1. WEBQUESTS AND
DEVELOPING EFL CRITICAL
READING SKILLS
BY
MAGDY M. ALY
PROFESSOR OF CURRICULUM AND EFL
INSTRUCTION
JULY , 2011

2. SOME HOT ISSUES
Learning English in Egypt is often times - 
associated with learning grammatical
.rules
Critical thinking is often recognized as - 
one of the desirable goals for education, it
is considered a skill not promoted enough
. in English classrooms
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3. In traditional classrooms, learning English to- -
pass the examinations is often considered the
primary goal, where only language skills are
emphasized while critical thinking, problem
solving, or creative thinking skills are treated as
.minimal
Technology is also identified as a tool that has- -
potential to support the competitiveness of
Egypt and its people in the knowledge-based
economy
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4. The Internet is a suitable environment for -
language learners. Students from cross-cultural
classes in different parts of the world can
collaboratively create a project by exchanging
emails or engaging in online chats. Thus they
will not only learn to use the language, they will
learn to develop critical thinking skills as they try
to express their own cultural and personal
experiences through language and other
. symbolic means
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5. Web-based group projects can also enhance higher-order -
thinking skills in a similar fashion. These projects enable
students to learn critical thinking when they critique,
negotiate, challenge or agree with ideas of others
)Arnold & Ducate, 2006(. Contrary to the traditional ESL
classrooms, with the use of technology, students can
develop skills in both researching and thinking critically
when finding information from resources on the
Internet. They also have opportunities to use the target
language through reading web pages, writing
presentations, listening to peers‘ opinions, and
.discussing ideas on interesting issues
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6. ?) What is ) WEBQUESTS
– WebQuest 
an inquiry-oriented activity in which 
most or all of the information used
by learners is drawn from the Web
)Dodge, 1998( -- could therefore
provide the teacher with a pre- 
defined activity equipped with
existing databases for the teachers
to explore and adapt to suit their
.students and the class objectives
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7. WebQuest is a term coined by Bernie
Dodge and described as”an inquiry-
oriented activity in which some or all
of the information that learners
interact with comes from resources
”on the Internet
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8. a scaffolded learning structure that uses”
links to essential resources on the World
Wide Web and an authentic task to
motivate students‘ investigation of a
central, open-ended question,
development of individual expertise, and
participation in a final group process that
attempts to transform newly acquired
information into a more sophisticated
“understanding
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9. In order to complete the main task of a-
WebQuest, students use information
from various sources to form their own
opinions and share them with their group
members to create a final project, usually
in the form of an oral presentation and/or
written materials such as brochures,
.newsletters, or websites
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10. :WebQuests -
are designed to further several learning -
concepts. Their four underlying constructs are:
)1( critical thinking; )2( knowledge application;
)3( social skills; and )4( scaffolded learning
)March, 2007(. In sum, WebQuests are inquiry-
oriented, group work-centered, higher order
thinking-focused, and selected Internet source-
.)heavy )Dodge, 1998
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11. The procedures to complete the task
.included a number of steps
First, the teacher introduced the students to the topic of
theWebQuest and informed them of the task
)Democracy and human rights ( they
needed to complete using the Introduction and the Task
.pages on the WebQuest
Second, the teacher guided the students through the pre-
activity discussion to activate their prior knowledge, as
.mentioned earlier
Then, the students were directed to gather information for
the role each was taking by reading the articles provided
.on the WebQuest
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12. During this step, the students read the articles with their
peers who took the same role. )This sub-activity could
be seen as a scaffolding for reading the articles and
).understanding the role
Next, students worked with their group members to pool
their research findings and develop PowerPoint
presentation slides that explained their position on the
.issue with supporting evidence
Finally, the students presented their opinions on the issue
to the class using PowerPoint slides. The students were
also asked to write a journal entry on the issue as
.homework
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13. These steps, therefore, scaffolded the
.students to answer the main issue
A good WebQuest focuses on an issue 
with multiple facets, such as social,
political, and/or environmental, and
requires more than information gathering;
students must process the information in
order to form their opinions )March,
.)1998
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14. March )1998( asserts that the main question on
the WebQuest requires students to transform
information collected from online resources into
something new. This process invites students to
consider an issue, compare and synthesize
information to form a hypothesis, and suggest a
solution. Additionally, scaffolding techniques, in
the form of specific sub-tasks on the WebQuest,
prompt students to engage in higher levels of
.thinking
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15. WebQuests and collaborative
learning
Collaborative learning refers to an instructional 
method in which students work in small groups
for the purpose of achieving an academic goal.
The active exchange of ideas within small
groups not only helps students learn but also
stimulates critical thinking )Totten, Sills, Digby,
&Russ, 1991(. It allows students to learn from
others‘ .) skills and experiences )Gokhale, 1995
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16. WEBQUESTS RUBRICS
Rubrics can be used to assess appropriate
:WebQuests for students
The rubric took into accountfive aspects,
namely vocabulary and grammar, content
knowledge, level of interest, assistance,
and task demand, to examine whether a
WebQuest would be beneficial for EFL
.students
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17. WEBQUESTS STRATEGIES
five types of web-based
:teaching strategies
namely nominal-1
,group
,debate-2
,brainstorming-3
invited guest, and-4
05/20/12 .WebQuest-5
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18. ? WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING
Ennis )1989( defines critical thinking as-
“reasonable reflective thinking focused on
“deciding what to believe or do
McPeck )1990( believes that critical thinking is-
subject-specific with respect to particular
.knowledge in certain fields
For Paul )1990(, critical thinking is not only-
viewed as analytical and evaluative, it is also
considered“the art of thinking about your
“thinking
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19. Critical thinking can be seen as an exercise -
in higher order thinking skills, associated
with the ability to think logically based on
evaluated information according to certain
.criteria
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20. In summary, the body of research discussed
in this chapter suggests that WebQuest
has potential to generate critical thinking
among students in various subjects and
.classroom contexts
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