Target Audience: Secondary, tertiary.

Language Proficiency: Variable, according to task.

Learning Focus: Reading, writing, learner motivation.

Technology Needed: Email.

Instructions:

Email is a great vehicle for addressing individual learner questions. Learners who are less comfortable speaking out in class and those who require more time to formulate thoughtful dialogue may welcome this alternative mode of communication. It remains a low-bandwidth solution for learners who may be on slow Internet connections or accessing email through small personal digital assistant (PDA) devices (e.g. Palm Pilots, pocket computers, Blackberry, or other email-enabled portable devices).

At the beginning of the term, ask all learners to submit their first assignment to you over email, e.g. "Describe 'A Day at Work' in your culture." This serves several purposes:

• You then can copy and paste their email addresses into your course nickname file or group list.
  
  
• You can personally motivate each learner, commenting on good points they made and encouraging them to share their views in course discussions (this can be especially important for learners who are non-native speakers of English).

Helpful Hints:

• Pre-Assessment Tool: If you have email addresses in advance, you can begin communication and a survey of participants prior to meeting face-to-face. This can help shape the scope and content of your course.
  
  
• Journals: Dialogue and response journals can be effectively handled through email, avoiding the necessity of carrying around a large stack of paper notebooks. For an example of a simple dialogue journal form, see: Weekly Reports and Plans, from the online course "Oregon-Iraq Guided Online English Studies" through University of Oregon's American English Institute.

More on this Topic:

EmailAddresses.com.
http://www.emailaddresses.com/guide_etiquette.htm

 

Kay Westerfield, Global Communication Consulting,kwesterf@uoregon.edu