English Online Course –
An E-Learning Network Application
Lívia Szedmina*
Department of Foreign Languages
slivia@vts.su.ac.yu
Ágnes Szabó, MA.*
Department of Foreign Languages
aszabos@vts.su.ac.yu
Szilveszter Pletl, PhD.*
Department of Informatics
pszilvi@vts.su.ac.yu
*Polytechnical Engineering College
24000 Subotica, Marka Oreskovica 16
Serbia and Montenegro
Abstract: This paper presents the network application ‘English online course’ with special
focuse on its advantages from the language teacher’s point of view as well as from the
language learner’s point of view. These benefits include customized learning speed,
allowing the teacher to take up the role of tutor and enabling the students to test themselves
and follow their progress in language learning. This program is also a form of
examination, saving the teacher the time needed for correction and ruling out subjectivity
in the marking process.
Keywords:e-learning, English language teaching
1 Introduction
The development of information technology has led to more and more
people owning PCs, and software being used in all walks of life. The area of IT
that specifically deals with education aided by the use of computers is called elearning. Language learning greatly benefits from the new possibilities that elearning has brought. The main goal of e-learning programs is to comprise
valuable learning aids to be used by students alongside the classical forms of
learning.
This paper will present the network application ‘English online’, a form
of e-learning that is currently being used at the Polytechnical College in Subotica.
It was written as a thesis work in 2002 by Szilveszter Pletl, PhD (supervisor) and
the student Anasztazia Kokai. The language supervisors for this program were
Agnes Szabo, MA with her assistants Monika Basic and Livia Szedmina. The
first part of this work deals with the program from the point of view of the user,
while the second part will be devoted to the benefits of this application in the
language learning process of our students.
The aim of this program was to provide the students with some
supplementary material that enables them to check their knowledge of the English
language, practice the material covered in classes and follow their own progress.
2 The Description Of ‘English Online Course’
The application can be found under the following address:
http://english.vts.su.ac.yu. The content is based on the textbook ‘Science Reader’
used at this college forming a series of tests. These tests can be divided into two
parts: the first section of tests is vocabulary-based, designed to practice the
meaning of words and sentences recurring in the textbook.
When the students visit the site for the first time, they need to click on the
‘new user’ button to register. This opens a registration form where they have enter
some personal data, including their username and e-mail address. After having
filled in this short form, the students will be automatically sent a password with
which they will log in the future.
The program administrators enter the site by clicking on the ‘admin’
button, this will lead them to the main page with the possibilities of adding new
material, creating new tests, editing the present sentences or changing the answers.
This part of the site is not accessible without a special password.
Fig. 1. Registration
Under the title ‘Stop and Check’ the main page offers a brief description of what
material the tests are based on, and how to use the program. The buttons to be seen
on this page are the following:

‘Change password’ – if there is a need to change the password

‘My history’ – here the student can follow his or her own progress and check
how they have done on previous tests

‘Word practice’ – providing further practice sentences to all tests in the
vocabulary section

‘Logout’ – if the student wants to exit the application
‘English online’ contains seventeen tests (with the possibility for further
addition or edition of tests) covering all together seventeen units of our textbook
‘Scince Reader’ and four basic areas of grammar: the tenses, the use of articles,
conditional sentences and the passive voice. On the bottom of the page there is a
button termed ‘exam’, compiling a test based on the entire material covered.
Fig. 2. Main page
2. 1. Vocabulary section
The first eight tests aim at consolidating the students’ vocabulary knowledge.
The structure of a test in this section is as follows: it contains fifteen sentences
taken from three units (texts) from the textbook. The tests are numbered one to
eight, with the titles of the texts where the sentences originate from added in
brackets. The classical multiple choice test form was adopted: two words are
underlined in each sentence, with four possible answers, only one of the optional
answers is correct. The student has to click on the field of the answer that is
believed to be correct (the answer ‘a’ is automatically marked but this does not
necessarily mean it is also the right solution). Once a test is opened the student has
a time limit of thirty minutes to complete the tasks.
Fig. 3. Test 1 with the time limit shown
After having gone through all sentences, the test is then sent and the solutions
to the test are immediately returned.
On the results page the following statistics are presented:

the results given in percentages

the number of correct answers

the number of incorrect answers
The user has the possibility to see each task with the solution that he or she
had given marked with a star if correct, or painted red, if incorrect.
One of the advantages of this program is that there is no time delay between
taking a test and receiving feedback. The students can then immediately evaluate
for themselves whether they are satisfied with their results, or wish to practise
further. If they do, they choose the ‘word practice’ option where the same words
and their synonyms are practised in different forms of tasks: matching two
columns, translation, gap-filling. Since these tasks are the broken down, shorter
version of the original test, the time for doing them is also limited to no more than
seven minutes. Again the user has the possibility to complete these exercises, send
their ‘right answers’ and see the results immediately.
Fig. 4. Results page
The tests can be taken an infinite number of times as the multiple choice
answers are rotated each time the test is opened. This serves to prevent students
from possibly memorizing the solutions in order to achieve better test results.
2. 2. Grammar section
The tests numbered nine to seventeen cover all main grammar sections
covered by the textbook. The basic structure of the tests is identical to those
previously described. These tests either focus on one specific area (e.g. the use of
articles, test 9) or contrast two grammar items (e.g. the present simple and present
continuous tenses, test 10). As before, each sentence contains two gaps ‘to be
filled’ with the grammatically correct answer out of the four offered.
The result section of the grammar tests differs only in automatically
providing some comment to the correct answer. It is explained why that particular
answer is the correct one, gives the general rule and lists further examples for the
grammar structure in question. This part of the tests, however, fails to offer extra
practice opportunities.
2. 3. Exam
Clicking on the ‘exam’ option will create a test made up of 40 tasks
randomly selected from the entire database of tasks. Thus the tasks will include an
equal number of grammar-related questions and vocabulary-based tasks. The
students have 90 minutes to complete the test.
This test-version serves a double purpose: on the one hand, the students
can test themselves to see to what extent they have mastered the material, while on
the other hand this exam can be used as ‘real’ exam, the final exam to be taken at
the end of their English courses at this college. A specific function on the results
page reflects this purpose: besides the success rate in given percentage and the
number of right and wrong answers, the results include the mark attained in the
exam.
3 Educational Benefits
Students are encouraged to use this program to deepen their knowledge
of the course material. The advantages are manifold: learning at their own speed;
using ‘modern’ learning methods (not the only ‘old-fashioned’ way); allowing the
teacher to leave the ‘frontal teaching only’ mode and slip into the role of a tutor or
monitor; and last but not least, enabling the language learner to become more and
more independent in their use of the foreign language. ‘English online’ is also a
form of examination, thus saving the teacher a lot of time.
Learning speed is one of the most important issues a language teacher
faces. There is fairly little chance for a teacher to be teaching a group of people
whose learning speed is similar. More often than not the teacher will be faced with
a mixed group: mixed concerning both previous knowledge and learning speed. In
addition to this, the amount of material to be covered in the classes often leaves
rather little time to be devoted to furthering those students who need more time to
take new material in. What this program offers is the opportunity for the teacher to
present the new material, do some practice in class, then refer the students to this
application for further study at home. Seen from the students’ perspective, they are
given the chance to decide for themselves which parts of the material they have
completely mastered in class, or which units need additional revision. As for
grammar issues, very often the explanations given in class are too given fast, or
there are not enough exercises to consolidate a particular grammar item. By using
this application the student can go back and check the rules and explanations
again, then do a test to see if he or she has understood the rule.
The rapid development of PCs has caused them to be seen in language
learning as much more ‘up-to-date’ learning tools than books, realia or audio
material. This is partly due to the fact that learning with the help of a computer
means the student is saved from ‘sitting in a boring class’ and ‘doing what the
teacher tells you’, and partly because of its interactive nature. Reading from a
textbook is perceived as less interesting than marking right answers by clicking on
the mouse or typing into the gaps, both functions included in ‘English online’.
While presenting new material in class often requires the teacher to take
on the ‘frontal’ role. This includes standing in front of the class, underlining the
explanation with notes and examples written on the blackboard. It is, however,
beneficial for students when at times the teacher takes a few steps back and allows
them to search for the solutions to certain problems for themselves. Besides the
regular English classes our students are offered consultations throughout the
course of the semester when questions arising during the use of this program are
answered by the teacher.
So far only one of the functions of this application was discussed, the
opportunity to practice and consolidate the material covered in classes. The second
function is the possibility for students to take exams online. At any time during
their practice sessions they can take a test to find out what they know. They can
see the progress they have made compared to the previous test by the percentage,
and ultimately, the mark they get in the test. This gives the students an objective
picture of how successfully they have acquired the material.
The term ‘objective’ also refers to the evaluation of the exam when it is taken ‘for
real’. Since the correction of the test is done entirely by the program, and so is the
marking, this rules out any possible subjectivity on the teacher’s side. In this
context this application not only helps to avoid subjectivity, but saves the teacher a
great amount of valuable time that is otherwise taken up by selecting the material
to be tested, compiling the tests, photocopying the test sheets, and eventually
correcting and marking the exam papers. By using the program as for
testing the time saved can be used for additional consultations.
Conclusion
In this paper I made no attempt to prove that this application is to a perfect
program suitable to completely substitute the ‘live’ teacher. It does not aim to be
anything else but a supplementary material to be used by students for practice
purposes testing their knowledge. It also serves as a form of exam, with the
additional benefits of saving time and avoiding subjectivity. Records have shown
that students find this site helpful, in the process of memorizing the meanings of
new words or grasping the essence of specific grammar items.
References
[1]
Kókai, Anasztázia: Internet technológián alapuloó interaktív program az
angol nyelv oktatására és vizsgáztatására (diplomamunka) Gábor Dénes
Főiskola, 2002.
[2]
http://www.wesselenyi.com/angol/ESL.htm
[3]
http://angoltanulas.lap.hu/
[4]
http://e-learning.com
[5]
elc.polyu.edu.hk/LanguageLearningResources/usefulresources.htm
[6]
www.eltweb.com/liason/Elearning/