Self-access Learning Research Articles

PROMOTING LEARNING AUTONOMY THROUGH SELF-ACCESS CENTER ACITIVITIES

This paper attempts to shed some light on the activities and facilities in one Self-Access Center (SAC) in one university in Bandung. On the ground of this investigation, a context description of SAC in university levels is put forward followed by an overt statement of the objectives and the rationales of the study. There are three research problems being investigated: What is the typology of the SAC? What are the self-access language learning (SALL) activities and materials provided in this SAC? And how do the students perceive the self-access language learning (SALL) activities and materials? This qualitative study reveals that this SAC is categorized into supermarket typology of SAC. This is because of the SAC system offers learners the chance to look around and choose what they want to study. This system displays materials under clearly marked categories like in supermarket. This typology of SAC is suitable for all learner contexts (Gardner and Miller, 2008). However, this SAC still lack the materials and activities for SALL. Further development, in terms of materials and activities which can promote learning autonomy should be done. Most students (72%) perceive positively about certain SAC facilities, such as books, resources, strong internet connection, and cozy environment of reading and writing area. However, there should be more improvement in certain SAC facilities (such as rooms for consultation with SAC tutor, TV viewing area) and certain SAC activities (such as English club and native speaker contact).Keywords: autonomy, self-access center (SAC), self-access language learning (SALL)

A CEFR-J Based Speaking Program for a Self-Access Learning Center

The following paper is a summary of a work in progress at a Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) called the Speaking Program, including the design process carried out to create it, and how the material is used and revised. Additionally, the paper provides some initial data on how the Speaking Program may have impacted the center’s overall user numbers, number of repeat users, and the number of requests for each type of service offered in the consultation service. The data collected has implications regarding how interactional spaces that provide access to learning advisors and teachers can be efficiently used and how they might be better served by using more structured activities in certain educational contexts such as a technical university.

Self-Access Learning Program : Promoting Self-Directed Learning in College Language Courses

Self-Access Learning Program : Promoting Self-Directed Learning in College Language Courses

Pursuing Autonomy through Dialogue

In the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) at a university in Japan, language learners create and implement individual learning plans. Strategies to facilitate reflective dialogue are used by learning advisors to encourage these learners to pursue their language goals and become increasingly less reliant on direction from their teachers. In this paper, a definition for autonomy is given, and the teaching setting is introduced, giving an overview of the SALC and outlining the ways learners use it, drawing on examples of learners at different stages on their journey to autonomy. After looking at theory and practical applications, this paper demonstrates that guiding learners through dialogue is an appropriate way to challenge meanings and raise consciousness, and move learners towards managing their own language learning.DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.2016.190203

Report on the Japan Association of Self-Access Learning (JASAL) 2016 Annual Conference

This article reports on the JASAL 2016 Annual Conference held on December 10, 2016 at Konan Women’s University in Kobe, Japan. JASAL (Japan Association for Self-Access Learning) is a non-profit professional organization devoted to promoting self-access learning in Japan. The conference consisted of opening remarks by JASAL president Hisako Yamashita, a plenary talk by Dr. Jo Mynard, twenty oral presentations on various self-access learning topics, twelve poster presentations, and tours of the e-space, which is a self-access center at Konan Women’s University. Ninety-five participants from over forty institutions attended. In this summary, the author reports on the day’s events, featuring select presentations on SALC design, leadership, integration into curriculum, training, and lessons learned.

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.

Looking Backwards and Forwards: Evaluating a 15-Year-Old SALC for Continued Growth

This reflective article gives an overview of how a self-access learning centre (SALC) in Japan approaches its ongoing evaluation. The author shares some retrospective evaluation approaches and also provides a description of a micro-evaluation as an example. The article concludes with some thoughts about two alternative approaches, one future-looking and one predictive, that might help a SAC to move into new directions.

Engendering Autonomy and Motivation through Learner Reflection Tasks

After receiving the Japanese Ministry of Education’s Best Practice award in 2003, the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) at Kanda University of international Studies (KUIS) has continued in its goal of creating materials and resources which aim to engage the learners whilst promoting learner autonomy. The development team has promoted its materials design and philosophy at a number of national and international conferences and in a variety of SLA publications (Kershaw et al., 2010). The team, made up of teachers from the university’s English Language Institute (ELI) are tasked with creating a range of new resources to: a) provide scaffolding/learner training to help learners on the road towards autonomy b) help learners access/use the authentic materials on offer in the SALC c) help learners plan and implement learning pathways d) support the ‘taught’ curriculum of the ELI Following student feedback on using songs and music in the SALC at KUIS, song worksheets were designed, created and successfully added to the materials available to students for self-access study. This article describes the rationale and process of implementing the worksheets in the centre.

The important factors of English Program administration responsive to the ASEAN community for schools in the border provinces of southern Thailand

The purpose of this research was to determine the important factors utilizing the key principles of the Input-Process-Output (IPO) framework in the administration of English Programs for schools in the border provinces of southern Thailand in response to the protocols and agenda of the ASEAN community in its education platforms. The research explored various methods that involved analysis and interpretation of the quantitative and qualitative data obtained from the prepared 5-point rating scale questionnaire, interviews, and observation, target group discussion, and consultation with experts. The respondents selected as the sample group were English Program administrators, teachers, students, and parents from 5 selected English Program schools in the border provinces of southern Thailand for the academic 2013 year.Based on results gathered from both qualitative and quantitative methods, the important factors under the concept of the IPO framework consisted of 21 factors:Support-resource input consisted of 3 factors: integrating the curriculum with ASEAN community content, using technology as an effective teaching aid, and maximizing various learning resources. Personnel-resource input contained 2 factors: having a school director with a strong vision and understanding of bilingual education, and investing in qualified and professional teachers. School-management process highlighted 8 key factors: management structure, policy/vision, community involvement, school-networks, utilization of modern technology and classroom management for self-access learning, staff development, cultivation of the culture of research in the academy and student-centered activities that promote competence and quality assurance. Learning-management process consisted of 3 factors: learning patterns in the use of English and Thai as media of instruction, learning-management style, and measurement and evaluation. Output or educational quality entailed 5 determinants: learning achievement, attainment of the desirable characteristics of the learners, educational roles in society and culture, achievement of English skills among target groups in aspects of communication and research, and knowledge of the ASEAN community.

Studentss Perception Toward Online Self-Access Learning in English Language Learning

This study is related to the application of computer which is meant as a medium of online language learning. The study aims at finding out students’ perception toward online self-access learning (OSAL) and the correlation between OSAL and their grammar achievement. Online self-access learning refers to a kind of fully autonomous learning done by each individual student through internet. In this study the particular English language learning focuses on a language aspect, grammar. The major discussions regarding the students’ perceptions toward English language learning were mainly to seek the answers of the questions on: (1) link addresses of OSAL in general, (2) online grammar materials provided, (3) benefit of OSAL, and (4) the correlation between students’ perception toward OSAL and students’ grammar achievement. The data were taken from a questionnaire of 20 close items given to 35 undergraduate students of the English Study Program of Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sriwijaya University. The descriptive statistical analysis revealed that the response of the students’ perception toward OSAL was generally positive in which the overall average score of their perception toward OSAL was 4.15 in the category of agree in the Likert’s scale. This means that they supported the application of OSAL in English language learning. Another finding was from the result of regression analysis in which R2 was 0.279 meaning 27.9% of OSAL gave effective contribution toward students’ grammar achievement. Besides, the correlation was negative (r coefficient = -0.528), but there was a significant correlation between students’ perception toward OSAL and their grammar achievement as the p-value 0.001 was less than 0.05.

Design and Management of a Self-Access Language Learning Space Integrated into a Taught Course

This paper reports on the design and management of an online self-access language learning (SALL) space that was used with a group of Saudi medical students to complement classroom-based learning. The aim was to increase the opportunities for communication and language practice and, more specifically, to help develop the learners’ language learning autonomy (Little, 1999). In a pre-study, a questionnaire and a focus group were used to collect information about the students’ needs and interests in language learning. The design of this space was informed by the students’ feedback on their language learning needs and styles as recommended by Breen (1986) and Marsh (2012). Desire2Learn, a widely used virtual learning environment, was used to provide learners with an online self-access center because of the many features it has which would help learners to take control of their learning. The learning resources and online tools included instant messaging (IM), a news stream, access to a facilitator and other learning support, moderated discussions, videos, images, activities and quizzes, as well as links to external materials and to free self-access language learning resources. A description will be provided of how the materials, the tools, and the facilities were integrated within this space along with the justification for each of the elements. A look ahead to how this study could be extended for use with all learners enrolled in the medical scheme of the university will be discussed at the end of the paper.

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.

Report on the JASAL 10th Anniversary Conference, 2015

The JASAL (Japanese Association of Self-Access Learning) 10th Anniversary Conference was held on December 12th, 2015 at Kanda Institute of Foreign Languages (KIFL) in Tokyo. JASAL was established in 2005 by Garold Murray and Lucy Cooker to promote self-access learning in Japan. 2015 marked the first year that the event was held as a stand-alone conference; from 2006-2014 the JASAL Forum took place at the JALT (Japanese Association for Language Teaching) annual national conferences. More than 50 participants attended the 2015 JASAL conference, which began with a guided tour of KIFL’s self-access facilities. The conference featured 12 presentations on a variety of topics related to self-access learning. In this conference summary, the presentations are grouped into four sections: integrating self-access and curriculum; learning spaces; activities and events; and focus on individuals. At the end of the article, the author considers future directions for the JASAL Conference.

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.

Youth and the Disruption of Power: Student-Run Conversation Workshops in a Mexican Self-Access Centre

Within self-access learning there has been a gradual shift towards incorporating approaches to learning involving strong elements of peer interaction. In the USBI Xalapa self-access learning centre (SALC) that is part of the Universidad Veracruzana in Veracruz, Mexico, work placement students (WPS) have begun to run daily conversation workshops with students from the centre. By drawing on the works of Acuña González, Avila Pardo, & Holmes Lewendon (2015), Murray (2014), and Hughes, Krug, & Vye (2011) relating to peer-supported learning in self-access environments, a small research project was developed to understand the effectiveness of the student-run workshops. This involved conducting interviews with WPS and English students who attended the workshops. By comparing and contrasting the responses, a rich, heterogeneous set of data was uncovered which provides insight into peer-centred learning. The findings suggest the need incorporate peer-based learning to break down hierarchical relationships in which power divisions construct a traditionalist learning environment governed by fear of making errors. Also, the role of WPS needs to be reconsidered to allow them to take a more active role in the institution due to their positive relationships with learners. Beyond these aspects, it can be seen that a deeper understanding of the role of peer interaction in learning environments is essential in self-access centres.

Learning Space-Based Initiatives for Developing Learner Autonomy: Design And Implementation

Recently, traditionally resource-heavy self-access centres have increasingly been reinvented as social learning spaces (Allhouse, 2014; Murray & Fujishima, 2013), usually with a greater emphasis on peer interaction and communication in the target language. By elevating the communication aspect of a language learning space, however, there is a danger that the important task of developing metacognitive skills gets sidelined in favour of simply developing language proficiency through peer or teacher-student interaction. Language learning spaces that set themselves up as conversation lounges are missing a big opportunity to do so much more than just develop language proficiency in users. Learner autonomy should be a central mission of any language learning space. Indeed, a language learning space can be an ideal milieu for supporting learners to become autonomous. Unlike in the classroom, users of self-access and other non-classroom learning spaces already have a sense of being in control of their learning choices, even if they are not entirely sure how to exercise that control. It is therefore vital that support is offered to guide and support learners, and this support can take many formats. The best forms of support do not simply attempt to help learners make single learning decisions such as which materials to choose or service to use, but to support their long-term development as autonomous language learners.

The design and application of medical English self-access learning platform

Foreign Language Department of Kunming Medical University has developed medical English self-access learning platform based on campus network, created medical English online courses and network resource library, established major oriented learning evaluation mechanism. It provides an online teaching, learning, practice, testing and evaluation environment for college teachers and students. The architecture of the platform takes medical specialty into consideration, which focuses on the training of students' English skills. The detailed design of the platform is presented. The platform was launched in September 2014. Performance testing is used to measure the ability of the system. Three methods including students' interview, the interaction between the teaching management staff and quantitative analysis are adopted to evaluate the application results. Finally this paper has preliminarily explored self-access learning modes available for students. According to the related information, the platform runs smoothly after it was put into use and improves students' learning ability of medical English to a certain extent. Key words: Medical English; Self-access learning platform; Design; Application

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.

A teacher's perspective on autonomy and self-access: from theory to perception to practice

ABSTRACTConsiderable resources are expended on the development of learner autonomy (LA), and in particular on the provision of self-access facilities as one of the most common ways in which institutions have tried to foster autonomy. Whether the intended outcomes are achieved depends in large part on teachers’ agreement with and understanding of the rationale behind these efforts. A mismatch between an institutional objective and a classroom implementation may, for example, negatively impact the student experience. This project looks at teachers’ perspectives on LA and self-access language learning in a university setting where a self-access component was introduced as a compulsory element of students’ first-year courses. How do teachers conceptualise autonomous learning, what importance do they assign to it, and how do they attempt to foster autonomy in practice? What role do they see for self-access learning in this? In this project, we used a mixed-methods approach and obtained questionnaire data from 47 teachers on an English as a Foreign Language programme at a university in Thailand, as well as qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 5 teachers, on their beliefs about autonomy and self-access. The results show a complex interplay between teachers’ beliefs, institutional constraints, and classroom implementation.

Evaluating Self-access Learning in Online Resource-based Context

<p>For the past two decades, language center in almost every university in Taiwan has attempted to implement the notion of independent learning through online learning resources. To many student learners, the easy and inexpensive access of Internet has made innumerable learning resources provided by language centers available for self-access language learning. However, whether students have cultivated self-access learning ability through appropriate learning practices online is the main point that school authorities are eager to find out. In order to know the effectiveness of self-access learning in online resource-based context, many universities take different ways to evaluate students’ achievement. Since evaluations of self-access learning are important for student learners to know if they gradually and individually move towards autonomy, their assessments must be more objective. The purpose of this one-year study, therefore, was to examine whether selected online learning resources and evaluation methods affected students’ self-access learning attitudes and whether students cultivated self-access learning ability and learned successfully in online resource-based context. To gather the data, one hundred and twelve non-English majored students from a university of Southern Taiwan were recruited as samples and two types of objective evaluation, an assessment test and online learning records, were used in this study. Major findings indicated that language students’ self-access learning attitudes improved and they did make progress in online resource-based context. However, the training for students toward self-access learning needs to be strengthened. Suggestions were also included in this paper.</p>