Eurocall Conference Coleraine, 5-8 September 2007 ICT as a tool to support learner autonomy more opportunities for oral skills training outside classroom hours Alessandra Corda, Annemiek Wegman Faculty of Arts Leiden University

Contents of this presentation General background The INTUIT project Pilots at Leiden University The European Language Portfolio Technical issues Evaluation Conclusions Further experiments

General background English: language of instruction in almost all MA courses in the Netherlands Great demand for academic English courses (both students and staff) need for differentiation (foreign students) focus on speaking and writing Required level for MA: C1 Average reading skills level at the end of secondary school: B2

Average reading skills level Distribution of scores and cut-off scores vwo examination 2004 (upper secondary school, pre- university) in English

Average listening skills level Distribution of scores and cut-off scores vwo examination 2005 (upper secondary school, pre-university) in English

Dialang test results Leiden University Language Centre Vocabul ary Langu age structu res Listeni ng Readi ng Writi ng N = 219 N=21 8 N=2 13 N=2 15 A1A A2A B1B B2B C1C C2C

The INTUIT project (I) – university language centres Development of an ICT enriched learning environment to support English for academic purposes No distance learning 2006: 12 pilot projects, : large scale implementation

The INTUIT project (II) Pedagogical aims: implementation Common European Framework and autonomous language learning Pilots: Diagnostic testing (Dialang and Set 10) Language practice (Ellips and Academic Word List) Guidance (web based version of the European Language Portfolio, ELP: Blackboard courses

English courses at the University Language Centre Short-term courses (13 weeks, 3 hours per week) Target group: both Dutch and foreign students Dialang test as placement test, ELP Focus on productive skills (speaking and writing) Two pilots, March-June 2006 and September- December 2006

Pilots’ description Aims: Make students more aware of their English speaking skills level Provide them with knowledge and instruments to autonomously improve their English speaking skills Structure: Students assess their oral competence skills (ELP) Students record and upload monologues Teacher provides written feedback

Self assessment through the ELP Dutch online version of the European Language Portfolio (validated in 2007)European Language Portfolio Demonstration (English version) Student language portfolio Teacher language portfolio

How did students record the monologues? Sanako digital recorder in the language lab Odeo (freeware, web based), Audacity (downloadable)OdeoAudacity Mp3 players with recording function

Pilots with students and with staff: technical issues Problems in uploading audio files in the ELP, the programme was less user friendly than expected Different approach to technology; generation gap Reluctancy

Results of the students’ evaluation (I) 14 respondents Students are positive about the monologues and the feedback. Greater awareness of their strong/weak points, better knowledge about how to improve their English Students who did not use Dialang are negative about self-assessment through the ELP Students who used Dialang are more positive about the self-assessment through the ELP

Results of the students’ evaluation (II) Students found the ELP not so user friendly Students prefer online coaching in combination with regular lessons

Conclusions Most innovative aspect speaking skills training is no longer restricted to classroom hours Positive points Speaking skills training is longer and more intensive Students repeat until they are satisfied and send their best recording No relevant increase of teacher’s work

What next? New pilot with Blackboard, Dialang, SET 10 (oral skills telephone test) and ELP ELP only for self assessment, not for file exchanging and feedback (through Blackboard) A look into the new coursecourse

Questions? Alessandra Corda Annemiek Wegman

Text of presentation killstraining.ppt

References Noijons, J. & Kuijper, H. (2006), Mapping the Dutch Foreign Language State Examinations onto the Common European Framework of Reference, CITO report cefr.pdf cefr.pdf