The role of WebQuests in learning a foreign/second language?”

WebQuests incorporate technology with educational concepts through integrating on-line resources with student-centered, activity-based learning. A WebQuest, according to WebQuest.org, is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. These can be created using various programs, including a simple word processing document that includes links to websites.

critical thinking; WebQuests extend the students' thinking to the higher levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. WebQuests also support a variety of instructional and cognitive practices such as critical thinking and problem solving through authentic assessment, cooperative learning, scaffolding and technology integration. Teachers use WebQuests to encourage independent thinking and to motivate students; thus increasing learning. Finally, WebQuests can be designed to help enhance students’ technological competencies. WebQuests helps students to think while they do their assignment.

Student-oriented activities. The activities that use resources from the Web. Such as treasure hunts, webquests or all kind of projects. They are normally meaningful activities where the students use authentic information from the websites selected. WebQuest Activities; Reading various articles from the Internet, Writing scripts for a presentation or preparing a brochure, or newsletter and Participating in group discussion

Knowledge based on enquiry-oriented language use. Student can be grouped based on their language levels. Cooperative and collaborative learning. WebQuests also incorporate cooperative and collaborative learning, since students work on projects in groups. These concepts can play a role in teaching with WebQuests. In WebQuests students take on roles within a small student group and this tends to promote motivation.

Project-based learning (PBL), one of the enduring approaches to education that supports the use of webquests, is focused on the learner constructing meaning and knowledge from an assigned activity. Students are given an assigned task or questions that include the creation of a product that will illustrate or represent what they have learned.