期刊名称：Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching (e-FLT)
电子版ISSN：0219-9874
出版年度：2005
卷号：2
期号：1
出版社：National University of Singapore
摘要：Many authors consider the ability to work collectively as an important factor in autonomous learning. Another related factor is the management of the learning situation by learners themselves (i.e. self-direction). These two dimensions of autonomy will be looked at through the presentation of an experimental French-Australian project “Le français en (première) ligne”, which consisted in having French students in a M.A. program in French as a foreign language design multimedia activities for Australian students, beginners in French. The French student teachers carried out their collective work in several ways: students worked in pairs to create web-based resources, with an extensive tutorial feedback on ICT, and the entire class communicated about the created resources.The theoretical framework and the experimental context are presented in section 1 of this article. The chosen methodology is case study, based on a number of ecological data (mainly students' multimedia production, ethnographic observation, interviews, and questionnaires). Data analysis was conducted concentrating on the two issues of self-directed learning and collaboration, and their potential for teacher training in multimedia. In section 2, the authors then consider some of the effects of self-directed learning within the course. The results show that this learning mode augments motivation, but only if enough tutoring is provided. Subsequently, in section 3, the paper attempts to examine which collective dynamics have benefited individual learning processes (or not). An analysis of several modes of collective work was conducted, showing that half of the student pairs really collaborated while the others only cooperated, sometimes in a well-balanced mode (observed among two pairs), sometimes in an unbalanced mode (observed among two other pairs). There was no collaboration among the whole class but a positive competition was observed. Having Australian students as a target-group helps to make the multimedia production meaningful, especially in its cultural dimensions. Finally, in section 4, the authors propose a global assessment of the course, showing that the French students, although they had low computer literacy initially, feel capable, at the end of the course, of integrating ICT into a curriculum for French as a foreign language.
