An evaluation of e-learning websites for English learning accessible to Vietnamese learners in terms of motivating students to speak English

1 Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of languages and international studies Faculty of post-graduate studies LÊ THỊ PHƢƠNG CHUNG AN EVALUATION OF E-LEARNING WEBSITES FOR ENGLISH LEARNING ACCESSIBLE TO VIETNAMESE LEARNERS IN TERMS OF MOTIVATING STUDENTS TO SPEAK ENGLISH Đánh giá vấn đề tạo hứng thú cho học viên học nói tiếng Anh trang web đào tạo tiếng Anh trực tuyến cho ngƣời Việt Nam MA Minor Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10 Ha Noi - 2010 Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of languages and international studies Faculty of post-graduate studies LÊ THỊ PHƢƠNG CHUNG AN EVALUATION OF E-LEARNING WEBSITES FOR ENGLISH LEARNING ACCESSIBLE TO VIETNAMESE LEARNERS IN TERMS OF MOTIVATING STUDENTS TO SPEAK ENGLISH Đánh giá vấn đề tạo hứng thú cho học viên học nói tiếng Anh trang web đào tạo tiếng Anh trực tuyến cho ngƣời Việt Nam MA Minor Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10 Supervisor : Dr Dƣơng Thi Nụ Ha Noi - 2010 CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEGEMENT ABSTRACT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF PICTURES AND TABLES PART I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Design of the study PART II DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 E-learning and Web-based training a Definitions b Roles and drawback c Types of web-based training 1.2 Motivation in e-learning and motivation to practice speaking online i Definition of motivation and its roles in e-learning ii Types of motivation iii Models of motivation in e-learning 1.3 Web-based training evaluation What is evaluation? Purposes of evaluation Types of evaluation and evaluation approaches Procedures of evaluation CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY 2.1 Context setting 2.2 Methodology 2.2.1 Program analysis 2.2.2 Survey CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 Program analysis 3.2 Survey results 3.2.1 Part I 3.2.2 Part II 3.2.2.1 Attention 3.2.2.2 Relevance 3.2.2.3 Confidence 3.2.2.4 Satisfaction CHAPTER IV SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 Summary of main findings 4.2 Recommendations 4.2.1 Language content 4.2.2 Practising activities 4.2.3 Instructions 4.2.4 Supporting service PART III CONCLUSION APPENDICES LIST OF PICTURES AND TABLES Picture 1: Pronunciation lecture Picture 2: Recording tool Picture 3: Recorded file in a reading task Picture 4: Chat rooms Picture 5: Yahoo conferencing tool Table 1: The demographics of the targeted population Table 2: Question Table 3: Question Table 4: Question Table 5: Question Table 6: Question 10 Table 7: Question 11 Table 8: Question 12 Table 9: Question 13 Table 10: Question 14 Table 11: Question 15 Table 12: Question 16 Table 13: Question 17 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FTU: Foreign Trade University CLT: Communicative Language Teaching 10 PART I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale “Information technology will bring mass customization to learning too Workers will be able to keep up to date on techniques in their field People anywhere will be able to take the best courses taught by the greatest teachers.” (Bill Gate, 1995) E-learning in general has been a common term for educators or learners over the world Without exception, web-based training with its unlimited learning time and place as well as the cost effectiveness makes itself a good choice for Vietnamese English learners Furthermore, thanks to the advancement of technology, this kind of training can also help them enhance their speaking skill, which can deal with the problem of lacking an English communicative environment in Viet Nam (Nguyen, 2006) However, according to Eric Parks, a Fair Oak California Web Based Designer, fifty percent of trainees who start web-based training don‟t finish (Quoted from Jessica, 2000) Besides, a recent report in the Chronicle for Higher Education found that institutions report dropout rates ranging from 20 to 50 percent for distance learners (Quoted from Karen) This article also claimed that the reason for this is lacking motivation, which has a same idea with Thair (2008) This is simply because motivation is defined as „some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to things in order to achieve something” (Harmer, 2001, P.51) Therefore, this thesis is created to make an evaluation of E-learning Website for English Learning Accessible to Vietnamese Learners in terms of motivating students to speak English 1.2 Aims of the study As referred to before, the evaluation of motivation for speaking for online English learners is an important point that the web designers or the teachers should take into considerations when delivering a web-based training program for Vietnamese learners In fact, there have been ample studies over the world which raised the theory and implications of web-based training evaluation For example, Sammi Chan et al summarized an overview of web-based learning that contains all theories related to 11 this kind of training In terms of evaluation, Kirkpatrick (2006) developed a model for the evaluation of training programs and Henry L Smith and Badrul H Khan also made a study of Evaluation of an Asynchronous Online Program Furthermore, ChiaYing and Ya-Ting (2007) researched Criteria for Evaluating English Learning Websites However, such above studies just focus on evaluating the overall website which means answering the question: “Is the training program effective or not?” and the skills in English, i.e listening, speaking, reading and writing Actually, there has not been any study that focuses on the motivation to get learners to speak, especially those in Viet Nam Therefore, this study is done to  explore and choose an appropriate evaluation method for this projects  evaluate the speaking motivation of the learners on the web: http://smartweb.vn  and draw theoretical and practical implications for improving the program design In order to reach the aims of the study, the two research questions are raised: (1) To what extent does the program of the website motivate the learners to speak English? (2) Which implication can be drawn from the evaluation in order to design a better one? 1.3 Significance of the study The author‟s objective is that this thesis will make a contribution to  Investigating the methods to evaluate a web in terms of motivating the learners to speak English  examining the degree to which a website is able to motivate the learners to speak including particular strengths and weaknesses of the program  and, the foundation for the design of a new website that promises to be highly-motivating to the learners in speaking English online, which is anticipated to positively affect dropout rates in this program, in particular, and in e-learning education, in general 1.4 Methods of the study 12 The major method of the study is both qualitative and quantitative via such instruments: Questionnaires and semistructured interviews In order to get the information for these, 150 students in FTU are included as informants 1.5 Scope of the study Due to the limited time, this thesis only restricts itself to an e-learning website (http://smartweb.vn) and the object of the study are the students in the Foreign Trade University, Hanoi, Vietnam Moreover, this study mainly focuses on evaluating the online design of the General elementary course in terms of motivating learners to speak or practice speaking English Based on that, this study will provide some implications to design a new online course or enhance the online course studied 1.6 Design of the study The study is composed of four chapters: Introduction, Literature review, Results and discussion and Conclusion Chapter one begins with a general introduction covering the reasons for choosing the theme, aims, scope, methods and design of the study Chapter two deals with the literature review in which the most important notions related to web-based training programs, motivation to speak online and evaluation methods are explored and discussed Chapter three is devoted to the analysis of the training program and the data information conducted by survey questionnaire and interviews carried out with FTU students The next chapter summarizes all the results obtained and includes suggestions for further study And the last chapter is the final conclusion together with recommendation for further study Useful appendices can be found at the end of the thesis 13 PART II DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.2 E-learning and Web-based training 1.1.1 Definitions The European Commission defines e-learning, i.e learning via electronic ('e') means, as "the use of new multimedia technologies and the Internet to improve learning quality by facilitating access to educational resources and services, as well as to opportunities for online forums and teamwork initiatives" This means it is the intentional use of networked information and communications technology in teaching and learning In fact, there are a number of other terms that are also used to describe this mode of teaching and learning They include online learning, virtual learning, distributed learning, network and web-based learning Fundamentally, they all refer to educational processes that utilize information and communications technology to mediate asynchronous as well as synchronous learning and teaching activities In terms of web-based training (WBT), in particular, Khan (2001) claims that it “refers to training delivered in whole or in part over the Internet‟s World Wide Web.” Having the same idea, Allison Rossett (2001) defines e-learning as: Web-based training (WBT), also known as e-learning and on-line learning, is training that resides on a server or host computer that is connected to the World Wide Web.” In other words, web-based training is a kind of storing instructional materials, including courses, videos, tests and multimedia materials at a central location that can then be accessed by anyone connected to the Internet, anywhere, at any time 1.1.2 Roles and drawback Thanks to its own delivery, web-based training has many advantages to learners For example, Collin (1999) listed the following main benefits 45 Firstly, all the English sound instruction should be packed in the same course so that students can study systematically without moving from lessons to lessons If they feel not sure about one sound, they can move to that and study again One example is designed as follows, in which, students can click any sound they want to practise Secondly, in each sound chart, there should have more words and sentences (about from ten to fifteen) to practise reading and recording to check For example, in order to practise the sound /i:/ we can have such followings sentences  She is happy  Please speak slowly  The teacher leaves with teenagers  Don‟t leave me  Is he angry to see me? 46  Five-fifteen is too early to go to sleep  We‟re sorry we didn‟t meet you before  It‟s really easy to keep studying English  Do you feel like a piece of coffee?  Everyone must treat people with respect  We can easily reach an agreement  The eagle made a very neat nest in the tree  Please be seated in these three seats near the speaker Thirdly, there should be added more lectures about other field pronunciation such as: sentence stress, linking or intonations Hence, the students have more background of pronunciation before starting a more difficult task that is reading aloud the listening or reading texts or speaking in pair or presenting an issue In terms of the full package in pronunciation practice, there should have the following items:  sounds  word stress  sentence stress  linking  assimilating  intonation rules of questions: wh/h questions, yes/no questions, tag questions…  intonation rules of sentences: affirmative sentences, negative sentences, imperative sentences… 4.2.2 Practising activities 47 In order solve the problem of ATTENTION in this program, there should be more different kinds of practising activities Moreover, these activities should be distributed in the diversified way in each lesson or each lecture In terms of kinds of activities, the program now just has some certain types such as: reading aloud the sounds, words and sentences or working in pair with partners via chat rooms or yahoo conferencing tool And, the activities are the same in all lessons Therefore, it is suggested some of other ones For example, in order to practise the sounds in English, some possible kinds of exercises are: sound observing and discriminating; sound discriminating, word discriminating or open topics for discussing in pairs or groups Task: sound observing and recognizing Requirement: Observe each of the following videos and match it with the sound that you think the person in those video is pronouncing it (These following pictures are representative for the correlated videos) /æ/ /і:/ 48 /∫/ /θ/ Task: Sound discriminating Requirement: Listen and tick on the sounds you hear 1  /s/  /∫/ 2  /f/  /p/  3  /v/ /k/  /f/  /m/  /z/ Task: Words discriminating Requirement: Listen to the sentences and tick on the words you hear 1 The ship/ sheep is very white 2 I can easily feel/ fill it 49 3 She wore a neat/ knit dress 4 It was a big feast/ fist 5 The scene/ sun was very beautiful Task: Open topics for discussing in pairs or groups One sample for this task is designed for lesson two in Elementary level, i.e Daily Routine Topic: Please discuss the following topic with a partner in the same course based on the hints below Describe your favorite day of the week You should say:     What's your favorite day of the week? What are activities during the day? Who are with you on the day? What you feel about each activity? 4.2.3 Instructions Although this website is a kind of blended meaning, which means that instructions for the students can be implemented in class before they take part in the online program, there should be an overall instruction designed together with the online version so that the students can check or reread anytime they need Moreover, the one-time motivating instruction just helps them know 50 but cannot keep them attracted during their long practice procedure If each time the students are online, they are reminded of why they are here and what they will today; their goal will be stimulated again As a result, their CONFIDENCE and ATTENTION will be high thanks to such frequent interactions One example is a small popup box appearing when students click on the speaking tab within the program like: “Today, your target is the sound /p/ Now, begin your lecture and then record your voice, save it and let the online support give comments on it Please chat with your online supporter if you meet any difficulty Good luck! ” After the students finish their task, there should be a simple direction to another task so that they know where and what to next For instance, at the end of the page of suggest keys, there should be a box containing a funny sound like this: Well-done! Now move to next task for more practice Thank you for your participation 4.2.4 Supporting service As we can see from the survey, the supporting service plays a very important role in motivating the students in the course Their comments, supports not only give the students much incentive or encouragement but also help them feel clear about their success opportunity, which ideally give them much motivation of CONFIDENCE during their practice (Vroom, 1964) Therefore, 51 the online supporters should work more efficiently in their checking and commenting the students‟ recorded voice saved on the website Firstly, every day, there should have updated comments for each message that is automatically saved after the students record their speaking The comment content should be personalized for each message so that the students can understand deeply how and what they achieve each time The compliments and encouragements from these comments also motivate the students to continue their practice For example, a compliment may be like this: Secondly, thebạn supporters should initiatively the students are online “Ở lần ghi âm này, phát âm âm cuối câucontact tốt.with Ngữ điệu câuwho nói bạn at a time to assist them if needed or to tư nhiên lên nhiều bạn tiếp tục trì Good luck! ” simply let them know that they are not alone Sending the message as follow can make them relaxed and confident in practising “You are better at last consonant pronouncing this time The intonations sound more and more their speaking skill natural Keep going! Good luck! ” The last but not least, chatting with students every day so that they can practice directly with their supporter is the most efficient way to encourage them during their practice If the above all recommendations are implemented, the SATISFACTION dimension is consequently increased “Welcome to our study today Fell free to ask me if you have any questions ” 52 PART III CONCLUSION In conclusion for whole, I have drawn out the necessary parts to illustrate and to serve the purpose of this assignment „An evaluation of E-learning Websites for English Learning Accessible to Vietnamese Learners in terms of motivating students to speak English.‟ Within the scope of this study http://smartweb.vn and FTU students taking part in the program were the main objects Firstly, theoretical background was investigated are the reasons and approaches to get evaluate the program which was clearly described in chapter two Chapter three illustrated the results and initial conclusions based on the program analysis and survey result in terms of four main dimensions of ARCS motivation model of Keller: Attention (Practising activities were not diversified enough to attract the students; There were no instructions or incentives during practice.); Relevance (The language content in activities were not coherent and tantamount.); Confidence (The comments by online supporters were not updated.); and Satisfaction (The practising activities were not diversified so the students did not feel good about their accomplishment or each time they practised well Based on the above results, in chapter four, the author has presented some practical suggestions for designers to make a better one, which can high motivate the students to speak English Those are the recommended changes of language content, practising activities, instructions, and supporting service Due to the limitation of time, this thesis just focuses on only a website (http://smartweb.vn) and a group of students Therefore, the practicality is not highly intensive, which can be applied in a broad range Hopefully, in the future more researches are conducted with different kinds of objects in order to meet demand of all factual requirements 53 54 BOOKS Bandura A., (1986), Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A social Cognitive Theory Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Barbara R., (2002), A Self-Paced Learning Package for Training in the No-Scalpel Vasectomy Technique JHPIEGO Corporation Bills G., Nathan M., & Peter R., (1995), The Road Ahead, Penguin Group Publisher Brown H., Douglas., (1994), Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents Collin S., (1999), Web-based Training, Gower Publishing Limited, P Cunningsworth A., (1992), Evaluating and Selecting EFL Teaching Materials, London: HEB, P 59 Fenwick R., Olson J, (1986), Support for Worker Participation: Attitudes Among Union and Non-union Workers, American Sociological Review, pp 505-522 Fisher, Sharon G., & Barbara J Ruffino (1996), Establishing the Value of Training, Amherst, Massachusetts: HRD Press, P.3 Gery G., (1991), Electronic Performance Support Systems, Cambridge, MA: Ziff Institute 10 Harmer J, (2001), The Practice of English Language Teaching, Essex: Longman Press 11 Khan B.H., (2001), Web-based Training, Educational Technology Publications, Inc, P.13 12 Kirkpatrick D., Kirkpatrick P, (2006), Evaluating Training Programs, 3rd Edn, Berrett Koehler Publishers, San Francisco 13 Kirkpatrick D L., (1998), Evaluating Training Programs, San Francisco: Berett-Koehler Publishers, Inc 14 Madison W., (2000), Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators, Atwood Publishing 15 Ryan R.M., & Deci E L., (2000), Self-determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and we will being American Psychologist 55, 68–78 16 Saadé R., & Bahli B., (2005), The Impact of Cognitive Absorption on Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use in Online Learning: An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model, Information & Management, pp, 261-386 17 Som N., (2006), E-learning: A Guidebook of Principles, Procedures, and Practices, 2rd Revised Edition 18 Toni, B & Richard, O Motivating the Online Learner North Georgia College & State University 55 JOURNALS 19 Keller J M., (1987) “Development and use of the ARCS model of instructional design”, Journal of Instructional Development, pp 2-10 20 Lam P., McNaught C., (2007), “Management of an E-Learning Evaluation Project: The e3Learning Model, Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 18(3), 365-380 21 Soldato D.T., Boulay D.B., (1995), “Formalization and implementation of motivational tactics in tutoring systems”, Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 6, pp 337-378 22 Thair M.H., (2008), “Evaluating E-learning Programs: An Adaptation of Kirkpatrick's Model to Accommodate E-learning Environments”, Journal of Computer Science, 4, pp 693-698 INTERNETS 23 Chan C., Yang Y., (2007), Criteria for evaluating English learning websites, retrieved from http://dspace.lib.fcu.edu.tw/bitstream/2377/3715/1/ce07ics002006000243.pdf 24 Graham A, (2006), Evaluating E-learning – A guide to the evaluation of e-learning, retrieved from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/de/ 25 Karen C., Why Online Learners Drop Out, retrieved from http://www.kfrankola.com/Documents/Why%20online%20learners%20drop%20out_Workforce.pdf 26 Kilby T., (2000), Rules for Good WBT Design, retrieved October 4th, 2009 from www.filename.com/wbt/pages/rules.htm 27 Nguyễn Thị Cảnh Hồng, (2006), “Tại khơng nói tiếng Anh?”, retrieved from http://tuoitre.vn/Giao-duc/167252/Taisao-khong-noi-duoc-tieng-Anh.html 28 Rossett A., Sheldon K, (2001), Beyond The Podium: Delivering Training and Performance to a Digital World retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/elearning/define.html 56 APPENDIX A QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWS In reality, a Vietnamese version was used in stead of this English version in order that the students understand deeply Do the activities make you feel interested and curious each time starting to practise? Why and why not? What you think is the goal of each activity? Sound practising? Recording? Reading aloud the listening or reading texts? How often you practice in pair or in group with your partners in the same level? Why? And what you think about this kind of practice? Did you have chances to select the learning methods that were suitable for you? What and how you selected? How you feel about the comments from online supporters on your recorded files? What you think about your result accomplished in your practice? 57 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This questionnaire is designed to collect ideas of students at Smartcom English Centers on the website: http://smartweb.vn in terms of motivating students to speak English Please answer the following questions carefully Your opinions would be valuable to the evaluation research and the improvement of the program Your cooperation if high appreciated Thank you very much Part I Which year are you in?  1st  rd  th  th How much you think English speaking is important for you?  strongly important  very important  so so  not very important  strongly unimportant What is/ are the reason(s) why you need speaking skill?  to get good marks at university  to get an international degree like TOEIC  to prepare for your future job  others: …………………………………………………………………………………………… What is/ are the reasons why you choose the speaking practicing program in http://smartweb.vn?  to save your time  to save your money  to improve your English pronunciation  to improve your confidence when communicating in English  to improve your interaction in English speaking  others: …………………………………………………………………………………………… Please indicate your comfort level with computers and use of the Internet  very comfortable  comfortable  so so  very uncomfortable  uncomfortable 58 Part II absolutely yes yes so so no absolutely no                Did you understand the goal and the importance of the practice?      Did you feel that the learning content was familiar?      Did you have chances to select the learning methods that were suitable to you?      Is the goal you should reach clear?      Did you feel that you had practiced your speaking skill well?      Did you feel that you practiced much because of your efforts and ability?      Did you have opportunity to use your newly acquired knowledge?      Were you happy when you practiced skill well?      Was your accomplishment fairly evaluated with a consistent standard?      Questions ATTENTION RELEVANCE CONFIDENCE SATISFACTION Perceptual arousal Inquiry arousal Variability Goal orientation 10 Familiarity 11 Motive matching 12 Learning requirements 13 Success opportunity 14 Personal control 15 Natural consequence 16 Positive consequence 17 Equity Did the learning activities give you new and surprising incentives to learn during your practice? Did you feel that you wanted to learn more during your practice? Could you study without getting bored because there were variations in the learning content? 59