On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 1:17 PM, geni geniice@gmail.com wrote:
2008/9/8 Nikola Smolenski smolensk@eunet.yu:
I hope you don't think that people are contirbuting to English Wikipedia solely so that they could practice their English.
It does appear to be a motivating factor in some cases.
That was the primary reason I joined wikibooks in the first place: To improve my writing skills and to increase my own understanding of the topics I was writing about. They say the best way to learn is to teach, and I suspect that's a motivation for many people to participate in these projects.
On a related note, I've heard tales of language classes (teaching spanish to native english speakers, as an example) assigning writing assignments on various wikipedias or wikibooks as practice. I can't source this statement, but i've heard rumors about it in the past. Either way, I certainly wouldn't discount the idea.
--Andrew Whitworth