Action research implementing ICTs and E-learning to
improve communicative performance of A2 students
Investigación de acción implementando TIC y E-lear=
ning
para mejorar el rendimiento comunicativo de los estudiantes A2
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1 |
Diana Casandra Paredes Peralta |
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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8855-2795 |
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Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Centro de Idiomas. Riobamba. Ecuador<= o:p> |
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2 |
Rud
Noemi Cunin Chimborazo |
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https=
://orcid.org/0000-0002-0501-9443 |
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Maestría
en Pedagogía del Inglés como Lengua Extranjera, Pontificia Universidad
Católica del Ecuador, Santo Domingo, Ecuador. |
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3 |
Carmen Genoveva Díaz Paredes |
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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4567-6250 |
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Maestría
en Pedagogía del Inglés como Lengua Extranjera, Pontificia Universidad
Católica del Ecuador, Santo Domingo, Ecuador. |
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4 |
Carlos Alberto Aguirre Alarcón |
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https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6059-0913 |
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Escuela
Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Centro de Idiomas. Riobamba. Ecuador =
carlos.aguirrea@espoch.edu.ec |
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Artículo de Investigación Científica y
Tecnológica Enviado: 10/11/2022 Revisado: 21/12/2022 Aceptado: 18/01/2023 Publicado:27/02/2023 |
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Cítese: |
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Paredes Peralta, D. C., Cunin Chimborazo , R. N.,
Díaz Paredes, C. G., & Aguirre Alarcón, C. A. (2023). Action research implementing ICTs and E-learning to improve
communicative performance of A2 students. AlfaPublicaciones, 5(1.1), 126–155. https://doi.org/10.33262/ap.v5i1.1.323 |
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Esta revista está
protegida bajo una licencia Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No
Derivatives 4.0 International. Copia de la licencia: http://creativecommons.org=
/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
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Palabras claves: TIC y E-learning, rendimiento comunicativo, investigación-acción, E=
SL. |
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Resumen Introducción: La investigación en curso e=
n el
campo de la enseñanza del inglés mediante la implementación de tecnología=
s de
la información y la comunicación (TIC) y el aprendizaje electrónico ha
mejorado significativamente el rendimiento comunicativo de los estudiante=
s A2,
pasando del aprendizaje presencial al aprendizaje totalmente en línea. |
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Keywords: ICTs and E-learning, communicative performance, action research, ES=
L. |
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Ab=
stract Introduction: Ongoing research
into the field of Teaching English by implementing information and
communication technologies (ICTs) and E-learning has significantly improv=
ed
the communicative performance of A2 students, going from face to face to
fully online learning. Objective: The aim of this research was to determine the extent to which the
implementation of didactic strategies improved the level of communicative
performance in students migrating from face to face teaching to fully onl=
ine
education, in A2 undergraduate students through the evaluation of materia=
ls,
teaching methodology and IT resources available. Methodology: The methodology us=
ed
was descriptive and exploratory based on observational research as well a=
s a
survey. The research approach was qualitative, based on description,
observation, and surveys for data collection from learners; both at the
beginning and at the end of the course, in order to understand changes in
communicative performance of students. Results: Communicative strategies put in
place during the course had a positive impact on the results of students’
performance, reflected on the overall performance of students, who either
maintained their grades or increased them significantly throughout the
development of the course despite limitations. Close to 70% of students
maintained their performance and grades during the transition from face to
face to a fully online setting. Additionally, around 20% improved their
performance and grades, while 12% reported to have experienced a drop in
their performance. Conclusions: The research has shown that the implementation of
didactic strategies has improved the communicative performance in students
who migrated from face to face to a fully online model of education. The
students were attending the A2 level and was a combination of the analysi=
s of
technological resources, methodological strategies, and the introduction =
of
new practices through action research. Study area: Educatio=
n |
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Online learning has been increasingly gaining popularity amongst busy
adults who have had to combine work and studies to further their knowledge =
and
continue with their careers’ advancement at the same time (Ahmet, 2015). According to Johnson (2013), there are various reas=
ons
why online learning can be advantageous, amongst those are time management
because you can access online platforms at any given time during the day; c=
ost
saving benefits as students will not have to move out to other cities or ev=
en
countries to access the degree subject t=
hey
are looking for, so the costs of accommodation, transport and others can be
saved when studying from home.
However,
there are also some limitations to online learning related to the lack of
teachers and students face to face interaction that enables to understand e=
ach
other in a more personal way; the dynamics of having your peers next to you=
, to
be able to learn from each other.
Besides,
computer literacy is also a very important factor to consider because the l=
ack
of it can be a real obstacle in learning a second language or indeed any ot=
her
subject (Anderson, 2019). Fortunately, the deli=
berate
use of technology has been a crucial ally in this
process, helping with the development of fully virtual learning and teaching
environments where students can interact within themselves, with teachers,
other colleagues, and be provided with the right resources such as online
libraries, the latest papers and videos =
that
enrich their learning experience; this because such resources are available
worldwide and can be accessed in real time or just within hours of delay (<=
/span>Sánchez
& Rojas 2017).
In that regard, resources’ availability has experienced a revolution=
as
anybody who has a decent internet connection can gain access to the latest
resources from the remotest parts of the world. The challenge here is there=
fore
to be able to take advantage of the best online methodologies, tools and
strategies that have proved to work in online education to the point of
minimizing all the weaknesses and enhancing the strengths of a more inclusi=
ve
and open system where learners take responsibility of their own language
acquisition by means of exploring the available resources and interacting w=
ith
many online sources in a collaborative way.
This
research has been designed with the purpose of finding out from experience
whether teaching online didactic strategies, implemented over a period of t=
hree
months have resulted in the improvement of students’ communicative performa=
nce
through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) or not,=
in
order to take corrective measures. This will be achieved by first of all,
identifying the main variables that affect students’ performance online and
face to face settings in order to recognize if they differ from each other =
and
how greatly they do if so.
Then,
the aim becomes to monitor those variables in the new system which is the
virtual setting throughout the duration of the course in order to determine
whether there has been an improvement or not in helping to improve
communicative performance in students. Finally, the main contribution of the
study would be the proposal of new strategies and pedagogical implementatio=
ns
in future courses in order to achieve better practices of E-learning.
Meth=
odology
This
action research was based on the need for improvement of students’
communicative performance by the introduction of didactic strategies. The
question here was whether these strategies will result in better performance
and if so to what extent. These fa=
ctors
will guide the research and help identify the means for proposing,
implementing, measuring, analyzing and evaluating new information which will
contribute to the understanding of the research topic.
The
methodology used was descriptive and exploratory based on observational
research as well as a survey. According to Chen=
lu (2015), “the object of descriptive resea=
rch was
to portray an accurate profile of persons, events or situations”, and
exploratory studies that “look for what is happening to seek for new insigh=
ts
and look for questions to assess phenomena in a new light”.
The research approach used for the purpose of this
project was qualitative, based on description, observation and surveys for =
data
collection from learners; both at the beginning and at the end of the cours=
e,
in order to understand changes in communicative performance of A2 level
students of the Institute of Technology Manuel Galecio in Ecuador.
The
Higher Institute of Technology Manuel Galecio is a state school located in =
the
town of Alausí, in the Chimborazo province of the country of Ecuador. It of=
fers
degrees in Business Administration and Tourism to students from and around
Alausí. English courses have been offered traditionally in a face to face
setting, however since the start of the pandemic covid19 it has changed to
fully online, taking e-learning on board in record time, thus students and =
teachers
had to adapt to this new environment very fast.
The research type was action research. This resear=
ch
is aimed to understand the issues related to the topic of research in detai=
l, to
find a solution to such issues. In this context, the classroom is the labor=
atory
where observation and implementation of change take place. This type of
research involves teachers and learners equally in the study, in an open,
democratic and collaborative way, because it is important that all particip=
ants
understand the value and contribution that this type of research could have=
for
the improvement of the teaching-learning practice as the matter of everybod=
y's
concern (Villafuerte & Macías, 2020).
Additionally,
this action research started with a clear purpose of diagnosing the reality
that students are facing in terms of their communicative performance, the
issues that are affecting the most and preventing students from achieving t=
he
right level of competence. This stage is also known as fact finding analysi=
s in
undertaking action planning and decision making about what should be the pa=
th
of action taken in order to address the problems encountered early on in the
diagnostic phase (Saunders et al., 2009).
Subsequently,
planning further actions or in this case designing those didactic strategies
that would be the most effective is needed to make sure the problems are
addressed properly by looking at existing literature and adapting theory to=
the
reality of the Institute of Technology Manuel Galecio, taking into account =
its ICT
facilities as well as the e-learning context in which learners interact.
Hence,
according to the action research methodology there have been proposed five
stages to follow.
Amongst
the chosen strategies are promoting students’ independent learning through =
the
use of TBL which will include tasks that encourage learners’ communicative
exchanges in order to understand, negotiate meaning and perform the given
tasks. Moreover, these tasks will not only focus on communication but also =
will
have some type of extended activities that will also focus on form. Finally,
tasks will be relevant to their subject of studies and content, ensuring
students maintain interest throughout the course of the module.
Furthermore,
other communicative strategies will also be adopted for this study such as =
the
use of role plays, oral presentations, gap filling activities, video and au=
dio
playing, amongst others. All of them with the purpose of making the class
interactive and involving communication at all times, switching the traditi=
onal
role of the teacher in the Ecuadorian classroom to a student center in ETL.=
Furthermore,
during the development of the course the strategies will be implemented to =
twenty-five
A2 level students who are enrolled on a full time course of Business
Administration of the 2020 academic year and have just migrated from a face=
to
face setting to a fully online course (Oxford, =
2000).
The entire population will be sampled for the research purpose. The duratio=
n of
the course is nine weeks from start to end. In
addition, this investigation has looked at the relationship of didactic
strategies and its incidence on the communicative performance of the learne=
rs,
while it analyses the improvements of such competence during the
teaching-learning process with the support of ICTs and e-learning. a)&n=
bsp; =
;
Online questionnaires given to the students,
before and after the actual course takes place in order to determine their
perception of the face to face and online teaching, computer literacy, onli=
ne
resources. b)&n=
bsp;
Note-taking during the development of the co=
urse
in order to identify those strategies that have better results in students’
improvements of language competence as well as those that are not having any
positive impact on learning. c)&n=
bsp; =
;
Evaluation rubric in order to assess student=
s’
communicative performance at the beginning and at the end of the course, th=
is
will help with the comparison of the performance at different moments of the
course. Observation:
is key in action research. The teacher is the person who knows the environm=
ent
and the students better than anybody else because of the closeness and daily
interaction in the classroom, being this online or face to face. This close=
ness
allows teachers to constantly question his/her teaching methods and look for
improvement in areas that students are not meeting the learning objectives.=
To
structure observation and look at teacher´s strategies a guide was designed
containing the main aspects to be observed during the class. Moreover, for =
the
purpose of assessing students' level of communicative performance a rubric =
was
adopted, so it allowed to have a clear starting point of students’ levels.
Moreover, this rubric was the tool that helps identify the weaker parts of
students’ performance in the English Language that was addressed during the
development of the course and future decision making. At
the end of the 6-week period a new evaluation of students’ communicative
performance was carried out, by means of a progress test to draw on conclus=
ions
about the improvements in performance if any, with the implementation of the
proposed strategies. Survey:
This strategy is associated with questions to answer who, what, where, how
much. So, if we want to look at issues and understand them in detail a surv=
ey
is a good way to search for events happening in the classroom. Open ended
questions were directed to students in order to have a broader appreciation=
of
issues preventing language acquisition in the classroom. More
structured surveys answer specific information we are trying to gather thro=
ugh
the questioning of the target group. In this context, there is a need for
detailed information so both open-ended as well as semi-structured question=
s were
part of the survey to the students. Alongside
observation, data was collected with help of a questionnaire at the beginni=
ng
of the course and at the end of the course in order to find out about stude=
nts’
point of view of the strategies presented to them and the contribution they
have made to their learning objectives in relation to communicative compete=
nce.
The
survey contained 10 open-ended questions that was reflected on students’
perceptions of the proposed strategies as well as the impact they have had =
on
their learning. Moreover, they also be able to make further proposals on ho=
w to
improve the teaching-learning process with help of ICTs and e-learning. Resu=
lts The
Diagnostic phase of the research provided with tools needed to understand
students´ reality in relation to the access to resources, their computer sk=
ills
as well as their level of communicative competence. The first stage was to
determine students’ access to resources and computer literacy through the
survey sent to the students via Google Forms. The
survey was sent to the students attending the course on the first day of cl=
ass
and the question was related to having access to a suitable device of some =
type
to attend class during the given timetable. The answers were registered as
follows: Figure 1<=
span
lang=3DEN-US style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times =
New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'> Students’ access to a device/device (Student´s own work, 2020) For
the majority of students (70%) there were not problems accessing a device in
order to join the online classroom, however there was a small percentage (1=
3%)
that had no access to any type of electronic device and had to look for oth=
er
means of solving this issue. A 17%=
of
the group reported having access however not continuous. In addition, stude=
nts
were asked whether they had a good supply of internet access during the cou=
rse
so they could either work synchronously or asynchronously using the given
resources available on the platform. The answers were registered as follows=
: Figure 2<=
span
lang=3DEN-US style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times =
New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'> Students’ access to internet (Student´s own work, 2020) The
majority of students had a reasonable connection to internet as the graph
shows, however, a 17% of students declared having not access to internet and
again this was an issue to be looked at by the teacher in order to help
students get the resources they needed via alternative ways according to ea=
ch personal
situation the students had. Some of the ways to support students included
sending the materials through email, WhatsApp and printing the worksheets in
order for them to work on this task in their own time. Finally,
all these issues were slowly being sorted out by the students themselves to
ensure they had the resources needed to be able to attend classes as planned
and benefited from the course equally with the rest of the students. Another
question was related to whether students have had any experience attending =
an
online course previously. The answers were registered as follows: Figure 3<=
span
lang=3DEN-US style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times =
New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'> Students’ experience with online courses (Student´s own work, 2020)<=
o:p> As
a result of the health crisis caused by covid19 students were moved from the
face to face setting to a totally online course setting, for the majority of
them it was a new experience while 30% of them informed having had some kin=
d of
experience with these type of learning environments. Students were asked ab=
out
their opinion on the most important benefits of attending an online course =
and
the answers were varied and registered as follows: Figure 4<=
span
lang=3DEN-US style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times =
New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'> Students’ perceptions of the advantages of online courses (Student´s=
own
work, 2020) An
important number of students 43% seemed that online education provided with=
the
opportunity to combine work and studies, while another 30% seemed it as a w=
ay
of saving resources when entering online courses. Moreover, 13% of students believed ther=
e were
advantages related to time management as there was flexibility in relation =
to
timetables. In contrast, students were also asked about the main challenges
perceived or they thought they could potentially face when attending an onl=
ine
course. The answers were listed as follows: Figure 5<=
span
lang=3DEN-US style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times =
New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'> Students’ perceptions of the disadvantages of online courses (Studen=
t´s
own work, 2020) Amongst
the disadvantages related to online education 30% of students mentioned the
difficulties in interacting with the teacher as in a face-to-face setting.
Another group of students 30% mentioned that they believed could organized
themselves better when attending a traditional face to face class, and a 21%
did not see any disadvantage in online learning at all. 13% of students were
worried about being able to accomplish with was needed because of their lac=
k of
access to suitable devices and the internet. In relation to learning itself,
students were asked whether they thought there were significant differences
when it comes to online and face to face settings and the acquisition of th=
e language.
The answers were registered as follows: Figure 6<=
span
lang=3DEN-US style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times =
New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'> Students’ perceptions of online vs face to face learning acquisition
(Student´s own work, 2020) The
graph shows that more than 50% of students had their reservations about the
effectiveness of online learning for themselves, especially because it was
completely new to most of the group, so they thought it was in detriment of=
the
learning of the L2. In contrast, 2=
6% of
students had an open mind about the new setting, they believed the process =
of
moving into another modality was fun and felt confident about learning fast
about the new tools required for the course development. A 13% of students
believe the results were going to be the same as the teachers were the same
teachers they had before. The perception of the group about the type of too=
ls
used for teaching English online was registered as follows: Figure 7<=
span
lang=3DEN-US style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times =
New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'> Students’ perceptions of online tools and resources (Student´s own w=
ork,
2020) Technological
tools are seen as an important aspect of learning the language by students,
however 47% of the students mentioned they prefer the combination of
traditional and interactive tools in the classroom; while 21% of students
preferred only traditional tools, compared with 21% who were inclined to the
use of interactive tools used in online learning. And 8% of the students
reported preferring the use of audio and video in the classroom. About two
specific tools used in the TEFL course are Zoom and Moodle and students were
asked about their familiarity with them. The answers were recorded as follo=
ws: Figure 8<=
span
lang=3DEN-US style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times =
New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'> Students’ knowledge of the use of the platforms and resources (Stude=
nt´s
own work, 2020) 47%
of the students mentioned that have mastered the use of Moodle and Zoom.
Equally, students in the same amount mentioned that they were learning about
the two platforms, while there were no students who had not heard of the
mentioned tools. This shows that close to 100% of the students knew beforeh=
and
about the two platforms and were getting familiar with all the elements they
have. Finally,
students were asked to mane the main aspects to be considered by teachers in
online teaching and learning. The answers were listed as follows: Amongst the main aspects students
mention about an online course were related to feedback, they wanted to know
what the mistakes are and how to solve them, so a regular system for receiv=
ing
feedback was suggested. Another aspect that students mentioned were the typ=
e of
resources and the channels used to make them available as an important numb=
er
of them perceived online courses difficult as they are new to them. Besides,
students also mentioned the importance of the clarity in the learning
objectives and their relation with the material and provided resources in o=
rder
to take advantage of the contents and the course as a whole. Finally, aspec=
ts
such as patience and personalized teaching were mention amongst the aspects=
to
be taken into consideration when designing an online course. However,
the perceived difficulties of an online course, students recognized two maj=
or
advantages related to firstly, time management as they could combine work a=
nd
study; and secondly, saving resources as they could access the course from =
the
comfort of their home, meaning the costs had significantly been reduced in =
the
new settings. While the downside was not being able to interact enough with=
the
teacher and lack of self-organizational skills as students do need to be ab=
le
to work independently in an organized manner. Generally,
for at least half of the students the new online setting was perceived as
difficult and they though it was in detriment of their learning objectives =
just
because they saw it as something completely new. With only 26% of them seei=
ng
the process as something fun and the opportunity to learn the use of new
technological tools. In this respect, the role of the teacher became
quintessential to ensure motivation levels were higher amongst learners.
Equally, for at least 47% of the students it was important to combine the u=
se
of traditional with new ways of teaching. With 20% being open the emerging
technologies and more audio and video in the class. So, a transition from
presentation to more independent work was the strategy during the course in
order to give students time to adapt to new teaching strategies. Finally,
the recommendations made by students were carefully considered such as the
provision of regular feedback and the communication of the learning objecti=
ves
on each individual class was something clearly stated by the teacher.
Additionally, individual students’ needs were considered and taken on board=
as
to increase students’ satisfaction and promote motivation. Diagnostic Test results:
The test results in the diagnostic phase at the beginning of the cou=
rse
were varied, showing students had mixed abilities and the group was
heterogeneous. Particularly with the listening section students scored as
follows: Figure 9<=
span
lang=3DEN-US style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times =
New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;mso-ansi-language:EN-US'> A2 Listening Diagnostic Test Results (Student´s own work, 2020) Considering
that every skill was assessed over 25 points. Some students (17%) had stron=
ger
listening skills than others with familiar topics such as family, work, lei=
sure
and other topics. However, there were students (20, 7%) who needed extra wo=
rk
on basic vocabulary as they struggled to understand simple words. These gro=
up
of students scored just under 10/25 and had difficulties with listening for
specific information. Students from this group in particular saw the langua=
ge
as very difficult and recalled having issues with grammar and sentence
construction as well. Most students 62% were placed over 10 points. Reading
was one of the skills students had positive results on at the beginning of =
the
course. And the results were registered as follows: Figure 10=
A2 Reading Diagnostic Test Results (Student´s own work, 2020) Reading was the strongest skill performed by stude=
nts
at the Institute. Over 44% of students scored over 18/25 points; 38% of
students scored over 10/25 points and a 17% of students scored under 10 poi=
nts
and was the group that needed more support with reading. Results on writing were also quite poor and were
registered as follows: Figure 11=
A2 Writing Diagnostic Test Results (Student´s own work, 2020) With more than 50% of students not being able to
answer the questions properly and failed to score 18 points or more, studen=
ts
were found that they did not follow the instructions as described on the te=
st.
Students also failed to count on the number of words and sentence construct=
ion,
this was communicated to them, so they became aware of the importance of
answering the questions as well as following the instructions. This issue c=
ould
be seen as the inexperience of students with tasks of the type presented to
them, therefore training on test solving is an important part to be conside=
red
within the course, this is particularly important because of many students =
are
planning to undertake the international examinations offered in the country=
. Speaking
was assessed following the format of working in pairs, the exam had three
components; the first component had a number of questions related to family,
work and social life, spelling and that type. The second was about a
conversation between the two students and the final one about a description=
of
a photo or a given situation where students needed to interact with each ot=
her
as in a natural setting. The answers were registered as follows: Figure 12=
A2 Speaking Diagnostic Test Results. (Student´s own work, 2020) =
As
the graph shows 21% of the students showed they were competent speakers and
managed to have some degree of fluency. The communication was clear despite
some errors in the use of the language and grammar. Most students 45% had
problems with understanding the questions, so students asked up to three or
more times to repeat the questions and as the questions were repeated many =
of
them were not able to answer back as there were still misunderstandings. Th=
ey
also found difficulties in achieving communication solely in the L2 and oft=
en
used and recalled words from L1 in order to make themselves understood. Finally,
34% of the group showed having problems with understanding the questions,
replying to them and sentence formation even with familiar topics. This gro=
up
combined quite often Spanish words with English as fillers in order to make
themselves understood Progress Test Results: Figure 13=
A2 Listening Progress Test Results (Student´s own work, 2020) The
results showed that generally students made a significant improvement in
achieving communication. The test started with the listening section and the
questions were a combination of photos, dates, and specific words such as
addresses and numbers. Although about 7% of the students still showed some =
kind
of difficulties with listening, the majority 70% made significant improveme=
nts
scoring 15 points or over, out of 25 points. This
result, show that students accomplished to develop better listening skills =
and
benefited from practices such as looking at the exam a few minutes in advan=
ce
so to have an idea of the type of information they were listening for.
Additionally, another very important point is that they became familiar with
the listening test, managed well the time given and practiced similar exerc=
ises
during the lessons. On
the other hand, students who were still facing difficulties with listening =
were
asked to go back to the audios do the exercises once again until they become
more familiar with the pronunciation and the information provided in the
materials and resources available. Reading: More than 83% of the
students showed better reading practices as they successfully managed to
complete the reading activities in the progress test, such as filling in the
gaps, selecting the correct answers and re-writing sentences so they have t=
he
same meaning as the original one.<=
o:p> Figure 14=
A2 Reading Progress Test Results (Student´s own work, 2020) This
skill was the strongest developed during the course according to the progre=
ss
test and shows that students took independent learning seriously as reading
activities were provided during asynchronous work in combination with audio=
and
video. Additionally, reading activities provided during the class had a
positive impact on students’ performance as they learnt reading strategies
related to skimming, avoiding translation whenever possible and reading for
specific purposes. Finally,
reading was a suggested activity for students struggling with vocabulary and
sentence construction as it enhances the use of new words and phrases. This=
is
what is called the comprehensible input by Chomsky; therefore it was highly
present in the course. Figure 15=
A2 Writing Progress Test Results (Student´s own work, 2020) In
the light of these results, writing is a skill that needs to be practiced w=
ith
the group. English writing becomes particularly difficult for this group of
students as the practice is not widely encouraged is schools and other
institutions throughout the country. However, recent changes to the educati=
on
system countrywide suggest that students should produce more instead of
remaining passive as teachers do all the talking and dominates the classroo=
m.
This student center approach is in itself a very difficult model to underta=
ke
for students who have been used to a completely different system where stud=
ents
do not take initiative and wait to be presented with every single content a=
nd
perhaps this reality has been the biggest challenge to students at the
beginning of this course. Having
said that, important progress has been made while the course progress and
students learnt to take responsibility for their own learning by listening =
to
music, watching films, chatting with people over the internet and other ext=
ra
classroom activities in the L2. Figure 16=
A2 Speaking Progress Test Results (Student´s own work, 2020) Although
students have improved vocabulary and sentence formation there is clearly i=
n a
high number of students’ lack of fluency. At least 24% of students are still
struggling with getting the message across, however they manage to make
themselves understand by means of trying to replace a word, there is consta=
nt
hesitation within this group and sometimes words in Spanish are introduced.=
Stronger
performers, however, have taken full advantage of the resources and manage =
to
increase their knowledge significantly by improving pronunciation, widen th=
eir
vocabulary and achieving some fluency comparing to the diagnostic phase. Generally,
students have improved their abilities with the language during the initial=
six
weeks of the course, however there were still aspects to be corrected so
carrying out observation and assessing students’ communicative performance
provided with a list of issues that needed to be considered for the second =
part
of the course as well as strategy change. Amongst the strategies monitored =
and
modified through because of observation were the following: The
first question had to do with the experience student had in relation to acc=
ess
to resources and the internet supply during the course and they answer as
follows: Figure 17 Students who accessed the resources and the course regularly (Studen=
t´s
own work,2020) Figure 18=
Students experience with the online course (Student´s own work, 2020=
) As opposed to the original idea of having difficul=
ties
with the general management of the course, students have changed their
perception drastically; with 31% of the students reporting they enjoyed the
experience and are willing to enroll in future online courses, 27% mentioni=
ng
that the methodology and tasks carried out during the course help achieve t=
he
learning objectives, 31% agreed with all the management of the course. Finally,
students were asked about their performance and compare it when the face to
face setting, the answers were as follows: Figure 19=
Students’ comparison of performance and grades (Student´s own work,
2020) The
majority if the students reported that their performance and grades remained
the same in the transition period from face to face to a fully online setti=
ng
and were not affected in any significant way. Meanwhile, 27% of the students
informed that their performance and grades had improved during the online
setting. However, 8% of students corresponding to 2 students reported having
dropped their performance and grades during the online course comparing to =
the
previous term. According to Lukyanovaa et al. (=
2015),
this is a crucial finding t=
hat
allows teachers to make decisions based on the perceptions of the students =
as
well as the actual facts that were reported in this study. Disc=
ussions The
survey conducted with the students attending the A2 course at The Highest
Institute of Technology Manuel Galecio has shown that there is an important
difference in the perception of students between online courses and face to
face classrooms. The main concern was on the accessibility and use of the
resources as it was a completely new model of education for the surveyed gr=
oup.
As the course progressed, however, students showed great adaptability as the
majority of them learned quickly about the use of the tools and the resourc=
es
within them. Only a small percentage who had not had continuous access to
internet supply experienced issues with meeting the time in relation to task
completion and exams. At
the end of the course, the majority of students said they were satisfied wi=
th
the way it was run, also they agreed about the materials, tools and strateg=
ies,
they were inclined to continue studying online. These outcomes have an
important repercussion on the planning of future online and face to face co=
urses
as both of them should include the use of technological tools and adjust the
resources so students can look at them in their own time as it promotes
independent learning. The
communicative strategies used during the course had a positive impact on th=
e results
of students’ performance which were reflected on the overall performance of
students who either maintained their grades or increased them significantly
throughout the development of the course despite some limitations. Students
developed specific abilities within each language skill such as listening a=
nd
reading for specific information, understanding in context rather than word=
for
word translation, paragraph structure, linking and organizing ideas, contra=
sting,
and comparing, amongst others. Additionally,
students learned to work independently as part of the tasks they needed to =
work
on at times making use of the resources provided on the platform in the for=
m of
videos, podcasts and reading articles. As well as collaborating with their
partners for the completion of the given projects and task. Moreover,
according to students’ performance on each and every skill, we can perhaps =
say
that, productive skills were the most challenging amongst the group which is
expected as they are the ultimate objective of learning a language. However,
overall it is clear that the performance of the students was not affected
negatively in any way. Close to 70% of students reported that they maintain=
ed
their performance and grades during the transition from face to face to a f=
ully
online setting. Additionally,
around 20% of the students reported they have improved their performance and
grades while attending the online course; only 12% reported to have had a d=
rop
in their performance and unfortunately the reasons are the lack of access to
technological resources, this is especially true in rural areas. Another
issue encounter during the course was the quality of the internet supply of
some students, some of them were not able to maintain connection and were
dropped from the sessions constantly, this was because the service providers
are still developing their product and have experienced difficulties in
maintaining a good service throughout the duration of the course. This issue needed to be considered and
addressed by the teacher and the Institute in order to provide with
alternatives such as opening the computer laboratory and finding other
mechanisms to send the materials. Besides,
students also had difficulties with working independently as it is not one
general characteristic of the Ecuadorian education system. Students needed =
to
be induced on independent work and pushed to take responsibility in their o=
wn
learning, this was seen as somehow problematic at the start of the course, =
with
some students complaining about the methodology. This situation was seen as=
a
natural reaction to change and needed to be addressed with information and
encouragement by the teacher/researcher in order to maintain motivation lev=
els
high. Moreover,
during the progress of the course there were issues with the application of=
the
strategies due to aspects such as strong students dominating the groups and
weak students hiding behind so there was a change in strategy while working=
in
groups and work in pairs was adopted early on in the course. This
is an experienced that has been shared with other teachers at the Institute=
and
it is going to be considered for future course planning in which students c=
an
work both is pairs and for bigger task as part of a bigger groups. The
introduction of communicative tasks improved the communicative performance =
of
the group overall as shown in the results. Students above all, were encoura=
ged
to communicate with their peers as much as possible with the use of ICTs in=
the
forums for example, on Zoom, chats over WhatsApp, and through e-learning. T=
his
practice had a positive effect on their language acquisition (Reinders &
Stockwell, 2017). Moreover, it has been found that students interacted free=
ly
on informal settings such as WhatsApp and were able to share content that w=
as
both fun and engaging. This last practice made learning English a natural
process and could be promoted amongst the different levels. Conc=
lusions The research has shown that the implementation of didactic strategies
has improved the communicative performance in students who migrated from fa=
ce
to face to a fully online model of education. The students were attending t=
he
A2 level at the Higher Institute of Technology Manuel Galecio, the study wa=
s a
combination of the analysis of technological resources, methodological
strategies and the introduction of new practices through action research. <=
o:p> The study included a survey at the beginning and at the end of the
course to 29 students enrolled during the second semester July-December of
2020. The surveyed students were attending the Business Administration cour=
se
and adopted the online setting as a result of the health crisis of covid19.=
In
this context the main issues found by this research were the lack of resour=
ces,
difficulties accessing the internet due to both economic reasons and locati=
on
wise, as some students come from disadvantageous backgrounds or live in rur=
al
areas where there is limited internet access. However, with the
commitment of students and teachers these issues were minimized, and learne=
rs
managed to complete the course by putting into practice independent learnin=
g as
well as online classes with help of ITCs such as Zoom, Moodle, WhatsApp, e-=
mail
and the Cloud. Additionally,
the study included assessing students both at the beginning and at the end =
of
the sixth week in order to measure progress in communicative performance.
Consequently, to develop the research a plan was drawn and followed step by
step. First
was the identification of the main issues affecting students’ communicative
performance, this was carried out by means of classroom observation and lis=
ting
the aspects preventing learning to take place.
First of all, it was identified that the class was highly heterogene=
ous
and had mixed abilities which was an important aspect to be taken into acco=
unt
so strategies could develop in order to meet individual students’ needs.
Another significant issue was that students had not been used to the exposu=
re
to video and audio on a regular basis, so listening for specific information
was a weakness for the majority of them. Furthermore, although reading was =
the
strongest skill with students, they needed to develop reading skills such as
skimming and reading comprehension. Finally, writing and speaking as produc=
tion
skills were both challenging to students and were the areas of more concern
during the course. Moreover,
based on the issues reported in the diagnostic phase by students and the
diagnostic test, there was the need for re-structuring the pedagogical
strategies taking into account the variables affecting the performance of t=
he
students in order to meet the learning needs of the group. Then,
the strategies were applied and monitor by means of observation in order to=
see
if they are working for the students benefit.
Each and every strategy was revised and for those that were working
there were not changed but those that represented a slowdown on learning we=
re
changed. For instance, group work was revised and changed to pair work when
possible due to having some students dominating the group and others being =
left
behind or not taking part at all. =
An
additional strategy changed was that writing activities which were original=
ly
sent as an asynchronous activity exclusively, this fact affected students
writing abilities as many of these tasks were not done according to the
requirements and the formats provided for that purpose. Therefore, regular
short writing pieces were introduced to the class with the intention to
practice the skill and compare to those of the peers. Additionally,
role plays were also a regular practice in the online classroom, using ITCs=
to
form groups and small presentations by students. This strategy was adopted =
as a
support to boots students’ communication skills in real life situations.
Finally, other strategies were used during the class amongst them games, so=
ngs,
short videos, etc. In
addition, results from the diagnostic test and the progress test were compa=
red
registering an important improvement on communicative performance by studen=
ts
who had better results in all four skills assessed during the course. A
important number of students (70%) informed that they had maintained their
performance and grades during the transition from face to face to a fully
online setting despite the limitations. Additionally, around 20% of the
students reported they had improved their performance and grades while
attending the online course and only a 12% experienced a drop on their
performance on the online setting, this mostly to not being able to access =
the
platforms and attending classes. This is an encouraging result for online
learning and could be considered as the basis for future course planning wi=
thin
the Institute or other institutions that are looking to adopt this model of
education permanently. However, it is also suggested to compare and contrast
these findings with others of this type in order to have a broader perspect=
ive
of the reality of online education in Ecuador and particularly in Chimborazo
and in the field of SLA. Likewise,
it is also advisable to look at the issues presented along the course in detail, so to prevent students from =
facing
difficulties with accessibility and the lack of technological devices thus =
they
take fully part of the different activities, tasks, projects and tests in order to complete the course
successfully. Finally,
the following plan has been designed in order to provide teachers and other
people in charge with important elements found in this study which could he=
lp
in future decision making related to online course planning. Action Plan for improving studen=
ts’
Communicative Performance at A2 level using ICTs and E-learning Educational Institution:<=
/b> The Hig=
her
Institute of Technology Manuel Galecio Teacher´s name: Diana
Casandra Paredes Peralta Area of work: Univers=
ity Teaching level: A2 according to the CEFR Objectives: · =
To impro=
ve
the communicative performance of A2 students through didactic strategies us=
ing
ICTs and e-learning at the Higher Institute of Technology Manuel Galecio. <=
![if !supportLists]>· =
To promote independe=
nt
learning in students by communicating the model and providing them with
relevant resources · =
To improve the online
classroom management through the use of communicative strategies that work =
best
for students. This
plan is the result of students´ point of view on the course as a whole and =
the
aspects of major impact on learning determined by the research. So the plan=
is
detailed below and include the processes that are involved on the achieveme=
nt
of the short term, medium and long term objectives. Table 1 Action
Plan for improving students’ Communicative Performance at A2 level Processes Short Term Medium Term Long Term Leader=
ship
and vision Adapt online course planning to the individual needs of learners c=
onsidering
the concepts of independent learning as well as collaborative learning. Achieve quality results on
online courses by the use of innovative tools in line with the concepts of
independent learning and collaborative learning Achieve better students’ communication performance overall Teachi=
ng
and Learning Ensure teachers are aware of the dynamics of e-learning and plan
lessons accordingly. Promote both independent learning as well as collaborative learning
within the institution on online settings. Train teachers in E-learning and the use of ITCs with the help of
experienced institutions in the country, to ensure that teachers have the
tools needed to do their job properly Improve classroom management by using the strategies suggested in
these study and validated by students Capitalize on teacher quality in order to strengthen the process of
teaching and learning with help of local and international institutions a=
nd
adopt best practices Table 1 Action
Plan for improving students’ Communicative Performance at A2 level (continuation) Processes Short Term<=
/b> Medium Term=
Long Term Produc=
tivity
and Professional Practice Encourage observation in the classroom and the production of
materials, tasks and plans by teachers according to students’ needs. Share the results with other teachers and coordinators in order to
compare and contrast the results to make informed decision on future plan=
ning Teachers empowerment resulting on their own production of material=
s,
resources based on proved didactic strategies Evalua=
tion Evaluating the class by means of better practices with adaptations=
of
rubrics and other techniques to assess communicative performance Promote self-evaluation amongst students as well as finding the me=
ans
to improve performance by themselves Design evaluative tests and tasks taking into account the
communicative approach to teaching and learning Social=
and
Ethical responsibility Sharing results and more importantly the implications of the findi=
ngs
for future application in online course design Creating a database with the available research so other teachers =
and
coordinators have a reliable source of information available Creating a network with partner institutions to share information
based on mutual consent and collaboration to achieve better practices in =
research
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New York: Routledge. Sánchez & Rojas. (2017). A comparative analysis
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x.php/site/article/view/1854/838 =
Conflicto de intereses La
autora declara que no existe conflicto de intereses en relación con el artí=
culo
presentado. El artículo que se publica es de exclusiva
responsabilidad de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan el pensamiento =
de
la Revista Alfa Publicaciones. El artíc=
ulo
queda en propiedad de la revista y, por tanto, su publicación parcial y/o t=
otal
en otro medio tiene que ser autorizado por el director de la Revista Alfa Publicaciones.