Wikis

A class wiki can be great source of material that motivates the students. Sometimes, shy students flourish when they are given the chance to express their thoughts and opinions with wikis. Once their confidence is boosted they may find classroom participation to be easier. On the other hand, students who over-participate in class find their outlet on the wiki. Moreover, class wiki gives the learners the chance to communicate in the target language. Wiki may have many possible uses in ESL classes. It may be used for novel studies, where the students can create different pages in the wiki t discuss different characters or events in a certain novel. This helps the students to become more interested in what they are reading and helps to develop their comprehension of the plot. In addition, it can also be sued for literature circles; something like a book club, when groups of students read different books and create a page about their book in which they discuss their topics. Consequently, discussions and debates can be held in wikis. Students can have virtual discussion or debate on any topic connected to the class while the teacher monitors their interaction. Above all, wikis can be used to create group projects, which enable the students to work on their project even if they are not able to meet physically. They can also use peer editing as a separate assignment or part of the other assignments. Researchers refer to the role of the wikis in online collaborative language learning. The articles that I read highlight the fundamental factors that facilitate or hinder the collaboration of the students. The two most important factors that facilitate this process are the instructor’s attitude and the students’ preference of working style.  If the instructor is excited by the idea the students may get excited too. Above all, wikis suit for collaborative authoring as many people can edit each page, although it can be an individual project. On the other hand this may be considered as a hinder if the students are not prepared to the idea of editing to each other’s post. Finally, wikis can be implemented in some of the ESL/EFL classroom, because of its collaborative attributes.