In an earlier post, I examined (amongst other things) Johnson & Johnson's 1974 version of "Cooperative Learning Theory" and considered its applicability as a theoretical basis for group and project work in modern language teaching. It certainly seems that a good case can be made for teaching social and collaborative skills as well as language knowledge in today's classes!
I was therefore most interested when the topic of "WebQuests" was introduced to us here at Warwick slightly under a month ago. Having enjoyed some success through adopting a fairly constructivist approach towards ESP teaching at business school earlier in my career, I was eager to know more about an approach that similarly emphasizes the practical application of information rather than simply its retrieval and/or rote learning.
Relevance and Rationale
Dr Bernie Dodge - arguably the "father" of WebQuests - explains the concept well in the following video:
Essentially, then, a WebQuest:
- Is a constructivist lesson format;
- Is "wrapped around a doable or interesting task that's a scaled-down version of something adults do";
- Derives most (though not necessarily all) of its source material from the web;
- Utilizes information pre-selected by the teacher;
- Often involves students assuming roles;
- Critically, involves higher order thinking skills (HOTS).
Higher order thinking skills represent the upper levels of Bloom's taxonomy, as shown in this diagram:
In a follow-on video, Dr Dodge goes on to explain this in rather more everyday, "action verb" terms:
- Know, Tell, Remember - these verbs are largely reserved for the classroom, he suggests.
- Apply, Analyze, Explain - this could happen in the classroom or be taken outside.
- Decide, Design, Create, Predict, Judge - these are "life" verbs, corresponding to higher value-added functions in today's knowledge economy.
In other words, a Web Quest is far more than simply a Web Search. The defining features of a WebQuest - according to educators across the US, longitudinal studies (e.g. Zheng, Perez, Williamson & Flygare, 2008) suggest - are as follows:
1) Constructivist problem solving (critical thinking, leading to knowledge application);
2) Social interaction (leading to the development of positive interdependence, individual accountability and interpersonal skills, much as Johnson and Johnson (1974) would suggest);
3) Scaffolded learning (very much in the social constructivist tradition of Vygostsky and Bruner).
It is certainly exciting to see all of these potentially happening at the same time! A WebQuest can be designed to have four distinct stages:
- Introduction;
- Task;
- Process;
- Evaluation
Or possibly six:
- Introduction;
- Task;
- Process;
- Resources;
- Evaluation;
- Conclusion
This has a number of parallels with task-based language teaching, if one includes a "focus on form" stage where feedback becomes appropriate. It can also be used to foster skills development, e.g. presentation skills.
Naturally, though, it is also extremely important for task success criteria to be explicit!
Naturally, though, it is also extremely important for task success criteria to be explicit!
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/templates/lesson-template1.htm#Evaluation offers a good illustration of how one can do this, using a template.
Propensity to foster language learning
Dr Dodge is a keen advocate of constructivism in education, and I'm quite keen as well. However, when applied to a language learning context the situation can be a little more complicated.
For instance, he suggests that it's best to start early in life with this approach, possibly as early as the 3rd grade in the US. This may work well with native speakers of a language or children raised bilingually if the initial steps to be taken into the learners' zone of proximal development are relatively small across the class as a whole. However, in the case of second language acquisition I suspect this is all a little too soon, and we must also acknowledge that some societies do more than others to emphasize individual autonomy, regardless of children's age.
Also, in the case of adult learners one must always acknowledge the possibility that they may actually be rather good at higher order thinking skills in their native tongue - what's missing in the L2 is simply the means of expressing their ideas, or the communication skills to participate fully in teamwork. As a teacher, one must take such factors into consideration.
In addition, placing an over-emphasis on higher-order thinking may cause other less glamorous (but still vitally important) learning tasks such as the memorization of key topic vocabulary to be devalued in the eyes of your learners. One can argue that a balance has to be struck between instructionism and (social) constructivism here: too much of one and you start to lose the benefits of the other.
Nevertheless, there are strong reasons to rate well-designed WebQuests - i.e. those which genuinely foster collaboration and involve critical thinking and problem-solving - very highly indeed. Their affordances extend well beyond mere language acquisition and cross over into the acquisition of life skills. In short, they can help learners mature as people.
Furthermore, WebQuests allow for differentiation between (groups of) learners in mixed ability or multi-level settings: you can simply give different groups of learners different tasks to perform. They may therefore offer an ingenious (if not necessarily total) solution to one of the most difficult classroom management problems affecting teachers today.
The Consultants-e maintain a good repository of WebQuests at http://www.theconsultants-e.com/resources/webquests/repository.aspx.
You'll need the authors' permission to use the materials posted there, but they may instead offer a good example to follow if you wish to create your own.
You'll need the authors' permission to use the materials posted there, but they may instead offer a good example to follow if you wish to create your own.
Limitations
Despite loving the main thrust of this idea, I would like to suggest there remain some caveats (and even Dr Dodge in the second of his two videos acknowledges traps exist for the unwary, if the right choices of topic, content, and task aren't made).
Above all, it is crucial to understand your learners. For instance:
- If you're teaching an ESP class, an authentic task to them means something that relates to their current or future work. To them, authenticity means specificity.
- The input (information students get told to work with) should be of an appropriate length (e.g. 550 words maximum for a text at B2-level) and graded (i.e. simplified, or else have unfamiliar words explained) to the level of the learners.
This may necessitate a teacher intervention - but could represent an opportunity for anyone wishing to follow in Sean Banville's footsteps!
Also, coming at WebQuests from a quality assurance perspective, a strong case can be made for the use of templates and standardized assessment criteria/rubric if you're in a management position and want to introduce the concept department-wide, just as you would with project-based learning.
However, when all is said and done I think WebQuests are a great idea, and it has never been easier for a teacher to put together a collection of them using free website creation (e.g. www.wix.com) or blogging (Blogger; WordPress) tools. If you get to re-use them, you won't be sorry you put the effort in upfront.
So that's what I think about WebQuests, anyhow. What about you?
