This paper describes how an original resource set of learning objects was developed to foster learning to learn (Gargallo Lopez et al., 2020) among student-teachers and how these interactive online materials are planned to be effectively incorporated into an intervention. Such implementation follows an innovative pedagogical framework based on a sociocognitive view of self-regulated learning (SRL) and the integrative learning technologies (ILT) approach to technology. The full project, starting in August 2021, proposes the independent use of the resource set of learning objects as a starting point to assist student-teachers with the development of self-regulated learning in their English courses under this new framework.
本文描述了如何开发一套原始的学习对象资源,以促进学生教师的学习(Gargalo-Lopez et al.,2020),以及如何计划将这些交互式在线材料有效地纳入干预措施。这种实施遵循了一个创新的教学框架,该框架基于自我调节学习的社会认知观(SRL)和技术的综合学习技术(ILT)方法。该完整项目于2021年8月开始,建议以独立使用学习对象资源集为起点,在这一新框架下,帮助学生教师在英语课程中发展自主学习。
{"title":"Can Learning Objects Help Student-Teachers Become Self-Regulated Learners?","authors":"Natanael Delgado Alvarado.","doi":"10.37237/120202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/120202","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes how an original resource set of learning objects was developed to foster learning to learn (Gargallo Lopez et al., 2020) among student-teachers and how these interactive online materials are planned to be effectively incorporated into an intervention. Such implementation follows an innovative pedagogical framework based on a sociocognitive view of self-regulated learning (SRL) and the integrative learning technologies (ILT) approach to technology. The full project, starting in August 2021, proposes the independent use of the resource set of learning objects as a starting point to assist student-teachers with the development of self-regulated learning in their English courses under this new framework.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48661470","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}
J. Mynard, Dominique Vola Ambinintsoa, Ena Hollinshead, Ward Peeters
The field of self-access has spanned 50 years, and in this report, the authors give a brief overview of a recent event organized by the Research Institute for Learner Autonomy Education (RILAE) with the theme of ‘Landmarks in self-access’. The authors also make reference to some landmark and recent publications in learner autonomy and self-access that have influenced the field.
{"title":"Landmarks in Self-Access: A Summary of the 6th RILAE LAb Session","authors":"J. Mynard, Dominique Vola Ambinintsoa, Ena Hollinshead, Ward Peeters","doi":"10.37237/120204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/120204","url":null,"abstract":"The field of self-access has spanned 50 years, and in this report, the authors give a brief overview of a recent event organized by the Research Institute for Learner Autonomy Education (RILAE) with the theme of ‘Landmarks in self-access’. The authors also make reference to some landmark and recent publications in learner autonomy and self-access that have influenced the field.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41472126","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 purpose of this mixed-methods study was to identify key factors in a discipline-specific, self-access graduate writing centre that both contribute to student success and that indicate needed improvements. The centre is located in a graduate education program at a university in Canada. Findings indicate the centre contributes to student success most directly by helping students improve their writing, which leads to an overall sense of confidence and engagement. Relationships with other students were also enhanced and found to be important. Faculty similarly noted that the improvements in writing and the strengthening of the graduate student culture were important gains. Graduate teaching assistants working in the centre said they benefited from improvements with their writing, which they linked to supporting students, as well as personal gains in their instructional skills. Suggested improvements included increasing appointment availability, adding workshops on new topics, increasing the availability of workshops and events, and increasing interaction between students and faculty at social events. These results indicate that providing targeted supports led by students but guided by faculty input and oversight can increase graduate student success and benefit graduate programs in general.
{"title":"Student, Faculty, and Graduate Teaching Assistant Perceptions of Support Provided by a Graduate Student Writing Centre","authors":"Victoria Handford, Joseph J. Dobson, Yuhan Liu","doi":"10.37237/120203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/120203","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to identify key factors in a discipline-specific, self-access graduate writing centre that both contribute to student success and that indicate needed improvements. The centre is located in a graduate education program at a university in Canada. Findings indicate the centre contributes to student success most directly by helping students improve their writing, which leads to an overall sense of confidence and engagement. Relationships with other students were also enhanced and found to be important. Faculty similarly noted that the improvements in writing and the strengthening of the graduate student culture were important gains. Graduate teaching assistants working in the centre said they benefited from improvements with their writing, which they linked to supporting students, as well as personal gains in their instructional skills. Suggested improvements included increasing appointment availability, adding workshops on new topics, increasing the availability of workshops and events, and increasing interaction between students and faculty at social events. These results indicate that providing targeted supports led by students but guided by faculty input and oversight can increase graduate student success and benefit graduate programs in general.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49353489","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}
Welcome to the second issue of SiSAL journal for 2021 which features contributions from colleagues based in Belgium, Canada, Mexico and Japan. We would like to sincerely thank the authors, the reviewers and members of the editorial team who make the publication of this journal possible.
{"title":"Introduction","authors":"","doi":"10.37237/120201","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/120201","url":null,"abstract":"Welcome to the second issue of SiSAL journal for 2021 which features contributions from colleagues based in Belgium, Canada, Mexico and Japan. We would like to sincerely thank the authors, the reviewers and members of the editorial team who make the publication of this journal possible.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45978143","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 Japan Association for Self-Access Learning (JASAL) held its 15th annual conference event on the 5th of December, 2020. Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the event was conducted online via the Zoom teleconferencing application, marking JASAL’s first “virtual conference” and requiring an impressive feat of innovation from organizers. The conference, attended by more than 50 participants in total, featured 20 presentations on a variety of topics relevant to self-access learning and supporting language learner autonomy. Highlights of the day included a plenary talk by Satoko Kato and Hisako Yamashita and a virtual tour of Tokyo International University’s English Plaza. In this conference report, 17 English-language presentations are summarized and arranged according to three themes: autonomy-supportive learning projects; SALC development via research and reflection; and reflections on the transition to emergency remote self-access in 2020.
{"title":"Embracing Change and Discovering Affordances in the Time of COVID: Report on the Japan Association for Self-Access Learning (JASAL) Conference, 2020","authors":"Jason R. Walters","doi":"10.37237/120109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/120109","url":null,"abstract":"The Japan Association for Self-Access Learning (JASAL) held its 15th annual conference event on the 5th of December, 2020. Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the event was conducted online via the Zoom teleconferencing application, marking JASAL’s first “virtual conference” and requiring an impressive feat of innovation from organizers. The conference, attended by more than 50 participants in total, featured 20 presentations on a variety of topics relevant to self-access learning and supporting language learner autonomy. Highlights of the day included a plenary talk by Satoko Kato and Hisako Yamashita and a virtual tour of Tokyo International University’s English Plaza. In this conference report, 17 English-language presentations are summarized and arranged according to three themes: autonomy-supportive learning projects; SALC development via research and reflection; and reflections on the transition to emergency remote self-access in 2020.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45973310","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 is the third part of an autoethnography about trying to enrich my vocabulary and improve my listening skills as a self-directed learner through French language songs. I followed the same Study Use Review Evaluate (SURE) learning cycle as my students in a self-directed English class at a university in Japan, and my work occurred at the same time as theirs, over a period of six weeks. Throughout the project and in the course of writing it up, I have been making comparisons and identifying connections between my learning and that of my students. This installment covers the final three weeks of the project. First, in continuing my language learning history, I discuss authentic language and the discrepancies between my classroom language learning and real-life experiences, especially with regard to understanding spoken language while in France. Next, the paper details how I evaluated my learning both during the project and months after it finished. After that, I describe my longtime interest in accents and dialects and how I chose my third song partly to study Nouchi, a French-based dialect spoken in Ivory Coast. The paper concludes with a description of how I felt my goals shifting at different points in the project and reasons I considered changing my focus from listening to reading. I also describe a way I have been able to continue practicing reading French on a daily basis and how students can benefit from this method too.
{"title":"‘Trusting the Process’: Part Three of My Autoethnography as a Self-Directed Learner of French","authors":"R. Werner","doi":"10.37237/110404","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/110404","url":null,"abstract":"This is the third part of an autoethnography about trying to enrich my vocabulary and improve my listening skills as a self-directed learner through French language songs. I followed the same Study Use Review Evaluate (SURE) learning cycle as my students in a self-directed English class at a university in Japan, and my work occurred at the same time as theirs, over a period of six weeks. Throughout the project and in the course of writing it up, I have been making comparisons and identifying connections between my learning and that of my students. This installment covers the final three weeks of the project. First, in continuing my language learning history, I discuss authentic language and the discrepancies between my classroom language learning and real-life experiences, especially with regard to understanding spoken language while in France. Next, the paper details how I evaluated my learning both during the project and months after it finished. After that, I describe my longtime interest in accents and dialects and how I chose my third song partly to study Nouchi, a French-based dialect spoken in Ivory Coast. The paper concludes with a description of how I felt my goals shifting at different points in the project and reasons I considered changing my focus from listening to reading. I also describe a way I have been able to continue practicing reading French on a daily basis and how students can benefit from this method too.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84275096","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}
Although the importance of communities for social learning within self-access centers has been recognized over the last decade, there has yet been little research exploring student-managed communities in a self-access learning center (SALC). This short pilot study investigates the ways in which members identify with the community of practice (Wenger, 1998) of a student-led learning community within a university SALC. Five members of the Learning Community (LC), an English conversation community, were interviewed three times over the course of one semester about their language learning histories and their experiences in the LC. This data was analyzed inductively and subsequently categorized according to Wenger’s (2010) modes of identification – engagement, imagination, and alignment. The findings of the study indicated that members’ identification with the practice of the LC was connected to a desire for an accessible learning environment, attaining membership in an international imagined community of English users, and the ability to negotiate sociocultural norms for their own purposes. This study highlights a bidirectional relationship between the “baggage” that members bring with them and the everyday practice developed over the course of the LC’s two-year history. Additionally, the insights gained from this exploration of the LC CoP have practical implications for SALC staff aiming to cultivate and support student-led learning communities.
{"title":"Modes of Identification Within a Language Learner-Led Community of Practice","authors":"Daniel Hooper","doi":"10.37237/110402","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/110402","url":null,"abstract":"Although the importance of communities for social learning within self-access centers has been recognized over the last decade, there has yet been little research exploring student-managed communities in a self-access learning center (SALC). This short pilot study investigates the ways in which members identify with the community of practice (Wenger, 1998) of a student-led learning community within a university SALC. Five members of the Learning Community (LC), an English conversation community, were interviewed three times over the course of one semester about their language learning histories and their experiences in the LC. This data was analyzed inductively and subsequently categorized according to Wenger’s (2010) modes of identification – engagement, imagination, and alignment. The findings of the study indicated that members’ identification with the practice of the LC was connected to a desire for an accessible learning environment, attaining membership in an international imagined community of English users, and the ability to negotiate sociocultural norms for their own purposes. This study highlights a bidirectional relationship between the “baggage” that members bring with them and the everyday practice developed over the course of the LC’s two-year history. Additionally, the insights gained from this exploration of the LC CoP have practical implications for SALC staff aiming to cultivate and support student-led learning communities.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77113985","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 study utilizes the design of an informal, semi-structured self-directed English listening program beyond the classroom in a university in Taiwan. The purpose was to examine Mandarin-speaking EFL learners’ autonomous learning processes and their perceptions toward the program. Twenty-two participants voluntarily signed up for the ten-week program, in which TED videos were used as the listening materials. Except for the orientation during the first week, all learning activities took place outside of the classroom at each learner’s pace. Data included 446 listening logs, end-of-program questionnaires, and interviews. The findings reveal that during the autonomous learning process the participants adopted various strategies at the stages of setting goals, selecting materials, developing learning methods, and evaluating learning outcomes. The strategies and self-regulation skills were shaped by both personal and contextual factors. Active metacognitive processes were also observed. Although learners’ participation decreased over time, they valued the opportunity to exercise control over their learning by having greater flexibility than that of taking a course. This study extends our understanding of learner autonomy in a specific context, which could shed light on the future designs of the self-directed language program.
{"title":"EFL Learners’ Autonomous Listening Practice Outside of the Class","authors":"Fang-Ying Yanf","doi":"10.37237/110403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/110403","url":null,"abstract":"This study utilizes the design of an informal, semi-structured self-directed English listening program beyond the classroom in a university in Taiwan. The purpose was to examine Mandarin-speaking EFL learners’ autonomous learning processes and their perceptions toward the program. Twenty-two participants voluntarily signed up for the ten-week program, in which TED videos were used as the listening materials. Except for the orientation during the first week, all learning activities took place outside of the classroom at each learner’s pace. Data included 446 listening logs, end-of-program questionnaires, and interviews. The findings reveal that during the autonomous learning process the participants adopted various strategies at the stages of setting goals, selecting materials, developing learning methods, and evaluating learning outcomes. The strategies and self-regulation skills were shaped by both personal and contextual factors. Active metacognitive processes were also observed. Although learners’ participation decreased over time, they valued the opportunity to exercise control over their learning by having greater flexibility than that of taking a course. This study extends our understanding of learner autonomy in a specific context, which could shed light on the future designs of the self-directed language program.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90220540","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 Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted traditional approaches to education and forced educators to adopt and adapt technologies to allow institutions to remain open, offer courses and other services to enable students to continue their education. This rapid shift to online teaching and learning has shone a light on the need for institutions to support students in working out how to maintain autonomy through meaningful interaction in the online world. In this paper we discuss the transition of a face-to-face university writing center to a synchronous online writing center that is hosted in the videoconferencing application Zoom. In doing this we explain the rationale that informed our thinking throughout the transition process and how sound pedagogical principles and a focus on the student experience guided our decision-making. Preliminary findings regarding how self-regulated learning was maintained and nurtured in the virtual writing center are presented and discussed.
{"title":"Creating a Virtual Writing Center to Support Self-Regulated Learning","authors":"C. Harwood, Dennis Koyama","doi":"10.37237/110306","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/110306","url":null,"abstract":"The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted traditional approaches to education and forced educators to adopt and adapt technologies to allow institutions to remain open, offer courses and other services to enable students to continue their education. This rapid shift to online teaching and learning has shone a light on the need for institutions to support students in working out how to maintain autonomy through meaningful interaction in the online world. In this paper we discuss the transition of a face-to-face university writing center to a synchronous online writing center that is hosted in the videoconferencing application Zoom. In doing this we explain the rationale that informed our thinking throughout the transition process and how sound pedagogical principles and a focus on the student experience guided our decision-making. Preliminary findings regarding how self-regulated learning was maintained and nurtured in the virtual writing center are presented and discussed.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42569902","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 this short overview, I discuss how ethnographies could be considered an appropriate yet under-utilised research methodology for exploring the field of self-access learning. We could consider ethnographies of self-access spaces, autoethnographic accounts of language learning or professional development, and also collaborative and duoethnographies. An ethnographic approach will allow us to develop a deeper understanding of the experiences of people in the field and a privileged insight into the learning process.
{"title":"Ethnographies of Self-Access Language Learning","authors":"J. Mynard","doi":"10.37237/110203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37237/110203","url":null,"abstract":"In this short overview, I discuss how ethnographies could be considered an appropriate yet under-utilised research methodology for exploring the field of self-access learning. We could consider ethnographies of self-access spaces, autoethnographic accounts of language learning or professional development, and also collaborative and duoethnographies. An ethnographic approach will allow us to develop a deeper understanding of the experiences of people in the field and a privileged insight into the learning process.","PeriodicalId":43678,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45943404","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}