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REGISTER JOURNAL
Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.1-12
p-ISSN: 1979-8903 ; e-ISSN : 2503-040X
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v12i1.1-12
Website: http://journalregister.iainsalatiga.ac.id/index.php/register/
1
Exploring the Potential of online English Websites In
Teaching English To Non-Linguistic Major Students:
BreakingNewsEnglish As Example
Viktoriia S. Abramova
Perm State University
abramovavictoria@yandex.ru
Saad Boulahnane
Hassan II University
saad.boulahnane@fulbrightmail.org
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v12i1.1-12
Submission
Track:
Received:
22/04/2019
Final Revision:
15/05/2019
Available online:
01/06/2019
Corresponding
Author:
Saad Boulahnane
saad.boulahnane
@fulbrightmail.org
ABSTRACT
The Internet has captured the attention of teachers and language
instructors from all over the world due to its online teaching materials.
The Internet-based material has allowed distance-learning projects.
This article explores the potential role of EFL websites as a
supplement in classroom instruction. As an example, an English-
language based news website, www.breakingnewsenglish.com, has
been designed to teach English to non-linguistic major students. The
authors of this article offer methodological recommendations on using
Internet-based materials, describe stages of work with authentic texts,
and note linguistic and communicative skills developed in the course of
work. The recommendations have been formed based on teachers and
students’ descriptions of the materials provided by the website in
question. This descriptive article will hopefully contribute to the
literature on online teaching and learning materials, particularly in
the field of EFL.
Keywords: foreign languages, online educational resource, news
website, communicative skills
Viktoriia S. Abramova, Saad Boulahnane
2
INTRODUCTION
Of all the services the Internet has made available over the last two decades, websites
providing access to new methods of communication, research, and education represent a substantial
share of the market. The Internet has become of significant importance in the context of distance and
self-learning, which has been enabled and enhanced via many educational applications (Baron &
Bruillard, 1996). This significance has therefore become a locus of interest for universities from all
over the world, which are now involved in distance learning projects supported by websites. The
mélange of computers and websites with well-evaluated pedagogical materials has resulted in
substantial education-related potential (Kartal & Uzun, 2010).
skills closely connected with language. It is therefore noted that websites on foreign language teaching
and learning are considered unavoidable elements of CALL, which stands for Computer Assisted
must then be utilized more
efficiently (Kartal & Uzun, 2010).
Barnes (2009) believes that social networks and virtual worlds are now inextricably linked
h
each other. More specifically, Parks (2009) points out the rapid growth of Internet-based applications
and computer games in the last fifteen years and how this increased interest has led to research on
communication in this realm.
Further studies on web-based learning regard the field as clearly beneficial for both educators
and learners alike. Mkrtchian et al. (2019) examined the development of distance learning and
digitization of training with a particular focus on the stages of development and processes leading to
new quality methodologies in education. The study focused on effective factors for achieving high
levels of development, depending on certain university criteria. The study investigated whether a
media-based reading program would have a significant contribution to students' reading
comprehension. It adopted a web-based reading training program designed and implemented to
-experimental study, the experimental
group scored significantly higher than the control group. The students also provided positive and
encouraging feedback on the use of the web-based program (Chang & Lin, 2019). Another study
investigating the role of English teaching websites showed English language learners reso rted to the
Internet for help regarding their learning, general information, and games. These factors would
therefore constitute the prevailing characteristics of an ideal English language learning website (Kir &
Kayak, 2013).
REGISTER JOURNAL
Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.1-12
p-ISSN: 1979-8903 ; e-ISSN : 2503-040X
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v12i1.1-12
Website: http://journalregister.iainsalatiga.ac.id/index.php/register/
3
In spite of existing abundantly on the Internet, foreign language teaching websites need to be
investigated based on their organization, pedagogy, and methodology, according to Lancien (1998a),
who maintains that there is still a paucity in standardized unity and management in most language
teaching websites. In the same vein, Mangenot (1998a) adds that these foreign language teaching sites
are diverse at the structural and the contextual levels, leading to them deviating from their preliminary
aim.
The majority of language learning websites do not utilize the full potential of the Internet, with
the pedagogical approach reduced to certain basic reading skills. Learning sites, according to Kartal
(2005), still need to reflect pedagogical scenarios and learning theories, which are absent on most
websites, including the learning objectives, proficiency levels, and the target audience. Despite what
has been said, researchers recognize several pedagogical benefits offered by the Internet regarding
foreign language learning, suggesting that online authentic materials, provided in any format, boost the
learning and teaching processes (Lancien, 1998a; Mangenot, 1998b). The Internet, therefore, remains
supplemental to education and provides learners and teachers with an easily accessible environment
with diverse practice materials.
From the didactic point of view, Internet-based technologies for teaching a foreign
language optimize mental load of students, stir up their cognitive activity, direct and
control both processes – formation and development of speech skills and abilities when
mastering foreign language activity. They also develop activeness and independence when
addressing communicative and problem tasks. (Starodubtseva, 2017, p. 2)
Educational news websites, with their materials, are especially effective in creating
linguistically diverse options in foreign language classes and are successful in illustrating
components of the foreign language competencenamely, the grammatical, the lexical, the
sociocultural, the compensatory, the educational, and the informative.
RESEARCH METHOD
resulting from semi-structured interviews with teachers and students using the website in
question. The respondents were asked a variety of questions regarding their views on the
potential that the website offers. Although the interviews were analyzed to elicit information
Viktoriia S. Abramova, Saad Boulahnane
4
about how the respondents use the website, and hence attempt to achieve generalizability, the
authors of this article offered their own observations and methodological steps and
recommendations to usher the reader into the ideal use of the English language teaching
website potential. The data were collected through a convenience sample, which consisted of
35 teachers and students using the online English teaching website. A total of 26 students and
9 teachers were interviewed to elicit data regarding the teaching and learning features of the
website.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
This article describes the potential of the educational news website
www.breakingnewsenglish.com in teaching English as a foreign language to university
students of non-linguistic majors. This news website provides worldwide breaking news in
English and reports about new experiments and discoveries in a wide range of disciplinary
backgrounds, includingbut not limited tochemistry, biology, physics, mathematics,
economics, astronomy, social sciences, religion, philosophy, art, medicine, and many others.
The website presents more than 2000 lessons based on current newsa number that is
constantly increasing. Selecting one news story for a lesson over another depends on the
proficiency ranking of the story, which is expressed on a scale of 0-6 scale, with 0
representing what the website considers suitable for rudimentary reading skills, and with 6
representing an independent reading level. Along with the website offering news article
lessons tailored to the seven levels, it gives its learners the opportunity to make use of a
variety of twenty-page long tasks. On the other hand, for those interested in a two-hour lesson,
a two-page mini-lesson suffices. Each news lesson is followed by an audio recording,
playable under different speech rates, including slow, an average native speaking pace, and a
faster native speaking pace, in both British and American English pronunciation styles in
addition to pronunciation exercises. Additionally, the news articles are accompanied by
references and resources for further reading activities. This news website can be efficiently
This article offers stages of work with the use of the news material taken from the
website. It also notes linguistic and communicative skills developed in the course of work.
students of non-linguistic majors, namely: majors of philology, philosophy, general
REGISTER JOURNAL
Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.1-12
p-ISSN: 1979-8903 ; e-ISSN : 2503-040X
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v12i1.1-12
Website: http://journalregister.iainsalatiga.ac.id/index.php/register/
5
psychology, clinical psychology, sociology, culturology, and majors in youth activism. The
news lessons are addressed to students with a minimum of pre-intermediate language
proficiencyexpressed as A2 level according to the Common European Framework
Reference. Using www.breakingnewsenglish.com as a resource is expedient, particularly as a
concluding session on a topic that would allow the learners to generally improve their English
language and specifically enrich their lexicon by learning both general and situational
vocabulary in context. The choice of the news lesson is connected not only to the topic
studied e.g., Healthy Lifestyle, Shopping, Leisure Activities, Family Values, Locations and
Directions, Cultural Attractions, Internet Communications, Learning and Memory, Water
Resources, etc., but also to the presence of specific vocabulary and grammar related to the
topic.
The ideas and exercises presented on the website are grouped on the basis of class
activities. They are adapted and presented to students according to the teaching style and the
classroom atmosph
of the website.
Working on an article lasts one university unit, which translates to 90 minutes. At the
beginning of the class, 2-page mini-lesson handouts are given to the students, who are asked
to think of keywords associated with the article heading. For example, working on the article
on the board, and both the
teacher and the students discuss it together. The students make assumptions about what the
news article could be about and ask questions that they think are relevant and pertinent to the
text. These exercises contribute to the building of an atmosphere of trust in the classroom,
provide a further perspective on how the news can be read, and actively recycle the learned
vocabulary on the topic.
vocabulary and collocations are used. It is advisable to write down new words, phrases and
level opposite each expression. In this context, one of the students interviewed said:
I find the website material very useful. The reading passages are varied. They enriched
my vocabulary. Also, the phrase match and the new words and synonyms and meanings
Viktoriia S. Abramova, Saad Boulahnane
6
[…] they have helped me to widen my vocabulary use. The reading passages have also
helped me to improve my writing skills.
Learning new vocabulary from the website can take several forms. The teacher can ask the
students to recycle sentences, thereby consolidating the newly acquired words.
1
Vocabulary
can also be acquired through the learning of synonyms, sentences, and phrase match. For
instance, the phrase match exercise is a substantial way of learning ready-made chunks of
language. Banville (2015) suggests:
Take phrases or word pairs from the text and split them. Students have to match the
beginnings with their endings. Alternate between keeping collocation pairs or phrasal
verbs intact and splitting them on either side of the match. There may be cognitive value
in the surprise students experience in seeing the two parts of a phrasal verb or strong
collocate being matched. Decisions need to be made regarding where best to make the
split for the match. (p. 46)
Not only does the phrase match exercise help remind the students of what follows an
expression from the text, it also helps strengthen language collocations or any linguistically
common string of words. For example, after the first or second reading of a passage, the
students should know what certain words are followed by, depending on the grammar
structuree.g. the expres
or another part of speech. Phrase match helps ingrain these linguistically glued chunks. The
students can learn this structure from the text and from memory as being words pre-organized
in a certain way.
The phrase match exercise can also be designed by the students using three columns
rather than two. The exercise is more fun because it mixes both matching and constructing
sentences. Banville (2005) elucidates:
Create a phrase match with three columns. Students must match from left to middle to
right in order to complete the match. […] the words in the first and third columns are
correctly placed. The words in the middle column are in the wrong order. (p. 3)
Another teacher respondent explained:
Learning synonyms is necessary to grow your English vocabulary. They also make it easy
to understand native speakers, since they will use a lot of associated words in their
REGISTER JOURNAL
Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.1-12
p-ISSN: 1979-8903 ; e-ISSN : 2503-040X
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v12i1.1-12
Website: http://journalregister.iainsalatiga.ac.id/index.php/register/
7
speech. Phrase and synonym match are great exercises that provide students with a fun,
engaging way to learn. Such activities help students improve their vocabulary and
spelling abilities. They give an opportunity to learn object/word definitions as well as
challenge learners logically. By using such techniques as inversion, diversion, and the
process of elimination, learners are able to greatly increase the probability of answering
questions correctly.
Following the vocabulary stage comes article scanning. As noted by Kirsanova (2001),
reading is an independent type of speech activity which provides a written form of
communication
answer the comprehension questions. They state which of the provided statements correspond
to the text content (True) and which do not correspond to the text content (False). If the
statement is incorrect, then it is necessary to explain why and correct the statement. Asking
the students about the main idea of the article can also elicit interesting results, particularly if
that students be asked how the lesson theme relates to their life, which allows them more
opportunity for expression. If the teacher notices that the students are at loss or have
difficulties trying to understand certain parts of the text, he/she asks them to find keywords,
outline the main idea, or translate the part of the text causing difficulty. In strong groups, a
full translation of the article may be unnecessary. In low-level groups, on the other hand,
translating the content of the studied text and working on the main grammatical structures can
lead to appreciable results. Students can be offered additional tasks; e.g. finding synonyms for
certain words from the text or giving definitions to the words in English. This would serve as
valuable practice. Such exercises involve students both quantitatively and qualitatively; the
y.
Subsequently, both strong and weak students are asked to retell, in pairs, the content of
the text in English. One student retells the first paragraphthe other, the second. This
exercise helps assimilate the meanings of the new words in their context and acquire lexical
and grammatical structures. During this phasethe oral reproduction of the textstudents
the general understanding of the text.
Viktoriia S. Abramova, Saad Boulahnane
8
A new stage of work is listening to an audio recording based on the news article.
Audio tracks of educational exercises and tasks provide simultaneous support on acoustical,
visual, and motor memory (Starodubtseva, 2017). Students usually listen to recordings in
British English, which is often played on average speed. They also have a printed version of
the audio script in front of them. The first listening exercise helps form the complete image of
the sounding text, which also improves their English pronunciation, namely: sounds, rhythm,
intonation, and other sound-related peculiarities and skills. After the first listening exercise,
second listening exercise, students orally reproduce the audio text consecutively after the
speaker. The verbal production gives students the chance to automate a skill of adequate
reproduction of the original text in the foreign language and also helps fulfill a natural rhythm
and speed of pronunciation. As another option, instead of the students familiarizing
themselves with the printed version of the text and the subsequent listening of an audio
recording, the teacher can distribute the studied text, with gaps for the students to fill with
words and expressions heard during the listening exercise. This step is done within the stage
of the consecutive reproduction of the audio text. The aforementioned tasks are executed in a
way that allows the students to address and work on authentic texts. By the end of the class,
students should be able to give a short review of what the article is about and talk about its
main idea.
The transition from the text to the practice of speaking skills is done through a class
discussion, which is based on communication between two students. Communication-based
situations are helpful in creating analogs in the classroom, leading to the students assimilating
the use of certain language functions (Starodubtseva, 2017). In this context, the website offers
synonym match and blank-
units in certain contexts, rather than merely uttering words or expressions translated from the
Two-page handouts always contain two sets of questions (Discussion Student A,
Discussion Student B) intended for work in pairs. Each question relates to the studied
problem. This type of work is of special interest as it motivates communication in a foreign
language, allows students to form their own point of view on various current problems,
promotes the development of cognitive activities, and helps show intellectual and creative
activity and individuality. During the activity, the teacher approaches each pair of students
REGISTER JOURNAL
Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.1-12
p-ISSN: 1979-8903 ; e-ISSN : 2503-040X
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v12i1.1-12
Website: http://journalregister.iainsalatiga.ac.id/index.php/register/
9
and helps them. He/she monitors how well they practice new vocabulary and corrects their
speaking mistakes and errors. The teacher can also help the students ask each other additional
questions and discuss how the issue in question is approached in their own culture. On the
importance of spea
dialogues, but they should be able to use the utterance to communicate in real situatio
85).
The following stage is working in mini-groups for participation in a role-play game
(Role Play). In teaching, role-play method is of key importance. Shanlar et al (2012) note:
Role plays enable students to place themselves in the situation of another person and may
help to develop empathy. Role plays early in the course can expose students to different
situations they are likely to face in their future career. (p. 3)
The importance of role play lies in preparing the students, who are shy at times, to speak as an
imaginary person, which spares them from opening up about their own opinions and views
that they might be reluctant to speak about. The purpose of role-play in teaching is to allow
students to create an imaginary situation and communicate according to what is expected both
verbally and socially. This grants them more freedom to voice their opinions and express
arguments since they are not constrained by the social rules and ethics existing in their
society. For example, students who do not engage in shopping for alcoholirrespective of the
reasons behind their choicecan imagine a different context, which allows them to practice
freely since the objective is speaking and communication. Practicing this method can take
different forms. For instance, Listyani & Kristie (2018) note:
The first strategy was role-play, in which students played a kind of roles and practiced a
dialogue with their pairs. This activity can encourage students to speak and increase
their vocabulary. (p. 150)
The authors of this article provide a slightly different method, in which the students are
divided into groups, and each participant enacts one of the roles listed in the handouts. The
group members make statements and act in accordance with the given role. For example,
Viktoriia S. Abramova, Saad Boulahnane
10
-
students to
collaborate and interact with each other, program their speech behavior, and create a
necessary communicative framework for developing social and speaking skills. For example,
7-10 sentences in length
on why they buy everything they see. They also speak of three reasons for their addictive
shopping behavior. The performance of each group should last around five minutes. It is also
important to prepare strong arguments that would convince other groups. The exercise is very
effective and enables the development of communicative and speech skills. In addition to that,
As homework, students are usually asked to make a speech using new words and
a gift that they got for one of their family members, with a detailed description of the
purchasing process.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, practice with educational news website materials helps EFL teachers in
many ways. They improve all types of linguistic activities and learning skillsi.e., reading,
writing, l
abilitiese.g. accessing information, generalizing it, classifying it, analyzing the obtained
information, representing it, and discussing it. Educational websites stimulate st
speaking activity and help them solve communicative and informative problems
through these educational news articles. A further reason would be that they make students
curious to learn more about current world issues and push them to read more in English.
Finally, these websites prepare students for studying other subjects, such as English for
specific purposes (ESP).
This article has provided some useful methodological steps for teachers with little
experience in online teaching materials. Since online educational materials have been around
REGISTER JOURNAL
Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.1-12
p-ISSN: 1979-8903 ; e-ISSN : 2503-040X
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v12i1.1-12
Website: http://journalregister.iainsalatiga.ac.id/index.php/register/
11
only recently compared to other traditional materials, the steps offered above can benefit
many teachers interested in Internet teaching materials.
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