A Webquest tool to develop communicative competence in EFL students with an A2 proficiency level

ARTÍCULO DE INVESTIGACIÓN RESEARCH REPORT zona A Webquest tool to develop communicative competence in EFL students with an A2 proficiency level próxima Webquest como herramienta para desarrollar la competencia comunicativa en estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera con nivel A2 Una Nana Negra Acrílico/laminilla dorada sobre MDF Rafael Barón Herazo Leonor Portilla Arciniegas Gonzalo Camacho Vásquez LEONOR PORTILLA ARCINIEGAS Licenciada en idiomas Universidad Industrial de Santander. Especialista en pedagogía de la lengua escrita Universidad Santo Tomás Bucaramanga. Master Of Arts in teaching english to other languages- Greensboro College North Carolina USA. Directora del Instituto de Lenguas Universidad Industrial de Santander. GONZALO CAMACHO VÁSQUEZ Licenciado en Idiomas Universidad Industrial de Santander. Magister en Educación Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Docente de planta de la licenciatura en inglés de la Universidad del Tolima. zona próxima Revista del Instituto de Estudios en Educación y del Instituto de Idiomas Universidad del Norte nº 26, enero-junio, 2017 ISSN 2145-9444 (electrónica) http://dx.doi.org/10.14482/zp.26.10201 f e c h a d e r e c e p c i ó n : marzo f e c h a d e a c e p t a c i ó n : junio 9 de 2015 28 de 2017 Palabras clave: WebQuest, Enseñanza Comunicativa de la lengua, Aprendizaje basado en tareas, Pensamiento crítico, Aprendizaje autónomo. RESUMEN ABSTRACT El presente estudio tiene como objetivo: Desarrollar la competencia comunicativa con estudiantes de pregrado en la clase de inglés de nivel A2, mediante el diseño e implementación de una Webquest. El diseño se basa en los principios de la enseñanza comunicativa de la lengua (CLT Communicative Language Teaching) y la instrucción basada en tareas (task-based instruction). Las conclusiones muestran que el uso de esta herramienta no solo desarrolla la competencia comunicativa, sino que también incrementa la motivación en los estudiantes, desarrolla el pensamiento crítico, el aprendizaje autónomo y permite el aprendizaje diferenciado. Existen algunas limitantes como el tiempo que se debe dedicar a la planeación por parte de los docentes, la inversión económica en la adquisición de equipos y conexión a internet por parte de la institución y capacitación en el uso y diseño del recurso. The objective of this study is to develop the communicative competence in undergraduate A2 students of English as a Foreign Language, through the design and implementation of a WebQuest. The design is based on the principles of Communicative Language Teaching and Task-based Instruction. The conclusions show that the use of this tool not only develops the communicative competence, but also increases motivation in students, fosters critical thinking, promotes autonomous learning, and enables differentiated learning. There also exist some difficulties such the amount of time teachers need to devote to planning, the economical investment administrators need to make at acquiring equipment and internet connection, as well as at professional training in the use and design of this tool. Key words: WebQuest, Communicative Language Teaching, Task-based Instruction, Critical Thinking, Autonomous Learning. Leonor Portilla Arciniegas Gonzalo Camacho Vásquez information that it holds, back in 1995 a group of educators became skeptical about the benefits of the use of this tool in education. They thought that mere exposure to online resources was not enough to improve students’ learning process. With these questions in mind, Bernie Dodge, a professor of education technology at San Diego State University and his colleague Tom March designed the WebQuest as a framework for teachers to structure student-centered learning using Internet resources (MacGregor & Lou, 2005, p. 162). INTRODUCCIÓN One way to avoid the problems that the Web can bring to the EFL classroom, such as inappropriate content or even the excessive amount of information posted in it, is by using WebQuests, an online tool that could help teachers organize the endless but valuable online material in English in such a way that students can take advantage of it to develop their communicative competence without being exposed to unwanted material. This paper presents the use of WebQuests as an internet tool teachers can use to develop learners’ communicative competence in an EFL classroom and reduce the risk of students viewing inappropriate content on the Web. Firstly, some general information about the use of Web in education will be presented to set the context of the research. Secondly, WebQuests will be defined, and their components and their importance in an EFL classroom will be explained. After this, Communicative Language Teaching will be described as well as the importance of tasks, and the description of proficiency levels. Then, the design on the WebQuest called “Let’s go to London” will be provided and some practical guidelines will be given to make the use of WebQuests a successful experience in an EFL. Finally, the conclusions of this study which will be presented in order to devote to discussing some considerations that need attention when working with the Web and WebQuests in the classroom. According to March (1997), “a WebQuest is an inquiry activity that presents student groups with a challenging task, provides access to an abundance of usually online resources and scaffolds the learning process to prompt higher order thinking” (WebQuest section, para. 1). The main goal of WebQuests is to promote critical thinking skills by challenging students to transform information found in the Web rather than simply searching and recalling information. WebQuests are based on the Inquiry-based approach which differs from the traditional concept of education in several aspects. While the traditional classroom focuses on mastery of contents without any meaningful application of them, the inquiry-based classroom focuses on using and learning contents as a means to develop information processing and problem-solving skills (“Concept,” 2004, Traditional approach section, para. 1). The traditional classroom is teacher-centered, whereas the inquiry-based classroom is student-centered. In the former, the teacher is the holder of knowledge and students are receivers of information. In the latter, students feel more motivated because they are involved in the construction of knowledge. “The more in- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Webquest With the sudden increase in popularity of the World Wide Web, and the massive amount of 84 Z O N A P R Ó X I M A N º 26 (2017) PÁGS. 82-98 ISSN 2145-9444 (electrónica) A Webquest tool to develop communicative competence in EFL students with an A2 proficiency level terested and engaged students are by a subject or project, the easier it will be for them to construct in-depth knowledge of it” (“Concept,” 2004, Traditional approach section, para. 3). In other words, students become responsible for their own learni (...truncated)