Abstract
The near universal use of electronic learning (e-learning) in higher education (HE) today requires that students and teachers are equipped with the requisite digital literacy skills. The small-scale pilot study we report on here explored the views and experiences of EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teachers regarding their development of digital literacy skills, their application of e-learning technology in their teaching, and their perceptions of its value as a learning tool—areas on which there has been little research to date. A convergent parallel mixed methods approach was adopted, in which a survey was administered to the research participants and a follow-up focus group conducted. The data were analysed, with findings revealing that the EAP practitioners surveyed utilised a range of online tools such as video, plagiarism software and corpus linguistics tools. A number of benefits and limitations associated with e-learning were cited by participants, including increased student engagement and motivation, the development of learner autonomy, and the cultural capital it represented in respect of students’ future careers. Meanwhile, the limitations identified included a lack of time for teachers to develop digital literacy and insufficient pre- and in-service training opportunities focused on the effective use of digital technologies and managing technical issues. We conclude with a series of recommendations to facilitate EAP teachers’ development and use of e-learning in their practice.
Highlights
E-learning today increasingly features as a staple of educational life, despite there being inevitable degrees of variation according to local context and the availability of resources
The results revealed that video and virtual learning environments (VLEs) are the most readily available and commonly used technological tools, while the use of collaborative tools and corpus linguistic tools featured widely in both the quantitative and qualitative data
The most frequently cited benefits associated with the use of these tools concerned their ability to promote student engagement and learner autonomy
Summary
E-learning today increasingly features as a staple of educational life, despite there being inevitable degrees of variation according to local context and the availability of resources. In addition to using electronic systems for record-keeping, uploading materials to virtual learning environments (VLEs), communicating with students and accessing the intranet, teachers are expected to demonstrate familiarity with and competency in using a variety of electronic teaching and learning tools in their classrooms and lecture theatres If they are to do so effectively, EAP teachers and students require appropriate levels of digital literacy [3,4,5], defined by Dudeney, Hockly and Pegrum [6] as “the individual and social skills needed to effectively interpret, manage, share and create meaning in the growing range of digital communication channels” Walker and White [9] argue that “ . . . whilst there are definitely people who are more or less confident with new technology, the difference is not due to age, but to a combination of interest and need” (p. 23), and there is certainly an argument for EAP teachers assuming the role of technological mentors with responsibility for developing students’ digital literacy skills in order to support their academic development [4,10,11]— an issue to which we shall return later
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