Zona Próxima

ISSN: 1657-2416

jmizzuno@uninorte.edu.co

Universidad del Norte

Colombia

Rey, Lourdes; Rosado, Nayibe

Empowering The Efl/Esl Class Through E-mail Activities

Zona Próxima, núm. 2, julio, 2001, pp. 10-23

Universidad del Norte

Barranquilla, Colombia

Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=85300201

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EmpoweringThe Efl/Esl

ClassThrough

E-mailActivities

Lourdes ReyNayibe Rosado

MC.ESCl1ER,.~,""eJ~19SO(lr>r<rno)

lOURDESREYMAGISTRA EN EDUCACiÓN, UNIVERSIDAD DEl NORTE, BARRANQUILlA

(COLOMBIA). COORDINADORA ACAotMICA DEL INSTITUTO Dt IDIOMAS DE

ESTA MISMA INSTITUCiÓN.

(arey@uninorte.edu.colNAYIBE ROSADO

MAGISTRA EN EDUCACiÓN, UNIVERSIDAD DEL NORTE.

(nrosado@uninorte.edu.col

This paper analyses the effect 01using e-mail-based activities onEFL learning processes lordeveloping writing and readingski lis and enhancingmetacognitive strategies. Our goalis to determine whether there isimprovement in these skills andwhether there is a change in theirattitudes, beliels, and motivationtowards learning.

~

Nowadays, there is a growinginterest and motivation in using

~ these activities lor complementing

~ the content 01 regular courses., but, the questions are" willstudents enhance their learningthrough them? Will they becomemore autonomous andresponsible for their learningprocess? Little research has beenconducted to verify whether theuse 01 these computer - basedresources affect English learningpositively.Therelore, we are currentlycarrying out a research on thesystematic use 01 E-mail servicesin the EFL c1assroom to determinewhether there is a signilicantimprovement in the developmentof the writing and reading skills inEnglish and whether there is achange in their attitudes, beliefs,and motivation towards learning.

KEY WORDS: Reading writing skills,Metacognitive strategies, Learningprocess, Computer basedresources.

1 Introduction

E ducation has not remainedinllexible towards the profoundchanges taking place in other

areas 01 knowledge. The impact ofthose changes on the educational areais increasingly evident.

Factors such as the economicalopening, the new communication andeducationallegislation, the last evolu-tion and availability 01 new technolo-gies (satellites, simulation, multimedia,educational games, electronic net-works, new methods 01 generation andtransmission 01 visual and graphicinformation), have started to trigger themodernization 01 the teaching learningprocess and consequently started tomodify the way the educational systemworks.

These new technologies areproducing changes in the traditionalpedagogical models. They have broad-ened the array 01 possibilities lor thelimited traditional teaching-Iearningprocess in which the teacher is theonly source 01 knowledge, the chalkand board are the best didactic aidsand the c1assroom is the only placewhere this process can be appropri-ately carried out.

Mastering English is very important,especially nowadays, when most 01the technological and scientilic inlor-mation is published in this language.According to Professor ClaudioJosemaría Altisen only 1,78% of thedocuments that are published inInternet are in Spanish. The vastmajority, 70%, is in English. In spite ofthe fact that Spanish is one of the

most spoken languages in the world,there are more documents in Germanand French than Spanish ones foundin the Web l

The previous information is veryimportant since it indicates that Englishis not only a requirement for profes-sionals to competitively participate inthe distribution of grants and scholar-ships abroad, but also that English isnecessary for any individual whoseobjective is to find information in thelargest library of existing information:the Internet network.

In our country, the English learningprocess is generally limited to whatstudents can learn during c1assperi-ods. There are many reasons why weshould start to profit educationallyfrom the opportunities offered by thenet to learn English. Firstly, it is conve-nient that students could access manymore real situations 01 the use ofEnglish that they are currently findingin their daily lives. It is particularlyimportant to expose them to the samesituations 01 a person whose mothertongue is English. Secondly, it is basicto motivate students to use English forleisure outside the c1asses.If studentsare trained to use e-mail and netsurfing, they will be able to continueusing them in their free time. Thiscould be achievable if academicactivities that use the net as a comple-

1 These are some of the mast important conclusionsdrawn from a recent study carried out by La Compañíade Tecnologfa Oigital which analyses the use ofdifferent languages in Intemet, using as reference theindex of documents searched in Altavista.

¡ 2 lONA PRÓXIMA N° 2 (2001) PAGS 10-23

ment to c1assesare programmed andoffered to students.

Research in the area has pointedout many other reasons to justify theimplementation of Internet basedprojects. Victoria Mueshleisen referringto an experience in Japan c1aimsthat«Iearning to use the computer providesstrong intrinsic motivation far thelearning of English». Even in a devel-oped country '<1:heuse of computers isa relatively new experience (and ahighly motivating one). Therefare onefinds students willing to use them assupport to traditional c1assroomteaching».

There are some practical aspectsthat also motivate students to usecomputers. Many students think thatlearning to use computers is importantfor their majars and that developingcommunicative skills in English is alsoimportant far their professional devel-opment. Consequently, they aremotivated to write and read e-mailmessages in English. Similarly, theydiscover that they can use English as ameans to learn about peoples of thewarld including those whose nativelanguage is not English. Mueshleisenexemplifies these by saying " mystudents are happy to discover thateven if they do not speak Chinese orThai, for example, they may be able tocommunicate to people from Thailandar Hong Kong via e-mail and find Websites with the information about thoseplaces.

Facilities to use Internet are fre-quently available to students in Colom-bian universities. At Universidad delNorte, far example, there are six rooms

equipped with computers, which aréalready connected to Internet. Thosecomputers have software far e-mailand WWW surfing and students canuse these services in their free time.

Therefare, it is essential to carryout projects that improve the abilitiesand knowledge of Colombian Englishteachers about how to integrate toteaching the opportunities offered bythe net as an essential communicationenvironment in the acquisition 01English as a second language.

2 General Objective

This report analyses the effect 01 usinge-mail-based activities on EFL learningprocesses lor both developing writingand reading ski115in English andenhancing metacognitive strategiessuch as learning responsibility andautonomy.

3 Integrating technologyinto teaching

The lirst question that underlies theeducational use 01 the Internet is 01course why teachers and educationalinstitutions should abandon at all theirtraditional- well tried and usuallysuccesslul methods and particípate inwhat some still consider a craze? II oneconsiders the little hard evidencerelated to its contribution to learningprocesses, the answer would probablybe negative. By now, however, it isbecoming evident that the Internet ishere to stay and that it will influencesociety, as we know it. It is impossibleto predict exactly what effects the

ZONA PRÓXIMA W 2 (2001) PAGS 10-23 13

Internet will have in the future, butbased on the few experiences so far itwould be reasonable to conclude thatit will acquire great significance. More-over, the idea is not to ask teachers toabandon traditional teaching methodsabsolutely. The Internet should beseen as a very useful complement toconventional teaching, not as a re-placement.

As we advance towards this newcentury, societies are transforming intoinforrnation societies at different rates.In theses incipient societies Informa-tion and Communication Technology(la) is playing an ever-increasing role .As Janis Folkmanis (1998, cited inGraus, 1999) points out, the questionarises as to whether educationalinstitutibns can be allowed to fallbehind in its role of educating ourpopulation in things that are becominga core element of economic and sociallife: It is self-evident that educationalinstitutions cannot ignore these devel-oprnents. In the inforrnation society,there is a need for new skills and abasic understanding of the underlyingtechnology (Folkmanis, 1998). Toachieve this, it is becoming imperativethat learning to work with computersand understanding new technologies isassimilated into the curriculum andinto teaching methods.

From this perspective we couldgather that educational institutions inColombia and in the rest of the worldare facing two major challenges in the21st century. First of all, they will haveto prepare their students for theinformation society and second theywill have to make effective use of la

to provide better education (VanAssche, 1998). It is almost impossibleto ignore the Internet. At the momentit is used by an estimated 50 millionpeople in 152 countries. It is aninvaluable source of information, whichcan be very useful in educating youngpeople.

We agree with Van Assche (1998)when he argues that the use of theworld Wide Web and the Internet canhave several potential results andbenefits. We adapted our own list asfollows:

• Educational institutions will beable to cope better with the challengesof preparing the students for theinformation society. Learning to workwith the information highway is aprerequisite today. A new term hasbeen introduced, viz. la illiteracy. Inour society a division is starting to beobserved between people who are laliterate and those who are not, espe-cially if we talk about employmentpossibilities. Educational institutionscannot afford to produce la illiteratestudents in a society in which express-ing oneself in any multimedia form isbecoming a prerequisite.

• Educational institutions andteachers that exploit la will hopefullycontribute to improve the effectivenessof the education process. If educationshifts from 'being told' to 'exploration'that could lead as a result in a muchdeeper understanding. Of course, thisaspect is hard to see in our context inwhich only now institutions andteachers are becoming aware of the

14 ZONA PRÓXIMA N° 2 (2001) PAGS 10-23

existence and of the possibilities ofusing computers, and consequentlycomputer-mediated communication.

• It is among the responsibilitiesof educational institutions to helpstudents develop values, such astolerance and respect for other cul-tu res. The Internet could be used forexchanging ideas with other culturesand help eradicating prejudices againstminorities. (See Colombian Standardsfor language teaching below).

Finally, the use of the Internet willhopefully link the abstraction of teach-ing material with reallife in the outsideworld. One of the reasons why manychildren fail at school is the dramaticlack of links between these two as-pects (Roger, 1998). For instance,what is the use of learning to speak aforeign language if you can only talk toyour teacher, who by the way speaksyour mother tongue anyway? It isanother story when the Internet bringsthe world to your doorstep and oppor-tunities to communicate are ample. AIIof a sudden languages change frombeing school subjects to excitingchallenges for communication. This isalso in agreement with Colombianstandards for language teaching.

Other reasons we may add fordefending the use of Internet basedresources in our c1assare:

• Authenticity. As Leloup &Ponterio (1996) point out, there are anurnber of aspects that are inherent tothe Internet which make it particularlysuitable for teaching foreign languages.

First of all, the World Wide Web is a'veritable treasure trove of authenticmaterials for the FL teacher' (LeLoup &Ponterio, 1996). For instance, a myriadof tourist information can be found onthe Net: photos of daily life in London,museums such as the Louvre, cathe-drals, underground guides to theLondon tube, etceteras. Teachers arealways looking for authentic materials,but their resources are limited. Somehave neither the time nor the moneyto make regular trips abroad. Othersare geographically isolated from anytarget language contacto For them theInternet is a real boorn.

• Up to date information. Informa-tion on the Internet will be up-to-date,so teachers are no longer forced touse old-fashioned and outdatedmaterial. Most web sites have so-calledwebmasters - people maintaining thepage - who will make sure that, theinforrnation is up-to-date.

• Suited to visually orientedpopulation. Students of this day andage are becoming more and morevisually oriented, whether we like it ornot. 'Students who have been broughtup on Nintendo, Sega, and a myriad ofvideo and electronic games are simplynot very excited by mere textbooks, nomatter how colorful they have be-come. And we should not overlookone important aspect of all this:children who surf the Web are reading .That fact alone can be a benefit in ourless literate society.

lONA PRÓXIMA N° 2 (2001) PAGS 10-23 15

4 Context

As EFLteachers at Universidad delNorte, we have laced some problemsrelated to the students' acquisition 01English. The problem is not new, theanalysis showed that a high percent-age 01 students were not motivated toattend their English c1asses.That iswhy in 1995 we decided to carry out aneeds analysis in arder to identifylactors that were interfering withstudents learning processes. Most 01the students surveyed had motiva-tional problems since they did notconsider English as a priarity subjectduring the semester. They realized itwas important lar their prolessionaldevelopment, but they devoted most01 their time and effort to the contentsubjects that had credits and thereloreaffected their academic record. Englishdoes not have any credits. Besides,even il they are motivated they en-counter time constraints especiallyduring evaluation periods since theypreler to dedicate their time to thepreparation 01 midterm exams andlinals 01 their majar subjects. This isdetected through several signs such asrecurring absences to c1ass,lack 01attention and no preparation 01 Englishassignments and ar exams, etc.

In the study, we asked them aboutwhat resources could be used toenhance their learning. Among thechoices, they selected the computer asa very motivating tool to be integratedto the learning- teaching situation.They also stated they would like tohave access to extra activities duringtheir Iree time.

From the analysis 01 the gathereddata severa I decisions were taken atthe Universidad del Norte. Some sell-access computer programs weredesigned in order to cater studentsneeds 01 extra practice. A languagelaboratory was set up to lacilitatestudents accessing to these services.However, the use 01 these tools hasnot been systematic. Teachers ask theirstudents to perform different activitieswith the computer such as Internetsurfing, grammar, pronunciation,reading, vocabulary and listeningactivities lrom different softwareavailable, but the effects 01 thesescattered efforts is not c1earlyper-ceived as a common, institutional goal.

Students have shown great interestand motivation in doing these activitiesand teachers lind them very attractiveand uselul lor complementing thecontent 01 the courses. Nevertheless,the question is "are students enhanc-ing their learning?» No study has beenconducted to verify whether the use 01these computer - based resourcesaffect English learning positively.

In order to use these servicesmare systematically, we wanted tocarry out a research on the use 01 E-mail services. We wanted to determineil there is any improvement in thedevelopment 01 the writing skills inEnglish and il there is any change intheir attitudes, beliels, and motivationtowards learning alter participating inan e-mail-pen pal project.

5 Experience

We set some stages to be lollowed in

16 ZONA PRÓXIMA N° 2 (200\) PAGS 10-23

arder to carry out our research. Severaldecisions were taken.

We had already identilied themotivation problem our studentsexperience towards language learning.Tnen, we decided to choose a c1assthat would suit our requirements larthe research.

Tne c1asswas chosen among thedifferent lev~1 eight existing groups. Ac1assmeeting at 6.30 a.m was chosenand assigned to teacher NayibeRosado one 01 the researchers 01 thisproject. Tne choice was partly madebeca use 01 the schedule.

We had already made contact witha.Spanish teacher warking in theUnited States. She was willing tocollaborate in an e-mail based writingexchange. She had 12 students whowould correspond with ours. She sentus her students' e-mail addresses.

Tne data collection process startedwith the application 01 an Englishproliciency test to establish the level 01command students hado Later on thesemester, several other instrumentswere applied ..lnterviews, protocols,attitude scales were used and studentswere aware 01 the importance 01 thisinlormation collection and participatedwillingly.

As part 01 our plan, students weregiven a writing agenda with deadlines.We emailed that plan to the teacher inUSA with our students' electronicaddresses. Tnis allowed them to startthe correspondence experience.Students on each side were asked tosend a copy 01 each writing sample totheir teachers. Tney did so. Simulta-

neously, with the activity our studentsattended three lace-to-Iace c1asses.

The teacher had a very active rolegiving continuous leedback to stu-dents. She encouraged, stimulated andeven scolded students participating inthe project.

5.1 Drawbacks and Limitations

Some problems arouse during theexperience. We will mention themhere in arder to report some changesthat the project suffered due to thesedrawbacks.

• Non Response: Even thoughthere was supposed to be a one toone communication the reality wasthat there were not enough students inthe other c1assto communicate withour c1ass.One solution was to assigntwo 01 our students to one 01 theSpanish c1ass. We realized later on,that the Spanish group did not haveenough time (only one hour a week)ar resources (computer availability) tobe able to keep two key pals. So ourgroup started to complain beca usesome 01 them, couldn't <<talk"to theothers.

• Corredions before sending themessoge. Students were assigned theirpartners and even though they wereasked to send a letter to the teacherthey did so, the teacher didn't givethem an evaluation 01 their linguistic/grammatical competence afterwards.Tneir peers did. We later lelt it wouldhave been better lrom the educationalpoint 01 view to receive leedback Irom

ZONA PRÓXIMA N° 2 (2001) PAGS 10-23 17

the teacher as well either before orafter sending the message. We willelaborate on this idea on the conclu-sion section.

• Key poi Selection: The Spanishgroup was a senior group and ourgroup was a last semester studentsgroup. This contributed to the fact thatthe correspondence between thegroup ended a little abruptly becauseas can be gathered from the writingsamples their minds were on gradua-tion parties on one side and on finalevaluations on the other .

• Flexibilityan tapies. Our groupwas told to negatiate the topies withtheir pals. Some of them agreed oncommon interest topics, but some justwrote about topies they were eitherdiscussing about in c1assor topics theyhandled well because they had stud-ied them before. The Spanish groupdid not actually write about any spe-cific topic they just gave our groupfeedback or comments on theirwriting.

• Technalagical problems. Some-times it was difficult for our students toopen their e-mail account because theseNer was down. Some of the stu-dents had not activated their accountsor had lost their password. They eitherhad to open other accounts or ask fora new password. Sometimes, theiraccounts were too full and thereforethey did not get the messages fromtheir partners.

• Deadlines missed. They haddeadlines to write their messages andto give feedback on the ones received.We ran behind because of the differ-ent problems mentioned before andalso because of the Easter Holiday.Ours only had a week off while theircounterparts had two. We had notconsidered that in our schedule.

6 Results

We will briefly outlined some of theresults obtained during this experience.

• Skills. In this aspect what wefound from our research endeavor is inconsonance with some findings byother researchers in this area. Belisle(1996) states that through electronicbased communication, e-mail for ourparticular case, «[shy] students, 011students we think, have a forum forexpressing themselves and askingquestions. Occasionally some studentswho do not like to express themselvesin a group tend to be better whenwriting. Since students usually generatemore content electronically than withtraditional pen-and-pencil methods,[shy] students often tend to expresstheir opinions more openly withoutfear. This can give students self-confidence and eventually improvetheir writing ability. We found this to betrue, in fact, even if one of the draw-backs often mentioned is that thelanguage found on the Internet orproduced in e-mail based communi-catian far aur specific case, may notbe correct in terms of grammar,spelling or style. However, it does

18 ZONA PRÓXIMA N° 2 (2001) PAGS 10-23

refled the needs of the users and toan extent prioritizes content over formoThis phenomenon is coherent with thetendencies 01 language teachingtheories in recent years in whichcommunicative proliciency is consid-ered much more important thanknowledge 01 grammatical rulesalone». (Leloup & Ponterio, 1996) .

• Appropriacy af e-mail as alearning/teaching too/. In general, theirattitude is positive towards the e-mailas a teaching learning tool. Theyarehighly motivated, but, as Nagel puts it«while there is a strong motivationalappeal beca use 01the personal nature01 e-mail, great care should be takento ensure the continuous Ilow 01messages among the respondents asa communication breakdown beca use01 bad planning by the teachersinvolved in the projed could lead tothe projed not succeeding or evenworse, to students not reaching theirexpeded learning outcomes». Welound this 01 vital importance. Wecould say that the most commoncomplaint or problem we found in thisresearch in e- mailing was the issue ofnon-response and the obvious rela-tionship it has with motivationalaspeds. And in accordance with thesame author «While e-mail is a verystimulating and dynamic means ofcommunication you have to ensurethat you keep your students highlymotivated throughoul» (Nagel, 1996).We think, and students agree asshown, that e-mail is appropriate, ifresources (human, technological, etc.)are carefully planned and provided for

at all phases of the projed or experi-ence. Now, we, teachers, have to beprepared for the unplanned in anytraditional c1ass,much more we haveto be prepared to use contingencyplans for the computer- Internet-based adivities.

• Motivotion. Students' motivationtowards this type of projeds or adivi-ties may arise from various sources. Afirst issue seems to be technologyitself. Students feel they are becomingfamiliar with a communication tool thatis vital to their survival in the 21 stcentury, «Motivation for language studycan benelit from the association withnew technological tools, showing thestudents that language is also a tool forthe luture (Leloup & Ponterio, 1996).A second issue seems to be theirleeling that through this increasedeledronic access to the world aroundthem, their social awareness andconlidence increases» (Belisle, 1996).Using computers and talking 'Iive' toothers motivates students. They leelthey are not learning a language in avacuum, the immediacy of the use oftheir knowledge in real situations has astriking effed on their motivation.

• Collaborative learning. Bergeand Collins (1995) c1aim that studentsare motivated by using computers andtalking 'Iive' to others. They add thewithout being conscious 01 it, thestudents will no longer considerlearning a language a boring enter-prise. They will be encouraged to learnmore. Fínally, since conveying mes-sages plays a paramount role on the

ZONA PRÓXIMA W 2 (2001) PAGS 10-23 19

Internet, students willlearn social skillsand as such the Internet can be seenas an agent lor socialization. In ourexperience this seems to be real,students engage in personal interac-tions that sometirnes included, ex-changes not only 01 cultural or aca-demic inlormation, but also personal.Besides they lelt they were contribut-ing to the learning process 01 othersand since they corrected otherpeoples' writing and that gave themthe sense 01 being collaborating,helping, enriching themselves andothers learning processes.

• Autonomy. Students related thisaspect 01 autonomy with effective timemanagement, since in this experiencethe teacher interact with students or agroup 01 students working on theproject at times that were moreconvenient to the student, group, andthe teacher. The vital interaction andleedback that takes place between ateacher and a students (or group 01students) over a writing task is notlimited to the confines 01 a c1assroornor lurther rnore to the conlines 01theschedule. This gave them a sense 01resp(Jnsibility towards their ownlearning and a sense 01Ireedom, wewould sayoThis could be seem as again beca use we have experiencedthroughout our practice that studentsleel sometimes lirnited/ constrainedby the schedule and other leatures 01traditional c1assroorn activities.

7 Conclusions

In general, institutions are lacing a

major challenge in the 21st century. Inaddition to their traditional task, theywill also have to prepare their studentslor a lile and career in the inlormationage. Students will have to learn tonavigate the Internet and cope withlarge arnourits 01 inlormation withspeed and accuracy. By using theInternet in the loreign language c1ass-room, students will be able to developskills that parallel those that will becommonly used in the world outsidethe c1assroom. Therelore it is impera-tive that learning to work with comput-ers and understanding new technolo-gies is assimilated into the curriculumand into teaching methods. Neverthe-less, integrating the Internet in the EFLcurriculum seems a logical choice,since it offers many benelits to EFLinstruction itself.

In current EFL education in Colom-bia there is a locus on language,comrnunication, and culture thatmakes the application 01 authenticmaterials increasingly important.Teachers are always looking lor au-thentic reading material to rnakec1assroom teaching more real andattractive lor their students. TheInternet offers vast resources contain-ing a wealth 01 authentic rnaterial. Inaddition, the emphasis in languageinstruction has shifted gradually overthe years lrorn grammar and transla-tion exercises to a more communica-tive approach. Communication hasbecome increasingly important, but ilthere is only the teacher to talk to,then engaging into real and meaning-lul conversations is virtually an unat-tainable goal. This is where the Internet

20 ZONA PROXIMA N° 2 (2001) PAGS 10-23

comes in again. Through variousapplications, such as e-mail andInternet Relay Chat (lRC), an exchangeof ideas and opinions can take place.The Internet enables students toparticipate in multilingual communitiesat home and around the world, so thatthey will use the language both withinand beyond the school setting. Theultimate goal of turning students intomotivated life-Iong learners becomesmuch more realistic when studentscontinue to use the Internet.

In summary, the Internet has manyadvantages. It is true of course thatsome of these, such as more learnerautonomy, can also be realized withoutthe aid of the Internet. Nevertheless,the nature of the Net itself makes it anoutstanding tool for further emphasison student-centredness and communi-cation. lhe latter in combination withthe ample availability of authenticlanguage materials are among themost important features of the Internetthat make it an excellent languagelearning tool. Nonetheless, it should bestressed that the Internet can best beused as a complement rather than areplacement to traditional teachingmethods, since there are also draw-backs to using the Net in an educa-tional context,

As regards our objective which wasaddressed to determine whether therewere changes in the writing skills inlearners after participating of the e-mail based key pal activity, we foundout that in respect to the attitudinalpart, students felt they did not irnprovevery much in their writing skill. This iscoherent with the result obtained from

the writing sample analysis.We think that this perception is

based on the traditional view studentshave regarding language learningcompetence. This tendency to believethat language proficiency is onlygrammar mastery. On the other hand,they also mentioned that their majoradvances were in verb tenses, coher-ence and specially the length of textsthey could produce after the experi-ence. In relation to the writingsamples, we agree that the improve-ment of the two last aspects is evidentin the analysis of the texts.

One of the most important find-ings we came across in the writingsample was that their weakest pointwas on their grammatical competence.lhey showed high scores in verbtenses misuse, punctuation marksmisuse and misspelling, whereas theirstrongest points were found in theirtextual competence. lo a certainextent, their texts are coherent showinga same thematic thread and cohesivedevices such as connectors, pronouns,lexical repetitions.

In relation to the analysis of theparticipation in the e-mail activity andthe change of attitude towards lan-guage learning in students who takepart in it, we have to say that theparticipation in this type of activitiesmotivates students highly. This isevident throughout the experience.This motivation is the result of severalfactors involved in this kind of activi-ties: innovation, use of reallanguagewith real people, applicability of knowl-edge.

Finally, in relation to the use of e-

ZONA PRÓXIMA N° 2 (2001) PAGS 10-23 21

mail and aspects such as studentscollaborative learning, effective timemanagernent, self directed learning,we have to note that students felt theywere contributing to the learningprocess 01 others since they correctedtheir key pal's writing. That gave themthe sense of being collaborating,helpíng and enriching themselves andothers learning process. This gives thec1assesa new shade different from thetraditional passive learner to a moreactive one, who takes responsibility notonly of his/her learning but also ofothers.

However, some practical decisionshave to be made when engaging inthis type of activities since althoughthey are potentially attractive forstudents, they can have some limita-tions. Limitatíons such as students'level of language command, Lee(1999) notes that «even if moststudents in c1asscan correspond atsome level in English, there may beone or more who are lagging behindand who would not benefit from tryingto use email".

Another factor that can decreasethe pedagogical value of this type ofmessages is related to students'anxiety about error making. Accordingto Lee (1999), «some students maybe capable of conversing in English viaemail but may also be afraid of makingmistakes that others will see". This canbe a trigger for students' preparation ofthe texts they will produce. It would berecommendable for teacher to revisestudents production prior to theirsending , íf considered appropriate tothe context where the experience is

22

being carried out.As e-teachers, we must always

have a plan B or contingency plan forcases in which technology lets usdown .•

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