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Web-Based Language Learning Materials: A Challenge

Article · February 2004

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Internet Journal of e-Language Learning & Teaching, 1(1), January 2004, 31-42

Web-Based Language Learning Materials: A Challenge

SUPYAN HUSSIN, PhD

The Institute of the Malay World and Civilization
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Many English teachers fear of programming when they are asked to develop computer-based
language learning materials for their courses. Some are reluctant, while others are willing to take the
challenge. However, with the availability of authoring systems, which offers user-friendly features
and shortcuts, language teachers can now develop web-based Computer-Assisted Language Learning
(CALL) materials that fulfill pedagogical principles and instructional design principles. This article
describes the development of web-based programming activities among in-service language teachers
who enroll in English Language Studies program at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for the past
four years. Currently, these in-service teachers have developed more than 60 web-based English
language programs, and most of these programs are now available in the Internet for review and
evaluation. This article will also present findings from a trace study that looks into post-coursework
activities among these in-service teachers in their teaching profession.

Introduction

Computer programming simply means creating a sequence of instructions to enable

the computer to do something. However, to many language teachers, computer
programming is scary! Programming may be difficult since language teachers have
no exposure on basic computer studies, algorithms, and some complexities in logical
organization of a program. Mastery of programming skills is time consuming;
hence, language teachers would not want to spend time learning computer
programming skill. In most cases, we find language teachers would work with
programmers to develop computer-based or web-based language learning materials.
Normally, language teachers will provide the contents while programmers, using
programming languages, will transform the written contents into digital interactive
lessons. Problems crop up when the lessons require modification to cater for
different needs of various groups of learners. The process of updating and
modifying the digital lessons might take some time and cost more money. However,
if the programming languages can be made simpler for non-professional
programmers, definitely language content specialists or teachers would be able to
customize the contents for specific groups of learners. Thus, this exercise will
promote rapid production of interactive lessons and cost less.

At the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, (formerly known as

Faculty of Language Studies), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), a course

ISBN 983-2975-15-8
32 Supyan Hussin

called VE6844 Multimedia Applications in English Language Teaching was

introduced in 1997 to meet this current need. In this course, a less complex
programming language is used to train in-service teachers to develop web-based
language learning materials. Students enrolled in English Language Studies (ELS) at
postgraduate level can take this course as an elective. Many postgraduate students,
mostly in-service teachers, are Bachelor of Education or Bachelor of TESL degree
holders who joined ELS program to refine their expertise and gain new knowledge
and skills. One of the competitive areas that they are expected to acquire is ICT
(information and communication technology) knowledge and skills so that they will
be able to cope with increasing demand of web-based teaching and learning in the
future.

This article is divided into two parts: first, it describes how the development
of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) at UKM leads to web-based
language learning materials production; secondly, it presents findings from a trace
study that looks into post-coursework activities among these in-service teachers in
their teaching profession.

Development of CALL at UKM

CALL at UKM started in 1991 when it was first introduced to pre-service teachers
in Educational Technology in TESL course (which are now called Technology and
Innovation in TESL) is currently being offered to ELS undergraduate students who
are interested in multimedia applications in language classrooms and software
development for e-learning. The main objective of the course is to equip pre-service
teachers with not only "know-what" and "know-why" knowledge and skills but also
"know-how" to integrate multimedia elements in the delivery system. The “know-
how” knowledge and skill include instructional design principles and pedagogical
principles. These pre-service teachers, who enrolled in the Bachelor of Education in
TESL program at UKM, were required to attend this particular course in their
second semester of the third year. It is hoped that these future teachers of English
language would be able to make use of technology to improve their teaching
strategies. Another course, Multimedia Applications in ELT, which focuses on
computer related activities, was introduced to postgraduate ELS students in 1997.
Educational Technology in TESL course deals with several media as tools for
teaching whereas the Multimedia Applications in ELT course deals specifically with
multimedia computer technology and Internet. The course assignments for the latter
are more challenging in the sense that students are required to participate actively in
an on-line TESL forum, produce a research paper, and create their web-based
language learning materials for selected audience. In fact, the latter requires students
to take such courses as curriculum design, syllabus design, material developments,
testing, second language acquisition or psycholinguistics, and teaching methodology
as prerequisites.

The format of the undergraduate course is divided into two parts: theory and
design. In this course, relevant learning theories, including second language

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Web-Based Language Learning Materials: A Challenge 33

acquisition theory, rationale for using specific media in the classrooms, and various
language teaching approaches are discussed at the beginning of the course. On the
other hand, Multimedia Applications in ELT assumes that students should already
have good grasp of relevant theories and some teaching experience. Students are
then led into the designing stage in which they learn instructional design principles
before they embark on their computer courseware projects. Students are expected to
incorporate their understanding of learning theories and teaching principles into their
design in the production stage. Their products should reflect current trend and
practice in language teaching and learning which is based on student-centered
approach. Students are also encouraged to customize their CALL courseware for
Malaysian students with a taste of local culture, thinking, and background. In
addition to material production, students learn to evaluate the effectiveness of
available computer-based materials that are used for learning purposes. The course
also explores the potential use of the most recent technological innovation such as
multimedia super-corridor, Internet, e-mail, audio-conferencing, video-conferencing
and satellite communication in education.

Since almost all pre-service and in-service teachers have no computer

programming background, we decided that these teachers should be taught how to
use authoring systems instead of programming languages. Authoring systems are
software tools that offer various pre-designed lesson templates. Unlike programming
languages such as C++, Visual Basics, Perl, and Java, authoring systems do not
require the users to know or memorize any syntax commands or understand the
logic of algorithm and the flow of the program. Instead, the users can choose
specific mode of instruction (exploratory, self-assessment, browsing), the format of
the questions (multiple-choice, short answer, cloze procedure, true-false, matching),
and provide appropriate feedback in the exercises. Most recent authoring programs
allow the users to integrate graphics, photos, animation, video, and sound into the
texts, making the multimedia CALL lessons more attractive and more meaningful to
the students. In fact, most authoring systems can transform language lessons into
web-based format and compile students’ performance record. Table 1 shows
comparative features of three different computer programming languages.

In early 90’s DOS-based authoring systems such as Pinpoint, Vocab,

Wordstore, Storyboard, Gapmaster, Choicemaster, and Testmaster, developed by
Wida Software Ltd. Britain, were used in the course although there were some other
authoring systems available such as CoMIL, Dasher, CALIS and Gapkit. More than
50 CALL programs were developed by the TESL students between 1991 and1993
using such authoring systems (Supyan & Roziana, 2001). The undergraduate TESL
students were required to develop computer-based language exercises based on
English language curriculum for primary school (KBSR) or English language
curriculum for secondary school (KBSM), or English proficiency courses offered at
UKM. Some of these programs were further refined in the following semester in
courses like Curriculum Design and Material Development and Testing. Some
students even refined their CALL programs for their creative project assignments or
thesis during their final year at UKM. Still others used their CALL products at
schools where they had their teaching practice.

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34 Supyan Hussin

Table 1: Comparative Features: Programming Languages, Author Tools, and

Authoring Systems

Programming
Programming Authoring Tools Authoring
language Systems

Knowledge/Skills

Programming Scripts writing or Object-oriented Object/icon-based

procedure syntax commands programming programming

Understanding of
algorithm Yes, high Yes, low No
requirement

Design ability Unlimited Partial Limited

requirement

Pre-designed No No Yes
Templates

Compilation (web) Manual Manual and auto Auto

WYSIWYG Mostly Mostly

(What You See Is Not WYSIWYG WYSIWYG WYSIWYG
What You Get)

Technical
knowledge High Intermediate Low
requirement

Creativity Unlimited Moderately Limited

limited

Time spent Time consuming Less time spent Least time spent

Multimedia Testmaster,
Examples C++, Visual Toolbooks, Choicemaster,
Basics, Perl, Java Director, WinCALIS, Hot
Dreamweaver, Potato
CoMIL

By mid-90's, as multimedia technology was becoming more popular in

education, multimedia authoring systems were increasingly available in the market.
LIBRA, WinCALIS, CoMIL, RealEnglish, Course Builder, Multimedia Testmaster
and Teleste Partner Tools are examples of multimedia authoring systems. After
reviewing these authoring programs, WinCALIS was chosen for Educational

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Web-Based Language Learning Materials: A Challenge 35

Technology in TESL course. WinCALIS is user-friendly and integrated; it offers

features that are more comprehensive. Pedagogically, WinCALIS is more suitable for
language courseware production than other authoring systems because it offers a
wide range of pre-designed templates that simplify the authoring process. In
addition, there are built-in teaching features such as question types, feedback
system, randomization, and performance record system. Since 1994, the TESL
students at UKM have developed more than 30 multimedia CALL programs using
WinCALIS authoring systems (Supyan & Roziana, 2001). Some of these multimedia
CALL products were piloted at schools where the final year students experienced
their first teaching practice. When these pre-service teachers returned to campus in
the following semester, some took initiative to improve their multimedia CALL
products and transformed their programs into a CD-ROM.

By the end of 90s, recognizing the need for more web-based language
learning materials, Multimedia Applications in ELT course adopted Hot Potato, a
web-based authoring systems. What makes Hot Potato user-friendly is its simplicity
in the interface. Hot Potato offers more pedagogical features than any other
authoring systems. Hot Potato, using Java script for its interactivity in the exercises,
provides pre-designed templates for multiple-choice exercises, cloze procedure,
matching/drag-n-drop, short quizzes, jumbled up sentences, and crossword puzzles.
Being more versatile than other web-based authoring system, Hot Potato allows for
integration of animations, sound, graphics, and videos. There is no limit for the
designers to include multimedia elements as long as these elements are compatible
with the html format.

In addition to Hot Potato, students were also taught how to use Microsoft
FrontPage, a web designer program, to develop web pages and then link their web-
based CALL lessons to their web pages. Microsoft FrontPage was chosen because
students are already familiar with similar features that can be found in Microsoft
Word and Power Point. Students are also introduced to basic script writing
procedures as both Hot Potato and Microsoft Front Page allow users to modify the
existing scripts. They also learned how to digitize their own voice and embed the
oral instruction files and reading-aloud sound files in their lessons. The knowledge
and skills they acquired can be compared with Ingram’s (2002) four-level model of
web development expertise. Ingram (2002) argues that there are four levels of
development expertise: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert. Each level
carries six dimensions of expertise, namely page design, media use, client-side
processing, server-side processing, site structure, and development processes. Since
his model may be more appropriate for computer majors or professional
programmer rather than English language majors who lack computer studies, we use
the model with slight modifications as shown in the following Table 2. At the end of
the course, we expected that the students would attain a level between Advanced and
Expert levels.

Table 2: Four-levels of Web Site Development Expertise

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36 Supyan Hussin

Level
Basic Intermediate Advanced Expert

Dimension
Page design Texts format: Texts format Frames Dynamic pages
font, size, Links Dynamic HTML based on
type Tables Complex tables database-driven
color, information, page
alignment layout etc.
links Active server
pages
Interactive
Media Few gif, jpg Manipulated gif, jpg Audio clips Audio, video
files files Animation streaming
Audio clips Background music
Animation clips
Video clips
Plug-in file program

Client side None Copy or use existing Write own scripts Full scripting
scripts from scratch skills
Adapt existing java
Write own script scripts
minimally
Server side Page serving Forms processing Use CGI for Full database
only information interconnectivity,
processing complex server-
Links to databases side processing,
and possible programming
updating
Site structure Ad hoc Planned and File structure Based on abstract
structures deliberate: planned and model that is
based on hierarchical, linear specified instantiated on the
small number web combination Fully designed fly
of pages upfront
Information
architecture and
usability
considerations
Development Ad hoc, Basic planning, Good analysis and Fully planned,
process organic, analysis, and design design process analysis and
evolutionary, process drawing on design process
rapid instructional design combining
prototyping Structure/flow Pedagogical instructional
charts and principles design and
storyboards development with
relevant concepts

(adapted from Ingram, 2002)

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Web-Based Language Learning Materials: A Challenge 37

Although there are more than sixty web-based CALL lessons designed by
M.A. ELS students, selected web-based CALL lessons are now available at
http://202.185.39.206/english.htm for review and evaluation. By putting these
sample web-based lessons in the network, it is hoped that more people are able to
make use of the resources. Although some of the cultural elements or values in these
CALL courseware may not be suitable to foreign students in other countries, we
believe that these web-based language learning programs promote an understanding
and exchange of ideas and values among students across the continents.

In brief, based on their course projects in Multimedia Applications in ELT,

in-service English language teachers are able to produce web-based language
materials without using programming language such as C++, Visual Basics, Perl, or
Java Script. Having acquired upper advanced web-based development skill, as
prescribed by Ingram (2002), these teachers who are content specialists, could
develop web-based materials language learning materials for specific audience or
group of learners. Nevertheless, there has been no single study being carried out to
trace whether these courses have benefited the UKM TESL/ELS graduates in their
teaching profession.

The following section presents findings of a recent trace study on computing

activities among former students of Multimedia Applications in ELT course. These
formers students are now teaching at schools and colleges. The findings indicate that
having equipped with ICT competence in using authoring systems, language
teachers can continue to develop web-based language learning materials rapidly for
their learners on their own now.

Methodology

Twenty former students of VE6844 Multimedia Applications in English Language

Teaching course voluntarily participated in this study. The majority of these students
are in-service teachers who enrolled in an M.A. degree program in English
Language Studies at the School of Language Studies and Linguistic, Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia between November 2000 and March 2002. A survey
questionnaire, namely Computing Activities Development Questionnaire (CADQ),
was posted to respondents via both ordinary mail and electronic mail. Of 60
questionnaires distributed, 20 were returned. The questionnaire consists of three
sections: background information, computing and Internet activities, and language
teaching and Internet. Data collected analyzed using frequency distribution
technique, while open-ended answers are converted into categorical data.

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38 Supyan Hussin

Results

Background Information

Forty percent of the respondents are male, whereas 60 percent are female. All hold a
bachelor degree, and 20 percent hold a diploma in TESL (Teaching of English as a
Second Language) or TEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign Language) 20 percent
of respondents are now teaching at tertiary educational private institutions, while 80
percent are teaching at secondary schools. Most are still new teachers (80 percent)
who have been teaching for less than five years, while others have been teaching for
more than five years.

Computing and Internet Activities

All respondents own a personal computer system at home but only 50 percent have a
computer system in their offices. All are categorized as above average computer
literate since they know how to use word processing program such as MS Word (100
percent), spreadsheet such as MS Excel (85 percent), graphic presentation program
such as MS Power Point (90 percent), Internet browsing such Netscape or Internet
Explorer (100 percent), and e-mail facility e.g, Hotmail, Eudora (100 percent). In
fact, what makes them different from normal users is that they know how to use
html editor program e.g., Front Page, Dream Weaver, and authoring systems such
as Hot Potato, Testmaster, or Wincalis (100 percent) to develop specific educational
courseware. Furthermore, 20 percent of them know how to use sound editing
program and animation program.

Sixty percent of them spent between 3 to 5 hours everyday on computing and

60 percent spend 15 to 20 hours per week on computing activities. This is
considered normal among Malaysian language teachers (Supyan et al., 2002). Only
20 percent of them have Internet connection at home. Most respondents accessed
Internet at their work place rather than at home.

The top three Internet activities indicate that the respondents always accessed
websites (70 percent), always use e-mail facility (70 percent) and always
send/receive files via e-mail (50 percent). Subscription and participation to
newsgroups, group discussions, and chit-chat activities were less popular among the
respondents. File transfer protocol (ftp) seems to be the least popular one.

In particular, when they accessed websites, the most frequent activity that
they were involved in was specific data or information gathering, followed by news
and entertainment such as songs and movies as illustrated in Figure 1 below. This
trend is somewhat similar to the trend among language lecturers reported in Supyan
et. al. (2002).

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Web-Based Language Learning Materials: A Challenge 39

120

Internet Activities
100
80
60
40
20
0

services
News
Specific data

General data

Try out some

Entertainment

Look for
gathering

gathering

language
exercise
Percentage

Figure. 1: Distribution of Internet Activities among Respondents

Teaching and Internet Activities

It seems clear that Internet has been integrated in their language teaching
practice, yet has not been exploited maximally. Results indicate that 80 percent of
the respondents requested their students to visit websites for data gathering, and later
asked the students to summarize their findings from the Internet. 60 percent of the
respondents directed their students to carry out language exercises at selected
language learning websites. 60 percent of them also communicated with their
students via e-mail, and received/sent assignments or files via e-mail. Only a few of
them (30 percent) asked their students to be involved in chat-chat rooms and
expected the students to chat in English. Twenty (20) percent of the respondents
encouraged their students to subscribe to relevant newsgroups for general
information that might be used for students’ essays.

In terms of Internet facilities used by the respondents in their teaching

preparation, most respondents (80 percent), are still involved in preparing
storyboards to develop CALL lessons. However, when it comes to lesson
programming exercise, only 40 percent were personally involved. The other 60
percent would ask someone else to program the lessons for them. This finding is
further supported by the following responses in Table 3.

This finding is very significant in the sense that the knowledge and skills
they acquired in the course has helped them to continue developing their own
websites and web-based language learning packages. They are able to use Hot
Potato and Front Page programs that were introduced to them more than six months
ago, and are still using both software.

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40 Supyan Hussin

Table 3: Perceived Ability to Exploit the Acquired Knowledge and Skill

Statements Agree Disagree

a. If I were given a chance to design web-based 0 100

language learning materials again, I may not
know how to use the Hot Potato program well
b. I now involve in web-based language learning 60% 40%
materials
c. I still use Hot Potato to design language 80% 20%
learning materials
d. I don’t use FrontPage anymore after I left the 40% 60%
course
e. I do develop web-based language learning 60% 40%
materials for my course

When asked about how helpful the course was to them, respondents gave
high remarks on the course objectives as shown in Table 4. They believed that the
course is helpful not only for their teaching assignment but also professional growth.
Supyan (2003) argued that as technology changes rapidly, language teachers, too,
need to update themselves with the changing needs. It is almost impossible to use
the same computer-based learning materials for years since the technology
employed in a particular courseware may become obsolete or irrelevant two or three
months after the launch of that courseware. Upgrading of the courseware is time
consuming and costly. This implies that language teachers would be the best person
to modify the content the courseware if they are equipped with courseware
development skills, and if less complex programming languages are available for
non-professional programmers.

Table 4: Perceived Helpfulness of the Course

Statements Agree Disagree

a. I understand better the design process for a 100% 0

web-based language learning package
b. The course helps me in making decision how to 100% 0
select ‘good’ language courseware for my
institution
c. The course assignments were too heavy for me 10% 90%
d. The prerequisites for the course are too high 20% 80%
e. I wish I could sit in this course again 70% 30%
f. The course does not help me much in my 0 100%
teaching now
g. The course has been very helpful in my career 100% 0
development

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Web-Based Language Learning Materials: A Challenge 41

When asked about their attitude towards further training on web-based

language courseware development, their responses are overwhelming. As shown in
Table 5, most respondents show their readiness to attend relevant courses to refine
their knowledge and skills, and also to participate in language courseware
development. In brief, the results indicate that the exposure they gained from the
Multimedia Applications in ELT course has given them some technical as well as
pedagogical knowledge and skills that they can use in their teaching profession.

Finally, when asked if they would recommend other language teachers to

enroll in this course, all respondents (100 percent) agreed. Additionally, 95 percent
would advocate a greater usage of Internet in language teaching. It shows a clear
trend that future language teachers need be equipped with web-based language
teaching skills. Norizan (2003) in her recent study, specifically, identified 98
computer competencies, of which web-based teaching and learning is one of the
most important skills that needs to be mastered by future teachers.

Table 5: Readiness for Further Training

Statements Agree Disagree

h. I wish to refine my design skills which I’d 100% 0

gained from this course
i. I wish to enroll in a diploma or certificate level 60% 40%
course on computer- assisted language to
further improve my knowledge and skills
j. I want to be involved in web-based language 60% 40%
learning materials but I never have the
opportunity to do so at my work place

Having discussed the results above, we can summarize that (i) the former
students of Multimedia Applications in ELT course are still practicing their
courseware development skills; they are involved in courseware development; (ii)
Multimedia Applications in ELT course contents are still relevant and helpful to in-
service teachers in this M.A. program even after these in-service graduated from the
university; (iii) teachers need more opportunities to be involved in web-based
materials development; (iv) further training or retooling or reengineering of
language teachers is needed, especially for those who received little exposure on
ICT knowledge and skills as well pedagogical principles in web-based teaching and
learning.

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 42 Supyan Hussin

Conclusion

Language courseware development should not be confined to computer

programmers per se. With the availability of simple programming languages or
authoring systems, language teachers can now master basic programming skills to
develop their own web-based learning materials for specific group of learners. In
fact, global trends demand language teachers to upgrade and equip themselves with
contemporary knowledge and skills in order to perform better in their profession.
The need for k-workers is so obvious that language teachers cannot be spectators or
end-users anymore, but must become “producers” or “designers” of computer-based
learning materials. More opportunities should be given to language teachers to be
involved in the development of learning materials at schools.

References

Ingram, A.L. (2002). The Four Levels of Web Site Development Expertise. In
Allison Rossett, The ASTD E-Learning Handbook. New York: MacGraw
Hill.

Norizan Abdul Razak. (2003). Computer Competency of In-Service ESL Teachers

in Malaysia Secondary Schools. Phd. Thesis. Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia. Bangi.

Supyan Hussin & Roziana Rosli (2001). CALL for Borderless Classrooms.
Seminar Exploring New Directions in Language Learning Technology.
International Association of Language Learning Technology. Houston,
Texas, USA. 22- 26 May 2001.

Supyan Hussin, Afendi Hamat & Nackeeran Sivapunniam. (2002). Research

Report: The Use of Internet among Language Instructors in the Classrooms
at Higher Institutions of Learning in Malaysia (V/2/95). PPBL-FSSK-UKM.

Supyan Hussin. (2003). Pengaturcaraan untuk Guru Bahasa Inggeris: Pembangunan

Bahan Pembelajaran Berbantukan Komputer Berasaskan Web. Paper
presented at Atur’03 Workshop: Teaching and Learning Programming in
Malaysia, Cyberview Lodge Resort, Cyberjaya. 27 August 2003.

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