MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO

Transcription

1 MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature Teaching English with Moodle: Designing the Course Diploma Thesis Brno 2010 Supervisor: Doc. Mgr. Světlana Hanušová Ph.D Written by: Bc. Pavlína Navrátilová 1

2 Declaration Hereby I declare that I worked on this thesis on my own and used only the sources listed in the bibliography. I agree that the thesis be placed in the library of the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University in Brno and made accessible for study purposes. Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou diplomovou práci vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů Brno 20th April 2011 Bc. Pavlína Navrátilová 2

3 Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Doc.Mgr. Světlana Hanušová Ph.D. for all her kind help, valuable advice and outstanding support. I would also like to thank her for her patience and friendly approach, which contributed to compiling this thesis. 3

4 Content Introduction... 7 I. Theoretical Part Aims of the Diploma Thesis Goals connected with motivation Goals connected with language skills Goals connected with e-learning and its realization The role of ICT English and ICT Education and ICT Pupils and ICT Teachers and ICT E-learning Reasons for E-learning Pros and Cons of E-learning Ways of E-learning Platforms Moodle Definition of Moodle Why is Moodle so Special? Moodle Tools Defining categories used in the online course piloted in the practical part Testing Evaluation of pupils contributions and assessments Designing an Online Course Course Characteristics Designing a Course Context Articulating Beliefs; Formulating Goals and Objectives

5 5.2.3 Learners Needs Task Design and Materials Conceptualizing Content Assessment and Evaluation of Pupils Participation and Work Pupils Participation and Work The Course II. Practical Part Why Moodle? Choosing Criteria for the Course Formulating Beliefs, Goals and Objectives Beliefs Goals and objectives Characteristics of the course Course Participants Language Skills Analyzing Learners Needs The Questionnaire Research Sample Results of the questionnaire: written and graphic: Content of the Course Material, Activities and Exercises Reading Exercises Written Exercises Listening Activities The Structure of the Course The Framework of the Course Organisation and Timing of the Course Evaluation and Assessment of the Course

6 8.1 Reaction of Learners Teacher s experiences Conclusion Résumé Resumé Bibliography Figures Tables Graphs APPENDIX

7 Introduction The main aim of this diploma thesis is to prepare, pilot and evaluate the language course moderated through Moodle for lower-secondary school pupils. The intention is to describe a different way to improve their language skills, the positive and negative parts of this way of learning. The content of this course will be focused on enrichment and practising of the vocabulary. The course will be designed for pupils of the eighth class of the lower-secondary school. After analysing the textbooks and additional materials determined for teaching in the eight classes, my colleagues and I discussed the content of the course and we agreed that as the majority of the exercises set in the textbooks is oriented towards the practising of grammatical structures, it is mainly the vocabulary that should be supported both in learning and practising. In the theoretical part, I will try to provide the basic information about online teaching, its pros and cons. I will try to explain why this way of teaching should be taken into account as a suitable teaching strategy supporting and supplementing common classroom teaching. The theoretical part will also describe the strategy of course designing. The practical part of this diploma is focused on the course itself, its content, structure and realization. The activities that this course will be made of are established due to the results of the questionnaire given to pupils at the beginning of this project. Learning and practising strategies of pupils as well as their needs and expectations will be essential for establishing the content of particular online lessons. The example of online lessons will be included in the practical part as well. There are expectations that pupils will enjoy practising and learning through the computer and what it is believed the most that thanks to this course they will improve not only their lexicon but also that they will be able to express their ideas, opinions and needs more clearly and fluently. The expectation is that the improvement in written expressing will develop also their ability in oral expressing. 7

8 I. Theoretical Part 1 Aims of the Diploma Thesis 1.1 Goals connected with motivation There is a presumption that a new way of learning and practising English language could motivate pupils to self study. Another fact is that using computers belongs to one of pupils everyday activities. For this reason, it is supposed that young learners could see the way of learning and practising English in online course as something natural and more amusing than traditional paper work. But these are only hypotheses that will be proved or disproved via piloting the course. The research questions connected with pupils motivation are following: Will the participation in the e-learning increase pupils interest in English language? Will the e-learning course motivate pupils to study and practice English more often and more regularly than they were used to? There are not many ways how to prove the questions set above. One of the ways is to ask pupils at the end of the course and also ask their English teacher. Unfortunately, this way of evaluation seems highly subjective. Another way, definitely more objective, is to see how often each student will visit a course, what exercises he/she will work on. This is available through the tool of Moodle. For this reason the optional activities will be included into the content of the piloted course. 1.2 Goals connected with language skills There are certain expectations that regular and compulsory participation in an online course should help learners to develop their language abilities. The study materials and exercises used in the online course supplement the content of the textbook Project 3, used in regular classes of English language. For this reason it is believed that the lexicon of learners should be enriched and developed. As regards productive and receptive language skills, this online course will be based mainly on reading and writing. On the other hand, frequent free writing in the form of contributions to forums and written assignments could improve the fluency of learners expressing themselves, their ideas and opinions. The main research questions connected with the area of language skills will be following: 8

9 Will it improve pupils lexicon? Will it improve the way of expressing their ideas, opinions and needs in English language? Learners will be asked to evaluate the contribution of this course for their language skills at the end of this course. The development of learners lexicon as well as the form of learners writing will be evaluated through various tests, forum contributions and written assignments regularly during the course. 1.3 Goals connected with e-learning and its realization Successful realization of online course requires at least some degree of self-directed learning. Without this ability it will be very hard to force pupils to work on their own. It is very important to mention that pupils should be taught the way of self-directed learning. Because of the fact that self-directing learning was included into the conception of elementary education as one of objectives of elementary education expressed as: Helping the pupils to become familiar with and develop their own abilities according to their realistic possibilities and to utilise them along with their acquired knowledge and skills when making decisions on their own life and profession orientations (FEP EE 10) There is certain expectation that a group of pupils chosen for piloting a course has been already involved in the training of such skills. The research questions connected with e-learning are following: Is the e-learning course adequate for a group of teenage pupils? Are they able to work independently? Are they responsible enough for self-studying? The way of pupils work and participation in an online course will be the best indicator whether the pupils will be able to work independently. The facts such as keeping deadlines, participating in forums and optional exercises can serve as indicators of self-directed learning. 9

10 2 The role of ICT 2.1 English and ICT The main reason for creating the e-learning course of English language was the fact that nowadays it is rather impossible to exist without knowing at least a bit of English. The English expressions successfully infiltrate into common and everyday used Czech language and become a part of it. These expressions appear in newspapers, in advertisements, at the labels of various goods. Children as well as adults play computer games created in English; they browse the Internet, listen to English music and watch the films in English. These all facts can represent a very good reason for studying English, a great motivation. All teachers know that a right motivation represents one of the keys leading to successful learning process. This fact brings the idea to use pupils interests in the world of computers and make it a part of English lesson. 2.2 Education and ICT Although, the term ICT becomes nowadays really frequent, it is not easy to define its particular meaning. According to Wikibooks ICT is defined as a diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information. These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony. Wikibooks server mentions the fact that in recent years there has been a groundswell of interest in how computers and the Internet can best be harnessed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of education at all levels and in both formal and non-formal settings. (en.wikibooks.org) As Dudeney and Hockly mention, technology in language teaching is not new. First term connected with computer based learning technology appeared in 1980s. It is known under the abbreviation CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning). Although in 1990s it was substituted by the term TELL (Technology Enhanced Language Learning) its style of exercises such as filling in gapped texts, matching sentence halves and doing multiple choice activities can be still found on many published CD ROMs for language teaching. 10

11 The philosophy of TELL is mainly connected with the use of the Internet and webbased tools. Dudeney and Hockly see a big potential in TELL. Among many reasons, those that are the most important for this diploma thesis are following points: Internet access: either at homes or in Internet cafés- is becoming increasingly available to learners Younger learners are growing up with technology. It has become a natural and integrated part in their lives. This fact has been also mentioned in Lewis.(10) English, as an international language, is being used in technologically mediated context. Technology, especially the Internet provides new opportunities of authentic tasks and materials, as well as access to a wealth of ready-made materials. Among the high numbers of these pages mainly the web pages of British Council ( should be emphasized, as they provide not only exercises and activities available for ELT, but also theoretical background. The Internet offers excellent opportunities for collaboration and communication between learners who are geographically dispread (E- Twinning, key pals). Using a range of ICT tools can give learners exposure to a practice in all of the four main language skills speaking, listening, reading and writing. Learners increasingly expect language schools (and schools in general) to integrate technology into teaching. It is because nowadays, technology offers new ways for practicing language and assessing performance. Without any doubt, using ICT for teaching represents a wide range of new opportunities and possibilities. On the other hand, the wrong use or overuse of these technologies can cause certain problems such as making lessons impersonal, getting pupils bored or loosing contact with the content of the subject. 2.3 Pupils and ICT The language of the Internet (or CYBER English ) is an important medium in international communication. Leaving aside the pros and cons of this form of English, children must be 11

12 educated to be what people call electronically literate. Since being electronically literate means not only acquiring technical skills, but also working with English, the EFL teacher is in the position to kill two birds with one stone. (Lewis 10) Through these words Lewis just summarised what has been thought for quite a long time and that is the fact that ICT in general is the part and parcel of the world of our pupils. Although, for some teachers the Internet or a computer may work still more as a timesaver, it is obvious that using computers as a supplement of traditional classroom teaching has a big potential. It is important to mention the most common reasons that are often cited to support using of ICT in teaching. According to Lewis it is mainly the fact that teachers should try to understand and support pupils needs and interests. Today, technology has an enormous impact on all aspects of teenage life, which simply cannot be ignored. Today s teenagers feel connected to the rest of the world and indeed they are. They are also used to exploratory learning. This level of independence needs to be extended to activities in the language learning classroom. And the implications for the classroom are huge. (Lewis 10) Without any doubt, pupils enjoy working with computers so its usage in common lessons could help to build better relationship between a teacher and pupils. Another fact is that a computer, mainly the Internet, brings a wide range of opportunities not only for looking up the information but also for practising. Nowadays, there is no problem to choose from a great variety of educative CD ROMS, educative programmes such as Hot Potatoes and Terasoft for English or Calibri for Mathematics that are accessible for almost all school subjects. As it has been already mentioned in chapter 2.2, it is also the fact that Internet nowadays is easily available. Not only at home or in Internet cafés, but still more and more schools build their own computer centres that are open for students not only during their school time but in some days also after school. This means the opportunity for using computers and the Internet for those students that do not have a computer at home. Using the Internet definitely improves language abilities. As it is visible from the world study made by SCIO in the year , those countries where students and pupils 1 More information is available on the web pages of SCIO. SCIO. Project ITEFL: International Comparative Study. Raw data. 12

13 used the Internet nearly every day, both at school and at home, demonstrated higher language competence comparing with the countries, where the usage of a computer was not so frequent, or where the computers were not used effectively. Fig. 1 ITEFL: Results of testing English language: particular parts of the test Unfortunately, the results proved by Czech student were far behind the average percentile. Certainly, it does not mean that the Czech students do not use a computer. The research of Czech Statistical Office came with the high number that demonstrates the frequency of using a computer by Czech students. Fig. 2 - Frequency of use a personal computer by students (16+) 2008 every day or nearly every day 1-4 days a week Less then once a week Czech Statistical Office. Využití IT ve Školství. 13

14 As it is mentioned in Teeler and Gray and as it is visible from the study above more and more students are experienced users of the Internet, and make excellent resources for the less experienced teachers (60).Considering this information about the number and the frequency of using the Internet by students, it is believed that the focus of this problem is possible to find in an ineffective use of the Internet during lessons of the English language. Some people believe that designing the online course does not request any special effort but copying certain activities from the Internet or using tools such as chats and discussions. Quite the opposite, in fact. As Hockly and Dudeney explain: Online tutoring is part pastoral, part technical, part pedagogical and very hard work! It is neither a cheap nor an easy option - a point worth bearing in mind when considering the jump to online courses, whether you are a centre director, a course director or a potential tutor. ( 2.4 Teachers and ICT Teeler and Gray see the key fact leading towards an effective usage of ICT in teaching in sufficient and quality education of teachers. As they point out, teachers should spend at least a term using the technology for themselves, both as a resource for materials and teacher development tool (60). Initial training should include a hands-on instruction to all the relevant applications as well as advice on troubleshooting. Another fact is not to be ashamed and take advantage of students skills rather than to worry about them (Teeler, Gray 60). Dudeney and Hockly summed the ways of online teacher training into four main categories. Short methodology courses for teachers, for example Teaching Young Learners (IH Certificate in Teaching Young Learners: Online IH Teacher Training Institute. Pre-service certificate courses (provides by Cambridge ESOL) In-service diploma courses, for example Cambridge ESOL Delta MAs and university diplomas (Open University, UK) 14

15 Another way how to develop teacher training is to become a member of certain online discussion groups. Members of such a group do not communicate only through s or blogs, but it is possible to find locations where documents, files and photos can be stored. IATEFL (The International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) may represent one of these groups. Dudeney and Hockly also suggest becoming first a learner before starting to monitor an online course. Being an online learner oneself is the fastest and the most effective way of getting insights into the online learning and teaching process, as well as familiarity with the tools and software available. (142) They also agree with Teeler and Gray by proclaiming the same fact that probably one of the most important things for teachers and institutions who get involved in online learning is to realise that online learning is not a cheap and easy alternative to face-to face learning. (Dudeney, Hockly 142) In fact, the more effective an online course is, the more time it requires in both preparing and tutoring. This characterisation of online learning and teaching process lead towards one important conclusion and that is the fact that teachers should be really convinced and enthusiastic about implementing an online course into their teaching strategies. They should also believe in the benefits that pupils could gain via online learning. What Dudeney and Hockly point out is the fact that : Only if you can convince your learners (and yourself) of the added value that online learning can bring to their language learning, should you try it out. (Dudeney, Hockly 142) 3 E-learning 3.1 Reasons for E-learning Although most commonly associated with higher education and corporate training, e-learning encompasses learning at all levels, both formal and non-formal, that uses an information network the Internet, an intranet (LAN) or extranet (WAN) whether wholly or in part, for course delivery, interaction, evaluation and/or facilitation. Others prefer the term online learning. (en.wikibooks.com) E-learning becomes more and more popular complement of a traditional education. Nowadays it is possible to find universities or language schools offering the whole 15

16 realization of the course through e-learning (e.g. Open University, UK). The question is whether the quality of such a course will be appropriate and whether the traditional face-to face learning process should be completely substituted. Cole sees the most effective solution in hybrid courses often called also as blended courses. These courses combine the best of both ways of teaching, face-to-face and e-learning. Fig.3- Blended Learning Traditional form of learning blended learning e-learning (Neumajer, e-learning, pdf document) Cole suggests moving most of the content delivery to an online environment and saving a course time for discussions, questions and problem solving. (Cole 5) Considering the conditions of secondary education system, Cole s ideas seem highly relevant and available for establishing an online course. The blended course form will be also the form of the course piloted in the practical part of this diploma thesis. 3.2 Pros and Cons of E-learning Obviously, the form of the blended courses seems ideal not just for saving a time but also because of another fact that often complicates online learning and that is relationship among participants. The opponents of e-learning advert to an anonymous learning environment and atmosphere. It is clear that establish at least some level of relationship both between a tutor and pupils, as well as among pupils requires longer time. 16

17 Citing Dudeney and Hockley much more time is needed in online courses in what is often called the socialisation, 'getting to know each other' phase. Whilst 30 minutes may often suffice with a face-to-face group, it's often necessary to spend up to a week online to achieve the same feelings of group identity and collegiality. (Dudeney, Hockley Neumajer sees the biggest disadvantage of e-learning mainly in the fact that the learning strategies used in e-learning (reading, writing, online quizzes etc.) are ineligible for some type of learners such as bodily/kinaesthetic or intrapersonal. He also emphasizes the areas, such as social interactive competences that can be hardly developed through e-learning. (Neumajer According to Klemm, a common denominator for all students is the passive conditioning they have been exposed to by years of television and traditional classroom teaching. Both television and the lecture method of teaching put students in a passive, entertain me mode. Those learners do not labour much for directed or systematic eliciting critical or creative thinking. It is true that almost no effort is required with either television or the traditional lecture mode of teaching (teacher-directed learning). And the problem is that many students are expected to transfer this passive mode to online learning activities as well. (Klemm Beaudoin distinguishes between two concepts of e-learning participation and calls them Learning and Lurking. While the definition of the term learning as an individual and social process that humans are constantly engaged in, both consciously and unconsciously (Kelly The International journal of Learning) is clear and well known, the term lurking may seem unfamiliar. Beaudoin connected this term with another expression that may indicate the meaning and that the term invisible student. Beaudoin uses this name for those learners who rarely participate into forums or discussions but they prefer learning through invisible reading of contributions and comments. For various reasons e.g. a poor knowledge of language, lack of self confidence in using the target language or simply the character of introvert these learners do not feel comfortable in partly impersonal online communication. It is important to admit that this is not expected to be a serious problem for lower secondary pupils as the number of forum and chat 17

18 contributions logically will not be as high as e.g. in the course designed for university students. Among the list of disadvantages it is also the problem of motivation that has been mentioned in various discussions about online learning. For e-learning, you must be self-motivated and disciplined. ( This idea address the problem of making learners motivated enough to be disposed to do something extra. In the contemporary time allotment published in FEP EE from the year 2007, there is no space for compulsory online courses and lessons. Hence, all the lessons and courses created in Moodle system represent just a supplement of traditional face-to face lessons. Go on to point, it is only up to the teacher whether the course or lesson will be set as compulsory, as a full valuable part of the regular lesson. There are many ways how to force learners to work online but the best, and probably the most difficult way how to persuade learners to participate in the online course or lesson will be well targeted and carefully planned motivation. The solution of such a motivation might be seen in a content of a course. Considering pupils interests and needs and following Klemm s Eight Ways to Get Students More Engaged in On-line Conference, all exercises and activities included into the online course should be: Variable: not to be focused only on few types of activities, but use various kinds of activities (texts, quizzes, puzzles, translations, multiple choice, written contributions etc.) Interesting: If it is possible, the activities and exercises should cover the area of pupils interests (depending on age). With a clear setting: The setting should be clear, simple and understandable. It should be written in target language. Focused on a clear goal or logical conclusion: e.g. practise this list of vocabulary, practise fluency/accuracy, test the knowledge, calm down/warm up etc. 18

19 Compulsory: It can be dangerous to let pupils to work only optionally, as they are probably still in training to be able to self-directed their learning. Also Vejvodová highlighted eight factors of motivation that should be born in mind while creating an online course. There are: 1. Activity and participation of students: especially interactivity should be emphasized 2. Entertainment: When learners enjoy exercises and activities it is easier to persuade them to work with the course 3. Variability: Following Klemm, variability of exercises, texts or multimedia sources make the course interesting and entertaining. 4. Possibility to choose: learners have possibility to choose from a wide range of activities the most suitable one. 5. Feedback: positive and immediate feedback encourage learners for further participating in the course 6. Challenge: assessments based on creativity and creative thinking 7. Social interaction: contact between learners or between learners and a tutor develop both social and language skills 8. Acknowledgement: all the assessments and exercises should be neither too easy nor too difficult so learners can feel the satisfaction with successfully fulfilled tasks On the contrary e-learning brings certain advantages that worth to try the realization of such courses. Neumajer devotes the attention mainly to these features: Effectiveness: The high number of quality and easy accessible materials help student to remember and practise effectively Interactivity: active participation and communication develop social and language competences Unlimited and easy accession to information: e-learning is limited neither by the time, nor by the place. It is perfectly self directed. Vejvodová differentiates the pros a bit differently. She supports the advantage of e-learning by the argument of the dynamic character of the course. 19

20 Comparing with traditional texts and textbooks, e-learning is supported by the integration of multimedia that allows using not only visual but auditory sense perception as well. The interconnection of the particular text and pictures, music, video clips, animations or various graphic schemata make e-learning materials even more effective and attractive. She also emphasizes the immediate feedback both in tests and discussion contributions. (Vejvodová 4) Němcová in her bachelor thesis focuses on the advantages published in Zlámalová (Němcová 10). She comes with the clear summary of positive aspects that should persuade one to start with the realization of an online course. The points are follows: higher efficiency of education (flexibility, well-arranged structure with small units, multi-media elements); accessibility, so called just-in-time; individual attitude to a student; low costs of education (for a society as a whole, for educational institution and also for a student); easy up-dating of an educational content and used methods; more possibilities for knowledge testing of a student; high rate of interactivity; easy administration; increasing in ICT skills of students and also a teacher.(zlámalová in Němcová 10) 3.3 Ways of E-learning Platforms Based on Dudeney and Hockly definition, term e-learning refers to learning that takes place using technology, such as the Internet, CD-ROMs and portable devices like mobile phones or MP3 players. Online learning is characterized as the learning which takes place via the Internet. As Ko and Rossen explain, teaching online means conducting a course partially or entirely through the Internet. (Ko, Rossen 2) As such, online learning is a facet of e-learning. Nowadays it is mainly Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and its variation that is used for online teaching and learning. VLE, sometimes called as Virtual Classroom, is a web-based platform on which course content can be stored. Another source defines virtual environment as any online area which instructors and students meet via their computer connection, for course 20

21 activities. (Ko, Rossen 3) It is available on the Internet, so it does not require participants to be on a particular place to teach and learn. Besides the common teaching material such as documents, audios or videos; pupils are offered different ways of practicing a language such as various quizzes, questionnaires, tests, forum texts or chats. Newer VLEs even integrate blogs and wikis. Among various forms of VLE namely WebCT, Blackboard or First Class it is Moodle (Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) that becomes the most frequent programme for creating an online language learning course. 4 Moodle 4.1 Definition of Moodle According to Moodle Official Web Site, Moodle is defined as: Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It has become very popular among educators around the world as a tool for creating online dynamic web sites for their students. To work, it needs to be installed on a web server somewhere, either on one of your own computers or one at a web hosting company. (moodle.org) Cole points out that besides the meaning of the acronym there is another meaning and that is connected with the verb to moodle explained as to let the mind or body wander to do something creative but without particular purpose. (Cole 13) Moodle with its wide range of tools definitely offers users to be creative, but with certain purpose, the most probably seen in self directed studying. The focus of the Moodle project is always on giving educators the best tools to manage and promote learning, but there are many ways to use Moodle: Moodle has features that allow it to scale to very large deployments and hundreds of thousands of students, yet it can also be used for a primary school or an education hobbyist. Many institutions use it as their platform to conduct fully online courses, while some use it simply to augment face-to-face courses (known as blended learning). 21

22 Many users love to use the activity modules (such as forums, databases and wikis) to build richly collaborative communities of learning around their subject matter (in the social constructionist tradition), while others prefer to use Moodle as a way to deliver content to students (such as standard SCORM packages) and assess learning using assignments or quizzes. (moodle.org) 4.2 Why is Moodle so Special? Learning is interactive when learners are actively engaged in a variety of activities, and along with their peers and teacher, they are co-constructors of knowledge. Chamberlain and Vrasidas in Conrad and Donalds 3) The Moodle philosophy is connected with Social Constructionist Pedagogy. Rice defines this learning style with a key word interactive. The main aim of this philosophy is that people learn best when they interact with the learning material, they construct new material for others, and interact with other students about the material. (Rice 9) As Cole points out, while tool-centric CMS systems such as Blackboard or WebCT bring the list of tools as the interface, Moodle just use these tools to make learning task central. Thus the focus of teaching via moodle system is based more on sharing ideas and engaging in the construction of knowledge then on delivering information. Referring to Conrad and Donaldson, online learning strategies, in general, should be based on the key assumptions of individual constructivism. Pointing out the theories such as problem-based learning or constructivism, they see the collaborative acquisition of knowledge as one of the most important keys leading to the success of creating an online environment. They proclaimed that activities requiring the interaction of students and encourage them to share the ideas promote a deeper level of thoughts. (Conrad, Donaldson 5) Bear in mind these characteristics; it develops a view that it is mainly the opportunity for intentional and directed communication what makes Moodle suitable as an instrument for teaching languages. This idea also support one of the beliefs mentioned later in the practical part and that is the opinion that it is possible to eliminate the fear of using English and build the self confidence of learners via online communication. 22

23 Not only for learners but also for teachers Moodle offers a wide range of different activities from giving notes and information via testing to final evaluation. Dudeney and Hockly see a big advantage mainly in the fact that in such a form of course everything is in one place. Using hybrid (or blended) courses not only for teaching foreigner languages but also for another school subjects certainly leads to both simplifying of preparation for lessons and saving a time required for example for making notes or checking homework. The saved time may be then effectively used for different activities based on cooperation or personal contact such as role playing, dramatization or I.N.S.E.R.T method. Most of VLEs including Moodle provide tracking facilities, so that the online tutor can see who has logged in when, and see what activities learners have done, or what documents and forums they have accessed. Dudeney and Hockly introduce the opinion that this kind of online course provide fairly sophisticated tools for assessment and grading, with records kept for each learner. Hence a teacher can evaluate a learners written work or assignments, as well as their contribution to forums. Results for automatically graded activities like quizzes or tests are included into the learners grade book, so the learners are able to consult their results and progress. (Dudeney, Hockly 18) 4.3 Moodle Tools There are several points of view how to describe what Moodle system consists of. This diploma thesis will deal with the point that is based on Rice sorting and focused on the material of the course and its form of interaction. Rice divides this material into three main categories: Static Course Material: A text page A web page A link to anything on Web (including material on your Moodle site) A view into one of the course s directories A label that displays any text or image This is a kind of material that learners do not interact with. Interactive Course Material 23

24 Assignment (uploading files to be reviewed by the teacher and/or learners) Choice (a signal question) Journal (an online journal) Lesson ( a conditional, branching activity) Quiz ( an online test) Survey ( with results available to the teacher and/or learners) This is course material that learner interacts with, by answering questions, entering texts, or uploading files. Social Course Material Chat ( live online chat between learners, or learners and a teacher) Forum ( you can choose the number of online bulletin boards for each course) Glossary ( learners and/or teachers can contribute terms to site-wide glossaries) Wiki ( Wikis can be inserted into courses, or a Wiki can be the entire course) Workshop ( workshops support collaborative, graded efforts among students) These categories are not based on the interaction between learners and the material but on the interaction between learners. (Rice 9) The table bellow brings the description of particular Moodle tools that are supposed to be used in the online course piloted in the practical part. The names of the tools written in bold are those that are expected to be used the most frequently. The list of icons used for particular activities and tools are available in the appendix as well. 24

25 4.3.1 Defining categories used in the online course piloted in the practical part Activity Description Assignment An activity completed offline, outside of Moodle. Completed assignment is uploaded by learners one self for the instructor s review. Learners receive a grade for the assignment. Written composition will be evaluated through criteria set in A marking scale for writing (published in Harmer, 2000, p.173) available in appendix. Choice A single, multiple-choice question that the instructor asks the class. The result can be displayed to the whole class or kept between the individual student and instructor. Choices will be used for feedback from the learners about the course, its activities and exercises. Lesson A series of web pages displayed in a given order, where the next page displayed depends upon the student s answer to a question. Usually the jump question is used to test a students understanding of the material. Get it right, a student proceeds to the next item. Lessons will be used to evaluate reading with understanding and understanding of particular vocabulary. Survey Prewritten surveys, designed by educational experts. The surveys can be reedited in the case of not being suitable for particular lesson. Chat A module that creates an opportunity to communicate immediately with other course mates or with an instructor. Quite time demanding but definitely suitable for online language learning. Forum A module that creates a space for having a discussion or expressing opinions. It is probably the most often used Moodle tool for online language learning. The evaluation of written contributions will be based of fluency, clearness of ides and connection with the topic. Glossary An activity that allows participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a dictionary. This activity may be very useful in online language learning, especially with the context of vocabulary learning and practising. Workshop A place for the learners in the course to see an example project, upload their individual projects, and see and asses each others projects. It is really powerful collaborative tool. 25

26 4.3.2 Testing Thanks to their wide range of forms, special attention will be dedicated to the Tests and Quizzes. Besides the forum, the assessments and the question, this category of Moodle tool is probably one of the most useful and most frequently used. There are two basic kinds of tests, those created through Moodle system and those created via Hot Potatoes testing programme. While Hot Potatoes testing programme offers only the forms of the tests that are suitable for testing languages: Cloze,Matching, Mix and Quiz; Moodle brings the opportunity for testing also numeric knowledge through the calculated or numerical questions or testing of critical thinking through the short-answer or long-answer questions. In Moodle tests are automatically evaluated and graded, so the immediate feedback is available. It is also possible to add more than one attempt for taking a test so that provides the opportunity for realizing and correcting mistakes. This fact can be very useful in language learning because it counts with self correction. Quoting Ur: testing seen from the point of self correcting and self-assessment can give learners information about what they know, so they can have an awareness what do they need to learn or review; get learners to make an effort, which is likely to lead to better results and feeling of satisfaction and last but not least, provide learners with a sense of achievement and progress in their learning. (Ur, 9) Evaluation of pupils contributions and assessments As it has been already mentioned, to give useful and appropriate feedback is essential for every communication. As one of the aims of the piloted course is to encourage pupils to use the English language, the evaluation of written contributions and assessments should be based mainly on their content. Certainly, it does not mean that grammatical or vocabulary mistakes should be ignored. In online contributions it is definitely more difficult than in face to face communication. In the case of basic school pupils it is almost all the time a teacher, who gives the feedback, as pupils are only learning how to evaluate themselves and others. Katrina A. Meyer citing Johnson in her work emphasizes that what is important for example in the forum discussions and contributions, is the understanding that online interactions require the researcher to analyze the message, the medium, and the rules (Johnson in Meyer 158). It is not sufficient to analyze the content of what is written or posted. One also needs to 26

27 understand the characteristics of the medium; whether the medium allows for synchronicity, interaction, linking, and various other functions. (Meyer 159) According to Meyer there are two factors that must be taken into account while evaluating online contributions: 1. Instructors do not always know what a student considers to be a quality posting, and therefore may need to find out how students think and what they value. 2. Instructors and students may value different types of contributions, and therefore may come to different conclusions about what is quality. Generally speaking, while evaluating, it is extremely important to think about the main aims of the course, what is expected to be achieved and what should be improved. 5 Designing an Online Course 5.1 Course Characteristics After studying materials about e-learning and considering all the pros and cons of e- learning, it is possible to establish a course itself. As it has been already mentioned in an introductory part, this particular course should be a supplement to the regular school subject English Language taught three times a week and based on the textbook The Project, volume 3. After analysing this textbook, it was decided to focus the context of an online course to the development of vocabulary. Without any doubt, the ways of teaching vocabulary have been already elaborated as a main theme of many diploma theses. As an example can be provide a work by Tejnecká, P. Effective Teaching Methods of English Vocabulary at Upper Primary School that in theoretical parts deals with definitions and classifications of teaching methods, the complex survey of teaching methods, the classification of teaching methods of English language, the classification of teaching methods of English vocabulary and the discourse vocabulary and the acquisition of vocabulary. The practical part brings the recommendation of the appropriate exercises and games which correspond to the proposed teaching methods and support the pupils acquisition of vocabulary in the best way. 27

28 The high number of theses with the topic of vocabulary learning is the reason, why the main attention of this chapter will be focus mainly on the course designing and the choice of exercises for learning and developing vocabulary via online course. 5.2 Designing a Course Designing a language course has several components. Classic models of curriculum design as well as more recent models agree on most of the components, although subdivide some of them and give them slightly different names. These components comprise setting objectives based on some form of assessment, determining content, materials and method, and evaluation. (Graves, 3) Graves in her publication offers one of the ways how to establish a language course and brings certain ideas and rules that were used in creating the online language course that this diploma thesis deals with. Fig.4- A Framework of Course Development Processes 28

29 As it is visible from the illustration above, Graves comes with nine steps of creating the course: Defining the context Articulating beliefs Conceptualizing Content Formulating goals and objectives Assessing needs Organizing the course Developing materials Adapting a textbook Designing an assessment plan Dudeney and Hockly apply a different concept. As compared with Graves whose ideas can be used for course designing in general, Dudeney and Hockly introduce the concept of strategies suitable mainly for designing an online course. They divided the most important questions that should each teacher answer before starting to create an online course into five categories: Delivery Mode: This means the background of the course, the type of the course (full online/blended), distribution of materials, synchronous/asynchronous way of teaching etc. Task Design and Material: This point is oriented towards the problem of teaching materials, whether it is developed or taken from already existing resources, the content and its presentation and variation, a range of media used etc. Learners: Their computer literacy, the level of independence and preparation for e-learning, their needs and expectations Teacher/Tutor: His/her experiences in e-learning, how much support will a teacher provide, extension in course designing/delivering etc. 29

30 Assessment and Evaluation: How the course will be evaluated formative/summative assessment, evaluation and assessment of a coursework etc. In their online contribution Dudeney and Hockly also bring the list of top ten tips for online tutors; simple and clear advices how to create and work with an online course. Get some qualifications: There are a few organisations offering online tutor training courses, and experiencing an online course yourself can really help you become a good online tutor. Get more IT training: You will need to be able to answer technical questions and general Internet questions, as well as course-related queries. Be prepared for this. Re-write, don't adapt: Few face-to-face courses will lend them naturally to online conversion. A lot of re-writing will be needed for successful online implementation. Never assume anything: First-time online participants will need plenty of support, encouragement and motivational input. Drop out rates for online courses tend to be quite high. Create the right environment: Spend time on socialisation and group dynamic. An online course will wither and die without it. Deal with problems overtly: Encourage open discussion of ongoing problems and issues in your online group - be proactive. Set a few simple rules; establish terms/ times of your availability during the course. Develop participant skills: Work with your learners to explore how knowledge is constructed, assimilated and dealt with online. Help them to gain the skills they need to get the most out of the course. Encourage reflection: Provide opportunities for participants to reflect - not only on what they have studied, but on the process of online study itself. Weekly journals are an ideal space for this kind of reflection. 30

31 Allow for closure: A period of 'mourning' is customary at the end of any course. Allow participants to deal with this positively by planning for closure, and allowing them to continue working together if they wish. Reflect and revise: Each course you run will flag up problems, issues and potential for improvement. Listen to your participant feedback and be open to incorporating the best of it into future versions of your courses. (Dudeney, Hockly As the aim of this chapter is to enclose the main intentions, goals and content of the online language course that this diploma thesis deals with, not all the points mentioned above will be followed. Taking into consideration both Graves and Dudeney and Hockley s strategies of course designing, it was decided not to be too strict and made an own mixture of points taken for both strategies Context Citing Graves: Knowing how long a course is, its purpose, who the students are, and how it fits in with other aspects of the curriculum helps us to make decisions about content, objectives, and so on. (Graves 17) First of all, it must be emphasized that the context of the course is well known as the course should be a supplement of the English language subject. A teacher and pupils know each other, their learning environment and conditions. The teacher is familiar with the language level of pupils and there is a regular contact and cooperation with their English teacher. For this reason, it is more important to define what language skills will be developed via the course than the context itself. Considering a way of the realization a blended course, it is possible to cover all four areas of language use. Speaking The frequency of face-to faces teaching in this course that is planned to be realized once a month. Another way how to improve and develop speaking would be possible through technologies such as Skype. As this way of teaching would both technologically (it is supposed not all learners have Skype system) and time demanding, speaking will be the skill that will be focused on the least. 31

32 Listening As Harmer mentions, most students want to be able to understand what people are saying not only face-to face but also in TV, in films or in songs.(harmer 133)) Especially the interest of teenagers in popular music performed in English could be a good motivation for the development of listening. Moodle offers various ways how to make listening available for learners. It is possible to include links to online servers such as YouTube or official websites of various interprets. Preparing a listening activity based on music could be a good opportunity for learners/learners interaction. Reading Without any doubt, reading is a good way how to learn, improve and develop a lexicon of learners. Learning vocabulary through contexts is one of the most popular methods. Learners not only see the form of the word but they are confronted with the use of this particular word in its natural context. Well chosen text can motivate learners to self study. While creating or choosing a text, it is highly important to consider the age of learners, their interests, the language structure (grammar and vocabulary) and mainly the reason of using this text. Text based exercises and activities used in Moodle online language course can be provided via various tools. They can be included both as static and interactive course material (see chapter 3.3) Writing As Lewis explains, nowadays, teenagers are surrounded by media all the time and with the help of s, chats, instant messaging and especially blogs they can easily speak their mind and share these thoughts with the rest of the world. If the students know that the information on their blogs is going online, they will make an effort to get everything right. This fact definitely supports accuracy and fluency in the language learning. (Lewis 11)) As the majority of online communication is still done through writing, it is obvious that most exercises in the online course will be based on writing as well. Tools such as Forum, Assignment, Workshop or Journal can be used to improve both fluency and accuracy of written compositions. They can be prepared offline; hence they are not stressful and can support weaker learners, eliminate a fear of expressing oneself in L2 and build up a self confidence in the field of L2 using. 32

33 5.2.2 Articulating Beliefs; Formulating Goals and Objectives Before any course will be realized it is highly important to answer the question: Why should be this particular course realized? There are many key facts hidden behind the answer to these questions and they all have a lot in common with teacher s beliefs. According to Graves, teachers should consider four main areas of their beliefs: Beliefs about learning and learners Beliefs about teaching Beliefs about language Beliefs about the social context of language After analyzing these four important areas of teachers ideas and imaginations about the course the goals and objectives can be formulated. To be able to formulate these points well, it is important to understand what they mean. As Graves adds: stating your goals helps to bring into focus your vision and priorities for the course. (75) Goals are realized through the objectives. For this reason the objectives must relate to the goal. (Graves 76) The particular beliefs, goals and objectives of the online course, that will be piloted, will be explained in the practical part of this diploma thesis Learners Needs What is really important for successful setting of course content is to assess pupils needs and expectations about the course. According to Graves, learning is not simply a matter of learners absorbing pre-selected knowledge the teacher gives them. It is a systematic and ongoing process of gathering information about students needs and preferences, interpreting the information, and then making the course decisions based on the interpretation in order to meet the needs. (Graves 97) Based on the research done by Paul Seedhouse, there are at least some needs that can be generalized. He asked three classes of students between 14 and 18 years to explain the reasons of the importance of English. Surprisingly he found out that results were strikingly homogenous, even though the learners filled in the questionnaires individually and without discussion. This suggests that the group members had similar needs and that even at their age the learners were definitely aware of having specific needs, and were able to identify them. Seedhouse identified the results as follows: 33

34 There was surprising unanimity concerning the prime motivations: 'So, I can travel to other countries',' So, I can speak to foreign people',' because English is an important world language', and 'So I can get a better job when I leave school'. Video, computer, and conversation were the favoured methods of working, with group work the preferred dynamic. (Seedhouse ELTJournal) All these motivation factors indicate one very important thing and that is an ascertainment that probably one of the most important needs is the ability to communicate in target language. As it is often difficult to offer the classes of conversation with a native speaker, the online communication such as E-Twinning could be a suitable equivalent. But before learners will be able to keep in touch with their keypals, it is important to develop the skills connected with online communication. The natural interest in different culture and life style can represent one of the areas that may be used in online activities to make them both attractive and educational Task Design and Materials As it is recognisable form both Graves and Dudeney-Hockly theories; one of the key effective online course realizations is the choice of tools, tasks, exercises and activities. For successful draft of activities it is essential to bear in mind three most important facts. The way how vocabulary is learned and revised. The special attention should be paid to teaching strategies and types of learners. Exercises and activities included into the online course should be as variable as possible to cover as many types of learners as possible. It is understandable that including all the strategies recommended for learning vocabulary as well as to offer the ways of learning and realization for all kind of learners is impossible. For this reason it is planned to give learners a diagnostic test at the beginning of the course designing and so to discover what way of learning and practising vocabulary learners prefer and then establish the most suitable teaching strategies reflected in exercises, activities and tests. The form of this test together with the results will be available in the practical part. 34

35 Another important aspect that has to be clarified at the beginning of the course preparation is the form of activities and exercises. It means whether the activities and exercises will be self designed or simply copied from the Internet. Because of the constant changes of web pages, it is not recommended to base the course only on the web links no matter how useful, interesting, educative or entertaining they are. It might be better to adapt just the ideas and thanks to them create those activities. Online activities and exercises also do not need to correspond with learners needs and strategies. After knowing the learners, designing own tasks brings the opportunity to make it suitable for all the course participants, obviously if the number of participants is not too high. A need to devote an attention to particular content. Obviously, a sort of exercises and activities chosen for an online course will be different from those of face-to-face course. With teenagers, it is extremely important to find a topic they could be interested and familiar with. Teenagers have a strong need to express their ideas and opinions, so this characteristic feature should be taken into account and transformed into a benefit. Graves advices to keep in mind two important points when reading and thinking about particular content and its three main categories, Language, Learning and Learners, Social context, for conceptualizing it: i. The boundaries of the categories are not fixed, but permeable. They overlap and connect with other categories. It means, for example, that you cannot focus on topics without including vocabulary etc. ii. The categories include both what knowledge, and how skills or activities. It means that thinking about the content of the course follows thinking of what students will learn and how they will learn it. (Graves 43) Online course can be based on a course book as well. They can be created as supplements for common classroom lessons and develop the content and skills taught in a particular course book. This is a case of the online course piloted in the practical part. 35

36 Fulfilment of key competencies The entire educational content and all of the activities taking place at school must therefore be aimed at and contribute to forming and developing the key competencies. (FEP EE, VÚP 11) It is obvious that the content of the course and also the activities used in the course should fulfil at least some of the key competencies set in Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education. Following this curricular document there should be mainly Communicative competency, Social and Personal Competency and Problem Solving Competency that are possible to involved into the concept of an online course. Due to their extensive characteristics the contents of particular competency are available in the Appendix. The following paragraph explains only the basics of these competencies: Communication Competency A fulfilment of these competencies is probably the most important in successful realization of an online course. Listen to other people s utterances, formulate and express opinions and ideas as well as understand various texts and materials are those competencies that lead towards successful communication among people. Contemporary teaching is quite often based on Communicative Language Teaching method. As Harmer defines, CLT has two main guiding principles. Firstly it is the fact that CLT is not just about the language, it is about how the language is used. Secondly, CLT brings opportunities for language use. If learners are well motivated, the language learning will take care of itself. (Harmer 50) There is no reason why this teaching method could not be used for online learning and via an online course to develop these competences. Social and Personal Competency According to the characteristics set in FEP EE, there are mainly those key points that should be bear in mind while preparing activities and lately moderating them in an online language course. 36

37 Learners should be involved into such exercises and activities where they would be able to develop cooperation, respect to other together with self-respect and interpersonal relations. It is expected that these competencies will be highly important in forum contributions. Problem-Solving Competency As Lewis says, young teenagers (lower secondary students age 12-14) find themselves with increased responsibility for their lives. They now need to make decisions and develop a degree of independence. That is why, teachers that works with this age group (a group that is supposed to pilot the online course) should try to include such exercises and activities that will be oriented towards the development of critical thinking, solving problems independently and find and evaluate information useful for solving the problem. 5.3 Conceptualizing Content The content of the course should cover up all the previous points important for successful course designing and its realization. The learners needs and teacher s beliefs should be balanced and should correspond with each other. Then it will be easy to set the goals, objectives and conceptualize the content of the course. According to Graves: The process of conceptualizing content is a multifaceted one which involves: Thinking about what you want your students to learn in the course, given who they are, their needs, and the purpose of the course; Making decisions about what to include and emphasize and what to drop; Organizing the content in a way that will help you to see the relationship among various elements so that you can make decisions about objectives, materials, sequences and evaluation. (Graves 38) 37

38 Applying this concept, the content of the course will be as follows: Online Course for Teaching Vocabulary Technical backgroun d School curriculum of English language Organizatio n: full online x blended? Age of learner s The topics of Level of lessons English Motivation for doing some extra work: intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic supported by the teacher Timing-how often, how long Supplement material and secondary sources Results from the questionnaire: styles, activities, exercises What are the learners interested about: topics for discussion Assessment and evaluation of assignments, forum contributions and participation The concrete concept of this mind map will be demonstrated in the practical part of this diploma thesis. 5.4 Assessment and Evaluation of Pupils Participation and Work The practical part of the course should bring the evaluation of both learners work and the evaluation of the course. In both cases summative and formative assessment will be used. 38

39 5.4.1 Pupils Participation and Work Without any doubt, the frequency of learners participation is more or less depended on the extrinsic motivation. Learners themselves are expected not to have such a strong intrinsic motivation to work and participate in the course just because they want to. For this reason it is important to follow one of Klemm s advices mentioned in chapter 3.2 and that is to make contributions and assessments compulsory and limited by the deadlines. On the contrary, one of the aims of this diploma thesis is to create the course that the learners will enjoy. That is why the optional activities will be used so the frequency of learners voluntary work will be supervised as well. The knowledge of newly acquired vocabulary and their use in a correct context will be checked and evaluated via contributions, written assessments and obviously via testing The Course To evaluate the work of learners is definitely essential for the right feedback. But undoubtedly, the level of learners work very much depends on the quality of the course itself. Hence, using formative assessment through various ways such as forums, questions or notes should become a basic and indispensable foundation of the course. Following the comments of learners obtained through assessment activities could help to improve the course and its content during its realization so the summative assessment could be positive and content of the course beneficial for learners language development. 6 Conclusion As it is visible from previous comments, designing an online course requires a long time and demanding preparation. There are many things that have to be taken into account in the case of the successful realization. For this reason it is highly important to mention last but probably the most important thing and that is the fact that any teacher who would like to start with realization of an online course should believe in this way of teaching and be enthusiastic enough. 39

40 II. Practical Part Introduction While the theoretical part of this diploma thesis explains the rules and facts about online language learning and course designing in general, the practical part will presents particular online course piloted in this part of the diploma thesis. 1 Why Moodle? As it has been already mentioned in the theoretical part, chapter 3.2, contemporary young generation grows up in the world full of technology that became an important part of their everyday life. For this reason it is expected by the learners that technology will be included also to common classroom teaching. The idea of creating an online course moderated through Moodle system came from the successful realization of a project focused on the improvement of technological equipment as well as the improvement of teachers technological skills. The result of this project is the grant that allowed the realization of this project. Besides the purchase of technological equipment such as smart boards or notebooks and educative seminars about the technology in teaching, it was the idea of online learning and communication between the school, pupils and their parents. After considering various possibilities, Moodle seemed as the most convenient and suitable because of the pros mentioned in chapter Choosing Criteria for the Course The realization of Moodle system at J.A.Komenský basic school, Kyjov became with two courses. The course Projekt Praha is created for pupils of the ninth grade and it is connected with the visit of the capital. The other course is the one that will be described in this diploma thesis. 40

41 2.1 Formulating Beliefs, Goals and Objectives Beliefs It does not to be emphasized that at least certain knowledge of L2 offers wider opportunities in future realization of young pupils. On the contrary, the majority of basic school pupils prefer spending their free time differently than by studying. An online way of learning, carefully planned and prepared, could combine both; pupils interest and the educative aim. It is believed that an online course will offer pupils a new, modern and available way of learning and practising English language. It should also improve fluency of both written and later spoken expressing of pupils ideas and opinions Goals and objectives To offer a new, modern way of practising and improving pupils lexicon via authentic texts, quizzes, crosswords and puzzles, lessons etc. To eliminate a fear of using English in communication by using English in Forum contributions and written assessments. To lead pupils to self study, be responsible for its planning and further results. Pupils need to plan how often they will participate or whether they will work regularly or once in a week. They should keep deadlines of activities as well. To offer an opportunity to participate on the course designing, suggesting topics and activities they would like to have in an online course. Pupils can design activities or exercises for their classmates, they are welcome to comment the activities, exercises and texts of the course and suggest their improvement or changes. To use and work with the language through authentic material (newspaper, videos, audios etc.) Moodle offers to include a wide range of web links into the course. 41

42 3 Characteristics of the course 3.1 Course Participants Unfortunately for me and for the course I am not teaching at the moment because I am on the maternity leave. For this reason, it was not easy to decide for what class the course will be designed. It would be much easier to teach both common lessons of English and simultaneously moderate the online course. This would be seen as a benefit mainly in the area of technical organisation. There were several indicators that led towards the group of pupils attending the eighth language extend class. It means that the target age group will be, according to Lewis, mid teenagers, age This group of pupils was chosen for following purposes: 3.2 Language Skills In the eighth grade the pupils start to work with Project, volume 3. It means that their level of English should be between A1 and A2. According to CEFR, pupils should be able to: A2 CAN express simple opinions or requirements in a familiar context. CAN understand straightforward information within a known area, such as on products and signs and simple textbooks or reports on familiar matters. CAN complete forms and write short simple letters or postcards related to personal information. A1 CAN understand basic instructions or take part in a basic factual conversation on a predictable topic. CAN understand basic notices, instructions or information. CAN complete basic forms, and write notes including times, dates and places. (CEFR. 42

43 Wikipedia defines the CEFR levels more concretely: A 1 Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce him/her and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. A 2 Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need. (CEFR en.wikipedia.org/wiki) 3.3 Computer Skills As these particular group of students has been already educated via new school standards established in FEP EE, 2007, their school curriculum contents a new school subject Information and Communication Technologies with the minimum time allotment of one lesson per week from the 6 th to 9 th forms. As they are already in Stage 2 they should be able to: verify the credibility of information and information sources and assess their importance and interconnectedness be able to work with text and graphics and table editors, and use suitable applications apply basic aesthetic and typographic rules for the work with text and pictures 43

44 work with information in accordance with legislation on intellectual property rights use information from various information sources and evaluate simple relationships between data prepare and present information in text, graphic and multimedia forms at user level (FEP EE,2007, p.34) It is expected that those pupils that will be involved in the realization of online course know each other well as they have been attending the same class for two years. Probably, the most serious problem connected with the realization of the online course will be to motivate pupils to work extra and actively participate. 3.4 School Curriculum What is being seen as a paradox, although these pupils attend the class with extended language teaching, their school curriculum, based on FEP EE curriculum, does not contain lessons of English conversation, neither in Compulsory nor in Available Time Allotment. It could be objected to have time allotment for the subject Second Foreign language. Certainly, they have. But there is an expectation that in the programme focused on teaching foreign languages; the lessons of conversation in both languages should be included automatically. For this reason, it was decided to give those pupils another possibility how to improve and develop their language skills. School curriculum for the subject English language for the eighth class wit extended language teaching is available in Appendix. 4 Analyzing Learners Needs To be able to design a suitable and useful online course, it was essential to analyze learners needs, ideas and preferences about the course. A questionnaire was chosen as the most adequate form of analyzing the needs. 4.1 The Questionnaire The main aim of the questionnaire is to find out the strategies how pupils learn and practise new vocabulary. The questionnaire consists of three parts. The first part is focused on the way how pupils learn and remember new words and phrases so that the 44

45 best way of introducing and practising new words could be chosen and established in the course. There are questions that make an inquiry of learners opinion about the importance of learning vocabulary and their inner motivation leading towards the development of the lexicon and further studying. The questions of this part are also oriented towards the evaluation of the vocabulary learning system set in the textbook. The set of questions used in the second part is centred on the way of practising the vocabulary. The aim of this part is to find out the best and the most suitable form of practising the lexicon. The questions ask about the frequency, motivation or support connected with independent self directed studying. The third part of the questionnaire is the most practically oriented. The aim of this part is to investigate which type of activities learners consider as the most useful and the most interesting. Thanks to the results of this part it will be easier to design such a kind of activities that would be both educative and entertaining. As it has been already mentioned in the theoretical part; interesting, funny and creative exercises as well as their variability make learners motivated and able to enjoy the participation in the course. In this part learners were asked to evaluate five basic types of activities that are possible to use in the online course. They marked them with the same scale as they use in their lessons, it means from 1 to 5, when 1= the best/the most useful and 5 = the most boring/ the least useful. The questionnaire was given not only to learners of the class with extended language teaching, but for comparing also to learners attending the common secondary level class. It is important to admit that thanks to the time allotment established in FEP EE, both groups have the same number of English lessons per week, but some pupils attending the common class have one the lesson of English conversation per week. It is related with those pupils that chose the English conversation from the optional content. For this reason it will be certainly interesting to compare the results of both groups connected with motivation or frequency of practising Research Sample The reasons for choosing a target group have been already explained above. Although the first intention was to create the course just for the group of learners attending the eighth grade of the class with extended language teaching, the questionnaire included one more class with extended language teaching and two groups of learners attending 45

46 common classes. In general, the questionnaire was given to the complete eighth grade that consists of three classes: 8.A, 8.B and 8.C. 8.A is the class with extended language teaching, 8.B and C are common classes. The last mentioned class is 9.A. The number of participants was extended to have more samples and also to confirm whether the learners attending the class with extended language teaching will be more motivated and more willing to do extra work as compared with learners attending common class. Unfortunately, it was allowed to offer the course only to the original target group (8.A) so the results connected with the later work and participation in the course will not be comparable with the results of this questionnaire. Tab.1- Statistics of pupils participated/not participated in the questionnaire Statistics of pupils participated/not participated in the questionnaire 8.A class with language extended teaching 9.A class with language extended teaching 8.B common class Boys participated the questionnaire Boys did not participate Girls participated the questionnaire Girls did not participate C common class Complete number of the pupils in the class/participated the questionnaire 19/16 17/16 19/17 20/15 Final number of participants 32 participants attending the class with extended language teaching. 11 boys/ 21 girl 32 participants attending the common class 16 boys/16 girls The group chosen for the questionnaire can be classified as the mid-teenagers (14-16 years old). All participants started to learn English language in the third grade of primary school. It means that they have been English for about six or seven years so far. Only 3 learners attend extra language courses or private lessons. The learners of the 46

47 class with the extended language teaching started to study with the textbook Project 1since the beginning of the third grade. The learners of the common class started with Chatterbox 1 in the third and fourth grade, Chatterbox 2 in the fifth grade. They began to use The Project 1 in the sixth grade. The school curriculum of the school where the course was piloted divides each volume of The Project into two years. It may seem pointless, but contrary is the true. Splitting the textbook into two years gives an opportunity to practise the language skills, vocabulary and grammar more attentively and with longer time allotment. It also allows including various projects and different forms of activities. The majority of the learners evaluate their level of language corresponding to the content of the textbook. Though, the number of participants in both groups (extended language learning and common class) was equal, the results of the first group may be a bit misrepresented, as the number of girls is nearly twice higher than the number of boys. It is mainly because of the fact that girls, in general, are considered as more mature in this age, so they may be more responsible and conscious than boys of the same age Results of the questionnaire: written and graphic: The main intention of the questionnaire was to investigate two basic facts: What are the preferred strategies of vocabulary learning and how do these imaginations correspond with the way of vocabulary presentation in the textbook Project 3? What are the preferred strategies for further practising of vocabulary and whether are the learners motivated and for what reason? The questionnaire itself is divided into three parts. The introductory part is interested in the number of years of studying English language and its form of studying: Only at school At school and in the language course At school and in private lessons 47

48 The other personal information is only the grade and the sex. The questionnaire is anonymous. To avoid possible misunderstanding and language confusing, the questionnaire was done in the Czech language. The first part deals with the learning strategies and consists of five questions when the questions from 2 till 5 offer three a, b, c, variation answers and the question number 1 offers 6 variations, from a to f. The results obtained from this part of the questionnaire demonstrates one very important fact and that is the attitude of learners, both from the language extend and common class, towards an extra work. As it is visible from the diagram below, the biggest problem, besides the unexpected technical difficulties will be the motivation. Graph 1-Acquiring new vocabulary: The frequency of teaching vocabulary in the school curriculum 18 Learning new vocabulary We should work with vocabulary class with extended language teachinggirls class with extended language teachingboys common class-girls common class-boys a) more often b) less often c) I am satisfied with contemporary frequency Although some learners, mainly girls would prefer more intensive work with the vocabulary, the majority of the learners are satisfied with the level of work and frequency connected with learning and practising vocabulary. Whence it follows that the external motivation will be the key factor in active participation. 48

49 To motivate learners for successful cooperation, it means to offer learners the concept they will enjoy. It does not mean to be centred only on topics or activities but also on the form of the course, the graphic composition and the adequate number of evaluating tools such as forums or questions. The results of the first part also proved that the majority of learners consider their scope of lexicon in compliance with the content of the textbook Project 3. Graph 2-Acquiring new vocabulary: The level of learners lexicon 20 Learning new vocabulary I consider my lexicon as: 2 0 class with extended language teaching-girls class with extended language teaching-boys common classgirls common classboys a) corresponds to the content of the textbook b) beyond the content of the textbook c) above the content of the textbook As it is visible from the diagram above, only the girls attending the common class found the level of their vocabulary knowledge lower than the scope of lexicon set in the textbook. It is important to admit that the learners attending the common class works with Project 2 textbook. On the other hand, there were only the boys attending the common class whose results connected with self-directed learning were more or less equal. The rest of respondents preferred the positive answer. It means that the bigger number of pupils tries to do something extra to develop their language skills above the level of the school curriculum. (see the diagram below) The majority of the group of those that try to 49

50 develop their English responded that they found the listening and reading authentic sources as the best way of improving their language skills. An interesting result was discovered in this questionnaire. Surprisingly neither of the pupils attending the common class mentioned the online games as a way of language development while those pupils that attend the language extend class frequently mentioned online games as a way of learning English language. The reason is probably not that first group does not play computer games, but what is more probable is the fact that those pupils do not consider computer games as an educative form of entertainment. Graph 3-Practising vocabulary: Self-studying beyond the school curriculum Practising vocabulary Do you self-study English in your free time to know more than what is taught at school? class with extended language teaching-girls class with extended language teaching-boys common class-girls common class-boys yes no The rest of the results will be mentioned in the context of those parts of the course they influenced. 50

51 5 Content of the Course The inspiration for the visual and contextual format of the course as well as for the main, introductory page of mail.zskyjov.cz/moodle was taken in the Moodle system of ZŠ Špičák from Česká Lípa. Among many other school Moodle pages their e-learning collection of courses provided through Moodle system seemed the clearest and the most sophisticated. Obviously, it was not possible to brows all the web pages of those basic schools that use Moodle system for e-learning. But from a wide range of already seen e.g. ZŠ Chrlice, ZŠ Lupačova, Praha, ZŠ Filosofská or Gymnázium Cheb, their e- learning realized via Moodle is definitely the most complex and practical. Their list of courses offers not only English or Information Technologies but also courses of Music, Spanish language, Science and many more. The official page introducing their Moodle also clearly explains the way of using this system and offers practical advices how to work in Moodle. This information encourages both teachers and pupils to use and develop their knowledge via this form of e-learning. The moderator of their English courses offered the possibility to enter the courses so it was possible to see how such a course works in reality. Their courses of English language, in general, are focused mainly on grammar and the vocabulary is tested and practised via Project online activities available on the official website of Oxford University Press. The samples of Moodle format of ZŠ Špičák are available in the Appendix. Following the results obtained from the diagnostic questionnaire, the content of the online course can be designed. As it has been already explained this course should be focused on the learning and practising vocabulary. After analyzing the ideas with the teachers of English language from the school where the course will be piloted, it was decided to design the course as the supplement of English language lesson curriculum. It means that the topics of the course should correspond with the topics set in the textbook Project 3 by Tom Hutchinson and the lexicon taught through this textbook should be developed via the course. The school curriculum of English language subject for the classes with extended foreign language teaching, the eighth grade, is available in appendix. 51

52 It is highly important to admit that all the content of the course was discussed with the head-teacher of language section, who is also the teacher of English language in the class, where the course is being piloted. Bearing in mind all these criteria as well as the key points established in the theoretical part in chapter 5.3, the content of this online course will be as follows: 52

53 Online Course for Teaching Vocabulary Organization: full online x blended? BLENDED, face-to face lesson frequency planned once a month Technical School background: curriculum of for all English pupils, language: computers available in accessible at appendix home Topics of the lessons Greetings, Nationalities, Life of Teenagers, Free Time, Sports, Family, Technology, Likes, Preferences, Interests, Foreign Countries, Level of London, Great Britain English: A1, some of them A2 Motivation for doing some extra work: intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic supported by the teacher: Topics, activities and exercises are based on the results taken from the questionnaire Age of learners: midteenagers from 14 to 15 Supplement material and secondary sources: helpforenglish.cz/ New English File 1 textbook, Self - developed material... Timing: spring term course, from February till May. Lessons are set by topics. What are the learners interested about: topics for discussion: teenage life, free time, computers, hobbies... Results from the questionnaire: styles, activities, exercises: For the great amount of information the results are described separately as a chapter Assessment and evaluation: fluency more important than accuracy, testing, keeping deadlines, optional contributions, designing activities for course-mates... 53

54 6 Material, Activities and Exercises Once mentioned in the theoretical part, well- prepared and organized material as well appropriately chosen, interesting but educative activities and exercises, slightly beyond the level of learners language level definitely support learners motivation for course participation. To be able to establish a collection of such a material, the questionnaire focused in its third part on the assessment of the most common activities used for practising vocabulary. Learners were asked to evaluate these activities from two points of view: From the most entertaining or favourable to the most boring one From the most useful to the least useful/time wasting activity The scale was the same as the system of evaluation at common lessons: from 1(the best) to 5 (the worst). Each mark was allowed to be used only once. The final mark listed below in the table is an average mark counted from the answers. Due to the fact that the questionnaire was created in the Czech language, the results given in the following tables will be set both in The Czech and English language. The results demonstrated one interesting fact: Tab.2 The most entertaining way of practising vocabulary The most entertaining activities used for practising vocabulary The class with extended language teachinggirls The class with extended language teachingboys The common class-girls The common class-boys a) compositions b) /translations c) word games (oral and written) d) cloze exercises (reading and listening exercises) e) puzzles and word search activities

55 Tab.3-The most useful way of practising vocabulary The most useful way of practising vocabulary The class with extended language teachinggirls The class with extended language teachingboys The common class-girls The common class-boys compositions translations word games (oral and written) Cloze exercises (reading and listening) puzzle and word search activities As it is visible from the diagram, pupils attending language extend class enjoy basically the same kind of activities as the pupils attending the common class, but comparing the responses of utility of particular exercises, they prefer activities such as translations or written compositions although they found them the most boring. On the contrary, pupils from the common class consider entertaining activities the most useful as well. Obviously, these results markedly influenced the structure of the course. 6.1 Reading Exercises According to the results listed in the diagram no. 1, the main strategy of introducing new vocabulary used in the course is through short texts. This method connects two main learning strategies. Firstly, learners see new words written, secondly, the words are used naturally, in the logical lexical chains so it might be easier to remember them. Another advantage of this strategy is the fact that learners understand the meaning of the words through the contexts so that there is little chance to misuse the word in an improper context. 55

56 Graph 4-Acquiring new vocabulary: The best way how to remember new vocabulary 16 Learning new vocabulary The best way how to remember new vocabulary class with extended language teaching-girls class with extended language teaching-boys common classgirls common classboys a)when I hear them b)when I see them c)when I write them down d)when I connect them with a concrete subject or situation e)as lexical chains (words of the same lexical group such as fruit, furniture etc.) f)when I undertand their meaning from the context This strategy is also recommended by Scott Thornbury in his How to Teach Vocabulary. Short texts provide useful models for students production, in the form of speaking and writing, without over-texting learners attention or memory. (Thornbury 32) There is no need to explain that the use of authentic texts is much better as they contain a large number of lexical chains. Consequently, the intention of this course is to use authentic material as much as possible. A very suitable material was found on the web page of Woodlands Junior School in Kent, UK. The articles that are available on this web page deal with various topics connected with the life, culture, geography, customs and traditions of Great Britain. The biggest advantage is seen in the fact that the majority of the articles is written by teenagers so the language and grammar used in the articles is firstly much easier and secondly more interesting and enjoyable then formal English or the language of the press and magazines. 56

57 Fig.1- Woodlands Junior School main page Fig.2- Woodlands Junior School culture page Indeed, some of the texts have to be rewritten, because of the incorporation of the list of words that are planned to be taught. Some texts were also cut and all the texts were transformed into Microsoft Word. The transformation of the text is made mainly to avoid problems with Internet connection or the web page. 57

58 Texts are embedded in the course through the tools: Link to a Word document Lesson Link to a website The tools have been already introduced in the theoretical part, chapter 4.3 of this diploma thesis. The instructions of the activities and exercises are written only in English language, so they can be considered as a text for developing learners language skills. Both the learners work with the text as well as the understanding of the vocabulary and the text should be controlled. The forms of controlling could be various. Probably the easiest way is the form of the test, here could be used the form of True/False test variation, short/long constructed answer or multiple choice form of test. A Sample of the Tests Used in the Course Fig.3- A Multiple Choice Test 58

59 Fig.4- A Cloze Test Fig.5- A Short Constructed Answer Test 59

60 6.2 Written Exercises As it is clearly visible from the third part of the questionnaire assessed in the table 1 and 2, the target group of learners that the course is designed for, it means pupils of language extend class, do not mind the written exercises such as translations or essays because they appreciate their educative value. For this purpose there is no occasion not to include such activities into the course. Another point is that learners should be motivated to participate in the course so it is very important to try to make these activities as interesting as possible. This idea can be reached not only through the right choice of the topic but also through the variable form of the work. Thanks to the tools of Moodle system, there is a wide range of possibilities how to cope with the written exercises. The links to Word documents as well as the links to websites are supposed to be frequently used. Both forms can contain activities such as crosswords and puzzles (available also through Hot Potatoes), comment pictures, sending postcards or letters ( s), create poems and many more. Fig.6-Funny Stories Activity ( link to Wacky Web Tales web side) Writing is also the essential form of communication in forums and questions. And without any doubt, it is the easiest form for Assignments that will be used for evaluating learners knowledge of new words. 60

61 Fig.7-Forum What English speaking country would you like to live in? I just want to admit that the accuracy in forum contribution is not as important as fluency and the way how learners will express their opinions. Certainly, based on their level of English (A1-A2) they are not expected to produce mistake and error-free contributions and assessments. But the idea of encouraging them to use English as a language of the communication in the course is more important than the idea of developing their grammar. There are certain expectations that when the learners get used to communicate in English in the online course, it will be easier for them to start communication in English language also in their class of English language. Unfortunately, it is a long term process so it would not be possible to prove the correctness of these expectations in this diploma thesis. 6.3 Listening Activities Bearing in mind the results of the diagram 1 and also the fact that learners consider cloze listening activities as one of the most utile (table 2), it is not possible to avoid the listening activities just because their realisation is rather technically difficult. The majority of learners also mentioned that they are used practise and learn vocabulary by saying and repeating them aloud. It means that phonological part of vocabulary plays an important role in the process of the acquisition of lexicon. Without any doubt, the correct pronunciation is an inherent part of teaching vocabulary as well, thus, it should 61

62 be somehow included in an online course too. There are several ways how to transmit the correct pronunciation. Besides the rather complicated possibility that a teacher will record the words by him/ her there are easier ways how to teach pronunciation online. One possibility is to offer links to online dictionaries. Majority of them brings not only explanation of the meaning, grammatical and lexical information but the correct pronunciation as well. Also the records of the entries are made by native speakers with an excellent pronunciation so to use such a record is probably far more reliable than listen to the pronunciation of the teacher. The dictionaries also offer both British and American version of the correct pronunciation. Example: course noun ( CLASSES ) /kɔ ːs/ /kɔ ːrs/ (Cambridge Online Doctionary) The practical course of this diploma thesis offer learners the link to Cambridge Online Dictionary. Fig.8- Content of the course But using the online dictionary for teaching the correct pronunciation can be used only for individual phrases or entries. For more complex practising of listening it is possible to use various already made listening activities that are available on the Internet 62

63 from elementary to proficiency level and mostly in MP3 format. The listening activities used in this e-learning course are taken mostly from British Council web pages and from Oxford University Press web pages. Those that were possible were downloaded and placed to the course as the files and not as the Internet links to avoid the problems with the connection. Unfortunately, all the listening activities from Oxford University Press could not be downloaded so they are added as a web link. Fig. 9-Listening with gap-filling. (example from topic 1) Another way how to develop listening through the online course is the possibility of using the songs. Teenagers like music in general and working with the lyrics of their favourite songs may be a good activity they can prepare optionally for their course mates. Furthermore, compared with the listening exercises, songs are easier to find and download to the computer as there is a plenty of various web pages focused on music. The homepages of interprets and groups can be mentioned as one of the examples of those sources. 63

64 7 The Structure of the Course The aim of this chapter is to introduce the concept and the structure of the course based on the results of the questionnaire and the theoretical knowledge and material. 7.1 The Framework of the Course One of the questions set in the questionnaire was focused on the way how the vocabulary is being presented in the textbook Project 3. The vocabulary is gathered in the list of vocabulary, unit by unit, in the Project 3, Practise Book. Most learners found this list of vocabulary more or less acceptable. Hence, it has been decided to use the similar structure for the online course as well. Learners will be given a list of required vocabulary for each unit. It is expected that thanks to this list the misunderstanding in the case what to learn will be avoided. For this purpose, the textbook English Vocabulary in Use by Michael McCarthy and Felicity O Dell has been chosen. It may be objected that this material seem rather boring for teenage learners. Certainly, it does not belong to the category of Timesavers, which role is firstly to entertain and then to teach. But the aim for using this material (available in PDF format) is just to make clear the requests and the content of each unit of the course. Fig. 10-A Sample of Study Material, Unit 1 64

65 7.2 Organisation and Timing of the Course The Moodle system offers six different ways how to organize the course. The most common and the most frequently used is the organisation chronologically by week or conceptually by the topics. It is also possible to order the course socially with a big forum, but this way of organization seem unsuitable for the educational course. (Cole 19) The first intention was to organize the course according to the chronological schedule. It seemed easier to follow concrete dates and thus, control the fulfilment of the tasks used in each lesson. But thanks to unexpected technical difficulties it is now impossible to keep all deadlines and the time schedule used in the syllabus of this course. For this reason, the organization of the course was changed from the chronological to the conceptual one. The course was planned to start at the beginning of the spring term, it means at the beginning of the February and should finish at the end of May. The syllabus had to count with one week off because of the course of skiing, where some of the learners took participation and with one week of spring holiday in March and three days of for Easter holiday in April. I really did not want to force learners to work during their holiday because, from my point of view, these days should be used for relaxing and not for studying. 7.3 The Syllabus of the Course As it has been already mentioned, the first intention was to base the course on the chronological organisation. Later the idea was changed from the chronological to the conceptual organisation. Also the topics were partly changed so the first form of the syllabus was slightly different from the final one. 65

66 Tab.4-Syllabus of the course Project 3, the Topic of the lesson Study Material Activities and Tests and textbook of of the online course Exercises Assessments English language subject Introductory lesson Basic information Rubric: Your No about the course-both points; Your in Czech and English; activities- Course requirements; optional Forum: Online Dictionaries A Help Forum Introduction, 1. English Vocabulary Web link and Send online Meet the kids Misunderstanding in Use: Greetings and Forum: Funny greeting to your (1 page) Farewells stories (Wacky friend Why it is so important to learn vocabulary Tape script of Learning languages Useful fords: a list of terminology used in exercises Web Tales) Listening: Song by Beatles; BBC listening Learning Languages Listening: Learning languages-cloze test Evaluation: Marks for exercises - The Question Home and 2 Where are you English Vocabulary Forum: Written Away (8 pages) from? in Use: Countries and Teenagers life assessment: A) Moving Nationalities in the UK Translation B) Kelly s first day c) How was Teenagers life in the UK: Word document Question: What English speaking country would you like to live? Test: vocabulary definition based on the article Teenagers life your weekend Forum: Where would you like to live?-optional 66

67 Having (12 pages) fun! 3 Your Free time English Vocabulary in Use: Likes and Preferences Crossword: Vocabulary Forum: Other What do you prefer? ways how to spend a free time-optional A) What s your sport? Sports in the UK English Vocabulary in Use: Sports and Leisure Articles : Popular but not traditional Forum: Evaluation of the tests and articles Tests: Do you understand the texts? Traditional sports in the UK B) Kelly feels homesick 4 Family and Friends; British English Vocabulary in Use: Family and Forum: The best friend Test: the family: vocabulary Royal Family Friends Assessment: Test: Lesson: The Royal Your Family Buckingham x Family Tree Beckingham Buckingham x Your best Beckingham friend C) Sweet Sue and Smart Alec 5 Testing Your Knowledge The topic of Project do not correspond with any of English Testing of the Study materials 1,2,3,4 Vocabulary in Use D) Are you a couch potato? 6 Meeting People English Vocabulary in Use: Requests and Invitations Dialogues: comment the pictures Forum: Chatting online Online game: Mobil Madness Listening activity: For your 67

68 Ear Culture: The place where you live 7 Seasons and Weather Refresh your memory Lesson: April Fools Day Lyrics: The Cure Poems: online activity Forum: Poems Listening activity: The Cure/Friday I am in love Test: vocabulary Test: Listening What season is your favorite one? Evaluation of the course Evaluation of the exercises and activities Questionnaire Questionnaire Forum: activities? What Activities Notes: 8 Evaluation and Assessment of the Course Before the realization of this course learners were asked to fulfil the questionnaire so the content of the course corresponds as much as possible with their needs and requests. Following the results of this questionnaire, the content of the course was created to be as much suitable for the target group as possible. Obviously, some facts simply could not be accepted, for example learners preferences for practising and learning vocabulary orally and aloud. The feedback of the learners should present whether the choice of the concrete exercises was right or wrong. Learners were asked to participate both on formative and summative assessment. Formative assessment was realized via forum and question modules. During seven lessons there were used two modules of forum and one module of question. The question was placed after the first lesson had been realized to find out the opinion about the exercises and activities chosen for the 68

69 first lesson. The aim was to find out the level, whether it was not below or too above the level of learners language skills. The responses also indicated the attractiveness and utility of the exercises. As the question offers only an option without any comment, the first evaluating forum was used after the first lesson for those they wanted to comment the activities and participated on the development of the course. Some learners used also the opportunity to evaluate the concrete activity in its forum. Unfortunately, the majority of evaluation done after first three lessons disappeared when the school Intranet broke down so it is not possible to demonstrate wider range of forum evaluation and the main evaluation is done through the final questionnaire. The problem was that the course was not done as a back-up file. Fig.11-Forum: Evaluation/Months Fig.12-Forum: Moodle autor Monika Janištinová - pátek, 18. únor 2011, 17:15 Dear Mrs teacher, Thank you for extra points. I like it, when I can do some homeworks and tests at home. Have a good time! 69

70 Though the intention was to use as much English, ideally only English language, as possible, in this particular forum the Czech language was allowed because learners started this forum on their own and it would not be motivating to stop this activity just because of not using English language. 8.1 Reaction of Learners As it has been already mentioned, learners were asked to participate in formative assessment of the course. Besides that they were involved in the summative assessment as well. This evaluation was done through in Moodle system in the help of The Questionnaire module. Thanks to this tool it is possible to create various forms of a questionnaire and place it in the course. The biggest advantage of this tool is the ability of system to analyze the answers, create responses and transform the results into Excel. I decided to create two questionnaires, both of them in Czech language just to avoid misunderstanding. The first one was focused on the evaluation of the course, its graphic form, organization, intelligibility of the instructions or length of terms for assessments. Surprisingly, 90% of learners assessed the study material as not so boring as it was expected. They found it useful as well. They understood the importance of using the English language as much as possible, but about 54% would find the translation into the Czech language more comfortable. The worst result is connected with the technical background. About 55% of course participants admitted the difficulties with connecting to the system or opening the files of the course. Because of these problems, they were forced to quit working in the course for about six weeks. Some of the learners stopped being interested in the course participation. These difficulties limited the time so some learners were not able to fulfil all the tasks and go through all exercises and activities. Although they still have an opportunity to do so, their results and opinions will not be included into this final assessment. This fact also eliminated the possibility to participate in optional activities or create activities for the class mates, as it has been appealed at the beginning of the course. In spite of this, it is still believed that including the optional activities into the content of the course is a good form how to evaluate both the interest in course participation and the level of learners self-directed learning. The school is planning to install a new system during the summer holiday so there is a hope that the next realization of this course planned from the October 2011 could avoid these unpleasant difficulties. 70

71 The other questionnaire was focused on the evaluation of activities and exercises. Generally speaking, learners assessed the course quite positive, because 100% of the participants in the final questionnaire answered that they enjoyed the course and 50% of them would participate in the course although it were not a part of lessons of the English language. About 90% of learners assessed study texts as interesting and 80% enjoyed the work in the module of Lesson. The interesting fact is that they did not prefer online exercises. Learners assessed the choice of activities as variable and interesting. They did not mind the instructions in English language, only about 10% of learners would use Czech language for better understanding. Learners also appreciated the deadlines, about 64% of them considered them motivating. About 28% of learners found the absence of face-to face communication as a more convenient way of teaching. Forums: Without any doubt, Forum belongs to the most suitable tools of Moodle system for teaching languages. On the contrary, its evaluation is not as positive as it deserves. About 30% of final questionnaire participants answered that they did not like to contribute to forums. About 50% found it useful and they liked it. About 20% admitted that they did not know what they should write. That is why they appreciated the opportunity to react on the contributions of other learners. Lessons: Because of the lack of time, only one lesson was included into the content of the course. In my point of view, this tool belongs to the most useful and the most entertaining tools. Compared with forums, it is definitely more suitable for teaching and practising new vocabulary. That is why it is good to see that 80% of participants enjoyed the work with this tool. Unfortunately, one lesson is definitely not enough to see more advantages or disadvantages of this tool. Tests: Generally speaking, testing is the most common form how to assess the level of learners knowledge. Thus, they were quite frequently used in the online course as well. About 50% of learners assessed the tests as entertaining. Surprisingly, this number is equal to the result of crosswords and puzzles. The reason might be seen in the fact that the majority of the texts were based on the texts, so learners could check their answers, evaluate their own work and improved it. Tests were also named as the most useful for language learning and practising (about 40% of participants). The time for answering the questions was always the same, 15 minutes for a test. The time may seem 71

72 as a bit long, but the reason for 15 minutes was mainly to avoid technical difficulties, misunderstanding of instructions and let learners get used to this system of testing. About 90% of participants considered the timing suitable. 60% found tests useful for understanding the texts better while 30% found them useless in supporting the understanding of the texts. Because the 30% is quite a high number, the questions of the particular tests should be thought over and improved. Online Activities: Supporting by the fact that young learners spend hours by playing computer games or browsing the Internet, it was expected that online exercises would be the most successful. Surprisingly, they were not. About 40% answered that they liked them the most, but as it has been already mentioned, 50% preferred Tests. 10% of learners admitted that they did not like online activities at all. Written Assignments: Unfortunately, only few of the activities were realized. Learners attitude towards this tool is rather neutral. They found it neither entertaining, nor boring. About 60% of learners based their assessment on the topic of the assignment. They considered the suitable topic very important for successful fulfilment of the assignment. Listening Activities: In spite of possible technical difficulties, listening activities should be included into the content of the online course. This opinion is also supported by the responses of learners. Although, the number of 20% for this activity is not too high, comparing with other results, 20% for online exercises, 10% for creating the dialogues (commented pictures) and 50% for tests, the result can be considered as the positive one. 50% understand well, 40% partly, 10% did not understand at all. As it was not easy to find the appropriate level of listening activities, the results connected with the difficulty of the listening activities was more or less equal. 50% understood well, without any problem, 40% understood partly, with certain difficulties. 10% did not understand at all. Because of the results, the listening activities should be definitely improved. One of the possibilities is to offer different levels of listening activities, e.g. Beginners, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, to let learners decided to choose the most suitable level. 72

73 Other activities used in the online course such as Glossary of Terms and Choice are really useful, they support the content of the course but they do not have any didactic character. Choice can be used for simple evaluation of activities or teacher s work, Glossary of Terms can be used as simple dictionary. 8.2 Teacher s experiences At the beginning of this diploma thesis three sets of research questions were mentioned. These questions were more or less connected with my beliefs and expectation. For this reason, I found very important to evaluate not only the fulfilment of learners needs but also the fulfilment of teacher s beliefs, the experiences with the course designing, motivation and participation of the learners. I believe that all the experiences acquired during the phases of course designing and course realization could be useful and subservient for other teachers who would like to start with the realization of an online course via Moodle system. The experiences could be summarized as follows: The previous experience of working in Moodle system as a learner, as it has been advised in chapter 2.4 by Teeler and Gray, was really a benefit in course designing. It was easier to work with particular modules while knowing their potential. It is very important to follow learners needs. As it has been presented in diagram..., the majority of lower-secondary school pupils are still not as selfmotivated in further studying as it would be expected for example with grammar school students. For this reason, it is highly important to offer learners such a content that they will find both entertaining and useful. The good idea is to let learners to participate on the course designing via optional activities. It is essential to set deadlines and make the assessments, forums and other modules obligatory. The pupils of my target group did not show enough responsibility for managing their own independent learning. Although they did not contact me much about the technical or language problems, they discussed them quite frequently with their teacher of English language. 73

74 This indicates another fact and that is an experience that it would be much easier for both learners and a teacher to establish a course with the class where the teacher has regular common face-to face lessons. The unexpected technical difficulties appeared during the realization of the course. This means that for e-learning via Moodle system it is important to have an appropriate and high-quality technical background. The problems with subscribing or connecting to the course can easily devastate the motivation of the learners. At least I have to admit I strongly agree with Dudeney and Hockly that online tutoring is part pastoral, part technical, part pedagogical and very hard work. Well prepared course can be really supportive and cause learners improvement in certain field of education. But each teacher who is willing to start working in such a system has to be prepared for technical difficulties, longer hours of preparation and lack of interest of some learners. 74

75 Conclusion The main intention of this diploma thesis was to offer different form of language learning to lower-secondary school learners. The idea of using Moodle system was partly given, as the piloted course became a part of the school project for improving ICT knowledge of both teachers and pupils. Unfortunately, the complicated technical difficulties interrupted the working of school Moodle system and the course had to be transferred to the Moodle system of Masaryk University, Brno. The first idea was to create the course only for learners of the class with extended language teaching. Later the concept was changed and the pupils attending the common class were included. The content of the course was based on the answers gained through the questionnaire given to the learners before course designing. The questionnaire proved the fact that motivation would be the biggest problem to deal with. Both language extend and common class learners found themselves comfortable with the way, form and level of learning vocabulary. On the contrary, the majority of both groups mentioned the interest in developing their language skills. After analyzing the textbook and discussing the results with other English teachers of the school, the aim of the course was to teach, practise and develop lexicon. The textbook English Vocabulary in Use, level Elementary, was chosen as a framework of the course and was used as Study Material. Because the course was created as a supplement of the subject English language; each unit of the course and the study material had to correspond with the content of the textbook Project 3 used in the lessons of English language. Following the theoretical part of this diploma thesis and the facts written there, it was decided to use the form of blending course, it means both online and face-to face way of teaching, as the form of the course. For this reason, the exercises and activities of the course are focused on developing of reading, listening and writing skills, while speaking skill is planned to be developed during face-to face. The target group of learners was expected to be able to work independently, but their frequency of participation proved that they have not been trained enough for self-direct 75

76 learning so far. Hence, it was unavoidable to set deadlines and make the majority of exercises and assessments obligatory. Generally speaking, the evaluation of the course, the exercises and assessments was positive. Due to the technical complications, the negative assessment in the field of technical background was logically expected. 76

77 Résumé The main aim of this diploma thesis, to create a new, modern way of teaching English language and offer it to lower-secondary school pupils was successfully realized. The theoretical part describes the key facts about e-learning, its pros and cons, as well as comparing the Moodle system with other virtual forms of e-learning. It also explains the important steps leading towards successful course designing. The knowledge gained through the theoretical part was used for creating and piloting a concrete online course. The course that is focused on the development of vocabulary was created in Moodle system. The course should work as a supplement of common lessons of English language in the eighth grade of lower-secondary school. For this reason, the content of the course corresponds with the curriculum of the textbook used in the eighth grade; Project 3 by Tom Hutchinson. The textbook English Vocabulary in Use was chosen as a framework of the course. The activities and exercises used in the course were chosen due to the results taken from the questionnaire. This questionnaire was given to students before the course designing. The results of the questionnaire are presented in the form of graphs in the practical part of this thesis. It is also available to see the samples of using particular modules as well as to examine the evaluation and assessment of the course results. 77

78 Resumé Hlavním cílem této diplomové práce bylo vytvořit nový a moderní způsob výuky anglického jazyka a nabídnout jej žákům na II. stupni ZŠ. Tento cíl byl úspěšně realizován. Teoretická část této diplomové práce se zabývá vymezením základních faktů týkajících se e-learningu, jeho výhody a nevýhody, stejně jako srovnání výukového systému Moodle s jinými virtuálními výukovými systémy. Vědomosti nabyté v teoretické části této diplomové práce byly využity při sestavování a pilotování konkrétního on-line výukového kurzu. Vlastní kurz je zaměřený na rozvoj slovní zásoby a byl vytvořen ve výukovém systému Moodle. Kurz by měl sloužit jako doplňkový výukový program k běžným hodinám anglického jazyka v osmém ročníku ZŠ. Proto také náplň a témata tohoto kurzu korespondují s obsahem a tématy učebnice Project 3 používané v osmém ročníku ZŠ. Jako osnova kurzu byla zvolena učebnice English Vocabulary in Use. Jednotlivé aktivity a cvičení použité v tomto kurzu byly vybrány na základě výsledků dotazníku, který byl žákům dán před realizací kurzu. Výsledky dotazníku jsou graficky zpracované v praktické části této diplomové práce. V této části je také možné najít ukázky využití jednotlivých modulů, stejně jako seznámit se s výsledky a hodnocením této práce. 78

79 Bibliography Beaudoin, Michael F. "Learning or Lurking." University of New England. Web < British Council Cambridge Online Dictionary. Cambridge UP. Web < Cambridge Online Dictionary. Cambridge UP. Web < CEFR. University of Cambridge. ESOL Examination. Web.2011 < CEFR. Wikipedia. Web.2011 < uages> Cole, Jason. Using Moodle: Teaching with the Popular Open Source Management System. O'Reilly Community, Print. Conrad, Rita Marie, and J. Ana Donaldson. Engaging the Online Learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Print. Czech Statistical Office. Využití IT ve Školství. 25 Feb Raw data. Czech Statistical Office, Prague. < 79

80 Dudeney, Gavin, and Nicky Hockly. How to Teach English with Technology. Harlow: Pearson/Longman, Print. Dudeney, Gavin, and Nicky Hockly. "Teaching-online." British Council. BBC World Service, 15 June Web < "E-learning." Wikipedia Web < Graves, Kathleen. Designing the Language Course: A Guide for Teachers. Canada: Thomson, Heinle, Print. Harmer, Jeremy. How to Teach English. Malaysia: Longman, Print. "Home Page." About the OU. Open University,UK, Web < "Homepage." Web < Hutchinson, Tom. Project 3. Vol. 3. Oxford: Oxford UP, Print. Kelly, Linda. "What Does Learning Mean." The International Journal of Learning 10. CGPublisher. Web < "Kids Place." Web < Klemm, W. R. ") Eight Ways to Get Students More Engaged in On-line Conference." Web < 80

81 Ko, Susan, and Steve Rossen. Teaching Online: A Practical Guide. Los Angeles: Houghton Mifflin, Print. Lewis, Gordon. Teenagers. China: Oxford UP, Print. Lewis, Gordon. The Internet and Young Learners. Oxford: Oxford UP, Print. Marada, Martin. "Home Page." Web < McCarthy, Michael, and Felicity O'Dell. English Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge UP, Print. Meyer, Katrina A. Quality in Distance Education: Focuse on On-line Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Print. "Moodle Icon Guide." Web < &url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.niace.org.uk%2fniaceonline%2fdocs%2fmoodle IconGuide.doc&rct=j&q= leiconguide.doc&ei=6wujtcoshzhiswalh7jnbq&usg=afqjcnemtgoy52 GaNGyQznrxpJrWFJSJ8w>. "Moodle: about." Moodle.org. Web < Moodle. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 4 Jan Web. 5 Jan Neumajer, Ondřej. "E-learning." Reading. UNISONA Studio, Dec Web < 81

82 Němcová, Pavla. "Creating an Online Course for Teaching English:bachelor Thesis." Thesis. PdF MU, Is.muni.cz. 26 Mar Web < h%3dmoodle%20agenda:th%26start%3d1>. "Quotation." Web < Race, William H. Moodle: E-learning Course Development.A Complete Guide to Successful Learning Using Moodle. Birmingham: Packet, Print. SCIO. Project ITEFL: International Comparative Study. Raw data. Seedhouse, Paul. "Needs Analysis and the General." ELT Journal. Aug Web < Sharman, Pete, and Barney Barret. Blended Learning: Using Technology in and beyond the Language Classroom. Macmillan, Print. "Student Sites." Oxford University Press. Web < BCE1?cc=cz&selLanguage=cs>. Activities based on OUP:

83 ogue02 Teeler, Dede, and Peta Gray. How to Use the Internet in ELT. Harlow: Longman, Print. Tejnecká, Pavlína. "Effective Teaching Methods of English Vocabulary at Upper Primary School." Thesis. PdF MU, Is.muni.cz. 4 June Web < ch%3dtejneck%c3%a1%20pavl%c3%adna%20agenda:th%26start%3d1>. The Czech Republic. MŠMT. VÚP. RVP Program pro základní vzdělávání. Trans. Hana Čechová. By Jaroslav Jeřábek, Romana Lisnerová, Jan Tupý, and Adriena Smejkalová. Prague: VÚP, July Web. 27 Dec Thornbury, Scott. How to Teach Vocabulary. Malaysia: Longman, Print. Ur, Penny. A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Print. Wikibooks. "ICT in Education/Definition of Terms - Wikibooks, Open Books for an Open World." Wikibooks. 19 Dec Web. 27 Dec < "ZŠ Chrlice." Web < "ZŠ Filosofská." Web < 83

84 "ZŠ Lupačova." Web < "ZŠ Špičák." Web < ZS Chrlice. Moodle course of English language. Moodle course. Web. 5 Jan

85 Figures ITEFL: Results of testing English language: particular parts of the test. Picture. Web.5.Jan 2010 < Id/265/et-ci-anglitinu-pli-nezvldaj.aspx> Frequency of use a personal computer by students (16+) 2008.Picture. Web 25 Feb < Blended learning. Picture. UNISONA studio. Web < A Framework of Course Development Processes. Picture. Graves, Kathleen. Designing the Language Course: A Guide for Teachers. Print. Figures in Practical part Woodlands Junior School main page. Picture. junior school. Web.2010 < Woodlands Junior School culture page. Picture. junior school. Web.2010 < A Multiple Choice Test. Picture. Moodlinka.ped.muni.cz. Web < 85

86 A Cloze Test. Picture. Moodlinka.ped.muni.cz. Web < A Short Constructed Answer Test. Picture. Moodlinka.ped.muni.cz. Web < Funny Stories Activity ( link to Wacky Web Tales web side). Picture. Moodlinka.ped.muni.cz. Web < Forum What English speaking country would you like to live in?. Picture. Moodlinka.ped.muni.cz. Web < Content of the course. Picture. Moodlinka.ped.muni.cz. Web < Listening with gap-filling. (example from topic 1). Picture. Moodlinka.ped.muni.cz. Web < A Sample of Study Material, Unit 1. Picture. Moodlinka.ped.muni.cz. Web < Forum: Evaluation/Months. Picture. Moodlinka.ped.muni.cz. Web < Forum: Moodle. Picture. Moodlinka.ped.muni.cz. Web < 86

87 Figures in Appendix Moodle icons. Picture. Web.2010 < A Marketing Scale for Evaluation of Written Exercises. Picture. Harmer, Jeremy. How to Teach English. Malaysia: Longman, Print. Moodle ZŠ Špičák, main page. Picture. Web.2010.< Moodle ZŠ Špičák, Courses.Picture. Web.2010.< Moodle ZŠ Špičák, Course of English Language for the Eighth Grade.Picture. Web.2010.< Tables Table 1: Statistics of pupils participated/not participated in the questionnaire Table 2: The most entertaining way of practising vocabulary Table 3: The most useful way of practising vocabulary Table 4: Syllabus of the course 87

88 Graphs Graph 1-Acquiring new vocabulary: The frequency of teaching vocabulary in the school curriculum Graph 2-Acquiring new vocabulary: The level of learners lexicon Graph 3-Practising vocabulary: Self-studying beyond the school curriculum Graph 4-Acquiring new vocabulary: The best way how to remember new vocabulary 88

89 APPENDIX What do the icons mean in Moodle? To be able to work correctly and properly with the tools set in Moodle system, it is important to understand well what each icon mean and what it is for. Below are examples of the most important and frequent icons you available in Moodle. Fig.1-Moodle icons Moodle resources and activities Link to a website A file directory A chat session A choice similar to a poll A database A forum A glossary A hot potatoes quiz A journal A lesson A quiz or test A survey A wiki A workshop An assignment Links to application resources Link to a Word document Link to an Excel spreadsheet Link to an image Link to a PowerPoint presentation Link to an Adobe PDF file Link to a sound file 89

90 Link to a zipped file Link to a video file Moodle editing icons Edit button either edit summary, or update depending on the context Move left, right, up or down, depending on the direction of the arrow Hide either a topic or a resource This topic is hidden Highlighted as the current topic Delete Highlight as the current topic Show only this topic Moodle front page icons This course allows guest access This course allows guest access if you have an enrolment key. The key is a password provided by your tutor. You can only access this course if your tutor has enrolled you, or if you have an enrolment key 90

91 School Curriculum of the Subject English Language, a class with extended language teaching, 8th grade Vyučovací předmět - Anglický jazyk RVJ 8. ročník Vzdělávací obor - Jazyk a jazyková komunikace Očekávané a školní výstupy Učivo Mezipředmětové vztahy a průřezová témata Receptivní řečové dovednosti ~ analyzuje grafickou a fonetickou podobu slov a slovní přízvuk ~ čte plynule obtížnější texty odpovídající slovní zásobě: word stress endings OV - rozumí jednoduché a zřetelně vyslovované promluvě a konverzaci: ~ rozumí složitější konverzaci a promluvě ~ odvodí obsah neznámých textů: adjective, nouns, adverbs free time activities family members transport and places houses Home and away Having fun! Tomorrow s world What was happening Home and away Having fun! Tomorrow s world What was happening OSV - Sebepoznání a sebepojetí - rozhovor u lékaře, omluvenka do školy OV - rozumí obsahu jednoduchých textů v učebnicích a obsahu autentických materiálů s využitím vizuální opory, v textech vyhledá Home and away známé výrazy, fráze a odpovědi na otázky Having fun! ~ rozumí obsahu náročnějších textů Tomorrow s world ~ vyhledá správné odpovědi na otázky k What was happening textu ~ z obrázku odvodí obsah textu Vv - využití a popis obrázků, your project ~ odvodí pravděpodobný význam nových slov z kontextu textu: free time activities family members transport and places houses Home and away Having fun! Tomorrow s world What was happening Vv - obrázkový diktát Z - využití map VMEGS - Evropa a svět nás zajímá - počasí a zvyky ve světě 91

92 ~ ve dvojjazyčném slovníku vyhledá význam slov k danému tématu a umí je vhodně použít:free time activitiesfamily memberstransport and placeshouses Home and awayhaving fun!tomorrow s worldwhat was happening Ov - volnočasové aktivity ~ rozumí jednoduché a zřetelně vyslovované Home and away promluvě a konverzaci: Having fun! listening - describing future plans, family Tomorrow s world tree, making suggestion What was happening OSV - Komunikace ~ pomocí vhodných obrazových materiálů rozumí obsahu jednoduchých textů ~ umí pracovat s informacemi v textu Home and away Having fun! Tomorrow s world What was happening MeV - kritické čtení a vnímání mediálních sdělení - práce s informacemi Produktivní řečové dovednosti ~ sestaví složitější a obsáhlejší (ústní i písemná ) sdělení týkající se situací souvisejících s životem v rodině, škole a probíranými tématickými okruhy ~ používá správná gramatická pravidla ~ Family tree and personal essay ~ Getting to know someone ~ Requests ~ reprodukuje obsah přiměřeně obtížného textu, promluvy i konverzace ~ vede konverzaci na daná témata ~ zaujme stanovisko k tématu ~ vlastními slovy vyjádří svůj názor k textu ~ Peter s life story ~ Describing future plans ~ The couch potato generation ~ písemně, gramaticky správně tvoří a obměňuje obsahově složitější texty ~ Joining sentences ~ Offers ~ Making suggestions Introduction Home and away Having fun Having fun Tomorrow s world Č - esej OSV - Kreativita - popis budoucích plánů, vyjádření vlastních názorů v cizícm jazyce ~ písemně, gramaticky správně tvoří a obměňuje obsahově složitější textyjoining sentencesoffersmaking suggestions Home and awayhaving fun!tomorrow s world Interaktivní řečové dovednosti 92

93 ~ vede konverzace odpovídající danému rozsahu a získaným znalostem ~ domluví se v běžných každodenních situacích ~ aktivně reaguje na jednoduché otázky: free time activities family tree future plans the couch potato generation predictions transport and places Home and away Having fun! Tomorrow s world What was happening Ov - rodokmen, volnočasové aktivity Key Competences Involved in the Course Social and Personal Competency contribute to a discussion within a small group as well as to an open debate of the entire class; understands the need to cooperate effectively with others when addressing an assigned task; appreciates the experience of others; respects different viewpoints and draws lessons from what other people think, say and do; create a positive image of him or her, which supports his/her self-confidence and independent development; controls and governs his/her behaviour so as to achieve a feeling of self-satisfaction and self-respect. Communication Competency formulate and expresses his/her ideas and opinions in a logical sequence; expresses himself/herself pertinently, coherently and in a cultivated manner in both oral expression and writing; listen to other people s utterances, understands them and responds to them adequately; participates effectively in discussions; defends his/her opinion and argues appropriately; understand various types of texts and records, graphic materials, commonly used gestures, sounds and other information and communication means, 93

94 reflects on them, reacts to them and uses them creatively for his/her development and active engagement in social events; use information and communication means and technologies for quality, effective communication with the surrounding world; use his/her acquired communication skills to form relations necessary for full-fledged coexistence and quality cooperation with others. Problem-Solving Competency think critically; makes prudent decisions and is able to defend them; realises the responsibility for his/her decisions; is able to evaluate the results of his/her decisions. solves problems independently; selects suitable ways to solve problems; uses logical, mathematical and empirical methods when solving the problems; (FEP EE, VÚP 11-15) 94

95 The Questionnaire for Analyzing Learners Needs Cíl dotazníku: Zjistit, jakým způsobem se žáci: a) učí slovní zásobu (nová slovíčka) b) procvičují slovní zásobu Datum: Třída: Dívka/chlapec Anglický jazyk se učím. roky/roků. Anglický jazyk se učím: a) jen ve škole b) ve škole a kurzu c) ve škole a na soukromých hodinách A) Učení se novým slovíčkům: 1) nová slovíčka si nejlépe zapamatuji: a) když je slyším b) když je vidím napsaná c) sám/a si je napíši d) když si je mohu spojit s konkrétním předmětem nebo situací e) když se je mohu učit jako skupinu tématicky podobných slov (např. nábytek, ovoce ) f) když si je sám vyvodím z textu, který je obsahuje 2) Učení slovíček podle seznamu v učebnici mi: a) vyhovuje b) nevyhovuje c) částečně vyhovuje 3) Učit se slovíčka považuji za: a) velice důležité b) méně důležité, než učení se gramatice c) ztrátu času 4) Myslím, že moje slovní zásoba: a) odpovídá rozsahu učebnice b) je širší než slovní zásoba v učebnici c) je menší než slovní zásoba v učebnici 5) Chtěl(a bych, abychom se slovní zásobě věnovali: a) více b) méně c) současný stav mi vyhovuje 6) Učení z textu: A) Při čtení textu si: a) slovíčka, která neznám, nevyhledávám b) slovíčka, která neznám, vyhledám ve slovníku c) slovíčka, která neznám, vyhledám a vypíšu do slovníčku PROCVIČOVÁNÍ 1) Slovíčka si opakuji: 95

96 a) denně b) 1x za týden c) jen před testem či písemnou prací d) jen v hodině 2) Slovíčka si nejraději opakuji: a) sám doma b) doma s rodiči, prarodiči nebo sourozencem c) ve dvojici s kamarádem d) ve skupině s kamarády ve škole či kurzu 3) Slovíčka si procvičuji: a) psaním a zpětnou kontrolou b) odříkáváním nahlas c) tvořením vět d) pomocí výukového programu na počítači e) jiným způsobem (uveď jak) 4) Snažíš se nějak sám/a zlepšovat svou slovní zásobu, tzn. abych uměl/a více než je dáno v osnovách školní učebnice? Ano Ne 5) Jestliže ano, jakým způsobem? a) čtením cizojazyčných textů (časopisy, knihy, Internet) b) poslechem autentických materiálů (hudba, filmy ) c) konverzací s rodilým mluvčím nebo pokročilejším studentem d) překladem textů (hudebních, v časopisech ) e) chattováním f) jiným způsobem (uveď jakým) Podle daných kritérií ohodnoť jednotlivá cvičení. Škála odpovídá hodnocení ve škole, tzn. 1 = nejvíce, 5 = nejméně Ze způsobů, jak procvičovat slovní zásobu mne nejvíce mne baví: Slohová cvičení Překlady Slovní hry (písemné i ústní) Doplňování do textu (čtení i poslech) Křížovky a osmisměrky.. Ze způsobů, jak procvičovat slovní zásobu mi nejvíce užitečný připadá: Slohová cvičení Překlady Slovní hry (písemné i ústní) Doplňování do textu (čtení i poslech) Křížovky a osmisměrky.. Děkuji moc všem žákům za pravdivé vyplnění dotazníku. Bc. Pavlína Navrátilová 96

97 Evaluation of the Course via Moodle/ the questionnaire 1.) Grafické zpracování kurzu je: Dobré Dobré a srozumitelné Dobré ale nezajímavé Nezajímavé Udělal/a bych jej zcela jinak 2.) Studijní materiál mi přišel: Užitečný Neužitečný Užitečný ale nezajímavý 3.) Instrukce v úvodní lekci (Basic information) jsou: Srozumitelné Částečně srozumitelné 97

98 Složité Nesrozumitelné 4.) Použití českého jazyka pro instrukce považuji za: Dostatečné Nedostatečné 5.) Instrukce k jednotlivým cvičením byly jen v Aj. Chyběl ti jejich překlad do Čj? Ano, měl/a jsem potíže s jejich pochopením. Chápal/a jsem je ale v Čj by to bylo pohodlnější. Chápal/a jsem je a myslím, že je v pořádku, že byly jen v A. 6.) Technické zázemí: Měl/a jsi potíže s připojením se na kurz nebo některá cvičení v něm? Ano Ne Občas (kolem 5 pokusů) 98

99 7.) Chyběla ti osobní komunikace (face-to face)? Ano, zejména kvůli instrukcím. Ano, zejména kvůli konverzaci. Ano Ne ne, vyhovalo mi to. 8.) Výběr cvičení mi připadal: Jednotvárný Pestrý Některá cvičení se opakovala, ale nevadilo mi to. Zbytečně moc druhů cvičení. 9.) Termíny pro odevzdání úkolů, splnění testů a reakcí do fór považuji za: Zbytečné, vůbec mne nemotivovaly. 99

100 Motivující. Stresující ale motivující. Nevadí mi ale ani mne nemotivují. 10.) Poslechová cvičení považuji za: Užitečná Užitečná ale nudná Zbytečná 100

101 Evaluation of the Course Activities and Exercises via Moodle/the questionnaire 1.) Cvičení byla zaměřená na slovní zásobu: Dostatečně. Středně. Nedostatečně. 2.) Která aktivita tě bavila nejvíce? Poslechy Testy Křížovky Fóra Ankey Články Přednášky 3.) Která aktivity ti připadá pro výuku jazyka nejužitečnější 101

102 Forum Přednáška Testy Online cvičení Tvorba dialogů (obrázky) oslechy Psané úkoly 4.) Přispívání do fór mne: Bavilo a přišlo mi užitečné. Nebavilo, ale přišlo mi užitečné. Nebavilo a přišlo mi neužitečné. bavilo, ale nevěděl/a jsem, 102

103 co psát. Nebavilo a stresovalo kvůli jazyku a chybám. 5.) Texty zaměřené na slovní zásobu byly: Zajímavé a srozumitelné. Zajímavé, ale obtížně srozumitelné. Nezaímavé. Nezajímavé, ale srozumitelné. Nezajímavé, protože byly nesrozumitelné. 6.) Testy k porozumění textům považuji za: Prospěšné, pomohly mi porozumět textu. Prospěšné, ale s porozuměním textu mi 103

104 nepomohly. Zbytečné. 7.) Čas na vypracování testů k jednotlivým textům mi přišel: Dostačující. Zbytečně dlouhý. Krátký. 8.) Práce s textem formou Přednášky mne: Bavila. Nebavila. 9.) Poslechová cvičení pro mne byla: Obtížně srozumtelná. Částečně srozumitelná. Srozumitelná. 104

105 10.) Myslím, že psané úkoly jsou pro rozvoj mých jazykových znalostí: Velice prospěšné. Částečně prospěšné, záleží na tématu. Zbytečné. Prospěšné,ale měl/a jsem s jejich vypracováím problémy 11.) On-line aktivity mne: Bavily nejvíe celého kurzu. Bavily, ale přišly mi zbytečné. avily. Nebavily. Nebavily, ale přišly mi 105

106 užitečn. 12.) Práce v kurzu mne: Bavila. Nebavil. Nebavila, ale považuji ji za užitečnou. Bavila, ale nepovažuji ji za užitečnou. 13.) Myslíš, že by jsi pracoval/a v kurzu i kdyby nebyl součástí předmětu AJ, tzn. jen proto, že si chceš sám/a zlepšit svou slovní zásobu? Ano. Ne. 106

107 Marking Scale for Written Exercises Fig.2-A Marketing Scale for Evaluation of Written Exercises by Harmer 107

108 Samples of the Moodle Format of ZŠ Špičák, Česká Lípa Fig.3- Moodle ZŠ Špičák, main page Fig.4- Moodle ZŠ Špičák, Courses 108

109 Fig.5- Moodle ZŠ Špičák, Course of English Language for the Eighth Grade 109