LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Exploring the Effectiveness of World Wide Web
to Improve the Communication Skills of Management Students
A Pilot Study

Gurleen Ahluwalia, M.A.

Abstract

This pilot study investigates the potential role of Internet resources as a means to develop communication skills in an interactive way. It also focuses on using real life situations for college students. Twenty MBA students in the first semester of their degree program were instructed to utilize the Web to complete four activities using www. The challenge of using the Internet in the foreign language teaching-learning process is to harness its potential to better serve the needs of the teachers and the learners. Data collected demonstrate that the Web is a suitable tool to increase language skills as well as a means to increase motivation. Pedagogical implications are also discussed.

Introduction

The Internet is making inroads in education but there is a wide discrepancy in India between the hype surrounding it and the way it is used in the teaching and learning process generally and in the foreign language teaching and learning process especially.

In India, even though computers with Internet access are becoming more and more available at every educational level, there are still only a few institutions which use electronic communication tools to provide education. And there are still fewer which implement them into the foreign language teaching and learning process in a systematic and consistent way. As Salmon (2000) said that millions of words have been written about the technology and its potential, but not much about what the teachers and learners can actually do online.

By using the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW), students can have almost instantaneous access to a range of foreign experiences in their target language. The computer then serves as a gateway to the virtual foreign world where "real people" are using real language in "real context."

Web-based teaching is understood as using existing websites as sources of course materials, and Internet technologies as tools supporting teacher-learner, learner-learner, and learner-content communication.

So this pilot study sets out to assess the potential role of Internet resources as means for the improvement of the Communication Skills of the Management students of a college in Punjab.

Methodology

Materials

This study involved the piloting of four activities using the Internet. The types of activity are diverse, with varying foci on language forms, language functions, real life situations, etc. Each activity also varies in terms of purpose: planning a family trip to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, writing their own detailed profile on www.zunal.com/php, comparing any other Indian management college to the students' own college and virtual stock trading. Each of these activities requires students' search and access to websites related to their activity.

The following are the synopses of two of the four activities.

Activity One
Planning a family trip to Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Your family is planning a vacation to Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Since only you are well -versed with English language, you are in charge of finding as much information as possible about the Islands.

(1) Your family will need accommodation. Find names and fees for different kinds of hotels (e.g., luxury, moderate, hostels, etc.), then decide where you will stay. If you were travelling with friends, where would you stay?

(2) You will need to eat. However, your father wants traditional Punjabi food, your mother is vegetarian, you enjoy eating light food, and your younger brothers want fast food. Find restaurants to please everyone in your family.

(3) Your family will like to take some day trips around Port Blair. Find places, museums and beaches to visit.

(4) Your family wants to visit the tribal areas. Find the location and hours of operation. You probably want to visit when there is free admission. When is it?

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