Exploring University English Preparatory School Students
Abstract
Gözde FINDIK
The aim of this study is to understand English preparatory school students’ perceptions and preferences for self-regulated language learning with the aid of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The study was conducted with 85 prep-school language learners at Gaziantep University who got accepted to different majors. A questionnaire consisted of two parts including 5 Likert Scale questions measuring the participants’ self-efficacy for self-regulating via ICT, language backgrounds and demographic information of the participants was sent to the participants through an email. The study was based on quantitative data collection and analysis. In the process of data analysis, not only descriptive analysis but also Mann-Whitney U-test and chi-square test were calculated to understand the relations between self-regulated learning strategies with ICT and demographic variables. The main finding in this study was that there are no significant differences between female and male participants and low and upper level participants as well in terms of their ICT use for self-language learning experience. According to the results, the participants mostly preferred to practice their listening and vocabulary skills through ICT tools. Additionally, the results also show that students need help to use ICT in their self-learning outside the classroom. More researches should be done to direct teachers how to facilitate their students’ language learning process. For this reason, the other crucial point is that both teachers and students should be guided, trained and motivated to apply ICT tools in their language education process and students should be encouraged to manage their learning at their self-pace.
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