Effective Use of MOODLE in ELT Settings: An Application in SELI at Özyeğin University

Abstract

Technology in language teaching has been around for longer than one could imagine and the use of tape recorders, language laboratories and video in the classroom in the 1960s and 1970s (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007: 7) has recently gained a new dimension with the widespread use of Internet since 1990s. All teachers, from the most traditional to the most innovative, are already beginning to find uses for the Net in their teaching due to the fact that, by its very nature as a tool for communication, the Net does lend itself particularly to communicative and task-based learning, so a teacher is not only a teacher in the classroom but also a facilitator and an Internet guide (Teeler and Gray, 2000: 59). MOODLE, a free online dynamic learning environment, offers a myriad of opportunities in language classrooms from setting up Forums to Video Recording Assignment. This presentation aims to introduce how Extensive Reading tasks that were used to develop learners’ reading skills and writing skills have been employed to improve their speaking skills in the School of English Language Instruction (SELI) at Özyeğin University, a newly founded, third generation university with high aspirations for the future.