CHALLENGES FACED BY DISTANCE LANGUAGE LEARNING STUDENTS

Rahmat BudimanUniversity of Dundee (United Kingdom)

r.budiman@dundee.ac.uk

Barcelona (Spain), 7th, 8th and 9th of July, 2014

: rahmat.budiman71I will be online during the conference for a synchronous communication

BackgroundA longitudinal study to investigate factors that affect student achievement

in English writing courses in distance learning context

Aims

• To investigate factors that affect high achievement in the English writing courses;

• To investigate factors that make students drop out.

Aims of the presentation

This presentation focuses on investigating the challenges the students faced during learning the Writing 1 course in the previous semester and identifying the solution they took to overcome the problems.

Methodology

• Quantitative: Questionnaire • Qualitative: Open-ended questions, self-

report, and interviews.

Instruments & Participants• The questionnaire was written in Indonesian

language previously piloted and went through a confirmability process;

• The questionnaires were distributed through postal and online survey using Bristol Online Survey (BOS);

• 405 students of the Indonesian open university¹ who took Writing 1 course examination in semester 2, 2013;

• 164 students completed the postal and online questionnaires (return rate: 40%).

¹ To comply with the confidentiality agreement, the name of the institution was written anonymously

ResultsChalleng

es Solutions

Expectations

Academic issues

Technical issues

Technical issues

Academic issues

Personal issues Personal issues

Technical issues

Academic issues

Challenges

Solutions

Expectations

Discussion• Challenges – Academic issues:

1. Understanding the grammar [1]

2. Limited vocabulary knowledge [2]

3. Absence of feedback [3]

• Challenges – Technical issues:1. Absence of communication with lecturer/online tutor

• Challenges – Personal issues:1. Limited time to study2. Feelings of isolation [4]

Discussion – continued

• Solution – Academic issues1. Adding vocabulary2. Learning the grammar3. Reading English texts4. Doing more practice

• Solution – Technical issues1. Making a contact with other people2. Accessing the Internet3. Forming a study group4. Looking for other learning sources

• Solution – Personal issues1. Building and maintaining motivation

Discussion – continued

• Expectations – Academic issues1. Feedback from the lecturer/online tutor2. Face-to-face tutorial

• Expectations – Technical issues1. Communication with the lecturer

Conclusion• The participants were able to identify the challenges;• The participants were able to identify the most

appropriate solutions for the problems they encountered;

• The challenges fell into three big categories: academic, technical, and personal issues;

• The solution was divided into three types: academic, technical, and personal issues;

• The participants expected to have more direct interaction with the lecturer/online tutor.

Limitation of the study

• Space for self-reflection was limited;• In online survey, the participants were not

able to revise the answers once it was completed;

• Limited number of participants;• The answers given were relatively short.

References1. Lauder, A. (2010). The Status and Function of English in Indonesia: A Review of Key Factors. MAKARA of Social Sciences and Humanities Series, 12(1), 9-20. 2. Nurweni, A., & Read, J. (1999). The English Vocabulary Knowledge of Indonesian University Students. English for Specific Purposes, 18(2), 161-175.3. Hyland, F. (2001). Providing Effective Support: Investigating feedback to distance language learners. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 16(3), 233-247. 4. Croft, N., Dalton, A., & Grant, M. (2010). Overcoming Isolation in Distance Learning: Building a Learning Community Through Time and Space. Journal for Education in the Built Environment, 5(1), 27-64.

Thank You

Terima Kasih

شكرا

Gracias

Danke

谢谢 감사합니다ありがとう

Dank U

Gràciesشکریہ بہت Teşekkür Ederimبہت

Grazie

Asante

Obrigado

धन्यवाद спасибо

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