Web in Action: Applications and Hesitations

Stephen Mak, Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Phone: (852) 2766 5820 Fax: (852) 2764 5131 Email: bssmak@polyu.edu.hk, Home Page [HREF2]

Introduction

The World Wide Web server at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is the first WWW server in Hong Kong. Inside the CUHK Home Page, there are pages of a number of Department. The English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU) has not got its own page, but the Independent Learning Centre (ILC) has.

The ILC was opened in Nov. 1993 to provide self-access learning of English (and Chinese from Sept. 1994) for undergraduate ESL learners on campus. There are 12 networked Macintosh computers (Mac Centris, LC630, LCII & III ) for student use, all connected with the campus network and thus gain access to the Internet. In addition to a collection of Computer Assisted Language learning (CALL) software, there are also a language counselors' mailbox and a local newsgroup cuhk.ilc.forum for students to discuss their language questions or problems with both the teachers and the peer through email and news. The students may use a regular personal computer and a modem to dial into the Computer Centre and access the ILC mailbox and newsgroup, or any UseNet news at home.

[HREF3] The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) has not yet set up its own home page, nor does it have any WWW browser in the student user area. The Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), on the other hand, has set up its own Web server for over 1 year. Therefore the workshop took place in the BRE computer lab which has 50 PCs (486DX2/66, 8M RAM), with Netscape. [HREF4]

Why WWW for Language Learning?

1. Learning materials are organized in the form of hypertext. This allows non-linear reading, or quick jumps to relevant information (Carlson 1988, quoted in Sengupta 1994:364). Wu (1994) pointed out several advantages of hypertext grammar: greater user control; the information can be easily digested; faster and easier retrieval of information or cross-reference materials and thus user-friendly.
2. Multimedia learning materials are motivating.
3. The investment cost is low. The browser software is freeware. It costs nothing to produce plain text. For multimedia, everything is built-in in Mac and the PC only needs an additional sound card and a pair of speakers.
4. Hyperlink allows linkage to other pages, other countries and opens up to a huge bank of resources.
5. It is easy to operate. One can simply click and scroll.
6. It is highly flexible: web page can run on its own as a standalone or LAN version, as well as being connected to the Internet.
7. It provides staff and students access to the most up-to-date information on the information Superhighway.

The students were first introduced to the basic notions and operations of the WWW in a 90-minute class workshop in a computer lab (with 16 LC, 4 Quadra and 8 PC/486). The browsers are Mosaic on the Mac and Netscape on the PC.

The main task of each student was to evaluate a language-learning page and give a 10-minute oral summary plus a 500-word written report in the following week. The summaries were sent to the local class newsgroup for sharing and further discussion. The good ones were selected for publication in the class magazine, the target audience of which is all staff and students on campus, thus no computer expertise and knowledge of the web is expected. Some students also posted Q & A and workshop feedback in the class newsgroup.

Students' Feedback

Difficulties encountered

1. Technical
   Anything that can go wrong will go wrong (Murphy's Law)
   In the middle of the workshop, the Internet Link was down! The students were disappointed that there was no connection to web pages outside Hong Kong, and thus they were unable to view anything overseas. Fortunately, there are a number of local home pages in Hong Kong (non-ELT-oriented) with plenty of interesting information to browse, and to keep them busy.
2. Time-consuming
   Many students commented on this problem. As there were about 15 computers The WWW workshop was first piloted in the course Taccessing the WWW for information at the same time, the traffic was terribly slow. The download time was further lengthened by the graphics and audio or video components some pages contained. Sometimes it took over 15 minutes to download one page overseas.
3. Limitations of computers
   I encouraged the students to do multi-tasking, such as reading Usenet news or ftp, when waiting for pages to download. However, when they did this on the PC, the computer came to a stand still. Mutli-windows and multi-tasking are not recommendable for student terminals that have limited ram and disk space, especially on PC!
4. Pedagogical
   The value of the web for language learning is questionable. One can only argue students read more in English. The time spent seems not to be cost-effective, as one students said:
   "I do read more, but I spend more time on graphics, movies instead of words (text)."
   Also, though the WWW provides access to information and language learning resources, it may not be able to foster some language skills. Some students wrote:
   "I cannot improve my writing skills."
5. Lack of technical support
   There was no technical support in the workshop. It was difficult for one teacher to cater for the needs of around 15 students at the same time.

ILC workshop - Language Enhancement via WWW

The WWW workshop was among a series of weekly CALL workshops at the ILC. It lasted for 1.5 hour. Over twenty people signed up but only eight students and three staff turned up. The teacher first introduced the WWW and the ILC Home Page. The concept of hypertext and tips on navigating the Internet were discussed, followed by hands-on session.

Students were excited to gain access to language resources overseas. However, they complained about a number of things:

1. Lack of relevant learning materials
   The ILC is bilingual in Chinese and English, but most materials in the virtual language labs overseas focus on European languages and Japanese. There were materials on Mandarin, but rarely on Cantonese.
2. Too much "irrelevant" information
   Some WWW pages contain commercial materials. For example inside a language tutorial page, there are even sample graphics of carpets.
3. Inability to access some materials
   Owing to copyright, most on-line dictionaries were inaccessible.
4. Lack of simple user guides for beginners
5. Navigation problem
   Some students lost direction quickly and felt frustrated.
6. Long download time
7. Unsystematic learning mode

Suggested solutions:

Contemporary Computer Communication skills at HKPU

Design of program & task

1. Each student explores a different home page/site and summarizes to the class the information/resources available; and
   
2. (after two weeks) gives a group oral proposal on what to include in the HKPU home page.

Students' Feedback

However, they were disappointed to find sound/ video unable to be played on PC computers, which have no sound card. Also, as the campus network is unbearably slow, most students ended up accessing Usenet through the VMS system (gophering another local university)! On the other hand, like the ILC workshop which was not class-based, participants in the HKPU workshops had very little interaction among themselves and no commitment. Since the only access to the WWW outside the workshop was through the UNIX (text-only, very unuser-friendly), and without any immediate common goal in mind, some were entirely lost and the workshop tasks were ignored.

Conclusion & Recommendations

However, the human factors must not be overlooked. A lot of language teachers are resistant to, and skeptical of, the computer and the Internet. Many are negative towards email, criticizing it as full of typos and grammatical mistakes. Many have no knowledge of, and access to, WWW. The language teachers may constantly face challenge on whether they are teaching language skills or computer skills.

Also, as teachers have no control on the materials on the Internet Link, it will be advisable for them to

1. prepare more teaching packages that suit their own learners and class level;
2. add link with local pages/sites;
3. print index pages of WWW sites so that learners know whether they access the right page or not;
4. prepare sample handouts and some materials for off-screen reading while waiting for information to download;
5. print HTTP address list for access after the workshop or the class.

1. Set up one or more new links to overseas sites in selected member institutions to reduce/share loading.
2. Each institution sets up its own overseas link.
3. Upgrade the existing Internet link to T1 or above (from 128K) standard.

References

Guide on writing HTML codes. Available on http//: www.brown.edu.

Carlson, P.A. (1988) Hypertext: a way of incorporating user feedback into on-line documentation. In E. Barret (ed.) Text, context and hypertext writing with and for the computer. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Davis, S.B. (1993) Hypertext and Multimedia. English Today, 33, 9 (1): 17-24.

Adamson, Eadie (1994) Quick-Start on HTML Documents. Paper presented at Tel-Ed conference '94, Scholastic Internet Services, New York. (Available on Scholastic Centre URL http://scholastic.com:2005)

Wu, K. Y. (1994) Designing a Hypertext Pedagogical Grammar of English. In N. Bird et al (ed.) Language and Learning. Education Department. Hong Kong.

Hypertext References

HREF1

http://www.cuhk.hk/eltu/ilc/lindamak.htm Linda Mak's Home

HREF2

http://www.cuhk.hk/eltu/ilc/ Independent Learning Centre Home Page

HREF3

http://www.bre.polyu.edu.hk/DoBRE/Staff/bssmak/ Stephen Mak's Home Page

HREF4

http://www.bre.polyu.edu.hk/ Building & Real Estate Home Page

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