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ESL and the Internet:

Content, Rhetoric, and Research

Loretta F. Kasper
Kingsborough Community College/CUNY

Paper presented at Rhetoric and Technology in the Next Millennium: An

Asynchronous Online Conference, June 15-30, 1998.

Also available on CD-ROM: Proceedings of Rhetoric and Technology in the Next

Millennium. William E. Tanner and Suzanne S. Webb (Eds.). Mesquite, TX: Caxton's
Modern Art Press, 1998.

This paper describes a content-based approach to ESL instruction designed to develop

linguistic and academic skills. This course uses Internet technology as a resource for
content and as a foundation for teaching rhetorical and research skills to high
intermediate level college ESL students.

Content-Based Instruction

Content-based instruction (CBI) has gained increasing popularity over the past few
years (Benesch; Brinton, Snow, and Wesche; Crandall; Kasper, "Improved Reading
Performance," "Theory and Practice," "Using Discipline-Based Texts," "The Impact
of," "Meeting ESL Students;" Snow and Brinton) as a quick and efficient way for
college-level ESL students to develop English language literacy and practice
academic skills. In a content-based ESL course, students use the English language to
acquire content knowledge through a variety of academically based tasks. These tasks
are designed to teach students discipline-based content, and at the same time, help
them develop proficiency in basic language skills.

Over the past few years, the Internet has emerged as a prominent new technology with
great potential for educational use, especially in the area of content-based ESL
instruction (Singhal). The electronic resources made available through Internet
technology present students, at the click of a mouse, with a diverse collection of
authentic English language texts dealing with a wide array of interdisciplinary topics.

For ESL students, the key instructional benefit results from the hypermedia and
interactive format of the Internet. Because information is presented through text,
sound, and graphics, comprehension is facilitated, concepts reinforced, and learning
consolidated, thus better enabling students to articulate knowledge and understanding
through various modes of writing. In this way, the Internet becomes an ideal
instructional resource for teaching rhetorical skills.

Developing Rhetorical Skills

Developing strong rhetorical skills is critical to ESL students' success in college.

Because it emphasizes interdisciplinary study, a content-based ESL course offers an
excellent setting in which to develop and hone these skills. The materials used in
content-based courses offer many opportunities for expository writing requiring in-
depth analysis of key interdisciplinary concepts. As students work individually and
with peers, producing analytical responses to the course materials and to each other's
writing, they refine critical thinking skills. By engaging in close reading and in-depth
discussion of salient issues in science, psychology, business, and other content areas,
they acquire the linguistic and cognitive tools needed to compose written pieces
spanning such rhetorical modes as comparison/contrast, cause/effect, and
argumentation. Developing experience with these rhetorical modes provides a
necessary foundation for the written articulation of focused research.

Developing Research Skills

Conducting effective research requires that students develop critical literacy; that is,
the ability to locate information and evaluate the credibility and validity of resources
(Farah; Mather). The Internet may be compared to a library containing almost every
book in the world, but it is one which often lacks organization (Harvey). Therefore,
teaching students to use the Internet effectively teaches them the most fundamental
aspects of critical literacy--knowing how to search for, locate, and evaluate
information. To reap the benefits of the multitude of resources on the Internet,
students must be taught how to use search engines, Web browsers, and meta-sites to
locate and retrieve information. They must learn how to refine their search, if
necessary, by entering more precise and focused language. They need to learn how to
identify and to discriminate between relevant and irrelevant information. To do this
students must scan through various texts, evaluating their reliability and choosing
those best suited to the topic of the research. Web browsers, such as Netscape or
Microsoft Explorer, facilitate the retrieval of documents from the Internet, assigning a
specific URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to each web page. Meta-sites help to bring
order out of Internet chaos by providing well-organized links divided into clearly
labeled categories (Harvey). Finally, students must learn how to cite research sources.
They can do this on the Internet by consulting Online Writing Labs (OWLs)
contained in many university web pages. Critical literacy skills thus acquired through
Internet research enable students to manage the vast amount of information they
encounter more effectively, not only in the academic setting, but also in their
everyday lives.

Sustained Content Study: Focus Discipline Research

ESL students can effectively expand their linguistic, rhetorical, and research skills
through focus discipline study. A focus discipline is a subject area (e.g., psychology,
biology) that individual students choose to research extensively over the course of the
semester (Kasper "Interdisciplinary English and the Internet"). Focus discipline study
provides the context for "sustained content" (Pally 293), which is especially valuable
for college ESL students because it engages them in extended practice with both
language and discipline-based concepts, enabling them to become "content experts" in
a subject area of their own choosing.

As part of the content-based model described in this paper, individual students are
asked to choose from among a list of possible subject areas one focus discipline,
which they will study in-depth over the course of the semester. Students base their
choice on personal interest and/or college major, and because students have chosen to
do extensive research in that discipline, they are invested in a learning experience that
is personally meaningful and important.

When several students choose the same focus discipline, those students form a focus
discipline group. In these collaborative groups, learning becomes not only an
individual endeavor, but also a social one as group members work both individually
and collaboratively to collect information on the focus discipline. Collaborating in a
focus discipline group enhances learning because it offers ESL students the
opportunity to work together in constructing knowledge. The social discourse
afforded by the group encourages students to elaborate and reflect both on their own
ideas and on those of their peers, helping to build a strong personal and group
knowledge base. In this way, peers become resources for furthering knowledge and
understanding of content area and linguistic information (Strommen and Lincoln). As
students actively construct knowledge by exploring, creating, experimenting, and
manipulating material that is meaningful and important to them, they hone the
rhetorical and research skills necessary for college-level work.

A Sample Lesson

Teaching rhetorical and research skills through Internet technology requires a bit of
planning and the use of appropriate content-based materials. I have been teaching
content-based ESL courses for over a decade, and I have put together a student text
entitled, Interdisciplinary English (Kasper). This text contains readings in ten different
disciplines: linguistics, environmental science, computer science, mathematics,
business and marketing, psychology, sociology, physical anthropology, biology, and
diet and nutrition. Each reading is accompanied by vocabulary and comprehension
questions, as well as an essay prompt that requires students to explore the topic of the
reading text in an expository written piece. Finally, each unit is followed by a list of
related print and electronic resources to guide students' research efforts.

To illustrate my pedagogical approach, I will describe first, a sample lesson from the
unit on environmental science studied by the entire class, and then, the focus
discipline projects from this unit. One of the topics covered in the environmental
science unit is the greenhouse effect, its immediate and possible future impact on our
weather, and the resulting effects on issues in disciplines such as business and
nutrition. The greenhouse effect is a timely topic, and one for which a great deal of
information may be found on the Internet.

The content-based lesson begins with a prereading exercise that asks students to
consider how the climate of the earth has changed over the past ten years. They are
asked if they have experienced or heard about unusual storms, floods, drought,
famine, or heat waves. They are asked to explain how they think these events are
related to global warming. These questions prime students for the reading by
activating preexisting schemata, or background knowledge.

The greenhouse effect is a somewhat abstract topic, and one that requires some
understanding of complex chemical principles. The Envrionmental Protection
Agency's web page dealing with global warming
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/reports/slides/cc&i/b-ghouse.html provides
abundant visual resources and a highly effective way to concretize these abstract
scientific concepts and thereby facilitate comprehension. Students are directed to this
web site, which illustrates the greenhouse effect through a diagram depicting the
earth, the sun, and the ozone layer. While viewing this visual, students go step by step
through an analysis of what happens when the sun's ultraviolet radiation mixes with
man-made pollutants. The web page facilitates comprehension in two ways--it serves
as a visual pre-reading exercise, and it provides students with an imagery link to the
complex scientific concepts that will be presented in the textbook reading, "The
Greenhouse Effect" (Kasper Interdisciplinary English 35-9).

This reading presents students with a definition of the greenhouse effect and explains
the cause/effect relationship between greenhouse gases and global warming. The text
details the environmental, chemical, and political implications of ozone depletion and
global warming. Thus the textbook chapter provides a general description of the
Greenhouse Effect and discusses the many areas of our everyday lives that are
affected by environmental factors. The chapter also offers a general view of what may
happen if the Greenhouse problem is not solved in the near future. As students read
the textbook chapter, they also engage in vocabulary building and express their
understanding of the text through written answers to open-ended comprehension
questions. We then discuss the contents of the chapter in class to check
comprehension and clarify any questions students may have.

Now students are asked to search the Internet to find additional information on the
Greenhouse Effect. To do this, students need to become familiar with Internet search
engines, such as Yahoo, Infoseek, or AltaVista. They must learn how to enter
keywords to identify the information they want. Then once the Internet search engine
has returned a list of "hits" for the keyword, students must go through the list to
identify the most appropriate and/or useful information. Lepeintre and Stephen
maintain that a successful Internet search requires the use of critical reading skills
such as predicting content, categorizing, guessing meaning from context, skimming,
and scanning (331). These researchers believe that as students navigate through the
large amounts of information on the Internet, they unconsciously practice these
critical reading skills. To direct their Internet search and to help make them aware of
the critical reading skills being used, Lepeintre and Stephen recommend giving
students a set of questions. These questions ask students to access specific URLs and
to provide information on their search procedures and on the content of the Internet
sites accessed.

The lesson described in this paper directs students to web sites that deal with the
Greenhouse Effect and its potential impact on business, nutrition, and governmental
issues, to name just a few. For example, an article published on the web page of the
Washington Post (12 November 1997) describes some of the potential consequences
of global warming; while an article on the web page of the New Scientist (19 July
1997) dismisses the Greenhouse Effect as a hoax. As students read these essays, they
are exposed to contrasting opinions on this issue. This provides a wonderful
opportunity to teach students the discourses of comparison/contrast and
argumentation in which they describe and evaluate differing viewpoints in an essay.
To prepare students to write this essay, we list the arguments for treating the
Greenhouse Effect as a genuine problem versus those for viewing it as simply a hoax,
and we analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each argument.

As they carry out this Internet search activity, ESL students become actively engaged
in the linguistic tasks of reading English, developing vocabulary, and interpreting
language structures used in the Internet texts and in the research tasks of searching
for, accessing, and evaluating information. They then are asked to articulate this
newly gained knowledge in an oral and a written format. Whatever their personal
viewpoints, the topic always sparks lively discussion. Because climate plays such a
major role in everyday life, students become very involved in researching this topic,
and almost all of them, even those typically shy and quiet, express an opinion. Thus,
Internet research becomes a highly motivating vehicle to developing language and
content knowledge, as students actively practice the linguistic, critical thinking, and
analytical skills necessary for college-level work.

A final Internet search activity directs students to narrow the focus of their search to
the impact of global warming on the world's economy and food supplies. This search
will prepare them for the final writing activity, which requires them to do an
interdisciplinary analysis. In the final writing activity students must put together all of
the information they have gathered through the textbook reading and the Internet
research and write an essay on the following topic:

"Considering all the information you have gained from this unit, what are the
potential effects of global warming on world nutrition? How may what we eat be
affected by our changing global climate? What other areas of our lives will be
affected by nutritional changes caused by the greenhouse effect?

The instructional paradigm described here is designed to develop and enhance

linguistic and content knowledge bases. As students acquire information, they are
encouraged to link new knowledge to what they already know, creating a network of
associations within the newly formed knowledge base. This new knowledge base
contains information that students can use to facilitate performance on future
linguistic and academic tasks.

Focus Discipline Research

While the entire class studies the greenhouse effect and uses the Internet for
additional research as part of the environmental science unit, students in the
environmental science focus discipline group continue to research this subject area
throughout the semester. These students complete an Extended Writing activity,
which directs them to do further research and asks them to write a series of 3
progressive papers in which they report on the additional information they have
gathered through their extended research. The information in these 3 papers is then
put together into a "mini research project" that culls all of the information acquired. In
this project students must cite each of the sources they have used to prepare it.

Students write a series of three progressive papers on specific topics within their focus
discipline. This focus discipline research engages students in extensive reading and
writing in one content area and allows them to develop a degree of "expertise" in that
area. As described previously, students who choose to study the same discipline work
together in focus discipline groups, in which they collaborate and share resources and
information.

Focus discipline research is a highly constructivist learning activity. It requires

students to take charge of their learning experience, in the areas of both language and
content. It teaches students to network and provides them with an authentic and
empathetic audience with whom to articulate and share learning. The focus discipline
activity helps students learn skills they will need not only in college, but also in the
workforce.

Students who choose environmental science as a focus discipline are asked to use
both print and electronic media as sources for information on the following three
topics:

1. Recent changes in global climate

2. Recent changes in geographical patterns due to climate
3. The effects of a weather phenomenon known as El Nino

They are asked to write three papers, due at regular intervals over the course of the
semester, in which they describe and discuss each of the areas listed above as follows:

In the first paper, students describe recent changes in global climate, answering the
following questions in the essay: Have the predictions of scientists regarding the
greenhouse effect been correct? Has there been a gradual increase in global
temperature over the past several years? Has there been an increase in storms and in
unstable weather patterns?

In the second paper, students describe recent changes in geographical patterns as a

result of the changing global climate. They search for information on beach and land
erosion resulting from severe storms. They are asked to address the following
questions in their essay: How have storms, floods, and other weather phenomena
reshaped the coastlines and the appearance of the earth?

In the third paper, students describe the weather phenomenon known as El Nino,
addressing the following questions in their essay: What environmental changes result
from this weather system? How often does El Nino occur? What causes El Nino?
What are the effects of El Nino on global climate?

Research papers are a critical component of many mainstream college courses. These
papers require students to gather information from a variety of sources, to present that
information in an organized fashion in a report of some length, and finally, to cite the
sources used to prepare that report. Students may also be asked to examine how an
issue in one discipline affects other areas of life. Preparing a research report is an
especially frightening prospect for ESL students and presents them with an enormous
challenge to their English language skills, one for which they are unfortunately often
unprepared.

Engaging students in the sustained content study that accompanies focus discipline
research is an excellent way to prepare them for complex academic tasks like writing
research papers. As students do the research necessary for the three progressive
essays, they actively practice searching for and sorting through related pieces of
information. They learn how to put this information together in an organized fashion.
Thus, they gradually gain the skills they will need to prepare a longer research report.
The final "mini research" project described here is a 5 to 7 page paper that requires
students to cull all of the information gathered previously for the three progressive
essays, and to draw interdisciplinary connections between environmental science and
another content area.

In my course, students who choose to focus on environmental science are given the
following instructions for their final "mini research" project:

"In a final "mini research" project of 5 to 7 pages, bring together all of the information
you have gathered and discuss the effects of a changing climate on either business or
government. Choose to focus on only one of these areas in your project, and answer
the following questions: What are the specific effects of climate changes on ? How
serious are these effects? What can be done to deal with problems caused by climate
in ? What predictions have been made for the future in in light of a continually
changing climate? Please be sure to include a bibliography in which you cite each of
the sources you have used to prepare your research project.

Conclusion

As they conduct Internet research and subsequently articulate knowledge through

diverse rhetorical modes, ESL students are actively engaged in the process of
meaning construction within and across a variety of texts. As students strive to
understand and consolidate the information presented through the diverse textual
media found on the Internet, they call upon cognitive and linguistic resources
developed through their experiences with other related texts and events. By working
though the "complex intermingling of meanings, embedded within (these) different
texts" (Tierney 1177), ESL students learn how to define equivalencies between
experiences and how to perceive differences involving similar phenomena (Dyson
302-5).

By offering new paths to information and new ways to think about that information,
the resources available through Internet technology provide a solid foundation for
teaching ESL students the rhetorical and research skills necessary for success in
college courses.

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Biographical information:

Loretta F. Kasper, Ph.D.is Associate Professor of English at Kingsborough

Community College/CUNY. She regularly teaches content-based courses with an
Internet component.
Reports of her work have appeared in a number of national and international journals
among them, TESL- EJ, ITESL-J, English for Specific Purposes, Journal of
Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Teaching English in the Two-Year College. She is
the author of two content-based texts, Teaching English through the Disciplines:
Psychology (2nd ed.)(Whittier, 1997) and Interdisciplinary English (2nd ed.)
(McGraw-Hill, 1998). She is presently at work on an edited volume, Content-Based
College ESL Instruction, for Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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