E-mail Activities in the ESL Writing Class

E-mail Activities in the ESL Writing Class
(An Article Review)

1. INTRODUCTON
Many online ESL and EFL teachers make use of e-mail in their teaching.
The question is just how effective are you in getting optimal results in your use
of e-mail as an instructional or learning tool. And in this article, explores the
student and teacher benefits of using electronic mail (e-mail) in an ESL writing
class. It also explains several e-mail writing activities and sample assignments
that have proven useful in a program with first and second year Japanese English
majors at Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute (MFWI) in Spokane, WA USA.
MFWI is a branch campus for English majors at Mukogawa Daigakuin in
Nishinomiya, Japan.
In this article shows that by using computers, students become better
problem solvers and better communicators. Over a network, using e-mail and
sharing files, students have the chance to collaborate and work together with
other classmates, peers, and teachers. Networking electronically can help
learners create, analyze, and produce information and ideas more easily and
efficiently. Networking people "puts an inspiring, enticing, and usable set of
tools within reach of the mass of computer users, empowering them to go
beyond simply processing information to repurpose, design, publish, and
express" (Mello, 1996). 
Research shows that e-mail is a very useful vehicle for teaching English
(Lee, 1998; Warschauer, 1995). E-mail can furnish teacher-student, studentstudent
communications
including

formal and informal consultations, exchange
of dialogue journals and writing conferencing (Belisle, 1996). It is not easy for
students to consult a teacher because of shyness or lack of time. Just give the
students the teacher's e-mail address and let them know that questions and
comments are welcome. They will find that it is one of the easiest ways to access
to the teacher and to express their thoughts to him/her. They can tell or ask the
teacher more freely what they want and what they would like to express without
interrupting the teacher when he/she is busy.


In EFL writing classrooms, the messages that the teacher sends back to
students are very important to them (Zamel, 1981). Feedback in L2 language
instruction has two functions: reinforcement and information. E-mail can
perform both of these. E-mail is concerned with the clear and unambiguous
transmission of messages, and stresses a two-way communication channel. The
computer and e-mail mode assumes the existence of a dynamic system in which
an individual and instantaneous feedback provides specific and relevant
information. The system can affect and alter the learning behavior of the
students. Speed, power, and flexibility of the computer and e-mail can
effectively facilitate second language writing (Chapelle, 1990). In EFL writing
classes e-mail is a very useful and powerful vehicle for teaching. It enables the
teacher to monitor the process of the students' writings to save class time for the
teacher's assignments and comments (Belisle, 1996). 

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