'A fun way to learn English' : using WebQuests to teach English in Maltese secondary schools

Abstract

The use of ICT in education, and specifically in the teaching of English, has become increasingly widespread and with this notion in mind, the current research was carried out. In the first part of the study, through semi-guided interviews, the attitudes of English teachers towards the use of ICT in the language classroom, with a specific emphasis on Internet resources designed explicitly for ELT, in particular WebQuests, are investigated. The primary concern of this research is to show how a pedagogical framework for the use of WebQuests can be devised and implemented in the English classroom and how teachers can support their students' learning of English via WebQuests. This is investigated in the second part of this study through an action research case study which involved two middle secondary classes of English. A total of forty-seven students were introduced to a WebQuest, designed specifically for the purpose of this research and their attitudes towards the WebQuest were gathered through evaluation questionnaires, analysed and discussed. The results obtained suggest first that a number of barriers such as limited access to technology at school, limited time due to syllabus constraints and lack of teacher training on how best to use technology in the classroom, impede teachers from technologically enhancing their lessons. Secondly the results demonstrate the validity of WebQuests as a suitable way for teachers of English to integrate ICT in their teaching. They can be a fun, authentic and collaborative pedagogical tool for supporting students' learning of English as well as a means of increasing the learners' motivation; an indispensible component of language learning.