INTEGRATION OF THE INTERNET INTO A LANGUAGE CURRICULUM IN A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY
ABSTRACT
The rapid growth of the Internet, the global collection of interconnected computer networks, is both stimulative and instructive. The Internet has become one of the most powerful resources in accessing information. It is used for entertainment, sharing items, collecting and analyzing data, conducting interviews, chating, downloading, and so on as well as education. Among the users of the internet, there are the educational researchers who try to enhance exploring of this rich resource. Using the Internet in language teaching has been practiced for a while. Exploiting videoconferencing for teaching the language online, on the other hand, is relatively a new and exciting innovation in education. Using such tools as the skype or msn allows people or groups of individuals to see each other and talk to one another over the internet without a long distance telephone charge as well. It is almost inevitable to ignore the necessity of the Internet in educating the new generation who utilize it in every aspect of their life. In other words, technology lets us teach all the four skills –reading, writing, listening and speaking- simultaneously. This paper presents some examples on how language teaching practiced online at Uppsala University in Sweden with the students from different parts of the world and the importance of the integration of the Internet into the curriculum in such a multicultural society.