A Case Study on the Effects of Integrating WebQuest Activity into High School EFL Class

Abstract: The theme of the 21~(st) century education is learning to learn and it is teachers' responsibility to create a harmonious learning atmosphere for students to inspire their initiative, to tap their learning potential and to cultivate their creative thinking ability. With the development of the World Wide Web, varieties of learning resources have been presented to everyone, which is both an opportunity and a challenge. It is very necessary for English teachers in China to take this chance and optimize the teaching approach in order to meet the needs of students, meanwhile motivating their learning initiative and promoting their learning abilities and efficiency.WebQuest, which was first developed by Bernie Dodge in 1995, is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet ( Dodge, 1997 ). It follows the educational theories of constructivism. Many K-12 educators in the world, especially some from America and Britain, have created their own WebQuest pages and some Chinese educators are beginning to implement them in different subjects. Although much has been written and many claims have been made about the benefits of the Internet in educational context, there is still not much empirical research on using WebQuest to support EFL. Therefore, the researcher decided to try it on some Chinese EFL students to see whether it could affect their English learning and what results it could lead to.Thus the purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of WebQuest activity on Chinese EFL students in high schools. It attempted to answer the followingquestions: Can WebQuest activity positively affect students' English learning in China? In what aspects can WebQuest activity affect students' English learning in Chinese high schools? What are the Chinese students responses to this new way of learning? Can Chinese students accept it as an effective tool of learning? What difficulties may be encountered and what are the solutions to overcoming them?The research was conducted among 50 Chinese freshmen students enrolled in Yunhe High School. First they were introduced to WebQuests by visiting ready-made First Grade WebQuests in the first two weeks. Then a six-week researcher-designed WebQuest activity "Holidays and Celebrations" was carried out in an attempt to answer the questions above. Several qualitative research methods were utilized in this study, including questionnaires, classroom observation and interviews with both students and teachers. The data gathered also include students' self-report notes and accomplished assignments done during the learning process.The result of the study proved that WebQuest activity did have a great impact on Chinese students' English learning. It not only motivated them to learn much knowledge out of textbooks under the researcher's guidance, but also presented an opportunity for the cultivation of students' critical thinking skills and creative spirits for the development of their inquiry learning abilities through problem-solving processes. During the study, students did show great enthusiasm for this form of learning, which enhanced their awareness of learning to learn and improved their learning skills and efficiency in EFL classes…
Key words: task; task-based learning; task performance