Over the past few years, the Internet has emerged as a prominent new technology. The
influence of such a powerful technological tool has pervaded all aspects of the educational,
business, and economic sectors of our
...
Over the past few years, the Internet has emerged as a prominent new technology. The
influence of such a powerful technological tool has pervaded all aspects of the educational,
business, and economic sectors of our world. Regardless of one's familiarity with the Internet, it
is repeatedly made reference to. News broadcasters and commercials, for example, will now
provide web addresses, and even the recent movie, "The Net" was sparked by the impact of
this new technology (Mike, 1996). Regardless of whether one uses the Internet or not, one
must be clear about the fact that the we have entered a new information age and the Internet is
here to stay.
Because the use of the Internet is widespread in numerous fields and domains, without a
doubt, it also carries great potential for educational use, specifically second and foreign
language education. This paper will therefore focus on the following questions: 1) What is the
Internet? 2) How can various facets of the Internet be used in the second and foreign language
classroom? 3) What are the benefits of employing the Internet in such a setting? 4) What are
the disadvantages or obstacles the Internet presents in a second language classroom? Lastly,
the implications of using the Internet in second language classrooms will be discussed. The
Internet is the latest in a series of technological innovations for second language education. In
order to understand the role of the Internet, it would be useful to provide a brief history of
technology and language teaching, present a survey of the technological resources available
to second language learners, and, finally consider the role of the Internet and its possibilities
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