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Online language education courses: a Chinese case from an ecological perspective

Online language education courses: a Chinese case from an ecological perspective 1IntroductionVarious forms of online English programs and courses have exploded in popularity over the last decade with the development of online educational technology, the widespread accessibility of the internet, and a huge demand for English learning in China. However, due to the complexity and difficulty of researching synchronous one-to-one online courses, most existing research focuses on asynchronous online courses/programmes, which fails to provide theoretical guidance or insight into good/effective practices and practical instruction to meet the needs of the fast-growing online educational market in China and elsewhere. Ecology, the study of organisms and their relationships with the environment, has been adopted in second-language acquisition (SLA) and computer-assisted language learning (CALL) studies to explain factors that influence the learning environment and to provide insights into improving language learning (Berglund, 2009; Peng, 2012). In the words of van Lier (2004b, p. 11), the aim of the ecological approach is to understand “what is it in this environment that makes things happen the way they do”, which involves the study of context, movement, process and action. Thus, we applied van Lier’s ecological theory in this study as an analytical approach to examine the usefulness of and students’ views on one-to-one online oral courses. Subsequently, we examined the positive and negative perspectives of the programme that shaped learning. In addition, helpful and challenging aspects of the course were analysed and explained with four organising constructs of the ecology of language learning: perception, action, relation and quality (van Lier, 2004a). This enabled the development of an online EFL instructional framework that could be employed in China and elsewhere.2Literature review2.1Online language education coursesIn many parts of the world, online learning is becoming one of the most significant trends in educational settings, from K12 to post-secondary. According to Allen and Seaman (2003), online learning refers to learning that occurs entirely or substantially over the internet. With the rapid development of technology and the widespread availability and accessibility of internet connections, online learning programs have evolved from video courses to synchronous online courses over video platforms. Currently, a combination of synchronous and asynchronous online delivery is available using a wide range of platforms and methods (Watson, 2008). As one of the fastest-growing trends in educational uses of technology, online learning has developed into various forms, including blended teaching, hybrid teaching and fully online teaching. Although these delivery terms may overlap in many cases, they differ considerably in terms of their definitions and descriptions.Distance learning was a pre-Internet form of learning that was conducted through correspondence courses and one-way video with no in-person teaching taking place, meaning that students communicated with teachers by mail. More recently, distance learning has moved online, using the Internet to deliver instructions and facilitate communication via a wide range of systems and methods on any connected device. Therefore, distance learning can refer to a mix of more traditional methods (such as correspondence courses and teleconferencing) and more updated online learning environments, such as those in blended courses, hybrid courses and fully online courses (Blake, 2011). As the latest form of distance education, online learning has gained popularity both in universities and K12 education as a way of enhancing the quality of learning experiences and outcomes.According to Bonk and Graham (2012), “blended teaching” is defined as a combination of face-to-face instruction and computer-mediated instruction, while “hybrid teaching” is defined as a combination of scheduled classroom sessions and online meetings (Arispe & Blake, 2012). It should be noted that the terms blended instruction and hybrid teaching are used interchangeably and are not clearly defined in the literature. Blended instruction caters to a wide range of learning styles, with face-to-face instruction fostering interactions and deeper learning, while online learning activities facilitate self-paced and extended learning. Accordingly, this approach was widely adopted before the COVID-19 pandemic as an effective teaching approach and spawned various teaching models, such as the flipped classroom model, where students access the course content before class and then practise under the guidance of the teacher or exchange ideas with their peers face to face. As we move into the post-pandemic world, hybrid teaching – with some choosing the remote mode, some opting to interact in person and others switching between the two options – will probably grow more popular in work and education settings. While blended/hybrid instruction is intended to be an enhancement of face-to-face instruction, purely online instruction (with all instruction on content entirely delivered over the internet) serves as a replacement for face-to-face instruction (Means et al., 2013).Currently, there are two forms of online language courses: hybrid and fully online. The latter can be asynchronous (i.e. conducted at different times), synchronous (i.e., in real time) or a mixture of the two. Synchronous online teaching has gained increasing popularity in higher education over the past decade (Al Fadda, 2019) and has become a possible option for language teaching, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, extant studies that investigated synchronous online teaching were conducted in contexts where students were not deprived of opportunities to meet their teachers or peers in person (Cheung, 2021). In addition, the scale and modes of online courses prior to the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be compared to the period during the pandemic, in which almost all courses are delivered online. Over the past two years, there has been a rapid transition to online delivery of courses worldwide, both in tertiary settings (Al-Amin et al., 2021; Harsch et al., 2021; Lin & Gao, 2020; Rigo & Mikuš, 2021) and in K12 education (Cheung, 2021; Guo & Chen, 2020; Kurt et al., 2022).With rapid advancements in CALL, many online platforms and tools have also been developed to facilitate asynchronous and synchronous language learning and teaching. A popular example is the massive open online courses (MOOCs), which were developed by numerous public and private educational institutions. In private education settings, this has proved effective for reaching out to and engaging with individual learners of the digital age on a one-to-one basis anytime and anywhere. Researchers have explored the role of MOOCs in language learning over the past decade. They revealed that although general language MOOCs provide valuable opportunities for learning languages (Mısır et al., 2018; Sidorenko, 2014), many MOOCs are mostly conducted in an asynchronous online mode that does not support interactions in real time over distance. It has been suggested that asynchronous learning should be incorporated into a synchronous online environment, which is especially important in language education, as it would provide learners with opportunities to practice and develop interpersonal communication skills (Arispe & Blake, 2012; Jabeen & Thomas, 2015).2.2Online English learning and teaching in ChinaOnline English learning and teaching in China has generally followed the same trend of transitioning from traditional distance learning to blended learning and, more recently, to fully online learning. When China opened itself to the outside world and edged toward modernisation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, adults developed a strong motivation to learn English in order to access better job opportunities, understand technical material and study abroad. As a result, educational institutions and companies have launched various courses to meet these needs, which has advanced the development of online courses, especially for adult learners in China. This boom in online education has boosted the development of teaching modes and learning support services in terms of personalising learning to meet the needs of distance teaching, as well as promoting collaborative, flexible and blended learning. Online education courses were included in the project of national selected courses construction for the first time in 2007. There has been a rapidly growing trend of incorporating Internet-based educational technology into language teaching and learning in China since 2012, when the Chinese government issued a Ten-year Development Plan for Educational Technology (2011–2020), aiming to promote the incorporation of Internet-based technology into teaching and learning in K12 and higher education institutions. The development of Internet-based technology and the policy support greatly encouraged college teachers to innovate teaching modes in English teaching. For example, Hu and Wu (2014) investigated the feedback of students on the MOOC-based flipped classroom teaching mode for college English and proposed that this teaching mode is conducive to the deep integration of information technology and foreign language teaching. Yang et al. (2017) conducted a study on the practical use of a blended teaching model in the course ‘English Communication in Daily Life’ offered by Tsinghua University and suggested that online and offline teaching models should be integrated appropriately to foster various types of communication in interaction to ensure the quality of blended teaching.In March 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE) launched a national smart platform of education (www.smartedu.cn) to provide users with a wide array of courses and education services, which integrates China’s platforms for primary and middle school education, vocational education and higher education, as well as the platform for employment services for college graduates. However, the integration of online technology into teaching and learning in Chinese tertiary education is still developing (Huang et al., 2020). Even though learners in China use mobile devices to support their English language learning outside the classroom, their use of the Internet with a learning focus at both the tertiary (Huang et al., 2020; Zhou, 2016) and K12 levels (Li et al., 2014) is still insufficient with regard to their acceptance of and intentions to use the Internet-based technology for learning. A study by Kan and Tang (2018) on 148 adult learners’ mobile-assisted English language learning practice revealed that teachers play a very limited role as perceived by students who expect more support from teachers for technology-supported language learning outside of class. That may partly explain why fully online language learning was in high demand in specialised and commercial online educational contexts, such as online education institutes and one-to-one language tutoring, especially for adult learners who have the need to expand learning after work or after class. With their convenience, cost-effectiveness and flexibility, fully online courses provided by education companies cater to adult learners’ learning needs and are gaining popularity. Education companies have designed oral English courses with small class sizes and student-centred learning modes to meet the diverse needs of learners and the educational market. For example, HiTalk is a tutoring platform tailored specifically for adult English learners and was designed by a leading online education company (Hujiang). This platform mainly focuses on oral English courses with one instructor teaching one student at a time (at a distance), and students are free to choose the topic, time and instructor for each lesson. In the current study, we focused on improving one-to-one oral English courses based on similar courses in the online education market in China.While neither of the online delivery formats (hybrid courses or fully online) are inherently superior, they both provide similar affordances, such as flexibility, allowing for personalised and authentic materials, supporting communicative tasks and language learning communities, and fostering autonomous learning (e.g., Goertler, 2019). The major challenge with the online delivery of language courses resides in the facilitation of learning-conducive interactions (Kuo et al., 2014; Lin et al., 2017). As proposed by Moore (1989), there are three broad types of interactions that are essential for the success of online language learning: learner–content, learner–instructor and learner–learner. However, to foster meaningful interactions and social presence, there are some issues that require careful planning and attention during the implementation of online language courses: (1) establish communication practices; (2) provide immediate and meaningful feedback; (3) be visible, present and authentic; and (4) foster a learning community (Gacs et al., 2020). Furthermore, successful online learning strategies and time-management skills should also be developed and taught by the instructor to help promote learner autonomy (Lai & Gu, 2011; Ranalli, 2012). In this study, teaching implications will be provided based on van Lier’s (2004b) theoretical framework and good, effective practice with the aim of improving online language courses.Although there are existing studies on interactive online courses in foreign countries and in China (Cheung, 2021; Jabeen & Thomas, 2015; Lee, 2016; Lin et al., 2017; Harsch et al., 2021), most of them have been conducted in school contexts with large class sizes. Published teaching and learning research on online language courses, particularly in informal contexts (such as one-to-one online language courses), is yet to develop, even though these courses are commonplace and in high demand in China. One such exceptional study was conducted by White et al. (2021), who investigated one-to-one synchronous Chinese online language teaching via videoconferencing and developed a model to guide enquiry into technology-enhanced language learning environments and teacher awareness of the affordances and complexities of those environments. To provide some insights into oral English courses and to fill the research gap in specialised and commercial online education in China, in the current study, we examined the usefulness of and students’ perceptions of the one-to-one online oral EFL course. Subsequently, based on van Lier’s ecology of learning, we delineated the positive aspects that can encourage learning and the negative aspects that require improvement. To gain a better understanding of the ideal learning environment for learners taking online oral lessons, we adopted a theoretical framework from an ecological perspective.2.3Theoretical framework: an ecological perspectiveWhen ecology is applied in language learning, ecological linguistics “focuses on language as relations between people and the world, and on language learning as ways of relating more effectively to people and the world” (van Lier, 2004b, p. 4). In this study, the teacher and the participants are examined on the basis of the circumstances in which they teach/learn English, how they interact in class activities, how they connect with each other and what they think of their teaching/learning, along with other factors. These can be categorised under the four central concepts of ecology used by van Lier (2004a) – perception, action, relation and quality – which refer to processes that occur in a context with varying degrees of effectiveness and the realisation of control and power in weaker or stronger ways, thus “influencing the types of activities and relations that can be developed, and ultimately determining the quality or pedagogical work in the setting” (2004a, p. 85). In the current study, the four basic organising constructs are used as analytical tools and as the theoretical framework through which the inner relationships of the students’ learning/teacher’s teaching in this course can be examined.2.3.1PerceptionIn terms of perception, the perceiver is considered an “active explorer of information and the information is picked up partly driven by the purposes of the perceiver” (van Lier, 2004a, p. 87). With the multisensory characteristic of perception comes the notion of ‘various senses’ (particularly auditory and visual) working in tandem to facilitate meaning when linguistic information alone is incomprehensible (van Lier, 2004a, p. 89). In this study, the student is considered a perceiver who actively searches for and gathers information from a variety of sources available in the learning environment through multiple senses based on their various purposes (such as improving interpersonal communication skills).2.3.2ActionAction refers to an “activity in one’s environment (that) brings forth the affordances in those environments that are relevant to the agent” (van Lier, 2004a, p. 92). Importantly, action must be taken if learners want to perceive. As stated by van Lier (2004a), “to perceive, we must act, and to act, we must perceive” (p. 92). In other words, learners must act to gather the linguistic information they need by doing the activities (e.g. projects and tasks) structured in the curriculum with scaffolding provided by the teacher. In this study, activity can refer to online learning activities, such as preview, role-play and free talk provided for learners, as well as corrective feedback from the teacher as scaffolding for language learning.2.3.3RelationWhen discussed in this paper, the term relation refers to how a different self is constructed through the influence of three other constructs in this theory (perception, action and quality) and how they interact with each other. The self is seen as past-, present- and future-oriented (Colapietro, 1988; Wiley, 1994). Identities can be projections as well as projectors of the self and serve to connect the self to the world in a multiplicity of ties, roles, aspirations and practical activities (van Lier, 2004a, p. 96). When learning a new language, learners need to develop new identities to reconnect themselves with their new surroundings, which requires reciprocity between the person and the host community (i.e., the teacher and peers) (van Lier, 2004a, p. 96). Therefore, a welcoming host environment is of great importance to the success of language learning.2.3.4QualityFrom van Lier’s perspective, the quality of education cannot be measured by test scores, since the most important elements of a good and rich educational experience are not assessable. According to van Lier (2004a, p. 98), the concept of learning is to test whether a learner is able to adapt to the learning environment in increasingly effective and successful ways. In terms of language learning, learners increasingly engage in learning and successfully acquire some aspects of language. As van Lier explains in an ecological way, language learning is “engagement” rather than “input”. In this study, quality is interpreted as EFL learners’ engagement with the one-to-one online oral course, meaning how they interact with the teacher in class activities and connect to their peers and the teacher after class.2.4Rationale for using van Lier’s framework and research questionsIn the Chinese context, van Lier’s framework has been adopted to investigate EFL teachers’ use of online technology for language teaching (Hu et al., 2020). According to van Lier (2004a, p. 86), the four basic constructs of perception (driven by different purposes of learning), action (activities-based learning), relation (new identities) and quality (engagement with the learning environment) are interrelated in different situations. Since the factors influencing students’ learning are diverse (involving the teacher, the learner, the language, the online learning environment and the dynamics that emerge among these), and the inner relationships of the factors are complicated, adopting an ecological approach can help us obtain a holistic understanding of the personal and interactional processes of students’ language development and their perceptions, class activities and self-construction, as well as their engagement with the learning environment (van Lier, 2004a, p. 86). Thus, van Lier’s ecological framework is ideal for the current research, which explores the usefulness of a one-to-one oral English course and the participants’ views of the online learning experience. To provide more insights into the one-to-one online oral English course in China, this study is guided by the following two research questions:RQ1:To what extent did the students make progress in speaking after the one-to-one online oral English course?RQ2:What are the learners’ perceptions about this course, and what are the main factors that influenced these perceptions?3Method3.1Context and participant informationAn invitation together with a link to an introduction of the study and the course requirements was sent through a widely used social platform in China called WeChat to recruit participants. This was a one-instructor-to-one-student online oral English course delivered by one instructor who had worked in an online English education platform for a year. As the experiment was conducted during the period of the Spring Festival, it was difficult to recruit large numbers of participants. Ultimately, 18 students who were either university students or graduates in China agreed to participate in the research. The variety of students’ background information ensured representative and holistic findings in this small-scale study. Due to practical constraints, three lessons (each lasting 25 min) were delivered to each student, and the lessons were free of charge. Participants were informed that they were free to opt in or out of the study at any point in time and that all the collected data would be kept confidential. The online survey was anonymous, and participants were required to answer each question honestly since the course lecturer (also one of the researchers) would like to collect feedback for improvement. The lessons were delivered to participants within three weeks, each participant receiving one lesson per week so that he/she may have time to digest and practice after class, and a total of 54 lessons were conducted by the course lecturer. Learners were required to make an appointment at least 4 h before having a lesson. The three lessons focused on daily topics: (1) meeting people and talking about jobs; (2) eating out with friends; (3) going on a business trip. These topics aimed to help participants learn useful language for everyday communication. The average English proficiency of the participants was intermediate or high-intermediate, and they all had a need to improve their English-speaking skills. A quasi-experimental one-group design (without a control group) (Brown & Rodgers, 2002) was used due to the small number of students. Information pertaining to the participants is provided in Table 1.Table 1:Participant information.NumberParticipants (pseudonyms)GenderRegionEnglish proficiencyJobAge1GaoF (Female)ShanghaiCET-4Travel Agent252YangM (Male)GuangdongCET-6Postgraduate263LiFJiangsuHigh schoolKindergarten Teacher244DannieFSichuanIELTS 7English Teacher275SunnyFSichuanIELTS 6Land Agent256CaoFInner MongoliaTOEFL 70Postgraduate257LiuFGuangdongIELTS 6College Teacher248ErinFShanghaiCET-6Safety Assessor289MaFJiangsuCET-6Postgraduate2410XiaofangFShanghaiCET-6CRA Inspector2411AiqingFGuangdongTEM-8Foreign Trader2512LiangFJiangsuCET-4Undergraduate2013HuahuaFGuangdongGET-6Buyer2414BillyFGuangdongCET-6Doctor3515KongFJiangsuIELTS 6Postgraduate2316ChenFGuangdongCET-6Undergraduate2117PanFGuangdongCET-6Undergraduate2018LuMGuangdongCET-4Bidder243.2Course model, data collection and analysis3.2.1Course modelIn this study, we created a course model (see Figure 1) based on one-to-one online oral English courses used by leading online educational companies in China. The study’s one-to-one online course was a reproduction based on the course model and involved three main parts for the teacher: course preparation, conducting courses and providing feedback. Normally, the student was expected to do a preview before class. Before each lesson, course materials with recordings and pictures were sent to the student through WeChat. This was a two-way audio course where the teacher and the learner were connected by WeChat voice call. PowerPoint slides, images and informational graphics, if applicable, were sent through the WeChat platform during class to visualise and facilitate the learning activities. When the student joined the class, the teacher first introduced the topic and informed the student of the learning objective; then, the target words/phrases and sentence structures were presented with the help of visual aids. After that, some interactive learning activities on the same topic, such as role-play and free talk, were carried out to provide opportunities for the student to use the words/phrases and sentence structures learnt. Scaffolding and immediate feedback were provided to help the student improve in complexity, accuracy and fluency. After class, the teacher gave overall feedback to the student based on his/her performance during the class, pointing out his/her strengths and weaknesses and suggesting ways to improve.Figure 1:One-to-one online oral English course model in China.The role-play between the teacher and the learner and the free talk tasks were designed based on the work of Skehan (2003), who explored different features of task-based learning: (1) structured tasks; (2) familiar information; (3) outcomes requiring justifications; (4) interactive versus monologic tasks; and analysis of their influence upon performance (pp. 394–395). The role-play and free talk, which were structured tasks and organised around familiar topics, were intended to help students practice what they had learnt and improve complexity, accuracy and fluency with personalised feedback and correction from the teacher. To be specific, the role-play, which was dialogic and required justification, was implemented to help promote complexity and accuracy, while the free talk, which was monologic in nature, was implemented to help improve fluency. The communicative tasks and task-based learning provided learners with real-life contexts to help develop their interpersonal communication skills.3.2.2Data collection and analysisBoth quantitative and qualitative methods were utilised to examine the usefulness of the online course according to two aspects: (1) progress in terms of fluency, accuracy and complexity (using grading and t-tests) and (2) students’ views about the learning experience (using an online survey and interviews). Progress in oral English was determined by a test before and after class, which were rated by three English teachers from the same educational company as the course instructor. All of them had three years of teaching experience; one had a master’s degree and the other two had a bachelor’s degree. The assessment was adapted from Skehan’s (1996) mode of English proficiency assessment on fluency, accuracy and complexity, with three indices for each dimension. This schema has been used in other studies to measure improvements in oral English proficiency (Liu, 2011). Adapted from the study of Eom et al. (2006) on learners’ perceptions or learners’ attitude, an online survey using a six-point Likert Scale was employed to assess six dimensions: (1) the instructor; (2) the course structure; (3) feedback; (4) interactions; (5) outcomes and (6) satisfaction, with 24 items in total. This was conducted to examine the positive and negative aspects of the online course by calculating the mean and standard deviations, followed by semi-structured individual interviews in which 14 participants expressed their views about the learning experience with regard to the six aspects. Qualitative methods (including content analysis and thematic analysis) were used to analyse the interview data.4Results and discussion4.1RQ1: To what extent did the students make progress in speaking after the one-to-one online oral English course?The data collected on the grading and t-tests were used to answer RQ1. The results of the pre- and post-tests indicated that the learners made improvements in complexity (P ≤ 0.05), with no significant improvement in fluency and accuracy, as shown in Tables 2 and 3. The reason why students improved in complexity may be that the courses focused on daily topics and helped students learn useful expressions for everyday communication. No significant improvement was observed in fluency and accuracy in the short term, as each student only had three lessons, each lasting for 25 min. This conforms with the different stages of the learning process of task-based research conducted by Skehan and Foster (1997, 2001, which starts with the learners’ attempt to use more advanced language and restructure what they know of the target language (i.e. greater complexity), followed by accuracy (i.e. the reduction of errors) and, finally, fluency (i.e. the level of control becomes even more advanced and native-like).Table 2:Changes in fluency, accuracy and complexity.Fluency preFluency postAccuracy preAccuracy postComplexity preComplexity postN181818181818Mean1.752.032.072.221.932.11SD0.490.510.460.430.510.48Table 3:Results of t-tests in fluency, accuracy and complexity.FluencyAccuracyComplexityP (T ≤ t) one-tail0.080.130.03t Critical one-tail1.741.741.744.2RQ2: What are the learners’ perceptions about this course, and what are the main factors that influenced these perceptions?4.2.1Students’ views toward their learning experienceTo answer RQ2, the means and standard deviations for each sub-component of the Likert scale questions were calculated. All the participants regarded the learning experience as pleasant, with a mean of over 5.70 in each of the six dimensions, as shown in Table 4 (students’ views about the learning experience). Although the participants only made progress in complexity, their perceived outcome of the course was high, with a mean of 5.72 out of 6. The role of the instructor and the course received the highest scores, with a mean of 5.93. A possible explanation is that the conversation situation in the one-to-one course involves participation of both interlocutors (teacher–learner), which provides the learner with the potential for a high degree of agency in shaping the direction of interaction and requires the teacher to be more flexible in responding to the leads given. As suggested by Wang (2013), in the one-to-one (teacher–learner) encounter, the teacher facilitated tasks in a way that aligned with the individual leaner’s proficiency level, which led to learner engagement in meaning-based tasks and improvement in the target language. This may explain students’ overall positive perception of the learning experience in both the online survey and the individual interviews.Table 4:Students’ views about the learning experience.FactorsMeanStandard deviationThe role of the instructor5.930.07The course5.930.06Feedback5.900.09Interaction5.920.11Learners’ perceived outcome5.720.43Learners’ satisfaction5.720.36A careful analysis of the data collected from the interviews regarding the positive and negative aspects of students’ experience revealed several themes, which were categorised into the four constructs of van Lier’s ecological theory (perception, action, relation and quality; Tables 5 and 6). The four constructs were also used for interpreting the data.Table 5:Positive aspects of students’ views about their learning experience.ConstructsaPositive aspectsFrequencyAction–perceptionOpportunities to express personal views11/14Timely scaffolding10/14Efficient feedback3/14Action–qualitySpeaking out fluently5/14Changes in English learning strategies3/14Best oral English learning experience ever3/14Quality–relationConfidence in future English learning12/14Relation–perceptionMotivation to improve oral English12/14aPlease refer to Section 4.2.3 for the meanings of the constructs.Table 6:Negative aspects of students’ views about their learning experience.ConstructsaNegative aspectsFrequencyAction–perceptionNo homework with checking and feedback11/14No peer interaction3/14Perception–qualityUnable to see each other online (due to their reluctance to switch on the camera)6/14Less formal5/14Not fully preview before class4/14aPlease refer to Section 4.2.4 for the meanings of the constructs.Recent approaches have emphasised that agency should be viewed in relation to and as an integral part of the sociocultural context rather than as an attribute of an individual (e.g., Rajala et al., 2016). Therefore, agency is a key concept that interacts with the four basic organising constructs of ecology (perception, action, relation and quality) as proposed by van Lier (2004a). When examining the survey results and interview data together, it can be seen that the four constructs interacted with each other within the course, and learner agency emerged as a salient theme. Therefore, Figure 2 was provided to illustrate the complexities of the interplay of the four constructs, with agency as the core of the framework. The inner connections between agency and the four constructs are explained based on the themes derived from students’ positive and negative learning experiences as follows.Figure 2:Inner connections between the four constructs of ecology.4.2.2Learning agency as the core of the frameworkLearning agency is the core of this framework (Figure 2). van Lier (2010, p. 4) defined agency in terms of movement, “a change of state or direction, or even a lack of movement where movement is expected”, and claimed that a completely passive learner will not learn. The main principle involved in this concept is that learning depends more on the activity and the initiative of the learner rather than on any “inputs” transmitted to the learner. This places the emphasis on actions, interactions and affordances rather than on texts and teachers. The participants in our study employed agency to act and perceive while simultaneously rebuilding their identities. As noted by Peirce (1995, p. 18), “when language learners speak, they are not only exchanging information with target language speakers, but they are constantly organising and reorganising a sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world”. Most of the participants indicated that they could share personal experiences with the instructor and receive immediate corrective feedback, which facilitated their learning of English in real-life contexts instead of assimilating knowledge from English textbooks.According to van Lier’s perception of ecology, “agency is closely connected to identity, and this emphasises the social and dialogical side of agency: it depends not only on the individual, but also on the environment”, which should be agency rich (2010, p. 5). As reported by the participants, the role-play and free talk sessions (action) with timely scaffolding successfully helped them develop their speaking skills in terms of fluency, accuracy and complexity (quality). This was not only efficient for perceiving knowledge (perception), but it also changed their belief in the present self and established a new identity (relation) as someone who can speak English confidently and fluently after practice. Therefore, actively employing agency to act in the learning activities can improve the chance of higher-quality educational experiences (quality), which could change learners’ beliefs in their past, present and future self (relation).4.2.3Positive aspects of students’ views about their learning experienceAction had mutually positive associations with perception and quality. Moreover, the more students were exposed to activities (action) that improved their speaking skills in a meaningful environment, the more affordances were generated (perception), and they were more likely (and more frequently) engaged in the learning process (quality).(1)Action-perception: varied activities bring forth perceived affordancesActions and perceptions were connected through varied activities in the course, which engendered perceived affordances, facilitated actions and contributed to perceptions. As demonstrated in Table 5, 11 of the 14 participants reported that they had gained opportunities to express their personal views and feelings and received timely scaffolding from the teacher, especially in the role-play and free talk sessions. For example, participant Yang felt channelled into speaking and thinking in English due to the fast-paced interactions, which provided him with a sense of achievement in learning English.The role-play session forced me to think fast and to respond in English. I felt it’s good to push myself to speak in English, and I could speak a lot more than I expected. It gave me a sense of achievement. (Yang)Feedback was a particularly efficient mechanism for three of the interviewers, allowing them to recognise their mistakes, correct them and consolidate the acquired information through personalised feedback. For example, one participant said:I make progress because I am more aware of my mistakes and try to make full sentences with the teacher’s immediate guidance. (Erin)Therefore, the more learning activities students are exposed to (action), the more affordances will be generated (perception) to engage them in various types of activities.(2)Action-quality: efficient learning activities promote engagementFrom an ecological perspective, engagement can be considered the fuel for learning rather than “input” or “exercises” (van Lier, 2004a, p. 98). Efficient learning activities should facilitate active engagement in learning, which improves the quality of the educational experience. Unlike traditional “mute English learning” in China, this oral course successfully encouraged five of the participants (Cao, Yang, Erin, Kong and Lu) with intermediate English proficiency to speak fluently.I prefer the free talk session because, compared to the role-play session, it gives me more freedom to express my opinions on a given topic, which would inspire me to think more logically. (Lu)I enjoyed the free talk because I can practice what I learnt in class by combining the new knowledge with my previous knowledge and personal experiences. (Kong)In addition, the course helped three of the participants develop appropriate strategies to assist their oral English learning and obtained high praise from the majority of participants, who stated that this course offered them the best oral English learning experience they had ever participated in (as shown in Table 5). Moreover, the meaningful online learning activities (action) encouraged active engagement with the online language course (quality), although further improvement is needed to enrich and personalise the learning activities to engage more students.(3)Quality-relation: changes in beliefs about past, present and future selfAccording to the quantitative data in Table 4, the students’ overall perception of the quality of the educational experience was positive. As shown in Table 5, 12 of the 14 participants reported that this course provided them with totally different learning experiences compared to traditional classrooms, asynchronous courses or one-to-many synchronous courses. Accordingly, this learning experience reminded them of their past after-school oral English learning experiences.I think pre-recorded video lessons were useless for me because with no interaction and immediate feedback, I was easily distracted and could not concentrate. After watching the course video, I just searched the answers to the test from the Internet. (Billy)I had live broadcast classes with more than 100 students in a class. I just listened to the teacher and hardly had the chance to speak in English. I prefer one-to-one online courses because they provide more interaction and opportunities to speak out. (Liu)I once learned English in Dongni [a mobile English learning app developed by Liulishuo, an educational technology company] and it was a wonderful experience for me. Students were required to do different tasks in the app, such as checking in, watching videos, taking tests, listening and reading, and recording. The app can compare my audio recordings with those of native speakers using an automatic speech recognition system, which is good, but the feedback is not as detailed as that given by a teacher. (Xiaofang)The one-to-one oral English courses provided students with opportunities to speak and corrective feedback to improve, which inspired them to change their views about their abilities to learn and speak English, resulting in more positive beliefs in their current and future selves. Therefore, active engagement in online language learning (quality) could contribute to positive online learning experiences and greater confidence in future English learning (relation).(4)Relation–perception: new identities prompted new perceptionsThe participants perceived knowledge while also perceiving themselves in comparison to their desired image. As shown in Table 5, 12 of the 14 participants reported having significant motivation to improve their oral English. It is interesting to note that most of the participants understood the importance of previewing lesson materials before class, taking classes, concentrating in class and reviewing after class. However, they sometimes lacked sufficient self-discipline and failed to control themselves, both inside and outside of class.I would be more focused if both the teacher and I switch on the camera because I know I am under supervision. (Yang)I know from the teacher’s written feedback that I need to improve on pronunciation, words and grammar. But I seldom review what I learnt after class. Maybe the teacher should assign me some homework that suits my level after class so that I can make improvements accordingly. (Pan)Based on this learning experience, although the students admitted that they were not yet successful autonomous learners (perception), they tried to find solutions to motivate themselves and improve their learning, which would shape new identities for themselves (relation). Thus, positive learning experiences (relation) provided more reasons for engagement and greater motivation for improving language learning in the future (perception).As such, engagement with online learning activities (quality) could develop positive attitudes and confidence in future English learning (relation). Furthermore, the more reasons students have for engagement (perception), the more online learning activities they will want to be involved with, which would arouse their motivation to improve their oral English and shape new identities for themselves (relation).4.2.4Negative aspects of students’ views about their learning experienceInsufficient or infrequent learning activities (action) can cause a lack of reasons for engagement (perception) and low levels of interest and engagement in language learning (quality).(1)Action-perception: insufficient involvement leads to reduced reasons for engagementAs shown in Table 6, 11 of the 14 participants suggested that after-class learning was insufficient and that homework with checking and corrections should be provided to consolidate learning. In addition, three of the participants reported no peer interactions outside of class. Since this course is in a one-to-one online format, with one teacher and one participant, it provides teacher–learner interaction in a way that is tailored to the needs of the student in class. However, the course does not involve peer interaction. Therefore, an online study group in which English is used to interact and communicate on a daily basis after class could fill this learning gap to a certain extent. This is supported by Vygotsky (1978), who found that the social environment plays a crucial role in the development of new ideas, new skills and new knowledge. If the social Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is rich in appropriate learning tools and materials, a learner will develop skills through participation and engagement. Thus, the more learning projects and tasks students are exposed to (action), both inside and outside of class, the more varied the purposes of active engagement (perception). Unfortunately, the reverse is also true.(2)Perception-quality: negative learning experiences demotivated learning engagementLow levels of engagement in language learning (quality) can be attributed to either a lack of reasons for engagement or negative learning experiences (perception). As shown in Table 6, 4 of the 14 participants admitted not previewing before class, which negatively affected their level of engagement in class. In addition, five of the participants reported that due to mutual reluctance to use the camera, real-time online audio courses in which the student and the teacher communicated through audio (voice) alone proved less formal in comparison to traditional classroom teaching, in which students and the instructor are physically present in the classroom. As a result, less-motivated students are likely to multitask with non-academic work and become easily distracted in the absence of the instructor being physically present. Therefore, six of the participants suggested that the teacher and student should switch on their cameras during the course, allowing the teacher to supervise the student and provide more visual support (such as facial expressions and gestures). This echoes Vorobyeva’s (2018) finding that eye-to-eye contact using cameras promotes more effective conversations than talking on the telephone or using voice chat. In these situations, students are more likely to concentrate and engage with in-class activities, which move the inner connections of the framework in a positive way, contributing to higher-quality learning experiences and a more confident self. Thus, students’ engagement (quality) can be promoted by the provision of more reasons and motivation for online language learning (perception), and the reverse is also true.5ImplicationsThe framework of inner connections (refer to Figure 2) between the four constructs (i.e., perception, action, relation and quality) of van Lier’s ecology provides insights into why and how this one-to-one online oral English course model is recognised as useful and influences participants’ views about this course. The positive aspects should be maintained and perfected, while the negative aspects could be enriched and improved. Based on the previous discussion, an improved course model (see Figure 3) is provided, with a number of suggestions and implications for how to improve the course.Figure 3:Improved one-to-one online oral English course model.5.1Establish communication practices at the beginning of the courseFirst, as shown in our study, it is important to provide clear course organisation so that students know what to expect. Therefore, this is a positive aspect that should be maintained in future course offerings. Besides, communication guidelines should be established to provide learners with a clear idea of the course requirements, deadlines, expected response times and assessment for assignments. Teachers are advised to provide either a synchronous or a recorded orientation presentation to help clarify student expectations (Russell & Murphy-Judy, 2020).Based on the three interaction modes (learner–content, learner–instructor and learner–learner) proposed by Moore (1989), teachers may facilitate interactions before, during and after class in accordance with three aspects: (1) course design; (2) instructors and (3) participants. For example, teachers could explore a great variety of online resources and require students to preview materials (e.g., reading passages, listening to audio recordings or watching videos) and interact with the instructor, teaching assistant or their peers before class. In addition, students could discuss and share ideas about the learning content on the discussion board (learner–content; learner–learner interaction) before participating in interactive learning activities in the learner–centred online class, during which the teacher provides immediate feedback to prompt oral production (learner–instructor interaction). Moreover, teachers could customise and personalise the learning content based on the students’ language and culture learning goals, proficiency levels and interests. After class, students could collaborate further with their peers in online study groups to complete group projects (learner–learner interaction), which could be assessed through the students’ delivery of an oral report or presentation in the next class. As suggested by Blake (2016), well-designed tasks improve student learning outcomes by promoting successful and satisfying online exchanges.5.2Provide immediate and meaningful feedback in classSince the early 1970s, communicative language teaching has been considered the most effective language approach for creating rich and authentic language learning environments. In this study, the students were guided to carry out communicative tasks linked to real-life contexts (such as the role-play and free talk used in this course) with the teacher using the target language, which proved effective and can be maintained in future course offerings. Task-based learning engaged the students in active thinking and meaningful language use through information exchange, allowing him/her to interact and negotiate meaning with the teacher and, consequently, learn. In addition, immediate and meaningful (ideally individualised) feedback from the teacher would assist students in producing more advanced and more accurate language. According to Blake, small group synchronous online learning with two to three students “can often evoke more intensive speaking experience than sitting in a class and responding only two or three times an hour” (Blake, 2016, p. 132) as in most language classrooms. Therefore, one-to-one courses make intensive demands of both the learner and the teacher, as a lot of learning content can be negotiated rather than pre-determined. The student participates in dialogue when entering the site, while the teacher is expected to be responsive to the needs and preferences of the single learner (White et al., 2021). With the request to respond in a timely fashion to learners’ contributions in a turn-taking structure, teachers’ immediacy is critical to students’ satisfaction with the course.5.3Be visible and present in class and be accessible outside of classIt is important for the teacher to stay visible to students in class and to be accessible to them outside of class. Real-time video allows the instructor to be visible and present in class, which helps in monitoring learners’ behaviour, ensuring they remain on task, reducing distraction and engaging learners in the learning process. As reported by Stivers et al. (2009), replies are received faster if the speaker is looking at the recipient while the question is asked. Therefore, the teacher should switch on a webcam and encourage the student to switch on his/hers so that both parties are visible to each other during class. Outside of class, the teacher should also provide support for students’ technology-supported language learning, such as responding to discussions at appropriate moments, answering clarification questions and sending course announcements or reminders to students via email or social media platforms (e.g., WeChat). Further, they should take advantage of online resources to scaffold students’ understanding, which would prompt students to take a more active part in the learning process and boost their language production.In addition, since language learning requires long-term and constant practice, it is necessary for students to complete homework and conduct self-regulated learning after class to consolidate and expand their learning. The homework could comprise oral presentations, which require them to make audio or video recordings in the target language, allowing students to practice, rehearse and re-record as necessary (Russell & Murphy-Judy, 2020). Suitable online learning resources on similar topics can also be provided to help deepen student learning and scaffold oral production. After receiving students’ homework, feedback can then be provided through either texts or voice messages via email attachments or messaging apps (such as WeChat). To reduce learner anxiety while studying alone, students can be assigned a partner at a comparable level so that they can practice together and provide each other with suggestions for improvement.5.4Foster an online learning communityOnline study groups are beneficial, as they promote real-life communication between language learners and support collaborative learning, as demonstrated by Wu et al. (2022). In addition, as mobile technologies avail more time for L2 adult learners to study the language and help them to be better organised than before, learners are becoming increasingly self-directed (Demouy et al., 2016; Kukulska-Hulme & de los Arcos, 2011). Before classes, teachers can initiate posts that invite questions, responses, discussions and reflections on the course content or assignments and encourage students’ participation in the study group. Through collaborative learning and social interactions, students can benefit from linguistic scaffolding and further improve their language accuracy. In addition, smaller peer support groups can also be created in which students can help and support each other on course content, successful online learning strategies, time-management skills, peer tutoring on assignments and the online language learning process (Russell & Murphy-Judy, 2020, p. 228). Although teachers may not always be available for individual learners, peer presence and support are important for after-class learning. However, regulations and management are needed in these groups to ensure smooth operation and active participation.6Conclusion and directions for future researchDue to the rapid development of online education in China, the aim of this study was to examine the usefulness and improvements of one-to-one oral English courses. Importantly, the learners made progress in speaking with respect to complexity. From an ecological perspective, the helpful components included opportunities to express personal views, timely scaffolding and efficient feedback, which were all related to social interaction and echoed Don’s (2013) characteristics of effective online language courses. Since this was a one-to-one course, teachers should think of ways to promote learner–content and learner–instructor interactions in class, as well as learner–learner interactions outside of class, to build sufficient interactions into the online course.With regard to improving the current course, the following changes could be made: (1) real-time video communication between the instructor and the learner should be implemented as an option; (2) homework with timely feedback and corrections should be added as an important activity for reinforcement and self-improvement after class; and (3) online study groups, such as a new semiotic network outside of class, should be created to improve abilities. Firstly, to create a rich and authentic language learning environment in class, it is suggested that teachers and students be able to see each other face to face (at least through the camera) and communicate both verbally and nonverbally through eye contact, facial expressions and gestures. This will increase engagement, motivation and social interactions in online environments (quality). Moreover, teachers can guide and monitor students’ after-class learning by assigning homework based on the learning content and their proficiency level and providing guidance and corrective feedback. Driven by different purposes of learning English (perception), students would have greater motivation to develop the self-discipline required to finish their homework assignments and improve their learning after class. Finally, an online study group is highly conducive to language learning, since the teacher might not be always online and available. Teachers can encourage students to answer each other’s questions in online study groups and provide help and support to each other in real time (action). Thus, the study group serves as a supportive learning community, and students consequently feel more supported in the course. Moreover, by working with a partner, students may feel more confident in finishing their homework and becoming their desired selves (relation).In summation, one of the most important factors for the success of one-to-one online courses is that they should be clearly organised and structured with established communication practices. In addition, different learning activities/tasks should be incorporated to enhance students’ engagement both inside and outside of class, and a variety of experiences (such as individual work, pair work and group work) should be involved to facilitate interactions, motivation and collaboration. Furthermore, meaningful and individualised feedback should be provided to guide students’ self-regulated learning and promote autonomous learning. Finally, online study groups that employ social media platforms should be created to foster social presence and build a language learning community, enhancing students’ communicative competence and achieving language learning goals.There are, nonetheless, a few limitations that should be noted. First, since this is a small-scale study with a number of participants from some developed cities in China, the findings may not be generalisable to students from less-developed cities in China or elsewhere. A natural progression of this work is to expand the sample size and include participants from more diverse geographical areas. Second, as participants only attended three online lessons (each lasting 25 min), the class time may not be sufficient for them to assimilate and internalise the knowledge to enhance their oral skills in class. Finally, since we only did single group pre- and post-tests without a control group, students’ natural growth should also be taken into consideration. Therefore, it is suggested an experimental study involving a control group be conducted in future research to improve the course model and offer more effective one-to-one online language courses/programmes to meet EFL learners’ needs in various contexts. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of China Computer-Assisted Language Learning de Gruyter

Online language education courses: a Chinese case from an ecological perspective

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de Gruyter
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© 2022 the author(s), published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston
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2748-3479
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10.1515/jccall-2022-0017
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Abstract

1IntroductionVarious forms of online English programs and courses have exploded in popularity over the last decade with the development of online educational technology, the widespread accessibility of the internet, and a huge demand for English learning in China. However, due to the complexity and difficulty of researching synchronous one-to-one online courses, most existing research focuses on asynchronous online courses/programmes, which fails to provide theoretical guidance or insight into good/effective practices and practical instruction to meet the needs of the fast-growing online educational market in China and elsewhere. Ecology, the study of organisms and their relationships with the environment, has been adopted in second-language acquisition (SLA) and computer-assisted language learning (CALL) studies to explain factors that influence the learning environment and to provide insights into improving language learning (Berglund, 2009; Peng, 2012). In the words of van Lier (2004b, p. 11), the aim of the ecological approach is to understand “what is it in this environment that makes things happen the way they do”, which involves the study of context, movement, process and action. Thus, we applied van Lier’s ecological theory in this study as an analytical approach to examine the usefulness of and students’ views on one-to-one online oral courses. Subsequently, we examined the positive and negative perspectives of the programme that shaped learning. In addition, helpful and challenging aspects of the course were analysed and explained with four organising constructs of the ecology of language learning: perception, action, relation and quality (van Lier, 2004a). This enabled the development of an online EFL instructional framework that could be employed in China and elsewhere.2Literature review2.1Online language education coursesIn many parts of the world, online learning is becoming one of the most significant trends in educational settings, from K12 to post-secondary. According to Allen and Seaman (2003), online learning refers to learning that occurs entirely or substantially over the internet. With the rapid development of technology and the widespread availability and accessibility of internet connections, online learning programs have evolved from video courses to synchronous online courses over video platforms. Currently, a combination of synchronous and asynchronous online delivery is available using a wide range of platforms and methods (Watson, 2008). As one of the fastest-growing trends in educational uses of technology, online learning has developed into various forms, including blended teaching, hybrid teaching and fully online teaching. Although these delivery terms may overlap in many cases, they differ considerably in terms of their definitions and descriptions.Distance learning was a pre-Internet form of learning that was conducted through correspondence courses and one-way video with no in-person teaching taking place, meaning that students communicated with teachers by mail. More recently, distance learning has moved online, using the Internet to deliver instructions and facilitate communication via a wide range of systems and methods on any connected device. Therefore, distance learning can refer to a mix of more traditional methods (such as correspondence courses and teleconferencing) and more updated online learning environments, such as those in blended courses, hybrid courses and fully online courses (Blake, 2011). As the latest form of distance education, online learning has gained popularity both in universities and K12 education as a way of enhancing the quality of learning experiences and outcomes.According to Bonk and Graham (2012), “blended teaching” is defined as a combination of face-to-face instruction and computer-mediated instruction, while “hybrid teaching” is defined as a combination of scheduled classroom sessions and online meetings (Arispe & Blake, 2012). It should be noted that the terms blended instruction and hybrid teaching are used interchangeably and are not clearly defined in the literature. Blended instruction caters to a wide range of learning styles, with face-to-face instruction fostering interactions and deeper learning, while online learning activities facilitate self-paced and extended learning. Accordingly, this approach was widely adopted before the COVID-19 pandemic as an effective teaching approach and spawned various teaching models, such as the flipped classroom model, where students access the course content before class and then practise under the guidance of the teacher or exchange ideas with their peers face to face. As we move into the post-pandemic world, hybrid teaching – with some choosing the remote mode, some opting to interact in person and others switching between the two options – will probably grow more popular in work and education settings. While blended/hybrid instruction is intended to be an enhancement of face-to-face instruction, purely online instruction (with all instruction on content entirely delivered over the internet) serves as a replacement for face-to-face instruction (Means et al., 2013).Currently, there are two forms of online language courses: hybrid and fully online. The latter can be asynchronous (i.e. conducted at different times), synchronous (i.e., in real time) or a mixture of the two. Synchronous online teaching has gained increasing popularity in higher education over the past decade (Al Fadda, 2019) and has become a possible option for language teaching, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, extant studies that investigated synchronous online teaching were conducted in contexts where students were not deprived of opportunities to meet their teachers or peers in person (Cheung, 2021). In addition, the scale and modes of online courses prior to the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be compared to the period during the pandemic, in which almost all courses are delivered online. Over the past two years, there has been a rapid transition to online delivery of courses worldwide, both in tertiary settings (Al-Amin et al., 2021; Harsch et al., 2021; Lin & Gao, 2020; Rigo & Mikuš, 2021) and in K12 education (Cheung, 2021; Guo & Chen, 2020; Kurt et al., 2022).With rapid advancements in CALL, many online platforms and tools have also been developed to facilitate asynchronous and synchronous language learning and teaching. A popular example is the massive open online courses (MOOCs), which were developed by numerous public and private educational institutions. In private education settings, this has proved effective for reaching out to and engaging with individual learners of the digital age on a one-to-one basis anytime and anywhere. Researchers have explored the role of MOOCs in language learning over the past decade. They revealed that although general language MOOCs provide valuable opportunities for learning languages (Mısır et al., 2018; Sidorenko, 2014), many MOOCs are mostly conducted in an asynchronous online mode that does not support interactions in real time over distance. It has been suggested that asynchronous learning should be incorporated into a synchronous online environment, which is especially important in language education, as it would provide learners with opportunities to practice and develop interpersonal communication skills (Arispe & Blake, 2012; Jabeen & Thomas, 2015).2.2Online English learning and teaching in ChinaOnline English learning and teaching in China has generally followed the same trend of transitioning from traditional distance learning to blended learning and, more recently, to fully online learning. When China opened itself to the outside world and edged toward modernisation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, adults developed a strong motivation to learn English in order to access better job opportunities, understand technical material and study abroad. As a result, educational institutions and companies have launched various courses to meet these needs, which has advanced the development of online courses, especially for adult learners in China. This boom in online education has boosted the development of teaching modes and learning support services in terms of personalising learning to meet the needs of distance teaching, as well as promoting collaborative, flexible and blended learning. Online education courses were included in the project of national selected courses construction for the first time in 2007. There has been a rapidly growing trend of incorporating Internet-based educational technology into language teaching and learning in China since 2012, when the Chinese government issued a Ten-year Development Plan for Educational Technology (2011–2020), aiming to promote the incorporation of Internet-based technology into teaching and learning in K12 and higher education institutions. The development of Internet-based technology and the policy support greatly encouraged college teachers to innovate teaching modes in English teaching. For example, Hu and Wu (2014) investigated the feedback of students on the MOOC-based flipped classroom teaching mode for college English and proposed that this teaching mode is conducive to the deep integration of information technology and foreign language teaching. Yang et al. (2017) conducted a study on the practical use of a blended teaching model in the course ‘English Communication in Daily Life’ offered by Tsinghua University and suggested that online and offline teaching models should be integrated appropriately to foster various types of communication in interaction to ensure the quality of blended teaching.In March 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE) launched a national smart platform of education (www.smartedu.cn) to provide users with a wide array of courses and education services, which integrates China’s platforms for primary and middle school education, vocational education and higher education, as well as the platform for employment services for college graduates. However, the integration of online technology into teaching and learning in Chinese tertiary education is still developing (Huang et al., 2020). Even though learners in China use mobile devices to support their English language learning outside the classroom, their use of the Internet with a learning focus at both the tertiary (Huang et al., 2020; Zhou, 2016) and K12 levels (Li et al., 2014) is still insufficient with regard to their acceptance of and intentions to use the Internet-based technology for learning. A study by Kan and Tang (2018) on 148 adult learners’ mobile-assisted English language learning practice revealed that teachers play a very limited role as perceived by students who expect more support from teachers for technology-supported language learning outside of class. That may partly explain why fully online language learning was in high demand in specialised and commercial online educational contexts, such as online education institutes and one-to-one language tutoring, especially for adult learners who have the need to expand learning after work or after class. With their convenience, cost-effectiveness and flexibility, fully online courses provided by education companies cater to adult learners’ learning needs and are gaining popularity. Education companies have designed oral English courses with small class sizes and student-centred learning modes to meet the diverse needs of learners and the educational market. For example, HiTalk is a tutoring platform tailored specifically for adult English learners and was designed by a leading online education company (Hujiang). This platform mainly focuses on oral English courses with one instructor teaching one student at a time (at a distance), and students are free to choose the topic, time and instructor for each lesson. In the current study, we focused on improving one-to-one oral English courses based on similar courses in the online education market in China.While neither of the online delivery formats (hybrid courses or fully online) are inherently superior, they both provide similar affordances, such as flexibility, allowing for personalised and authentic materials, supporting communicative tasks and language learning communities, and fostering autonomous learning (e.g., Goertler, 2019). The major challenge with the online delivery of language courses resides in the facilitation of learning-conducive interactions (Kuo et al., 2014; Lin et al., 2017). As proposed by Moore (1989), there are three broad types of interactions that are essential for the success of online language learning: learner–content, learner–instructor and learner–learner. However, to foster meaningful interactions and social presence, there are some issues that require careful planning and attention during the implementation of online language courses: (1) establish communication practices; (2) provide immediate and meaningful feedback; (3) be visible, present and authentic; and (4) foster a learning community (Gacs et al., 2020). Furthermore, successful online learning strategies and time-management skills should also be developed and taught by the instructor to help promote learner autonomy (Lai & Gu, 2011; Ranalli, 2012). In this study, teaching implications will be provided based on van Lier’s (2004b) theoretical framework and good, effective practice with the aim of improving online language courses.Although there are existing studies on interactive online courses in foreign countries and in China (Cheung, 2021; Jabeen & Thomas, 2015; Lee, 2016; Lin et al., 2017; Harsch et al., 2021), most of them have been conducted in school contexts with large class sizes. Published teaching and learning research on online language courses, particularly in informal contexts (such as one-to-one online language courses), is yet to develop, even though these courses are commonplace and in high demand in China. One such exceptional study was conducted by White et al. (2021), who investigated one-to-one synchronous Chinese online language teaching via videoconferencing and developed a model to guide enquiry into technology-enhanced language learning environments and teacher awareness of the affordances and complexities of those environments. To provide some insights into oral English courses and to fill the research gap in specialised and commercial online education in China, in the current study, we examined the usefulness of and students’ perceptions of the one-to-one online oral EFL course. Subsequently, based on van Lier’s ecology of learning, we delineated the positive aspects that can encourage learning and the negative aspects that require improvement. To gain a better understanding of the ideal learning environment for learners taking online oral lessons, we adopted a theoretical framework from an ecological perspective.2.3Theoretical framework: an ecological perspectiveWhen ecology is applied in language learning, ecological linguistics “focuses on language as relations between people and the world, and on language learning as ways of relating more effectively to people and the world” (van Lier, 2004b, p. 4). In this study, the teacher and the participants are examined on the basis of the circumstances in which they teach/learn English, how they interact in class activities, how they connect with each other and what they think of their teaching/learning, along with other factors. These can be categorised under the four central concepts of ecology used by van Lier (2004a) – perception, action, relation and quality – which refer to processes that occur in a context with varying degrees of effectiveness and the realisation of control and power in weaker or stronger ways, thus “influencing the types of activities and relations that can be developed, and ultimately determining the quality or pedagogical work in the setting” (2004a, p. 85). In the current study, the four basic organising constructs are used as analytical tools and as the theoretical framework through which the inner relationships of the students’ learning/teacher’s teaching in this course can be examined.2.3.1PerceptionIn terms of perception, the perceiver is considered an “active explorer of information and the information is picked up partly driven by the purposes of the perceiver” (van Lier, 2004a, p. 87). With the multisensory characteristic of perception comes the notion of ‘various senses’ (particularly auditory and visual) working in tandem to facilitate meaning when linguistic information alone is incomprehensible (van Lier, 2004a, p. 89). In this study, the student is considered a perceiver who actively searches for and gathers information from a variety of sources available in the learning environment through multiple senses based on their various purposes (such as improving interpersonal communication skills).2.3.2ActionAction refers to an “activity in one’s environment (that) brings forth the affordances in those environments that are relevant to the agent” (van Lier, 2004a, p. 92). Importantly, action must be taken if learners want to perceive. As stated by van Lier (2004a), “to perceive, we must act, and to act, we must perceive” (p. 92). In other words, learners must act to gather the linguistic information they need by doing the activities (e.g. projects and tasks) structured in the curriculum with scaffolding provided by the teacher. In this study, activity can refer to online learning activities, such as preview, role-play and free talk provided for learners, as well as corrective feedback from the teacher as scaffolding for language learning.2.3.3RelationWhen discussed in this paper, the term relation refers to how a different self is constructed through the influence of three other constructs in this theory (perception, action and quality) and how they interact with each other. The self is seen as past-, present- and future-oriented (Colapietro, 1988; Wiley, 1994). Identities can be projections as well as projectors of the self and serve to connect the self to the world in a multiplicity of ties, roles, aspirations and practical activities (van Lier, 2004a, p. 96). When learning a new language, learners need to develop new identities to reconnect themselves with their new surroundings, which requires reciprocity between the person and the host community (i.e., the teacher and peers) (van Lier, 2004a, p. 96). Therefore, a welcoming host environment is of great importance to the success of language learning.2.3.4QualityFrom van Lier’s perspective, the quality of education cannot be measured by test scores, since the most important elements of a good and rich educational experience are not assessable. According to van Lier (2004a, p. 98), the concept of learning is to test whether a learner is able to adapt to the learning environment in increasingly effective and successful ways. In terms of language learning, learners increasingly engage in learning and successfully acquire some aspects of language. As van Lier explains in an ecological way, language learning is “engagement” rather than “input”. In this study, quality is interpreted as EFL learners’ engagement with the one-to-one online oral course, meaning how they interact with the teacher in class activities and connect to their peers and the teacher after class.2.4Rationale for using van Lier’s framework and research questionsIn the Chinese context, van Lier’s framework has been adopted to investigate EFL teachers’ use of online technology for language teaching (Hu et al., 2020). According to van Lier (2004a, p. 86), the four basic constructs of perception (driven by different purposes of learning), action (activities-based learning), relation (new identities) and quality (engagement with the learning environment) are interrelated in different situations. Since the factors influencing students’ learning are diverse (involving the teacher, the learner, the language, the online learning environment and the dynamics that emerge among these), and the inner relationships of the factors are complicated, adopting an ecological approach can help us obtain a holistic understanding of the personal and interactional processes of students’ language development and their perceptions, class activities and self-construction, as well as their engagement with the learning environment (van Lier, 2004a, p. 86). Thus, van Lier’s ecological framework is ideal for the current research, which explores the usefulness of a one-to-one oral English course and the participants’ views of the online learning experience. To provide more insights into the one-to-one online oral English course in China, this study is guided by the following two research questions:RQ1:To what extent did the students make progress in speaking after the one-to-one online oral English course?RQ2:What are the learners’ perceptions about this course, and what are the main factors that influenced these perceptions?3Method3.1Context and participant informationAn invitation together with a link to an introduction of the study and the course requirements was sent through a widely used social platform in China called WeChat to recruit participants. This was a one-instructor-to-one-student online oral English course delivered by one instructor who had worked in an online English education platform for a year. As the experiment was conducted during the period of the Spring Festival, it was difficult to recruit large numbers of participants. Ultimately, 18 students who were either university students or graduates in China agreed to participate in the research. The variety of students’ background information ensured representative and holistic findings in this small-scale study. Due to practical constraints, three lessons (each lasting 25 min) were delivered to each student, and the lessons were free of charge. Participants were informed that they were free to opt in or out of the study at any point in time and that all the collected data would be kept confidential. The online survey was anonymous, and participants were required to answer each question honestly since the course lecturer (also one of the researchers) would like to collect feedback for improvement. The lessons were delivered to participants within three weeks, each participant receiving one lesson per week so that he/she may have time to digest and practice after class, and a total of 54 lessons were conducted by the course lecturer. Learners were required to make an appointment at least 4 h before having a lesson. The three lessons focused on daily topics: (1) meeting people and talking about jobs; (2) eating out with friends; (3) going on a business trip. These topics aimed to help participants learn useful language for everyday communication. The average English proficiency of the participants was intermediate or high-intermediate, and they all had a need to improve their English-speaking skills. A quasi-experimental one-group design (without a control group) (Brown & Rodgers, 2002) was used due to the small number of students. Information pertaining to the participants is provided in Table 1.Table 1:Participant information.NumberParticipants (pseudonyms)GenderRegionEnglish proficiencyJobAge1GaoF (Female)ShanghaiCET-4Travel Agent252YangM (Male)GuangdongCET-6Postgraduate263LiFJiangsuHigh schoolKindergarten Teacher244DannieFSichuanIELTS 7English Teacher275SunnyFSichuanIELTS 6Land Agent256CaoFInner MongoliaTOEFL 70Postgraduate257LiuFGuangdongIELTS 6College Teacher248ErinFShanghaiCET-6Safety Assessor289MaFJiangsuCET-6Postgraduate2410XiaofangFShanghaiCET-6CRA Inspector2411AiqingFGuangdongTEM-8Foreign Trader2512LiangFJiangsuCET-4Undergraduate2013HuahuaFGuangdongGET-6Buyer2414BillyFGuangdongCET-6Doctor3515KongFJiangsuIELTS 6Postgraduate2316ChenFGuangdongCET-6Undergraduate2117PanFGuangdongCET-6Undergraduate2018LuMGuangdongCET-4Bidder243.2Course model, data collection and analysis3.2.1Course modelIn this study, we created a course model (see Figure 1) based on one-to-one online oral English courses used by leading online educational companies in China. The study’s one-to-one online course was a reproduction based on the course model and involved three main parts for the teacher: course preparation, conducting courses and providing feedback. Normally, the student was expected to do a preview before class. Before each lesson, course materials with recordings and pictures were sent to the student through WeChat. This was a two-way audio course where the teacher and the learner were connected by WeChat voice call. PowerPoint slides, images and informational graphics, if applicable, were sent through the WeChat platform during class to visualise and facilitate the learning activities. When the student joined the class, the teacher first introduced the topic and informed the student of the learning objective; then, the target words/phrases and sentence structures were presented with the help of visual aids. After that, some interactive learning activities on the same topic, such as role-play and free talk, were carried out to provide opportunities for the student to use the words/phrases and sentence structures learnt. Scaffolding and immediate feedback were provided to help the student improve in complexity, accuracy and fluency. After class, the teacher gave overall feedback to the student based on his/her performance during the class, pointing out his/her strengths and weaknesses and suggesting ways to improve.Figure 1:One-to-one online oral English course model in China.The role-play between the teacher and the learner and the free talk tasks were designed based on the work of Skehan (2003), who explored different features of task-based learning: (1) structured tasks; (2) familiar information; (3) outcomes requiring justifications; (4) interactive versus monologic tasks; and analysis of their influence upon performance (pp. 394–395). The role-play and free talk, which were structured tasks and organised around familiar topics, were intended to help students practice what they had learnt and improve complexity, accuracy and fluency with personalised feedback and correction from the teacher. To be specific, the role-play, which was dialogic and required justification, was implemented to help promote complexity and accuracy, while the free talk, which was monologic in nature, was implemented to help improve fluency. The communicative tasks and task-based learning provided learners with real-life contexts to help develop their interpersonal communication skills.3.2.2Data collection and analysisBoth quantitative and qualitative methods were utilised to examine the usefulness of the online course according to two aspects: (1) progress in terms of fluency, accuracy and complexity (using grading and t-tests) and (2) students’ views about the learning experience (using an online survey and interviews). Progress in oral English was determined by a test before and after class, which were rated by three English teachers from the same educational company as the course instructor. All of them had three years of teaching experience; one had a master’s degree and the other two had a bachelor’s degree. The assessment was adapted from Skehan’s (1996) mode of English proficiency assessment on fluency, accuracy and complexity, with three indices for each dimension. This schema has been used in other studies to measure improvements in oral English proficiency (Liu, 2011). Adapted from the study of Eom et al. (2006) on learners’ perceptions or learners’ attitude, an online survey using a six-point Likert Scale was employed to assess six dimensions: (1) the instructor; (2) the course structure; (3) feedback; (4) interactions; (5) outcomes and (6) satisfaction, with 24 items in total. This was conducted to examine the positive and negative aspects of the online course by calculating the mean and standard deviations, followed by semi-structured individual interviews in which 14 participants expressed their views about the learning experience with regard to the six aspects. Qualitative methods (including content analysis and thematic analysis) were used to analyse the interview data.4Results and discussion4.1RQ1: To what extent did the students make progress in speaking after the one-to-one online oral English course?The data collected on the grading and t-tests were used to answer RQ1. The results of the pre- and post-tests indicated that the learners made improvements in complexity (P ≤ 0.05), with no significant improvement in fluency and accuracy, as shown in Tables 2 and 3. The reason why students improved in complexity may be that the courses focused on daily topics and helped students learn useful expressions for everyday communication. No significant improvement was observed in fluency and accuracy in the short term, as each student only had three lessons, each lasting for 25 min. This conforms with the different stages of the learning process of task-based research conducted by Skehan and Foster (1997, 2001, which starts with the learners’ attempt to use more advanced language and restructure what they know of the target language (i.e. greater complexity), followed by accuracy (i.e. the reduction of errors) and, finally, fluency (i.e. the level of control becomes even more advanced and native-like).Table 2:Changes in fluency, accuracy and complexity.Fluency preFluency postAccuracy preAccuracy postComplexity preComplexity postN181818181818Mean1.752.032.072.221.932.11SD0.490.510.460.430.510.48Table 3:Results of t-tests in fluency, accuracy and complexity.FluencyAccuracyComplexityP (T ≤ t) one-tail0.080.130.03t Critical one-tail1.741.741.744.2RQ2: What are the learners’ perceptions about this course, and what are the main factors that influenced these perceptions?4.2.1Students’ views toward their learning experienceTo answer RQ2, the means and standard deviations for each sub-component of the Likert scale questions were calculated. All the participants regarded the learning experience as pleasant, with a mean of over 5.70 in each of the six dimensions, as shown in Table 4 (students’ views about the learning experience). Although the participants only made progress in complexity, their perceived outcome of the course was high, with a mean of 5.72 out of 6. The role of the instructor and the course received the highest scores, with a mean of 5.93. A possible explanation is that the conversation situation in the one-to-one course involves participation of both interlocutors (teacher–learner), which provides the learner with the potential for a high degree of agency in shaping the direction of interaction and requires the teacher to be more flexible in responding to the leads given. As suggested by Wang (2013), in the one-to-one (teacher–learner) encounter, the teacher facilitated tasks in a way that aligned with the individual leaner’s proficiency level, which led to learner engagement in meaning-based tasks and improvement in the target language. This may explain students’ overall positive perception of the learning experience in both the online survey and the individual interviews.Table 4:Students’ views about the learning experience.FactorsMeanStandard deviationThe role of the instructor5.930.07The course5.930.06Feedback5.900.09Interaction5.920.11Learners’ perceived outcome5.720.43Learners’ satisfaction5.720.36A careful analysis of the data collected from the interviews regarding the positive and negative aspects of students’ experience revealed several themes, which were categorised into the four constructs of van Lier’s ecological theory (perception, action, relation and quality; Tables 5 and 6). The four constructs were also used for interpreting the data.Table 5:Positive aspects of students’ views about their learning experience.ConstructsaPositive aspectsFrequencyAction–perceptionOpportunities to express personal views11/14Timely scaffolding10/14Efficient feedback3/14Action–qualitySpeaking out fluently5/14Changes in English learning strategies3/14Best oral English learning experience ever3/14Quality–relationConfidence in future English learning12/14Relation–perceptionMotivation to improve oral English12/14aPlease refer to Section 4.2.3 for the meanings of the constructs.Table 6:Negative aspects of students’ views about their learning experience.ConstructsaNegative aspectsFrequencyAction–perceptionNo homework with checking and feedback11/14No peer interaction3/14Perception–qualityUnable to see each other online (due to their reluctance to switch on the camera)6/14Less formal5/14Not fully preview before class4/14aPlease refer to Section 4.2.4 for the meanings of the constructs.Recent approaches have emphasised that agency should be viewed in relation to and as an integral part of the sociocultural context rather than as an attribute of an individual (e.g., Rajala et al., 2016). Therefore, agency is a key concept that interacts with the four basic organising constructs of ecology (perception, action, relation and quality) as proposed by van Lier (2004a). When examining the survey results and interview data together, it can be seen that the four constructs interacted with each other within the course, and learner agency emerged as a salient theme. Therefore, Figure 2 was provided to illustrate the complexities of the interplay of the four constructs, with agency as the core of the framework. The inner connections between agency and the four constructs are explained based on the themes derived from students’ positive and negative learning experiences as follows.Figure 2:Inner connections between the four constructs of ecology.4.2.2Learning agency as the core of the frameworkLearning agency is the core of this framework (Figure 2). van Lier (2010, p. 4) defined agency in terms of movement, “a change of state or direction, or even a lack of movement where movement is expected”, and claimed that a completely passive learner will not learn. The main principle involved in this concept is that learning depends more on the activity and the initiative of the learner rather than on any “inputs” transmitted to the learner. This places the emphasis on actions, interactions and affordances rather than on texts and teachers. The participants in our study employed agency to act and perceive while simultaneously rebuilding their identities. As noted by Peirce (1995, p. 18), “when language learners speak, they are not only exchanging information with target language speakers, but they are constantly organising and reorganising a sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world”. Most of the participants indicated that they could share personal experiences with the instructor and receive immediate corrective feedback, which facilitated their learning of English in real-life contexts instead of assimilating knowledge from English textbooks.According to van Lier’s perception of ecology, “agency is closely connected to identity, and this emphasises the social and dialogical side of agency: it depends not only on the individual, but also on the environment”, which should be agency rich (2010, p. 5). As reported by the participants, the role-play and free talk sessions (action) with timely scaffolding successfully helped them develop their speaking skills in terms of fluency, accuracy and complexity (quality). This was not only efficient for perceiving knowledge (perception), but it also changed their belief in the present self and established a new identity (relation) as someone who can speak English confidently and fluently after practice. Therefore, actively employing agency to act in the learning activities can improve the chance of higher-quality educational experiences (quality), which could change learners’ beliefs in their past, present and future self (relation).4.2.3Positive aspects of students’ views about their learning experienceAction had mutually positive associations with perception and quality. Moreover, the more students were exposed to activities (action) that improved their speaking skills in a meaningful environment, the more affordances were generated (perception), and they were more likely (and more frequently) engaged in the learning process (quality).(1)Action-perception: varied activities bring forth perceived affordancesActions and perceptions were connected through varied activities in the course, which engendered perceived affordances, facilitated actions and contributed to perceptions. As demonstrated in Table 5, 11 of the 14 participants reported that they had gained opportunities to express their personal views and feelings and received timely scaffolding from the teacher, especially in the role-play and free talk sessions. For example, participant Yang felt channelled into speaking and thinking in English due to the fast-paced interactions, which provided him with a sense of achievement in learning English.The role-play session forced me to think fast and to respond in English. I felt it’s good to push myself to speak in English, and I could speak a lot more than I expected. It gave me a sense of achievement. (Yang)Feedback was a particularly efficient mechanism for three of the interviewers, allowing them to recognise their mistakes, correct them and consolidate the acquired information through personalised feedback. For example, one participant said:I make progress because I am more aware of my mistakes and try to make full sentences with the teacher’s immediate guidance. (Erin)Therefore, the more learning activities students are exposed to (action), the more affordances will be generated (perception) to engage them in various types of activities.(2)Action-quality: efficient learning activities promote engagementFrom an ecological perspective, engagement can be considered the fuel for learning rather than “input” or “exercises” (van Lier, 2004a, p. 98). Efficient learning activities should facilitate active engagement in learning, which improves the quality of the educational experience. Unlike traditional “mute English learning” in China, this oral course successfully encouraged five of the participants (Cao, Yang, Erin, Kong and Lu) with intermediate English proficiency to speak fluently.I prefer the free talk session because, compared to the role-play session, it gives me more freedom to express my opinions on a given topic, which would inspire me to think more logically. (Lu)I enjoyed the free talk because I can practice what I learnt in class by combining the new knowledge with my previous knowledge and personal experiences. (Kong)In addition, the course helped three of the participants develop appropriate strategies to assist their oral English learning and obtained high praise from the majority of participants, who stated that this course offered them the best oral English learning experience they had ever participated in (as shown in Table 5). Moreover, the meaningful online learning activities (action) encouraged active engagement with the online language course (quality), although further improvement is needed to enrich and personalise the learning activities to engage more students.(3)Quality-relation: changes in beliefs about past, present and future selfAccording to the quantitative data in Table 4, the students’ overall perception of the quality of the educational experience was positive. As shown in Table 5, 12 of the 14 participants reported that this course provided them with totally different learning experiences compared to traditional classrooms, asynchronous courses or one-to-many synchronous courses. Accordingly, this learning experience reminded them of their past after-school oral English learning experiences.I think pre-recorded video lessons were useless for me because with no interaction and immediate feedback, I was easily distracted and could not concentrate. After watching the course video, I just searched the answers to the test from the Internet. (Billy)I had live broadcast classes with more than 100 students in a class. I just listened to the teacher and hardly had the chance to speak in English. I prefer one-to-one online courses because they provide more interaction and opportunities to speak out. (Liu)I once learned English in Dongni [a mobile English learning app developed by Liulishuo, an educational technology company] and it was a wonderful experience for me. Students were required to do different tasks in the app, such as checking in, watching videos, taking tests, listening and reading, and recording. The app can compare my audio recordings with those of native speakers using an automatic speech recognition system, which is good, but the feedback is not as detailed as that given by a teacher. (Xiaofang)The one-to-one oral English courses provided students with opportunities to speak and corrective feedback to improve, which inspired them to change their views about their abilities to learn and speak English, resulting in more positive beliefs in their current and future selves. Therefore, active engagement in online language learning (quality) could contribute to positive online learning experiences and greater confidence in future English learning (relation).(4)Relation–perception: new identities prompted new perceptionsThe participants perceived knowledge while also perceiving themselves in comparison to their desired image. As shown in Table 5, 12 of the 14 participants reported having significant motivation to improve their oral English. It is interesting to note that most of the participants understood the importance of previewing lesson materials before class, taking classes, concentrating in class and reviewing after class. However, they sometimes lacked sufficient self-discipline and failed to control themselves, both inside and outside of class.I would be more focused if both the teacher and I switch on the camera because I know I am under supervision. (Yang)I know from the teacher’s written feedback that I need to improve on pronunciation, words and grammar. But I seldom review what I learnt after class. Maybe the teacher should assign me some homework that suits my level after class so that I can make improvements accordingly. (Pan)Based on this learning experience, although the students admitted that they were not yet successful autonomous learners (perception), they tried to find solutions to motivate themselves and improve their learning, which would shape new identities for themselves (relation). Thus, positive learning experiences (relation) provided more reasons for engagement and greater motivation for improving language learning in the future (perception).As such, engagement with online learning activities (quality) could develop positive attitudes and confidence in future English learning (relation). Furthermore, the more reasons students have for engagement (perception), the more online learning activities they will want to be involved with, which would arouse their motivation to improve their oral English and shape new identities for themselves (relation).4.2.4Negative aspects of students’ views about their learning experienceInsufficient or infrequent learning activities (action) can cause a lack of reasons for engagement (perception) and low levels of interest and engagement in language learning (quality).(1)Action-perception: insufficient involvement leads to reduced reasons for engagementAs shown in Table 6, 11 of the 14 participants suggested that after-class learning was insufficient and that homework with checking and corrections should be provided to consolidate learning. In addition, three of the participants reported no peer interactions outside of class. Since this course is in a one-to-one online format, with one teacher and one participant, it provides teacher–learner interaction in a way that is tailored to the needs of the student in class. However, the course does not involve peer interaction. Therefore, an online study group in which English is used to interact and communicate on a daily basis after class could fill this learning gap to a certain extent. This is supported by Vygotsky (1978), who found that the social environment plays a crucial role in the development of new ideas, new skills and new knowledge. If the social Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is rich in appropriate learning tools and materials, a learner will develop skills through participation and engagement. Thus, the more learning projects and tasks students are exposed to (action), both inside and outside of class, the more varied the purposes of active engagement (perception). Unfortunately, the reverse is also true.(2)Perception-quality: negative learning experiences demotivated learning engagementLow levels of engagement in language learning (quality) can be attributed to either a lack of reasons for engagement or negative learning experiences (perception). As shown in Table 6, 4 of the 14 participants admitted not previewing before class, which negatively affected their level of engagement in class. In addition, five of the participants reported that due to mutual reluctance to use the camera, real-time online audio courses in which the student and the teacher communicated through audio (voice) alone proved less formal in comparison to traditional classroom teaching, in which students and the instructor are physically present in the classroom. As a result, less-motivated students are likely to multitask with non-academic work and become easily distracted in the absence of the instructor being physically present. Therefore, six of the participants suggested that the teacher and student should switch on their cameras during the course, allowing the teacher to supervise the student and provide more visual support (such as facial expressions and gestures). This echoes Vorobyeva’s (2018) finding that eye-to-eye contact using cameras promotes more effective conversations than talking on the telephone or using voice chat. In these situations, students are more likely to concentrate and engage with in-class activities, which move the inner connections of the framework in a positive way, contributing to higher-quality learning experiences and a more confident self. Thus, students’ engagement (quality) can be promoted by the provision of more reasons and motivation for online language learning (perception), and the reverse is also true.5ImplicationsThe framework of inner connections (refer to Figure 2) between the four constructs (i.e., perception, action, relation and quality) of van Lier’s ecology provides insights into why and how this one-to-one online oral English course model is recognised as useful and influences participants’ views about this course. The positive aspects should be maintained and perfected, while the negative aspects could be enriched and improved. Based on the previous discussion, an improved course model (see Figure 3) is provided, with a number of suggestions and implications for how to improve the course.Figure 3:Improved one-to-one online oral English course model.5.1Establish communication practices at the beginning of the courseFirst, as shown in our study, it is important to provide clear course organisation so that students know what to expect. Therefore, this is a positive aspect that should be maintained in future course offerings. Besides, communication guidelines should be established to provide learners with a clear idea of the course requirements, deadlines, expected response times and assessment for assignments. Teachers are advised to provide either a synchronous or a recorded orientation presentation to help clarify student expectations (Russell & Murphy-Judy, 2020).Based on the three interaction modes (learner–content, learner–instructor and learner–learner) proposed by Moore (1989), teachers may facilitate interactions before, during and after class in accordance with three aspects: (1) course design; (2) instructors and (3) participants. For example, teachers could explore a great variety of online resources and require students to preview materials (e.g., reading passages, listening to audio recordings or watching videos) and interact with the instructor, teaching assistant or their peers before class. In addition, students could discuss and share ideas about the learning content on the discussion board (learner–content; learner–learner interaction) before participating in interactive learning activities in the learner–centred online class, during which the teacher provides immediate feedback to prompt oral production (learner–instructor interaction). Moreover, teachers could customise and personalise the learning content based on the students’ language and culture learning goals, proficiency levels and interests. After class, students could collaborate further with their peers in online study groups to complete group projects (learner–learner interaction), which could be assessed through the students’ delivery of an oral report or presentation in the next class. As suggested by Blake (2016), well-designed tasks improve student learning outcomes by promoting successful and satisfying online exchanges.5.2Provide immediate and meaningful feedback in classSince the early 1970s, communicative language teaching has been considered the most effective language approach for creating rich and authentic language learning environments. In this study, the students were guided to carry out communicative tasks linked to real-life contexts (such as the role-play and free talk used in this course) with the teacher using the target language, which proved effective and can be maintained in future course offerings. Task-based learning engaged the students in active thinking and meaningful language use through information exchange, allowing him/her to interact and negotiate meaning with the teacher and, consequently, learn. In addition, immediate and meaningful (ideally individualised) feedback from the teacher would assist students in producing more advanced and more accurate language. According to Blake, small group synchronous online learning with two to three students “can often evoke more intensive speaking experience than sitting in a class and responding only two or three times an hour” (Blake, 2016, p. 132) as in most language classrooms. Therefore, one-to-one courses make intensive demands of both the learner and the teacher, as a lot of learning content can be negotiated rather than pre-determined. The student participates in dialogue when entering the site, while the teacher is expected to be responsive to the needs and preferences of the single learner (White et al., 2021). With the request to respond in a timely fashion to learners’ contributions in a turn-taking structure, teachers’ immediacy is critical to students’ satisfaction with the course.5.3Be visible and present in class and be accessible outside of classIt is important for the teacher to stay visible to students in class and to be accessible to them outside of class. Real-time video allows the instructor to be visible and present in class, which helps in monitoring learners’ behaviour, ensuring they remain on task, reducing distraction and engaging learners in the learning process. As reported by Stivers et al. (2009), replies are received faster if the speaker is looking at the recipient while the question is asked. Therefore, the teacher should switch on a webcam and encourage the student to switch on his/hers so that both parties are visible to each other during class. Outside of class, the teacher should also provide support for students’ technology-supported language learning, such as responding to discussions at appropriate moments, answering clarification questions and sending course announcements or reminders to students via email or social media platforms (e.g., WeChat). Further, they should take advantage of online resources to scaffold students’ understanding, which would prompt students to take a more active part in the learning process and boost their language production.In addition, since language learning requires long-term and constant practice, it is necessary for students to complete homework and conduct self-regulated learning after class to consolidate and expand their learning. The homework could comprise oral presentations, which require them to make audio or video recordings in the target language, allowing students to practice, rehearse and re-record as necessary (Russell & Murphy-Judy, 2020). Suitable online learning resources on similar topics can also be provided to help deepen student learning and scaffold oral production. After receiving students’ homework, feedback can then be provided through either texts or voice messages via email attachments or messaging apps (such as WeChat). To reduce learner anxiety while studying alone, students can be assigned a partner at a comparable level so that they can practice together and provide each other with suggestions for improvement.5.4Foster an online learning communityOnline study groups are beneficial, as they promote real-life communication between language learners and support collaborative learning, as demonstrated by Wu et al. (2022). In addition, as mobile technologies avail more time for L2 adult learners to study the language and help them to be better organised than before, learners are becoming increasingly self-directed (Demouy et al., 2016; Kukulska-Hulme & de los Arcos, 2011). Before classes, teachers can initiate posts that invite questions, responses, discussions and reflections on the course content or assignments and encourage students’ participation in the study group. Through collaborative learning and social interactions, students can benefit from linguistic scaffolding and further improve their language accuracy. In addition, smaller peer support groups can also be created in which students can help and support each other on course content, successful online learning strategies, time-management skills, peer tutoring on assignments and the online language learning process (Russell & Murphy-Judy, 2020, p. 228). Although teachers may not always be available for individual learners, peer presence and support are important for after-class learning. However, regulations and management are needed in these groups to ensure smooth operation and active participation.6Conclusion and directions for future researchDue to the rapid development of online education in China, the aim of this study was to examine the usefulness and improvements of one-to-one oral English courses. Importantly, the learners made progress in speaking with respect to complexity. From an ecological perspective, the helpful components included opportunities to express personal views, timely scaffolding and efficient feedback, which were all related to social interaction and echoed Don’s (2013) characteristics of effective online language courses. Since this was a one-to-one course, teachers should think of ways to promote learner–content and learner–instructor interactions in class, as well as learner–learner interactions outside of class, to build sufficient interactions into the online course.With regard to improving the current course, the following changes could be made: (1) real-time video communication between the instructor and the learner should be implemented as an option; (2) homework with timely feedback and corrections should be added as an important activity for reinforcement and self-improvement after class; and (3) online study groups, such as a new semiotic network outside of class, should be created to improve abilities. Firstly, to create a rich and authentic language learning environment in class, it is suggested that teachers and students be able to see each other face to face (at least through the camera) and communicate both verbally and nonverbally through eye contact, facial expressions and gestures. This will increase engagement, motivation and social interactions in online environments (quality). Moreover, teachers can guide and monitor students’ after-class learning by assigning homework based on the learning content and their proficiency level and providing guidance and corrective feedback. Driven by different purposes of learning English (perception), students would have greater motivation to develop the self-discipline required to finish their homework assignments and improve their learning after class. Finally, an online study group is highly conducive to language learning, since the teacher might not be always online and available. Teachers can encourage students to answer each other’s questions in online study groups and provide help and support to each other in real time (action). Thus, the study group serves as a supportive learning community, and students consequently feel more supported in the course. Moreover, by working with a partner, students may feel more confident in finishing their homework and becoming their desired selves (relation).In summation, one of the most important factors for the success of one-to-one online courses is that they should be clearly organised and structured with established communication practices. In addition, different learning activities/tasks should be incorporated to enhance students’ engagement both inside and outside of class, and a variety of experiences (such as individual work, pair work and group work) should be involved to facilitate interactions, motivation and collaboration. Furthermore, meaningful and individualised feedback should be provided to guide students’ self-regulated learning and promote autonomous learning. Finally, online study groups that employ social media platforms should be created to foster social presence and build a language learning community, enhancing students’ communicative competence and achieving language learning goals.There are, nonetheless, a few limitations that should be noted. First, since this is a small-scale study with a number of participants from some developed cities in China, the findings may not be generalisable to students from less-developed cities in China or elsewhere. A natural progression of this work is to expand the sample size and include participants from more diverse geographical areas. Second, as participants only attended three online lessons (each lasting 25 min), the class time may not be sufficient for them to assimilate and internalise the knowledge to enhance their oral skills in class. Finally, since we only did single group pre- and post-tests without a control group, students’ natural growth should also be taken into consideration. Therefore, it is suggested an experimental study involving a control group be conducted in future research to improve the course model and offer more effective one-to-one online language courses/programmes to meet EFL learners’ needs in various contexts.

Journal

Journal of China Computer-Assisted Language Learning – de Gruyter

Published: Dec 1, 2022

Keywords: ecological theory; effectiveness; learner perception; one-to-one online oral English course; online language education

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