Computer Based Readers for Intermediate Foreign-Language Students.

The question that we are trying to answer in this article is how can computer technology and the WWW help us in enabling and motivating students to read in a foreign language? The article starts with some general considerations about the nature of foreign language teaching and the role of technology, as well as the research in the field of reading in general vs. computer assisted reading in particular, and is followed by the discussion of two computer based pedagogical readers. The article concludes with some suggestions for the development and design of new computer and on-line readers for foreign language teaching. In this article, pedagogical readers are defined as authentic texts in a foreign language that are enhanced with interspersed questions, activities and glosses in multimedia format to assist low level students in learning how to read authentic texts and to understand them. This application is different from another very popular use of the WWW, namely as a source of authentic readings for students at more advanced language proficiency levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]