
the results in a way that can help raise learners’ reproduce. At Make Beliefs Comix (make-
English language awareness of language form beliefscomix.com), students can create basic
and meaning. When users enter a word or comic strips, with dialogue.
phrase in the search field, they are presented More advanced learners can use Dvolver
with a list of authentic examples of that word (dvolver.com) or one of the features at Gra-
or phrase in context. A search for school, for pheine, such as Futebol TV (grapheine.com/
example, might produce the following results: futeboltv), to create amusing short films
primary school system by directing or selecting video clips, then
the school bus crafting subtitled or dubbed dialogue or
my school teacher narrative.
secondary school students Sites such as these allow for project-based
4 2014 Number 1 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u mworks in progress, which can be shared via their respective native tongues. For example,
email—so that you or your students’ peers a native of Peru, Malaysia, or Ethiopia wish-
can offer feedback—and saved for further ing to learn English could be partnered
development. You might assign pairs of with a native speaker of English wishing to
students content from a particular lesson learn Spanish, Malay, or Amharic. Partners
or allow them to select their own content. schedule mutually agreed-upon times to
Your students might then co-direct a video, meet online and teach each other, regardless
share and revise it based upon feedback they of their proximity or time zone. Although
receive, present it in class, and even act it learners of English would likely use a pro-
out. You could then use the student videos gram like this outside class, you could assign
in dictation exercises or in information gaps, learning tasks to students, such as interview-
in which other students must guess the dia- ing their partners about their home, job, or
logue, or make up their own, while watching some other facet of their life, then reporting
the muted video. the results as a written journal entry or class
For Communication. Interactive chat presentation.
tools—including standalone instant messen- Opportunities for project-based work
ger and VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) on social networking sites are also available.
clients, such as Skype (skype.com), and those Students might work in small groups to
embedded in other media, such as email plan a dream vacation, map the itinerary on
and social networking sites—allow learn- a site like Google Maps (maps.google.com),
ers to communicate in English with native tag each of their destinations with images
speakers or other learners. With these tools, and descriptors, and then present a virtual
students can interview guest native speakers guided tour to the class. They might also
and report their findings to the class. Or they give a tour of an exhibition in a download-
can participate with several other students in able virtual fantasy world like Second Life
the completion of a task, such as making a (secondlife.com).
mutual group decision or developing a proj-
ect such as a role play. Instant messengers Limited access: The Internet as a source of
typically allow chat transcripts to be printed, content
shared, or saved, allowing for feedback and Limited access generally implies limits to
revision. the physical infrastructure necessary to use
Where live partners are not available, chat- the Internet—the computer hardware, soft-
bots—artificial intelligence programs that sim- ware, and networking—but also includes
ulate conversation—are. Commercial versions the lack of desire, ability, and opportunity
that produce oral communication do exist, to use it (van Dijk 2005). Moreover, access
but most chatbots, such as A.L.I.C.E. (alice. varies by time, space, quality, and owner-
pandorabots.com), communicate through ship. Teachers and students might or might
text. Many of these programs have limited not have access at home, in the classroom,
language accuracy, so student activities are in a computer lab at school, or in an Inter-
also somewhat limited. Learners might, how- net cafe or library, and the connection
ever, practice asking questions in the form of might be low-speed narrowband or high-
an interview, then report their findings to the speed broadband.
class or compare findings with their peers. As But even if you or your students have
teacher, you can also ask them to check for limited access to the Internet and computers,
and correct errors in the chatbot’s responses. you still have options to facilitate learning.
Advanced students can actually teach their Specifically, the Internet contains resources
own chatbots to communicate by program- that in limited-access contexts can be retained,
ming responses. then exploited further. This section discusses
For Collaboration. Various social media types of content available and how to select,
sites allow communication opportunities save, and use it.
to develop into collaborative partnerships.
Livemocha (livemocha.com), for instance, Types of content
is a tandem-learning site that allows learners Clarke (1989) has called the use, sup-
of different languages to teach one another plementation, and adaptation of authentic
E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m | Number 1 2014 5material—material not created specifically als by determining the content’s suitability
for language learning or teaching—a “moral for or interest to learners, exploitability in
imperative.” Others recognize the need for terms of relevant language elements it con-
and convenience of semi-authentic mate- tains, and appropriateness to the learners’
rials—those adapted for language-learning level of proficiency (Chinnery 2008; Nutall
purposes—developed specifically for non- 2005).
native speakers of English, where “practice is On an aesthetic level, you might also
configured primarily in terms of pedagogi- consider the format, design, and ease of use
cal priorities” (Waters 2009, 140). Despite of the content. One suggestion is to peruse
this debate, or perhaps as a result of it, the Webby Awards (webbyawards.com) nomi-
both authentic and semi-authentic English nees and winners, which are selected based
language-learning materials are available in upon content, structure and navigation, visual
abundance online. design, functionality, interactivity, and overall
A prime example of a site offering semi- experience. Among the interesting categories
authentic content is Voice of America’s Learn- are Best Food and Drink Website and Best
ing English (formerly VOA Special English; Use of Photography.
learningenglish.voanews.com), which covers Another major factor is determining the
current events updated daily. The text in materials’ usability, as many are protected by
VOA stories is restricted to approximately copyright. If you have determined that mate-
1,500 words, the downloadable audio com- rial is protected by copyright, you can request
ponent is narrated at a reduced spoken pace, written permission from the author—whose
and VOA’s proprietary activities are available. contact information will typically be avail-
Authentic content can turn English lan- able—and ensure “fair use” of the mate-
guage learners into what journalist Thomas rial. Checklists to determine fair use can be
Friedman (2007) has referred to as their “own found by searching the Internet for “fair use
self-directed and self-empowered researcher, checklist.”
editor, and selector of entertainment, without You can also search the Internet for
having to go to the library or movie theater materials identified as being in the public
or through network television” (178–179). domain—those with expired intellectual
Some authentic sites are similar to VOA’s property rights. Some materials, such as
Learning English in that they publish their the text and audio eBooks collected at such
own supportive activities, modifications, or websites as Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.
enhancements. org), have expired copyrights in the United
Like VOA, National Public Radio States but may still be copyrighted in other
(NPR; npr.org), a major news broadcast- countries.
er in the United States, offers download- A simpler approach is to identify materials
able audio stories that are typically only a created under Creative Commons licenses,
few minutes long and have transcriptions which tend to have looser restrictions than
available. The DailyLit site (dailylit.com) copyrighted materials. You can search Creative
emails successive snippets of authentic Eng- Commons for photos, clip art, music, and
lish language stories to readers—for con- videos using the organization’s own search
trolled language input—on a daily basis, engine (search.creativecommons.org) or by
as the site’s name suggests. And iTunes U filtering search results in photo-sharing sites
(apple.com/education/itunes-u) offers access like Flickr (flickr.com) and video-sharing sites
to free downloadable content-based lec- like YouTube (youtube.com).
tures from world-renowned institutions
of higher education such as the Massachusetts Saving content
Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Once you have identified appropriate,
University. usable materials, you can reproduce or save
them for use offline when there is limited or
Selecting content no Internet access.
In addition to considering whether to Though you can print webpages onto
use authentic or semi-authentic materials, paper, you can also save them onto a com-
you should begin your selection of materi- puter or an external drive from the browser’s
6 2014 Number 1 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u mmenu bar. In addition, you can convert them As a post-listening or post-reading activ-
into another file type such as PDF, or archive ity, students can summarize or discuss the
them either online or onto a computer by text, review and evaluate their own predic-
using a third-party storage service, app, or tions about it, or answer guided questions.
extension to a browser. Google Drive (drive. As an extension, they might collaborate on
google.com), for example, allows for stored the creation of a graphic depiction or role
documents to be viewed offline. play.
You can also download audio and video While wraparound activities can be use-
materials from podcast managers such as ful, students can also benefit from lessons
iTunes (apple.com/itunes), directly from containing well-designed tasks to accom-
video-sharing websites, or by using conver- pany the Internet content. Where there is
sion websites, browser extensions, and apps limited Internet access at school, you can
(mini applications) that can be identified download podcasts and use them later with-
through a web search. Podcast managers out Internet access. In such a case, students
provide the simplest means of collecting, might be asked to compare and contrast
organizing, and playing saved audiovisual aspects—the content or form—of different
media. podcasts such as those on NPR and VOA.
Students could also take notes and sum-
Using content marize, compare their understanding with
Once you have retained online content in their peers’, and give their reactions to what
some way, the next step is to make it as usable they heard.
as possible. One approach is to simplify the Materials printed from websites can be
language itself—by reducing the number of used in a range of classroom tasks, just as
words, changing complex sentences to simple traditional printed materials might be. Stu-
forms using active voice, or using graphic dents can complete a jigsaw reading, where
organizers such as charts or diagrams—there- each is responsible for reading and report-
by creating the semi-authentic content previ- ing on a particular section of the text. They
ously described. might participate in reading circles, where
Another approach is to modify or enhance everyone reads the text but is assigned a
authentic content, which has been shown different role and responsibility, such as
to be effective in increasing comprehen- summarizing, identifying new vocabulary,
sibility (Zhao 2003). Learners might use asking questions, or illustrating the text.
downloadable free software such as Audacity Students might also be asked to react from
(audacity.sourceforge.net) to play, pause, and the viewpoint of an assigned role related to
replay audio or content at either recorded an issue in the text, such as a decision maker
or reduced speed; VLC (videolan.org/vlc) or someone directly affected by a impend-
can provide the same options for videos. ing decision.
Content might also be supported through Where learners have some means of
printed transcripts or the captions available playing content at home or in a library or
on many videos. Internet cafe, you can give them—individu-
You can also implement what are called ally or in groups—assignments in the form
wraparound or scaffolding activities. As a of links to particular websites (if they have
pre-listening or pre-reading task to activate access), or with copyright-free content that
schema, you might ask students to predict is burned onto a rewritable CD or saved
a story based upon its title or create a cap- onto a flash drive or mobile device. Then
tion for a printed or saved digital image students can practice their note-taking skills
related to the text. More elaborately, stu- by listening to recorded academic lectures
dents might use key vocabulary to create while attending to guided questions or
an original story or to complete a cross- graphic organizers freely available at web-
word puzzle that you have created on a site sites such as Education Place (eduplace.
like Discovery Education’s Puzzlemaker (dis- com/graphicorganizer).
coveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker). For students with Internet access outside
Or students can create and share their own class, TED Ed (ed.ted.com) goes one step
puzzles. further. Inspired by the Flipped (Reverse)
E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m | Number 1 2014 7Classroom approach to teaching, in which More advanced students could cooperate on
students study video materials outside class tasks requiring higher-order thinking skills.
to prepare for in-class practice or critical One example is a jigsaw reading, in which
thinking activities, this site enables teach- each student receives a different piece of a
ers to integrate videos and comprehension single text—with content pertaining to the
questions along with additional resources. To Internet—and they work together to under-
utilize it, you might send students home or stand or answer questions about the text.
to a third-party location, either alone or in Students of teaching might work together
groups, with copies of such videos.
on a decision-making task, in which they
No access: The Internet as subject matter simulate receipt of a large sum of funding
Lack of Internet access does not mean that for the development of a (computer) learn-
English language educators cannot integrate ing lab and must come to agreement on how
the Internet in particular, and technology in exactly to spend it, including debate on the
general, into their instruction. Partly in antici- pedagogical utility of Internet access.
pation of and preparation for future access,
the next section focuses on discussions (or Reasons not to use the Internet in ELT
debates) and tasks emphasizing the Internet as For most English language learners of
a topic and how they can be conducted with- the world, there are limits to Internet access
out the actual use of the Internet. and therefore to its potential benefits, but
for learners with Internet access, there might
Discussions
also be limits to the benefits. A recent analy-
The Internet has shaped the global lexi- sis on the breadth of CMC research suggests
con with new words such as blog, wiki, and
that its benefits have been exaggerated (Ken-
podcast, along with generic trademarks such
ning 2010). And a comprehensive analysis
as google. It has changed the way many people
of the research on CALL in primary and
find and share information. At the same time,
the Internet has been accused of “making us secondary school English language education
stupid” (Carr 2010), turning us into “infor- similarly concluded that “the evidence that
mavores” (Schirrmacher, cited in Brockman technology has a direct beneficial impact on
2009) who are more isolated (Turkle 2012) linguistic outcomes is slight and inconclu-
and less creative (Keen 2007) than we would sive” (Macaro, Handley, and Walter 2012,
be if we had no Internet. 1). Among the most studied areas of this
Such controversies surrounding the grow- analysis were CMC and the Internet. These
ing usage of the Internet offer intriguing findings correlate with the findings of previ-
fodder for class discussion. With pre-teach- ous meta-analyses examining the effective-
ing and background preparation from their ness of CALL in general (see Felix 2005;
teacher, advanced students could take sides Hubbard 2003; Salaberry 2001).
in a debate pertaining to any of the above Moreover, by the time you read this article,
topics, arguing, for instance, whether or not some of the websites cited may no longer be
the Internet makes people stupid, or discuss- functional, and the technologies referenced
ing the pros and cons of having ready Inter- could soon be obsolete. Indeed, while infor-
net access, what benefits they believe access
mation on the Internet is believed to double
might reap, and the impact it might have on
roughly every two years (Zhang et al. 2008),
their lives.
the average lifespan of a website is only about
Tasks 77 days (Internet Archive 2013).
A more systematic approach to shaping Considering these limitations, as Egbert
classroom exchanges would be to use this and Yang (2004) urge, “Rather than lament-
subject as the focus of task-based instruction ing the fact that our tools are not the latest
(Pica, Kanagy, and Falodun 1993; Willis and and greatest, we must pay attention to using
Willis 2007). For students with lower levels the tools at hand to students’ best advantage
of proficiency, you could use basic tasks while we look for ways to obtain additional
such as a picture dictation of a computer. resources” (289).
8 2014 Number 1 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u mTask Type Mobile Phones SMS and Emoticons
Remembering/ List all the different Match these emoticons with their
Brainstorming/ communication tools you know. corresponding feeling.
Matching A. ;-) happy
B. :-) sad
C. :-o amused
D. :-( surprised
(Answers: A. amused; B. happy;
C. surprised; D. sad)
Understanding/ Place the following tools where you Categorize these SMS abbreviations
Ordering think they belong on the line below. and emoticons as negative, positive,
Written Oral or neutral.
ROFL :-) L8R :-o
• Radio
• Mobile phone
• Pencil Note: ROFL = Roll on the floor laughing;
• Television :-) = happy; L8R = “Later” or “See you later”;
• Hands :-o = surprised
Applying Discuss all the possible uses you can Create a role play using emoticons
think of for a mobile phone. as your main characters. You might
consider using the following:
>>>:-o 8-/ :-P
Note: >>>:-o indicates surprise or yawning,
depending on the context; 8-/ indicates
skepticism or disbelief; :-P indicates
playfulness
Analyzing/ What are the possible side effects of Compare this “Western” smiley with
Comparing mobile phone usage? its “Eastern” counterpart.
:-) (^_^)
Evaluating/ Should everyone have a mobile Why do people use SMS abbreviations
Opinion phone? Explain your answer. and emoticons? Are they an effective
Exchange communication medium?
Creating/ Your village has just received a dona- With your group, create an original
Decision tion of three mobile phones. With set of SMS abbreviations or emoti-
Making your group, decide which of the fol- cons. Be prepared to present and
lowing citizens should receive them. explain them.
1. The one police officer Or:
2. A mother of three small Your group is a committee whose
children, one of whom is mission is to decide whether to per-
chronically ill mit SMS shorthand in schoolwork.
3. The one school teacher You must agree on whether or not
4. An entrepreneur who acquired to permit it, and then develop an
the mobile phones and can implementation plan and/or a set of
help develop the local guidelines accordingly.
economy
5. The one doctor
Figure 1. A Bloom’s Taxonomy guide to tasks based on mobile-phone topics, SMS shorthand,
and emoticons
E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m | Number 1 2014 9Mobile phones ways in which their phones have impacted
Among the tools most likely available are their lives.
mobile phones, which are presently much Tasks not actually requiring mobile
more accessible for many people than com- phones, ranging from the development of
puters are. The vast majority of the world’s literacy or numeracy skills to critical thinking
population has mobile phone access (Internet skills, are similarly feasible. You might sim-
Telecommunications Union 2013). Indeed, ply help students simulate texting with one
the number of mobile phones in the world another on paper, perhaps through guided
may have surpassed the number of people activities such as a tapering dialogue, where
already (Cisco 2013). each response warrants one less word than the
The use of mobile phones and other last (Rinvolucri 2005).
portable devices such as digital media play- You might alternately use the guidance
ers and ultraportable computers and tablets of Bloom’s Taxonomy, a hierarchical clas-
in language teaching and learning, popu- sification of learning objectives commonly
larly referred to as mobile-assisted language used by educators to foster critical and cre-
learning (MALL), is a branch of CALL sup- ative thinking skills (Anderson et al. 2000;
ported by many English language teachers (see Bloom et al. 1956), which is easily adapted
Chinnery 2006; Kukulska-Hulme and Shield into questions or performance assessments.
2008) and learners (Bibby 2011; Stockwell Figure 1 presents progressively challenging
2008) globally. Major MALL initiatives examples of pair or group activities follow-
include American English (americanenglish. ing both Bloom’s Taxonomy and common
state.gov), which offers free mobile books and language-learning tasks on the topics of
apps, and BBC Janala (www.bbcjanala.com), mobile phones, SMS, and emoticons or
a public–private partnership with a major “smileys.” The use of English toward the
mobile component. completion of these tasks and in their pre-
As with the Internet, you can use mobile sentations is presumed.
phones as a source of content or subject
Back to basics
matter, but the most common use would be
as a medium of instruction. You could have Imagine your students honing their pro-
your students use mobile phones to access nunciation through a voice recognition pro-
apps such as Word Soup, a vocabulary game gram, participating in a scavenger hunt with
developed as a supplement to the Trace Effects the use of a GPS, and even instantly trans-
video game available on American English. lating their native speech into English—all
Apps must be downloaded and therefore through a wristwatch, a pair of glasses, or
minimally require limited Internet access. other gadget in the experimental field of
Mobile phones’ use might revolve around the cybernetics. Whether web-based computer,
completion of pedagogical tasks (e.g., Short mobile phone, or even wearable device—
Message Service [SMS] note-taking) or simu- unless we reach a period of integrated
lated real-world tasks (e.g., scavenger hunts or device-agnostic CALL (see Bax 2003;
using a global positioning system [GPS]), Thorne and Payne 2005)—each will one
taking advantage of their built-in features, day be superseded by another technology.
such as video or still cameras, voice record- The framework described in this article
ers, calculators, or digital music players (see (see Figure 2) reflects an analysis of the cur-
Hockly 2013). rent applications of the Internet in ELT;
As a source of content, mobile phones can teachers and administrators can use it as a
be used to access mobile versions of websites guideline for determining how to use the
or to download authentic content-based apps. Internet in their ELT contexts as the number
As subject matter, mobile phones offer plenty of tools available continues to grow.
of opportunity for discussion or the comple- This framework also demonstrates how in
tion of tasks. A starting point for any mobile limited- or no-access contexts, rather than—
activity could include a discussion of your or perhaps while—pursuing other pedagogic
students’ comfort level with the use of their deployment of the latest technology, you as
mobile phones for instructional purposes, English language teacher can face “bleeding
how they typically use their phones, or the edge challenges” (Fawzi 2010) without the
10 2014 Number 1 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u mThe Internet
as Medium of as Source of as Subject
Instruction Content Matter
Tutor Tool Authentic Semi-Authentic Discussions
Advice Creativity Supported Debates
Analysis Communication Unsupported Tasks
Activities Collaboration
Figure 2. A framework for integrating the Internet into ELT
use of cutting-edge technologies, confront Bloom, B. S., M. D. Engelhart, E. J. Furst, W. H.
“restricted Internet access and censorship” Hill, and D. R. Krathwohl. 1956. Taxonomy of
educational objectives: The classification of edu-
(Ngeow 2010) with “a pedagogy of bare
cational goals; Handbook I: Cognitive domain.
essentials” (Meddings and Thornbury 2009), New York: Longman.
and replace fretfulness over the lack of a good Boas, I. V. 2011. Process writing and the Internet:
Internet connection with genuine concern for Blogs and Ning networks in the classroom.
good teaching. English Teaching Forum 49 (2): 26–33.
Broadband Commission. 2012. The state of
broadband 2012: Achieving digital inclusion
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