Internet - A New Medium

Do you know that although the basic applications and guidelines that make the Internet possible had existed for almost a decade, the network did not gain a public face until the 1990s?

Since then the world has changed immensely because of the Internet. And its arrival has already given some clear indications about the way in which languages are going to be affected. The signs are that we are facing a development whose consequences for English (and indeed for languages in general) are profound.

The Internet is a genuine new medium of linguistic comminucation, taking some of the properties of the two traditional mediums, speech and writing, synthesizing them in a new way, and adding further properties which were unavailable to either in the past. Because people are typing their messages on a screen, there are obvious similariraties with written language; but there are some important differences. To begin with, most of the interactions are in the form of a dialogue - doing the job of speech, only in written forms. Moreover, it is a fast-moving dialogue, especially in chatgroups and virtual worlds, where people are exchanging messages as fast as they can type. E-mails are also dialogic in character. Although there can be quite a lag before a reply is received, the language in which the reply is often written is that of a face-to-face conversation. It is this dialogic character which has led some commentators to describe Internet communication as 'written speech'.

But in our real conversations we do not only pronounce words. We pronounce them with a definite intonation, stress, speed, rhythm and tone of voice. The limitaions of the keyboard enable only some of the properties of spoken language to be expressed on the screen (punctuation marks, repeating letters, spacing or capitalization of letters, for example, can be used to stress the meaning of the word.). But it is impossible to communicate the other properties which add so much meaning to face-to-face conversation - facial expressions and gestures. Remember the saying 'It ain't what you say, nor the way that you say it, but the way that you look when you say it'? Has anything been done to

compensate for this obvious defect of the Internet communication? Yes, here they are- 'smileys'!

14.

My dear colleagues,

Yes, colleagues. I meant what I said. Five years ago I became one of your teachers and you were my first-year students at this college. I have been trying to teach you all I know myself about the art of teaching foreign languages.

Language is one of the most wonderful media of communication mankind possesses. Young children learn to use their mother tongue by themselves, but as they grow up they need the languages of other peoples and you have learned how to teach them. Anyhow, I did my best to tell you all I know about the rules, the joys and pitfalls of our profession. Today I would just like to remind you about something you might not consider worth speaking about because it is self-un­derstood. So I apologize for asking you to listen carefully.

Firstly, no matter how well you know the language you are going to teach, you cannot preserve this level without further efforts to keep it up. You either go on acquiring knowledge, improving your skills and making progress or you begin to forget what you have learnt and lose the skills you possess, and very quickly at that.

I realise that I might seem old-fashioned, but let me assure you that the most reliable way of keeping up your standards is reading. And, of course, there is no denying the fact that nowadays we have a lot of other possibilities. For ex­ample, we can listen to the radio and watch television and learn to understand different varieties of spoken English, especially the two main ones - British and American.

And last but not least, no matter how well you know the course-books you are using in class, never go to the lesson unprepared. Let me quote an out­standing Russian teacher of foreign languages: " A lesson is a carefully prepared improvisation".

There will be ups and downs in your activities as teachers. Do not be dis­couraged in any situation. The profession you have chosen is both creative and rewarding and I wish you every success in it.

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