“Moodle and Collaborative Learning in the ESL Classroom”

Cecilia Ikeguchi, Ph.D.

Tsukuba Gakuin University

ABSTRACT:

As computers have become

increasingly common in language

education, progressive teachers of ESL

have taken advantage of available

technology to promote student autonomy,

to promote culture and language and an

anytime-anywhere learning. (Mougalian

& Salazar, 2005). The Moodle,

considered one type of Course

Management System (Al-Jarf, 2005),

allows teachers to put their courses

online easily. Because of its ease in

usage, downloading, modifying and

distribution, the Moodle has also been

known to be teacher and student friendly.

This research aims to find answers to the

following questions. (1) What is the

pedagogical theory behind Moodle? (2)

What is the rationale behind this

electronic syllabus? (3) How does

Moodle promote collaborative work in

the classroom?

Moodle and ESL instruction

Computer assisted instruction

has been one of the most explosive areas

in applied linguistics especially in the last

two decades. Tremendous amount of

research on the application of technology

on language teaching and learning has

kept up with the rapid development in

computer hardware and software. Many

results were enthusiastic; but others were

skeptic.

In the ESL classroom on the

other hand, as computers have become

widely available to language teachers

since the 1980's (Chapelle, 2001),

progressive teachers of ESL have taken

advantage of available software

technology to promote student autonomy,

to promote culture and language and an

anytime-anywhere learning. (Mougalian

& Salazar, 2005).

Among the most recent

application of technology in language

instruction are the Course Management

Systems, also called CMS, and the

Virtual Learning Environments (VLE).

These allow teachers to transfer

documents and messages, and put their

course online.

What is the role of Moodle in

second language learning as well as in

the advancement of technology in

the classroom? This paper explores

moodle applications and implications.

This research aims to find answers to the

following questions. (1) What is moodle?

What are the pedagogical assumptions

behind the use of this electronic syllabus?

(2) What are the features and strengths of

moodle and its application? (3) How does

moodle promote collaborative work and

language learning in the classroom?

Moodle & its pedagogical

assumptions

Moodle, originally an acronym

for Object-oriented Dynamic Learning

Environment, has been considered as one

of the newest types of Course

Management Systems (Al-Jarf, 2005) that

allows teachers to put their courses online

easily. Because of its ease in usage,

downloading, modifying and distribution,

the Moodle has been known to be teacher

and student friendly. As an open source

software Moodle offers the following

advantages: it is efficient; it is low cost; it

is highly reliable, and it can be

customized. For details, refer to Joe Row,

2005.

Dougiamas, the original maker

of moodle, relates the concept of this

software to the principles of

constructivism. The notion of

constructivism asserts that people

actively construct new knowledge as they

interact with their environment.

Furthermore, he describes six concepts

or “faces of constructivism” that help

people understand the uses of this system,

two of which are relevant and will be

mentioned here: constructionism and

social constructivism. The principle of

constructionism maintains that learning is

effectively when the student creates or

constructs something for others.

Meanwhile, social constructivism refers

to the social world that surround a learner.

This includes people that directly affect

him: teachers, friends, students, as well

the larger community. It also asserts that

when students create something for

others, they are involved in a

collaborative endeavor.

Features and strengths of moodle

and its application?

This section explains the

features of Moodle environment that

support the conditions of L2 learning as

described below. Over the years, moodle

has evolved in a number of ways that

makes it more powerful for the teacher's

record-keeping, as well as its power to

engage the students for more interactive

exercises.

In the classroom, it is used to

give quizzes, check student

understanding of content or supply

information to other useful links and

resources. It includes several features

such as class schedule, class assignment,

participant profiles, chats, email lessons,

and even workshops (Mougalian &

Salazar, 2001).

In his article “Moodle Online

Classroom”, Weiskopf describes details

of moodle applications as a way of

creating online learning communities

and for supporting face-to-face learning.

Among the “powerful tools” described

in the essay are online exercises, digital

assignments, electronic journals and

online discussion through forums

module. Dialogues and chat rooms have

also been described as effective

learning tools that support in-class

instruction.

In a similar vein, Mougalian and

Salazar demonstrate actual moodle

classroom applications as follows.

Focusing on Moodle environment called

chats, forums, wikis, and workshops

Mougalian and Salazar assert that

workshops enable students to work

collaboratively.

“The workshops, which include

an adaptable rubric, allow students

to engage in peer feedback as

well as self-assessment”

M. & S. discuss how wikis,

forums, and chats serve as useful

platforms for brainstorming, discussions,

and debates. Chats in particular, seem to

be the favorite of students. Testimonies of

teachers using moodle indicate that the

chat module gives opportunities for shy

students to express themselves. Students

who find it hard to speak in front of the

class, post several quality articles on the

chat. Furthermore, on the teacher’s side,

there is a platform for creating and

delivering lessons, which the students can

access independently, or in groups. As a

result the platform encourages ways by

which students can connect with other

people and other useful information even

outside of the classroom.

In the following section, this

paper will describe the extent to which

Moodle encourages collaborative effort

between teacher and students, and among

students themselves through hands-on

online interaction.

In an online collaborative setting,

as the moddle, students are able to

explore and engage in hands-on activities,

and strengthen their understanding of

concepts and processes (Chapelle, 1998).

Moodle and cooperative work

in language learning

According to the constructivist

philosophy, “learning occurs as a

reflection of the experiences we construct

about the world around us.” An analysis

of the social constructivist philosophy

shows that while moodle in the classroom

allows for a student-centered

environment where learners are able to

work independently. It also allows

students to reflect on their own work and

on the work of other students by staying

connected to a group of learners who can

share ideas and reflect on each other’s

work (Dougiamas, 1998).

In a collaborative learning

situation, the students strengthen

understanding of the concepts learned in

class by engaging in several hands-on

activities and by and exploring through

online activities. Normandie (2001 ) calls

this a process of connecting students to

other peers, to the teacher, to a bigger

community of learners.

The following section of this

paper will demonstrate how moodle

principle relates to CALL learning and

communication. According to Chappelle

(1997), the primary goal of implementing

CALL into a language classroom is to

provide a communicative context and to

encourage social interaction among the

students. Multimedia CALL materials

can be constructed to support the

linguistic conditions Chapelle describes

below:

1. The linguistic

characteristics of target

language input need to be

made salient.

2. Learners should receive

help in comprehending

semantic and syntactic

aspects of linguistic input.

3. Learners need to have

opportunities to produce

target language output.

4. Learners need to notice

errors in their own output.

5. Learners need to correct their

linguistic output.

6. Learners need to engage in

target language interaction

whose structure can be

modified for negotiation of

meaning.

7. Learners should engage in

L2 tasks designed to

maximize opportunities

CONCLUSION:

This paper has described how the

theoretical assumptions behind the use

of moodle and how they relate to the

principles of language learning at a

distance. Furthermore, by analyzing

previous research on Moodle use in the

classroom, this paper supports the view

that this new type of course

management system opens vast

opportunities for the development of the

four language skills. Lastly and most

importantly this paper has

demonstrated how Moodle provides a

communicative context and how it

encourages social interaction in and

outside of the classroom .

REFERENCES:

C. Chapelle. Language Learning and

Technology. Vol. 2, No. 1, July 1998, pp.

22-34

C. Chapelle. Computer Applications in

Second Language Acquisition.

Cambridge University Press, 2001.

C. Mougalian, & Salazar, A. Moodle, the

electronic syllabus, lends itself to Pro Call.

CALLme. Retrieved, February, 2010.

M. Dougiamas, M. (1998). A Journey

into Constructivism. Retrieved January,

2010.

J. Rowe, 2005. Building Educational

websites with Moodle, CompuMentor.

Retrieved March, 2010.

S. Normandie. Global School: Online

Collaborations in the ECE Classroom.

Retrieved February 6, 2010.