Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal 1(2)

SiSAL Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2, September, 2010, 68-71 CONTENTS: Volume 1, Number 2, September, 2010 •

Editorial by Jo Mynard (68-71)

Articles •

Principles and Procedures for Self-access Materials by Brian Tomlinson (72-86)

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Self-Access Language Learning in Museums: A Materials Development Project

by Lucy Cooker & Richard Pemberton (87-99)

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Self-Access Centers: Maximizing Learners’ Access to Center Resources by Benjamin L. McMurry, Mark W. Tanner & Neil J. Anderson (100-114)

Work in Progress •

Enhancing a Self-Access Website by Troy Rubesch (115-118)

•

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Modules in the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) for Success in the Global Workplace by Kevin Knight (119-128)

Summaries •

Developing Song Worksheets for a SALC by Simon Cooke (129-138)

Reviews and Resources •

Internet-Based Resources for Developing Listening by Ene Peterson (139-154)

•

Review of Open Culture Website by Anna Taylor (Gorevanova) (155-157)

Editorial Jo Mynard, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan

Welcome to the second issue of SiSAL Journal. The journal was launched in June 2010 and the first issue featured a range of articles from colleagues based in Japan. In my first editorial, I mentioned that we hoped that future issues would have more of an international flavour and we are delighted to be able to feature articles from colleagues from the UK, Estonia, Uzbekistan, the USA and also Japan in the current issue.

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SiSAL Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2, September, 2010, 68-71

The first issues of SiSAL Journal will contain articles connected by a broad selfaccess theme. The intentions behind this idea are to highlight the various facets of the field and to feature related articles together as a mini collection. The theme of this second issue is “materials and activities” which, of course, is a key component of good self-access learning.

It is appropriate that the first article is by Brian Tomlinson as he is well known for his work on materials development. In his article, Brian sets out some principles and procedures of self-access materials development. Brian proposes that 3 sets of principles (universal principles, delivery specific principles, and local principles) should be established before the materials development process even begins. This article is not only a good place to start when beginning a new materials development project, but could also be used to evaluate existing resources in a self-access centre.

In the second article, Lucy Cooker and Richard Pemberton describe a materials project in the UK which introduces ESOL learners to resources in the community through the provision of activities designed to be used when visiting museums. Lucy and Richard share results of a small survey designed to investigate users’ perceptions of the materials and conclude by suggesting other locations within the community that could be used as learning environments.

We are delighted to be able to reprint a recent article by Benjamin McMurry, Mark Tanner and Neil Anderson which originally appeared in the ELT-EJ in 2009. The authors describe a web-based system of helping learners find the materials they need in the selfaccess centre at their institution in the USA. The new web-based system was introduced to learners during the initial orientation, and results of a study indicate that this had a positive effect on self-access centre use.

The current issue also features three shorter articles from Japan; two “work in progress” pieces and one “summary” article. Troy Rubesch shares some insights related to a self-access website that operates alongside the physical centre at his institution. The numbers of people visiting the website has increased dramatically in recent months, and Troy briefly describes some of the main features which have attracted student interest.

Kevin Knight outlines a project proposal which involves the design of a self-study module for learners focussing on business English. The module draws on principles of outcomes-based education (OBE) and links career paths with English for Specific Purposes (ESP).

Simon Cooke provides a summary of some work on a materials development project at his institution related to using song lyrics. One of the aims of the project is to “make sure !$#

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the texts and tasks are as interesting, relevant and enjoyable as possible so as to exert a positive influence on the learners’ attitudes to the language and to the process of learning it” (Tomlinson, 2010, p. 90). Simon discusses the process of developing suitable worksheets to accompany songs for students working in a self-access centre in his context.

Finally, the current issue contains two contributions in the “reviews and resources” section. Ene Peterson takes a look at some of the benefits of using web-based listening resources for independent language study. Ene provides a very helpful selection of resource websites along with some suggestions for how they can be used. She even provides examples of worksheets accompanying some online listening texts that can be used by learners working independently.

Anna Taylor (Gorevanova) shares her views on website called Open Culture that is used at the British Council self-access centre in Uzbekistan. Anna discusses some of the many features of the website along with some of its strengths and weaknesses.

Upcoming issues The themes of upcoming issues are “motivation and beliefs” (December 2010 issue, deadline: November 1st and “skills development and practice” (March 2011 issue, deadline: February 1st). Reviews and resources are welcome for any issues, and if you have an idea for a full article or shorter contribution that does not relate to the upcoming themes, feel free to submit it nevertheless for consideration in a future issue. Guidelines can be found on the website http://sisaljournal.org/for-authors/

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Notes on the editor Jo Mynard is the Director of the Self-Access Learning Centre and Assistant Director of the English Language Institute at Kanda University of International Studies in Japan. She holds an Ed.D. in TEFL from the University of Exeter, UK and an M.Phil. in applied linguistics from Trinity College, Dublin. She has taught EFL in Ireland, Spain, England, the UAE and Japan, and has been involved in facilitating self-access learning since 1996.

References Tomlinson, B. (2010a). Principles of effective materials development. In N. Harwood (Ed.), English language teaching materials: Theory and practice (pp. 81-108). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Acknowledgements Many thanks to the contributors for choosing to submit their work to SiSAL Journal, to the reviewers who gave useful and timely feedback and to the editorial team for working hard to get the issue ready on time.

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Principles and Procedures for Self-Access Materials Brian Tomlinson (Leeds Metropolitan University)

Introduction Like all language learning materials, self-access materials need to be developed from principles driven by what is known about the needs and wants of the target users. In my view, there should be a specification of universal principles, delivery specific principles, and local principles before deciding what self-access materials to develop and how to develop them. Universal principles are principles of language acquisition and development (Tomlinson, 2007a) which are applicable to all learners everywhere regardless of their age, level, objectives, and context of learning.

Delivery specific principles are those which are peculiar to the means of delivering the materials (i.e. through self-access). Local principles are those which are peculiar to the specified target learners.

Universal Principles It is important to start the materials development process by developing universal principles. Otherwise, obvious local needs and wants dictate decisions and important learning principles are forgotten.

Ideally the universal principles should derive from the beliefs about language acquisition and development shared by the materials developers and agreement should be reached before the materials design process starts (Tomlinson, 2003a). The best way of doing this is for each developer to write down the basic beliefs they hold about how language is best acquired and developed. The team then discusses each other’s beliefs and decide on those that they all agree with. These beliefs are then converted into criteria which are used both to drive and to evaluate the materials which are subsequently produced. For example: Statement: Learners need rich exposure to the language in use.

Criterion: To what extent are the materials likely to provide rich exposure to English in use? !

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To be really useful for development and evaluation purposes, the criteria should be unambiguous, answerable, specific, and valid (Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2004).

Before continuing to the development of delivery specific criteria, it is useful to list for each universal criterion procedures for self-access materials that match the principle. For example, extensive reading, extensive listening and extensive viewing are self-access procedure which match the principle of rich exposure to language in use (see Principle of Language Acquisition 1 below).

Obviously the actual principles used will depend on the beliefs of the developers. Here is a sample of some of the universal principles which I have made use of in materials development and evaluation.

Principle of Language Acquisition 1 A pre-requisite for language acquisition is that the learners are exposed to a rich, meaningful, and comprehensible input of language in use (Krashen, 1999; Long, 1985).

In order to acquire the ability to use the language effectively the learners need a lot of experience of the language being used in a variety of different ways for a variety of purposes. They need to be able to understand enough of this input to gain positive access to it and it needs to be meaningful to them.

(Tomlinson, 2010a, p. 87) Principles of Self-Access Materials Development 1 1. Provide extensive reading, extensive listening, and extensive viewing materials which provide experience of language being used in a variety of text types and genres in relation to topics, themes, events, locations, and so on, likely to be meaningful to the target learners. One way of doing this is to timetable teachers to provide live ‘performances’ of stories, jokes, extracts from novels and plays, anecdotes, newspaper articles etc in a closed off area of a self-access centre.

Copies of the texts could be made available for interested learners to take away and file in their Anthology of Interesting English.

2. Encourage the learners to experience the extensive materials holistically and enjoyably, but also provide opportunities to revisit the materials to discover more about how the language is used. For ideas for creative follow up activities for !

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extensive reading see Fenton-Smith (forthcoming 2011) and for ideas for noticing activities after video clip viewing see Stillwell, McMillan, Gillies, and Waller (forthcoming 2011).

3. Make sure that the language the learners are exposed to in all their self-access materials is authentic in the sense that it represents how the language is typically used. If many of their texts are inauthentic because they been written or reduced to exemplify a particular language feature then the learners are unlikely to acquire the ability to use the language typically or effectively.

For discussion of the value of authentic materials see Day (2003), Gilmore (2007), and Mishan (2005).

Principle of Language Acquisition 2 In order for the learners to maximise their exposure to language in use they need to be engaged both affectively and cognitively in the language experience (Arnold, 1999; Tomlinson, 1998a, 1998c, forthcoming 2010, forthcoming 2011a).

If the learners do not think and feel whilst experiencing the language, they are unlikely to achieve language acquisition and development. Thinking whilst experiencing language in use helps to achieve the deep processing required for effective and durable learning (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) and it also helps learners to transfer high level skills such as predicting, connecting, interpreting and evaluating (Tomlinson, 2007a). “Feeling enjoyment, pleasure and happiness, feeling empathy, being amused, being excited and being stimulated are most likely to influence acquisition positively but feeling annoyance, anger, fear, opposition and sadness is more useful than feeling nothing at all� (Tomlinson, 2010a, p. 89). This is true of learners’ responses to the content of what they are reading, writing, listening to or saying but the emotions stimulated by the self-access learning experience need to be positive and pleasurable (Hurd, 2008).

Principles of Self-Access Materials Development 2 1. Prioritise the potential for engagement by, for example, basing a unit of selfaccess materials on a text or a task which is likely to achieve affective and cognitive engagement rather than on a teaching point selected from a syllabus. !

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One way of doing this is to make use of controversial texts which are likely to provoke a reaction. Another way is to encourage learners who have read, listened to or viewed the same text to get together and discuss it. Yet another way is to set tasks for the learners to complete which have non-linguistic outcomes which can only be achieved through thinking about the task and developing strategies for its completion (van den Branden, 2000). Problem solving tasks are particularly useful for stimulating engagement, especially if you get the learners to record their thinking process as well as their solution (Mishan, forthcoming 2010).

2. Make use of activities which get learners to think and feel before, during, and after using the target language for communication. One way of getting learners to do this is to get them to record their views on a topic before, whilst, and after viewing a video clip which focuses on different attitudes towards this topic (e.g. the giving of aid to African countries).

3. Develop materials in which the learners select or find their own text to use with a set of generic activities and materials which provide a choice of routes and activities for the learners to select from (Maley, 2003, forthcoming 2011; Tomlinson, 2003b).

Principle of Language Acquisition 3 Language learners who achieve positive affect are much more likely to achieve communicative competence than those who do not (Arnold, 1999; Tomlinson, 1998c).

Language learners need to be positive about the target language, their learning environment, and their learning materials. They also need to achieve positive selfesteem and to feel that they are achieving something worthwhile (de Andres, 1999).

Principles of Self-Access Materials Development 3 1. “Make sure the texts and tasks are as interesting, relevant, and enjoyable as possible so as to exert a positive influence on the learners’ attitudes to the language and to the process of learning it” (Tomlinson, 2010a, p. 90).

2. Set achievable challenges which help to raise the learners’ self-esteem when success is accomplished. Then provide the learners with a means of recording

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their success (e.g. encourage the learners to put together spoken and written compilations of “performances� they are happy with in the self-access centre).

Principle of Language Acquisition 4 Language learners can benefit from noticing salient features of the input.

If learners notice for themselves how a particular language item or feature is used (Schmidt & Frota, 1986; Tomlinson, 2007b) they are more likely to develop their language awareness (Tomlinson, 1994; Bolitho et al., 2003). They are also more likely to achieve readiness for acquisition (Pienemann, 1985). Such noticing is most salient when a learner has been engaged in a text and then returns to it to make discoveries about its language use. This is likely to lead to the learner paying attention to similar uses in subsequent inputs and to increase the potential for eventual acquisition.

Principles of Self-Access Materials Development 4 1. Develop self-access materials which make use of a text-driven approach (Tomlinson, 2003b) in which the learners are first of all provided with an experience which engages them holistically (e.g. listening to a song), then encouraged to articulate personal responses to the experience, and are finally invited to return to the experience in order to focus on a specific linguistic or pragmatic feature of it (Tomlinson, 1994). Learner access to these materials should be from their selection of a text to experience.

2. Develop experiential and analytic activities which focus on problematic features of the language (e.g. the English article system). Learner access to these materials should be from their selection of a problematic feature.

3. Provide starter materials and a guide for research projects which involve the learners in a search for extra authentic materials to help them make discoveries about a specific feature of language use (Tomlinson, 2010b).

Principle of Language Acquisition 5 Learners need opportunities to use language to try to achieve communicative purposes. !

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Communicating in the target language allows learners to gain feedback on the hypotheses they have developed and on their ability to make use of their hypotheses effectively. If they are interacting, they are also being pushed to clarify and elaborate (Swain, 2005) and they are also likely to elicit meaningful and comprehensible input from their interlocutors.

Principles of Self-Access Materials Development 5 1. Provide many opportunities for the learners to produce language in order to achieve intended outcomes rather than to just practise specified features of the language.

2. Make sure that the output activities are fully contextualised in that the learners are responding to an authentic stimulus (e.g. a text, a need, a viewpoint, an event), that they have specific addressees, and that they have a clear intended outcome in mind (e.g. to persuade somebody to change their mind or to suggest improvements to the self-access centre).

3. Provide as many opportunities as possible for real communication with real people (e.g. letters to the press, phone calls to companies, or discussion groups in the self-access centre).

4. Try to ensure that opportunities for feedback are built into output activities and that as much of this feedback as possible is real (e.g. answers to letters and phone calls or responses to requests).

For more detailed discussion of these and other language acquisition principles see Tomlinson (2010a). Gardner and Miller (1999) advocate the use of authentic materials, providing a variety of types of materials to cater for different learning styles, guiding learners to contribute to the development of their own self-access materials, and making use of activities in self-access centres which promote learner enjoyment.

McGrath (2002) considers ways of making use of authentic materials in self-access centres, making use of technological advances, and developing materials which “go beyond familiar closed formats” (p. 149). McDonough and Shaw (2003) point out the “danger in providing too much that is related to classroom work [is that]: the materials become ‘further practice’ or ‘follow up activities’ rather than allowing the students to explore and learn new things by themselves” (p. 216). Mishan (2005) focuses on the importance of helping self-access learners respond to authentic texts and Cooker !

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(2008) draws attention to the widening role that authentic materials, graded readers, and drama-based language learning materials can play in a self-access centre.

Delivery Specific Principles Developers of self-access materials must be driven by universal language acquisition principles but must obviously also consider those principles which are specific to the delivery of materials to self-access learners. The following are some principles which I consider to be important for all self-access materials.

1. The materials should aim to offer learners more than they could get from a taught course or from unsupported immersion.

The materials should offer more learning time, more experience of the language, more variety of experience of the language, more individual support, and more feedback.

Barker (2010) states that no university course in Japan can give students sufficient learning time for them to develop communicative competence. His suggestion is to encourage ULI (unstructured learner interaction) outside the classroom through, for example, social clubs in which the medium of interaction is always English. His research demonstrates the value of such encouragement but even that is not enough. If we want our students to acquire more language and to develop their ability to use it effectively in a variety of contexts, modes, and genres (Tomlinson, 2007a), then we need to offer access to materials which offer them a lot more learning time.

Many learners doing language courses spend much of their time focusing on examples of the language and insufficient time experiencing language in use. Selfaccess materials should not offer them even more examples of the language but should offer more experience of the language in use instead (Tomlinson, 1998b, forthcoming 2011b). Language courses also tend to focus on a narrow range of genres and text types and to provide few opportunities for the teacher to find time to provide individual support and feedback in relation to the learner’s needs and wants. Selfaccess materials can and should provide more variety, support, and feedback, especially if they help learners to contribute to the development of materials likely to cater for their needs and wants (Cooker, 2010).

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2. The materials should aim to help the students to become truly independent so that they can continue to learn the language forever by seeking further contact with it.

Ideally self-access materials should be training learners to become less and less dependent on self-access materials and more capable of gaining from any exposure to the language in use that they experience. One way of doing this is to add a final activity to self-access materials which encourages the learners to seek extra authentic texts and to try to make discoveries from them (Tomlinson, 2010b). Another way is to actually advise the learners how to become more independent (Cooker & Torpey, 2004).

3. The materials should aim to be access-self and not just self-access materials.

Access-self activities should: 1. Be self-access in the conventional sense of providing opportunities for learners to choose what to work on and to do so in their own time and at their own pace.

2. Be open-ended in the sense that they do not have correct and incorrect answers but rather permit a variety of acceptable responses.

3. Engage the learners’ individuality in the activities in such a way as to exploit their prior experience and to provide opportunities for personal development.

4. Involve the learners as human beings rather than just as language learners.

5. Require a personal investment of energy and attention in order for learner discoveries to be made (as recommended in Tomlinson, 1994, 2007b, and as exemplified in Bolitho and Tomlinson, 2005).

6. Stimulate various left and right brain activities at the same time and thus maximise the brain’s potential for learning and development (as recommended in Lozanov, 1978, and by Hooper Hansen, 1999, forthcoming 2011).

7. Provide rich, varied, and comprehensible input in order to facilitate informal acquisition (as recommended, for example, in Krashen, 1999) and to provide opportunities for selective attention to linguistic or pragmatic features of the discourse (as suggested by Schmidt & Frota, 1986; Tomlinson, 1994; Bolitho et al., 2003). (adapted from Tomlinson, forthcoming 2011b)

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As can be seen from the principles outlined above, I am recommending a more humanistic approach to self-access activities which aims to develop both the declarative and the procedural knowledge of the learners, whilst at the same time making a positive and broadening contribution to their personal and linguistic development. For recommendations for humanizing language learning see Tomlinson (2003c).

4. Feedback should be available on all activities and should be focused on acknowledging achievement and facilitating improvement.

Often self-access materials provide answer keys. I would argue though that they need to provide a lot more. They need to acknowledge the achievements of the learners whilst at the same time providing information, references, suggestions, and further activities which will help them to improve even more. This is not easy with self-access materials but it can be done, for example, by: •

having a monitor available in the self-access centre, on the phone, or on email;

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providing samples of other learner work to compare with (Tomlinson, forthcoming 2011b);

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providing samples of proficient users’ performance on the same tasks;

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providing authentic samples of proficient “performance” in real life; or

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providing continuation tasks linked to self-evaluation of performance on a task.

See Cooker (2008, p. 129) for useful suggestions for what she calls creative feedback (i.e. feedback designed to help learners to “monitor their own progress and gain a sense of achievement”).

5. The tasks offered to the students should be as realistic as possible.

Many classroom activities are dissimilar to the authentic communication situations of real life (especially in exam preparation classes). Ideally self-access materials should include tasks which are life-like and should even include tasks which are real (e.g. writing letters to newspapers, writing to celebrities, writing to companies for information about products, phoning agencies for information, writing magazine reviews of films and/or restaurants).

6. The students need to know what is on offer to them. !

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Students need to know what is available to them, what it can offer them, and what it requires from them. This can be achieved through catalogues, poster promotion of materials, text messages, providing access to informants to answer questions, and students being encouraged to spread the word.

7. The students need easy and reliable access to the materials they want to use.

This is a very obvious point but it needs to be stressed as much as possible that you can have the best self-access materials in the world but they will not be valued or even used if it is difficult (or even inconvenient) for the students to gain access to them and to use them.

Other principles of self-access learning have been proposed by Cooker. See Cooker (2010) for discussion of the following principles for setting up a self-access centre: 1. Self-access learning should be truly self-access.

2. Students should have an integral role in the running of the centre.

3. Language learning should be fun.

4. The learning environment is important.

Local Principles Local principles are those which are specific to the context of learning which the students are located in. They will therefore differ from institution to institution.

The most effective way to develop local principles is to start by writing a profile of typical users of the self-access materials. Such a profile could include the following variables: • • • • • • • • • • •

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age gender levels purposes for learning the language amount of class learning time estimated time available for self-access previous experience of using self-access materials attitudes to self-access learning style preferences learner needs learner wants

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Information about some of these variables can be gained from records (e.g. age, gender, levels), but interviews, questionnaires, and focus group discussions might be needed to gain some of the other information required. The big mistake would be to rely on what teachers think the answers are. I well remember a materials development project in which the teachers said their teenage students were only interested in such topics as pop music, fashion, dancing, and sport, but the students said they wanted to focus on such topics as teenage pregnancy, marital violence, drug abuse, pollution, and corruption.

Here is an example of making use of a questionnaire. A questionnaire was designed to find out about learner preferences and then administered to the target learners. It was discovered that many of the learners were experiential, auditory, and dependent and yet “the prevailing learning styles for many of the materials are analytical, visual and independent” (Tomlinson, forthcoming 2011b). It was decided to add more extensive readers, more extensive listening material, more text-driven activities, and more opportunities for interaction with fellow learners and with tutors.

These additional materials were promoted to the target learners and then a questionnaire eliciting responses to the new additions was administered. Finally modifications were made to the additional material.

Conclusions There are many very successful self-access centres and self-access courses already developed. These, however, could still gain from developing principles as suggested above and then using them to evaluate their current practice and materials.

New centres and courses could gain a lot from developing their principles and then using them to drive the development (and subsequent evaluation) of their practice and materials. What is really important is to remember that self-access materials should be informed by Delivery Specific Principles and by Local Principles but should be driven

by Universal Principles. Cooker (2008) stresses this point when she criticises Reinders and Lewis (2006) for listing surface level criteria for self-access materials which “do not address real learning issues.” She quite rightly insists that criteria for evaluating self-access materials should be based on such core principles as “the ability to interest and engage learners, to be meaningful and challenging and to have a sustained positive impact” (Cooker, 2008, pp. 128-129).

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Notes on the contributor Brian Tomlinson is Visiting Professor at Leeds Metropolitan University. He has worked in Japan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, UK, Vanuatu and Zambia and has given presentations in over sixty countries. He is Founder and President of MATSDA (the international Materials Development Association) and has published many articles and books (e.g. Discover English, Openings, Materials Development in Language Teaching, Developing Materials for Language Teaching, Developing Language Course Materials, Language Acquisition and Development: Studies of Learners of First And Other Languages and English Language Learning Materials).

His most recent publication is a book with Hitomi Masuhara which reports the results of longitudinal research into materials development (Research for Materials Development in Language Learning). He now works freelance from his home in Birkdale, Merseyside.

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Tomlinson, B. (2003a). Materials evaluation. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 15-36). London: Continuum Press.

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Tomlinson, B. (2003c). Humanizing the coursebook. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 162-173). London: Continuum Press. .

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Tomlinson, B. (2010b). Helping learners to fill the gaps in their learning. In F. Mishan & A. Chambers (Eds.), Perspectives on language learning materials development (pp. 87-108). Bern, Peter Lang.

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Self-Access Language Learning in Museums: A Materials Development Project Lucy Cooker and Richard Pemberton School of Education, University of Nottingham

Abstract %

This paper reports on a project carried out at The University of Nottingham to create and evaluate English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) materials with the aim of exploiting the self-access language learning possibilities that museums offer. A series of thematic resources were produced and trialed with ESOL learners in the Lincolnshire area.

Feedback from the learners indicated that museums could have an important role to play in providing flexible language learning opportunities for ESOL students. The authors conclude by suggesting that other public facilities such as libraries, art galleries, botanical gardens and even football stadia could be exploited for this purpose.

Introduction Self-access language learning (SALL) is typically thought of as taking place in bespoke self-access centres, usually in a tertiary or secondary educational institution, where teachers or learning advisors are available to support students in their language learning journey. Self-access centres are usually construed as well-resourced spaces made up of designated physical areas, such as small sound-proofed rooms, large tables for group work, and open areas for discussion. In the centre learners have access to equipment such as televisions, audio players, and computers which they need to use learning materials. Often, learners can choose from a selection of materials designed to facilitate language learning such as books, DVDs, CDs, worksheets, games, newspapers and magazines, and online and computer-based resources. Alternatively, self-access centres might be construed as social spaces where learners can meet and thus create opportunities to use the target language.

Within this general framework, there are diverse styles of self-access centres (Gardner & Miller, 1999) and indeed there are well-documented alternatives to physical centres such as the graded reader delivery system described by Imrie (2009). What are less well-documented in the literature are the opportunities for SALL afforded by museums and other nontraditional learning environments. Such spaces are advantageous in that they offer two 87

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features which Cooker (2010) suggests are important for SALL: a “relaxed atmosphere” and opportunities for language learning which are “related to every day activity” (p. 7). This paper reports on a project carried out at The University of Nottingham to create and evaluate resources for ESOL learners to use in the self-access out-of-class learning environment of The Collection, Lincolnshire’s flagship museum of archaeology in Lincoln, UK. Firstly, we will give an overview of the need for ESOL language learning provision in Lincolnshire.

Secondly, we describe the process of materials design and the small qualitative study carried out to evaluate the materials.

Background Lincolnshire is England’s second largest county and is situated on the east coast, between Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire. Since 2000, the population of this rural county has grown significantly, with an influx of migrant workers from countries as diverse as Portugal, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Italy, Turkey, France, Spain, Iran, Iraq, and the Ukraine.

These migrant workers find employment in a variety of industries but mostly in the agricultural sector. They contribute significantly to the local economy and to the cultural diversification of Lincolnshire but language difficulties underlie many of the problems they face, with poor English language skills leading to general misunderstandings and even legal problems (Zaronaite & Tirzite, 2006).

A recent report into migrant labour in Lincolnshire, published in 2006, recommended greater flexibility in ESOL instruction. The authors argued that ESOL provision needs to be more readily accessible and to cater for different working patterns and diverse levels of proficiency (Zaronaite & Tirzite, 2006). To set this within a broader national context, the Independent Committee of Inquiry into ESOL chaired by Derek Grover recommended that the development and planning of the delivery of ESOL should be coordinated across the full range of government policies and the full range of providers (Grover, 2006). In policy statements from 2008 it is clear that ESOL provision designed to promote community cohesion was to be prioritised in a broader policy response to widespread fear of social fragility in many parts of Britain (DfIUS, 2008).

In an attempt to create more flexibility in ESOL provision in Lincolnshire, The University of Nottingham received funding from Lincolnshire County Council to develop a series of resources to be used by ESOL learners at The Collection. The Collection is a multiaward-winning, state-of-the-art archaeology museum situated in the centre of Lincoln, the

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capital of Lincolnshire. It receives approximately 70,000 visitors per annum and houses a permanent collection of artefacts spanning 300,000 years from the Stone Age through to the 18th century. Our specific goals were to develop materials to be used in preparation for the museum visit and while-visiting the museum for use by students at proficiency level Entry 1, 2, and 3 of the Adult ESOL Core Curriculum (developed as part of the Skills for Life initiative in 2001 (DfEE, 2001)). Learners at Entry 1, 2, and 3 are basic users of English – perhaps comparable to levels A1 and A2 of the Common European Framework.

Literature Review The review of previous research revealed a tension between the learning emphasis in a museum environment and that in a traditional ESOL classroom. In an ESOL class, the teacher is naturally focusing the learner’s attention on language. Classroom materials provide support in this by focusing on the four skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, as well as grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. In contrast, in museums the visitor is focused on the artefacts and education staff in museums are concerned with promoting “observation not reading” (Durbin, 1999, p. 95). There was a clear distinction, therefore, between the museums learning literature, which stressed the need for worksheets interpreting museum collections to focus visitors’ attention on objects and not the labels or interpretation panels, and the ESOL perspective, in which interpretation panels and labels combined with real objects are considered a rich language learning resource.

In addition to the academic literature, the research team also surveyed similar initiatives taken across the museum sector to support the language development of non-native English speakers and ESOL learners visiting public museums and galleries. Whilst there were a few excellent examples available, we aimed to address what we considered to be the two main weaknesses in some of the materials we found: an over-dependence on teachercontrolled activities and a lack of authenticity of task. Tomlinson (1998), for example, has argued for materials which engage the learner in the language and the task and which demand emotional responses. Cooker (2008) makes the case for greater ambiguity in the feedback given to learners working on materials designed for SALL: dealing with ambiguity is integral to the human language experience but can be uncomfortable for the learner who has been trained to expect that clear “right or wrong” answers will always be provided.

In summary, our survey of ESOL museum materials encouraged us to aim for the following:

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Interactive materials which require learners to both question and make links between the artefacts and stories within the museum.

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Creative materials which allow the user to contribute their favourite/most important elements of the museum visit.

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Materials which are not “passive” worksheets but give the user an opportunity to add their own views.

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Authenticity in terms of text and task.

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Materials which allow for ambiguity in the interaction to reflect everyday user experiences.

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Materials which make explicit the links with the ESOL core curriculum.

The other clear distinction we wanted to make with the materials we surveyed is that we wanted the materials for The Collection to maximise the self-access possibilities of the museum. In other words, we wanted them to be used by un-mediated, casual visitors to the museum, as well as by teachers and students in ESOL classes. Whereas the materials we surveyed from other museums were almost entirely focused on supporting classroom-based learning, we aimed to develop resources which could be accessed and used by learners independently and not just within a classroom context. This would go some way towards meeting the varying requirements of migrant workers who would be able to access the resources whenever the museum was open.

Materials Development (Examples of the materials can be downloaded from http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/section.asp?catid=23891) Given the need to provide a focus on language (from the ESOL perspective) and artefact (from the museum perspective), we decided on a two-part format: pre-visit materials to provide a general introduction to the museum and while-visiting materials with a contentbased theme.

Pre-visit Materials For each of Entry 1, 2, and 3 we developed pre-visit materials which introduced learners to The Collection and helped them plan for their visit. The materials gave learners opportunities to interact with authentic texts, such as the website and museum leaflets, to support the discovery of practical information that would be useful in preparing for a museum visit (e.g. opening times, directions, museum layout). Further pedagogical aims were to build 90

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schema about museums in general and provide guidance as to what kinds of artefacts they might expect to find in an archaeological museum; to introduce useful vocabulary for a museum visit (café, exhibition, find out, information, object); and to introduce learners to some basic learning strategies such as prediction, skimming and scanning, and guessing meaning from context.

The pre-visit materials were made available online for downloading and were distributed to local ESOL providers to use in class or to distribute to students to use independently. Copies of these leaflets were also made available in the museum. While this may seem counter-intuitive for the pre-visit materials (why do learners need pre-visit materials if they are already visiting the museum?), it was felt that this was a cost-effective way of advertising the materials and might encourage visitors to take them to give to friends and family.

While-visiting Materials The while-visiting materials were based around six themes with two for each level: ESOL Entry 1 ESOL Entry 2 ESOL Entry 3

• • • • • •

Clothing Food & Drink Money Death Animals Beauty

These thematic materials focused on the archaeological artefacts in ways that were relevant and meaningful to the learners' lives. For example, in the Food & Drink resource one activity directed learners towards ancient eating utensils and asked them which modern utensils they would use to eat particular contemporary British foods. The materials also focused on language in that they provided scaffolding and support for the language inputs in the form of labels and interpretation panels available in the museum. By incorporating picture dictionaries into the leaflets and including basic context building activities and alternative explanations of the interpretations, learners were able to use the museum as a rich self-access centre to develop their language proficiency.

The self-access concept was further evident in the design and availability of the materials. The resources were all self-access in that they were available to take freely inside the museum so that learners could use them outside of class, on their own, or with friends or family. The inclusion of clear navigation tools in the form of specially made maps and

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symbolic icons and the scaffolding of language, mentioned above, meant users could navigate their way through the materials without the direct support of a teacher. The materials were also “access-self” (Tomlinson, 1998) in that unlike most self-access materials they included some open-ended questions without a single, clear answer. These required learners to invest their own knowledge and personal experiences into the activity. Some of these access-self activities demanded some creative input from learners too, as they were asked to draw objects in the museum, or to make their own “collections” of objects that they found personally appealing. The inclusion of such activities, as well as the detailed structure outlined earlier, helps learners who are used to traditional language materials transition towards increased autonomy and the critical thinking that museums traditionally promote. Finally, it is important to point out that answer keys were made available at the museum reception desk and this was advertised on the leaflets themselves. The answer keys indicated correct answers where this was possible. For those open-ended, ambiguous, and access-self type questions discussed above, it was made clear that answers to these questions would vary and in some cases an example was provided.

Materials Evaluation The evaluation of the materials was concurrent with the development process and ensured that the views of ESOL learners were incorporated into the final design for the materials. Despite the small-scale, context-specific nature of the research, we could claim the outcomes are illuminative and might well contain data which is relevant to those organisations working within a similar context.

Research Questions Despite the relatively low numbers of ESOL learners involved in the project the evaluation followed a themed approach focusing on the following key issues: Is the language level of the resources appropriate for target users?

Are the materials helpful in terms of language development?

Are the materials helpful in terms of motivation to engage with the museum and its artefacts?

Do the materials enhance the museum visiting experience for ESOL learners?

Participants and Method Two classes of ESOL Entry 3 students (n=22) attending a Lincolnshire college were involved in the evaluation - one class of 13 students and the other a class of 9 students. The

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students participating in this study were from Poland, Thailand, Hungary, Lithuania, Iran, Turkey, and Oman.

The trialling sessions took place over two days (one day for each class of students) in the college and the museum and replaced one scheduled lesson. All ethical procedures were followed. The first half of each session was spent in class doing the Entry 3 pre-visit activity. The first author ran the session and the class teacher was present throughout. The second half was spent in the museum doing one of the thematic while-visiting materials.

Although the classes involved in the trial were Entry 3 level, both the ESOL Entry 2 and ESOL Entry 3 while-visiting resources were trialled. Commensurate with SALL theory, students were able to choose which resource they wanted to use. The numbers of students choosing each resource is shown in Table 1 (please note that here n=19 due to three students needing to leave after the first half of the session because of their work commitments).

After the pre-visit activity and the while-visiting activity the students completed a questionnaire giving feedback on the materials in closed and open ended question format. %

Table 1 Numbers of Students Who Chose Each of the Thematic Resources for Trialling Thematic resource

ESOL level

Number of students in trial

Money

Entry 2

4

Death

Entry 2

1

Animals

Entry 3

10

Beauty

Entry 3

4

Findings and Discussion Appropriacy of language level.

In writing the materials, we aimed to follow the language appropriate for each level as set out in the ESOL Adult Core Curriculum. The materials for the three proficiency stages used text at increasing levels of difficulty and amount. When asked about their perceptions of the English level of the materials, the students gave ratings of between “very easy” and “a little difficult” for both the pre-visit resources and the while-visiting resources. No “very

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difficult” ratings were given. More ratings of “a little difficult” were given to the writing components of the resources and more ratings of “very easy” were given to the reading components. The range of responses indicated that the resources were providing a balanced amount of support and challenge (Mariani, 1997) to learners without being overly demanding.

Figure 1. ESOL Entry 3 Students’ Ratings of English Level (Pre-visit and While-visiting Resources)

Figure 2 shows the same responses for the while-visiting materials in Figure 1 divided into responses for Entry 2 and Entry 3 materials. The majority of the Entry 3 students who rated the Entry 2 while-visting resources indicated that they found them “very easy” or “a little easy.” None of the students rated the Entry 2 resources as “a little difficult” or “very difficult.” In contrast the Entry 3 while-visiting resources were mostly rated as “a little easy” or “just right” with some ratings of “very easy” and “a little difficult.” This was reassuring as it suggested that higher level learners found the lower level materials easier than the materials written for their level. This indicated that the language level of the resources was appropriate for the target users.

Figure 2. ESOL Entry 3 Students’ Ratings of English Level (Entry 2 and Entry 3 Whilevisiting Resources)

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Further evidence for appropriacy of language level was found in the comments left by students in the open-ended section of the survey. One respondent said of the Entry 2 leaflet on Money: Reading the questions was just right for me and writing the answers a little easy One respondent said of the Entry 3 pre-visit resource: Questions was a little easy to understand, so with English-English dictionary we can do it very well. Can be a bit more difficul[t]. and one user of the Entry 3 thematic leaflet on Beauty wrote: I think this leaflet is suitable for E3 because there still has some new vocabulary and some grammar.

Perceived usefulness for language development.

Figure 3 shows very similar patterns of rating by survey respondents of the pre-visit and while-visiting resources in terms of their usefulness for language development. None of the participants considered the resources not to be useful in terms of improving their language ability. Slightly higher ratings were given to the reading activities in terms of their perceived usefulness.

Figure 3. ESOL Entry 3 Students’ Ratings of the Perceived Usefulness of the Resources for Language Development

Given the somewhat specialist nature of the learning environment, the relatively low proficiency level of the student respondents, and the positive response to the reading 95

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activities, it is perhaps not surprising that many of the student comments in the open-ended section related to vocabulary development: I can practise by reading. I find out some new words.

Reading was very useful, because I found a lot of new words, words order in the sentences.

Use many new words (differents) For me this worksheet to help me with my English because I learn new words.

But for others, the opportunity to use and practice English in general was commented upon: Leaflet makes me English found everything It was very helping for my English Although the sample of survey respondents was very small, we could conclude that the resources were helpful to these students in terms of language development.

Perceived usefulness for engaging with the museum and its artefacts.

Figure 4 shows how survey respondents rated the theme-based while-visiting materials as either “very useful” or “quite useful” in helping them engage with the museum and its artefacts. None of the respondents rated them as “not useful.”

Figure 4. ESOL Entry 3 Students’ Ratings of the Perceived Usefulness of the Resources for Engaging with the Museum and Its Artefacts

Comments from the respondents also suggested that the resources had added to the visitor experience for these non-native English speakers:

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THIS LEAFLET WAS VERY LEARN ABOUT THE COLLECTION This leaflet is very exciting and interesting mabe [make] kinds like this. leaflet learn about The Collection quick and easy Just quiet useful, because we found some information about some things. I would like to know more about everythink not just about few things :)

Limitations As mentioned previously, this was a small-scale materials development and evaluation project and the materials were designed for one museum site and were thus very context-specific. Only two out of three levels of materials were trialled and a small number of students, from only one ESOL level, were involved in the evaluation. The small number of participants was a result of the logistical difficulties in bringing ESOL learners from colleges around Lincolnshire to the museum and the fact that ESOL providers work to a tight examdriven schedule and thus were reluctant to sacrifice class time for research purposes. Despite these limitations, we feel that these data may still be illuminative for those involved in similar small-scale projects.

Conclusion To conclude, we can say that the aims of the materials development project were met in that learners were provided with an engaging resource for language development and for learning more about The Collection and the artefacts within. Furthermore, learners’ reactions to the materials were positive. In informal discussions with the researchers, some students reported that, compared to earlier visits to the museum, their experience as museum visitors had been enhanced by the materials.

Other scholars have advocated the use of museums, libraries, and police and fire stations as places that can bring a “motivating reality into ESOL learning” (Davies, 2008, p.

17) but, to our knowledge, the potential for these environments to be used as ESOL selfaccess learning environments for adults has not been fully recognised or exploited. In particular, ESOL learners who have a need for cognitively engaging, flexible, English language learning opportunities are able to make use of the linguistic features available in such spaces if they are given the right amount of support and challenge. As reported in this paper, such support and challenge can be offered in the form of learning materials which can be made available to students on a self-access basis with the materials made freely available

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for learners to use independently within the alternative learning space or, alternatively, as part of existing teacher-mediated learning opportunities. It is our recommendation that other outof-class self-access learning environments such as botanical gardens and even football stadia could provide equally motivating learning opportunities and should also be investigated as potentially enriching spaces for second language self-access learning.

Notes on the contributors Lucy Cooker is studying for a full-time PhD in learner autonomy in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, UK. Previously, Lucy taught at Kanda University of International Studies where she set up the award-winning self-access learning centre (SALC).

She has been involved in materials writing for self-access language learning for several years and has co-written seven editions of BBC Understanding the News in English for Kinseido.

Richard Pemberton is Associate Professor in TESOL in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he teaches and supervises MA and PhD students. He previously taught ESL at secondary and tertiary level in the UK, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, and Papua New Guinea. He co-edited Maintaining control: Autonomy and language learning (2009, with Sarah Toogood and Andy Barfield). His other research interests include L2 listening and vocabulary acquisition, and technology-enhanced language learning.

References Cooker, L. (2008). Self-access materials. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), English language learning materials: A critical review (p. 110-132). London: Continuum.

Cooker, L. (2010). Some self-access principles. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 1(1), 5-9.

Davies, B. (2008). Partnerships with museums, libraries, and agencies: Powerful learning in and outside the classroom. IATEFL ES(O)L Special Interest Group: The Newsletter of the IATEFL ES(O)L Special Interest Group (pp. 15-17). October 2008.

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DfEE: Department for Education and Employment. (2001). The skills for life survey: A national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills. London: DfEE. DfIUS: Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. (2008). Focusing English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) on community cohesion. London: DfIUS. Durbin, G. (1999). Improving worksheets. In E. Hooper-Greenhill (Ed.), The educational role of the museum (pp. 92-98). London: Routledge.

Imrie, A. (2009). Autonomy across the English curriculum through extensive reading.

Retrieved from http://independentlearning.org/ILA/ila07/files/ILA2007_016.pdf Gardner, D., & Miller, L. (1999). Establishing self-access - From theory to practice.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Grover, D. (2006). More than a language. Leicester: NIACE (Final report of the NIACE Committee of Inquiry on ESOL, Chaired by Derek Grover).

Mariani, L. (1997). Teacher support and teacher challenge in promoting learner autonomy.

Perspectives: A Journal of TESOL Italy, XXIII(2). Retrieved from http://www.learningpaths.org/papers/papersupport.htm Tomlinson, B. (1998). Access-self materials. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (pp. 320-336). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Zaronaite, D., & Tirzite, A. (2006) The dynamics of migrant labour in South Lincolnshire.

Spalding: South Holland District Council.

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Self-Access Centers: Maximizing Learners’ Access to Center Resources Benjamin L. McMurry, Mark W. Tanner, Neil J. Anderson Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA Abstract Although some students have discovered how to use self-access centers effectively, the majority appear to be unaware of available resources. A website and database of materials were created to help students locate materials and use the Self-Access Study Center (SASC) at Brigham Young University’s English Language Center (ELC) more effectively. Students took two surveys regarding their use of the SASC. The first survey was given before the website and database were made available. A second survey was administered 12 weeks after students had been introduced to the resource.

An analysis of the data shows that students tend to use SASC resources more autonomously as a result of having a web-based database. The survey results suggest that SAC managers can encourage more autonomous use of center materials by provided a website and database to help students find appropriate materials to use to learn English.

Autonomy In a plenary address, Nunan (2000) states: “Autonomy implies a capacity to exercise control over one’s own learning.” He says that autonomous learners should be able to determine the general focus of their learning, take an active role in the management of the learning process, and have freedom of choice with regards to learning resources and activities. Benson and Voller (1997) make similar claims.

They assert that autonomy means taking charge of one’s own education and learning.

Jones (1998) discusses various areas in which a learner can be autonomous. He discusses class work, homework, teacher-led autonomy, teaching oneself, full autonomy, and naturalistic immersion. Jones (1998) lists self-access with teacher-led autonomy.

Although, the distinction between the teacher-led autonomy and self-access may appear evident, self-access is often used synonymously with many other terms for autonomy. The definition of self-access is by far one of the most disputed. Many researchers and practitioners do not clearly show the relationship between autonomy and self-access. However, Sheerin (1989) defines self-access as materials selected by learners to reinforce a traditional teacher-led classroom. This definition can be !

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extended to engulf more areas of autonomy. Self-access actually refers to materials, people and other resources that learners can take advantage of to learn independently.

These learners may or may not be associated with a traditional class or course. The idea is that self-access allows students to choose the materials and activities for their individual learning experience.

Continuing this definition, we find that self-access can extend into many types of autonomous learning. In fact, full-autonomy would involve complete selfaccess, whereas homework uses the least amount of self-access. Figure 1 illustrates an adapted version of Jones’s (1998) spectrum. In this figure, we see that self-access stretches across all different types of autonomy.

Figure 1. Jones’ diagram representing scope of study with adaptations to show self-access (Jones, 1998, p. 379) Promoting Autonomy Teachers can promote autonomy without creating a teacher-dominated learning process. Sheerin (cited in Benson & Voller, 1997) points out that teachers have an important role in helping learners to become more autonomous. Thanasoulas (2000) suggests that autonomous learning is achieved when both cognitive and metacognitive strategies become part of the learner’s skills. Anderson (2002) defines metacognition simply as thinking about thinking.

Cognitive strategies deal primarily with the manipulation of input such as repetition or notetaking. Thanasoulas (2000) suggests that developing these skills will contribute to the overall development of autonomy in language learners. Wenden (1998) defines metacognition as the “facts learners acquire about their own cognitive processes as they are applied and used to gain knowledge and acquire skills in varied !

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situations” (p. 34). Metacognitive strategies are not learning strategies in the same way that cognitive strategies are. Metacognitive strategies deal with learning about how an individual learns. They involve techniques such as self-monitoring and selfevaluation. These are key aspects of self-access. If self-access truly involves selfmonitoring and self-evaluation, then self-access centers are essential in helping learners become more autonomous.

Using Self-Access Centers to Promote Autonomy In an effort to promote autonomy, many institutions have developed selfaccess centers. These centers have become increasingly more popular in the last few decades. The first such center was developed by CRAPEL (Centre de Recherches et d'Applications Pédagogiques en Langues) at the University of Nancy, France (Gremmo & Riley, 1995). Since then, centers have arisen in locations in the United States, throughout Europe, Asia, and elsewhere around the globe. The idea behind these self-access centers is to promote and facilitate autonomous learning. These centers may contain books, audiovisual equipment, and/or tutors. The purpose of these centers is to complement teacher instruction. Students can go to these places to participate in activities ranging from class homework to fully autonomous learning of language concepts.

However, for many institutions, autonomous learning is not defined as independent learning. In many situations, a center exists, but nothing is done to promote learner autonomy. The center quickly becomes a computer lab or library, but maintains the name, claiming that it is a self-access center. In short, there are many self-access centers, but the information we have with regards to their efficacy and functionality is limited.

Cotterall and Reinders (2001) explore how a self-access center at the University of Victoria in Wellington (VUW) was being used. They also wanted to learn about the students’ perceptions of the center. Students at VUW reported in a survey that 70% of the work they did was work they wanted to do. In addition, they reported one learner felt “that her class work (i.e., work directed by the teacher) ‘interrupted my learning cycle in the [center]‘” (Cotterall & Reinders, 2001, p. 29).

The authors suggest that the classroom and self-access center should not compete for the attention of learners. The study raises an important question. Although the !

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students do activities that they want to do, are these items chosen by the students or by the teachers?

As mentioned previously, Thanasoulas (2000) suggests that motivation and attitude are also important factors in the development of autonomy. Cotterall and Reinders (2001) find that the attitudes of students at the University of Victoria at Wellingtion towards their self-access center are positive. A survey given to the students showed that 90% of the students found the self-access center to be important to their learning experience. From a standpoint of autonomy, 88% of those that participated said that the center helped them to learn by themselves. Overall, 93% said that “learning to learn English by yourself� is an important objective. Correlation tests and statistics from the survey suggest that those who chose to use the center and had a positive attitude towards the center were the learners at lower levels of proficiency.

The numbers also suggest that learners who considered autonomous learning important used the center more often (Cotterall & Reinders, 2001).

The survey also showed an important relationship between the proficiency of the learners and the use of other resources. Some higher proficiency students indicated that they used materials outside of the center while others used the center rather exclusively (Cotterall & Reinders, 2001). The materials used outside of the center were not specifically mentioned.

One problem that centers encounter is the one-sided use of homework and teacher-led autonomous exercises. As effective as these centers may be, full autonomy is usually not promoted there. Potentially, the gradual process of becoming fully autonomous is stunted, and students usually don’t go beyond teacher-fronted work.

The study done at VUW revealed some problems. Approximately 60% of the students reported that it was difficult to find the right materials. Helping students access the materials available may be helpful in promoting worthwhile use of these centers. They also found that the students who received and understood the orientation had little problem finding appropriate materials, suggesting that learner training in self-access centers would definitely benefit learners.

Recent studies on autonomy have dealt with self-access centers. Researchers want to determine how and if these centers are promoting autonomy. In other studies, researchers have tried to determine what makes a person a good language learner.

They then try to find a way to transfer these techniques and integrate them into !

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language programs (Gremmo & Riley, 1995). Gremmo and Riley also noticed that in self-directed learning there is a link between language learning and learning-to-learn.

They suggest that research should be done with regards to counseling and development of learning-to-learn programs. Metacognition seems to be a clear factor for producing learner autonomy.

There is a tremendous need for more research regarding self-access centers.

Cotterall and Reinders (2001) suggest four areas that can help improve the effectiveness of these centers.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Self-access center administrators should explore learners’ beliefs.

Students need an effective initial orientation to the self-access center.

Administrators should provide on-going support to students.

There should be more links between the self-access center and the classroom.

We are not aware of any research in these areas. Future research should

involve learner training programs and their effectiveness in promoting autonomy and overall activity in self-access centers.

In order for self-access centers to be effective in the promotion of autonomy, they must be organized in such a way that they provide more than word processing access or other casual use. Observations by center administrators, and a more extensive study conducted by Tanner, McMurry, and Allen (2004) have shown that the majority of students who use Brigham Young University’s (BYU) SASC are primarily participating in activities such as word processing and general computer use.

As mentioned earlier, Cotterall and Reinders (2001) suggest that exploring learners’ beliefs, orienting them to the available resources, providing on-going support to the students and strengthening the link between the classroom and these centers may help increase the use of the center as a harbor for autonomous students as opposed to a computer lab. If self-access centers are to succeed, studies should be done to verify the effectiveness of these suggestions. The results will lead to more research and the strengthening of self-access centers and their ability to provide what their name implies. This research study addresses one of Cotteral and Reinders’ (2003) points.

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Database/Website Design In an effort to provide ongoing support for students and teachers, a website and database were created to provide users with information regarding materials available in the SASC at BYU’s English Language Center. All the center resources were categorized by language proficiency level and skill area objectives rather than simply to the item titles (or other identifiers). A web interface thus allowed users to search the database by objective, level, skill area, media and other categories.

The database relational; it links data to other databases. The first database included program-specific information, such as objectives. The objectives for each skill area were listed in a table. These objectives were written by the program administrators, and freely distributed at the ELC. The table includes information about each objective with regard to the proficiency level and skill area. The table also has an additional field containing keywords that can be used in a search. The last field is composed of groups of numbers. These numbers refer to ID numbers of materials, which are then listed in the second database.

The second database includes information about the materials themselves.

The main table of data contains four fields: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Titles of materials Type of materials (CD-ROM, book, website, etc.)

Location of the materials Keywords to use for database queries

On the website, users can search for materials and other resources based on keywords. A list is returned giving information regarding the material: media type, location, and suggested use. Users can also browse the database by skill level or skill area. They then see the objectives for that level or skill, and are able to select materials corresponding to that particular objective. The interface provides users with multiple ways to find materials to help them study and improve their English skills.

Evaluation Students were surveyed on two separate occasions in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the database in promoting autonomous use of the SASC. The first survey took place ten months before the database implementation.

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Eight weeks after the website and database were deployed, an evaluation of the orientation and use of the SASC was conducted. Students again completed a survey. Although the second survey was slightly different they both collected the necessary data. (The differences were mainly regarding other aspects of the SASC and not its use.) The survey gathered information about use of the SASC. The information gathered provided evidence about how the initial orientation and database had affected the use of their SASC. The results from the second survey were then compared with the first one.

Survey Data and Results At the time the first survey was administered, approximately 250 students were enrolled at the English Language Center (ELC). Of these students, 127 participated in a survey regarding the use of the SASC. A paper copy was given to each student in one of his or her classes, so that a student did not complete more than one survey.

One hundred twenty-four (124) of approximately 306 students enrolled in the ELC participated in the second survey. Every student was given the opportunity to take the survey. Not only were the students encouraged to take the survey weeks before school ended, but also as they finished their final exams they were again offered the opportunity. These multiple opportunities to complete the survey were provided to ensure that students who rarely visited the SASC or computer lab would have several opportunities to participate.

Survey Demographics

Languages Table 1 shows a break down of survey participants by their native languages.

Most of the changes in languages represented in the survey were minor. However, the number of Japanese students who participated in the second survey doubled from the first survey, and the number of Chinese and Mongolian students who participated was reduced by half.

New, Returning, and Continuing Students. One important part of the data was the students' status. Students who are new or returning from vacation were required to be at the initial orientation. !

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Table 1. Distribution of Participants by Native Language Languages

First Survey

Second Survey

Languages

First Survey

Second Survey

Arabic

1

0 Korean

31

25

Armenian

0

1 Mongolian

14

7

Bulgarian

1

1 Polish

1

1

Cantonese

0

1 Portuguese

5

4

Chinese

13

6 Russian

1

1

French

3

1 Spanish

40

46

Italian

1

2 Thai

2

1

13

27 Total

126

124

Japanese

Continuing students did not attend the orientation, and therefore did not have access to the same information about the SASC and the website. Table 2 shows the status of the students who took the second survey. These data indicate that 86 of the students who participated in this survey should have been at the orientation, and therefore should also have been made aware of the SASC website.

Table 2. Distribution of Participants by Student status Student Status

Number of Students

New students

73

Returning students

38

Continuing students

13

Total

124 Promoting Autonomy

As part of the survey, students who used the SASC indicated why they came to the SASC. Table 3 shows what the students indicated in both surveys. After the website and database were implemented, 46 percent of the responses indicated that the use of word processing software or email was the most important reason why the students used the SASC. Seventeen percent of the reasons were teacher motivated and the remaining 37 percent were not directly teacher-motivated. !

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However, prior to the project’s implementation, 36 percent of the most important reasons given were computer-related. Thirty-five percent were teachermotivated reasons, and 29 percent were motivated by reasons not involving the teacher. Although computer usage went up, it is interesting to notice that teachermotivated use of the SASC is down by 18 percent.

In addition to comparing students’ activities in the center, the data also provided information regarding the types of materials students use. General computer use and word processing had the highest percentage of people reporting frequent use.

The most obvious change in the data was that more students reported using books, studying together, and studying by themselves after the implementation of the website than they did previously.

Table 3. SASC Activities by Percentages Percentages Percentages First Survey Second Survey Type papers

83

76

Email

68

65

Learn English

64

55

Get help with Homework

58

54

Required by teacher

54

33

Wants to study alone

46

53

Quiet place to study

32

31

Talk to friends

26

34

Required by ELC

23

16

Instant messenger

-

43

Although many other factors affect the information collected, a decrease in teacher-motivated work in the SASC and an increase in self-initiated study alone and with others shows that the students appear to be becoming more autonomous in their learning than those of the previous year.

SASC Usage Eighty-eight (88%) percent of the students who participated in the first !

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survey reported that they used the SASC. Ninety-seven percent of those who participated in the Fall 2004 survey reported that they used the SASC. Assuming that this is a representative group of students, the data show a rather dramatic increase in the use of the SASC compared to the students who participated in the first survey.

Orientation and Web page The objective of the survey was to determine if students used the SASC more because of the orientation they attended, and/or the support provided by the website.

Orientation.

Table 4 shows the opinions of students who attended the orientation with respect to how helpful they thought the orientation was. It also shows if those students felt that the orientation encouraged them to use the SASC during the semester. Fortythree (43) of those present at the orientation reported it to be very helpful while only six students said it was not helpful. Seventy students said that the orientation encouraged them to use the SASC during the semester. In contrast, only 16 said it did not encourage them.

Table 4. Students’ Opinions Regarding the Website (by number) Helpful Orientation

Encouraging

Not Encouraging

Very Helpful

43

38

5

Somewhat Helpful

37

30

7

6

2

4

86

70

16

Not helpful Totals

Website.

Unlike orientation attendance, all those who took the survey reported having the ability to use the website to find materials in the SASC. However, those who participated in the orientation received explicit training on how to use the website and SASC. The data indicate that 84 of the 85 students who attended the orientation used !

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the website. In contrast, only 8 students of the 38 who were not at the orientation used it. This seems to show that the orientation played an important role in how the students used the website and SASC. It is also important to mention that 3 of the 4 students who said they didn't use the SASC were not at the orientation.

Table 5 shows how useful the students felt the website was.[1] All but one of the students found it to be somewhat or very helpful.

Table 5. Website Use Web Site Used Those attending orientation Those not attending orientation Total

Web Site Not Used

Total

85

1

86

8

30

38

93

31

124

Conclusions, Implications and Suggestions The purpose of this research was to determine ELC students’ use of the SASC and what might be done to promote autonomy in self-access centers. This survey, along with previous ones, indicates that the SASC is not being used to promote learner autonomy or to help engage students in autonomous learning to the extent it could be. However, with the addition of a database-driven website which gives students immediate access to the center’s resources, there were slight changes in the way the SASC was used. Students reported using more books from the SASC as well as spending more time studying alone and with others.

As shown earlier, the literature illustrates that autonomy has a role in language learning. According to Jones (1998), language learning students cannot escape autonomy as it even takes part in classroom activities. The core question that has driven this project sought to determine what could be done to make self-access centers encourage student use and promote autonomous language learning. The initial orientation effected how the students used the SASC. The database and Web page were useful, but no direct connection between them and center use could be made.

The data show that the students who attended the initial orientation before classes began were more likely to use the resources explained and highlighted in that meeting. In this example, we see that those students tended to use the website more !

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than those who did not attend. Students who were well oriented were more frequent visitors to the SASC as well.

We now know that the orientation has a strong effect on how the students use the SASC. As mentioned in the results above, students who attended the initial orientation were more likely to use the web-based database and search for resources to aid their language learning. Since one of the fundamental purposes of the orientation was to introduce the web database, it seems apparent that orientation heightened students’ awareness of resources in the center, thereby allowing them the opportunity to make greater use of these materials.

This information is important for those administrating self-access centers. It appears that in order for students to make better use of the self-access centers, a few key procedures should be put in place.

1. Students should be provided with easy access to a database to help them locate materials for language learning.

2. Students should be oriented at the beginning of each term so that they are aware of what is available, how to find it and where it is located.

3. Teachers should be made aware of the materials available for students to use outside of class.

4. A teacher orientation should be conducted to help motivate them to encourage students to use the SASC to better their English on their own time. As Cotterall and Reinders (2003) mentioned, links between the classroom and the center may increase the promotion of autonomy.

5. Ongoing support should be provided for both teachers and students through interaction with lab attendants, administrators, and tutors.

Limitations The data did not answer all of the questions. Although we see that the focus of the SASC has begun to shift from teacher-motivated activities, there are too many intervening variables to determine what actually caused this change. For example, while issuing the survey, we were asked by several students what website the survey referred to. Some remembered quickly, and others had no idea.

Directions for Future Research There are many areas that still need research. Self-access center management and staff behavior could be studied in order to see how these factors affect students’ use of a SAC. Research regarding the effects of metacognition in learning would give !

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us more information on how to improve self-access centers. Strategy training with respect to using strategies best suited for an autonomous environment may prove to be one of the more effective ways of promoting autonomy and the use of self-access centers. Researchers should also explore other forms of on-going support and observe how this support affects the use of self-access centers.

Certainly, the other suggestions given by Cotterall and Reinders’ (2003) would be a good starting point for more research, as only one of these is explored here. Exploring the beliefs of students who consider themselves autonomous learners and comparing them to other students may provide additional data that speaks to how SACs can be enhanced.

We should also focus on how links between self-access centers and classrooms affect these centers’ use. How do students of teachers who are familiar with self-access centers use them, as compared to students of teachers who do not feel comfortable with them?

Other areas to explore include how teacher orientations might affect the students’ use of self-access centers. Introducing institutional ways to encourage teachers to link the classroom to such a center may also prove interesting. The effects of teachers on autonomy in student learning may be significant, indicating that links between self-access centers and the classroom are pivotal to helping students become more autonomous.

Educational practices can be evaluated and adapted to an autonomous environment. We need to look at which methodologies lend themselves to an increase in learner autonomy, and what qualities learners have that make them more autonomous language learners. Self-access centers provide a key role in understanding these practices.

Notes [1] One student reported that it was helpful, but also reported that he did not use the SASC. This could indicate that he either used the website at home or was confused by the question in the survey.

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Notes on the contributors Benjamin L. McMurry is an ESL instructor and Administrator at the English Language Center at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. He is interested in ESL teacher training, autonomous language learning, and CALL. Mark W. Tanner is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics and English Language at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. His research interests include pronunciation pedagogy and comprehensibility research, self-directed learning, and second language teacher education.

Neil J. Anderson is a Professor of Linguistics and English Language at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. His research interests include language learner strategies, second language reading, and English Language Teaching leadership development.

References Benson, P. & Voller, P. (Eds.). (1997). Autonomy and independence in language learning. London: Longman.

Cotterall, S. & Reinders, H. (2001). Fortress or bridge? Learners’ perceptions and practice in self-access language learning. TESOLANZ, 8, 23-38.

Dickenson, L. (1995). Autonomy and motivation a literature review. System, 23, 165174.

Gremmo, M.-J. & Riley, P. (1995). Autonomy, self-direction and self access in language teaching and learning: The history of an idea. System, 23, 151-164.

Jones, F. R. (1998). Self-instruction and success: A learner-profile study. Applied Linguistics, 19, 378-406.

Nunan, D. (2000). Autonomy in language learning. Plenary presentation given at the ASOCOPI 2000 conference, Cartengena, Columbia.

Reeves, N. B. R. (1993, September). The efficacy of home and distance language learning: The “OLLO” experiment. Paper presented to the BAAL Annual Conference, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

Roberts, J. (1995). An anatomy of home-study foreign language courses. System, 23, 513-530.

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Rybak, S. J. (1983). Foreign languages by radio and television: The development of a support strategy. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Brighton Polytechnic, UK. Sheerin, S. (1989). Self access. [From the series Resource Books for Teachers].

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tanner M., McMurry, B. & Allen, E. (2004, March). Factors influencing autonomous learning by ESL Students. Paper presented at the Deseret Language and Linguistics Society Symposium, Provo, UT. Thanasoulas, D. (2002). What is learner autonomy and how can it be fostered? The Internet TESL Journal, 6(11). Retrieved from http://www.iteslj.org/Articles/Thanasoulas-autonomy.html Wendon, A. (1998). Learner strategies for learner autonomy. Great Britain: Prentice Hall.

Originally published in TESL-EJ March 2009, Volume 12, Number 4 (http://teslej.org/ej48/a2.html). Reprinted with permission from the authors.

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Enhancing a Self-Access Website Troy Rubesch, Kanda University, Chiba, Japan

Since July of 2009, the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) at Kanda University has maintained a student-oriented Let’s Study English website (accessible at http://elisalc.org).

The website acts as an extension of the physical space of the SALC, supporting the Center’s commitment to student access to information and materials which suit individual students’ learning needs, abilities and preferences. It also widens the learning environment- enabling students to access SALC information and resources virtually anywhere at any time. Lastly, it helps promote a community of language learners, encouraging student involvement in Learning Center activities.

With these values in mind, a team undertook the year-long “Enhancing the SALC's Let's Study English Website Project” in May of 2010. The purpose of the project is to increase student traffic to the Let’s Study English website and promote other existing technological resources related to the SALC (e.g. the Twitter feed, the Flickr photo page, the Facebook page, links to language learning activities and resources, and updates for SALCrelated information). The project involves several enhancements to the website including some design changes and the addition, expansion, and updating of site features.

The following work in progress report outlines the parts of the project, followed by some possible future directions which are planned for the months ahead.

Updating the Twitter Feed A group consisting of myself and two other interested colleagues created a wiki document to brainstorm, edit, and evaluate an ongoing list of potential Tweets (short messages) aimed at student users of the SALC. These messages are a mix of friendly timesensitive bulletins such as reminders of upcoming workshops, events, or contests, and more general announcements such as features of the SALC or language learning suggestions. The Tweets are displayed on both the front page of the website and on the SALC’s Twitter page.

To keep information relevant and dynamic, we update the Twitter feed approximately twice a week.

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Updating the Flickr Page The front page of the website also features a “window” to a page at the popular online photo sharing site, Flickr.com. Part of this project involved refreshing the visual and textual content of that Flickr page. To keep it relevant and interesting for students, we broadened the nature of photographic content to include photos of the campus environment, students using SALC facilities, and social events related to the English Language Institute at Kanda. In addition, colleagues have generously donated their own photos to the Flickr page.

SALC Workshop Series Last semester marked the debut of online registration for the popular SALC workshop series. These one-off interactive workshops are presented by Kanda University lecturers for students to encourage independent study skill development as well as the use of SALC materials, resources, and facilities. Past workshops have addressed topics such as: learning English through popular movies and songs, developing communication skills, improving pronunciation, using test preparation materials, learning vocabulary, and thinking creatively. To advertise and explain the content of the workshops and encourage student attendance, we created and maintained the SALC Workshop Series page. This has proven to be a popular feature of the Let’s Study English website and nearly all of the twelve workshops were filled to capacity last semester.

Site Layout and Activities Links After some trial and error, we moved the Language Learning Activity and Resource links from an internal page within the site to a more accessible sidebar. Students have mentioned anecdotally that this was a helpful change as this location makes it easier to find the links they need.

Additional Features We created “What’s New in The SALC” archive on the website to remind site users of upcoming events at the Center. “What’s New in The SALC” an intra-departmental email sent to teachers and learning advisors at the beginning of each week. This memo is designed !

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to help disseminate information about the SALC’s materials, workshops, events, programs, and developments to students via teachers in a timely manner. Its addition to the blog helps remind students and teachers of SALC-related information and also acts as an archive.

Response So far, reaction to the project has been extremely positive. Visits to the site have dramatically grown from an average of about 750 hits per month in Fall Semester of 2009 to over 8000 hits per month in the Spring Semester of 2010, an average of over 250 visitors per day. Much of this phenomenal increase is likely due to the opening of the online workshop registration system mentioned above, but other site usage statistics show that users also spend time on the site’s front page where the Twitter feed, Flickr photo feed and resource links are located. Informal conversations with students have revealed that they use the Let’s Study English site to access information and learning materials as hoped. Colleagues have also been supportive and active in promoting and suggesting improvements to the site.

Future of the Project Although the website is growing in popularity, there remains great potential for improvement. Some ideas for additional enhancements include: •

Adding more SALC materials- especially technology-related materials such as instructions on using podcasts, karaoke, Skype and other technological applications for language learning. This would allow students to use internet-based materials through links directly off the SALC website when and where they are needed.

•

Learning advice from students- a forum page as a place for students to share their language learning advice and resources with other students would help build community and disseminate ideas that work.

•

A comments and suggestions email address where users could submit ideas for improving the website would allow students to request features or resources while they are using the site.

•

Facebook integration- since Facebook seems to be growing in popularity among university students in Japan, expanding the SALC Facebook page could provide another avenue for community building and information updates through Facebook status updates.

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•

Suggestions from the results of the SALC Student Technology Use study. This study of students technology use potentially has much to show us about how students use language learning technology in the SALC and at home. These results will undoubtedly suggest further improvements to the Let’s Study English site.

Certainly the next few months will hold many challenges, but so far this project has garnered support from colleagues, administration and most importantly, students. As technology trends change, so will student needs, but it is my hope that the Let’s Study English site will be around to support learners and foster community for a long time to come.

Notes on the Contributor Troy Rubesch is from Seattle, Washington in the Pacific Northwest of America. He completed his MA in Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. He is currently working at the English Language Institute at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba. His research interests include CALL, distance and hybrid learning, student motivation, and materials development.

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English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Modules in the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) for Success in the Global Workplace Kevin Knight Kanda University of International Studies

Introduction - Preparing Students for the Global Workforce University students must prepare themselves to be successful members of the global workforce, and this paper introduces one way for a self-access center to support such preparation by students outside of the formal classroom environment. In this paper, it is proposed that the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) provide ESP (English for specific purposes) modules intended to prepare students for their future careers. Within these self-study modules, the following should be recognized and incorporated: 1.

2.

3.

The principles of ESP Elements of outcome-based education The relationship between leadership, learning, and teaching

In describing such ESP modules, this paper also proposes the development of self-access materials that could be made available to facilitate the independent study.

SALC Modules In addition to the other educational opportunities available on campus for career preparation, KUIS students have the option to use the SALC at the time and in the way that they desire. In addition, students can elect to take a self-study module. The aim of these modules is to promote learner autonomy and enhance the learning experiences of KUIS students. Students taking modules are assigned to a learning advisor who helps them to develop skills such as goal setting and encourages them to reflect on the learning process (Noguchi & McCarthy, 2010).

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Need for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Undergraduate students who are preparing for careers in the global economy by taking courses in English that focus on business communication and business content are in need of English for specific purposes (ESP). Gatehouse (2001) cites Dudley-Evans (1997) in stating that “ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learner.” Although ESP has often been divided into English for academic purposes (EAP) and English for occupational purposes (EOP), Knight, Lomperis, van Naerssen & Westerfield (2010, p.7) further clarify ESP when they divide language learners who need ESP into two categories: 1. Language learners who are in the process of developing expertise in their fields need English communication skills as tools in their training.

2. Language learners who are already experts in their fields need English communication skills as tools in their work.

Undergraduate students often fall into the first category. They are in the process of developing expertise that will enable them to succeed in their future internships and future jobs. They need to master business communication skills and business content in English. ESP modules in the SALC can assist them in this regard.

Outcome-based Education (OBE) to Meet Needs of Students In order to meet the specific needs of students for business communication skills in English, certain elements of outcome-based education (OBE) seem to be a promising part of a “training mix” in an ESP module in the SALC. Good & Brophy (1995, p. 169) provide the following definition of OBE: Education that is outcome-based is a learner-centered, results-oriented system founded on the belief that all individuals can learn.

In this system: 1. What is to be learned is clearly identified.

2. Learners’ progress is based on demonstrated achievement.

3. Multiple instructional and assessment strategies are available

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to meet the needs of each learner.

4. Time and assistance are provided for each learner to reach maximum potential.

In other words, the specific skills that are needed for success in the workplace can be identified, and learning strategies can be selected for the acquisition of these skills.

Developing Learning and Leadership Skills through Teaching In the business world, it is recognized that leadership, learning and teaching are strongly interconnected, and the views of “13 of the most influential scholars in the world of leadership today” on the importance of teaching as a part of learning and leadership include the following (Liu, 2010, pp. 15-16): [A] leader’s primary role [is] that of a teacher: if you are not teaching, you are not leading. In a teaching organization, everyone teaches, everyone learns, and everyone gets smarter everyday….Being a teacher also means being a learner. It isn’t only that you learn first and then teach, but that you learn through teaching.

Falchikov (2001, p. 5) cites Goldschmid and Goldschmid (1976) as arguing that peer teaching in particular “maximizes student responsibility for learning and enhances co-operative and social skills.”

Based on these perspectives, it can be argued that having students learn through teaching (i.e., the sharing of what they have learned) is a promising approach for preparing students to succeed in the global workplace where leadership, learning, and teaching skills are highly valued.

Development of ESP Modules for the SALC Principles and Parameters Any ESP module implemented at KUIS should be in alignment with the principles of the SALC. In particular, Cooker (2008, p. 21) states that “self-access

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learning should be truly self-access” (i.e., not a required, teacher-led activity) and emphasizes that the self-access center should be a place where learning is “fun” and where students “choose to be.”

Additionally, in regard to the development of SALC modules for future career and business internship preparation, it is proposed that three other principles be added in view of the principles of ESP, outcome-based education (OBE), and the relationship between leadership, learning, and teaching: 1. The specific needs of learners should be clearly identified.

2. Learners should have clear, specific and achievable learning goals/objectives based on their specific needs.

3. Learners should be provided with opportunities to teach what they learn to others in order to both deepen their learning experience and demonstrate their proficiency.

Objectives of ESP Modules In view of the needs of students, ESP modules in the SALC should be designed to provide students with opportunities and resources to do one or more of the following (Figure 1): 1. To pursue their interest in business content and business communication skills in English 2. To improve their performances in the classroom 3. To prepare themselves for their business internships and careers

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Figure 1. Objectives of ESP Modules in the SALC

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Business Content & Communication

Internships

Classroom

& Careers

Performance

Role of the Learning Advisor A learning advisor is a qualified language educator who does not usually teach in a classroom but instead works with individual learners and often in a SALC (Mynard & Navarro, 2010). The role of the learning advisor in the SALC is of the utmost importance, and it is suggested that the learning advisor, with the aim to be a bridge to a student’s learner autonomy, provide support for the student in the following areas in the case of ESP modules: 1. Needs analysis – What does the student need/desire to learn?

2. Learning objectives – What are the specific learning objectives?

3. Resources – What resources are available to the student to achieve the learning objectives within a specific timeframe of his or her choosing?

4. Performance – What opportunities are available to the student to demonstrate what has been learned?

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Materials It is proposed that the activities within an ESP module be designed to support and bridge the needs analysis and performance stages. In addition, the available self-access materials should serve to enhance the experience of the students and facilitate the accomplishment of their relative activities in the ESP module. The types of materials required can be divided into the following categories that support the learning interaction cycle (Figure 2): 1. Learning needs and objectives 2. Learning resources 3. Performance Figure 2. Learning Interaction Cycle in ESP Module in the SALC

2. Resources

1. N eeds & Objectives

Student (and Advisor)

3. Perform ance

Materials for Needs Analysis The materials used to conduct the needs analysis can come from a variety of sources, and it is proposed that the student complete the needs analysis independently to the extent possible prior to a meeting with a learning advisor. If a student is interested in learning business English and/or business content in connection with a future job, the student could complete a chart to determine the industry in which the student is interested.

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Learning Objectives It is important that the learning objectives be as specific as possible and that learning outcomes be written clearly. A chart such as that in Table 1 (adapted from material in Richey, 2010) should ideally be completed by the student prior to a meeting with the learning advisor and can be used by the learning advisor in the following ways: 1. To increase the student’s awareness of what a subject (e.g., customer service) entails for the purpose of identifying learning objectives.

2. To confirm the desired learning outcomes of the student (although it is recommended that the actual learning outcomes be more clearly and specifically stated than they are in the chart).

3. To confirm the degree of proficiency that the student desires to obtain.

Table 1.

Learning Outcomes (Business Communication – Customer Service)

Learning Outcomes 1. Basic Socializing

Advanced (Excellent)

Intermediate (Good)

Elementary (Fair)

----------------- -------------------- ----------------

Greetings and introductions Small talk questions Offering hospitality Saying goodbye 2. General Conversation

----------------- -------------------- ----------------

Asking for clarification Making suggestions Responding to suggestions 3. Etc.

----------------- -------------------- ---------------Learning Resources

It is proposed that learning resources in the context of ESP modules be defined as those resources that can be used by the student to learn the content and/or communication skills needed to achieve the learning objectives and specific outcomes.

From this perspective, learning resources include materials, human resources, and facilities. It is therefore suggested that the learning advisor help the student to create the 125

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best “learning resource mix� (Figure 3).

Figure 3.

Learning Resource Mix in ESP SALC Module

Materials

Learning Outcomes

People

Facilities

Sekiya, Mynard & Cooker (2010, pp. 29-30) describe various types of materials in the SALC including the following: 1. Commercially produced books including teacher guides, answer keys, workbooks, and video/audio materials 2. Materials created (original) or adapted for self-access use (e.g., commercially produced books cut up and made into laminated worksheets after obtaining permission from the publisher) 3. Authentic texts with training materials to increase student accessibility to the authentic texts (e.g., worksheet for a CNN video) It is suggested that these types of materials also be made available to students taking the ESP modules and that students be assisted by the learning advisor to access these materials in accordance with their needs and learning outcomes.

Moreover, it is proposed that the learning advisor become familiar with business-related materials in order to help a student to locate authentic texts such as the online tutorial on financial statements offered by the City University of New York (CUNY) at Baruch College (http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/tutorials/statements/).

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Performance In the proposed ESP module, learning outcomes are drafted by the student (with the possible assistance of the learning advisor), so it is recommended that the student’s performance be assessed in regard to those learning outcomes.

The means by which the student demonstrates proficiency can vary and may include the following: 1. A dialog (e.g., between a flight attendant and a passenger) written by the student.

2. A lesson or training session (e.g., in which the student teaches and/or performs what a flight attendant should say and do).

3. A role play (e.g., in which the student takes the role of the flight attendant) video recorded or performed live.

In conclusion, the main aim of the ESP module is to promote learner autonomy while at the same time providing various types of support to meet the learner’s specific, identified needs and objectives. The modules supplement and build on classroom work through individualized learning opportunities that address the needs of students that cannot always be met in the classroom.

Notes on the contributor Kevin Knight develops curriculum and teaches in the Career Education Center and the Department of International Communication of KUIS. After completing graduate degrees in Pacific International Affairs (MPIA) and Business Administration (MBA) in the United States, he is pursuing a PhD in Linguistics (Professional Communication) with a focus on leadership at Macquarie University in Australia.

References Cooker, L. (2008). Some self-access principles. Independence, 43 (20-21).

IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG.

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Falchikov, N. (2001). Learning together: Peer tutoring in higher education. London, UK: RoutledgeFalmer.

Gatehouse, K. (2001). Key issues in English for specific purposes (ESP) curriculum development. The Internet TESOL Journal. Retrieved at http://iteslj.org/Articles/Gatehouse-ESP.html Good, T.L., & Brophy, J. (1995). Contemporary educational psychology. White Plains, NY: Longman.

Knight, K., Lomperis, A., van Naerssen, M. & Westerfield, K. (2010). English for Specific Purposes: An Overview for Practitioners and Clients (Academic and Corporate). PowerPoint presentation submitted to Alexandria, Virginia: TESOL Resource Center. Retrieved at http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/trc/uploads/Other/119485/1564_Knight_ESPPPTf orTRC.pdf Liu, L. (2010). Conversations on leadership: Wisdom from global management gurus.

San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Mynard, J., & Navarro, D. (2010). Japan Association of Self-Access Learning Forum: Dialogue in self-access learning. In A. M. Stoke (Ed.), JALT 2009 Conference Proceedings. Tokyo: JALT. Noguchi, J., & McCarthy, T. (2010). Reflective self-study: Fostering learner autonomy.

In A. M. Stoke (Ed.), JALT2009Conference Proceedings. Tokyo: JALT. Richey, R. (2010). English for customer care. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Sekiya, Y., Mynard, J., & Cooker, L. (2010). 学習者の自律を支援するセルフ アクセス学習 [Self-access learning which supports learner autonomy]. In H. Kojima, N. Ozeki & T. Hiromori. (Eds.), 「英語教育学大系」全13巻中の第6 巻「成長する英語学習者!学習者要因と自律学習」大修 館書店 [Survey of English Language Education: Vol. 6. Developing English learners: Learner factors & autonomous learning] (pp. 191-210). Tokyo: Taishukan-shoten.

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Developing Song Worksheets for a SALC Simon Cooke, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan Introduction After receiving the Japanese Ministry of Education’s Best Practice award in 2003, the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) at Kanda University of international Studies (KUIS) has continued in its goal of creating materials and resources which aim to engage the learners whilst promoting learner autonomy. The development team has promoted its materials design and philosophy at a number of national and international conferences and in a variety of SLA publications (Kershaw et al. 2010). The team, made up of teachers from the university’s English Language Institute (ELI) are tasked with creating a range of new resources to: a) provide scaffolding/learner training to help learners on the road towards autonomy b) help learners access/use the authentic materials on offer in the SALC c) help learners plan and implement learning pathways d) support the ‘taught’ curriculum of the ELI Following student feedback on using songs and music in the SALC at KUIS, song worksheets were designed, created and successfully added to the materials available to students for self-access study. This article describes the rationale and process of implementing the worksheets in the centre.

Rationale In demanding of our students the need to acquire more vocabulary and to develop their use of the language under study in a variety of contexts, we need to offer access to materials which offer learners greater opportunities to come into contact with the languages being learned.

Tomlinson (2010a), in setting out his “Principles of Self-Access Materials Development” states the need to “make sure the texts and tasks are as interesting, relevant and enjoyable as possible so as to exert a positive influence on the learners’ attitudes to the language and to the process of learning it”(2010b, p. 90). Murphey, in the introduction to his book “Music and Song” (1992) explains the attraction for both teachers and learners in using the medium of music: “Songs in 129

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general…use simple, conversational language, with a lot of repetition, which is just what many language teachers look for in sample texts. The fact that they are affective makes them many times more motivating than other texts” (p. 7). Indeed, the large amount or resources available for using songs and music in language learning is testament to their perceived value in this field.

Value is often given to the use of non-authentic texts, designed to help make language learning easier by introducing learners to the variety of patterns and systems that make up the language. However, providing learners access to authentic texts can also be seen to have many benefits. Authentic texts can show how the grammatical forms and vocabulary of a language operate in the ‘real world’. As Nunan (1999) maintains: “the use of authentic sources leads to greater interest and variety in the material that learners deal with in the classroom.”(p. 212) Whilst most songs do not have some of the features of ‘regular’ authentic texts or conversation, such as requests for clarification or the use of fillers and hesitation devices, our rationale for including songs in this medium is justified by taking a casual glance at the English used in songs featuring in the Japanese pop charts or on the badges and t-shirts adorning our students.

As Murphey (1992) argues: “For a variety of reasons, songs stick in our minds and become part of us…”(p. 6) The SALC at KUIS has a budget for the purpose of purchasing DVDs and CDs for student use. There are now over 1,200 DVDs and nearly 1,000 audio CDs (of which approximately 90% are music CDs and 10% spoken word CDs) for students to borrow, or to use in the SALC. Following successful development of materials for the DVDs, such as dictation, shadowing and recitation activities, it was believed that similar materials could be created for use with the large number of CDs available. The existing teacher-created worksheets for the audio CDs were being underused and were in need of alteration to address copyright issues, specifically the reproduction of song lyrics. In addition, student surveys indicated that the worksheets were going unnoticed. Having decided upon this area of materials development, we needed to devise activities which would best suit student goals.

In order to garner student opinion on what would encourage them to use song worksheets, students enrolled in one of the beginner courses at KUIS were asked to complete a questionnaire about using songs to help them learn English. The gathered data suggested that students would find value in the creation of song worksheets in the SALC if they i) featured songs by their favourite artists and ii) could be completed within 30 minutes. The names of artists whose material they would like to study were also collated.

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In developing self-access materials, Tomlinson (2010a) advocates the use of a text-driven approach, where instead of creating materials with specific language points in mind, the activities should seek to teach any language that naturally emerges and seems to be useful to the students. The approach seeks to encourage students to “articulate personal responses to the experience and…finally return to the experience in order to focus on a specific linguistic or pragmatic feature of it” (Tomlinson, 1994). Songs are particularly applicable for these activities in the way that they may be appropriated by listeners for their own purposes. As Murphey (1992) explains: “most pop songs…do not have precise people, place or time references. For those who find them relevant, songs happen whenever and wherever one hears them and they are, consciously or subconsciously, about the people in one’s own life” (p. 8). With these ideas in mind, it was hoped that we might be able to incorporate opportunities for student reflection in the activities. One reservation to using this approach exclusively in our materials design was the feeling that many students might be approaching the worksheets out of curiosity of lyrical content, having been initially attracted to the melody or the accompanying video clip of the song in question, rather than through a desire to ‘interact’ with the lyrical content reflectively and critically. It was therefore decided that while we would incorporate a section for reflection, the majority of the exercises would be based on helping the students to gain greater understanding of what the song was about and how various linguistic elements worked to describe the characters and the emotions being portrayed.

Process In creating tasks to assist students in language learning, Nunan (1999) suggests the use of the ‘form-function principle’, to address the problem whereby learners “…find it difficult to see the functional purpose for having different linguistic forms” (p. 28). Nunan suggests the design of tasks that “…require learners to use inductive and deductive reasoning to develop their own understanding of the relationship between form and function” (ibid.). In an attempt to follow these guidelines and create practical and accessible activities, a template was devised to assist in creating tasks for the worksheets. The template has sections dealing with vocabulary (often incorporating the differences between written and spoken English), phrases, figurative language, dictation, post-listening exercises (asking the students to reflect upon the meaning or message of the song) and pronunciation (see appendix i for examples). Keeping in mind the 30minute request for worksheet completion as requested by the students, the materials writer will select and create a worksheet for a number of these sections. Where sections are omitted in the worksheet exercises, they are suggested as ideas for future study.

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Before the song worksheets are ready for student use, the materials creators are asked to follow a number of steps to ensure that there are no copyright infringements and to check for ease of use, a process best illustrated with this diagram:

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On the final page of the finished worksheet, students are reminded that they can request material for the SALC to purchase and for additional worksheets to be made. These comments are then passed on to the materials writers for the cycle to begin again. One request that is often made is for us to provide the students with a lyric sheet to help them complete the activities.

Unfortunately, copyright regulations do not permit the reproduction of lyrics in a self-access centre in Japan. There are, however, a number of ways for the students to access the lyrics themselves. The worksheets suggest that the students can access the large number of lyrics databases found on the internet or make note of the words themselves as they sing along to the karaoke versions of the songs, found on the karaoke software installed on the computers in the SALCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s speaking booths.

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In the initial questionnaire, many students had mentioned that they were unaware of the existing, song worksheets. As Tomlinson (2010a) advocates: â&#x20AC;&#x153;students need to know what is available to them, what it can offer them and what it requires of themâ&#x20AC;? (p. 81). A redesign of the layout of materials available to students means that the song worksheets are now easily noticeable upon entering the SALC. In addition, in order to promote the availability of these and other new materials in the SALC, regular poster promotions, student-focussed twitter and web updates, combined with weekly SALC updates announced in class, detailing new worksheets and other additions to the SALC have been implemented, resulting in increased interest in and use of these and other SALC materials.

Notes on the contributor Simon Cooke is originally from England and has been teaching EFL since coming to Japan in 1999. Simon has a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics and currently teaches at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, Japan. His research interests include discourse analysis and vocabulary acquisition.

References Kershaw, M., Mynard, J., Promnitz-Hayashi, L., Sakaguchi, M., Slobodniuk, A., Stillwell, C., & Yamamoto, K. (2010). Promoting autonomy through self-access materials design. In A. M. Stoke (Ed.), JALT2009 Conference Proceedings. Tokyo: JALT. Murphey, T. (1992). Music and Song., Oxford University Press Tomlinson, B. (1994). Pragmatic awareness activities. Language Awareness. 3 (3 & 4): 119-29 Tomlinson, B. (2010a). Principles and Procedures for Self-Access Materials. Studies in SelfAccess Learning Journal, 1(2), 72-86 Tomlinson, B. (2010b). Principles of effective materials development. In Harwood, N (ed.)

English Language Teaching Materials: Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 81-108 Nunan, D. (1999). Second Language Teaching and Learning. Boston. , Heinle & Heinle Other useful resources CRIC - Copyright Research and Information Center, Information on the copyright system in Japan including its copyright law, http://www.cric.or.jp/cric_e/index.html, retrieved September 20th, 2010-09-30 Karafun - Karaoke software: http://www.karafun.com/ 133

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Appendix i - Examples taken from song worksheet accompanying Lady Gaga’s ‘Paparazzi’

Pre-Listening Task: Vocabulary & Phrases The following words and phrases are from this song. Choose the best definition that matches them.

1. Paparazzi a. An Italian word for someone who is crazy in love

b. An Italian word for freelance photographers who follows celebrities to take pictures to sell to magazines and newspapers

2. chase you down a. Run after someone until you catch them

b. Run after someone until they fall down

3. loving you is cherry pie a. Being in love with you is wonderful

b. Being in love with you is bad for my health

4. in between the sets a. During a break in a live concert

b. During a game of tennis

5. (something) doesn’t (don’t) have a price a. Something is free

b. Something is so valuable that it cannot be bought

6. there’s no other superstar a. You are the only superstar that is playing a live concert tonight

b. You are the only superstar that I love

7. we’d be so fantastico a. If we got together, we would make a good couple

b. If we got together, our love would be like a fantasy

Listening time Now listen to the song and see if you can recognize all the words from the Pre-Listening Task.

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Listening Task: Dictation After you have studied the words and phrases from the previous task, listen to the song and try to write down the song’s lyrics. Some of the words may be a little difficult to understand, so don’t worry if you cannot complete this task!

Hint: It may take a long time to write down the words from ALL of the song, so why not choose just one verse or one chorus?

___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ When you think you have finished writing the lyrics correctly, check your lyrics with the lyrics you can find on the internet.

You can find the lyrics by typing “lady gaga paparazzi lyrics” in the search box on your web browser. If you need help finding the lyrics, please ask a Learning Advisor for help.

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Listening Task: Comprehension After you have studied the words and phrases from the previous tasks, listen to the song. What do you think the song is about? Why do you think so? Choose from the answers below or write your own idea.

Why? Check your answer with the answer sheet. !It’s about a pop star that she loves

reason:__________________________________

!It’s about a cameraman that she loves

reason:__________________________________

!It’s about becoming famous

reason:__________________________________

!It’s about ______________

reason:__________________________________

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Suggested Follow Ups Now that you have completed the tasks on this song worksheet, think about what you did well and what you might want further practice of.

If you need help finding materials to help you with these things, don’t forget you can always ask a Learning Advisor.

1. Vocabulary Why not write down new words and phrases to learn. That way as you listen to this song in the future, it can help to reinforce the words and phrases.

2. Pronunciation Why not sing along with the song? This can help you practice the sounds of English.

Paparazzi is on Karafun karaoke in the speaking booths or you can sing along in your bedroom!

3. More materials!?

The Learning Advisors are always looking for new songs and new activities. If you have an idea for a new CD or a song worksheet, please write complete the ‘Materials Request’ form and give it to a Learning Advisor.

Check your Progress If you try this worksheet again in a month or two, you can check your progress by thinking about what was easier the second time.

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Answer Sheet

Pre-Listening Task: Vocabulary & Phrases 1. - b.

2. - a.

3. - a.

4. - a.

5. - b.

6. - b.

7. - a.

Listening task comprehension In an interview, Lady Gaga said that she wanted this song to have a few different interpretations. She explained: ‘The song is about a few different things – it's about my struggles, do I want fame or do I want love? It's also about making the paparazzi fall in love with me. It's a love song for the cameras, but it's also a song about fame or love – can you have both, or can you only have one?’

Were you surprised? Did you think it was about her following a man?

You may be right. After all, Lady Gaga did say that it has ‘a few different interpretations’

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Internet-Based Resources for Developing Listening Ene Peterson, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia Introduction Developing listening skills comes "naturally" for some students, but with great difficulty for others. Acquiring listening skills can even be frustrating for some students.

For some time, listening was regarded as a "passive" or "receptive" skill and, consequently, not particularly crucial as a skill area to be taught. Researchers then began to recognize the importance of listening and its role in comprehensible input (Krashen, 1982), and attention to and adoption of newer comprehension-based methodologies brought the issue to the fore. Listening became a skill to be reckoned with and its key position in communication recognized (Feyten, 1991; Omaggio Hadley, 2001). In the communicative approach to language teaching, this means teachers modelling listening strategies and providing listening practice in authentic situations: those that learners are likely to encounter when they use the language outside the classroom. Given the importance of listening in language learning and teaching it is essential to give our learners opportunity to develop and improve their listening skills not only in the classroom, but outside the classroom as well.

We have now entered a digital era in which technology is no longer a novelty.

Technological advancement has always occurred in the past, but never at this speed.

Although â&#x20AC;&#x153;technology is not a panacea that can replace language teachers and face-toface classrooms, it is something that can be used to enhance language learningâ&#x20AC;? (Sharma & Barrett, 2007). Self-access learning centres promote the approach whereby students study independently choosing from among different resources that are available.

Listening lends itself to self-access in the same way that reading does. Listening in the real world and listening to authentic texts, however, is obviously more complex. But how can we help our learners become effective listeners and to overcome difficulties in listening comprehension and other barriers to listening?

Why not draw on technology? Learners can use ICT (Information Communication Technology) in developing and improving their language skills, in particular listening comprehension for the following good reasons:

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1. Current university students have been characterised as the "Net Generation" (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; Barnes, Marateo, & Ferris, 2007; Prensky, 2001) and “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet (Presnky, 2001).

Learners today have high expectations when it comes to technology and they expect a language school or programme to offer opportunities to use technology in their courses, for example via a well-equipped self-access centre (Sharma & Barrett, 2007).

2. The use of technology outside the language classroom or in the self-access centre can make learners more autonomous. One key feature of using technology in learning is that it allows language practice and study away from the confines of the classroom at your own pace anywhere: a hotel room, the office, an Internet café, at home or, of course, in the self-access language centre.

3. New ICT skills learnt in the classroom (e.g. Internet search skills) can be transferred to real life. Using a range of ICT tools and a web-based environment can give learners exposure to practicing listening regularly, and consequently, become a more effective listener.

4. The use of technology via web-based environment can be current, e.g. using a listening activity with today’s news from news websites can add a dimension of immediacy to listening practice.

5. While listening to digital audio or watching a video clip, learners have the opportunity to pause at will, and listen and read a transcript. Moreover, learners can get instant feedback on what they have done (e.g. you watch a video clip/listen to audio and check answers immediately after watching/listening).

6. Learners can access authentic websites, as well as websites for EFL/ESL learners. As learners become used to selecting and evaluating listening materials, they are able to plan

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out their own use of web-based materials in their own time. This helps them become effective listeners and independent learners.

In this review we will take a look at a number of online resources for developing listening skills (e.g. audio and video, podcasts, video clip tools), and suggest some strategies for improving listening ability.

The Internet â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A Goldmine of Listening Materials Some years ago the Internet held the promise of access to authentic audio and video. Today that promise has been realized. An unending stream of audio and video lessons, television and radio broadcasts, including news and documentaries, and music videos are now at our fingertips through different sources. In addition to this, a new generation of internet tools are available (Skype, podcasts, online webcasts and conferences, voice boards). Moreover, social networks create multiple opportunities for authentic communication.

Audio and Video The principal benefits of online audio and video start with the range of material in terms of subject matter, accent of the speaker, and length. Some of the activities will only take up a short amount of time, for example listening to the news, whereas others, such as participating in conference calls or listening to TV broadcasts will require learners to set aside quite a lot of time.

Online audio and video news.

Online listening activities are divided into those that are specifically scripted for English learners, while others consist of authentic materials which have been specially selected.

The BBC World Service Learning English offers both types of activity. â&#x20AC;˘

News English Extra http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/newsextra/ 141

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•

News about England

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/newsaboutbritain/ Short reports from the BBC World Service international radio news with a short summary, transcript, and a glossary of some vocabulary terms.

•

Listen and Watch http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/listen-and-watch Five-minute audio reports and transcripts on subjects such as famous people, pop music, and entertainment. Students can listen to or watch news on the computer, or download audio and video files to their mp3 players. Audio and video materials are accompanied by language practice activities that learners can do on their computers while they listen or watch, or print out and do them when they want to.

The BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/ A very useful thing about the BBC audio/video is that it contains recordings of individual stories which are one to two minutes long. Learners can choose which topic they would like to listen to. There is a wide variety of different categories – Business, Technology, World News, UK News, Technology, and so on. The BBC site is predominantly British English.

CNN News http://edition.cnn.com/video/ Similarly to the BBC site, learners can listen to clips of individual news items or to whole programmes. The CNN site is predominantly American English.

Breaking News English http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ This site has news articles on different topics along with a sound recording of the article accompanied by a resource book with ready-to-use ESL/EFL lessons and worksheets that learners can work with on their own.

Monthly News Digest Online http://www.englishclub.com/listening/news.htm A "news digest" is a summary of news stories. Each month EnglishClub creates a digest in easy English with four short audio news reports from the past 30 days. Monthly News Digest Online has been designed so that English learners can use it on their own not only for practising listening but for reading, writing, and even speaking. It is posted on the first day of each month and includes audio feeds, texts, and exercises. Some tips for listening to the summary of news: Pre-listening: Try to guess what words might fit in the blanks.

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Listening: Listen to the audio three times: 1) to get the gist, 2) to fill in the cloze passages, and 3) to check answers.

Other ideas for listening activities can be found in Business English Using the Internet (Barber, 2007, p. 69-70) and Blended Learning (Sharma & Barrett, 2007, p. 3940). Barrett and Sharma (2005, p. 96-101) offer four worksheets for using video or audio clips on the BBC site to develop such different listening skills as summarising, deepening, updating, widening, and so on.

More audio and video resources.

Daily ESL, Randallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ESL Cyber Listening Lab, and EZSlang are created and maintained by Randall Davis. Reading newspapers and textbooks can be helpful for Academic English, but many students often spend their time reading information that is very difficult and might not be used in day-to-day conversations.

Thus, Daily ESL (www.dailyesl.com) is designed to help learners become familiar with common vocabulary and expressions they can use all the time in many situations. Learners choose a topic, listen and read along with a paragraph, and then discuss the questions with a partner. They can then compare their thoughts to the recorded interview.

The site EZSlang (www.ezslang.com/ ) is designed to help learners (from lowintermediate to advanced) improve their survival skills in many different situations and to make learning slang an easier process for better communication.

Randallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ESL Cyber Listening Lab (www.esl-lab.com) has short and long listening activities for beginner-level as well as advanced-level students accompanied by pre-, while and post-listening tasks, transcripts, and cultural video clips. Randall Davis states that the main objective of the site is not to test students listening skills; rather, by doing the variety of pre-listening, listening, and post-listening activities, students can discover ways to learn how to develop their listening skills. He believes that listening and speaking skills must be developed together, and working together with other students in groups and discussing the content of the listening activities help learners improve their overall communication skills by focusing on specific tasks.

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Ello http://www.elllo.org/ You can find free, well-produced, and clearly-organised content on one site called Ello. Ello includes interviews, videos, games, and more. There is News Centre (with animated newscasts), which can help students learn Academic English and develop test taking skills for standardized listening components of tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC, and IELTS. There are other sections to explore, such as Mixer, Views, Points, and even Songs, and each section has a wide selection of material.

Video Jug http://www.videojug.com/ Video Jug is the world's most comprehensive library of free factual video content online. Video Jug gives numerous opportunities for learners to practice listening skills and to become actively engaged in the listening process. Learners can practice their listening skills by listening to the interview with Stephen Fry (see Appendix A). There is a tapescript to accompany the listening text.

Podcasts Podcasts are audio recordings which a user can subscribe to and download to his/her computer or portable listening device such as an MP3 player (Barber, 2007). The closest analogy to a podcast is that of a radio or TV show, but the difference is that you can listen to or watch a podcast on a topic that interests you whenever you want to. A podcast can be on any topic and can include music and video. Video podcasts are also known as Vodcasts or PodClips. Podcasts can be used not only for authentic listening in the classroom but for self-study outside of the classroom as well. According to Dudney and Hockly (2007), recording lectures as podcasts (referred to as course casting) is becoming increasingly common in tertiary education. By doing that, students who miss a class can then download the lecture podcasts for later listening on their computers or mobile devices like an MP3 player. More demanding, but ultimately perhaps more rewarding, is the option of learners actually producing their own podcasts. You can find detailed information related to podcasts from Podcasting Tools (http://www.podcastingtools.com/blog.htm). According to Barber (2007) making podcasts is simple and you can 144

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find guidelines from his book Fifty ways to improve your Business English using the Internet (p. 77-78).

Since it is easy to create podcasts, they are appearing in every area of the World Wide Web. Lewis (2009) draws attention to the fact that “there are good and bad podcasts, and since everything can look so professional, it is hard to know which is which at first glance. Hence, broad searches can be a bit hit and miss” (p. 70). Podcast directories are one place to start looking for podcasts. Learners can click on a category and scroll though a list of podcasts, listening to and subscribing to any that interest them.

Students can also find tips for podcast searches on iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/). A podcast directory aimed specifically at teachers and learners of English is Englishcaster (http://www.englishcaster.com). ESL podcast sites have been developed for different purposes: vocabulary and grammar topics, idioms and slang, business English, world news and current events, limericks and jokes, songs, and poetry.

BBC Podcasts http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts The BBC, the quintessential international news and media organization, was one of the earliest creators of podcasts. They first offered a limited number of traditional BBC audio programs as podcasts. Since then, the BBC expanded the list of podcasts they offer (covering everything from drama to news and sports) to many more audio podcasts, video trials (an experiment they stopped in 2007), and music-only podcasts (started in November, 2007).

ESL Listening: Podcasts http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts/ This is a sub-page of The Internet TESL Journal with different categories of podcasts: for native speakers, newest podcasts by ESL podcasters, listen and repeat podcast for practising intonation, rhythm and intonation, jokes in English podcast, “Learn a song” podcast, and so on.

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Learn Songs http://www.manythings.org/songs/ This site features folk songs, campfire songs, and group-singing songs that native English speakers sing. These podcasts are short and designed to be listened to more than once, so learners can listen and sing along as many times as they need to in order to learn the song.

English Feed http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podcasts/7538 English Feed is a weekly podcast including review and listening exercises on important grammar and vocabulary subjects. It is an ideal podcast for beginning to intermediate level students to study basic structures like phrasal verbs, past forms, modals, listening comprehension quizzes, and more. English Feed also includes the transcript, grammar resources, and exercises.

ELT Podcast http://www.eltpodcast.com/ ELT Podcast provides basic conversations for EFL and ESL students and classes.

ELT Podcast presents a common conversation theme in each episode. The first presentation is at a normal speed, and then at a slower, less natural speed to help with comprehension. The site also provides a transcript of the conversation.

Elementary Podcasts http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts A variety of listening activities (episodes) on different topics (e.g. family, pets, travel problems, clothes, and so on) that learners can do on their computers while they listen. They can also be printed out to do later.

Professional Podcasts http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/professionals-podcasts This series of podcasts helps learners to improve their English for their career in the workplace and covers a large number of business and work themes. They are suitable for learners at intermediate to advanced level.

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Business English http://www.businessenglishpod.com/category/esl-podcast/ Business English Pod provides free weekly MP3 podcast ESL lessons and audio/e-Book courses for intermediate and advanced business English learners. Each business English podcast lesson is focused on a particular workplace English skill (such as meetings, presentations, telephoning, negotiating, socializing, travel, and conversation) and language function (such as clarifying, disagreeing, questioning, expressing opinions, and persuasion). Video Vocab is a video podcast (vodcast) published by Business English Pod for ESL learners who want to expand and improve their English vocabulary for business (http://www.videovocab.tv/). Each ESL video lesson looks at a group of key English vocabulary words and terms related to a particular business topic. The meaning of the vocabulary is explained with simple definitions and pictures along with an example of how the vocabulary can be used. Current lessons feature vocabulary on the economy, law, project management, accounting and finance, the credit crisis, and Web 2.0 Internet technologies.

Splendid Speaking Podcasts http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podcasts/21609 This site supports upper-intermediate and advanced learners of English develop their top-level speaking skills and communication strategies. In 2005, Peter Travis, the host of the Splendid Speaking podcasts, was shortlisted for the Quality Improvement Agency Star Award for the “E-Learning Tutor of the Year” sponsored by Microsoft.

Users sign up for the Splendid Speaking newsletter (http://www.splendidspeaking.com/subscribe1.html) and receive transcripts, comprehension questions, a weekly task sheet to help them prepare for a similar talk, and a vocabulary worksheet to record the “Splendid Expressions” daily quiz.

Video clip tools Now that a growing majority of Internet users have broadband, YouTube (www.youtube.com) and other video clip sites (e.g. Google Video at www.video.google, and Revver Video Sharing Network at www.revver.com) have become very popular.

These sites provide English learners with a new tool to improve listening skills.

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YT (YouTube) was invented by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim.

According to their fact sheet, YT was founded in February, 2005, as a destination to watch and share original videos worldwide through the Web. YT has gained enormous popularity in a relatively short time. This online video-sharing social network has been enthusiastically welcomed by EFL learners and teachers because of its potential to provide â&#x20AC;&#x153;a huge multimedia library of real language use by real people, a potentially rich resource for language learning or corpus collectionsâ&#x20AC;? (Godwin-Jones, 2007). By browsing video clip sites, learners can find videos on almost any topic (education, politics, science, technology, entertainment, and so on), spoken in different varieties of the language (standard, foreign accented, and so on) and at different levels of difficulty.

According to Bearer (2010) the real advantage to these sites - at least from a language learning point of view - is that they offer authentic examples of everyday English used by everyday people. However, learners may enjoy watching these clips, but poor sound quality, pronunciation, and slang can make these short videos even more difficult to understand. Task sheets can help them to explore the world of online English learning possibilities (for an example task sheet, refer to Appendix B).

Conclusion Listening comprehension is often the most difficult task for learners of English as a foreign language. Listening in the real world and listening to authentic texts is more complex than listening to non-authentic texts in the classroom environment. Effective listening does not just happen. Access to up-to-date materials via the Internet gives the students opportunities to develop and improve their listening skills by using materials in the self-access language learning centre or outside the classroom. With the appropriate use of technology, learning can be made more active, motivating, and learner-centred, especially with such internet-based resources as audio-video, podcasts, and video clip tools.

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Notes on the contributor Ene Peterson is a lecturer at Virumaa College of Tallinn University of Technology with 30 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience in ELT and ESP, currently Head of the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Apart from that she is engaged in teacher training and in the work of teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; associations, being Chair of the Association of Teachers of Estonian as a Second Language and Chair of the Estonian Association of Foreign Language Teachers.

Her professional interests include different aspects of methodology of teaching ESL and ESP (e.g. teaching process writing, developing listening skills, and portfolio assessment) and the use of technology in teaching languages.

References Barber, E. (2007). Fifty ways to improve your Business English using the internet.

Oxford: Summertown Publishing Ltd. Barnes, K., Marateo, R., & Ferris, S. (2007). Teaching and learning with the Net Generation. Innovate, 3(4). Retrieved from http://innovateonline.info/pdf/vol3_issue4/Teaching_and_Learning_with_the_Net _Generation.pdf Barrett, B., & Sharma, P. (2005). The internet and Business English. Oxford: Summertown Publishing Ltd. Bearer, K. (2010). YouTube in the classroom!. Retrieved from http://esl.about.com/od/listeninglessonplans/a/youtube.htm Dudeney, G., & Hockly, N. (2007). How to teach English with technology. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Godwin-Jones, R. (2007). Emerging technologies. Digital video update: YouTube, Flash, High-definition. Language Learning and Technology, 11(1), 12-16. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/vol11num1/emerging/default.html Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

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Lewis, G. (2007). Bringing technology into the classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Oblinger, D. G., & Oblinger, J. L. (Eds.). (2005). Educating the Net Generation.

EDUCAUSE. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/pub7101.pdf Omaggio Hadley, A. (2001). Teaching language in context (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Heinle.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5). Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/ Sharma, P., & Barrett, B. (2007). Blended learning: Using technology in and beyond the language classroom. Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

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Appendix A Listening Stephen Fry: Technology Before listening Task 1. Fill in the table.

I know Stephen Fry

I would like to know

Task 2.

Find the meaning of the following words and acronyms: No. Word or acronym 1.

A smart phone 2.

A camera phone

3.

SMS

4.

MMS

5.

iPod

6.

iPhone

Definition

Translation

Listening Listen to the interview: http://www.videojug.com/tag/stephen-fry Question 1: Would you describe yourself as a geek?

Fill in the blanks: 1. His friends call him a geek because he offers a service of rescuing............................ and helping them setup the....................................

2. He helps friends because he is endlessly curious about the nature of ...........................and the way they ...................and how ...................................work and why they go...........................

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3. He doesn’t claim to be the most brilliant geek, but he compared to his friends he is ................................................. because most of them are completely............................

4. In order to drive a car it is not important to know how ..................................works, but he is interested in it.

Question 2: Are you an early adopter of new technology?

Are the following statements True or False or don’t know (DK)?

No Statement 1. Stephen was the first person ever to have a MAC in England.

2. Stephen was the first person to send e-mails.

3. Stephen is the only person who has been really interested in new technologies. a nerd – a foolish, unattractive person a specky person= an unimportant person

True False DK

Compare: a speck- a spot

Question 3: What’s your favourite piece of kit at the moment?

Answer the questions.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

What is Stephen’s current obsession? ................................

How many favourite things has he got? ...................

Which Apple products are in the market? ....................

Which Apple product is coming soon? ........................

How does he describe his current obsession? ........................ obsession - the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

After listening Find five more facts about Stephen Fry. I got to know ...

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Appendix B TOPIC: ARE YOU A LEARNER OF THE FUTURE? Video clip 1: Education Today and Tomorrow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnh9q_cQcUE&feature=related Task. Summarize in one sentence the difference of education today and tomorrow.

Video clip 2: Importance of learning a second language Goldfish v. Kitty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzEjzL6_gyE&feature=related Task. Watch and finish the sentence.

Watching a video clip I got to know that learning a second languageâ&#x20AC;Ś..

Video clip 3: Foreign Language -Funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH5sGa5WJWs&feature=related Before watching Find out the difference between the words sinking and thinking?

After watching What did you learn from the video clip?

Video clip 4: Why learn a foreign language? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gycrzJilD30&NR=1 My ideas: 1.

4 ideas form the video clip: 1.

2.

2.

3.

3.

4.

4.

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Video clip 5: 21st Century Learning Matters http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L2XwWq4_BY&feature=related Before watching Find the meaning of the collocations Collocation Meaning digital native global environment

While watching Task 1: Fill in the table while watching the video clip.

WHAT are the WHAT needs HOW will it be WHERE will challenges of the to be learned? learned? learning 21st century? occur?

Task 2: What is the motto of the 21st century?

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Review of the Open Culture Website http://www.openculture.com Anna Taylor (Gorevanova), formerly at the British Council, Uzbekistan

Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learners have become so tech-savvy that to catch up with them and maintain their interest, teachers have to be a couple of steps ahead. It is mind-boggling how in the age of Facebook and Twitter, there are still many great websites out there just waiting to be discovered. To me, Open Culture (http://www.openculture.com) was such a discovery.

Let me talk about what attracted my attention and what I believe makes the Open Culture website stand out from the crowd. As a Learner Services Manager at the British Council in Tashkent, I was responsible for developing services and looking for resources to meet the needs of the customers of Learning Centre, which included adult professionals, IELTS candidates and ELT professionals, to name but a few. Uzbekistan, the country where I come from, has similar problems to many other countries when it comes to teaching/learning English. The Centre has been helping learners to get access to the materials and get equipped with self-study skills through learner training workshops and seminars. However, among other challenges, I found that my students lacked the following two opportunities which I am sure are shared with learners in other contexts.

First, my students lacked the availability of authentic resources, especially for developing listening skills in English. The Centre offered a wide range of authentic reading materials, such as newspapers and magazines. However, I often heard from learners, that they needed to listen and/or watch authentic TV programmes/lectures/films aimed at educated native speaking audience to help them prepare for the IELTS exam (Listening and Speaking, in particular) or improve their English for career purposes.

Second, my students lacked the availability of quality materials for professional and personal development opportunities in English. The Learning Centre in Uzbekistan was also attended by adult professionals with good English skills, but who wanted resources in English that would help them acquire certain skills to become more successful professionally as well as personally. For instance, these students were !

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interested in materials that would assist them with improving their leadership skills, strategic thinking, and time management.

Thus, I believe that Open Culture can help kill these “two birds” with one stone.

Open Culture is basically a great compilation of excellent resources, which can be used for personal and professional development. It has 6 main sections: Audiobooks, Online courses, Movies, Language lessons, e-Books and Textbooks.

“Audiobooks” offers hundreds of “talking” books (mainly classics) that can be downloaded on a computer or MP3 player. The beauty of this resource is that you can also watch and/or listen to the lectures given by professors from the world’s leading universities regardless of where you live in the Online Courses section. “Movies” consists of an excellent collection of world films (old classics and contemporary works) and documentaries. “Language Lessons” provides access to downloadable foreign language learning materials. “e-Books” is a collection of mostly classic books which one can read on modern electronic devices, such as a Kindle, a smart phone or a computer.

“Textbooks” offers access to 150 books written by renowned scholars in various subjects ranging from art history to physics, and from education to business and management.

Strengths Now, let’s talk about strengths and challenges of this Internet portal. First of all, it’s FREE! Considering the quality and usefulness of the resources, this is hard to believe.

It’s user-friendly and has links to other Internet resources and social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, which can help learners share interesting materials. Also, they can subscribe to RSS feeds and receive podcasts/MP3 files on topics of interest.

Challenges First of all, it is obvious that good connectivity is crucial to take full advantage of the resources on the website. Secondly, although the website is pretty user-friendly, before you introduce the website to learners, educators need to make sure that students practice downloading podcasts, for example. Luckily, for those who are new to the world !

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of podcasting, there is a comprehensive podcast tutorial at http://www.openculture.com/2007/03/podcast_primer.html Also, learners might get overwhelmed with the abundance of materials and information, so a teacher or learning advisor’s guidance and pacing might be necessary, especially in the beginning. In the self-access learning environment, I would suggest counsellors pair up old-timers with newcomers to promote learner support.

There are so many ways the Open Culture website can be used to benefit learners. Below are a couple of quick suggestions: 1. Start an “audiobook” club. Book clubs have been tremendously popular with people all over the world, so perhaps an audiobook club will catch on as well.

2.

A common interest club is another option. Learners who share the same interest, say, in history, can get together to listen to a lecture in the media room in the Centre and then discuss it thus practising English as well as expanding knowledge in other areas.

Conclusion Open Culture is an excellent resource for generating topics and starting points for Conversation clubs, as very often facilitators search for new, interesting, and intelligent issues to discuss. Many IELTS candidates (especially young ones) often struggle to get ideas for IELTS Writing task 2 or IELTS Speaking, so Open Culture can help them with that. The Ideas & Culture part http://www.openculture.com/2006/11/arts_culture_po.html will be especially useful.

To sum up, I think Open Culture is a great website to be explored by teachers, selfaccess learners, and SAC facilitators/counsellors alike.

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