scholarly journals Online Collaborative Learning to Enhance Educational Outcomes of English Language Courses

Author(s):  
Iwona Mokwa-Tarnowska

With various aims and objectives, syllabi of e-learning, blended learning and webenhanced courses meant for a particular group of undergraduates or postgraduates, may vary substantially. However different they are, they are likely to show behaviourist ideas embodied in instructional design. A plethora of online tools (text based, image based, multimodal production and collaborative ones) can increase students’ learning experiences, as they offer opportunities for interactions that are not available in a traditional, instructivist classroom setting. Thus, a university language course with web-enhanced components offers more versatile learning options than face-to-face classes, which may result in students becoming more competent and competitive workers in the years to come. By using online tools such as ThingLink, mural, quip, easel.ly, infogram and venngage to collect and critically analyse data, they learn in a new active way, in a more genuine environment. This way of engaging students helps them to achieve learning outcomes structured around communication, teamwork, media literacy and language skills. These ideas are supported by students’ opinions and attitudes expressed in the surveys conducted at Gdańsk University of Technology in the years 2017–2019.

Author(s):  
Bilal Mohd Zakarneh

E-learning is increasingly being embraced by the traditional academic institutions, hybrid educational organizations and newly established online organizations for teaching English and other subjects in universities in the Arab world. The present study investigated the effectiveness of using e-learning platform to teach the English language to students in Arab universities. Data was collected using a questionnaire and analysed using excel data analysis tool. Results revealed that e-learning platform is an effective platform for teaching English language. Participants held that they learned better via e-learning and that all English language courses should be taught through the e-learning mode. They consider e-learning platform as appropriate and better means for acquiring vocabulary, developing speaking skills, English language grammar, reading skills, writing skills, listening skills, and as a better mode of enhancing performance in English than the traditional classroom mode. They see e-learning as a better tool for testing and evaluation and prefer it to other traditional methods. Conclusion: e-learning can be more effective in learning English than the face-to-face classroom system.


Author(s):  
Leanri van Heerden

After the #FeesMustFall strikes that have been haunting South African universities since 2015, Instructional Designers felt pretty confident that they can drive their institutions through any dilemma. Along came the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic and they realised they have been playing in the kiddie pool all along. On 23 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national lockdown level 5 to start on 26 March 2020 (Department of Health, 2020). Three days head start for a three-week lockdown (which was eventually extended till the time of writing) was a logistical nightmare for even the most technology driven universities. All staff were sent home with only enough time to grab their office plants and laptops and no idea how they were going to move forward. The issue with staff and students all working from home is that the lecturers working at the Central University of Technology (CUT), being primarily a face-to-face delivery university, was completely unprepared for moving their traditional and blended approaches to completely online. In their study, Mogeni, Ondigi and Mufo (2020) found that most of the investigated teachers were not empowered enough to deliver instruction fully online and either needed to be retrained, receive further specialised training or be trained completely from scratch. A lack of confidence in the delivery mode of instruction will cause even the most knowledgeable subject spcialist to fail in their task. At the CUT lecturers needed a way of quickly acquiring the necessary skills to deliver their content and assessments on the institution Learning Management System (LMS). The aim of this paper is to measure participant perspectives of an emergency intervention to facilitate the process of online delivery skills acquisition quickly and online. To ensure relevant results a systematic process of designing an intervention and recording participant perspectives is necessary. This extended abstract will take a look at the methods used to drive the paper, briefly discuss the results and findings, and lastly explore the implications and significance of the research for the use of higher education institutions for emergency LMS training. Keywords: LMS training; e-Learning; Online Instruction; Instructional Design


Author(s):  
Brenda Anak Lukas ◽  
Melor Md Yunus

Education sector in Malaysia had put emphasis on the use of online learning or e-learning with technology and devices as a mediator of communication to replace face-to-face learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, with the improvement of learning technologies, English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers faced various challenges in language teaching. In this regard, this study aimed to investigate the challenges ESL teachers faced in implementing e-learning during COVID-19. Using a qualitative approach, this research was a case study which involved 20 primary ESL teachers. Data collection was done through an in-depth interview to explore teachers’ e-learning experiences and challenges in teaching the English language. Based on the findings, the majority of teachers expressed that the use of e-learning was effective with various limitations such as teachers’ readiness to adopt e-learning, accessibility to mobile phones and Internet connectivity, classroom management in term of low students’ participation and assessment. Thus, the researcher recommended more studies to highlight teachers’ insight regarding the significance of e-learning. ESL teachers, stakeholders, policy makers, and institutions can benefit from the results of the study and come out with practical strategies to utilize online sources for education in the pandemic situation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-200
Author(s):  
Judit Borszéki

International (operational and training) activities carried out by law enforcement officers have been accompanied by the growing realisation of the fact that it is essential for those involved in them to communicate efficiently, in one common language, basically English. However, even in the last few years, the gaps between the foreign language skills of the law enforcement professionals and the need for further foreign (mainly English) language training courses have been underlined several times in international professional and legal documents. Also, the fact that specific-purpose English language courses continue to be important content elements of the curricula both of national law enforcement training institutions and the two largest EU agencies involved in the training of police officers, as well as border and coast guards (CEPOL and Frontex), proves that this problem still exists. Using the qualitative research and providing an overview and evaluation of the most significant e-learning trends and tools used in teaching English for Law Enforcement by CEPOL and Frontex in the last decade, the paper discusses the progress made in this field in terms of both quality and methodology. It presents technical limitations of certain e-learning tools and points to the course developers’ ensuing realisation that the virtual or real presence of the teacher is indispensable in language courses.


Author(s):  
Christèle Joly ◽  
Nathalie Iseli-Chan

Growing use of information technology and communication (ICT) tools in language courses with communication at their core has brought opportunities as well as challenges in the predominantly conventional face-to-face context of the classroom. When the French programme in the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages at The Chinese University of Hong Kong started to integrate an e-learning platform into all language courses, students as well as teachers showed reservations and even disbelief. However, it was unexpected to observe such an interdependent relationship between new technologies and the conventional teaching approach. In this paper, the broad implications of the e-adoption applied to learning French as a foreign language are investigated to highlight students’ learning habits and learning process. The strategies used to make technology act as a facilitator across cultures, and various ways to savoir-faire diffusion are also discussed. The study shows how new technologies modify in-class teaching, while the traditional face-to-face teaching and learning approach can influence choices in the use of different web tools that lead to blended models of education.


EAD em FOCO ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcella Arianna Pinto de Oliveira ◽  
Sílvio Luiz de Paula ◽  
José Ricardo Costa de Mendonça ◽  
Andrezza Marianna Pinto de Oliveira

Busca-se neste trabalho sobre Educação a Distância compreender como se configuram as relações de e-mentoring entre professores e alunos no curso de graduação em Administração a distância oferecido por uma instituição pública federal brasileira. Como arcabouço teórico aborda-se o conceito de mentoria, suas características, funções e fases. Aborda-se ainda e-mentoring e Educação a Distância com suas características e relações. Realizou-se um estudo de caso; as técnicas de coleta foram entrevistas online com professores/alunos, observação não participante e análise documental, estudando-se os dados por meio de análise de conteúdo. Os resultados indicam que as relações de mentoria estabelecidas entre tutores e alunos configuram-se como e-mentoring, já que os tutores são mais acessíveis aos alunos e mantêm uma comunicação mais frequente, tanto por meio de diversas ferramentas de comunicação quanto por meio de encontros presenciais, além de fornecer apoio profissional e pessoal aos alunos. Já a relação estabelecida entre professores e alunos se configura como um outro tipo de relação, que não é de mentoria, pois as características não se enquadram nos conceitos desse construto.Palavras-chave: Educação, Educação a Distância (EAD), Ensino superior, Mentoria, E-mentoring. E-mentoring among Professors and Students on E-learning: This Case Study is about a Degree Course of Business Administration at Public InstitutionAbstractIn this research about e-learning, we try to understand how the e-mentoring relationship among Tutors and Students works in a Business Administration course offered at distance by a public Brazilian institution. As theoretical approaches, it is observed the concept of mentoring, its features, functions and phases. It also covers e-mentoring and distance education with its characteristics and relationships. A case study was made, the data collection techniques were an online interview with tutors/students, non-participative observation and documental analysis on content analysis theory. The results demonstrate that the mentoring relationship between Tutors and Students can be defined as e-mentoring: they are accessible to the students and keep intense communication on face-to-face meetings and also by the online tools provided on the course platform. On the other hand, the relationship established by Tutors and Students cannot be defined by e-mentoring due to lack of connections on the e-learning concepts.Keywords: Education, E-learning, Graduation degree, Mentoring, E-mentoring.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 229
Author(s):  
Ahmad Alkhawaldeh

This study attempted to evaluate Gilly Salmon’s Five-stage e-learning Model and its possible contribution to learning English language skills by surveying the related literature and obtaining perspectives of some EFL lecturers in Jordan during the 1st semester, 2018–2019. A convenient sample of twenty EFL lecturers participated in a semi-structured interview to reflect on the contribution of the five-stage model to English language instruction. The study revealed some strengths and drawbacks of the above model. While acknowledging the existence of several positive attributes of this model such as exhibiting coherence and being structural and developmental and featuring the engagement of learners via collaborative language learning, this model, according to some EFL specialists, demands further improvement to highlight, for instance, face-to-face mode of language instruction and to be more spiral and bi-directional. The study called for integrating assessment into the model to monitor learner’s learning progress. It also called for achieving independent language learning and enabling learners to transfer their learning beyond the model’s final stage of development. It was suggested that the above model should be modified to account more adequately for online English language learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1478-1483
Author(s):  
Montchatry Ketmuni, Piyanuch Sawatyothin

This research was funded by Faculty of Liberal Arts, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi (RMUTT). The purposes of this research were to 1) determine entrepreneurs’ attitude toward English proficiency of RMUTT interns in the second semester in academic year 2016, and 2) to study the entrepreneurs’ opinions for improving the content of English language courses. The 400 entrepreneurs participating RMUTT internship were selected by multi-stage sampling. The research instrument was a questionnaire (α = 0.94). The statistics used for data analysis were frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and f-test. Findings of the research revealed that the organizations moderately used English language in workplace and using English in a workplace had no significant difference among types of the organizations. Most organizations did not require English language on recruitment process. According to the entrepreneurs’ opinions, all English skills of RMUTT interns were at a moderate level. The highest of each skill was listening to the supervisors’ instructions with technical terms, speaking English for everyday use, reading emails or business letters, and filling in forms. The entrepreneurs recommended writing email correspondence, filling in forms, and note-taking in English. Speaking with confidence was also suggested as well as more listening and reading practice.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christèle Joly ◽  
Nathalie Iseli-Chan

Growing use of information technology and communication (ICT) tools in language courses with communication at their core has brought opportunities as well as challenges in the predominantly conventional face-to-face context of the classroom. When the French programme in the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages at The Chinese University of Hong Kong started to integrate an e-learning platform into all language courses, students as well as teachers showed reservations and even disbelief. However, it was unexpected to observe such an interdependent relationship between new technologies and the conventional teaching approach. In this paper, the broad implications of the e-adoption applied to learning French as a foreign language are investigated to highlight students’ learning habits and learning process. The strategies used to make technology act as a facilitator across cultures, and various ways to savoir-faire diffusion are also discussed. The study shows how new technologies modify in-class teaching, while the traditional face-to-face teaching and learning approach can influence choices in the use of different web tools that lead to blended models of education.


2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abtar Kaur ◽  
Ansary Ahmed

E-learning has become ingrained in conversations that border around learning, however, how much and how effectively e-learning is practiced and understood is an issue that needs further investigation. This paper will first provide an overview of elearning practices in Malaysia followed by detailed findings of e-learning practices at Open University Malaysia. Findings of a survey done on 26 Malaysian organizations show that only 4% truly practice some form of e-learning. Nevertheless most participants in the survey noted that e-learning will be the preferred choice in time to come. The survey also shows that most organizations are still very comfortable with a blended style of learning or training. Findings of a research conducted at Open University Malaysia (OUM) shows that as a new player in e-learning initiatives, the OUM has achieved much especially in ensuring that its over 30,000 students are practicing some form of e-learning. At OUM, although self-managed and face-to-face learning are the preferred choices, much effort and resources are pumped into elearning in ensuring that OUM has the right mix for its blended mode. The paper will present a report on findings of e-learning and explicate issues within to determine how e-learning efforts can be further refined to support the overall blended pedagogy practiced at OUM.


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