1. S T U D E N T S ’ E X P E R I E N C E O F V I R T U A L
L E A R N I N G E N V I R O N M E N T S A M O N G B E G I N N E R S
A N D P O S T - B E G I N N E R S O F F R E N C H
N A T H A L I E T I C H E L E R
L O N D O N M E T R O P O L I T A N U N I V E R S I T Y
n . t i c h e l e r @ l o n d o n m e t . a c . u k
h t t p : / / t i c h e l e r . b l o g s p o t . c o m
O n T w i t t e r : n v t i c h e l e r
Institution-Wide Language
Programmes, Higher Education and
Blended Learning

3. Context, rationale and research questions
 “New” university and widening participation
 Blended Learning policy at institutional
level, use of the Virtual Learning
Environment (Weblearn)
 Quality of the students’ learning
experience
 No formal mechanism to collect students’
feedback on the VLE, apart from standard
university module questionnaires
 Getting extra feedback from students,
improvising the e-learning provision,
implications for staff development
 Possibility, with minor modifications, to
expand the study to other languages and
levels of the programme
 How do beginners and post-beginners of
French use the VLE at the targeted
institution?
 What is their attitude towards it?
 Do their level (beginners of post-beginners),
status (undergraduate, post-graduate,
external student etc...) or lecturer have an
impact on their experience of the VLE?
 Other subject descriptors (age, gender
etc...)

4. Background information on the targeted institution
 Institution-Wide Language Programme
 Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish
 1 module = 1 semester = 15 credits at undergraduate level
 3 hours per week for 12 weeks, supplemented by self-study on the VLE)
 Institutional policies: blended Learning approach, use of the VLE

5. Theoretical perspective
 Hermeneutical phenomenology
 Post-positivism
 Interpretivism
 Socio-constructivism
 Combined quantitative and qualitative treatment of data

6. Data collection tools and analysis
 Sampling
All the beginners and post-beginners of
French, minus absentees and those who may
opt out (96 students)
 Data collection tools
End-of-module university questionnaires
Self-completion questionnaires
(closed and open questions)
Follow-up interviews
 What worked / did not work
 A clear focus on students
 A mixed approach to research, with a
combined quantitative and qualitative
treatment of data
 SPSS
 Analysis of open questions and interview
data

7. Emerging themes
 Positive attitude towards Weblearn
 High level of reported satisfaction and
confidence
 Necessity to obtain data based on various
questions, not just one
 Statistical treatment of data
Many significant connections between lecturers
and answers to closed questions in self-completion
questionnaire:
- satisfaction with their experience of Weblearn
- time spent on Weblearn
- use of communication tools (participation in
blogs, consultation of online announcements)
- reported need for guidance/tips
- satisfaction with and completion of work
on web links (including BBC links)
...
 Student-centred learning
 Socio-constructivism
 Implications for teaching and
learning
 Lecturers’ role / pedagogical
approach
 Students’ role and skills

9. And finally ...
 Ideas?
 Suggestions?
 Criticism?
 Feedback?
Slides are available on
http://ticheler.blogspot.com
Thank you for attending
this presentation!