Exploring language learning for active citizenship and social inclusion: the challenge of learning through Information Communication Technologies
Paper presented at SCUTREA, 32nd Annual Conference, 2-4 July 2002, University of Stirling
Sue Webb, University of Sheffield, UK
Introduction and background
At a time when the concept of a good citizen in the UK is being defined in terms of a citizenship test that includes an expectation that people have appropriate English language skills for ‘survival’, it is timely to reflect on the implications this may have for adults learning English as an additional language (EAL)1. The main public policy context for language skills in the UK has been set by recent publications by the Basic Skills Agency and the DfEE/DfES (BSA, 1996; Moser, 1999; DfES, 2000). New requirements have been assigned to the further education sector to take responsibility for EAL, and in particular to the University for Industry through Ufi/learndirect so that such learning is linked to the learning of information literacy. However, this mode of learning may pose new challenges for adult educators and adult learners, raise questions about its effectiveness, and about the type of learning and knowledge that may be acquired.
Developments in EAL learning through ICT
In the 1980s computers began to be used to complement and gradually replace the language laboratory and much of the underlying methodology was behaviourist (Levy, 1997). Programmes were very limited, and by and large they were used only to complement classroom activities (Levy, 1997). The impact of these programmes was usually short lived. In the meantime, EAL practitioners discovered the potential of the Internet for access to authentic materials, exchanging messages and reaching speech communities (Swales, 1990). From the 1990s onwards, computer mediated communication (CMC) has played and is playing an important part in EAL teaching and learning, but mainly with higher intermediate and advanced learners. Beginners and lower intermediate learners, on the other hand, are thought to need to be exposed to controlled samples of language, so that the new language is presented in ‘digestible bites’. In other words, one effect of the expansion of ICT, and the associated focus on learner centredness, has been that there has been increased differentiation in the pedagogic approaches developed for different learner ability groups (Wasser, 1997). Indeed Wasser, (1997) suggests that high achievers are more likely to have access to computers as tools for collaboration and communication whereas low achievers find it offered as a tool for drill and practice. Levy (1997) acknowledges that this is how ICT has sometimes been used in language teaching but suggests that the arrival of CD ROM and DVD have finally made it possible for computers to present learners with stimulating life-like dialogues and interactions that allow learners to become more autonomous and independent from the tutor as the model and instructor. Autonomy in language learning seems at last to be possible for all types of learners (Cotterall, 2001; Dickinson, 1993).
Nevertheless, the meaning of the term autonomy will need to be critically explored for learners and tutors in the present study given that Levy (1997) also notes that this more recent conceptualisation of CALL in language learning frees up the teacher from the constraints imposed by heavy teaching sessions by shifting much of the drill and revision sessions to the computer. Similarly, De Castell et al. (2002) also warn that the potential to provide greater autonomy for learners may be undermined because these technologies are experienced only through learning as a social practice in which ‘teachers …recapitulate existing sedimented practices’ (De Castell et al., 2002:5). In other words, rather than fostering autonomy in learners these technologies in practice may simply provide an environment in which learners are presented with ‘an active way of being very passive’ (Davies, 2002:7).
As a consequence two questions arise, how do learners and tutors experience and view learning an additional language through the media of ICT, and to what extent does ICT use in language learning encourage learner autonomy. These have been explored through an empirical study that analyses the voices of learners and tutors engaged in EAL in a sample of Ufi/learndirect centres. The study was undertaken in 2000-2001 for research funded by the University for Industry (Ufi), and it included both college and community based centres. Ufi/learndirect commissioned the adaptation of a US learning package for ESOL, called ELLIS (English Language learning and Instruction System), and the research sought to examine the amount and nature of support required by learners at induction and throughout the learning process. It evaluated the learners’ and tutors’ experiences and perceptions of the adequacy of the product and the types of support needed.
The ELLIS research study
This paper will outline some of the findings from research carried out by a team from the University of Sheffield and funded by Ufi Ltd to evaluate the use of the ELLIS package in selected Ufi/learndirect centres. The study examined the perceptions and experiences of 46 learners and their tutors and managers in 7 centres including those located in formal college based learning resource centres and those operating as community-based centres or with employers. It collected data through qualitative interviews and observations in the main, though these were supplemented with biographical questionnaires given to learners and tutor logs of the support they gave to samples of learners.
The centres were located in urban areas in the south and south east of England, with only one group of learners drawn from a northern city. Nevertheless the learners were a diverse group, reflecting each of the various broad categories of ESOL learner identified by the DfES (2001). Thus the learners included people from settled communities, settled refugees, migrant workers, partners and spouses from all parts of the world, some of whom have been settled for a number of years and others whose partners are temporarily working or studying in the UK. Not surprisingly, within and between these groups, individual needs varied considerably as did aspirations, educational background, language and literacy background, and aptitude for language learning.
Some key findings about learner motivation and language learning through ICT
The theme of learners’ motivation was a recurring feature in interviews with learners and in interviews with tutors and other learndirect support staff. Learners are often described by tutors or other learndirect staff as being ‘highly’ or ‘very’ motivated if they are consistent users of the ELLIS package twice a week or more. Often centre staff assess and re-assess learners aptitude for ELLIS but very often tutors are using similar criteria to recognise motivation and they link these to either instrumental or integrative reasons. For example, at one centre the tutor looked for learners having ‘a serious intention to learn English…someone who is really keen’ and she went on to say ‘I think the serious intent might come from the fact that they are hoping to find work, get a job’(FT1). Similarly at another centre the tutor said that the ‘keenest were refuges who saw it as a means to getting a job’ (BT1). Whilst her colleague suggested that retention was related to motivation, and that both instrumental and integrative goals were important in sustaining learners,
…all of these individuals need it in some form in their life, something important to them whether it is for a job or whatever and I think that is what has given them such a good focus and made them quite determined that they would like to finish it really. (BT2)
Comments from learners confirmed that they were motivated by either instrumental or integrative goals or a combination of these, but, in addition, for some their decision to use ELLIS rather than take a traditional class may have been constrained by external factors and their social location, for example, their cultural milieu or their perceptions of their caring responsibilities. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this paper, the focus is on how such motivations related to their experience of learning EAL through ELLIS, rather than on examining further the nature of their general motivations to learn English. In other words, having recognised that many of these learners are motivated by economic imperatives and the need to feel socially included in the UK, in this paper, the concern is with the extent to which learning through ICT will foster learners’ autonomy and aid their active citizenship. Or, put another way, as some adult educators who have described critically the way that experiential learning has been overtaken by a vocationalist discourse have conceptualised this question, it is with assessing whether ‘learners are manipulated pedagogically to access already existing forms of knowledge either in the forms of disciplines, or, more usually, in the form of sets of behavioural objectives.’ (Usher, Bryant and Johnston, 1997:111).
In focusing on these concerns three key findings have emerged. Firstly, that previous and/or concurrent IT experience helps learners’ motivation to learn English through ICT and that tutor support is critical in fostering these IT skills. Secondly, that there are features within ELLIS that encourage self monitoring and enable learners to focus on learning objectives within the package that meet with their own interests and needs. Thirdly, that learning through ICT within Ufi/learndirect centres is still a social practice in which the role of the tutor is significant in facilitating learning through ICT by constructing a physical and social space for learning and interacting with fellow learners and tutors as well as the computer.
Previous and/or concurrent IT experience helps motivation
Some of the learners using ELLIS consistently are individuals who have prior experience on computers, perhaps in connection with another learndirect course, or through previous academic and/or work experience outside the UK. Tutors regard such experience as useful for successful study with ELLIS, and claimed that induction and IT skill developments were essential for those not used to this way of study. At one college centre, one of the tutors (HT2) identified the importance of computer literacy.
…The thing is you have to be a little bit computer literate. If you have never used a computer before it wouldn’t be suitable but once you know your way around its not so hard. (HT2)
She described the importance of induction to this learning,
If they haven’t got the IT, they don’t know about clicking, with the keyboard or not familiar with the windows environment…what I have found is if we do give them that support at the beginning it does make it easier for us after because they do seem to be better if they have that or to have that initial skills. (HT2)
Continuing tutor support with navigation through the package was regarded as important also, especially by tutors at the community centres. For example,
Well the one who it is difficult for just needs a lot of attention because he needs guiding ….steering towards the bits that he can do and helping, he needs help. The other two you have got to keep your eye on them because they quite often seem to be doing something but then if you get to know the CD you realise that they are actually sitting there doing absolutely nothing and I think it is sometimes that they aren’t quite sure what to do next and waiting to see if something is going to happen, they need some guiding through that.
When such guidance was given it resulted in learners becoming very enthusiastic about ELLIS, even among those who had not used a computer previously. One such said she liked ‘the games’ and ‘the computer’. Her tutor concurred with this view and said,
[Some of them have never used a mouse] I don’t think Y had, but she was fairly new at it all, but she picked it up quite quickly. It’s fairly straightforward…[and if they’ve lost confidence in themselves, they find it much harder] to grasp. I think they do well. Part of the excitement of it is the new technology and it’s given them [confidence]. (HW1)
Those learners who are educated beyond a basic level of education within their native countries may ‘appear’ to be more motivated in that they are more likely to be IT literate. This means that they start the ELLIS experience with less to learn in order to make adequate use of ELLIS’ features. Being familiar and comfortable with IT is an advantage. Moreover such learners may already see themselves as competent learners and educational achievers. They trust their ability to manage their own progress through the programme.
Once such learner at a college centre illustrates this ability to learn independently using the learndirect approach by explaining that she had developed her understanding of what was required by taking a computer skills package first. She said,
If you’re familiar with the method, you see a button and you know to push it you know that it is the same, you know the way. (HL2)
Nevertheless, with generic tutor and IT support learners soon developed the learndirect ‘ethos’ as this comment from a college centre manager and IT assistant illustrates,
I have found that the learners have been quite independent. I think because they have come into the Open Access and seen that it is an area where you have to be reasonably independent because everybody comes to do specific tasks they have actually just caught onto the ethos of the thing and just followed through quite well to be quite honest with you and I have found that they have worked quite well. The ones that have sustained that have worked very well and have been quite confident with it as well, gained a lot of confidence I think coming in for themselves, getting their disks, getting their books and just going off to the computer and loading it all up. I think they have gained a lot actually. (BT2)