Impacts of the use of “support tools” on a distance language learning course

Abstract

This study is a temporary assessment of the impacts of the use of support tools as part of a distance language training course for non-specialist students implemented at the Diderot Paris VII University in 2011/2012. The study mainly focuses on the uses of the support tool Sounds Right APP and details the results of the analysis of these uses. Relying on data from usage statistics, responses to online questionnaires and semi-guided interviews, we seek to test the validity of hypotheses about the possible link between the use of this type of tools and the emergence of an environment conducive to acquisition. To further our investigations on these points, we analyze the learners' reactions triggered by the use of this type of support tools and link these to the issue of distributed mediation (based on the optimal distribution of roles between man and machine) that such learning environments seem to require.