Web Tracking and Students' Work Patterns in Online Language-learning Activities

Abstract

In previous publications the author reported on the use of a website dedicated to French songs for an advanced French comprehension course at the university level. The present article analyzes web-tracking data captured from the website over two terms--fall 2003 and winter 2004. The variations in the amount of time students spent working on the online activities and their online behavior as they navigated through the Chansons de la francophonie web activities are presented. Research queries are made into the data to explore web behavior differences between day and evening students, male and female students, and especially diligent versus less diligent students. The website, the course, the students, the characteristics of the eChanson web-tracking system, and a few typical web navigation patterns for some students are also described. One result of this study shows that it is not necessarily the students with the lowest marks who spend the least amount of time on web activities (nor vice versa), nor do the most diligent workers on the web activities achieve the highest measured skill improvements.