The use of web-based learning among English teachers in Estonia

Abstract

In this paper I explore the teaching methods and ideas connected to web-based learning. As the 21st century is the century of technology it is highly recommended to use computers as a learning instrument and source. In addition to that I believe the teacher’s job is to offer students variety in his/ her subject by using different kind of tasks and activities. Web-based learning equips teachers with loads of materials to do that. The aim of the master’s theses is to find out if, how much and what kind of webbased sources English teachers in Estonia use to make learning a language varied and exciting for the students. It is always good to share and learn from each other’s experience. The concept of the questionnaire and the interviews is to make teachers think about their teaching methodology and motivate them to use the options of the Internet more. The outcome of this research is a list of Internet sources the teachers in Estonia can use for teaching English as a second language. In the first part of the paper there is an overview of web-based learning in general, the definition and benefits of web-based learning. The next part focuses on research methodology, the questionnaire and the list of questions used in interviewing some teachers is included as an appendix, and lastly, the results which should encourage teachers use more web-based learning for language learning purpose.