English by e-mail: creating a global classroom via the medium of computer technology

This article describes a telecommunications project involving teenage EFL/ESL students in Singapore and Quebec. With the help of telephones, fax machines, word processors,computers, and electronic mail (e-mail), the students exchanged ideas and opinions on a variety of topics which they selected themselves. In an expansion of the project into cross-cultural and cross-curricular work on literature, the students produced an impressive range of written work, based on their reading of stories about their own and their correspondents' cultures. The project developed the students' grasp of technology, improved their command of English, gave them a sense of pride in their own work, and enlarged their awareness of themselves as members of an international, global community.