Self-access Language Learning Center Research Articles

“My Japanese is Blue, Because it Makes Me Blue”: Centering Emotion in Language Practices Through Language Mapping

Since the social turn in applied linguistics, there has been growing interest in the role of emotion in language practices. This role is especially relevant to self-access language learning in terms of how it influences learner autonomy and motivation. With its focus on autonomy and sociality, self-access learning offers unique affordances for facilitating learner and advisor awareness of emotion in language learning. To this end, this study used an arts-based method, language mapping, for learners to express their language practices in multimodal ways. Language mapping integrates body mapping and language portraits methods to catalyze individual and group reflection anchored by embodied, emotional experiences. The researchers collaborated with a Japanese university self-access language learning center to engage seven volunteer participants in a series of two workshops. Data were gathered through participants’ language maps, narratives shared in workshops, and questionnaire responses. Findings highlight the potential of language mapping in exploring learners’ affective connections to their named languages. While mother tongues were generally portrayed as comforting, vivid, default, and unconscious, relationships to learned languages were represented through more diverse visual and verbal metaphors. Key pedagogical considerations include the impact of exemplars and group processes.

“My Japanese is Blue, Because it Makes Me Blue”: Centering Emotion in Language Practices Through Language Mapping

Since the social turn in applied linguistics, there has been growing interest in the role of emotion in language practices. This role is especially relevant to self-access language learning in terms of how it influences learner autonomy and motivation. With its focus on autonomy and sociality, self-access learning offers unique affordances for facilitating learner and advisor awareness of emotion in language learning. To this end, this study used an arts-based method, language mapping, for learners to express their language practices in multimodal ways. Language mapping integrates body mapping and language portraits methods to catalyze individual and group reflection anchored by embodied, emotional experiences. The researchers collaborated with a Japanese university self-access language learning center to engage seven volunteer participants in a series of two workshops. Data were gathered through participants’ language maps, narratives shared in workshops, and questionnaire responses. Findings highlight the potential of language mapping in exploring learners’ affective connections to their named languages. While mother tongues were generally portrayed as comforting, vivid, default, and unconscious, relationships to learned languages were represented through more diverse visual and verbal metaphors. Key pedagogical considerations include the impact of exemplars and group processes.

Launching a Tutoring System Within a Restructured Self-Access Language Learning Center in Japan Amidst a Pandemic

This paper examines the inaugural year of a rebranded and restructured self-access learning center (SALC), launched at a provincial university in Japan towards the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on implementing, promoting, and managing a tutoring system, both online and face-to-face, while facing the challenges and limitations imposed by the pandemic. Even though the pandemic has forced most traditional face-to-face classes and on-campus activities online, there is still little research concerning online self-access services in Japan, as also noted by Davies et al. (2020). Existing research on SALL in the pandemic tends to focus on well-established SALCs. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by also discussing the challenges of online tutoring and revealing the solutions to overcome those challenges over the course of a whole academic year in a new SALC. Finally, it hopes to provide an insight into the management process, together with the administrative challenges faced by the researcher, acting as the sole tutor and coordinator of the SALC.

Group Dynamics and Resilience in the Process of L2 Socialization: A Longitudinal Case Study of Japanese University Students Visiting an English Lounge

This paper documents the socialization process of beginner-level Japanese university students into an on-campus English lounge over a year. Although initially feeling highly stressed, ten out of 37 students successfully continued their bi-weekly visits to the English lounge over a full academic year by going there as a small group of three to four students. Although the visits were originally encouraged as part of their elective homework, two of them made frequent visits to the lounge beyond the homework requirement. The reflective journals which these ten students wrote after each visit provided an emic view of their socialization processes into the English lounge. The author conducted an inductive thematic analysis of these data. Among multiple findings, the most salient was that aspects of group dynamics served to increase their resilience, or their capacity to adapt under adversity, during their socialization processes. These findings may provide insights for those language instructors and self-access language learning center staff who are in the position to facilitate students to learn in such a second language (L2) use environment, as well as learners themselves who are struggling in such a learning environment.

Integrating websites to self access language learning: a strategic way to facilitate the autonomous learning

Up to this present time, self access language learning (SALL) has become an interesting topic for study. Many scholars have devoted their attention to the study on this topic that many of their papers are published in Studies in Self Access Learning journal. Though many studies have discussed this topic, the websites that can be integrated into SALL as a strategic way to ficilitate the autonomous learning remains underresearched. This paper is based on a research looking at the integration of websites into SALL from the perspective of SALL materials in an online SALL centre. It looks at which English language skills are offered as SALL materials and which websites provide SALL materials. The data concerning these two themes were collected from the online visit to to Self Access Centre and INdependent Learning (SACIL) set up at the University of Waikato. SALL materials in SACIL include general language skills, grammar, reading, listening, speaking and pronunciation, writing, punctuation, vocabulary and spelling, IELTS, and study skills and exam preparation which are linked to a large number of websites. With these website-based SALL materials, the learners over the world can finally practice their skill autonomously.Key words: website, self access laguage learning, autonomous learning.

The Need for Establishing an English Self-Access Center at Osaka University: Practical Suggestions and Overall Guidelines

As part of a PhD project, an in-depth needs analysis was carried out to assess the English language needs and difficulties of undergraduate Japanese EFL learners at Osaka University. The results were primarily intended to guide the design and development of an online English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP) course. The findings further revealed a pressing need for launching and maintaining self-access language learning facilities which could provide learners with independent and semi-guided learning opportunities addressing their needs and interests. In this paper, the importance of establishing a self-access language learning center at Osaka University will be proposed with the goal of fostering learner autonomy. In fulfilling this objective, practical suggestions and overall guidelines will be outlined based on a number of language learning center observations in Japan. It is hoped that this writing will serve as a stimulus to strengthen the status of English language teaching at Osaka University.

Evaluating a Self-Access Centre’s Effectiveness and Efficiency: A Case Study and Reflection

This article discusses changes that occurred after a case study that examined the effectiveness and efficiency of a Self-access Centre (SAC) within a university in Hong Kong using Morrison’s (2003) Evaluation of Self-access Language Learning Centre framework. The case study addressed issues from a stakeholder’s perspective by collecting data from learners through an online questionnaire and conducting 15 semi-structured interviews, an advisers’ focus group and management interviews and reports. The outcome of the study showed that a wider perspective for senior managers and insights for evaluation of the support services is vital to making key decisions in context. Upon reflection of the findings with the new SAC manager, more acute decision-making and continuous improvement is needed to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of the running of the SAC. To achieve this, regular feedback from various stakeholders, also re-structuring human and non-human support systems is vital.

Extensive Reading as the First Step to Use the SALC: The Acclimation Period and a Community of Language Learners

This paper describes an example of how to bring language learners into a self-access language learning center (SALC) in a Japanese university. A number of factors affect learners’ decision making about whether or not they use and continue using the SALC. In the context of lower interest in studying abroad or using English in jobs in the future, it may be necessary to consider setting up a clear purpose for students to come to the SALC. From the reflections on the last five-year implementation of extensive reading (ER), connecting classes and the SALC with an ER system seems to play a significant role in scaffolding their first SALC encounters in the current context, helping them go through the acclimation period leading to not only ER but also other usage of SALC.

Balancing Competing Needs among Stakeholders: Lessons from the Self-access Language Learning Centre (SALL) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen)

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), referred to as ‘University’ or ‘CUHK(SZ)’ hereafter, is a newly established private university located in the Longgong District of Shenzhen, which is a special economic zone in the southern part of China. Its first batch of about 300 undergraduate freshmen, all majoring in Business Administration, commenced studies in September 2014. The Self-access Language Learning Centre (‘SALL’ or ‘the Centre’ hereafter), as a unit under the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS[1]), was put into trial operation from 6th March to 4th June 2015 to explore students’ needs and preferences in self-access English language learning. The purpose of this progress summary is to delineate and analyze the trial operation. It is divided into two major sections. The first section is a brief description of the 3-month trial operation and evaluation whereas the second section details recommendations for the future development of the SALL and other self-access centres also needing to address conflicting needs among stakeholders.

Effective Training for SALC Student Staff: Principles Borne from Experience

Student staff can play a vital role in any Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) (Gardner & Miller, 1999; Cooker, 2010) and providing training for them is one of the key skills required of people managing SALCs (Gardner & Miller, 2013). This article charts the evolution over four years of a training program for student staff at the self-access language learning center at Osaka Institute of Technology in Japan. After detailing the institutional context of the center, we (the director and assistant manager of the center) discuss how, through a reflective process, the training program developed over this time period, moving from a group-based approach to a more individually-focused program. In the concluding section we draw on these experiences to put forward five principles that we believe will help others who are seeking to establish effective student staff training programs.

The Changes of Students’ Toefl Score After One Year Learning

BINUS students are supposed to increase their English competence indicated by their TOEFL scores. This paper aims to observe the differences between studens TOEFL scores obtained when they entered BINUS and the scores after they joined TOEFL courses at BINUS for one year. The participants were 121 students. The data for the entrance test were taken from the BINUS data center and the final test data were taken from their final test at English class. The data were analysed using statistics especially the descriptive statistics, comparing means, and correlation. To support the quantative data, a set of questionnaires was distributed to those 121 students. The results show that the students’ TOEFL scores have increased significantly in the final test compared to those in the entrance test. The low achiever students showed a better performance than the higher ones. Students’ motivation and background support their English study. Students proved to have the most problem in listening. The results of the research are expected to be the input for English lecturers to improve their teaching especially the existence of SALLC (Self Access Language Learning Center).

Self-access Language Learning for Malaysian University Students

Just a few Malaysian universities offer self-access language learning activities to students. The objective of this study is to investigate if self-access learning can promote self-directed or autonomous learning in a public Malaysian technical university. Data collection is by means of interviewing the Director, lecturers, and students in a self-access language learning centre (SALLEC). The findings revealed students find it helpful and useful to exploit the self-learning materials in the centre. Lecturers strongly agree that the centre can promote autonomous learning. To conclude, self-learning should be promoted in Malaysia to enhance language learning and acquisition.

College Students’ Use of the Computer and Network-based Self-Access Centre and Their English Learning Achievement

This study examined how Chinese College students’ use of the computer-based Self-Access Language Learning Centre affects their English learning. The study investigated whether the gender difference influences students’ perceptions of the Self-Access Centre and whether students’ use of the Centre helps improve their English learning. Data was collected through questionnaires and a survey given to 120 sophomores at a technology university in Hubei, China. The data showed 1) no significant relationship between gender and students’ perceptions of the use of SAC and 2) significant correlations between students’ satisfaction of the SAC environment and their Oral English improvement, between students’ beliefs of learning better in the SAC and the improvement in their listening ability. Based on the research results, it was suggested that to provide a relaxed and material-rich environment and to improve learners’ autonomous learning can help improve the effectiveness of students’ use of the SAC.

A Framework for the Evaluation of a Self-Access Language Learning Centre

For self-access language learning centres (SACs) to be accepted as efficient and effective alternatives or complements to more established modes of language learning and teaching, it is of serious concern that there is no research-based framework specifically developed for their evaluation. In this paper, a framework for the evaluation of a SAC is proposed which aims to recognize both the elements common to most SACs as well as the diversity inherent in a centre that predicates upon learner individuality. The study upon which this paper reports employed a grounded theory methodology examining data collected from participants representing various SAC stakeholder roles and subsequently proposing an evaluation framework consisting of 4 elements: context, key questions, decisions and actions. These elements, although presented individually, are interdependent and provide the framework with a multidimensional aspect that allows the evaluation team to carefully plan the various aspects of the evaluation while at the same time ensuring that these are brought together to ensure coherence in terms of aims, methodology and reporting. Central to the framework is recognition that the evaluation should be theory based and thus that it should incorporate a means of clearly representing the particular SAC theory (or mapping) upon which the evaluation is to be focused. The paper concludes with brief discussion of potential implications of the use of such a framework, both theoretical and practical.

Evaluating learning gain in a self-access language learning centre

If it is to be argued that self-access language learning centres (SACs) provide an efficient and effective alternative or complement to more traditionally accepted modes of language learning and teaching, it remains a serious concern that there is no research-based framework specifically developed for their evaluation. It is within the context of a study into the development of such a framework that this paper considers the issue of evaluating learning gain in a SAC. Experience and research suggest that the issue of learning gain is crucial to any discussion of SAC evaluation. There is, however, a tension between the perceived need to include learning gain as a focus in an evaluation of a SAC’s effectiveness, and a recognition of there being practical problems in so doing. After briefly examining relevant literature, this paper will discuss data derived from the aforementioned study. It will present a number of reasons for attempting to evaluate learning gain, before going on to identify potential difficulties involved and discussing possible ways of achieving this. It will finally suggest that, in order to evaluate learning gain within a self-access language learning context, there is a need to re-conceptualize what is perceived as learning gain and to look to the learner to identify evidence of such.

Language learning

Language learning

The Self-Access Language Learning Centre, University of Abertay Dundee: history of a project

The Self-Access Language Learning Centre, University of Abertay Dundee: history of a project