Encouraging the use of the new technologies through autonomous language learning

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Encouraging the use of the new technologies
through autonomous language learning

• Jesús Usó Viciedo and María Luisa Renau Renau
• Departament dEstudis Anglesos
• Universitat Jaume I
• Castelló (Spain)
• viciedo_at_ang.uji.es renau_at_ang.uji.es

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The Language Learning Centre

• Uses
• For independent language study
• To complete coursework
• To listen to language tapes
• To consult language reference books
• To explore foreign culture through
• Film
• Radio
• Satellite television programs
• Internet

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The Language Learning Centre

• Goal
• To help language learners while promoting the
  integration of new technologies into language
  learning

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The Language Learning Centre

• Characteristics
• It provides language learners with the
  opportunity to spend more time in contact with
  the target language
• It helps them become more familiar with the
  target culture
• It focuses on autonomous language learning

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The Language Learning Centre

• Flaw
• Students do not use the LLC as often as we,
  language teachers, would like.

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Previous research

• To find out more about our students use of the
  LRC
• To get our students acquainted with the LLC
• To explore the effects that attending the LLC has
  on them (grades and attitude)

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Present study

• To find out whether the LLC at the UJI is still
  underused by our engineering students
• To continue getting our students acquainted with
  the LLC
• To explore the effects that attending the LLC in
  an autonomous way has on our students
• To know the resoruces most widely used

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Methodology

• Subjects
• Industrial English students
• Assessment
• Project 1 10
• Project 2 10
• Project 3 10
• Oral Presentation 10
• Written exam 60

20 hours of autonomous language learning
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Methodology

• Procedures
• Initial questions
• Have you ever heard of the Language Resource
  Center?
• Have you ever walked in?
• Have you ever used it?

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Methodology

• Final questions
• Have you spent more than 20 hours in the LC
  during the semester?
• Have you found it useful for language learning?
• Do you think you will continue to attend the LLC
  in the future?
• Would you recommnend it to other foreign language
  students that you know?
• Which materials have you found most useful?

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Results

• Results for the initial questions

This year
Last year
Percentage of students who had ever heard of the
LRC
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Results

• Results for the initial questions

This year
Last year
Percentage of students who had ever walked into
the LLC
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Results

• Results for attending the LLC in terms of grades

Last year
Percentage of the differences in the grades of
the students who attended the LRC vs. those who
did not
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Results

• Results for attending the LLC in terms of grades

This year
Percentage of the differences in the grades of
the students who attended the LRC vs. those who
did not
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Results

• Results for attending the LLC in terms of
  attitude and motivation (last year)

Reactions to the use of the LLC by the students
who attended (in percentages)
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Results

• Results for attending the LLC in terms of
  attitude and motivation (this year)

Reactions to the use of the LLC by the students
who attended (in percentages)
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Results

• Results for the materials used by the students

Materials used by the students who attended the
LLC (in percentages)
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Conclusions

• Having our students visit the LLC last year has
  had a positive effect on our students this year
• (46 of them knew about it and 13 had walked in,
  as opposed to 8,3 and 0 from last year)
• (the LRC at the UJI was underused by engineering
  students)
• The students who attended the LLC continued doing
  better in all parts of the evaluation
• (an average of 12,6 better as opposed to 17,5
  from last year)
• Television, films and internet are the resources
  most widely used by our engineer students at the
  LLC

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Conclusions

• Attending the LLC has continued being a very
  profitable and rewarding experience for our
  students, with positive effects beyond their
  grades
• 63 of them spent more than 20 hours at the LLC
• Almost everyone said it was a useful experience
• Almost everyone said they would keep using it
• Almost everyone would recommend it to other
  students
• The more we talk about the LLC the more our
  students become aware of it and thus use it

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Encouraging the use of the new technologies
through autonomous language learning

• Jesús Usó Viciedo and María Luisa Renau Renau
• Departament dEstudis Anglesos
• Universitat Jaume I
• Castelló (Spain)
• viciedo_at_ang.uji.es renau_at_ang.uji.es