The reality of learning english online of learners at topica edtech group

DECLARATION I certify that this minor thesis was the result of my own study and the substance of this research has not been submitted for degree to any other educational organization ABSTRACT Online education has seen a steady rise in the number of learners in the past few years and is slowly replacing the traditional methods of learning The popularity of the internet has transcended all barriers of geography, race and culture and constraints of classroom learning The widespread reach of the internet and web-based technology has made learning a very accessible and convenient method of learning online English for those who prefer self-study to classroom learning In Vietnam, there have been more and more educational organizations applied this methods such as Topica Edtech Group Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the reality of using technology to improve language education like the way Topica Edtech Group did to Vietnamese education This study included four chapters: The first chapter showed the overview of the study, provided an overview of the study in which the reasons for choosing the study will be focused It also included the aim, previous studies, research methods, scope and the organization of the study Chapter two was literature review, which provided the theoretical background for the thesis This chapter included three main points The first point deals with the general view on learning English online The second point discusses the advantages and disadvantages of learning English online Finally, the third point discusses the characteristics of the online learning method Chapter three was research findings, presents answers for research questions related to the reality, difficulties of learning online at Topica A detailed data analyze and discussions were also given Lastly, recommendations and suggestions, gives suggested solutions, the summary and a recommendation for further studies ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms.Tran Thi Thu Hien for her valuable support, guidance, and encouragement she gave me while I was doing this research The minor thesis would not be completed without her great help from the beginning when this study was only in its formative stage I would also like to give my sincere thanks to all the learners at Topica Edtech group, who have helped me in giving me answers for the questionaire in the research Finally, I am deeply grateful to the officers in the Topica Native department who gave me the chance to collect the data and the information for the research LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table/ Chart Title number Page number 3.3.1.1 Learners’ profile 22 3.3.1.2 Leaners’ attitude toward learning English 23 3.3.1.3 Reasons for learning English online at Topica Native 24 3.3.1.4 Students’ opinions about how suitable with learning 25 English online at Topica Native 3.3.2.1 Learners’ difficulties in learning English online at Topia Native 26 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale of the study The use of English has been gradually increasing in Vietnam English is introduced to the educational curriculum from primary education (optional) to high school education (compulsory) The traditional method of learning was attending a face-to-face class However, there have been many other methods for learning English without going to a face-to-face class Online learning was the newest and most popular form of distance education today Within the past decade it has had a major impact on education and the trend was increasing This study would explore how online learners experiences the new method Topica Edtech Group with the product: Topica Native was the pioneer that applied the learning English online with their own system for the learners In the past, there was many educational organizations in Viet Nam which taught English online, however, they had always used the third applications such as: Skype, Messenger, Google Hangout as the platforms of classes As a result, these educational organizations themselves could not fix the errors of those above applications Hence, Topica Native was the first educational organization to create their own system which leads to quick changes and fixes the errors of other learning systems However, Topica Native still found many mismatches that badly affected the quality of English learners The learners’ complaints about online learning method with the technological errors have not been solved completely The above mentioned situation has urged me to conduct a study to investigate learners’ difficulties in learning English online at Topica Edtech Group As a result, I have decided to carry out a research into “The reality of learning English online of learners at Topica Edtech Group” 1.2 Previous studies There were a lot of research about learning online and difficulties in learning online (from teachers’ viewpoint, from students’ viewpoint and from other objective factors) in the world In the world, there were some famous research of some authors and linguists which can be mentioned such as : Sangeeta Kakoty in “E-learning as a Research Area: An Analytical Approach” Ambient Insight, LLC, (January 2011) quoted that: “Online learning is the education through distance mode where many technologies can employ Though elearning and distance education are both separate terms, they are quite same Only difference is that distance education separates the students from traditional classroom environment whereas in e-learning environment it is not So, research in distance education can help indirectly the whole e-learning procedure It is seen that, research in distance education has been subject to consistent critique It has even been characterized as “theoretical and predominantly descriptive” Richter argues in his paper that in the field of distance education, a validated meta-structure of research topic is lacking, i.e., a map of research areas that would help to organize the body of knowledge in the field Clark and Mayer (2016, p.8): Online learning is defined as “instruction delivered on a digital device (such as a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet, or smartphone) that is intended to support learning” E-learning is conducted in digital environments in the form of speech or text and images such as pictures, illustrations, graphs, videos or animations According to Clark and Mayer (2016), asynchronous e-learning, which is typically self-paced and designed for individual studies, continues to be the most prevalent form Susi Peacock, Ann Robertson, Sarah Williams and Maria Giatsi Clause(2015): “Effective e-learning? Multi-tasking, distractions and boundary management by graduate students in an online environment” Those researches above were some examples that I would mention in my study However, in order to enrich the contents as well as make the study deeper and clearer for understanding, I would refer to some other researches throughout my work 1.3 Aims of the study The purpose of this study was to explore the reality of the learning English online of 500 learners with various of ages, sex, levels of learning and careers More specifically, this study attempts to clarify the procedures of organizing a optimizational learning English online models for Topica Edtech Group and bring the most effective way to absorb English for the learners Based on the findings, the research further seeks to suggest practical recommendations for the possibility of the most effective online class 1.4 Research subjects 1.4.1 Participants The subject of this study was the group of 500 leaners at Topica Native The learners aged from 25 to 30, 54% were male and 46% were female Some of them learnt English offline for more than years 1.4.2 Questionnaires The study led to one questionnaire for learners that were learning at the Topica Native The questionnaire was used to explore information about their attitudes towards the process of learning English at Topica, their difficulties in absorbing and practising English online as well as the suggested solutions to apply when using the product The survey questionnaire was administered to 500 students including seven questions with an aim to get information about learners’ opinions on and students’ desires in learning English with different levels 1.5 Scope of the study Beside a lot of related issues that affected to the quality of learning English online at Topica Native, I have chosen to focus on the reality of learning English Also, due to the time constraints, this study only involves a small number of learners at Topica Edtech Group 1.6 Research methodology The main method of the study was quantitative survey questionnaire, which was designed and distributed to the learners In consideration of the research’s purposes, this study was done in the light of both quantitative research in which the data were collected by forms of questionnaires of learners Survey questionnaire was one of the most effective instruments for collecting data in social science Advantages of using questionnaires that Gillham (2000) highlights were: less pressure on respondents, not under pressure of bias, and analysis of answers was straight forward 1.7 Organization of the study The study consists of four chapters: The first chapter, Overview of the study, provided an overview of the study in which the reasons for choosing the study will be focused It also includes the aim, previous studies, research methods, scope and design of the study Chapter two, Literature Review, provided the theoretical background for the thesis This chapter included three main points The first point dealed with the general view on learning English online The second point discussed the advantages and disadvantages of learning English online Finally, the third point discussed the characteristics of the online learning method Chapter three, Research findings, presented answers for research questions related to the reality, difficulties of learning online at Topica A detailed data analyze and discussions were also given The last chapter, Recommendations and Suggestions, gave suggested solutions, the summary and a recommendation for further studies CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter aimed to explore a general view on the theory of learning English online, a quick new method 2.1 Definitions of learning English online Learning English was the activity or process of gaining knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing and understanding English People learn English often by reading, writing, speaking, and listening or usually known as four skills of English Online learning was a type of education that takes place over the Internet nowadays It was often referred to as “elearning” among other terms However, online learning was just one type of “distance learning” - the umbrella term that takes place across distance and not in a traditional classroom Learning English online based on learning English and online learning, usually via websites on the Internet There were many online community forums such as Englishforums, where many people meet to learn English Questions were answered quickly even with help from volunteer teachers all over the whole world According to Stacey, E., Smith, P J., & Barty, K (2004), distance learning has a long history and there were several types available today, including: Correspondence Courses, Telecourses, CD-ROM Courses, Online Learning, Mobile Learning Firstly, correspondence courses conducted through regular mail with little interaction while telecourses were where content was delivered via radio or television broadcast CD-ROM Courses were where the students interact with static computer content, online learning was Internet-based courses offered synchronously asynchronously Lastly, mobile learning was by means of devices such as cellular phones, PDAs and digital audio players (iPods, MP3 players) According to Sangeeta Kakoty, stated in the research “E-learning as a Research Area: An Analytical Approach” Ambient Insight, LLC, January 2011, “Online learning is the education through distance mode where many technologies can employ Though e-learning and distance education are both separate terms, they are quite same Only difference is that distance education separates the students from traditional classroom environment whereas in e-learning environment it is not 10 Years of learning English before attending Topica Native Number of learners Percentage Places 5 Provinces Cities 17 235 77 91 80 411 89 3.4% 47% 15.4% 18.2% 16% 82.2% 17.8% Table 3.3.1.1: Learners’ profile (Source: Learners’ questionnaire) The total number of the students in the studying was 500 of which 290 were female and 210 were male Most of students at Topica Native learnt English for less than year (47%) 18.2% spent from to years studying this language 15.4 % had experience of – years in learning English while 3.4 % had no experience of learning English because they did not have it as a compulsory subject in high schools or they studied other languages such as French, Russian or Chinese before Most of the study subjects came from the countryside and provinces round Hanoi (82.2% equals 411 students) while only 89 were from big cities Their different places of domicile led to a greatly various experience in their English language learning Students from the countryside and provinces round Hanoi were taught English in traditional ways and had no opportunities to practice communicating English Therefore, it was hard for them to get acquainted with the approach of learning communication English 29 The attitude of Learners at Topica towards the position of English The data about the attitude of learners at Topica Native towards the position of learning English was summarized in the table below Chart 3.3.1.2: Learners’ attitude toward learning English (Source: Question 1, Student’s questionnaire) It can be seen from the chart that in spite of some differences, almost students at Topica Native were aware of the importance of learning English Remarkably, 60.2% and 34% supposed that learning English was very important and important respectively Only 3% had neutral idea about the importance of learning English However, 2.8% and 0% claimed that it was not very important or unimportant 30 Reasons for learning English online at Topica Native Reasons No of students Percentage I not have much time to learn offline 402 80.4% I am lack of knowdege 354 70.8% I have no environment to practise 400 80% I am lazy 210 42% It was not effective when learning offline 257 51.4% Other reasons 47 9.4% Table 3.3.1.3: Reasons for learning English online at Topica Native (Source: Question 3, Learner’s questionnaire) Information obtained from the survey reveals that the largest proportion of participants found learning English help them improve communication skills Obviously, they had more motivations to learn English than other groups who learnt English just to pass the final exams (80.4%) or because they have no environment to practise Thus, teaching English online might be an appropriate way of helping them learn English for a variety of different reasons They learnt English online due to the fact that they wanted to improve their English but they did not have time, they used to learn English offline but it was not effective 31 The opinions of students at Topica Native about the matching with learning English online Chart 3.3.1.4: Students’ opinions about how suitable with learning English online at Topica Native (Source: Question 5, Students’ questionnaire) The results in Chart shows that the biggest rate of the opinion “Suitable”, with 35.3% while 24,4% felt strongly suitable “Not really suitable” accounted for 18,2% with most of the reason were that they found it difficult to follow the courses or the sequence was harder or easier than their level The last criterion was “Not suitable” that made up for 21,1% with various reasons such as they have bought the entire courses so they had to learn or they just found their favorite topics 3.3.2 Problems in learning English online for the learners at Topica Native Chart 3.3.2.1: Learners’ difficulties in learning English online at Topia Native (Source: Question 6, Learners’ questionnaire) Surprisingly, the graph shows that the unqualified teachers in Topica Native were the most common difficulty that the learners have to face with The runner-up for the propotion was due to their limited time allowance Along with two common reasons, the learners also found that they would have less focus when they learnt 32 online than learning in the real class Other reasons were the passive group : bad internet access, and inconvinient platform Reasons were divided into two groups , first were the objective reasons and second were subjective reasons The objective reasons were due to the Internet access, the number of learners at that moment The others were related to Topica Native’s disadvantages and learners’ obstacles Firstly, the Internet access played an important role to the quality of any lesson Some of the learners complained that the Internet access in Viet Nam gennerally was ranked 58th all over the world that made the learners annoyed when attend the class Sometimes they could not attend the class or could not absorb fully what the teachers said in the lesson Moreover, the worst time to learn English online on Topica Native was in the evening due to the huge number of learners that often made website crushes Topica Native was trying to optimizing the system to reduce the crushing website with the milion of accessers at the same moment As regarded to the related facility, the computers of the learners were also the factors that caused difficulties for the studying online To the Topica Native side, they admitted that their system had not been optimized Topica was the first organization in Viet Nam which applied for learning English online by using its separate system There had been many other organizations teaching English online but they used the third application or supplier such as Skype or other communicating applications Topica Native was the pioneer in this feild that had applied in USA and other developed countries The pioneers always got into troubles because they need the time to experiment the new system Obviously, the system of Topica Native showed many errors For example, when starting the lesson, the teachers and the learners alway had to wait the technician from Topica Native to check and ensure the system in the class which wasted about five minutes Furthermore, the teachers force at Topica Native was the most complained factors that brought out the difficulties for the learners Topica Native was 33 managing more than 1000 teachers all over the world which led to the obstacle to control the quality of the teachers However, the other factors might come from the learners The online system sometimes made the learners become lack of focus The interaction between the teachers and the learners were limited Chapter three presents the findings from the questionnaires Answers to each question were analyzed, categorized and later compwered with or contrasted to findings The suggested solutions in the last section of this cleared out the difficulties that online learners at Topica Native met and suggested some solutions from them 34 PART IV: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 4.1 Suggested solutions Solutions to Problem 1: Bad internet access There might be two reasons for the problems: from the internet access of the learners and from the internet access of the Topica Topica should check the internet access before the class started If there were any troubles with learners’ internet, the technicians should timely use the application: “Team viewer” to access into the learners’ computer or laptop By this way, the technician could fix the technical problems as soon as possible Solutions to Problem 2: Inconvinient platform Topica native should make the daily survey for the learners to understand more about their difficulties to improve the user experience A very good solution to this problem was to build up an IT work force for fixing all the errors or the false of the system to support the learners Solutions to Problem 3: Unqualified teachers “This problem took me a lot of time to apply oral activities as unqualified teachers, they were at very low level of teaching Their background knowledge was good enough to speak; but their skill to make the learners clear should be considered” Therefore, Topica ought to weekly hold up workshops or training classes for them to update new method of teaching and learning English The learners suggested that Topica should add the part “ rate the teacher” right after any courses This could be the tool which help Topica Native to classify the level of teachers all over the world Solutions to Problem 4: Lack of focus Topica Natve has applied AI (artificial intelligence) to analyze behavior of the learners Native Gen which was launched in 2018 has been equipped with the lastest technology In the online classes, AI could estimate the learner’s level of focus throughout the facial expressions, voices or automatically estimate the progress of the learners 35 The lack of focus of online learners would be divided into many levels in order to warn and support them in the classes For instance, if the learners attended to the everyday class three times a week, the system would warn the learners at level 3, if the learners attended the class twice a week, the system would warn them at level and if they did not attend the class in a week, the system would warm them at level (red alert) The online teachers of the class would timely call the learners and support to solve learners’ problems Solutions to Problem 5: Limited time allowance At Topica Native‘s courses, each English lesson lasted periods Teachers of English were responsible for teaching new English topics, structures and all the vocabulary related to these topics Consequently, it was very difficult for both teachers and students to finish their tasks in 120 minutes (as 15 other minutes were used for a short break) Some learners expected that the lesson could be flexible according to the time of the learners Because Topica Native was proposed to let the learners choose the duration time for the lesson right before the lesson started 4.2 Limitations of the study Due to the lack of time, the data were only collected through one main instrument, with questionnaire, supported by opinions gathered from the certain group of learners Therefore the result of this study might only reflect a part of situation of learners at Topica Native There were many things that need considering and investigating thoroughly Mistakes and shortcomings were unavoidable so any comments or extra contributions were welcome 4.3 Suggestions for further studies Learning online still remained a wide overview to study Further research might focus on other parts like all the learners, teachers or the learning system technician As for a field of reality of learning English online at Topica Edtech Group, the researcher would suggest that the research be on core factors leading to the advantages of learning English online at Topica Edtech Group and the updating solutions to cope with the changes of the educational market in the future 36 CONCLUSION This research was presented with the aims to investigate the problems in learning English online at Topica Native The research was based on the survey questionnaires The results of the research have made it possible to come to the following conclusion Obviously, it was found that learning English online was the newest and most popular form of distance education today which shows many advantages for the learners rather than those in the traditional method The learners can save time, money and be applied the most modern technology in learning that leads to the higher effectiveness Topica Edtech Group with their product: Topica Native became the pioneer applying the method in language learning, opened the new revolution to the Vietnamese education However, after popularizing this model for the English learners, they also have to cope with many problems Regarding the difficulties, the biggest challenges to all the learners were limited time allowance, bad system and teachers qualification Based on the findings of the study, suggested solutions to each problem were given by learners themself and the reseacher It was hoped that the study may be useful for learners and Topica Edtech Group in teaching English and organizing the online class for the English learners in particular and to any groups of learners in general 37 REFERENCES Asensio, M., Whatley, J & Jones, C (2001) ‘Taking over someone else’s design: implications for the tutor’s role in networked learning’,Association for Learning Technology Journal,vol 9, no 3, pp 65-74 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, vol 28, no 7, pp.11031118 Bazeley, P (2009) ‘Analysing qualitative data: more than‘identifying themes’’,Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research, vol 2, pp 622.Burns, R (2000) Introduction to Research Methods, Longman, Sydney Bloom, B.S 1953 Thought processes in lectures and discussions Journal of General Education 7: 55–71 Caudle, L A & Moran, M J (2012) ‘Changes in understandings of three teachers’ beliefs and practice across time: moving from teacher preparation to service teaching’, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, vol 33, no 1, pp 38 53 Clark and Mayer (2016, p.8) “Survey of Technology Enhanced Learning for Higher Education in the UK” Denzin, N & Lincoln, Y.(2011) The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research ,Sage,pp.1-20 Entwistle, N & Walker, P (2000) ‘Strategic alertness and expanded awareness within sophisticated conceptions of teaching’, Instructional Science, vol 28, no 5, pp 335-361 Gonzalez, C (2009) ‘Conceptions of, and approaches to, teaching online: a study of lecturers teaching postgraduate distance courses’, Higher Education, vol 57, no 3, pp 299-314 Goodyear, P (2005) ‘Educational design and networked learning: patterns, pattern languages and design practice’, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, vol 21, no 1, pp.82-101 Gunn, C.(2010) ‘Sustainability factors for e-learning initiatives’, Research in Learning Technology, vol 18, no 2, pp 89-103 38 Guskey, T R.(1986) ‘Staff development and the process of teacher change’, Educational Researcher, vol 15, no 5, pp 5-12 Hativa, N (2000) ‘Becoming a better teacher: a case of changing the pedagogical knowledge and beliefs of law professors’, Instructional Science, vol 28, no 5, pp 491-523 Investigations of e-Learning Patterns: Context Factors, Problems and Solutions, eds C Kohls & J Wedekind, IGI Global, Hershey, pp.86-106 Kock and Garza 2011; Hattie 2009; Kock, Verville, and Garza 2007; Redpath 2012 Student characteristics for online learning success Internet and Higher Education 9: 91–105 Lameras, P, Levy, Paraskakis, I & Webber, S (2012) ‘Blended university teaching using virtual learning environments: conceptions and approaches’, Instructional Science, vol 40, no 1, pp 141-157 Laurillard, D & Ljubojevic, D (2011) ‘Evaluating learning designs through the formal representation of pedagogical patterns’ Littlejohn, A (2003) ‘Supporting sustainable e-learning’,Research in Learning Technology, vol.11, no 3, pp 88-102 Mahdizadeh, H., Biemans, H & Mulder, M (2008) ‘Determining factors of the use of e-learning environments by university teachers’,Computers & Education, vol 51, no 1, pp.142-154 Malkki, K & Lindblom-Ylanne, S.(2012) ‘From reflection to action? Barriers and bridges between higher education teachers’ thoughts and actions’, Studies in Higher Education, vol.37, no 1, pp 33-50 Neumannn, W L.(2003)Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Research,Allyn & Bacon, Needham Heights, MA Phillips, R., Kennedy, G & McNaught, C (2012) ‘The role of theory in learning technology evaluation research’, Sangeeta Kakoty in “E-learning as a Research Area: An Analytical Approach” Ambient Insight, LLC, (January 2011) 39 Stacey, E, Smith, P J., & Barty, K (2004) “Student reflections on formative e-assessment: expectations and perceptions”, Learning, Media and Technology, vol 33, no.3, pp 221,234 Susi Peacock, Ann Robertson, Sarah Williams and Maria Giatsi Clause (2015): “Effective e-learning? Multi-tasking, distractions and boundary management by graduate students in an online environment” The NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition, The New Media Consortium, Austin, Texas 40 APPENDICES Survey questionaires (For learners at Topica English ) Dear learners who are learning English online at Topica English, These following survey questions are designed for the study” The reality of learning English online of learners at Topica Edtech Group” To get the best result of the research, I would be grateful to get your answers for these questions All the following information was only used for the research, not for any other purposes Part 1: Personal information Full name: Age: Sex: Male Female Job: Part 2: Information on learning online Please circle on your answer Question 1: How long have you learned English online? a Never c – years b Less than year d – years e More years Question 2: How important you think about learning English? a.Very important c Neutral b Important d Not very important e Not important Question 3: Do you usually learn English online on courses at Topica? a Very often 41 b Often c Sometimes d Rarely e Never Question 4: Why did you decide to learn Engish online? a I dont have much time to learn offline b I am lack of knowdege d I have no environment to practise e I am lazy f It was not effective when learning offline g.Others( ……………………………………………………………………………………… ………….) Question 5: Are the courses at Topica Native suitable for you? a Very suitable b Suitable c Not really suitable c Not suitable Question 6: Why did you choose Topica English? a These courses were cheaper than other offline classes b Topica Native is famous c I attended the courses thanks to my acquaintance d Others Question 7: What problems you face up with when learning English online at Topica? a Bad interner access b Inconvenient platform c Unqualified teachers allowance f Others 42 d Lack of focus e Limited time Thank you for your support! 43 ... communicating English Therefore, it was hard for them to get acquainted with the approach of learning communication English 29 The attitude of Learners at Topica towards the position of English The. .. English The data about the attitude of learners at Topica Native towards the position of learning English was summarized in the table below Chart 3.3.1.2: Learners attitude toward learning English. .. The reality of learning English online of learners at Topica Edtech Group 1.2 Previous studies There were a lot of research about learning online and difficulties in learning online (from teachers’