HYPERTEXT: AN ALTERNATIVE TOWARDS WRITING IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

Aleida Ariza

Publicado en Capital Letter No. 4

Noviembre de 2003

   The generation I belong to is not very keen on computers as they were not part of our childhood or adolescence, a fact that in a certain way, has created a barrier of apprehension towards this type of technological tools.  Nevertheless, when it comes to explore different alternatives to better help students in their literacy process in EFL, it is our responsibility as teachers to learn how to use them in order to facilitate the learning students can do using all richness technology holds. This is the case of a project developed with first term students of the English program in the first semester of the current year.

  The motor of this enriching experience was a workshop on the application of hypermedia in first and second languages. The core aspect of the workshop was to reflect upon the ways hypermedia relates to TEFL and its potential use in EFL classrooms through experiencing the writing of hyperstories. Thus, the experience to be shared in this article accounts for an exploration of how first semester students faced the process of reading and writing when creating hypertexts.

   The initial stage in the undertaken process was to have a clear concept of hypertext. Hypertext can be defined as devices of the way information is organized which allow us to have access to multiple information, as coherent and meaningful relations are established among units called nodes making up information nets. Nelson (1988) defines hypertext as the various ways texts can be presented allowing users to locate, organize and modify them in order to meet their possible learning needs. A linear text has certain basic components needed by the reader to understand it as a meaningful unit. In the case of hypertexts, those basic structures are coherence and cohesion both, of the text itself or of any other element present in it such us audio or video devices.

   The flexibility present in a hypertext structure implies a level of vulnerability which depends on how well it is interwoven. The instructional design of the project had four phases. The first one was to expose students to linear stories so that they could identify their basic components. A second step was to ask students for multiple narrative options in a story so that its linear structure may be broken. Through this exercise, students first explored hypertext whose common source was a linear text. In a plenary session the options created were shared and their structures and impact discussed. In the following stage of the project students created their own hyperstories. After having socialized the stories, an assessment committee was made up and, having clear criteria defined beforehand, the hyperstory titled "One Day at National University" (see left photo) was selected as the most outstanding sample of a hypertext.

   The products of this reading-writing experience were six hyperstories which showed students' creativity and writing

potential. A key aspect found in this project was the motivation students showed in relation to the linear story, the process of change it went through and their own writing exercise. Another outstanding feature in most of the hyperstories was their quality and quantity since they presented multiple ways to be read and various ends as well as a great number of nodes - between seventeen and twentyfive- considering the students' level of English.

   Creativity in both form and structure was a key aspect common to all texts. Most of the written pieces broke the current concept of what a story is, giving the reader a more powerful and participatory role in the process. Creativity was shown in the way students connected nodes by means of page numbers, arrows, drawings and colours. It is relevant to point out that the story selected as the best one by the assessment committee presents many creative elements. Its topic, structure and form in which the authors used small colorful cards for each node kept in a small box made it become a writing treasure.

   Concluding, I want to highlight that this writing exercise proved to be a very motivating activity for students as they found the proposal interesting and playful. The quality and quantity of the texts as well as students' motivation validate the importance of trying innovative strategies through which students get deeply involved in their EFL process and consequently becoming more autonomous learners.

Nelson , T. (1988) Managing Immense Storage. Project Xanadu provides a model for the possible future of mass storage. Pages 225-238.