Assessing undergraduate student engagement in a virtual resource center

Abstract

This contribution seeks to better understand undergraduate students’ perceptions of and engagement in a virtual resource center for Business English and the links between the use of the center and English language learning. In order to assess student engagement in the virtual resource center, we have conducted a representative questionnaire study. The results show that there is a complex relationship between perceptions and actions and that even when students claim to perceive tools as relevant this does not necessarily lead to increased engagement. These results bring us back to the drawing board to discuss how we can encourage students to take the next step and spend more time using the resources available to them in order to increase their investment in individualized English language learning opportunities online.