The Impact of the Internet to English Language Teaching: A Case Study at a Thai Rajabhat University.
By: Usa Noytim
MY REVIEW
This dissertation is of great importance to those teaching the “boring and tedious” subjects, reading and writing. The research offers insights in using the internet not just to help students develop their English language skills but also to use such skills in this digital world.
After reading Usa Noytim’s dissertation, I believe she answered all the questions she had posed before she undertook the research. I saw her pattern of how she began and ended her research. First, she observed a recurring phenomenon and hypothesized that this phenomenon may be controlled. During this time, she studied the present situation of the problem which is ”the low outcome of English teaching in Thailand.” After being sure that such a problem does exist, she focused on an area where she would work .
She made 2 stages of her research. The first stage was to find data about students’ internet practices in relation to their English skills in understanding and using the said language. She found out that most of the students are light users. Through the analysis of data, she developed a program for stage 2. She took another set of students. She carried out the same tests she did to get data from the first set of students. She found the same results. Here, she asked for volunteers to participate in her research. She did this with the guide of principles of research.
From the results of the first stage, she concluded the phenomenon does exist. Consequently, she wanted to control that phenomenon (low outcome of English language teaching.) From the results of stage one, she also verified the relationship of internet usage and students’ English language learning.
With this she decided to make an experiment to control this phenomenon, at least in her area of study.
Before the experiment, she developed an INTERNET INTEGRATED-ENGLISH TEACHING PROGRAM. She narrowed down the subject of experimentation on the subject Paragraph Reading Strategies. She also compared her previous teaching curriculum on Paragraph Reading Strategies which is not internet integrated to the one she developed. This program is based on several strong theoretical frameworks on education. To know whether her hypotheses about the impact of internet to the language learning of the students are correct, she implemented the said teaching curriculum.
After the experiment, she gathered the data, analyzed them and found significant impact of using internet integrated curriculum to the development of the students’ English language learning. She made use of triangulation, several techniques to gather data. She discovered that the students were able to achieve the goals of the program. And the program was able to develop the learners’ English language learning skills.
According to the results she presented, the students who participated in her program got better examination scores than those students who didn’t join the program.
In the end, she was able to prove that the potential of internet integrated English language learning in developing student English language skills and was able to prove that the program she developed for an internet integrated English Language learning worked.
I believe that the research was carried out well. Throughout, the researcher was guided by appropriate principles and theories from the beginning of her research to the end of it. Usa Noytim did her job well.
