What to choose? On-line courses or teacher-run courses? Or maybe both?
What’s the difference between learning a foreign language at full-time courses with a teacher and Internet courses?
First and foremost, the differences concern the student’s commitment, the content of the course and abilities which they acquire. Learning a language by means of an Internet course, a student must be motivated, selfdisciplined and self-reliant. It’s only up to them whether and when they log in, how much time they spend learning and what results they will attain. They must be able to work on their own – ask questions, fi nd answers to them in multimedia versions of lexicons and grammatical rules supplied by the program. There is no teacher always ready to dissipate their doubts or to assess their achievements. On the other hand, the student is not imposed with strict days, hours or venue which gives them much freedom and individualizes tasks according to their abilities and preferences. The participants of an Internet course, to a considerable degree, decide by themselves what content to study and to omit. Even if they get some source materials from a virtual teacher, they themselves must fi nd the gaps in their education and choose appropriate exercises to fill them in. Students often avoid problems and exercises which are diffi cult for them or require enhanced eff ort. Students also decide what level of correctness satisfi es them.
Undemanding students would do an exercise once and will be satisfied with 60% correct answers while the ambitious ones would work on the task until they achieve 100% correct answers. The main diff erence between Internet and teacher-run courses is that the multimedia participant gains passive knowledge of a language, while the full-time student also acquires a so-called ‘language production’. Is it possible to acquire the knowledge of a language on the same level with e-learning and full-time courses?
Despite advanced technologies, communication with a computer is still very limited; in fact, there is no casual conversation. After all, most of us learn a foreign language to converse. A computer may provide us with the knowledge of grammatical rules, lexis, expressions; we may comprehend a written text, however, we can’t acquire the speaking ability. That’s why more and more people choose a so-called ‘blended learning’ – a teacher-run course together with a computer course.
What are the technicalities of e-learning? This depends on the accepted program. A participant may receive source materials on their e-mail box and send them back to their teacher, but this is rather a limited form. They may work with CDs and make use of additional tools or virtual website. But many more opportunities are off ered by an on-line platform, where a student has access to the content of the course, additional tools, chats. They may also send mails to the teacher; when they encounter any diffi culties, or have any questions, they may fi le the correspondence and contact the helpdesk, have access to their progress report and get an account of their training. Can a student listen to a recording through the Internet, check pronunciation and do listening comprehension exercises?
Yes, most certainly. Every highly-advanced program off ers listening comprehension together with exercises. The newest systems are equipped with devices which enable the student to compare their pronunciation to the model– e.g. the student can see the graph of their pronunciation and compare it. The student may listen to a whole text, the excerpts or single words only. The systems also off er a wide range of writing exercises: dictations, close texts etc. The systems check the tasks searching for particular, required grammatical-lexical rules. However, none of the programs to date can check and assess non-schematic writing. How to choose the appropriate e-learning course? Special attention should be paid to the technical aspects of the program: the variability of exercises, ways of checking our progress, additional tools – dictionaries, lexicons, contact with other participants of the course or/and with a virtual lector; and also make sure the program ensures access to updating the system. It’s worth fi nding out whether the content of the course is individualized, i.e., whether a teacher/school provides us with materials adequate to our achievements, not a stereotype which doesn’t comply with our needs and expectations.
Is an Internet course cheaper than a traditional one? The cost of internet course depends on two factors:
- the content and
- whether it off ers contact with a virtual teacher
Thus, the cost of e-learning course is comparable with full-time course, while blended learning turns out to be more expensive. Do Internet courses fi nish with an exam or certifi cate?
Internet course may fi nish with a certifi cate providing that the content of training fulfi lls the requirements for a certain level of certifi cation, e.g. B1 or C1. You cannot, however, choose a course in academic language, and prepare for business exam, such as BEC.