Scholarly record

FOR THE ISSUES OF THE WORLDVIEW ONLINE FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Irma Bagrationi

Abstract

The present paper outlines approaches to worldview researching language education in on-line environments and survey research that has been conducted to date. Is it worthwhile to use the Internet in Practical Philosophy of Language Education? How does Philosophy of Language Education use change in on-line environments? What are the best ways to incorporate e-mail or the World Wide Web into the classroom? We can use several approaches to learn and research about such issues. One is to talk to fellow lecturers and professors. Another is to try practical things out in the classroom and see how they work. And another is to conduct and share scientific-theoretical research. The paper first briefly addresses some general questions of approach that relate to some educational and academic researches of philosophical issues. Then it looks in more detail at particular approaches to researching the on-line classroom. Research conducts to better understand the research role and responsibility of the Internet in Philosophy of online language education and learning generally involves five overlapping areas: linguistic features of language teaching, interaction between practical and theoretical problems, attitude, and context and language impact. Finally, the differences among the interface used in various forms of computer- mediat-ed intercultural communication also effect language use. A number of worldview studi-es have pointed to the special characteristics of Internet-based chat, such as brevity, ab-breviation, and use of paralinguistic cues found in text produced with chat software such as Internet Relay Chat, but these linguistic characteristics are generally found less frequ-ently in communication via e-mail or Daedalus Inter Change. The author of the paper hopes that the references cited in this work provide a useful starting point for readers interested in conducting worldview research on on-line learning. Worldview research studies in the area of the Internet will likely yield not general conclusions but rather specific insights into the impact of using particular on-line activities in particular circumstances. An accumulation of such specific insights over time, however, may allow us as teachers to continually improve our understanding of the cognitive role of the Internet in Philosophy of language education and teaching.

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