Constructing Multidimensional Evaluation Criteria ofEnglish Learning Websites for University Students

• Main Authors: Zih-hui Liu, 劉恣惠
• Other Authors: Gi-Zen Liu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/12201745502254588417

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 外國語文學系碩博士班 === 97 === The widespread use of computers and the Internet has naturally had effects on the practices of English language learning and teaching. One aspect of this is the rapid proliferation of language learning websites. However, one problem is that are as yet no firm criteria to evaluate such websites, making it difficult for learners to decide which best suit their needs (Yang & Chan, 2008). Although Yang and Chan noted that many researchers have constructed evaluation guidelines for English learning websites, they also reported that these are often inadequate. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to construct a multidimensional set of criteria to help learners and teachers evaluate the quality of English learning websites. In addition, these evaluation guidelines should be derived under the consideration of web usability, learning materials, functionality of assisting language learning, technology integration, and learner preferences. In order to achieve this goal, the researcher conducts a four-phase procedure and utilizes both qualitative and quantitative research methods to construct and refine the evaluation criteria. In the first phase, the researcher synthesized and established a preliminary set of evaluation criteria based on the review of previously related studies. In the second phase, an online survey was distributed in order to obtain information on English learning website users’ preferences towards the preliminary set of evaluation criteria. The participants were college students with more than six months of experience in using English learning websites. After the distribution of the online questionnaire, the researcher received 160 valid surveys. In the third phase, the researcher recruited seven experts to discuss the survey results. Three of them came from the English learning and teaching field, while the other four were computer-assisted language learning (CALL) experts. In the fourth phase, the researcher validated and finalized the evaluation criteria based on both experts’ and participants’ opinions. In addition, when evaluating existing English learning websites, there is a degree of difficulties to apply the derived criteria and explain what the result indicates. Therefore, the researcher also provided a demonstration of evaluating an existing English learning website with the derived criteria and the explanation of what the result indicated. It is expected that the present study can bring forth a multidimensional set of evaluation criteria derived from the notions of web usability, learning materials, functionality of assisting language learning, and technology integration. In addition, the results of the study not only lead to the construction of the evaluation criteria, but also a prove that since the structure of English learning websites is multi-layered and diversified, such a multidimensional set of criteria is necessary for their evaluation.