Teaching English through the Internet: An Exploration into the Potential Offered by the Internet in Teaching English in Technical Secondary Schools in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract

ABSTRACT : Conducting a research in the area of computer-mediated communication has shown that using technology can provide students with a sense of empowerment and development of communicative abilities. Doing the project through a case study is designed to show how the Internet online, e-mail, web-pages, websites and other uses can help students improve and develop their abilities and their learning skills. The project examines reading passages, compositions and other forms of writings and the effects of using Internet applications to develop the skill of writing. The evaluation highlights the way that the students deal with reading and writing through the use of e-mails. The project also explores the potential impact of the Internet on secondary level students in The Kingdom of Bahrain's Technical schools. Most of the subjects taught in technical schools are in English except for Arabic, Religious and some general studies subjects. Therefore, in this work, the researcher explores the effects of using the Internet and its applications on the development of students writing skill. The researcher found out that the Internet has a great influence on developing students' writing skill and that as much as the Internet is used in teaching and learning the English language the better the students' writing skill will become. The researcher also found out that the use of the Internet helps teachers up-date their knowledge and be aware of the new information technology being applied in the process of teaching. The findings, conclusions and recommendations relate to maximizing the educational benefits and. minimizing the limitations of using the Internet in the classroom in order to develop the confidence and various skills and abilities of students. This research is organized into five chapters, bibliography and appendices as follows. In Chapter One, Introduction, the researcher gives an introduction to the virtual classroom and how it was developed from the traditional classes into the new and virtual classrooms, then he explains the purpose of study after that he discusses some of the limitations of the Internet and justification. In Chapter Two, Literature Review, the researcher gives review of published literature and online articles. In Chapter Three, Methodology, the researcher explains how he ran the study and the steps that he followed collecting data and analysis. In Chapter Four, Data Analysis and Discussion of Results, the researcher shows his sources of data and his findings. In Chapter Five, the researcher stated his conclusions of the research and the suggestions hoped to be applied.