Learners’ and teachers’ voices in developing digital language learning environments: insights from a survey
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Janne Niinivaara
Janne Niinivaara (MA) is a Learning Environment and Communications Specialist at the University of Helsinki Language Centre. His research interests are experiences, communication in challenging working life situations, organizational development and digital pedagogy.
Johanna Vaattovaara (PhD, Docent) is an Associate Professor of Finnish at the University of Tampere. Her research interests cover sociolinguistic variation, language attitudes and ideologies as well as language teaching and learning in Higher Education.
Abstract
This article deals with a learning environment survey conducted among University of Helsinki students and language teachers in the university’s Language Centre (LC). The survey was designed to acquire information for the development of a practical strategy for the digitalization of language learning and teaching by the local LC. The article presents the central results of the survey by systematically comparing the student (N=219) and teacher (N=39) data, and it also considers more general implications. The investigated areas include attitudes towards and experiences of out-of-classroom (language) learning environments in general and digital environments in particular. Special attention was in the possible differences and similarities of the response groups’ views and experiences in order to point out possible gaps as specific challenges within the local context. One of the most central findings is that while there may be challenges, particularly in designing pedagogy for online environments, no huge generational gaps exist in attitudes towards online tools.
About the authors
Janne Niinivaara (MA) is a Learning Environment and Communications Specialist at the University of Helsinki Language Centre. His research interests are experiences, communication in challenging working life situations, organizational development and digital pedagogy.
Johanna Vaattovaara (PhD, Docent) is an Associate Professor of Finnish at the University of Tampere. Her research interests cover sociolinguistic variation, language attitudes and ideologies as well as language teaching and learning in Higher Education.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express gratitude to our research assistants Kaisa Puhakka and Tuuli Koskela for their valuable assistance in the data analysis and to Nina Sulonen and to Sinikka Karjalainen for their collaboration in the survey questionnaire design.
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© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- 10.1515/cercles-2018-frontmatter1
- Articles
- Supporting non-native speaker student writers making the transition from school to an English-medium university
- Créer un espace bilingue et interdisciplinaire : ein Sprachlernprojekt zwischen Sprachen, Disziplinen, Perspektiven
- Enhancing critical thinking through active learning
- Translanguaging in higher education: Using several languages for the analysis of academic content in the teaching and learning process
- Integrated forms of self-assessment and placement testing for Italian L2 aimed at incoming foreign university exchange students at the University of Padua
- Beyond the “student” position: Pursuing agency by drawing on learners’ life-worlds on an EAP course
- Learners’ and teachers’ voices in developing digital language learning environments: insights from a survey
- ESP learners’ beliefs about CALL – A qualitative perspective
- Activity Reports
- Evidence-based Quality Improvement in University Language Didactics
- Intercultural Learning – an undergraduate module supporting the development of students’ cultural awareness in international settings
- Letters outside the box: multilingual practices in high schools and academic contexts
- Language centres: are we holding the future in our hands?
