Teaching Foreign Trade in English Through the
Modalities Based on Competences and Using Moodle
Enseñanza
del régimen de comercio exterior a través de las modalidades
centradas en el desarrollo de competencias y con el uso de Moodle
Ana
María Correa Díaz*
Universidad
Pontificia Bolivariana, Bucaramanga, Colombia
This article was received on November 15, 2011, and accepted on June 28,
2012.
With the new approach to guide the learning process of
students with a model based on the development of competences, and in
comparison with the traditional lecture-based learning, it is necessary to
start working with the teaching modalities that help to achieve this objective.
With that in mind, the aim of the study reported in this article was to show
that through the use of active teaching methods focusing on the development of
competences we can improve the writing, speaking and research competences in
English of the students who nowadays take university subjects in a foreign
language in Colombia. The results showed that the support provided by the
platform promotes student motivation in carrying out their self-learning, which
contributes to the development of the mentioned competences.
Key words: Autonomy, competences, teaching foreign trade in English,
using Moodle.
Gracias al nuevo
enfoque que guía el proceso de aprendizaje de los estudiantes a
través de un modelo basado en el desarrollo de competencias, en
comparación con el discurso expositivo tradicional, se hace necesario
empezar a implementar un modelo de enseñanza basado
en el desarrollo de competencias. Con esto en mente, el objetivo de la
investigación que se reporta en este artículo fue demostrar que
mediante el uso de métodos de enseñanza activa centrados en el
desarrollo de competencias se pueden mejorar las habilidades de escritura,
habla e investigación en inglés de estudiantes universitarios que
actualmente cursan asignaturas en una lengua extranjera en Colombia. Los
resultados del estudio muestran que en este proceso
educativo la plataforma Moodle favorece la motivación de los estudiantes
hacia la realización de su trabajo autónomo y el desarrollo de
las mencionadas competencias.
Palabras clave: autonomía, competencias,
enseñanza del régimen de comercio exterior en inglés, uso de
Moodle.
Introduction
Trying to respond to the challenges of global markets
now that our country is taking part in free trade agreements with other
nations, it is imperative to emphasize the development of University
students’ competences with the final aim to improving the competitiveness
of the country while training future workers. This represents a focus on
training based on real demands.
For that purpose, the Colombian Ministry of National
Education (MEN) has been following the impact of the evaluation of
competence-based programs in other countries such as Denmark, where Hans Peter
Christensen, a Danish professor and teacher trainer, is widely recognized for
his great knowledge and experience in the field of competences.
Indeed, the major concern of our educational community
is to determine key competences and review curricula to fortify Colombian education.
That is the reason why teachers also have the responsibility to create learning
environments and communicative situations to encourage self-learning, research
activities and collaborative work.
That is also why this paper shows the benefits of implementing
the modalities of lectures, seminars, workshops, hands-on activities, and
tutorials in Foreign Trade Courses,
among students of the BBA program in International Business at UPB (Universidad
Pontificia Bolivariana).
Those students motivated by their desire to develop
communicative competences in listening, writing, speaking and reading in the
context of international trade, opted for taking the class in English, instead
of taking the class in Spanish, which is also offered by the Faculty. Therefore,
in order to help my students to enhance their effective use of the English
language as a communicative tool for an effective dialogue in their
professional endeavor, I decided to spur their self-motivation with the
creation of a friendly learning environment, full of variety and using teaching
aids, including Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment).
In the following paragraphs I present the results of
my observation process and the survey results of the application of the
teaching modalities based on competences in the new environment of
technological revolution.
The Research
Problem
The question to answer during this project was how to
develop communicative language competences in a foreign language in the context
of foreign trade while working with teaching modalities based on competences
and using Moodle.
Description
of the Context
This research was based on the observation and survey
of seventeen students (of fifth semester in Administration of International
Business at UPBU) who took the course International
Trade Regime in English guided by their self-motivation, taking into
account that the mentioned subject is also offered in Spanish.
During the second semester of 2011, the students were
engaged in their work in a 4-hour weekly class, a typical 2-hour session;
therefore, they were expected to study one hour at home. The mentioned students
enrolled in the class with basic vocabulary about the topics of the course and
with different levels of linguistic competence.
Literature
Review
The concepts of competence, the teaching modalities
based on competences, and Moodle are explained in this paper with the aim of
understanding their contribution to the Faculty of Strategic Studies, now that
UPBU is offering more subjects of the curricula in English.
Basically, this action is taken with the purpose of
contributing to the government’s role in establishing the conditions and
rules to operate a system based on competences and guide the assessment. That
system helps faculties and students to get a common understanding about the
specific skills and knowledge that undergraduates should master as a result of
their learning experiences; in that way, they will be able to perform
professionally in the global market economy and in multicultural environments.
The Meaning of
Competence
Generally speaking a competence is formed by the
combination of skills, abilities, and knowledge to respond to labor market
demands and tasks; as such, it is a holistic concept filled by non-cognitive
components. What is more, according to scientific literature, the concept
refers to:
A contents
component of a given ability in the form of knowledge, skills and aptitudes
(Zimnyaya & Evdokimova, as cited in Lobanova & Shunin, 2008).
A general ability
based on knowledge, values, aptitudes, enabling [one] to establish [a]
relationship between knowledge and situation, to reveal a procedure (knowledge
and action), suitable for a problem (Shishov, as cited in Lobanova &
Shunin, 2008).
A slightly specialized system of aptitudes, abilities or skills necessary
for achievement of a specific goal. It can concern both the individual abilities and the distribution of
abilities within a social group (Weinert, as cited in Lobanova & Shunin,
2008).
An ability to successfully meet complex requirements in a certain context
(Rychen, as cited in Lobanova & Shunin, 2008).
An ability to make
actions in various contexts in adequate, responsible form integrating a
combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes (Van der Blij, as cited in
Lobanova & Shunin, 2008).
Furthermore, the Organization of Economic Cooperation
and Development—OECD—which started the work in the field of
competences defined them as:
A system of
internal mental structures and abilities assuming mobilization of knowledge,
cognitive skills, practical skills, and also social and behavioral components
such as attitudes, emotions, values and ethics, motivations for successful
realization of activity in a particular context. (Saliha
& Warda, 2010).
From those definitions, it can be said that the
constitutive elements of a competence are:
1. Motivation
2. Personality
3. Self-concept
4. Knowledge
5. Skills
The development of competences is possible through
these elements because when analyzing students in their learning process, it is
remarkable that while some pupils just care about their grades others do more
due to their vision or interest in being successful negotiators in
organizations that deal with interactions in multicultural contexts enriched by
international communications.
That is why one important competence to develop when
studying International Business is the communicative language competence due to
the need to deal with overseas partners. Therefore, it is necessary to
integrate language, communication and culture to be competent communicators in
a social language group (Hymes, 1985).
That means producing and understanding sentences
according to the context, which implies the acquisition of not only linguistic
skills but also communicative abilities (Widdowson, 1979) and the integration
of communicative competences with others (Canale & Swain, 1980).
Consequently, taking into account that
in a new millennium
when changes in all spheres of life are accelerating in geometrical progression,
the communicative language competence development cannot be considered as the
one for specific purposes; therefore, higher schools should prepare
specialist[s] not just by providing them with professional knowledge, but also
by encouraging them for self-development and self-realization in a global,
multicultural environment, implementing all available resources, including
language. (Lobanova & Shunin, 2008, p. 52)
With that in mind, the following innovative teaching
methods can help to achieve the desired results.
Teaching Methods
As Schultz and Christensen (2004) have stated,
realizing that traditional lectures and exercises did not provide the expected
learning, other teaching methods were sought. Therefore, here I present the
modalities for the development of educational activities to let others know how
to renew and innovate their teaching methods.
Those modalities are important because the
relationship between the study strategy and the learning outcome calls for a
change in the paradigm in the teaching-learning process. Then, with the new
methods, teachers may plan their activities and experiences according to the
established competences of the curricula as student learning objectives.
More specific, the mentioned modalities based on the
development of competences are scenarios where activities to be undertaken by
teachers and students throughout the course take place; they differ from each
other in terms of the purposes of educational action, the tasks to perform and
the resources needed for implementation (Díaz, 2005). The modalities
correspond to the following: lectures, seminars, group works, hands-on
activities, laboratories, tutorials, and self-employment, which are explained
in the next paragraphs.
Lectures: Talking
to the Students
They consist of expository sessions with explanations
and demonstrations of contents (Andersen, Brady, Gibbs, & Weimer, as cited
in Díaz, 2005). Hence, lectures are recommended to permit the
discussions of the students in these sections where the following methods can
be applied: case studies and problem solving. Actually, it is expected that the
pupils read textbook material before it is presented in class.
Seminars and
Workshops: Building Knowledge Through Interaction and
Activity
Here, knowledge about a specific topic is built thanks
to the discussion between the assistants, thus, personal efforts and motivation
are required on the part of the students to activate the group. The most
representative characteristics of seminars and workshops are interactions,
discussions, reflections, critical thinking, and experiments (Brown &
Atkins, as cited in Díaz, 2005). Therefore, the methods that can be
applied in seminars are cases, simulations, group projects, analyses of texts
and videos.
Students should read texts, prepare essays, create
mind maps, and participate in reflection processes to think and communicate
effectively. In that way, seminars contribute to students’ self-learning
and the development of competences because that communication process promotes
dialogue and interpersonal relationships.
Hands-On Activities:
Showing Them How to Act
It is represented by any type of classroom practices
such as case studies, diagnostic analysis, lab practices, and computer lab
activities, among others. With respect to case studies, they require the
description of a real or hypothetical situation that must be studied in an
analytical and comprehensive way with the aim of finding the solution to the
situation in question. At this point students have lots of opportunities to
apply the acquired knowledge (Beard & Hartley, as cited in Díaz,
2005).
External Practices:
Applying What Has Been Learned
It consists of training conducted at companies and
organizations outside the university to put into practice skills, techniques
and resources (Lobato, González & Ruiz, as cited in Díaz,
2005). Basically, it is an out-of-class learning opportunity.
Tutorials: Personalized
Attention to Students
They represent a personalized relationship in which
the teacher guides the student in the learning process to overcome
difficulties, doubts, or to obtain additional research sources. It is more
rewarding when it is focused on the development of competences and combined
with other modalities (Michavila & Garcia, as cited in Díaz, 2005).
Group Work: Having
Them Learn From Themselves
This interactive approach allows students to learn
from themselves through the preparation of seminars, lectures, research papers,
reports, procurement and data analysis to be presented in class and prepared in
groups; thus, it develops competences of social interaction. As broadly
recognized, “collective learning in the organization becomes the basic of
core competence” (Prahalad & Hamel, as cited in Delamare &
Winterton, 2005); this is so because in dynamic environments firms must sustain
the capacity for meta-learning in order to develop core competences (Lei, Hitt
& Bettis, 1996). Likewise, pupils work during the course as partners in a
collaborative process and the teacher gives continuous feedback about the
development of the group work.
Autonomous Study:
Developing Self-Learning Activity
It includes preparation of seminars, lectures,
research papers, reports, procurement and data analysis as well as library
work, preparations for exams, complementary readings, problems and exercises by
the students themselves, who regulate their own learning process (Howsan, as
cited in Díaz, 2005). Specifically, it is a constructivist activity
carried out by the student.
The mentioned modalities
based on competences are supported by methods,
which are procedures to undertake and resources to be used in different phases
of a plan of action; hence, methods are organized in accordance with the
intended objectives of the curricula. What’s more, different methods can
be applied under the same modality; for instance, seminars can be prepared
through cases, projects, cooperative work, or problem based learning.
According to Díaz, the most recommended methods
are:
• Lectures
• Case
studies and exercises
• Problem
Based Learning
• Project
Based Learning
• Cooperative
learning
• Self-learning
Lectures are organized by the teacher who presents and
explains contents of the curricula. This method is really helpful for
developing competences of knowledge (process information, and solve
professional problems), skills (communicate ideas, elaborate conclusions, learn
how to listen, discuss with others relevant ideas) and attitudes (lifelong
learning), even though they do not help at working autonomously.
Case studies permit the analysis of real problems to
interpret, make diagnoses and understand solution procedures. They allow for
the development of knowledge about decision making processes and the judgment
of complex and professional situations. In terms of skills, cases permit the
elaboration of conclusions and resolution of problems.
Also, cases permit the acquisition of good attitudes
toward complex situations. When discussing the solutions, students may be able
to express their arguments in public with clear communication, respecting
others and their points of view.
Exercises and problem solving, where the students
process information and interpret results, foster the development of strategies
to manage time and resources and develop motivation, effort and attention.
Problem based learning helps students to think about
complex situations (problems) in the real world. This method is used by
teachers to develop the competences of argumentation, revision and precision.
The development of projects deal with real problems
through the realization of some activities in a period of time to generate new
knowledge and develop competences of analysis and synthesis (knowledge),
systematic and critical thinking, oral expression (skills) and responsibility
(attitudes).
Cooperative learning is a philosophy when the students
have group goals. It also develops competences of cooperation and social
interaction because it invites people to express themselves and establish
questions.
Finally, the learning contract is a formal agreement
between the teacher and the student that promotes self-learning, critical and
creative thinking and helps to make decisions that promote the autonomy of the
student. It implies self-regulation and self-evaluation.
In brief, the use of either method depends on the type
of competence to acquire, the context and the characteristics of the students.
Thus, it is necessary to combine the methods to develop competences as well as
to motivate students. In the end, the new knowledge should be applied to solve
problems and make decisions.
Nonetheless, the focus on the acquisition of
communication competences in a foreign language, with the aim to help students
to think and produce knowledge in English, is necessary to respond to the
actual needs of the society to guarantee a sustainable employability. That is
why Moodle, a platform which creates interactive and dynamic spaces for the
development of the English language communicative competence, is essential in
this research (see Table 1).
Developing a Course
in Moodle
Moodle is an e-learning software platform developed by
Martin Dougiamas that allows educators to create and manage online courses for
university students; therefore, the participants or learners can access the
modules of those courses as a virtual classroom. As such, Moodle is one of
those scenarios where activities to be performed by the Faculty and students
take place.
According to moodle.org, “Moodle is a software
package for producing Internet-based courses and web sites. It is a global
development project designed to support a social constructionist framework of
education” (“Moodle,” “Definition,” para. 1)1. Consequently, Moodle is a tool for learning online
that allows the professor and the student to interact and collaborate in
multiple ways.
With respect to Moodle’s basic structure, it can
be said that each course homepage generally has a three-column layout, visually
organized with blocks on the left and right sides and with a center column
containing the course content. Course- content will appear in the middle
section, usually broken down into Weeks or Topics. Every Week/Topic might have
some content and matching activities (University of Minnesota, 2009-2011).
Thus, via the Internet, teachers post their texts and multimedia learning
resources for the students.
Moreover, the right and left columns of the course
homepage will have blocks with additional tools and features, such as calendar
block, course administration, my courses, etc. Particular blocks and their
location on the Course Homepage may vary from course to course, since blocks
may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right by the
instructor (2009). A good picture of how a Moodle course looks like can be
found at http://www.umn.edu/moodle/images/screenshot.jpg
In brief, the common Moodle homepage includes a list of
participants, a list of assignments, and glossaries of terms. Additionally, it
can contain links to other web resources (blogs and wikis), digital readings
rooms, online quizzes, and discussion forums where students comment on content
and ask questions through instant messaging. All these tools are used to teach
classes completely online, to enhance face-to-face classes, and to support
blended learning environments.
Additionally, courses can be packaged as a zip file
using the Backup function. These can be downloaded to a local computer and
restored later on any Moodle server. In that way, copies of forum posts and
instructor feedback can be mailed in HTML or plain text.
Furthermore, through Moodle, teachers find the
following advantages: the flexibility to define their own scales for grading,
the possibility to choose the course formats (by week, or by topic) and the
easiness of the creation and edition of entries at WebPages. So, the course can
be highly customized by teachers.
Students, on the other hand, find an online space for
collaboration and group participation because
the Moodle modules are designed
for discussion, reflection and learning. The discussion forums allow students
and teachers to engage in discussion on any topic; this ability to discuss is a
key component of the social constructionist philosophy. The idea is that when
students construct meaning and then share ideas with other students, learning
is enhanced. (Moore, 2003, p. 18)
As such, Moodle facilitates the process of working by
competences due to the motivation it spurs in the students who access the
platform to participate in forums, watch videos, write reports on paper and
take tests. That means producing, presenting and understanding information and
accessing and searching the contents of the course.
Inozu, Sahinkarakas and Yumru (2010) have pointed out
that “considering the global interest in the use of technology, and the
privileged place of computers and Internet in their lives, students’
interest in using these materials is a natural outcome of today’s world” (p. 17). That is why
“we need new competences to master a whole new digital world, not only by
acquiring technical skills, but also by gaining a deeper understanding of the
opportunities, challenges and even ethical questions posed by new
technologies.” (Figel, as cited in European Commission, 2007).
That is true because through Moodle, the cluster of
knowledge, skills and personal attitudes that affects an individual’s
ability to perform, encounters a favorable context. Thus, the students show a
good attitude to the broad information presented to them and exploit it in a
critical and systematic way. More specifically, Moodle encourages the use of
new technologies for effective communication in a scenario that is more
advanced than the traditional contact teaching.
Taking into account the focus of this research on the
communication of future international negotiators in a foreign language, the
potential of using this platform is remarkable, thanks to the interaction among
peers via Moodle’s activities and texts (including audio and video).
These learning situations are necessary to improve the students’ language
skills in English.
Thus, it is possible to integrate the Internet for
language learning goals (Brandl, 2002, 2005) in the curricula of Colombian
faculties as it complements conventional classroom instruction.
In fact, since 1988, at King College
University—just to mention an example—researchers and educators
have suggested that “group training in computer literacy, critical
thinking, or writing across the curriculum is necessary for faculty to become
responsible for the total education of their students” (Farmer, as cited
in U.S. Department of Education, 2002 ).
Method
This research was an action research project whose
terms “action” and “research” highlight the essential
features of this method: trying out ideas in
practice as a means of increasing knowledge about improving curriculum,
teaching, and learning (Kemmis & McTaggart, as cited in Ferrance, 2000).
The project was supported by multiple data sources such as online exchanges,
surveys, and tests. Observation also played an important role because the
innovative action research was used as a new method to teach an essential
subject of the curricula at UPBU. Thanks to this methodology, the participants
and I worked in a collaborative environment using Moodle. Therefore, the
research was carried out under a constructivist approach and within
Swain’s concept of collaborative dialogue. Moreover, the ultimate goal of
improving language learning was achieved.
Research and
Pedagogical Procedure
Based on action research, my purpose with this paper
is to develop a model based on competences at UPBU in order to help students
who take subjects in English. To do so, my role is to achieve an out- standing
role while applying the modalities that will guide the building of inimitable
competitive advantages. In turn, the steps taken to accelerate the learning
efforts have been as follows:
• Planning.
Setting up the objectives to determine the competences to be
developed during the semester.
• Selection
of the activities to accomplish the objectives. Hence, the number and
distribution of activities during the course are influenced by the credits of
the subject and the number of students in a course. Besides, the didactic
resources and their availability are established at this point. In this
theoretical context, the time assigned to each activity is determined according
to its complexity because different activities develop different competencies.
Therefore, an activity is selected because it is practical in the context with
the available resources (Biggs, 2005).
• Determination
of the evaluation criteria. An example of the list of evaluation activities is
shown in Table 2.
To do so, students were informed of the aforementioned
steps at the beginning of the semester. Lastly and broadly speaking, the
results of the lesson observation and the outcomes of the surveys were
juxtaposed to analyze the context and methods of development of key
competences; this research method was reinforced with analysis of scientific
literature and educational documents.
Data Collection
The present research relied on two techniques:
questionnaires and a collection of Moodle material (forums, workshops, exams,
etc.) throughout the course. Similarly, the accumulated experience in previous
courses helped us to check the progress that can be obtained with the new
approach grounded in the learning process of the participants. Besides, a deep
observation and analysis of the students’ evolution helped me and the
Faculty to come to conclusions about how competences have been improved because
the development of language skills implies a continuous evaluation.
Results
The following results show the scenarios that were
possible to apply during the semester in Foreign
Trade Courses. For instance, during lectures, the students had the
opportunity to interact with me and among themselves in English, especially
when they had read the assigned chapter before the class. Taking into account
that the vocabulary in the field of International Trade Regime is completely
new for the pupils, a previous reading has been shown to be necessary in order
to speed up the opportunity to use the oral language of the students.
With workshops developed in groups, the competences of
communication and share work permitted more dialogue to increase human
relations, which are very important for international negotiators. Those
proposed workshops were assigned with the intention to improve good writing;
for that purpose, students were required to present ideas shaped, organized and
refined properly even though business writing is typically characterized by a
simple and direct style.
Furthermore, as writing is a part of communication
that includes the skills of listening, speaking, and reading (Cortese, 2001),
the students spend a great deal of time on composing essays and reviews of
papers, articles and videos; that is why writing also comprises the analysis of
visual and verbal texts. For instance, when asked to write about the lessons that Latin America can learn
from China’s rapid economic development outside the classroom, where
learning continues, some of the answers were full of clear arguments like the
ones found in Figure 1.
Students were able to allow more time for the act of
writing, shown to be very rewarding because as long as pupils had time to think
and communicate they could produce a more compelling and complete document, a
fact that is reflected in the grades obtained. As has been the conclusion of
some studies, “It looks as if students getting a high exam score have a
steady workload throughout the semester, and work a little more in the week
before handing in a report and not in the last moment” (Christensen, Vigild,
Thomsen, Szabo & Horsewell, 2009, p. 5).
More important, followed by their intrinsic motivation
and creativity, some students added pictures to their texts to reinforce their
ideas and self-expression. That initiative was very intelligent because those
visual ads fulfill a pedagogical and an analytical function (Lund University,
2007).
Another writing activity seeking the highest level of
writing competence, but based on the modality of autonomous work, involved
students being asked to write a short report after watching a video at home.
Actually, with this activity I was able to assess not
only the writing skills, but also the motivation of the participants while
doing the activity due to the dedication of each of the students in developing
a report with the proper instructions and sequence of ideas. It was motivating
to find that some students used connectors to guide the reader to a clear
understanding of the topic; it was also valuable to include a conclusion in the
report. On the other hand, it was very disappointing to find that some students
just presented the ideas to have the teacher know that the video was understood
and the activity was done.
Some good examples of that activity are:
First of all I want
to talk about the aims of Doing Business in Colombia which provides a
quantitative measure of national regulations, departmental and municipal
authorities on starting a business and opens up opportunities for business
activity. According to the video, Colombia is located in the top 10 countries that
reformed the way of doing business for a third consecutive year. In Colombia,
the paperwork with the government to get any kind of permit or license was very
long and tedious.
To sum up, in the
video there is a number of people who said that doing business is making their
life easier and that is really helpful for our country because we must think
big, we must take advantage of our nature and the riches our country has.
Finally, there is a
very interesting program called TALK TO THE WORLD, which seeks to train new
employees and people in areas related to trade who are interested in learning
the English language.
Other texts show errors as follows:
I saw in the video,
is the process of how Colombia would generate greater foreign investment
through the opening of its processes. According what I saw in the video the
doing business is very important in Colombia because when the world bank and
his partners arrive they was helping the government and private sector in
simplifying business regulations and generating investment since two thousand
and five.
These kinds of assignments are necessary just as being
able to write reports is crucial for businessmen to support decision-making or
to solve a problem. They are an essential part of doing business and
one’s ability to be proficient in this area is critical toward the
pursuit of commercial success (McCarthy; Ronstadt, as cited in Thompson, 2005).
With respect to Hands-on activities, by the use of the
software known as Syscomer (to calculate the costs of an import/export), this
modality has proved to encourage students to work on the computers to take the
adequate steps to resolve a problem with real costs. This connection with reality
greatly motivates the pupils because it allows the applications of the
contents, especially since external practices are not available until the
seventh semester.
Regarding tutorials, these happened in a
non-systematic mode, and sometimes just via online, but they were useful in
supporting the students in a personalized way because as has been mentioned
above, they started the course with different levels in their communicative
competence in a foreign language. And
since the development of
communicative skills in language learning requires social interaction between the
teacher and the students and among the students themselves, the use of
computers has for a long time been regarded only as a support tool with regard
to certain skill areas. Rapid advances in technology and more compatible cross
platform applications now make the implementation of synchronous and
asynchronous learning tasks, in oral and written modes” (Cziko &
Park, as cited in Brandl, 2005, p. 16).
Further, tutorials facilitate individual and immediate
feedback about how to approach the activities in the new university scenario.
With regard to the distribution of the time in each
modality, it is appreciated that the students spend most of the time reading
and attending lectures (55%), and about one third (25%) participating in
workshops which included computer labs simulations; and almost another third
(20%) in autonomous work via Moodle and tutorials using forums. Those forums,
which were available for a limited time to help students to respond to the
others, represented virtual seminars. In that context, students posted their
answers following the online instructions in an environment of inquiry and
discovery which provided an excellent potential to enhance the interpretative
reading and the presentational writing skills.
And considering the results of the survey via http://freeonlinesurveys.com, the
pre-test determined that the student’s pre-knowledge of the vocabulary of
the course was limited to the following words: exports, imports, tariffs, DIAN, chamber of commerce; that is the
reason why they felt a lot of expectation during the course, because just 27%
of them had studied in a bilingual school. Consequently, for the question, Which words related to the Colombian regime
did you know at the beginning of the semester?, some answers were the following:
• I
honestly didn’t know much of it.
• Not
so many, just the ones that are similar to Spanish.
• None
of them, I learnt all the worlds in the semester.
More significantly, the preferred activating teaching
elements in the group were group activities (36%), theoretical classes (27%),
workshops (18%), individual activities (9%), and simulations (9%). Therefore,
practical exercises combined with work on cases, developed under the modality
of group work, are more appreciated by the pupils as approaches to learning.
This preference to work with colleagues permitted students to listen to the
others (in PowerPoint or Prezi presentations in front of the class) and to
respect differences of opinions.
Thereby, oral and listening communications skills were assessed not only
by the teacher but also by the rest of the class.
Other speaking and listening opportunities occurred
when inviting guest speakers, in debates, by retelling the text in one’s
own words, when asking questions, while watching videos and in group
discussions about exports and imports.
Herein, we had the opportunity to follow what research
works have identified as essential communicative abilities: correct speech;
rich vocabulary; understandable and fluent expression; tactful expression of one’s
opinion and clear pronunciation; appropriate intonations and regulation of
loudness and pace; pauses in speech; the use of correct standard language; the
use of facial expression and body language; attentive listening; eye contact
with an interlocutor and an attentive and tactful attitude in the process of
communication (Strakšienė, 2011, p. 131).
Nonetheless, a future proposed activity will be to ask
students to use an open-source recorder like Pamela for Skype to save their recordings about trade issues in
English; with this program, students can upload the MP3 file through the
assignment module. For sure, this task will enhance the conventional classroom
instruction.
Besides, more reading activities should be assigned in
the future because the reading of texts for retention and comprehension
requires the discipline of researching for papers in databases in order to
complete the knowledge provided by the teacher in printed articles or via
Moodle. To quote Strakšienė (2011), “the act of reading means
conveying the information encoded in the written text in a verbal form; to be
able to master and convey all the information of the text, one has not only to
perceive the content but also to feel the correct intonation of the text”
(p. 129).
In the end, it would be good to know how to stimulate
reading on their own due to the difficulty of changing study habits. Anyway,
the use of Moodle has that objective and it is a matter of time before we see
how study strategies develop during a reasonable period.
In the meantime, Moodle’s tools have served as a
supporting agent of the conventional classroom instruction. It has served as a
constructivist approach to the learning process of the international topics
taught in a foreign language, which in real life may help to develop new
products for existing or new markets. Needless to say, this whole series of
developments has been planned in a sequential and progressive manner and the
students were actively involved in the learning activity; as such, by the end
of the semester all of the students felt they had improved their communicative
skills in English.
Improvement of
Specific Competences and Language Abilities
The intention to develop and improve specific
competences and language abilities in the students was achieved to the extent
that they recognized they had better achievement in writing as they had plenty
of time to think and produce at their pace. Listening and reading were also
easier for them because Moodle was enriched with creative features such as
pictures, cartoons, and illustrative videos. Additionally, quick feedback was
given throughout the course via one-to-one messages within the platform.
With respect to exams and quizzes, students were
always eager to answer them in an online format, which in the end saved a lot
of time. Those online tests provide immediate results to the participants after
the test is completed; therefore, learners did not end up with doubts about
what was evaluated.
Students also said they had had less fear ex- pressing
themselves in English via Moodle as they were not in front of others. The
reason was that while some students have studied English abroad, others have
just studied in Colombia; therefore, there were different levels of language
abilities in the course. Nonetheless, those differences were easy to handle
thanks to the progress tracking feature that Moodle offers.
In brief, Moodle was worthwhile due to the fact that
it is “written by educationalists for educationlists” (Chidwick, as
cited in Moore, 2003). Besides, the platform is friendly and supportive to the
Moodle Community, which also worked together outside of class.
With that in mind, it can be said that bilingual
teachers at UPBU or at any other university have the responsibility to make
sure that students not only achieve the competences stated in the curricula but
also acquire the competences in the foreign language which will help them to
perform as successful professionals.
Among those competences, we find writing and speaking
(productive) and listening and reading (receptive), in English, in order to
respond to the globalized context. Therefore, it is recommended to start
planning classes using active teaching modalities and the supporting methods,
focusing on the development of competences and, if possible, evaluating based
on those competences.
As mentioned earlier, Moodle has represented to me to
be a useful tool to motivate the students to develop the planned activities in
order to help pupils acquire knowledge regarding foreign trade and, more
importantly, to being able to communicate like ambassadors in any culture in
which they do business. For that purpose, the factors that influenced the
development of the components of expression of pupil’s communicative
competences played an important role, as shown in Table 3.
Furthermore and notably, values-based attitudes towards
the communicative competence also deserved detailed attention (see Table 4).
With those components, lessons planning will be
easier.
Conclusions
After one year of using Moodle to teach a university
subject in English, I feel it can be concluded that the growing interest in
integrating computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools into language learning
along with the development of Internet technology have proved to be effective
(Zeng & Takatsuka, 2009). This is because Moodle impacts the language learning
of the students who interact among themselves and with the teacher as it offers
a social context that spurs engagement and motivation. It can be said that UPBU
students enrolled in the course of the present study improved their writing,
speaking, listening and reading skills by doing exercises and interacting with
peers at any time, and anywhere. In that process, learners communicated
language form and content (Swain, as cited in Zeng & Takatsuka, 2009).
Moreover, they collaboratively learned language, learned about language and
learned through language (Warschauer, as cited in Zeng & Takatsuka, 2009).
As students are nowadays more comfortable using
computer-mediated communication, Moodle helps to improve their levels of
language proficiency because it provides many opportunities to develop their
abilities thanks to the meaningful activities uploaded in the platform. It was
real in our case, due to the connection of the tasks given in English with the
real business world.
Moodle also served to enhance the language learning of
the students in and out of class because it builds a sense of community, thanks
to the frequent peer-peer interactions and conversational exchanges via texts.
So, engagement, motivation, and mutual understanding among peers facilitated the
co-construction of knowledge. Moreover, students asked for assistance, gained
confidence to express their opinions and respond to others, and practiced oral
and written English. As stated by Zeng and Takatsuka, “language learning
is seen to emerge through social mediation of collaborative activity”
(2009).
Other reasons to support the opportunities to improve
the receptive and productive skills in English were the quick feedback given to
the students, the real time interaction, and the creative tools uploaded in the
platform. By using Moodle, students felt the desire to use it even more to
share ideas. Interestingly, the assertion about the increasing development of
language competences was provided by the students themselves through their
comments in surveys. To sum up, in today’s world online learning is a
must (Moore, 2003), Moodle is an accessible learning
tool and UPBU students learned from it. Therefore, the results were positive
and the theoretical framework of recognized authors proved to be valid.
Limitations
The principal limitation encountered was that there is
not a unique and formal process in the Faculty to get feedback or value the
competencies that should be assessed at the courses offered in a foreign
language. This happens because broad knowledge is still given more credit than
competences and skills, in particular because the model of active learning has
not been established in our universities.
That is the reason why grades are basically being
given based on the students’ specific knowledge of the prescribed course
contents. In turn, the research into the development of the competences in high
schools in Colombia and, more specifically, the acquisition of communicative
competence are still at the initial stage.
Moreover, the high absenteeism of the students of the 4-hour weekly
module, even though it is compulsory to attend classes according to university
regulations, reduced the potential to increase the learning outcomes (verbal
expression, attentive listening, rich vocabulary, clear formulation of
thoughts, among others).
1. Retrieved from http://docs.moodle.org/22/en/About_Moodle
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About the
Author
Ana María Correa Díaz holds a Master’s degree in
Business Administration from Universidad EAFIT, Colombia. Her research
interests are ICT, foreign trade and intercultural issues. She is currently a
professor at some universities in Bucaramanga, Colombia.
Appendix: Questionnaire Used for Student’s
Feedback on the Development of Competences During the
Semester
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana-Bucaramanga
Goal: To obtain information to improve the development of
the classes taught in English.
Instruction: Please take a minute to complete this survey based on
your critical opinion.
1. Did you study in a bilingual school? Yes___ No___
2. Which words related to the Colombian government
did you know at the beginning of the semester?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
3. Which of the following modalities do you prefer to
study under?
____ Theoretical classes
____ Group activities
____ Individual activities
____ Simulations-Syscomer
____ Workshops
4. Do you prefer a quantitative measurement from a
questionnaire? Yes___ No___
5. How many books in English do you read during the
year?
____ 0
____ 1
____ 2
____ 3 to 5
____ 6 to 10
____ 11 or more
6. Do you usually read before class? Yes___ No___
7. Were you highly motivated to do well in the course? Yes___ No___
8. Do you feel a fear of making mistakes? Yes___ No___
9. Do you think communication in business English is difficult? Yes___ No___
10. Do you use English outside the classroom setting? Yes___ No___
11. Have you
developed effective critical thinking skills during the class? Please explain.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
12. What is your learning outcome now that we have
finished the course?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
The survey is now finished. Thanks for participating
in our study!