Recent Research Developments in Learning Technologies (2005) 1

1
2
3 Drawing upon e-learning tools in English-as-a-Foreign-
4 Language university tuition: lexis and grammar
5
6 E. de Gregorio-Godeo*,1
7 1
8 Departamento de Filologia Moderna, Facultad de Letras, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Avda.
Camilo Jose Cela, s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
9
10 This paper reports an ongoing experience integrating the use of e-learning in English-as-a-Foreign-
11 Language (EFL) university tuition. Focusing on such fundamental domains for the language-learning
12 process as lexis and grammar, we discuss the teaching-and-learning strategies activated throughout the
13 undergraduates’ use of the virtual laboratory set up to allow EFL learners access the online lexical and
14 grammatical resources designed to implement the programme. Attention is paid to the didactic and
15 pedagogical premises followed for the incorporation of ICTs within the overall teaching-and-learning
16 framework characteristic of traditional college education. In addition to describing the e-learning
17 collaborative tools selected for the virtual laboratory, and the organization of the laboratory as such,
practical consideration is given to curricular design and teachers’ tutoring action within the programme.
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Finally, the paper takes into account the implications of the project for further educational contexts as in
19 continuing/adult education.
20
21 Keywords e-learning; vocabulary; grammar; EFL; teaching/learning strategies; collaborative tools; virtual
22 laboratories
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24
25
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1. Introduction
27 More and more experiences are currently attempting to integrate e-learning and blended learning
28 processes in Spain not only within English Philology undergraduate studies, but also within English-
29 language subjects taught in university degrees other than English Philology. Recent research on English-
30 as-a-Foreign-Language (henceforth EFL) teaching and methodology is focusing on the use and benefits
31 of Internet resources [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. This paper accounts for the way whereby the use of an appropriate
32 self-study methodology may contribute to using the resources available on the Internet as an invaluable
33 instrument to increase and improve the lexical and grammatical competence of university students of
34 English.
35 This case study presents an ongoing experience developed with undergraduate EFL students from the
36 English Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). After discussing the fundamental role of
37 the multimedia language laboratory in this process, a selection of resources dedicated to the acquisition
38 of grammar and vocabulary will be introduced. A methodology for the self-access use of such e-learning
39 instruments will be presented next, as well as the curricular design process undertaken to implement this
40 self-study approach. The results obtained to date will be finally contemplated, focusing on some possible
41 generalizations of the experience.
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43 2. Presenting an experience introducing e-learning tools into EFL
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45 university tuition
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47 2.1 The multimedia language laboratory in foreign-language university tuition
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49 Most English departments in Spanish universities happen to be provided with a multimedia language
50 laboratory with access to the Internet. Although undergraduates are often encouraged to actively draw
51
52 *
e-mail: Eduardo.Gregorio@uclm.es, Phone: +34 926295300 ext.: 3128, Fax: +34 926295312

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1 upon such online resources in order to improve their lexical and grammatical competence, more often
2 than not they claim to feel overwhelmed by the chaos and amount of resources available on line.
3 The English-Department multimedia language laboratory at Castilla-La Mancha university includes
4 different types of materials for language learners, to wit, traditional didactic materials; authentic
5 materials more or less didactically biased; teacher-created resources; reference works; various kinds of
6 assessment tests; documentaries; films; etc. Such materials and documents are of book-, video-, audio- or
7 CD-format. In addition to such documents, the language laboratory has become something of a virtual
8 laboratory, for it includes a selection of websites and online tools specifically designed for EFL learners.
9 Such websites have been placed on the screen of individual laboratory booths in the form of links, but
10 may also be accessed from the language laboratory web page anywhere else. Resources are thus accessed
11 by clicking on their identifying icons. In the same way, an online computerized database provides a
12 catalogue of the resources available in the language laboratory considering – whenever its is possible –
13 descriptive parameters such as:
14 ƒ title
15 ƒ reference inside the language laboratory
16 ƒ format
17 ƒ author
18 ƒ publishing firm
19 ƒ type of document
20
21
22 2.2 Selecting appropriate Internet resources
23 In an attempt to implement a profitable self-access process in the course of students’ e-learning sessions
24 in the language laboratory, a range of online resources specifically designed for EFL learners have been
25 selected. Online tools have been organised according to relevant factors for language learning and
26 teaching processes. This classification is as follows:
27 ƒ grammar resources
28 ƒ lexical resources
29 ƒ reading comprehension resources
30 ƒ listening comprehension resources
31 ƒ speaking resources
32 ƒ writing resources
33 ƒ pronunciation resources
34 ƒ culture and civilization resources
35 Nonetheless, online materials are currently undergoing more through cataloguing, so that learners may
36 direct their self-access activity as much as possible by selecting materials in accordance with their
37 personal needs. Online resources are accordingly being catalogued on the basis of more detailed
38 classification parameters, namely:
39 ƒ level:
40 * beginners
41 * intermediate
42 * advanced
43 * (post-)Proficiency
44 ƒ field/speciality:
45 * English for general purposes
46 * English for specific purposes (business English / English for tourism / English for
47 engineering / etc.)
48 * International exams preparation in EFL (Cambridge First Certificate / Cambridge
49 Proficiency / TOEFL / Pittman / Trinity / etc.)
50 ƒ learning objectives and communicative skills:
51 * oral comprehension
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1 * written comprehension
2 * spoken production
3 * written production
4 * grammar
5 * vocabulary
6 * pronunciation and intonation
7 * culture and civilization
8 ƒ type of exercises and activities:
9 * level tests
10 * cloze tests
11 * rephrasing
12 * multiple-choice exercises
13 * repetition exercises and drills
14 * comprehension activities
15 * dictations
16 * translations
17 * guided activities
18 * creative activities
19 ƒ genres:
20 * films
21 * documentaries
22 * short stories
23 * newspapers articles
24 * reviews
25 * etc.
26 ƒ further categories of practice:
27 * British and American English
28 * Register (formal and informal English / slang / spoken English / etc).
29 ƒ Internet collaborative tools:
30 * e-mail
31 * chatrooms
32 * forums and newsgroups
33 * distribution lists
34 * search engines
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36
37 2.2.1 Lexis and grammar online tools for EFL learning
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39 The range of online resources available in the virtual language laboratory comprises, among other
40 materials, the following ones:
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42 2.2.1.1. Grammar online resources
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44 Theoretical and practical approaches to different areas in the field of English grammar may be found in
45 websites such as:
46 ƒ <http://www.eflnet.com/grammar/grammarpage.htm>
47 ƒ <http://www.grammarbook.com/Default.htm>
48 ƒ <http://www.better-english.com/grammar.htm>
49 ƒ <http://www.grammarnow.com>
50 ƒ <http://www.a4esl.org/q/h/grammar.html>
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1 2.2.1.2. Lexis online resources

2
The websites currently being employed by students to deal with theoretical and practical approaches to
3
EFL coverage of vocabulary are as follows:
4
ƒ <http://www.vocabulary.com>
5
ƒ <http://www.quizzes.englishclub.com/vocabulary.htm>
6
ƒ <http://www.a4esl.org/q/h/vocabulary.html>
7
ƒ <http://www.ohion.edu/esl/english/vocabulary.html>
8
ƒ <http://www.manythings.org/menu.html>
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11 2.3. Self-access methodology for the use of e-learning resources
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Students’ use of e-learning tools in the multimedia language laboratory is carried out by following a self-
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study perspective. Therefore, learners draw upon online materials within an autonomous-learning
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process allowing them to satisfy individual learning needs in order to achieve overall linguistic
15
requirements within their degree studies.
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Following the approach to self-access developed at the University of Nancy-2 (France) by various
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authors [6, 7, 8, 9, 10] at the CRAPEL (Centre de Recherches et d’Applications Pédagogiques en
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Langues [Centre for Research and Pedagogic Applications in Modern Languages]), undergraduates’
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autonomous work is based on a negotiation process between the self-student and the counsellor as
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regards a number of dimensions defining the learner’s self-study programme. Such dimensions include:
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(1) individual objectives and learning needs; (2) materials and resources to use; (3) methodological
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approach to follow, chiefly, activation of appropriate teaching-and-learning strategies; (4) timing of
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personal work; and (5) self-assessment of work undertaken. Personal counselling interviews are often
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articulated in the form of e-tutoring interactions via e-mail, and help students as a guide for their
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autonomous activity in the multimedia language laboratory, ensuring that they employ online resources
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and collaborative tools in a satisfactory and profitable manner for their self-directed learning process.
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29 2.4. Designing course curriculum
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31 The use of e-learning tools may be implemented in an independent way in the multimedia language
32 laboratory with no relation whatsoever with further face-to-face learning processes in institutions like
33 university. The multimedia language laboratory will thus become a resource centre where a team of
34 counsellors will assist self-students in developing their independent-study programmes by monitoring
35 their correct activation of learning strategies in this process.
36 However, this experience accounts for a blended-learning programme integrating e-learning and
37 conventional face-to-face full-time learning, so that English-Philology undergraduates may improve and
38 consolidate their lexical and grammatical competence in a wider EFL-acquisition process. Therefore, two
39 thirds of the total tuition time will be devoted to conventional face-to-face teaching, the remaining one
40 third being devoted to the self-access activity developed by students in the language laboratory
41 completing e-learning work. Considering the global EFL learning objectives of a class as a whole,
42 students will draw upon online resources to improve their lexical and grammatical knowledge of English
43 according to individual needs and personal deficiencies within such general framework, whose basic
44 learning goals are to be achieved by the whole of the students studying EFL at a certain level. This
45 autonomous work will have been supervised by a counsellor after the corresponding negotiation process.
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47 3. Results of the experience to date
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This integration of self-access use of online resources with face-to-face full-time tuition in EFL subjects
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is producing remarkably positive results. A virtual language laboratory has been set up including an
50
online database facilitating the students’ personal use of Internet resources designed to develop their
51
lexical and grammatical competence in EFL. The multimedia language laboratory has thus been
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1 conceived of as a resource centre for the students’ autonomous activity. Such independent work
2 guarantees individual coverage of personal deficiencies and requirements within the broader group-work
3 framework of learning objectives in EFL subjects within the B.A. curriculum in English Studies.
4 Grammar and vocabulary websites have been chosen insofar as adequate for individual self-access
5 work. This incorporation of self-access use of e-learning tools into the overall face-to-face teaching
6 practices has been institutionalised in the degree curriculum in terms of tuition time in the language
7 laboratory, students’ attendance and personal-work reports or counselling sessions. In addition, a number
8 of opinion polls and surveys have been carried out among teachers and students, facts and figures
9 revealing a steady improvement of academic results in EFL subjects over the past four years.
10 Moreover, as substantiated by the above-mentioned surveys, this approach evidences a remarkable
11 satisfaction and motivation in the students, given the opportunity which they are offered to compensate
12 for individual weaknesses within the overall learning framework of EFL subjects. In particular, they
13 claim to appreciate the guidance provided by counsellors helping them to define their autonomous e-
14 learning activity to fit in with the overall group-work learning goals.
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16 4. Discussion and conclusions: possible generalization of the project
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18 The experience described proposes mechanisms for the creation of e-learning and blended-learning
19 programmes in foreign language tuition at university by drawing upon Internet tools. Such online
20 resources are exploited by means of systematic working methodologies under the broad supervision of
21 counsellors monitoring their self-access utilization. This use of Internet to consolidate the lexical and
22 grammatical competence of EFL learners happens to be particularly adequate for students who are
23 unable to commit themselves to traditional full-time face-to-face tuition programmes. Focusing on
24 grammar and vocabulary within larger processes of EFL learning at university, this experience has shed
25 light on the new roles that teachers and students may perform when actively drawing upon e-learning
26 tools for learning EFL and other foreign languages.
27 This model may therefore be applied in further areas of EFL teaching-and-learning processes, such as
28 reading and listening comprehension, writing and speaking, etc. Similar e-learning processes may be set
29 up for modern languages other than English as well, not only in degree studies specialised in such
30 languages, but also in the foreign-language teaching offered as a complement for other degree courses
31 (e.g. medicine, law, engineering, science, etc.). Such an institution as university may also offer similar
32 tuition projects in programmes of continuing and adult education for individuals whose main objective is
33 not obtaining a university degree but updating their knowledge of foreign languages or starting learning
34 new languages, taking full advantage of e-learning or blended-learning programmes developed by
35 universities.
36
37
38
39 References
40
41 [1] C. Gitsaki and R.P. Taylor, Internet English (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000).
42 [2] D. Teeler and P. Gray, How to Use Internet in ELT (Longman, London, 2000).
[3] M. Warschauer and R. Kern, Network-Based Language-Teaching: Concepts and Practice (Cambridge University
43 Press, Cambridge, 2000).
44 [4] G. Dudenay, The Internet and the Language Classroom (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001).
45 [5] J. Stephenson, Teaching and Learning Online (Kegan Paul, London, 2001).
46 [6] M.J. Gremmo, Melanges Pedagogiques CRAPEL 22, 9 (1995).
47 [7] M.J. Gremmo, Melanges Pedagogiques CRAPEL 22, 33 (1995).
48 [8] M.J. Gremmo and P. Riley, System 23, 51 (1995).
49 [9] P. Riley, Melanges Pedagogiques CRAPEL 22, 105 (1995).
50 [10] H. Holec, in: Conseil pour la Cooperation Culturelle (ed.), Strategies dans l’apprentissage et l’usage de langues
51 (Council of Europe, Strasburg, 1996), 73-132.
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