The Internet is expanding very rapidly, and more and more people are using it. You can communicate with anyone who has an Internet connection anywhere in the world, as if they were a neighbor. It is a more economical way to communicate than faxes or long distance telephone, and it is faster than the mail. There is a massive amount of useful information on the Internet. It is getting to be one of the largest libraries in the world. You can read newspapers, newsletters and journals using the Internet and resources on the Internet can help you with your professional development.
The Internet allows information to cross national borders. More than eighty percent of the information on the Internet is in English, and if you can communicate in English, the Internet will be necessity for your profession. You can also keep up trends of TESL/TEFL, obtain information of conferences and publications, read newsletters and journals, exchange ideas with other teachers, publish papers and articles, etc., using the Internet. You can obtain lesson plans and teaching materials as well as background information useful for content teaching using the Internet. This will help make your classes more interesting and meaningful, so that your students learn English better.
There are resources on the Internet to help you learn to make use of the Internet effectively. It takes time and effort to learn how to use the Internet, but you can learn the basics first and gradually expand your knowledge about the Internet. In order to pursue an academic career, you need to publish papers and articles. There are many resources for doing research and writing academic papers on the Internet.
In this paper we will show some ways that you can use the Internet to develop yourself professionally.
Through these publications, you can find information about new publications, calls for papers, announcements, conference information, etc., as well as results of research, new theories, other teachers' experiences, etc. They are good sources of information about what is going on in these fields. Some of them carry lesson plans and even teaching materials, which you can use in your classes. You can contribute your lesson plans, teaching materials, useful information, the findings of your research, etc. There are also some publications for students (URL: http ://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/student.htm#journal). There are many useful learning materials in those publications.
Mailing Lists
Mailing lists are a convenient way of communicating with other teachers in
TESL/TEFL. TESL-L is the largest list in the ELT field, and it has about
20,000 members. Information is available at URL http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/l
ist/lis-tesl.htm. It is worth subscribing to TESL-L and TESLCA-L. You
can get a lot of information, particularly computer-related information.
You can participate in discussions or ask questions. The TESL-L archives
has a huge collection of materials such as papers, articles, collections
of discussions on a certain topic, bibliographies, reports, lesson plans,
and teaching materials, etc., and you can download them to read or use for
teaching.
There are many other lists related to ELT, and you can find almost forty of them listed at URL: http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/l ist/lis-tefl.htm. There are some specialized ones, such as SLART-L for second language acquisition, WRICOM for writing using computers, EST-L for English for science and technology, IECC, IECC-HE, IECC-Project for finding keypals for our students, and NETEACH-L and LLTI for using computers for language teaching. There are some local ones such as JALTCALL and eflj for Japan, ETNI for Israel, ARKTESL and SCOLT in the southern part of the United States. Besides subscribing to TESL-L and TESLCA-L, it is a good idea to subscribe to specialized ones related to your interests and to regional ones for your country or area. You can "meet" many people with interests similar to yours and exchange information and ideas using the mailing lists.
Some mailing lists have a web page, and they usually have some useful resources on those pages. We have listed them at http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/o rgani.htm#mail and also included in Appendix B.
If you know the name of the list and cannot find its e-mail address or want to use keywords to find lists you might be interested in, LISZT (Directory of E-mail Discussion Lists) is a searchable list of lists found at http://www.liszt.com/. It has a database of 70,000 lists. Also, "Subject-based listing of scholarly and professional e-conferences" at http://n2h2.com /KOVACS/Sindex.html contains lists of lists organized by subject. You can choose a topic area, and see a list of lists related to that topic. You can click on the name of a list and get information about the purpose of the list, how to subscribe, etc.*1
Professional Organizations
One of the best ways to keep up with trends of profession is to join
professional organizations and read their publications and attend their
conferences. Many of them have web pages, and you can find out what they
are doing. The list of professional organizations is at URL
http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/organi.htm.
Gateways to Resources
If you are interested in testing, communication or literature, there are
gateways which list links to useful web pages. They are found at URL
http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/test.htm for
language testing, URL
http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/communi.htm for
communication, and
http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/literatu.htm for
literature.
Publishers and Bookstores
For language teachers and scholars in academia, publications are very
important, and we need to pay attention to new publications. One of the
ways to find out about new publications is through publishers' catalogs.
There is a list which covers hundreds of publishers, software developers,
dealers and bookstores in the world at URL
http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/book.htm. Some of
them have search engines, and you can search for books by topic, author or
title. Most of them have e-mail addresses, and you can ask for information
and sometimes order products through e-mail.
You can also check on books through libraries. Many libraries allow you to search their collections. Thus, if you choose a large library, you have fairly a good chance to find the book you are looking for. The web sites of libraries are found at http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/referenc.htm#libraries.
Search Engines
If you want to find information about a particular topic on the Internet,
you can use search engines. LISZT, described above, is the largest search
engine for mailing lists. Other search engines, as well as links to other
web resources, can be found at URL
http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/referenc.htm#search.
The largest and most useful search engine for the World Wide Web is Alta
Vista. You will find information about using it efficiently at http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/search/example.htm.
Search Sites
There are many search sites where you can search certain information or
resources. You can look for journal articles, some databases, etc. They are
at http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/ww
w/referenc.htm#sites
Improving Your Teaching
In order to improve your teaching, you can get information and discuss
issues with other teachers on the mailing lists or web sites. You can
subscribe to many newsletters and journals using the Internet. You can
obtain lesson plans, teaching materials, and lessons using the Internet.
You find them at URL http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/teach
er.htm and URL http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/stude
nt.htm. Htm. You can get access to dictionaries, thesauruses,
encyclopedias, and other reference materials at URL http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/refe
renc.htm.
We have written an article on using the Internet to teach English, and it
explains what we can do with the Internet to improve our teaching
English.*2
There are also massive resources available on the web to help you with writing. These include the APA and MLA style sheets, dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias, grammar handbooks, etc. There are some links of articles on writing essays, research papers, improving writing, etc. Since writing is not easy, and everyone has to improve writing, it is worth reading some of those articles linked to above site.
If you write good reports, lesson plans, articles, research papers, etc., and want to share them with others, you can send them to ERIC*5, TESL-L archives*6, or journals or newsletters we have already explained.
It is not difficult to learn to use the Internet, and although it takes a little time and effort to learn how to use a computer, it is well worth doing it. You do not need to learn everything about the Internet. You can start with the basics, particularly on the World Wide Web, which is user friendly. Then you can learn to use e-mail and subscribe to mailing lists and communicate with other English teachers.
2. Kitao, K, & Kitao, S. K. (1996). Using the Internet for teaching English. In K. Kitao, & S. K. Kitao, On-line Resources and Journals: ELT, Linguistics, and Communication URL http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/internet/art-use.htm
3. Kitao, K., & Kitao, S. K. (1996). Using the Internet. In K. Kitao & S. K. Kitao, On-line resources and journals: ELT, Linguistics, and Communication at URL: http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/internet.htm
4. Kitao, K., & Kitao, S. K. (1996). Reference materials for students and researchers. In K. Kitao & S. K. Kitao, On-line resources and journals: ELT, Linguistics, and Communication at URL: http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/online/www/referenc.htm
5. ERIC Clearinghouse on LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS (FL)
Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL)
1118 22nd Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20037-0037
Telephone: 202-429-9292
FAX: 202-659-5641
Internet: eric@cal.org
Languages and language sciences. All aspects of second language instruction and learning in all commonly and uncommonly taught languages, including English as a second language. Bilingualism and bilingual education. Cultural education in the context of second language learning, including intercultural communication, study abroad, and international educational exchange. All areas of linguistics, including theoretical and applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics. Includes input from Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education for Limited-English-Proficient Adults.
http://www.cal.org/ericcll/
Clearinghouse Homepage
6. You can send the manuscript by e-mail to Susan Simon at stscc@cunyvm.cuny.edu
http://www.agoralang.com:2410/agora/agoranews_current.html
Agora Newsletter
http://www.man.ac.uk/IATEFL/iatefl_newsletters.html
Selected materials from the IATEFL Newsletter
http://www.man.ac.uk/IATEFL/review.html
CALL Review (The Journal of the IATEFL Computer Special Interest Group )
http://humwww.hk-r.se/cc/
Computers and Composition WWW Journal
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/
Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) Magazine
http://www.liv.ac.uk/~tony1/direct.html
DIRECT
http://www.edunet.com:80edunet/ednews.html#language
EDUNET INTERNATIONAL'S NEWS STAND
http://www.u-net.com/eflweb/home.htm
English as a Foreign Language Magazine
http://snunit.huji.ac.il/snunit_e/newslett.htm
English Teachers' Electronic Newsletter
http://langlab.uta.edu/iall/journal/JournalHome.html
The IALL Journal
http://ipisun.jpte.hu/~joe/iatefl/newsletter.html
IATEFL-Hungary Newsletter (Web Edition)
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/
The Internet TESL Journal : iteslj@aitech.ac.jp
http://www.helsinki.fi/science/optek/
Interpersonal Computing and Technology Journal
http://shum.cc.huji.ac.il/jcmc/jcmc.html
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/
KAIROS
http://www.nobis.com/ll/
LAPSUS LINGUAE - International Journal On Language Teaching
http://www.cltr.uq.oz.au:8000/oncall/
ON-CALL The Australian Journal of Computers and Language Education
http://schoolnet2.carleton.ca/sne/snenews/
SNE News
http://www.ualberta.ca/~german/ejournal/ejournal.html
http://www.indigo.ie/egt/langlist.html
http://www.schoolnet.ca/sne/eslsites.html
http://www.wfi.fr/est/est1.html
http://www.cortland.edu/www/flteach/
http://www.stolaf.edu/network/iecc/
http://eleazar.dartmouth.edu/IALL/LLTI.html
http://thecity.sfsu.edu/~funweb/neteach.htm
http://www.zait.uni-bremen.de/wwwgast/tesl_ej/
(Germany)
http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/
(Japan)
TESLEJ-L
"Zeitschrift fuer Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht" No. 1 Appendix B
Computer Bulletin Boards for Individual Languages, or, The List of Language
Lists Prepared by Bernard Comrie and Michael Everson
(ESL-SNE) Special Needs Education Network (SNE)
(France)
http://www.u-aizu.ac.jp/~t-orr/est1.html
(Japan)
EST-L (Teachers of English for Science and Technology)
FLTEACH
Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections
LLTI: Language Learning and Technology
NETEACH-L