CHALLENGES FACED BY DISTANCE LANGUAGE LEARNING STUDENTS Rahmat Budiman University of Dundee (United Kingdom) Barcelona (Spain), 7th, 8th and 9th of July, 2014 : rahmat.budiman71 I will be online during the conference for a synchronous communication

Background A longitudinal study to investigate factors that affect student achievement in English writing courses in distance learning context

Aims To investigate factors that affect high achievement in the English writing courses; To investigate factors that make students drop out.

Aims of the presentation This presentation focuses on investigating the challenges the students faced during learning the Writing 1 course in the previous semester and identifying the solution they took to overcome the problems.

Methodology Quantitative: Questionnaire Qualitative: Open-ended questions, self- report, and interviews.

Instruments & Participants The questionnaire was written in Indonesian language previously piloted and went through a confirmability process; The questionnaires were distributed through postal and online survey using Bristol Online Survey (BOS); 405 students of the Indonesian open university¹ who took Writing 1 course examination in semester 2, 2013; 164 students completed the postal and online questionnaires (return rate: 40%). ¹ To comply with the confidentiality agreement, the name of the institution was written anonymously

Results Challenges Solutions Expectations Academic issues Technical issues Academic issues Personal issues Technical issues Academic issues

Challenges

Solutions

Expectations

Discussion Challenges – Academic issues: 1.Understanding the grammar [1] 2.Limited vocabulary knowledge [2] 3.Absence of feedback [3] Challenges – Technical issues: 1. Absence of communication with lecturer/online tutor Challenges – Personal issues: 1.Limited time to study 2.Feelings of isolation [4]

Discussion – continued Solution – Academic issues 1. Adding vocabulary 2. Learning the grammar 3. Reading English texts 4. Doing more practice Solution – Technical issues 1. Making a contact with other people 2. Accessing the Internet 3. Forming a study group 4. Looking for other learning sources Solution – Personal issues 1. Building and maintaining motivation

Discussion – continued Expectations – Academic issues 1. Feedback from the lecturer/online tutor 2. Face-to-face tutorial Expectations – Technical issues 1. Communication with the lecturer

Conclusion The participants were able to identify the challenges; The participants were able to identify the most appropriate solutions for the problems they encountered; The challenges fell into three big categories: academic, technical, and personal issues; The solution was divided into three types: academic, technical, and personal issues; The participants expected to have more direct interaction with the lecturer/online tutor.

Limitation of the study Space for self-reflection was limited; In online survey, the participants were not able to revise the answers once it was completed; Limited number of participants; The answers given were relatively short.

References 1. Lauder, A. (2010). The Status and Function of English in Indonesia: A Review of Key Factors. MAKARA of Social Sciences and Humanities Series, 12(1), Nurweni, A., & Read, J. (1999). The English Vocabulary Knowledge of Indonesian University Students. English for Specific Purposes, 18(2), Hyland, F. (2001). Providing Effective Support: Investigating feedback to distance language learners. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 16(3), Croft, N., Dalton, A., & Grant, M. (2010). Overcoming Isolation in Distance Learning: Building a Learning Community Through Time and Space. Journal for Education in the Built Environment, 5(1),

Thank You Terima Kasih شكرا Gracias Danke 谢谢 감사합니다 ありがとう Dank U Gràcies بہت بہت شکریہ Teşekkür Ederim Grazie Asante Obrigado धन्यवाद спасибо ขอขอบคุ ณคุณ Merci خوب با تشکر از شما