Self-access Centers Research Articles

Increasing Attendance in a Self-Access Language Lounge

Scheduled class time for students in tertiary language classes is limited, and is likely insufficient in itself to enable students to attain second language mastery (Nunan, 1989). Provision of language practice can be expanded outside regular class time through various means, including self-access centers. However, without effective marketing and management, and effective teaching staff, such facilities risk low participation rates. The current paper discusses the provision of an English language conversation lounge facility at a Japanese university in the light of a 69% increase in student attendance for the year 2015-16. The discussion is initially situated in the need for extra language study outside regular class time. A brief description of the language center is then given. The focus of the present paper is to note recent changes, and to consider effective practice for increasing attendance and for improving participation.

Informed Eclecticism in the Design of Self-Access Language Learning Environments

Self-access learning environments traditionally received only rudimentary treatment and attention compared to classrooms as many educators presumed that it was a teacher and the instructional models, methods, and approaches that were the greatest mediators in learning. In recent decades, self-access centers and subsequently other self-access learning environments and digital spaces have been burgeoning throughout the world, created primarily with the goal of supporting learner autonomy. However, old classroom-centric learning and design paradigms are sometimes applied to the design of self-access environments despite the relative spatial, temporal, and grouping freedom available. By distancing themselves from the tendency to choose one particular learning paradigm on which to base their designs, as is often the case in instructional design, educators and designers open their designed environments to the possibility of becoming a rich space, informed by numerous and diverse fields, that can account for varied ways of learning and knowing. Looking to other fields to further understand what variables can either catalyze or obstruct various ways of knowing and learning can inform the design, development, support, and management of self-access language learning environments. Drawing on knowledge from a variety of disparate fields, this paper suggests six principles that can be applied in order to augment a wide variety of types of learning in self-access learning environments, and particularly those concerned with language learning.

Self-Access Learning Centers and the Importance of Being Curious

Self-Access Learning Centers (SALCs) have become common at many universities in Japan. They provide a learning space to actively interact with a foreign language. These centers are self-access and thus promote autonomous learning, so one of the challenges they have to overcome is the difficulty of attracting students to voluntarily enter and participate in such a learning environment. This article reports findings from a study, which examined associations between items on a curiosity scale and students’ exploratory behavior to seek out and participate in activities at the SALC. Implications for foreign language education and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Institutional Challenges for a Voluntary-Basis Language Learning Advising Program

This quantitative report was conducted to explore the potential factors which promoted the increased number of students who utilized the English Consultation Room (ECR) which is one of the self-access programs at the World Language Center (WLC), Soka University, Japan. In 2013, 63.5% of students used the English language learning advising service in total whereas the number of students increased to 70.2% in 2014. While self-access centers (SACs) are widely recognized as an effective means to promoting students’ language learning, especially outside the classroom, just establishing the facilities does not guarantee frequent and active use by students. Increasing the number of users, in fact, may be an institutional challenge for program coordinators (Kodate, 2012). The results of the report may give the self-access program coordinators an insight into the students’ frequent use of the program. In addition, it may provide an example of how usage figures relating to an advising program can be effectively collected and analyzed.

Considering Peer Support for Self-access Learning

This paper briefly examines if and how peer support can be implemented as an appropriate means to improve self-access learning. The potential for further alignment with the higher aims common among self-access learning centers will be examined. Opportunities for increasing interdependence, purpose, and level of challenge to foster student engagement will also be explored. Finally, future directions in self-access learning will be discussed.

A Move Towards Autonomy: Individualized Education Plans for Effective Materials Use

Over the past twenty years, self-access learning centers have faced challenges related to accessibility of materials and the fostering of autonomy. There has also been progress towards meeting those challenges, such as Brigham Young University’s web-based database for searching SAC materials and linking curriculum to SAC materials (McMurry, Tanner, & Anderson, 2010). Following that example and developing it further, the University of Delaware developed a system called the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that includes but goes beyond a Course Objectives Database (COD) similar to that of Brigham Young University. The COD alone was rather ineffective, but when the COD was combined with website resources and learner surveys modeled on Gardner and Miller (1999), the IEP emerged. A step-by-step guide to creating IEPs for use in other self-access environments is provided along with model forms. Finally, the results of informal surveys suggest that autonomous and goal-oriented learning might have been fostered by the use of IEPs.

JASAL Forum 2012: Making a Difference Through Self Access.

This article reports on the JASAL Forum held at the JALT Conference in Hamamatsu on October 13th, 2012. JASAL, the Japanese Association of Self Access Learning, was set up in 2005 by Garold Murray and Lucy Cooker to provide a support network for educators and administrators involved with self-access language learning centers (hereafter SACs) in Japan. It holds a forum annually at JALT (the Japan Association for Language Teaching) conference. It has been a great success and providing information and support to those who are involved with SACs in Japan. I am also blessed with all the information and support from the JASAL Forum as I work for a SAC as the director. The 2012 JASAL Forum consisted of a poster session, three paper presentations and an open forum discussion, with the theme of ‘Making a difference through Self Access.’ The presentations this year focused on how to foster autonomy, how to develop understanding of the value of self-access among faculty and administration, and how to integrate self-access with the curriculum. All the presentations provided a brighter vision for SACs in Japan.

Self-access Materials: Their Features and their Selection in Students’ Literacy Practices

Autonomous, self-directed language learning is the literacy practice that self-access centers aim to promote. Much of this activity occurs when students interact with the equipment and the materials available in the center. These resources, in many ways, become the core of the learning environment, and, therefore, it is critical to understand what learning is provided or afforded through them. In this study, we examine the literacy practices of students in a self-access center in Mexico, focusing on the materials. We combine description and analysis of materials, student observations, and interviews to identify the learning students perceive those resources afford and the criteria they employ to make decisions concerning their use of the materials. This investigation is accomplished through the theoretical perspective of New Literacy Studies, because it provides a unique and rich socio-cultural approach to language learning. As a result, we determined that affordances of the materials are constrained. We also identified five different criteria students use to choose materials, but despite their personal criterion, we found they often do not have a clear direction and purpose for their choices.

A aprendizagem autônoma de crianças aprendizes de línguas em um contexto de ensino de currículo bilíngue por meio de um centro de autoacesso

This article is part of a larger research project which aims at analyzing the autonomous development process of three learners from year 5 in an elementary school which offers a bilingualcurriculum (Portuguese/English). From an ethnographic perspective, the data were generated during a school trimester in which the learners/participants went to weekly English classes in self-access centers. The aim of the tasks in the self-access centers was to provide interactionamong learners while co-constructing dialogues, with or without teacher’s intervention, having in mind concepts from the sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1984) as mediation, internalization, zone of proximal development and scaffolding. The research is guided by the assumptionthat learning occurs during performance (Swain and Lapkin, 1998) and principles of sociocultural perspectives I and II of autonomy proposed by Oxford (2003). For this article, though, data of only one participant are presented, Gabriel, whose trajectory goes from a shy and unmotivated learner to an active and responsible learner and someone better accepted in his social group.Key words: autonomy, self-access, language learning.

Language Learning Through Socialization: DiversifiedUse of a Self-Access Center

Through the establishment of interactionally rich environments, conversation rooms and self-access centers encourage attendees to be extremely competent and resourceful language, cultural and social learners. The following paper outlines four unique yet contrasting aspects of one such self-access center—the English Resource Center at Saitama University, Japan. In the first section, a brief history of the Center is provided, outlining its socially situated learning community. The second section details a special event occurring in the Center, which prepares students for formal academic presentations in foreign institutions. The Center's Drama Workshop is discussed in the third section, focusing on the linguistic and cultural growth that participants experience as they each experiment with their own developing English identity. Finally, the fourth section quantitatively analyzes attendees' English proficiency gains by comparing examination results over time. All in all, the differing interactive contexts of this self-access learning center work together in unison, strongly supporting linguistic growth and cultural development.

An Empirical Study on the Effectiveness of Self-Access Language Learning and its Autonomy Based on Self-Access Center

With the deepening reform of college English teaching in China, many self-access centers(SAC) have been established in universities to promote students’ antonomy and cultivate their leanring ability. Based on the theories of constructivism, humanistic psychology and cognitive psychology, the self-access language learning ( SALL), with its new emphasis on speaking and llistening , is a very good supplement to traditional classroom teaching ，whose focus is only on reading and writing. This paper intends to probe into the effectiveness of students’ SALL in SAC of Wuhan Polytechnic Universtiy through an empirical study. After analyzing the findings qualitatively and quantitatively, the results show that that learners’ autonomy, by and large, can be achieved. SAC and SALL is sure to be very helpful to arouse learners’ learning interest, foster their independence, improve their problem–solvling ability and facilitate their four-skilled abilities.

Self-Access Centers: Maximizing Learners’ Access to Center Resources

Although some students have discovered how to use self-access centers effectively, the majority appear to be unaware of available resources. A website and database of materials were created to help students locate materials and use the Self-Access Study Center (SASC) at Brigham Young University’s English Language Center (ELC) more effectively. Students took two surveys regarding their use of the SASC. The first survey was given before the website and database were made available. A second survey was administered 12 weeks after students had been introduced to the resource. An analysis of the data shows that students tend to use SASC resources more autonomously as a result of having a web-based database. The survey results suggest that SAC managers can encourage more autonomous use of center materials by provided a website and database to help students find appropriate materials to use to learn English.