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No description available.

The success or failure of a course is, to a great extent, dependent on the level of motivation and commitment of the learners. Such motivation and commitment are, however, difficult to establish and maintain, especially in an on-line course. Social relations within a class, and the willingness of learners to collaborate with each other, have an important role to play, but the constraints of time and distance are obstacles to fostering such social relations among students enrolled in on-line courses. It is not easy to encourage students to be collaborative when they are accessing the course at different times, from different locations. This thesis, however, seeks to demonstrate that the variety and complexity of the technologies used to deliver an on-line learning experience can help to overcome these challenges. When introduced and used in appropriate ways, the software, internet tools, even the data collection program used for statistical analysis can actually encourage and enhance participants' motivation to interact and learn in collaborative ways. This thesis is concerned with an on-line course created and delivered by the researcher, the aim of which was to foster a collaborative learning environment in which participants felt confident enough to share their work with others, and to offer and receive comments on their assignments. The primary aim was therefore not the direct teaching and learning of language, but the fostering of an environment in which the students felt comfortable working with the technology and with each other, as a pre-requisite for the acquisition of language through content-based activities. The study did not dwell on the effects of collaboration on language development but focused, rather, on how individual students collaborate in an online, e-learning course, what forms this collaboration takes, and how the pattern of collaboration changes as the course progresses. This focus allowed the researcher to look at ways collaboration affected the persistence and retention challenges of on-line learning experience. The course was designed for students learning EFL at a university in Korea. It lasts one semester, and is delivered using a virtual learning environment (VLE) program developed by the university. The course consists of 15 units to be completed at the rate of one a week. Each unit focuses on a different topic and consists of a reading passage and a listening exercise. This is followed by some writing activities, including a weekly written report, and recording assignments. The researcher was the instructor for this course, and made special interventions using appropriate technology (sometimes e-mail, other times Skype to make it more personal) to encourage students to work in pairs, and in group discussions, and to post their work in the VLE so that others could read and comment on it. The current study reports on the experience of running the course with one group of 47 Korean university students. Data was gathered from the learners‟ journals, their assignments, feedback and comments posted on the web board, and emails to the instructor. The VLE also recorded statistics showing the students‟ usage of the different components of the course, and how their use of these components changed and fluctuated as the course progressed. The results showed that in the process of completing the course the majority of the learners reported a strong sense of “belonging” to a learning community, developing a close rapport with other learners by sharing their work, exchanging comments and taking part in discussions. Students felt proud of their work as well as of the process of working together with other learners. In particular, the results suggest that opportunities for social interaction and feedback play a crucial role in developing the emotional connection which helps to create a collaborative learning environment and support an effective learning community. The evidence suggests that the appropriate use of technology when delivering an on-line course may, in fact, encourage collaboration because of two phenomena that are not always evident in a traditional, place-based classroom. These are anonymity and reciprocity. Anonymity makes it easier for students to share their work and ideas because, if a contribution is embarrassing, it may have less negative effect than in a face-to-face exchange. Reciprocity refers to the natural inclination of a student, having learned from others in the VLE, to give something back to the community.

This thesis explores the effect and effectiveness of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) as manifested in one specific electronic role-play (ERP) which was designed for a group of final year undergraduate students of international business (with German). The ERP task was informed by a sociocultural perspective of second language acquisition (SLA) and task-based learning, and was embedded in a constructivist approach. The purpose of the ERP was to create meaningful opportunities for advanced foreign language practice for higher education students which combine their language study with their main degree course. The task mimicked professional situations, incorporating skills students would be likely to encounter in their future workplace and required them to create the outline of a marketing strategy for a product of their choice to be launched on the German market. The ERP task and its effectiveness was researched through a qualitative research approach using case study methodology which encompassed three main methods: tracing semantic strands in student-produced texts in order to explore content-learning potential, output theory to evidence potential for language learning, and grounded theory in order to explore how students appropriate the computer environment while completing the task. The case study concentrated on comprehensive data collected through the core case study which represented the 6th time the ERP was used in class. Data collected during previous ERPs was used for triangulation purposes. The findings show that the task was successful in aiding students to acquire content and language knowledge. The self-directed learning approach facilitated students to follow their interests and to determine the direction of their marketing strategy, thereby ‘owning’ the learning process and the outcome. The research highlights different learner behaviour in the computer room environment and various ways in which the affordances were utilised. This research contributes to the empirical knowledge of effect and effectiveness of open task CALL as manifested in the ERP. Through the particular research approach the thesis contributes to the methodological knowledge in CALL.

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Several recent studies (e.g., Benson and Chik, 2010; Sockett, 2014) suggest that as a result of changes in technology and the concomitant emergence of a globalized culture, highly effective out-of-class, informal English acquisition is becoming more common. The present study compared high-level, well-motivated Central Brazilian classroom-trained learners (CTLs) with fully autonomous self-instructed learners (FASILs) of similar backgrounds. Using linguistic tests, a questionnaire and a structured interview, the study analysed group differences as well as individual differences in language proficiency, learner histories, behaviour, beliefs, and attitudes. The key research question asked whether there existed, in more than rare circumstances, FASILs who attained levels of proficiency at least as high as highly-motivated, well-trained CTLs? Furthermore, if the knowledge and skills of FASILs were, in some respects, superior to those of CTLs, what variables accounted for the advantage? FASILs significantly outperformed CTLs across a battery of linguistic tests measuring a range of knowledge and skills. Test results indicated that while CTLs tended to plateau at upper intermediate levels, FASILs generally improved through advanced levels, often achieving native-like levels of knowledge and use. The strongest contributing factor to proficiency was found to be self-determined motivation driven by a personalized relationship with English often marked by a transnational identity. The evidence suggests this type of motivation, significantly more associated with FASILs than CTLs, led users to engage deeply with the linguistic details of informal sources. The findings challenge dominant paradigms in several fields of SLA which prioritize expert regulation over independent discovery and controlled, collaborative environments over real-world contexts of use entered into for personal reasons. A hoped for consequence of this study is that SLA research and teaching practice will begin to recognize and promote rather than regulate or dismiss the unique learning arcs that more and more English learners experience in their everyday lives.