E-LEARNING AND ESP. TEACHING ENGLISH FOR TOURISM

The paper describes a module of online collaborative reading within a large class of students of English for Tourism at the University of Turin. Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is an instructional practice combining cooperative learning and reading comprehension strategies. We discuss the pros and cons of this practice by evaluating students' responses, comments, and notes. The analysis shows that CSR promotes joint enterprise. Comments and questions encourage a shared understanding of the professional text. Students were asked to extract keywords, while summaries were carried forward into new discussions, thus building a hypertextual net of ideas around the texts. In this way, the course could change from being a mere knowledge provider to a real collaborative learning environment. This study offers insights for instructors about new approaches for developing community in online educational contexts and suggests the need to make students aware of methodology.