J. Mynard, Dominique Vola Ambinintsoa Razafindratsimba, Phillip A. Bennett, Eduardo Castro, N. Curry, H. Davies, Yuri Imamura, S. Kato, Scott J. Shelton-Strong, Robert Stevenson, Haruka Ubukata, S. Watkins, Isra Wongsarnpigoon, A. Yarwood
This paper documents part of the process of preparing to fully reopen the physical Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) in a university in Japan after being somewhat interrupted during two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-access is becoming increasingly complex, multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary and it is necessary to revisit SALC mission statements periodically, particularly after major events or changes. A group of language educators working at the university examined literature and theories from a range of perspectives in order to inform the future directions of the SALC. In a series of meetings over a one-semester period, one or two team members led a guided discussion based on some key papers, talks or other resources related to eight themes. After a semester of such discussions, they returned to the mission statement and re-examined it, making it more theoretically robust and specific, acting as a guide for SALC services for a new era.
{"title":"Reframing Self-Access: Reviewing the Literature and Updating a Mission Statement for a New Era","authors":"J. Mynard, Dominique Vola Ambinintsoa Razafindratsimba, Phillip A. Bennett, Eduardo Castro, N. Curry, H. Davies, Yuri Imamura, S. Kato, Scott J. Shelton-Strong, Robert Stevenson, Haruka Ubukata, S. Watkins, Isra Wongsarnpigoon, A. Yarwood","doi":"10.37237/130103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/130103","url":null,"abstract":"This paper documents part of the process of preparing to fully reopen the physical Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) in a university in Japan after being somewhat interrupted during two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-access is becoming increasingly complex, multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary and it is necessary to revisit SALC mission statements periodically, particularly after major events or changes. A group of language educators working at the university examined literature and theories from a range of perspectives in order to inform the future directions of the SALC. In a series of meetings over a one-semester period, one or two team members led a guided discussion based on some key papers, talks or other resources related to eight themes. After a semester of such discussions, they returned to the mission statement and re-examined it, making it more theoretically robust and specific, acting as a guide for SALC services for a new era.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46009948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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.
{"title":"Launching a Tutoring System Within a Restructured Self-Access Language Learning Center in Japan Amidst a Pandemic","authors":"Viorel Ristea","doi":"10.37237/130108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/130108","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44972031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The informal language learning environment has been noted as one of the requirements of foreign/ second language learning success. Based on the current theory and empirical studies addressed in this book, this review provides a brief history and position of informal language learning within the field of EFL/ ESL. The review also examines the strength and limitations of this volume.
{"title":"Book Review: The Handbook of Informal Language Learning Edited by Mark Dressman and Randall William Sadler, Wiley-Blackwell 2020","authors":"A. Rahman, Suharmoko","doi":"10.37237/130110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/130110","url":null,"abstract":"The informal language learning environment has been noted as one of the requirements of foreign/ second language learning success. Based on the current theory and empirical studies addressed in this book, this review provides a brief history and position of informal language learning within the field of EFL/ ESL. The review also examines the strength and limitations of this volume.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42103166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite much being written about self-access learning and active learning, both still remain definitionally evasive concepts. How both are conceptualised is very often dependent upon how they are interpreted within the context they are implemented in. Hence, making sense of the relationship between self-access learning and active learning poses a problem, especially considering the dearth of literature available. With these points in mind, this study explored unknown, unexpressed, and unascertained student understandings of self-access learning to gauge what these suggest for enacting active learning at one private Japanese university. This was done via a qualitative case study using an open-ended survey with 53 Japanese university students majoring in English. The findings showed that learners have a vague conception of self-access learning, seeing it as an environmentally-situated behaviour where they are free to do what they want despite often being unclear about how to use their time and having no clear learning plans. These behaviours, taken together, suggest active learning is unlikely to emerge without initial learner comprehension and acceptance of self-access learning. Moreover, it is likely these cannot be enacted if the right kind of administrative support is not provided.
{"title":"Exploring Student Perceptions of Self-Access Learning for Active Learning: A Case Study","authors":"S. Warrington","doi":"10.37237/130106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/130106","url":null,"abstract":"Despite much being written about self-access learning and active learning, both still remain definitionally evasive concepts. How both are conceptualised is very often dependent upon how they are interpreted within the context they are implemented in. Hence, making sense of the relationship between self-access learning and active learning poses a problem, especially considering the dearth of literature available. With these points in mind, this study explored unknown, unexpressed, and unascertained student understandings of self-access learning to gauge what these suggest for enacting active learning at one private Japanese university. This was done via a qualitative case study using an open-ended survey with 53 Japanese university students majoring in English. The findings showed that learners have a vague conception of self-access learning, seeing it as an environmentally-situated behaviour where they are free to do what they want despite often being unclear about how to use their time and having no clear learning plans. These behaviours, taken together, suggest active learning is unlikely to emerge without initial learner comprehension and acceptance of self-access learning. Moreover, it is likely these cannot be enacted if the right kind of administrative support is not provided.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43417546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores Hungarian university students’ autonomous learning behaviors during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary (March-June 2020). A self-developed questionnaire was used to explore some aspects of learner autonomy relying on the action-oriented dimensions of Tassinari’s (2015) dynamic model of learner autonomy. The present paper aimed to investigate how university students in Hungary regulated their learning processes during the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 with regards to three Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based teaching modes. Based on a quantitative study of the constructs of goal setting, management of the learning process and monitoring of efficiency, the researchers examine to what extent students were capable of adapting, through the exercise of learner autonomy, to challenges posed by the altered learning environment. Results of the study also show that participants had different perceptions of the three teaching modes and that students’ exercise of learner autonomy influenced their perception of these ICT-based teaching modes.
{"title":"University Students’ Autonomous Learning Behaviors in Three Different Modes of ICT-Based Instruction in the COVID-19 Era: A Case Study of Lockdown Learning","authors":"M. Bánhegyi, Balázs Fajt","doi":"10.37237/130102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/130102","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores Hungarian university students’ autonomous learning behaviors during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary (March-June 2020). A self-developed questionnaire was used to explore some aspects of learner autonomy relying on the action-oriented dimensions of Tassinari’s (2015) dynamic model of learner autonomy. The present paper aimed to investigate how university students in Hungary regulated their learning processes during the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 with regards to three Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based teaching modes. Based on a quantitative study of the constructs of goal setting, management of the learning process and monitoring of efficiency, the researchers examine to what extent students were capable of adapting, through the exercise of learner autonomy, to challenges posed by the altered learning environment. Results of the study also show that participants had different perceptions of the three teaching modes and that students’ exercise of learner autonomy influenced their perception of these ICT-based teaching modes.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44791433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper reports on the insights gained during the 5th Japan Association for Self-Access Learning (JASAL) conference for students and the similarities shared by self-access centers (SACs) worldwide. A group of students from 13 universities shared their experiences, ideas, and the current issues faced by their SACs with the aim of, collaboratively, finding a solution to make them available to more language learners. The outcome of this exchange gives an insight into intercultural collaboration and the impact of self-access centers in the process of language learning.
{"title":"JASAL Online Student Conference 2021 From an Overseas Perspective","authors":"Denisse Alejandra Vargas Montiel","doi":"10.37237/130109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/130109","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports on the insights gained during the 5th Japan Association for Self-Access Learning (JASAL) conference for students and the similarities shared by self-access centers (SACs) worldwide. A group of students from 13 universities shared their experiences, ideas, and the current issues faced by their SACs with the aim of, collaboratively, finding a solution to make them available to more language learners. The outcome of this exchange gives an insight into intercultural collaboration and the impact of self-access centers in the process of language learning.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47500654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper introduces the implementation of Pear Deck to provide a self-learning platform for students. As online classes have become common due to the COVID 19 pandemic, teachers have been using additional tools to support students’ independent language learning. Among others, Pear Deck is superior as it allows students to access interactive slides at their own pace. This paper gives details about Pear Deck, including how to access it as well as what features this tool provides. In this review, the authors argue that despite a few limitations, Pear Deck offers a wide array of benefits and can motivate students to study independently and enable teachers to supervise them.
{"title":"EFL Students’ Independent Learning With Pear Deck Interactive Slides","authors":"K. Anggoro, U. Khasanah","doi":"10.37237/130111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/130111","url":null,"abstract":"This paper introduces the implementation of Pear Deck to provide a self-learning platform for students. As online classes have become common due to the COVID 19 pandemic, teachers have been using additional tools to support students’ independent language learning. Among others, Pear Deck is superior as it allows students to access interactive slides at their own pace. This paper gives details about Pear Deck, including how to access it as well as what features this tool provides. In this review, the authors argue that despite a few limitations, Pear Deck offers a wide array of benefits and can motivate students to study independently and enable teachers to supervise them.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45340501","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Since the establishment of the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) at the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja.), students, particularly those enrolled in academic writing modules, have been utilising it to improve their communicative competence. However, the centre has recently encountered various challenges, chief among which are the lack of resources and restricted access to students, pushing the centre to the brink of obsolescence. This led to a revisioning of the centre, a central part of which is the creation of a virtual learner-driven SALC that focuses on the key areas in English and writing that students find challenging. For such a centre to be effective, it needs to be founded on students’ demographic, psychographic and behavioural traits. Using the results of a cross-sectional survey of 278 UTech, Ja. students, we present a learner profile of the typical student and the implications of such a profile for the creation of the virtual SALC. The results reveal that the typical student is teacher-dependent, extrinsically motivated and possesses low levels of academic exertion, low capacities for independent work and high levels of technology consumption. Based on this profile, heavy use of images, games and gamification elements, auto-rated activities, and interactive tutorials are central to the VSALC.
{"title":"“Our Voices Matter”: The Learner Profile of UTech, Jamaica Students and Implications for a Virtual Self-Access Learning Centre","authors":"Daidrah Telfer, Michelle Stewart-McKoy, Tashieka Burris-Melville, Maribel Alao","doi":"10.37237/130105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/130105","url":null,"abstract":"Since the establishment of the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) at the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja.), students, particularly those enrolled in academic writing modules, have been utilising it to improve their communicative competence. However, the centre has recently encountered various challenges, chief among which are the lack of resources and restricted access to students, pushing the centre to the brink of obsolescence. This led to a revisioning of the centre, a central part of which is the creation of a virtual learner-driven SALC that focuses on the key areas in English and writing that students find challenging. For such a centre to be effective, it needs to be founded on students’ demographic, psychographic and behavioural traits.\u0000\u0000Using the results of a cross-sectional survey of 278 UTech, Ja. students, we present a learner profile of the typical student and the implications of such a profile for the creation of the virtual SALC. The results reveal that the typical student is teacher-dependent, extrinsically motivated and possesses low levels of academic exertion, low capacities for independent work and high levels of technology consumption. Based on this profile, heavy use of images, games and gamification elements, auto-rated activities, and interactive tutorials are central to the VSALC.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43032155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In response to questions about language learning strategies as a field of inquiry, Oxford’s (2011) Strategic Self-Regulation (S2R) Model conceptualizes strategies within the larger frame of self-regulation. While there is existing literature on language learner self-regulation, this study uniquely explores the language learning strategies of an advanced learner through the lens of Strategic Self-Regulation (S2R). A series of interviews were conducted with the participant over a period of two years. Elements of the Strategic Self-Regulation (S2R) Model were identifiable in the data. Clearly, there was dynamic and fluid interaction between personal attributes, goals, tasks, and situational contexts during the self-access learning. The participant’s strategies were expanded and adapted based on needs and perceptions. Results of the study provide a better understanding of how self-regulation actually works on the individual level.
{"title":"Self-Regulation in an Advanced Language Learner: A Case Study of Language Learning Strategies","authors":"Guy Redmer","doi":"10.37237/130104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/130104","url":null,"abstract":"In response to questions about language learning strategies as a field of inquiry, Oxford’s (2011) Strategic Self-Regulation (S2R) Model conceptualizes strategies within the larger frame of self-regulation. While there is existing literature on language learner self-regulation, this study uniquely explores the language learning strategies of an advanced learner through the lens of Strategic Self-Regulation (S2R). A series of interviews were conducted with the participant over a period of two years. Elements of the Strategic Self-Regulation (S2R) Model were identifiable in the data. Clearly, there was dynamic and fluid interaction between personal attributes, goals, tasks, and situational contexts during the self-access learning. The participant’s strategies were expanded and adapted based on needs and perceptions. Results of the study provide a better understanding of how self-regulation actually works on the individual level.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44235007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Providing self-access learning opportunities in the form of brick and mortar self-access centers has long been part of universities. However, other self-access learning program options are available for contexts where limited resources may not support such structures. Accepting this, this paper describes the creation and operation of an alternative model, a satellite activity self-access program at a North-East Asian (Taiwanese) university. The paper also discusses the model’s generalizability to other contexts and offers suggestions for further study.
{"title":"Going Beyond Brick and Mortar Self-Access Centers: Establishing a Satellite Activity Self-Access Program","authors":"J. R. Baker","doi":"10.37237/130107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/130107","url":null,"abstract":"Providing self-access learning opportunities in the form of brick and mortar self-access centers has long been part of universities. However, other self-access learning program options are available for contexts where limited resources may not support such structures. Accepting this, this paper describes the creation and operation of an alternative model, a satellite activity self-access program at a North-East Asian (Taiwanese) university. The paper also discusses the model’s generalizability to other contexts and offers suggestions for further study.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42293827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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