Enhanced awareness and its translation into action: A case study of one learner’s self-directed language learning experience

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoko Watkins
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Traditional Sense ◽  
Assessment Rubric

AbstractThe fostering of learner autonomy has become an essential element of modern pedagogy and an established object of research. There are many difficulties in providing evidence of learners’ development towards autonomy, however, since it is not measurable in a traditional sense. As a learning advisor (LA) at a private language university in Japan, I have worked closely with individual language learners who take our module designed to foster learner autonomy via the practice of self-directed language learning (SDLL). This article uses a case study of one particular learner’s SDLL experience to introduce an approach to documenting the development of learner autonomy that draws on document analysis and narrative inquiry. I first introduce a SDLL assessment rubric that allowed me to classify and analyze three kinds of data: narrative accounts of the learner’s seven-week learning journal, recordings of three advising sessions with an LA, and the learner’s final report. With reference to her achievement of the learning outcomes in the assessment rubric, I then portray the learner’s development of awareness and her response to her enhanced awareness in her particular learning context.

Cinderella’s coach or just another pumpkin? Information communication technologies and the continuing marginalisation of languages in Australian schools

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindy Norris ◽  
Penelope Coutas
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Adverse Influence

The rhetoric around global connectedness and advances in information communication technologies (ICTs) suggests that: Professional life for the marginalised and isolated language teacher should beeasier; the experience of language learners in Australian schools should be more meaningful andbring them closer to the languages and communities that they are studying; and collectively thisshould be empowering for students and teachers and, in turn, empower the languages learning areawith respect to its status and place within the curriculum. This paper examines these assumptionsthrough a qualitative multiple case study investigation of the use of information communicationtechnologies (ICTs) in secondary school language classes. The study explores the perceptions andexperiences of early adolescent language learners and those of their teachers. It also identifies andexamines a range of contextual factors that both complicate and nuance the technology andlanguages learning nexus. The findings of the study question the assumption of “automaticity”associated with ICTs and an enhanced/improved language learning experience for all those involved.This study finds that experience with technologies can impact negatively on both learners andteachers. This, in turn, can have an adverse influence on perceptions about languages and theirstatus in schools. At a time when schools are investing heavily in information communicationtechnologies, and when they are having to manage the introduction of the Australian Curriculum:Languages, the findings of this study serve to highlight the place of the “critical” in terms of languagesin Australian schools.

scholarly journals Leading the Proverbial Thirsty Horse to Water: ESL Learners’ Experience with Language Learning Contracts

2012 ◽  
pp. 452-464
Author(s):  
Normah Ismail ◽  
Masdinah Alauyah Md Yusof
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Learning Contracts ◽  
Learning Contract ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
Language Teaching And Learning

There is agreement among language educators that the process of language teaching and learning should aim to develop autonomous language learners. While the advantages of autonomy seem to be quite obvious, fostering autonomy in practice can prove to be difficult for some language learners. This paper describes the use of learning contracts as a strategy for enhancing learner autonomy among a group of ESL learners in a Malaysian university. Through learners’ account of their experiences with the contracts, the study concludes that the learning contract has potential use for language learning and that learners’ positive learning experience remains the key to the success of any endeavour seeking to promote learner autonomy. The paper ends with some implications for teachers and learners who wish to use the contracts as a strategy for language teaching and learning.

scholarly journals Exploring the Success of GMT Technique: Games, Mind-Mapping, and Twitter Hashtags in Teaching Vocabulary in EFL Higher Education Environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 290
Author(s):  
Banan Hassan Alhajaji ◽  
Jalila Saleh Algmadi ◽  
Amal Abdelsattar Metwally
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Mind Mapping ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
Interactive Games ◽  
Assessment Tests ◽  
Vocabulary Building

Vocabulary is an essential element of language learning. Wide ranges of vocabulary along with grammatical competence guarantee learners to communicate in the language effectively. This study proposes an edutainment method for learning vocabulary by simply combining education and entertainment. This study aims to gain insights about learners’ opinions and perspectives about the use of a technique developed by the researchers as well as how participants feel about their learning. The study investigates the effect of employing Games, Mind-mapping and Twitter Hashtags as the GMT technique, on female Saudi university students’ achievement in English vocabulary. The study suggests that this technique which consists of interactive games, cognitive mind-mapping and the exploitation of technology in the form of twitter hashtags, all employed together, constitute a unified framework for activating students’ vocabulary learning. The sample in the study consisted of 150 students enrolled in the vocabulary building course during the second semester of the academic year 2018/2019. The participants were asked to respond to the questionnaire and they also took variant assessment tests, then their scores were compared to the results of other students who were not taught vocabulary using the technique in question. The findings ascertain the improvement and significant in the experimental group. In addition, the results reveal that the learners had mostly positive opinions on implementing the GMT technique which facilitated their language learning experience. The researchers conclude that the GMT technique can be an effective tool to promote students’ active engagement, motivation, and interaction in vocabulary learning.

Tandem language learning via e-mail: from motivation to autonomy

ReCALL ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMA USHIODA
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Affective Learning ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Pedagogical Issues ◽  
Affective Dimension ◽  
Tandem Learning ◽  
E Mail

This paper examines the affective dimension of tandem language learning via e-mail. It begins by highlighting some of the obstacles to this mode of learning, including organisational and pedagogical issues as well as the particular issues confronting learners. Drawing on a small body of empirical data, it explores the interactions between these issues and what learners perceive to be intrinsically motivating about tandem learning. It concludes by suggesting that affective learning experience has a potentially powerful role to play in fostering the development of learner autonomy through the reciprocity on which successful tandem learning is founded.

Technology and Learner Autonomy: An Argument in Favor of the Nexus of Formal and Informal Language Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 52-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Lai
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Learning Contexts ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Technology Aids ◽  
Constructed Self ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article discusses some of the current research on technology in relation to learner autonomy, outlining major findings on the relationship between technology and learner autonomy in formal and informal learning contexts. Extant literature has discussed both teacher-initiated technology-enhanced formal learning environments and learner-constructed self-directed learning experience in informal learning contexts. Although valuable in the insights it provides into how technology aids learner autonomy, the two bodies of literature have largely been independent from each other, which may constrain our understanding.

scholarly journals Case Study of the Commercially Published ELT materials in Foundation of English Course Books 1 & 2

IIUC Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 173-182
Author(s):  
Md Yousuf Uddin Khaled Chowdhury
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Global Markets ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
The Right

Brumfit (1979) has suggested that many commercially published ELT materials are little more than ‘masses of rubbish, skilfully marketed’. He perhaps rejects most of the published materials. However, in reality, it is observed that these ELT resources are the only available alternatives in the contexts where infra-structural limitations of language classrooms and the inefficiency of the language-teachers make the goal of language learning and teaching unreachable or unattainable for many of the learners. This paper, through a case study, aims at justifying the use of commercially published ELT coursebooks that are designed and used, considering the limitations and problems of the personally produced materials by untrained teachers. Nevertheless, these materials must consider the local market rather than the global markets so that they meet the needs of the local language learners and instructors. The case study implies that it is the selection or adaptation of the right materials for the specific learners that makes them effective or ineffective. It also suggests that the personally designed or locally produced materials too may make teaching and learning difficult and impossible sometimes.IIUC Studies Vol.10 & 11 December 2014: 173-182

scholarly journals Blogging Identity: How L2 Learners Express Themselves

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-70
Author(s):  
Kiyomi FUJII
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Self Image ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Identity Expression

This study discusses language learning and identity, particularly pertaining to intermediate-advanced-level Japanese-language learners, focusing on their target language and identity expression through their interactions with peers and Japanese college students. When learners of Japanese express their identities while interacting with others in their target language, they feel a gap between the self-image they want to present, and the image they are capable of presenting in Japanese (Siegal, 1994, 1995, 1996). Along with adjusting their L1 and L2 usage depending on their interlocutor (Kurata 2007), learners also use different sentence-ending styles depending on the role they want to assume (Cook 2008). By conducting a case study, the present inquiry attempts to address how learners of Japanese express their identities through blog conversations, focusing on their language choice and expressions. Results suggest that participants use the formal endings for self-presentation and projection of their student and classmate identity. However, when expressing emotion some students preferred informal endings, or sentence-final particles.

scholarly journals Motivational Dynamics in Language Advising Sessions: A Case Study

2019 ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Eduardo Castro
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Sense Of Competence ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Situated Perspective

Researchers have increasingly been interested in the complex and dynamic character of motivation. Recent studies point out the complex fluctuation of motivation in a situated perspective, as in a language classroom. However, little is known on how motivation evolves in out-of-class contexts, as in advising in language learning context. The present paper aims to explore the dynamics of motivation to learn English of an advisee. Data of this longitudinal case study were collected through a motivational grid combined with advisor’s diaries and an in-depth interview, which were analyzed following the interpretative phenomenological analysis procedures. Results revealed that task complexity, tiredness, sense of competence, teachers and peers contributed to the fluctuation of the participant’s motivation.

The importance of the self: using online diaries in the EFL classroom

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-412
Author(s):  
Micòl Beseghi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Expressive Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Final Questionnaire ◽  
Diary Writing

Abstract Learner journals, diaries, and logs have been used in a variety of learning contexts, including foreign language learning. This paper investigates how diary writing can be used in the EFL classroom to encourage students to express their identities through the language they are learning; it is also a way of supporting them in their quest for greater autonomy, with a view to exploring the interconnections between learner autonomy, learner self (L2 self), and learner emotions. More specifically, it will be shown how reflective writing – in the form of online diaries – can offer learners an important tool to explore their thoughts and emotions and reflect on their identity as learners and users of English. Moreover, diaries are a qualitative research tool for teachers and scholars, who can examine metacognitive and affective aspects of language learning. The paper reports a study conducted within a university English Language course, in which the students were encouraged to keep a reflective online diary throughout a semester. The analysis of their personal and expressive writing has shed light on their need to speak as themselves, not just as language learners, and to explore their emotions, both positive and negative. A final questionnaire has revealed that the students were generally positive about the activity, highlighting its usefulness in terms of learner autonomy, self-awareness, and self-regulation.

Attitudes of Adult EFL Learners Towards Preparing for a Language Test via CALL

2019 ◽  
pp. 1730-1745
Author(s):  
Nilüfer Bekleyen ◽  
Serkan Çelik
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Language Test ◽  
State University ◽  
Adult Language Learners ◽  
Traditional Classroom Teaching ◽  
Higher Education Preparation

The present study focuses on the attitudes of adult language learners towards an Internet-based computer program designed to prepare the users for a language test. The participants were the attendees of a YDS (National Foreign Language Examination offered by the Turkish Council of Higher Education) preparation course which was conducted at a state university in Turkey. Sixty participants contributed to the study. Their attitudes towards Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) were measured via two different instruments: a questionnaire and an interview. The results indicated that lower level learners had significantly better attitudes towards CALL compared to higher level learners. In general, the participants found computers to be more interesting, motivating and encouraging but did not consider the traditional classroom teaching substitutable with CALL. The findings revealed no significant changes pertaining to the participants' attitudes towards CALL after their language learning experience with computers for four months.

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