This dissertation investigated the perceptions and experiences of online adult language learners in higher education. This was a qualitative study of thirteen women enrolled in online Spanish courses at two south-central Texas institutions of higher education. Three findings emerged. Given the participants’ awareness of the social nature of language and their collective appreciation that language must be practiced orally to be acquired, they took responsibility for their learning by creating their own communities of practice with native Spanish speakers at work and at home. They bore the primary responsibility for their learning and shaped their acquisition contexts to include Spanish experts from their offline communities. This allowed the students to contextualize and personalize their new language knowledge and embody multiple learning roles. Language learning anxiety for these students was not located in the actual online learning tasks, but instead centered on socioculturally constructed understandings about language and their own personal and cultural connections to Spanish. The participants’ revealed the importance they place on demonstrating respect for culture through correct and precise language use. But instead of resulting in a barrier to their learning, the anxiety they experienced may have acted as an impetus in their continued Spanish study. Their insights into the sociocultural influences on language in formal and informal acquisition practices deepen our current understanding of foreign language affect and language learning anxiety. Finally, an in-depth analysis was done on the subgroup of participants identified as heritage language learners. Their belief in the cultural metanarrative of the “proper Tejana” led this group of south-central Texas women to reject the Texas-Spanish dialect, Tex-Mex. The need to acquire proper Spanish and to live linguistically and culturally in two distinct worlds of English and Spanish significantly affected their acquisition processes. The findings offer insights into Spanish learners’ perceptions of online language learning, their affective experiences learning Spanish as an adult, and the sociocultural connections they make to the Spanish language. The implications for future pedagogical design, online and off, are presented.

This report investigates the amount and types of feedback that are produced on the social language learning site Livemocha.com in response to learners’ written and oral productions. The data are 200 speaking and writing activity submissions with a total of 674 reviewer comments and 1,357 feedback tokens. Feedback is separated into 19 categories which take into account interpersonal communication as well as task-based and grammatical information. More than one-third of all feedback tokens consist of the reviewer encouraging, congratulating, or otherwise offering emotional support to the learner. This strongly indicates that Livemocha.com users are not solely focused on the mechanics of learning languages, but also are creating a welcoming community of practice. / text

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the actions of online language learners from an activity theoretical perspective. It also attempted to explain how the students' learning outcomes evolved from their online learning experiences. This explanation placed an emphasis on the learners' previous experiences, defining their activity systems, the use of mediational tools, and the resolution of contradictions. Within this activity theoretical case study a background survey, four interviews, and three field observations were conducted with seven foreign language students of an online Spanish course. The students' on-screen actions were recorded and subsequently documented in a video episode log. This log, the background survey, and the interview transcripts were coded for the a priori categories established in the research questions and for emergent themes. Seven mediational tools were identified, including a widespread use of online dictionaries and translators. The students attempted to use the mediational tools to gain control over their online language learning; however, as exhibited by the students' varying levels of regulation, some students were unable to reach or maintain self-regulation while using computer-based tools. In addition, the nature of the mediational tool use appeared to be influenced by the variety of linguistic backgrounds. Three levels of contradictions were identified including: conflicting-object contradictions, inter-activity contradictions, and technology-related contradictions. The findings of this study indicated that contradictions may be invisible to the subject of the activity. Furthermore, it was noted in this research that some students may have the capacity to identify the contradiction, yet they may not have the desire or motivation required to make the necessary change to further learning and development within the activity. Thus, contradictions may not always be resolved even when they are visible.

Indigenous worldviews are essential to successful language education, yet it remains a challenge to integrate them into current frameworks dominated by Western paradigms and pedagogies. This research addresses one aspect of the maintenance of cultural integrity for Indigenous languages as they are taught in a contemporary context. The purpose of this research is twofold: to explore the connections between Indigenous languages and the land, and to see how these connections are reflected in current language education practices. In particular, the study looks at the use of websites for Indigenous language education, with the goal of better understanding the potential for such placeless, global media to represent the inherently place-based nature of Indigenous languages. The study is based on an Indigenist research paradigm and employs the qualitative principles of Constructivist Grounded Theory. It incorporates a synthesis of current literature regarding connections between language and land, personal interviews with Indigenous language and culture experts, and a survey of 14 language education websites from Canada and the United States. Essential ties between land and language are revealed in the words of Indigenous and other writers, and in the thoughts and practices of Indigenous thinkers actively engaged with both land and language. These ties represent an intimate relationship to land that weaves together Indigenous knowledge, spirituality, history and identity. This study contributes to our understanding of the significance of land for Indigenous languages, and the importance of Indigenous worldviews for Indigenous education. / Graduate

This dissertation investigated the effects of instructor's self-disclosure using the Facebook social networking online platform on students' motivation types, attitudes, and performance in the course. The participants were 104 beginning French students enrolled in an online French course at a research one university in the southeast U.S. The participants were divided into a Facebook group, where they could access the instructor's Facebook profile throughout the semester, and a control group. Demographic data about the participants were gathered through a background questionnaire. Two instruments were used for determining respectively the types of motivation exhibited by students and their attitudes toward the course and its instructor. An open-ended exit questionnaire provided qualitative data about the participants' experience in the study. The results indicated that participants in the Facebook group experienced a significant shift in motivation type that research has determined as being beneficial for language learning. No such shift occurred in students assigned to the control group. However, there was no significant difference in attitudes toward the course and its instructor between the two groups. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in performance between the two groups. Qualitative data suggests that participants in the Facebook group were more inclined to relate with the instructor whereas participants assigned to the control group were more hermetic to the idea of instructor's self-disclosure through Facebook.

This study proposes to blend contemporary educational research in order to design an online instructional environment. The goal was to create an environment that would better educate learners about grammar use in higher education, given the complexity of the rule learning that was being asked of them. By blending approaches from tested educational research on cognitive information processing theories, schema theories, and situated cognitive theories in order to determine how language rules are best learned, eight design principles were derived for the instructional environment. A prototype of the environment was then developed. Two series of formative evaluations, one with a group of subject-matter experts (teachers, linguists, and instructional designers) and one with a group of students, were run against the instruction. Overall, it was found that a database-driven website employing user-defined variables to customize the instruction for each individual user was a useful way to achieve the goals of the study. / Ph. D.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The use of technology in teaching is often seen as a deus ex machina. Teachers and parents are quick to identify that the best way to improve teaching is the implementation of technology, by means of a Blended Learning approach. However, little thought is given to the practical considerations of this statement. Reflection on whether the Blended Learning approach can be implemented in the already established teaching practice or whether this necessitates a complete change in teaching methods rarely happens. This study aims to determine whether the incorporation of certain aspects of Blended Learning into an already existing teaching methodology results in a significant change in learners’ German performance. Grade 8 beginner German learners took part in this study during the third term of 2014. Two groups were identified: an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group did all homework assignments on the available online learning platform, Moodle, while the control group did homework assignments in the conventional way – on paper. At the end of the third term, learners’ examination results were compared to the results of the examination of the second term. The changes in the results of the two groups were compared to determine whether one group manifested a significantly greater change in results than the other. The outcome of the study is that incorporating only elements of a Blended Learning approach into an already existing teaching system, while keeping the methods of instruction constant and only changing the medium of homework delivery, does not have a significant influence on learners’ performance in German. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Geen Afrikaanse opsomming beskikbaar nie. / rs201508

In the technological world that characterizes the 21st century society, new specialized developments are applied immediately to the different social environments and, especially, in education. Language teaching is no stranger to this unstoppable progress, thanks to the widespread implementation of the internet and of the web 2.0 in particular. New technologies help and can sometimes replace the more traditional systems used in foreign language teaching by favoring autonomous learning at any time and in any place. In this doctoral thesis, I review the literature on foreign language learning motivation, styles, and strategies applied to autonomous online platforms. This is done to present and describe the theoretical underpinnings of the COMALAT virtual learning platform, which was designed and created at the University of Alicante as a European Project in cooperation with the University of Siegen in Germany and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. Then, I report on a quantitative study that explores the attitudes, learning styles and strategies of 80 A2-B1 level EFL university students that make use of COMALAT. Besides determining the profile of the participants, the study aims to demonstrate the effects of previous training in online language learning strategies. As main conclusions, the following stand out: (a) the students’ use of this platform increases their level of foreign language learning as they can adapt it at their own pace and dedication; (b) the virtual learning environment provides a greater learning effectiveness by combining materials which consider the different learning styles; and (c) the application of the appropriate online learning strategies can help students to solve the different learning problems they may encounter while doing a self-directed online language course.

Although there is significant research surrounding online foreign language education, there are still questions on whether the outcomes are comparable to those obtained in the traditional face-to-face classroom. This study examined four classes, two online and two face-to-face, where students took the second course of a 6-level program of English as a Second Language at El Bosque University in Colombia. The International Test of English Proficiency (iTEP) was administered to students before classes started in order to establish a baseline, and then again after the courses finished. This test evaluates English language proficiency per skill: speaking, listening, reading, writing and also presents an overall proficiency score and level. Variables such as socioeconomic strata, students’ age, instructors, previous experience with online courses, course completion, student satisfaction and attendance and time on course were also examined. Because not all online students completed all content of the course within the timeframe given, special attention was given to this variable. Results indicate that when comparing the scores of only the online students who completed all the content of the course with those of their face-to-face counterparts, there are no statistically significant differences in the outcomes of any of the four skills nor there is a difference in the overall scores; however this brings up the issue of time investment as it seems to vary based upon instructional method. A qualitative component was used to support the findings in this study. This component included instructors’ interviews, an end-of-course qualitative survey and class observations.