©1996, S. Khurshid & K. Valterova

Projects	RE 503 - Internet for Teachers

"Avez-vous compris?"

(User Documentation)

Skills addressed:

Reading and writing in French.

Grade levels:

Both Beginning and Intermediate French.

Number of participants:

Five students in an Intermediate French course at Bennington College.

Summary:

The project entails four categories of French readings, including "Culture," "History," "Regions and Cities," and "Politics." The project requires users to read a series of World Wide Web (WWW) documents from a given category, and to answer a number of questions designed to test users' reading comprehension skills.

Goals:

The project aims at providing users with an opportunity to practice reading in French. It equally aims at developing users' knowledge of French culture.

Objectives:

By working in this project, users should gain skill in selecting, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating Net-based information in French. The project should also provide to the users' ability for expressing in writing their opinion about French cultural information.

Rationale

The use of selected and updated Web French resources may be pedagogically productive. In the same way, the use of on-line task-based activities may be a powerful incentive for getting users into reading in French.

Procedure:

Students will be asked to choose one of the four categories of French readings, and to complete the activities designed for that category. They will instructed on how to use two Web browser windows simultaneously, one for surfing through the contents of a selected site, and the other for working with the activities. Students will be able to submit their answers to the activities electronically. The use of Commom Gateaway Interface (CGI) programming will allow the storage of the students' answers on a server for later processing by the instructor. The students will, however, be able to see the correct answers to the activities at any time.

Assessment:

There will be a naturalistic observation of the students' use of the project's web site. Students' performance in the activities will be measured both quantitatively and qualitatively. The data gathered from the students' evaluation of the site will provide a basis for weighing and improving the quality of the project.