Questions and answers: the use of the platform Yahoo! Clever as a teaching tool of German as a foreign language

Abstract

This article aims to present and analyze experiences involving posting questions and answers on the platform Yahoo! Clever in the teaching of German as a foreign language, focusing on aspects of the authenticity of situations and the development of learners' autonomy and motivation. To this end, the planning and carrying out of a didactic sequence in a free course for university students at level A2 (CEFR) was presented. In addition to the description of the sequence, the results of the activities, in the form of posts on the website, were analyzed, as well as excerpts from interviews with some apprentices. From the analysis of this data, it was possible to conclude that activities involving the platform can create authentic situations, engaging learners to interact with the community of the website in a meaningful way, but they can also be seen by learners as inauthentic, which leads to posts that can result in negative responses from the community. Finally, the role of the teacher in leading learners to reflect on interaction in uncontrolled environments is discussed.

Keywords:
learning with internet; autonomy; authenticity; foreign language teaching