Web-based Language Class Activities: Contexts of Uses and Background Methodologies

Over the past two decades, a growing number of educational researchers have studied the benefits of using information and communication technologies (ICT). Research on Computer-Assisted Language Learning, mostly foreign language learning, shows that the use of ICT is beneficial to the development of learners’ competences. This paper presents the preliminary results of an ongoing research on this topic. Building on a brief review of the literature and the analysis of lesson plans of Portuguese language teachers, this study argues that ICT are mainly used to support traditional methodological approaches, contrasting with the learner-centred ones encouraged by recent research on the topic.