Designing a delightful learning experience would seem essential if we want to motivate adult learners to engage with our products. But do adult learners value ‘fun’ learning experiences? In this talk we explore student perceptions of products designed to provide entertaining, stress-free learning, such as bite-sized video-based activities and social clubs. Specifically, we examine questions raised by some students of the efficacy of learning experiences which don’t feel like ‘hard work’.
Perceptions of Efficacy: If I'm not suffering, am I learning?
1. Perceptions of Efficacy:
If I’m not suffering, am I learning?
Bindi Clements PhD
Instructional Design and Efficacy Manager
bindi.clements@wallstreetenglish.com
@bindi_clements Innovate ELT 2018
4. Interactive lessons ‘Bite-sized, entertaining,
sitcom-style lessons.’
Digital workbooks ‘Fun, interactive
exercises.’
Social Experience ‘Meet new people, have
fun and practice your English.’
Fun at WSE
7. Students are more motivated if they are having
fun.
Students will learn without noticing they are
learning so they will enjoy it more.
A fun learning environment will make
everything more memorable.
But … Do learners pay enough attention
and ‘notice’ language when they are having
fun? In what way is it memorable?
Why does
‘fun’ boost
learning?
I asked our
staff...
8. When students are having fun, they don't mind
spending more time doing their English
learning activities.
Students will do activities more frequently
when the activities are fun and engaging.
OK, but … is it (only) ‘fun’ that makes
(digital) learning ‘sticky’?
Why does
‘fun’ boost
learning?
I asked our
staff...
9. When students are having fun, they will be
more willing to try new things and not be afraid
to make mistakes.
The ‘affective filter’ is lowered by having fun in
the classroom. Affective variables such as
fear, nervousness, and boredom can affect the
acquisition of a second language.
OK, but … are we sure we know what
learners find ‘fun’ in the classroom?
Why does
‘fun’ boost
learning?
I asked our
staff...
19. • Listen (Video, audio or reading text with
comprehension questions)
• Pronounce (Listen, record and compare)
• Practice (Variety of question types to
practice language and draw attention to
written form)
• Speak (Digital conversation)
• Confirm (Questions to review language)
Which
Interactive
Activity
sounds most
‘fun’?
20. Interviews with 12 students in China. Two types of responses:
Fun, fun, fun
‘They should be fun, because I want to be absorbed into
them.’
‘Of course they should be fun. English is something that I
love!’
Learning = fun
'We study the language, we should study it, not very
interesting things.'
‘It's OK if they are tedious, because the purpose is to learn
English.’
‘Useful and fun is the same thing for me. I enjoy it and really
think it's helpful.’
Should the
interactive
lessons be
‘fun’?
I asked the
students...
21. What the students said ...
Which is most
fun?
Which is least
fun?
Which is most
effective?
Which is least
effective?
Which would
you like to go
back to?
Listen 7 0 0 1 5
Pronounce 2 2 6 1 10
Practice 1 1 1 0 4
Speak 3 5 5 1 4
Confirm 1 4 1 7 5
22. • Don’t assume I know what learners are
going to find ‘fun’!
• ‘Fun’ (or engaging) for some students = I’m
learning.
• Being ‘fun’ doesn’t make it ‘sticky’ for all
learners. Feeling they are learning is
‘stickier’ for these learners.
• Even if they are not ‘delighted’ by the UX,
they still value activities if they feel they are
learning.
What did I
learn?
25. • Encounters: Assessed practice activities for
unit language.
• Complementary Classes: Practice
activities and games using language taught
at their level.
• Social Clubs: Fluency class around a
theme, same-level students.
• English Corners: Teacher-led discussion
around a theme, find out about something
new, mixed-level students.
• Parties: Fun social events with games and
other practical activities, mixed-level
students.
Which do you
think
students
thought were
most ‘fun’?
26. • Social Clubs are definitely more fun for the
students than Encounters.
• Students feel stressed by being assessed in
Encounters. That’s not fun.
• Students most enjoy the parties.
• They probably like the English Corners the
most.
• A lot of learners are feedback hungry.
Fluency classes don't give them the
feedback they want.
What did the
teachers
think?
27. ● Parties, English Corners and Social Clubs
are most fun. They enjoy the opportunity
practice their English in a stress-free
environment.
● They see the value of Encounters for
practising and reinforcing what they learned.
Assessment is not stressful, but they are not
the most fun classes as more controlled by
the teacher.
B1 (and
higher)
students
28. • ‘A mix of different level students make it
hard. Low level students don't have chance
to speak much. I listen a lot. Don't like it.’
• ‘They are not good. Sometimes I can't
understand. I don't know what I can say.’
• ‘I don’t like being with higher level students, I
can’t participate.’
• ‘Yesterday there was a party - student all
star night. Four students talked about their
experience learning English. I liked that, I
could understand them, I felt motivated.’
A2 and lower
students:
Social Clubs,
English
Corners and
Parties
29. • ‘Encounter is like a test. This is a good thing.
We learn from tests.’
• ‘I think Encounters are very good. The
teacher can correct my mistakes.’
• ‘I enjoy Encounters a lot because I get a lot
of error correction, so I feel I learn a lot. But I
don’t enjoy so much Social Clubs because
there is less error correction.’
• ‘I feel good in Encounters. Teachers correct
mistakes in the middle of the class, so I think
Encounters are very good.’
A2 and lower
students:
Encounters
30. • Fun is producing (correct/corrected) English for some
students, not (necessarily) playing games. Make sure
‘fun’ activities have a learning aim.
• There might be a gap between what teachers think is
fun, and what learners think is fun. Ask yourself why
your learners need to have fun!
• Activities which teachers think are ‘fun’ might be
stressful for (lower level) learners. Lack of purpose or
clarity is not engaging for your learners.
• Learners value learning more than ‘fun’. What’s
‘sticky’ for learners may be a perception that they are
learning, not that they are having ‘fun’.
What can we
learn?
How can we
improve our
product?
31. Thank you for coming!
bindi.clements@wallstreetenglish.com
@bindi_clements
Editor's Notes
First of all, thank you for coming, right at the end of the conference! I’m Bindi, I work as Instructional Design and Efficacy Manager for Wall Street English. Compared to some of the speakers here, I’m a relative newcomer to EFL - around 12 years, but have worked in education, particularly designing online and blended learning, for over 20 years.
I recently joined WSE. Fun is important to the WSE method, and to how our method is sold to our learners. Take this conference as opportunity to think about this. I did some research with students and learners in China.. Do our learners agree that fun is important? And is what we think our learners find fun the same as what the learners tell us they find fun?
Has anyone heard of WSE? Founded in 1972, has over 400 centres in 28 territories in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America, over 170,000 adult students worldwide. Blended learning. Watch this clip and think about how important fun seems to be.
Quote from the website.
Core method. Today I’m going to look at fun in the interactive lessons, and in the class types. First going to look at what and why we want to build in fun. Then question what we think fun is, and what our students think fun is.
I asked staff here in the product department why we would want to build in fun.
WHY are we looking at this? Want to know what makes interactive lessons ‘sticky’. How can we motivate our learners to complete these lessons? And does making them fun actually make them any more effective? Study of 12 students in China.
From this I thought for students from the ‘fun, fun,fun’ group, videos would be most fun, pronounce least fun (repetitive and right now no feedback).
And I thought for some for whom ‘fun’ and ‘effective’ were the same, Practice and Confirm would be highly scored.
Listen
Only 7/12 said the video activities were the most ‘fun’.
Nobody thought the videos were the most effective.
Some students felt they didn’t learn anything (no explicit learning) so wanted to be able to skip watching the videos.
Pronounce
Most enjoyable for 2 students. VERY surprising!
Most effective for 6 students (but not about pronunciation)
10 students would like to go back and do it again (despite UX issues)
Confirm
Those who wanted to go back and repeat was to repeat questions they answered incorrectly.
For those who did not like this section, it was largely not related to UX, but that they felt it was too easy.
Second area I looked at was the classes. 18 students, 5 focus groups of teachers.
Not so many surprises for higher levels. Even student who likes encounters, unsurprising, we can expect assessment to be less stressful for them at this level.
Find it difficult when they can’t participate. Not fun. Remember that teachers on the whole did not recognise this.
