IRC를 이용한 영어 의사소통능력 신장에 관한 연구

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to devise how to improve learners' communicative competence of English via the internet. The internet has been developed to endow great benefits upon mankind. Its potential in teaching and learning English has been stressed. The internet has the following advantages. First, the internet makes available various methods of teaching and learning English. Second, the multimedia learning materials on the internet motivate learners to study English and support the learners' learning styles. Third, the learners can obtain comprehensive and objective cross-cultural awareness via the internet for the improvement of their communicative competence of English. The teaching methods of English using the internet can prompt teachers and students to interact with native speakers of English in and out of the classroom and lead learners to use abundant authentic materials in English. One of the most interactive and communicative functions of the internet is the internet relay chat (IRC) which has long been used for world-wide communication in English. The IRC of the internet has great opportunities to communicate with native speakers of English. This study consists of the following. Chapter I presents the necessity and the aim of this study. Chapter II surveys the development of the computer-assisted language learning to define the theoretical background of teaching and learning English via the internet. Chapter III describes the contribution of computer-mediated communicat- ion to teaching and learning English focusing on the four skills of English. Chapter IV examines the characteristics of the internet chat in order to plan the classroom activities using it, devises how to use the chat in the English classroom, and defines the English teacher's role for the class. Chapter V concludes this study and suggests some tasks for English teachers to follow.