Abstract
Learner control is vital in self-directed learning within technology-enhanced language learning. Yet, to date, there is little discussion about learner control in beginners' classes with technology-enhanced learning novices in online contexts. The present study investigates how an online beginners' German as a foreign language course fosters learner control. Two components of the class, synchronous live meetings, and an asynchronous online component were analyzed for specific aspects assumed to cultivate learner control. The study takes a case study approach and is based on Pilling-Cormick's self-regulated and directed technology-enhanced learning model. A survey and interviews were conducted to answer the research question: To what degree does the online course foster learner control, if at all? The results reveal that despite a general dislike of online learning and little to no technology-enhanced learning experience, learner control was fostered to a high degree.
TopIntroduction
Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) has recently become a standard in education, partially or entirely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which obligated formerly on-campus institutions to offer courses online. Technology-enhanced learning is known to increase learner control (LC), a learning program set-up in which “the learner has power over the educational situation through their control of the sequence of content, the pace of learning, and the amount of practice and feedback” (Al Nashrey, 2020, p. 136). Learner control is seen as a vital component of self-regulated and self-directed learning (SRL/SDL), described as “an active, constructive process” (Oates, 2019, p. 2) in which learners are taught to self-regulate and evaluate their work, set goals, and develop personalized strategies to improve their learning (Oates, 2019). Learner autonomy, defined as the learners’ ability to take control of their own learning (Teng and Zhang, 2022) is thus regarded as the overall outcome of the students’ learning in which learners “actively regulate their learning processes through the control of their cognition, metacognition, motivation, and social environment factors” (Teng and Zhang, 2022, p. 590).
Current research on learner control has emphasized contexts such as e-learners’ readiness for online learning (see e.g., Torun, 2020) and scaffolding to foster and increase learner control in technology-enhanced learning environments (see e.g., García Botero et al., 2019). The arguments in the literature are largely that learner control is being fostered through technology-enhanced learning, although there are also some disagreements about to which degree learner control is being cultivated (see e.g., Kaya, 2021). One shortcoming in the current literature is the considerable focus on TEL-experienced, advanced language learners in the field of English as a foreign language and English as a second language (EFL/ESL), where learners consciously chose an online mode of instruction (e.g., Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)). Another limitation in the body of revised scholarship is that learner control is often not the sole focus of the study but is embedded as an afterthought of learner autonomy (LA) or merely considered a subdimension of scrutinized variables (e.g., within the online learning readiness scale). This chapter, however, reports the results of a case study which investigated an online common compulsory course of beginner German taken by TEL-inexperienced learners and its potential to foster learner control and thus aiming to address some of the shortcomings mentioned above.
The online course under investigation took place at a renown private university in central Mexico. Before the pandemic, all of the university’s classes were on-campus and in-person. The institution’s student body was used to a traditional learning environment with direct instruction. Language classes are common compulsory courses for the entire student body since all students have to take at least three consecutive foreign language courses as part of their study plan. Once the pandemic started in March 2020, the higher education institution was obligated to provide online courses with little time for teachers and students alike to prepare for and adapt to the new mode of instruction. While teachers were struggling with adapting their materials and making them available online, wondering whether, how, and to what degree they needed to guide their students through the materials, students were faced with physically removed teachers and a jungle of seemingly endless materials, activities, and deadlines, wondering where to start and what to do. In order to be successful in their online classes, learners quickly needed to take control of and self-regulate their own learning process. As Dettori and Persico (2011) aptly point out, while technology plays a vital role in the students’ process of becoming self-regulated and directed learners, technology “should support students teaching themselves” (Dettori and Persico, 2011, p. xix), with their teachers acting as guides and mentors. Whether the set-up of the online course under study did indeed support students in becoming independent, autonomous learners who were able to self-regulate and control their own learning is the question the present study seeks to answer.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Learner Autonomy: Learners are responsible for what they learn and how they learn.
Novice Learners: Learners with no previous knowledge of the language they are learning.
Technology-Enhanced (Language) Learning: Learning (of a foreign or second language) with the support of technology (this can be computers, applications, mobile phones, etc.).
Self-Directed Learning: Learners choose their priorities and resources to meet their set goals.
Learner Control: Learners direct their own learning.
Self-Regulated Learning: Learners set their own learning goals monitoring their own learning process and progress .
Self-Regulated/Self-Directed Technology-Enhanced Language Learning: Language learning which incorporates learners’ setting their own goals and priorities while monitoring their own progress using technology to enhance their language learning process .