Your expertise and interest lies in teaching the skill of writing. In your experience there are always a few students who enjoy writing in English but the majority are reluctant to write and need a lot of teacher support. Although an emphasis on grammar is necessary sometimes, you feel that there should be opportunities to write that do not focus on accuracy but are free and open to creativity and self-expression. You have experimented with peer-review of writing with mixed success but you feel that this method has potential and you hope to be able to integrate more chances for students to read and comment on each other’s work. You generally try to offer students as much chance as possible to practise the styles of writing they need. You are aware of the fact that different technologies are developing distinct writing styles, some of which are less acceptable as ‘standard’ English (eg the talky writing of MSN chat or the telescopic writing of texting). Your major question in this investigation is:

• ‘Does this WebQuest enhance writing skills – if so how and which ones?

• Is it possible to practice standard English or are students required to learn a new style?’

You will try to gather evidence that each WebQuest either does or does not encourage the development of writing skills.