REFLEXIONES 9 REFLECTION ON THE OBSERVATION

Another point that was commented upon by the observer was the attention given by the e-tutor towards guiding the students on how to solve a problem with very clear explanations, although he would rather it was more in-depth.

In my opinion, learning means being independent and with this kind of academic online tutoring students will gain independence eventually. That is, step by step they will get there. In addition, the observer also remarked that it is a good idea to extend the online tutoring in order to observe more and also help more students to improve their L2.

In short, this is a good opportunity to face a challenging reality towards the process of English language teaching and learning through online tutoring. I also agree that I need more time doing online tutoring in order to obtain more data and also to improve the methodology.

REFLEXIONES 8 REFLECTION ON THE OBSERVATION

In the observation process it was important that my colleague followed the main points in the observation sheet in order to make the online tutoring evaluation.

My colleague and I commented that this kind of observation is necessary in order to improve our professional competences while doing e-tutoring. With the information collected from the observation sheet and the comments from my colleague I realised that I might organise the online tutoring in a different way.

The e-tutoring integrated different activities related to the student’s individual needs. Moreover, the observer was happy to see that the practical guides were used during the process of e-tutoring effectively. He commented that these guides are vital, because each guide was focused on specific issues. The use of the guides also helped the students to have a kind of orientation to solve the problems they faced.

REFLEXIONES 7 ACTION PLAN

It was very important to have a clear goal as part of the action plan, because it guided the way at all times.

It reads as follows: To set in motion in the Language Centre an online tutoring method to improve the student’s English language skills and academic marks.

Furthermore, I proposed the following  objective: to offer extra support via online tutoring to CEDA´S students of levels A and B, so as to help them to solve their English learning issues specifically in listening comprehension, speaking and grammar.

In order to reach both the goal and the objective, it was necessary to plan the actions, which also followed an order: 1.Design of several instruments, 2. send e-mails as well as making telephone calls to contact the students, and later on interviews were conducted, 3. plan the schedule for the online tutoring, 4. design the practical guides according to students’ needs, 5. design the blog for asynchronous tutoring.

It was also essential to take into account the proper resources needed for the appropriate development of the action plan. These resources included: students’ individual technological devices (computers, laptops or tablets), the Internet, Skype, Online Materials, Hotmail, and so on and so forth.

REFLEXIONES 6 ACTION PLAN

The action plan for the online tutoring is based upon the need of using technology to improve the English language teaching and learning process. It is also important to mention that e-tutoring and the use of technologies support the learning of a second language as well. This phenomena has come to the attention of researchers (Borham-Puyal and Olmos-Migueláñez, 2011; Rainbow, Bennet and Maton, 2008; Moore, 2009; Hetty and Johnson, 2005).

In this reflexion, I would like to mention that the Language Centre needs to support the students from the different degrees in the UNACAR. This is possible via online tutoring (my proposal) besides the face-to-face tutoring (mainly CEDA´S) and, the conventional lessons in the classroom.

E-tutoring situates the Language Centre in line with the global teaching and learning powered by ICT´s, as students will be moving from personal interactions to ones in the digital space. Therefore, I designed and proposed to the Language Centre authorities an action plan to support the students with the online tutoring. In order to have a reliable action plan I followed some basics such as a goal, objectives, actions, the organization of a schedule, and resources.

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REFLEXIONES 5 NEEDS ANALYSIS

Hence, I reflected by taking into consideration the information aforementioned; the Language Centre did not offer tutoring online at all, which would be really helpful and useful to those students who work and study at the same time, and consequently may not be able to attend their face-to-face tutoring.

In light of this situation, the real need of the Language Centre was to support the students with e-tutoring in synchronous and asynchronous environments, so that they may attend the e-tutoring ubiquitously. What is more, the students also commented at that time that they were willing to learn with technology-enhanced tools such as online tutoring.

Therefore, this information gave me the elements to develop an action plan to correct and overcome their linguistic issues and challenges while learning their L2 by using their interest in technology through the online tutoring.

REFLEXIONES 4 NEEDS ANALYSIS

I performed a systematic process for the needs analysis of the Language Centre at UNACAR in order to acquire accurate data. I had conversations about the Language Centre with its Principal. After that, I applied an instrument to the students in order to collect data about the issues that they might be facing in their English learning. The data collected provided me with a general view about the strengths and weaknesses within the Language Centre itself, which I contrasted in the matrix.

The main points that I found are: the attendance of 500 students from different degrees; General English courses provided to different companies and for the community; English for business; and French courses.

On the other hand, the teachers are really good and most of them have been working at the Centre for more than 10 years. The facilities are in excellent condition, they have the Self-Access Center, a library, the karaoke room, 2 laboratories, 17 classrooms and, a very nice working environment. However, the Language Centre has weak points such as the students from the different departments in the UNACAR do not attend their face-to-face tutoring 100%, many have low performance in their L2, and many more fail the courses having as a result a delay in finishing their degrees. The students’ answers show that they have a high degree of difficulty in their listening comprehension, speaking and grammar as well.