Innovation in Language Learning

Since its advent, the Internet has been a treasure cove of knowledge and with the advancement of technology, facilitated users in self-learning. Endeavors have been made to integrate technology and the Internet to conventional language learning. This experimental research focused on the compilation of effective online English listening lessons, the efficacy of online learning in the improvement of the participants’ English listening skills, and the participants’ opinions and attitude towards using online resources in learning. The research instruments used were 1) a compilation of existing online lessons and activities grouped into 10 lessons of progressive difficulty created on the Moodle platform 2) a paper-based English listening pre-test and an online listening post-test on Moodle 3) profile and post questionnaires and 4) a semi-structured interview of the participants. The target population was the first-year students of the Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University of the 2017 Academic Year. The participants undertook a pre-test followed by a 15-day practice period on Moodle, in which students explored and advanced through the lessons according to their pace. After this period, the participants took an online post-test to measure their performance after exposure to the compiled online lessons. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and dependent t-test. Results showed that the mean score of the post-test was higher than the pre-test scores. This equates to a significantly higher achievement score compared to those tested prior to the application of the online lessons at the 0.05 level. Furthermore, according to the questionnaire results and interviews conducted, the participants attitude towards learning English using existing online resources was highly positive. This result has further strengthened our conviction that online learning resources, when utilized regularly and as a supplementary component of an English course, are beneficial in language learning.

Keywords: Listening Skills, EFL, Online Learning, Moodle;