FOSTERING LEARNER AUTONOMY AND ACADEMIC WRITING INTEREST VIA THE USE OF STRUCTURED E-FORUM ACTIVITIES AMONG ESL STUDENTS
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
FOSTERING LEARNER AUTONOMY AND ACADEMIC WRITING
INTEREST VIA THE USE OF STRUCTURED E-FORUM ACTIVITIES
AMONG ESL STUDENTS
Noriah Ismail, Deepak Singh Ratan Singh, Rafiaah Abu
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Segamat Johor (MALAYSIA)
noreezphd1@gmail.com, deepa205@johor.uitm.edu.my, rafia844@johor.uitm.edu.my
Abstract
The study seeks to examine the use of structured e-forum activities designed to help ESL students to
be autonomous in learning academic writing. This case study was conducted for a period of eight
weeks among 18 ESL Tertiary level students at MARA University of Technology who were taking an
ESL English proficiency course which includes an academic writing module. The structured e-forum
activities were part of the special online writing module for the students enrolled in a supplementary
online writing program which was developed using a Learning Management System known as EDU
2.0.The research tools include a set of survey questionnaire and interview questions. The findings
indicate the special e-forum activities not only helped the students to be autonomous in learning to
write academic essays but to enjoy their learning process as well.
Keywords: Autonomous learning, ESL, academic writing, e-forum, writing interest.
1 INTRODUCTION
Many recent studies have highlighted the problems faced by the students in learning academic writing
among ESL tertiary level students in Malaysia which mostly concern having poor writing ability which
results to poor writing quality and performance (Cheong Lai Wah, 2006). Thang (2003) asserts that
ESL students especially at the tertiary level should be encouraged to be autonomous in learning to
write as it can encourage them to have more writing practice outside of class time and they are able to
do so at their own pace and time.
One of the effective ways for students to be able to practice writing more frequently is by providing
them with the opportunity to be engaged in online writing activities such as via e-forum or blogging
tools. Moreover, studies have indicated that many students have negative attitudes and lack of interest
in writing particularly for academic writing which impede their writing performance (Ng Kui Choo, 2001;
Samsiah Bidin et al. 2009). Hence, this study seeks to examine the use of structured e-forum activities
designed to help ESL students to be autonomous as well as interested in learning to write academic
writing.
2 PAST STUDIES
An important aspect that is often overlooked by language faculties is the provision of sufficient time
being provided to many ESL tertiary level students to learn English in class particularly for writing
practice. Without adequate amount of time given to students to practice writing, they will not be able to
sharpen their academic writing skill. Graham, Harris, Mac Arthur and Schwartz (1991) postulates that
students need more than four days of writing practice a week; in addition, they also urge the promotion
of meaningful and purposive writing activities which could keep the students’ writing enthusiasm active
and alive.
However, recent studies (Nor Aslah Adzmi, 2009; Noriah Ismail, Supyan Hussin & Saadiyah Darus,
2012) conveyed that most Malaysia’s tertiary curriculum does not provide more than six hours of
English language instruction especially among non-English courses. With such limited practice time
available, many students remain at the mediocre level. A positive way to counter this problem is to
encourage students to be autonomous in learning to write by encouraging them to make use of
suitable online writing tools such as e-forum which allows them to do so outside of class and at their
own pace and time (Chan & Yap, 2010).
E-forum or online forum is regarded as a popular e-learning tool. Many studies which dealt with the
use of e-forum for language learning (Ranjit Kaur & Amin Embi, 2008; Wan Fara Adlina Wan Mansor
Proceedings of EDULEARN13 Conference ISBN: 978-84-616-3822-2
1st-3rd July 2013, Barcelona, Spain 4622& Shalini Srika Bala, 2010) have indicated favorable outcomes. Supyan Hussin (2008) asserts that
language learners who are given the opportunity to make use of e-forum enjoy learning location and
time flexibility as they are able to reflect on the previous postings to the discussion thread outside of
the classroom and time. In addition, the use of e-forum provides a platform for language instructors to
help learners improve their writing ability through collaborative writing tasks (Yukselturk, 2010). For
ESL student writers the opportunity to make use of e-forum to post and discuss their essay topics
allow them the chance to practice writing outside of their limited class time which is crucial in order to
improve their essay writing ability.
It is clear that encouraging ESL tertiary students’ participation in e-forum can foster their learner
autonomy. This is highlighted in Chan and Yap (2010) in their research of 1,400 students enrolled in a
writing course at Universiti Putra Malaysia who were required to participate in an online forum which
allowed the students to discuss topics and issues related to their everyday lives. The major finding
indicates that the use of e-forum “was effective in socializing the students towards becoming
independent participants of online discussion” (Chan & Yap, 2010: 115). Furthermore, the participants
perceived that their writing skills had improved along with their confidence and interest to write in
English in the public sphere which motivates them to participate in an online forum among university
students in future.
3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Even though there have been a number of studies conducted on the use of online learning tools such
as e-forum (Supyan Hussin, 2008; Chan & Yap, 2010) very few concentrated specifically on the use of
structured e-forum activities which are designed for academic writing course. Hence, the main
purpose of this case study is to investigate the use of structured e-forum activities among ESL Tertiary
level students who were taking an academic writing course known as BEL311 at MARA University of
Technology Malaysia.
4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. How does the use of structured e-forum activities help ESL students to be autonomous in learning
academic writing?
2. In what ways do the e-forum activities help the students to enjoy learning academic writing?
5 METHODOLOGY
This study employs a case study method. The participants were chosen based on purposive sampling.
Merriam (1998:60) notes that “purposeful sampling is based on the assumption that one wants to
discover, understand, gain insights; therefore, one needs to select a sample from which one can learn
the most”. In this study, the respondents were Diploma Part/Semester 3 students from MARA
University of Technology Malaysia, Johor Branch. There are 2 reasons why they were selected as
sample for this study. Firstly, accessibility as they were available to be involved in the study. Secondly,
they were learning academic writing in a course known as BEL311 (English for Academic Purposes)
which relates to this study. The students were categorized as intermediate group based on their test
scores for Semester 2 General English language which is known as BEL 200 – Mainstream English.
Students enrolled in BEL 311 course have 6 credit hours of class. Four hours are spent in the
classroom and another two in the Language Lab.
The participants were required to use the structured e-forum activities (SE-Forum) which are part of
the Online Academic Writing Module using a Learning Management System known as EDU 2.0 which
the students had to complete within eight weeks. Online Academic Writing Module was designed
based on a needs analysis study conducted on ESL tertiary students from MARA University of
Technology Malaysia (Noriah Ismail, et al. 2012). The structured e-forum activities consist of online
discussions on the seven academic writing steps which are 1) Ask, 2) Focus, 3) Seek, 4) Produce, 5)
Correct, 6) Evaluate and 7) Reflect. To help the students during their e-forum discussion for each of
these writing steps, they were provided with the important guides and tips relating to their forum
topics.
In this research the instructor’s role was to facilitate the students in their use of the e-forum. The
instructor has been teaching English as a second language for more than ten years of teaching
experience in the BEL 311course as well as in CAI (computer-assisted instruction). However, he had
4623not utilized SE-F for teaching writing prior to this research project. His role in this research was to
facilitate the students in their use of SE-F.
At the end of the treatment, the students were required to answer a set of interview questions and
post-instruction survey questionnaire. These interview and survey questionnaires were first piloted to a
group of 10 BEL311 students. The interview was conducted among ten participants who were
randomly chosen (from the 18 students) and agreed to participate in the interview. This interview was
conducted at the end of SE-F treatment. The questions consisted of 10 semi-structured and open-
ended questions. The post-instruction survey questionnaire contains 8 open-ended questions
regarding their perceptions pertaining to the use of the structured e-forum activities for academic
writing. The questions were meant to elicit the relevant answers for the research questions posed in
this study. The data collected were analyzed via descriptive analysis.
6 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The data collected provided some insightful findings regarding the use of structured e-forum for
academic writing class among ESL tertiary students. Firstly, the students felt that SE-F helped them
to complete their academic writing essays and assignments easily and effectively. This was because
SE-F discussion activities were carefully planned and structured according to the academic writing
steps that the students need to follow during their academic writing process. The forum can be
conveniently used by the participants to discuss their academic writing assignments and exercises.
This finding is in line with Hrastinski (2008) and Yukselturky (2010) in their studies on the factors
affecting students’ participation level in an online discussion forum which reveal the importance of
providing structured instructional activities in discussion forums in order to ensure its’ success in terms
of the students’ participation and preference. Moreover, Hewett and Ehmann (2004) state that
students may become confused and reluctant to use an online learning tool unless it is carefully
designed to have its’ own distinct use and is effective to use. Hence, e-forum activities must be
properly planned and structured prior to the course or online writing program’s starting period to
ensure that it benefits the students in their writing process.
In addition, the participants also used SE-F to brainstorm online for their essay topics or to discuss
their academic essay writing activities, particularly with the other participants who were writing similar
topics. The students also loved to share interesting writing materials and exchange constructive
feedbacks with their peers using the forum. This aspect of peer-collaboration and interactions as
important parts of learner autonomy is stressed by Little (1994: 435) who maintains that “they must be
helped to achieve autonomy by processes of interaction similar to those that underlie developmental
and experiential learning”. This finding concurs with the study by Supyan Hussin (2008) on the
benefits of peer discussions through an online forum which allows students’ learning autonomy as it
provides scaffolding and helps to increase the students’ Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
Moreover, the students claimed SE-F helped them to be autonomous in learning to write academic
writing as the forum allowed them to discuss regarding their writing tasks online autonomously and at
their own pace and time. Ranjit Kaur and Amin Embi’s (2007: 110) stressed that “once learners have
been equipped with the right (online) learning tools they can learn to take responsibility for their own
learning”. Moreover, the students revealed that they were more relaxed and confident in finishing their
academic writing assignments as the week progresses. This was because they were in no hurry to
finish their assignments in class, as they could do so outside class at their own pace and time with the
help of SE-F, allowing them to be autonomous learners as pointed out by Macaro (1997: 168) that
autonomous learning “is also an ability to be responsible for the pace and rhythm of learning and the
evaluation of the learning process”.
Furthermore, the findings indicate that the participants loved using the forum as it was interesting and
easy to use. They also claimed that it was not stressful to participate in it as their participation in the
forum was not graded. This is in line with the study conducted by Supyan Hussin (2006) where the
researcher found that both the First and the Fourth Year university students favor the use of online
forums for their course work because they found it to be enjoyable. In addition, the findings also
corroborated with the one carried out by Ranjit Kaur and Amin Embi (2008), of which the sample
population comprised of sixteen Third Year TESL students from UKM, which revealed the participants’
favorable view towards the use of asynchronous online interactions (AOI) via a Learning Management
System called Virtual Learning System (VLS) and regarded it as ‘a synch’ (p. 4) or easy to use and
aided the students to become autonomous learners. Thus, most tertiary students are able to learn well
4624via an online forum that “even with minimal intervention from the lecturer, the students participated
actively in the online forum” (Nor Fariza Mohd Nor et al. 2012 : 251).
Besides the positive findings, this study also reports some drawbacks which include the students’
initial hesitation to participate or post their comments in the e-forum especially during the first week of
treatment due to the lack of confidence towards their writing ability in English as they were required to
use the language. Moreover, they also face problems in terms of lack of ideas on what to post as well
as some technical aspects and training. However, after the third weeks, the students reported that
they had managed to overcome these problems. This was because the participants were given proper
guidance through the use of the SE-F guides and tips. In addition, the participants were also provided
descriptions and explanations of effective writing steps, ideas and sample answers to follow and use.
Furthermore, their instructor’s assurance that they would not be graded or penalized for their grammar
mistakes encouraged them to post and contribute their ideas to the discussions. In terms of the lack of
training the students were provided with the adequate training on how to use the LMS especially the
SE-F features by their instructor that they no longer face such problem after the second week and had
come to enjoy using the online learning tool. This finding is in line with studies related to the use of e-
learning tools for education which indicate that sufficient training must be provided to the students
prior to any web-based courses in order to avoid learning frustrations and anxiety (Mc Mahon,
Gardner, Gray & Mulhern 1999; Ropp 1999; Morrison, 2003).
7 CONCLUSION
Generally, the study indicates positive and significant use of structured e-forum activities among ESL
tertiary level students. The findings showed that the structured e-forum activities allowed the students
to be autonomous in learning academic writing which helped them to enhance their academic writing
ability and interest. At present the number of studies conducted on the use of e-forum for ESL
contexts are few and far between (Supyan Hussin, 2008; Chan & Yap, 2010). Thus, the findings of this
study will be a useful contribution to this particular field of knowledge.
REFERENCES
[1] Chan, M. Y. & Yap, N. T. (2010). Encouraging participation in public discourse through
online writing in ESL instruction. 3L; Language, Linguistics and Literature, The Southeast
Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 16 (2), PP. 115-139..
[2] Cheong Lai Wah. (2006). A study of students’ perceptions and attitudes towards ESL writing
using computer based learning materials. The Internet Journal of E-Language Learning and
Teaching, 3(1), PP. 26-48.
[3] Graham, S., Harris, K.R., Mac Arthur, C., & Schwartz, S. (1991). Writing and writing
instruction with students with learning disabilities: A review of a program of research.
Learning Disability Quarterly, 14, PP. 89-114
[4] Hewett, B.L. & Ehmann, C. (2004). Preparing Educators for Online Writing Instruction:
Principles and Processes. National Council of Teachers of English: USA.
[5] Hrastinski, S. (2008). What is online learner participation? A literature review. Computers &
Education, 51 (4), PP.1755–1765.
[6] Little D. (1994). Learner autonomy: A theoretical construct and its practical application. Die
Neueren Sprachen, 93(5), PP. 430-442.
[7] Macaro E. (1997). Target Language, Collaborative Learning and Autonomy. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters Ltd.
[8] Merriam, S.B. (2009). Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
[9] Ng Kui Choo. (2001). The case of comprehensible input in teaching and learning the write stuff.
FIFTH MELTA Biennial International Conference Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, pp. 11-21.
[10] Nor Aslah Adzmi. (2009). The academic English language needs of industrial design students in
UiTM Kedah, Malaysia. English Language Teaching, 2 (4), PP. 717-718.
4625[11] Nor Fariza Mohd Nor, Afendi Hamat & M. Amin Embi. (2012). Patterns of discourse in online
interaction: seeking evidence of the collaborative learning process. Computer Assisted
Language Learning, 25(3), PP. 237-256.
[12] Noriah Ismail, Supyan Hussin & Saadiyah Darus. (2012). ESL tertiary students’ writing
problems and needs: Suggested elements for an additional online writing program (IQ-Write) for
BEL311 course. The International Journal of Learning, 18(9), PP.70-80.
[13] Ranjit Kaur G. S. & M. Amin Embi. (2007). Learner autonomy through computer mediated
communication. Jurnal Teknologi, 46(E), PP.99-112
[14] Ranjit Kaur G. S. & M. Amin Embi. (20080. Asynch is a synch: What Malaysian adult learners
have to say? International Journal of Excellence in e-Learning, 1(2), PP. 1-14.
[15] Samsiah Bidin, Kamaruzaman Jusoff, Nurazila Abdul Aziz, Musdiana Mohamad Salleh &
Taniza Tajudin. (2009). Motivation and attitude in learning English among UiTM Students in the
Northern Region of Malaysia. English Language Teaching, 2(2), PP.16-20.
[16] Supyan Hussin. (2008). Creating a bigger Z.P.D. for ESL Learners via Online Forum in
Malaysia. College Teaching Methods and Styles Journal. 4(11), PP. 1-10.
[17] Thang, S. M. (2003). How ready are Malaysian learners for online learning? An investigation
into learner characteristics. Proceedings of ASIACALL International Conference on Information
Technology and Language Education, Bangkok, Thailand, pp.149-153.
[18] Wan Fara Adlina Wan Mansor & Shalini Srika Bala. (2010). Participation in an Online
Forum: A Case Study Of UTM Students. pp. 1-9. (Online) Retrieved 24 July 2012 from
http://eprints.utm.my/10717/
[19] Yukselturk, E. (2010). An investigation of factors affecting student participation level in an online
forum. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 9(2), pp. 24-31.
4626You can also read
