Abstract
This article examines an action research project concerned with the need for Japanese university students to learn how to use technological support for self-organised EFL learning. In particular, the research focused on the potential of the Internet for English self-study. In outlining a solution for teaching awareness of existing Internet-based support for English language learning, the paper explores the novel usage of YouTube relayed instructional videos with English subtitles and the need for simple and clean website design to enhance intuitive task communication. Furthermore, the paper discusses the concept of the teacher operating in three spatial domains, the notion that the course solution provides a bridge between conventional classroom study and self-study, and finally the possibility that the course solution is enabling the students to take on a higher degree of challenge than may have otherwise been expected.
Highlights
The Journal of Educational Technology and Society issued a July 2009 special edition entitled “Technology Support for SelfOrganised Learners.” In it, the view of Kalz, Koper & Hornung-Prähauser (2009) is that with the advent of social networking technologies we are likely to see, or have seen, a shift in focus away from the structured CALL classroom towards selforganised learning
This research was initiated from the perspective that the student subjects were potentially, rather than autonomous, self-organised, CALL learners
The aim of the research described in this paper was to increase Japanese students’ ability to use the Internet for English self-study, through scaffolding with YouTube relayed instructional videos
Summary
The Journal of Educational Technology and Society issued a July 2009 special edition entitled “Technology Support for SelfOrganised Learners.” In it, the view of Kalz, Koper & Hornung-Prähauser (2009) is that with the advent of social networking technologies we are likely to see, or have seen, a shift in focus away from the structured CALL classroom towards selforganised learning. As an English instructor at a university in Japan during 2008, I concluded, through use of a self-created homework resource website, that there was a cross-section of the university’s first-year student population that had a genuine problem with making use of technologically-supported self-learning EFL activities. I suspected that the Internet needed to be first brought into the classroom before the students would confidently utilise this abundant resource for English study. This became apparent when students were asked to go home, go on-line, and follow simple written instructions (see Figure 1).
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