Rabu, 06 Mei 2009

Internet-Based Materials Design Using Hot Potatoes Software Program to Develop Listening Skills

Gusti Astika
Widya Dharma, Vol. 19, No. 1, Oktober 2008

ABSTRACT

Listening plays a significant role in language learning. The literature in CLT discusses various ways of developing this skill by providing the opportunity to learners to get as much exposure as possible to native speech. There is a widespread belief that understanding spoken language is difficult for various reasons. According to Willis (1996), learning can take place if there are at least four conditions that have to be met: exposure to the language, opportunities to use it, strong motivation to learn, and instruction. In order to promote listening skills there are two processes which should be accommodated interactively in teaching; bottom-up and top-down processes. Therefore, teachers need to be equipped with necessary knowledge and skills to develop learners’ listening ability through innovative ideas. One example is using Hot Potatoes software program to create computerized listening exercises such as cloze, multiple choice, or matching exercises. With the increasing availability and accessibility of the internet, language teachers have a wide range of choices to select teaching materials from ELT as well as authentic websites. Materials selected from either type of websites need to be manipulated for learning purposes. One approach for materials design is using a task-based framework in which materials are presented to the learners through different types of classroom activities to produce a desired learning outcome. The last section of this paper presents three exercises that can be created using Hot Potatoes program and possible extension of exercises to develop other language skills.
Key words: bottom-up and top-down processes, Hot Potatoes software program, authentic websites, task-based framework

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