概要：インターネットは特に北アメリカでは定着してきた感があり、日本語教育においてのインターネット利用を再考する必要があるのではないだろうか。ここでは、日本語教育におけるインターネット利用の技術上、教育上の特色とともに、従来の教室においてのインターネットの有効利用、オンライン上のみ存在するクラスの実践報告を通して、今後の課題と可能性を述べていきたいと思う。
Keywords: インターネット、オンラインコース、教室活動、日本語環境、評価、４技能

Panel Abstract:
In North America, the Internet has pretty much established its presence in our daily personal life and academic life. Sometimes we communicate via email even from the same office taking advantage of asynchronous nature of the tool. We also access the WWW for quick information or even authentic materials for teaching. As the Internet becomes more available around the globe, it is time to consider the issues in utilizing the Internet for teaching Japanese Language classes. Language classes have different set of criteria from lecture classes from other disciplines and that reflects on the use of the Internet as well. The Internet is not only a vast pool of information but also a place to communicate with remote people. The nature of online communication has pedagogical implications to teaching Japanese. Both teachers and students will face user end multilingual computing issues. At this point, most teachers are likely to use the Internet to supplement or enhance traditional face-to-face language classes. What resources can we take advantage of and how can we develop materials? The Internet can be used for sharing materials, ideas and networking. And more and more teachers are asked to teach totally online Japanese class. An example of online delivered Japanese class and some practical advice for future online teachers will be addressed.

copyright 2002 Omoto, Shinagawa, Schneider