Webquests and EFL teaching and learning

WEBQUESTS AND
DEVELOPING EFL CRITICAL
READING SKILLS
BY
MAGDY M. ALY
PROFESSOR OF CURRICULUM AND EFL
INSTRUCTION
JULY , 2011

SOME HOT ISSUES
- Learning English in Egypt is often times 
associated with learning grammatical
rules.
- Critical thinking is often recognized as 
one of the desirable goals for education, it
is considered a skill not promoted enough
in English classrooms .

3/24/2012 Dr.Magdy M. Aly

-In traditional classrooms, learning English to -
pass the examinations is often considered the
primary goal, where only language skills are
emphasized while critical thinking, problem
solving, or creative thinking skills are treated as
minimal.
-Technology is also identified as a tool that has -
potential to support the competitiveness of
Egypt and its people in the knowledge-based
economy

- The Internet is a suitable environment for
language learners. Students from cross-cultural
classes in different parts of the world can
collaboratively create a project by exchanging
emails or engaging in online chats. Thus they
will not only learn to use the language, they will
learn to develop critical thinking skills as they try
to express their own cultural and personal
experiences through language and other
symbolic means .

- Web-based group projects can also enhance higher-order
thinking skills in a similar fashion. These projects enable
students to learn critical thinking when they
critique, negotiate, challenge or agree with ideas of
others (Arnold & Ducate, 2006). Contrary to the
traditional ESL classrooms, with the use of
technology, students can develop skills in both
researching and thinking critically when finding
information from resources on the Internet. They also
have opportunities to use the target language through
reading web pages, writing presentations, listening to
peers’ opinions, and discussing ideas on interesting
issues.

What is ( WEBQUESTS )?
WebQuest – 
an inquiry-oriented activity in which 
most or all of the information used by
learners is drawn from the Web
(Dodge, 1998) -- could therefore
provide the teacher with a pre- 
defined activity equipped with
existing databases for the teachers
to explore and adapt to suit their
students and the class objectives.

WebQuest is a term coined by Bernie
Dodge and described as “an inquiry-
oriented activity in which some or all
of the information that learners
interact with comes from resources
on the Internet”


“a scaffolded learning structure that uses
links to essential resources on the World
Wide Web and an authentic task to
motivate students’ investigation of a
central, open-ended
question, development of individual
expertise, and participation in a final
group process that attempts to transform
newly acquired information into a more
sophisticated understanding”

-In order to complete the main task of a
WebQuest, students use information
from various sources to form their own
opinions and share them with their group
members to create a final project, usually
in the form of an oral presentation and/or
written materials such as
brochures, newsletters, or websites.


WebQuests: -
are designed to further several learning -
concepts. Their four underlying constructs are:
(1) critical thinking; (2) knowledge application;
(3) social skills; and (4) scaffolded learning
(March, 2007). In sum, WebQuests are inquiry-
oriented, group work-centered, higher order
thinking-focused, and selected Internet source-
heavy (Dodge, 1998).


The procedures to complete the task
included a number of steps.

First, the teacher introduced the students to the topic of
the WebQuest and informed them of the task (
Democracy and human rights ) they
needed to complete using the Introduction and the Task
pages on the WebQuest.
Second, the teacher guided the students through the pre-
activity discussion to activate their prior knowledge, as
mentioned earlier.
Then, the students were directed to gather information for
the role each was taking by reading the articles provided
on the WebQuest.

During this step, the students read the articles with their
peers who took the same role. (This sub-activity could
be seen as a scaffolding for reading the articles and
understanding the role.)
Next, students worked with their group members to pool
their research findings and develop PowerPoint
presentation slides that explained their position on the
issue with supporting evidence.
Finally, the students presented their opinions on the issue
to the class using PowerPoint slides. The students were
also asked to write a journal entry on the issue as
homework.


These steps, therefore, scaffolded the
students to answer the main issue.
A good WebQuest focuses on an issue 
with multiple facets, such as
social, political, and/or environmental, and
requires more than information gathering;
students must process the information in
order to form their opinions
(March, 1998).

March (1998) asserts that the main question on
the WebQuest requires students to transform
information collected from online resources into
something new. This process invites students to
consider an issue, compare and synthesize
information to form a hypothesis, and suggest a
solution. Additionally, scaffolding techniques, in
the form of specific sub-tasks on the
WebQuest, prompt students to engage in higher
levels of thinking.

WebQuests and collaborative
learning

Collaborative learning refers to an instructional 
method in which students work in small groups
for the purpose of achieving an academic goal.
The active exchange of ideas within small
groups not only helps students learn but also
stimulates critical thinking
(Totten, Sills, Digby, &Russ, 1991). It allows
students to learn from others’ skills and
experiences (Gokhale, 1995).

WEBQUESTS RUBRICS
Rubrics can be used to assess appropriate
WebQuests for students:
The rubric took into account five
aspects, namely vocabulary and
grammar, content knowledge, level of
interest, assistance, and task demand, to
examine whether a WebQuest would be
beneficial for EFL students.


WEBQUESTS STRATEGIES

five types of web-based
teaching strategies:
1-namely nominal
group,
2-debate,
3-brainstorming,
4-invited guest, and
3/24/2012 5-WebQuest.
Dr.Magdy M. Aly

WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING ?
-Ennis (1989) defines critical thinking as
“reasonable reflective thinking focused on
deciding what to believe or do”
-McPeck (1990) believes that critical thinking is
subject-specific with respect to particular
knowledge in certain fields.
-For Paul (1990), critical thinking is not only
viewed as analytical and evaluative, it is also
considered “the art of thinking about your
thinking”


- Critical thinking can be seen as an exercise
in higher order thinking skills, associated
with the ability to think logically based on
evaluated information according to certain
criteria.


In summary, the body of research discussed
in this chapter suggests that WebQuest
has potential to generate critical thinking
among students in various subjects and
classroom contexts.


Webquests and EFL teaching and learning

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Similar to Webquests and EFL teaching and learning (20)

More from Magdy Aly (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Webquests and EFL teaching and learning