The Evaluation of Online English Reading Websites: College-level EFL Learners’ Perspectives

• Main Authors: YANG, YI-JHEN, 楊宜臻
• Other Authors: Yu-Chih Doris Shih
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/20613808916930961128

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 英國語文學系碩士班 === 103 === The aim of this study is to investigate how Taiwanese college-level EFL students evaluate good English reading websites for self-learning of English reading, and their preferences for English reading websites. The research questions are: (1) Is there any difference of the English reading websites evaluations by the learners from different backgrounds, specifically between English majors and non-English majors? (2) Is there any relationships between learners’ motivations in using these online English reading websites and their evaluations of the websites ? (3) what are learners' preferences toward using online English reading websites? The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the collected data. Data were collected through a website evaluation questionnaire by Yang and Chan (2008) and interviews. They were analyzed using descriptive statistics, inferential statistics that includes Mann-Whitney U Tests and Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and content analysis. The results of this study showed that there was no significant difference between English majors and non-English majors in their evaluations of the three online English reading websites (in terms of General Information, Integrated English Learning, Reading, and motivation). However, there were some significant differences in their evaluations for certain questions, specifically related to sections of “General Information” and “Reading”. In addition, the outcomes indicated that there was significant relationship between students’ motivations in using these online English reading websites and their evaluations of the websites, specifically related to sections of “ Motivation” versus “General Information” and “ Motivation” versus “Integrated English Learning”. Moreover, the results demonstrated that students’ preferences toward online English reading websites varied based on their learning experience. However, they preferred the websites with physical characteristics—meaning the features that form the general structure of websites, contextual characteristics — meaning the content of the websites, and pedagogical characteristics —meaning teaching and learning processes concerned with the use of methods, approaches, comments, and everything else related to education (Kartal & Uzun, 2010). Findings of this study suggest that autonomous learning is a current trend. Online autonomous leaning in this study serves as the main way for learners to learn English beyond the limitation of time and space. By using online English reading websites, students can practice and improve their English learning abilities, get information from different topics, do exercises based on their level of proficiency and so on. To assure students’ motivation in using these online English reading websites, it is suggested when choosing a good online reading website that it should be examined and well-understood by both teachers and learners. Also, it is suggested that instructors and students can make good use of the findings from this study as a standard for choosing appropriate and good online English reading websites.