ila05_toogood

Proceedings for the Independent Learning Conference 2005
Sarah Toogood 1
Taking Control or Jumping Through Hoops: Issues with SALL in
mainstream courses
Keynote Address
Sarah Toogood
Introduction
For self-access language learning (SALL) courses to be successful it is important to
use scaffolding structures (Benson 2001) and adhere to a particular set of principles
(Cotterall 2000). Designing SALL courses for inclusion into mainstream curricula
requires careful consideration not only of how to create structures which scaffold
autonomy in learning appropriately, but also of factors such as assessment, teacher
approach, provision of access to a variety of materials and how these materials may
be used.
At the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) we have been
researching our provisions for SALL both in mainstream courses and in elective
courses for many years. As a result, we have become sensitive to the reactions of both
teachers and learners. We have tried to address issues that became evident by
providing a particular kind of structure to our compulsory SALL courses. The
intention of this paper is to give an overview of the different SALL courses we have
devised and run within the Language Centre at HKUST. It is also to consider whether
or not the scaffolding structures we have integrated into our courses result in learners
and teachers jumping through hoops or whether they support SALL teachers and
encourage learners to take good control of their own learning
Developing SALL in courses
There are many ways of fostering autonomy. Benson (2001:111) lists 6 that are talked
about in the literature on autonomy and language learning:
• Resource-based approaches
- emphasise independent interaction with learning materials
• Technology-based approaches
- emphasise independent interaction with educational technologies
• Learner-based approaches
- emphasise the direct production of behavioural and psychological changes in
the learner
• Classroom-based approaches
- emphasise learner control over the planning and evaluation of classroom
learning
• Curriculum-based approaches
- extend the idea of learner control to the curriculum as a whole
• Teacher-based approaches
- emphasise the role of the teacher and teacher education in the practice of
fostering autonomy

Sarah Toogood 2
At HKUST we make provision for the first 3 through our Self-Access Centre (SAC)
and through our SALL courses we make provision for the last 2.
Having reviewed each approach, Benson (2001) concludes that the best overall
approach is a combination of all 6 at the level of the curriculum. He does not give an
indication of how this can be done and there seems no reason to assume that there
should be one particular way of combining the approaches or that there is a ‘best
way’. However, it is clear that there are certain common principles that should be
taken into account particularly when devising and implementing SALL courses, and
especially when they are integrated into the mainstream curriculum. Therefore, SALL
course writers and teachers need to bear in mind a number of different factors when
developing and implementing SALL courses.
What to Bear in Mind
A review of the literature on what to bear in mind reveals five key factors that are
useful to be aware of when making provision for SALL in any context, but
particularly when doing so for mainstream courses. The factors are:
1. Teachers and learners need to be very clear about their roles and expectations
2. Teachers can strongly influence the way in which learners respond to a
particular approach
3. Learners differ in their ability and willingness to use procedures for learner
self-management
4. Assessment of SALL is possible but problematic
5. Scaffolding structures and adherence to principles make for good SALL
courses
To better understand the significance of these factors, below is series of quotes from a
variety of authors who have grappled with them over the years. The quotes highlight
something to be aware of, give a warning or simply present a point of interest.
1. Teachers and learners need to be very clear about their roles and expectations
It is easily possible for teachers – the ‘experts’ – to be too dominant in their roles of
facilitator or consultant. This may occur because they themselves are ill-prepared for
such roles in teacher training courses, or because the learner is reluctant or unable to
assume greater responsibility for decision making. (…) If on the other hand, in the
interests of promoting greater autonomy, a teacher withholds support and advice
from a learner who is as yet ill-equipped to assume the mantle of independent
learning, there is greater danger that learners may lack direction or may waste time
heading in the wrong direction. (Sheerin 1997:63)
For autonomy to be realised, teacher and learner roles must be redefined, for not
doing so, or not seeing any reason to, may be a barrier to achieving the strong
version of autonomous learning we are putting forward. (Champagne et al 2001:47)
The role of the teacher in the negotiation of learning objectives and procedures is
also crucial. (…) curriculum-based approaches do not imply an abdication of the

Sarah Toogood 3
teacher’s role. On the contrary, as in all approaches to the implementation of
autonomy, the attitudes, skills and dedication of the teacher are key factors. (Benson
2001:170)
The lessons we learnt from the first year were quite clear:
a. advisers’ approaches to advising and expectations of their advisees were not in fact
as similar as we had assumed;
b. some learners stated they wanted more ‘pressure’ or ‘force’ to be able to complete
the programme successfully;
c. advisers felt frustrated with some learners, as they did not seem to be making links
between their stated language-learning aims and their input, practice and methods of
evaluation;
d. advisers felt that some learners treated them as private tutors and did not seem too
willing to take real responsibility for their own learning, even though they said that
they were. (Pemberton & Toogood 2001:73)
Our experience of advising has taught us the importance of guarding against
assumptions. In particular, we should not assume that all learners share our
expectations of the roles of adviser and learner, and that all advisers share the same
approaches to advising. Nor should we assume that, just because we believe in
promoting autonomous learning, our advising will necessarily support it. We need to
make sure that learners are aware of our expectations. More importantly, perhaps,
we need to keep checking that our attempts to promote learner autonomy are not
undermined by our own preconceived ideas and assumptions. (Pemberton & Toogood
2001:81)
2. Teachers can strongly influence the way in which learners respond to a particular
approach
Learners’ attitudes towards self-access may be affected by four main influences.
These are: their teachers, their educational institution, their peers, and society.
Teachers are an important influence because it is they who are most likely to first
introduce learners to self-access. Teachers who do this because of their own
commitment to self-access learning are likely to have an enthusiastic attitude and are
likely to communicate that enthusiasm to the learners. The attitudes of teachers who
introduce self-access to learners simply because of institutional policy are likely to be
more variable. In a study of learners’ and teachers’ attitudes to self-access language
learning Gardner and Miller (1997) found that learners were, in general, more
positive about the benefits of self-access than their teachers. (Gardner & Miller
1999:12)
When students speak about learning, they do so in highly emotional terms. This isn’t
surprising, yet the emotional dimensions of learning receive scant attention in formal
research, for they escape standardized measures and experimental controls.
(Brookfield 1990:45)
Disjunction of Learning and Teaching Styles. Sometimes it is not the content that
students resist but the style in which teachers teach and in which they, as students, are
asked to learn. (…) Teachers who rely on only one teaching method must always

Sarah Toogood 4
expect a hard core of resisters who are unsympathetic to or intimidated by the
approach concerned. (Brookfield 1990: 151-152)
(…) a teacher can facilitate learner autonomy in an online environment by
interrelating with learners in a way that communicates to them that the teacher has
them ‘in-mind’. In this way, the teacher can exercise restraint in not intervening at the
level of content whilst helping learners overcome the challenges of isolation,
facelessness, and lack of identity within the online class.”(La Ganza 2001:27)
3. Learners differ in their ability and willingness to use procedures for learners’ self-
management
There are different degrees of self-management from novice to expert. Becoming an
expert self-managed learner can be a complex and long-term process (Pressley
1995), as it entails an intricate set of skills and knowledge. Expert self-managed
learners can assess the requirements of the learning task at hand, can identify and
deploy the appropriate learning strategies, can make appropriate attributions for
success and failure, and readily accept the responsibility for their own learning
(Strage 1998). In the process, expert self-managed learners are able to monitor their
own progress, shift strategies upon encountering problems, and to move on when
subgoals are attained. In addition, they possess beliefs that support the coordination
of procedures and knowledge. Such beliefs include confidence in one’s ability to
succeed and the recognition that success often comes after some frustration (Brown
and Pressley 1994). (Rubin 2001:26)
In deciding the topics for pieces of work, planning and undertaking field work and
presenting what they have learned, participants are not only directing themselves, but
clearly expressing who they are. In the process, they typically alternate between
depression and elation, despair and excitement, enthusiasm and ennui, extreme pride
in what they have done and loathing of the whole thing. These human emotions are
indicative of participant engagement with their work (and with autonomy). Emotions
are also present, but not as tangibly or visibly, when learners undertake teacher-
directed tasks in the beginning of the program. (Champagne et al 2001:50)
4. Assessment of SALL is possible but problematic
It is possible to find limited evidence that learners who are able to learn
independently may also gain greater proficiency. (…) It is apparent that learner
autonomy is not an easily described single behaviour. Furthermore, there are so
many variables that affect a learner’s degree of autonomy at any one time that it is
clearly impossible to evaluate autonomy based on observable behaviour. (Sinclair
1999:100-106)
Evaluation plays a pivotal role in the development of learner autonomy. The function
of evaluation is on the one hand to ensure that work undertaken is discussed and
revised, and on the other to establish a basis of experience and awareness that can be
used in planning further learning. It is a recurrent activity between the teacher and
individual learners, groups of learners, or the whole class. It can also be undertaken
by the learners themselves. (Dam 1995:49)

Sarah Toogood 5
In principle, every factor or element involved in the learning process is open for
evaluation (see Dam 1995). When evaluating the process – in all three phases of a
period – the following formats and types of evaluations are used:
• self-evaluation
• spontaneous, oral evaluations between peers and/or between teacher and
learner(s) during or after an activity
• written evaluations – in diaries or in response to questionnaires, the latter being
produced either by the teacher or the learners themselves
• planned and prepared oral evalutions in groups or whole class with or without a
teacher – very often based on questions or questionnaires
• combinations of the forms above
The format will vary according to what is evaluated and when it is done. Whichever
format is used, however, the evaluation will always give rise to discussions and
revision of work undertaken and will function as a tool for awareness-raising and
development. (Dam 2000:50)
To facilitate objective measurement of how learners’ capacity for autonomy in
language learning has developed over a course term, two rating scales were
constructed. As autonomy is operative at two levels – process control at the task or
micro level, and self-direction at the overall process or macro level – two different
rating scales needed to be developed. (Lai 2001:35)
Nunan observed that opportunities to reflect led to greater sensitivity to the learning
process over time. Lor’s (1998) study of learners’ reflective journal entries suggests,
however, that many learners experience difficulty in reflecting upon and evaluating
their learning spontaneously and often fail to see the value of self-evaluation. In an
earlier study of learning logs, Schärer (1983) also observed that students needed
considerable assistance and that the use of log books could even have a discouraging
effect on weaker students. (Benson 2001:156)
Similar to points made above, Voller 1997 lists what is required in order to facilitate
evaluation and negotiation of learning.
• helping learners to plan and carry out their independent language learning by
means of needs analysis (both learning and language needs), objective setting,
(both short-and longer term, achievable), work planning, selecting materials and
organising interactions;
• helping learners evaluate themselves (assessing initial proficiency, monitoring
progress, and self-and peer-assessment);
• helping learners to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to implement the
above (by raising their awareness of language learning, by providing learner
training to help them identify learning styles and appropriate strategies). (Voller
1997:102)
5. Scaffolding structures and adherence to principles make for good SALL courses
1. The course reflects learners’ goals in its language, tasks, and strategies
2. Course tasks are explicitly linked to a simplified model of the language learning
process

Sarah Toogood 6
3. Course tasks either replicate real-world communicative tasks or provide rehearsal
for such tasks
4. The course incorporates discussion and practice with strategies known to facilitate
task performance
5. The course promotes reflection on learning (Cotterall 2000:110-112)
It is evident (…) that the more successful curriculum-based approaches to autonomy
do not simply leave the students to ‘sink or swim’. Invariably, their effectiveness
depends upon implicit or explicit scaffolding structures that support learners in
decision-making processes. Without these structures, curriculum-based approaches
would do little to help students to develop their capacity to take control over
learning.” (Benson 2001:170)
SALL Courses at HKUST
We have been developing SALL courses and integrating SALL into the curriculum at
HKUST for a number of years. Table 1 below gives an overview of the history and
the parameters of each course; each of which has gone through a number of
incarnations over the years. For more details see Pemberton & Toogood (2001) and
Toogood & Pemberton (2002).
Table 1.
Lang 503
Spring
(1997-
2001)
Lang 306
SAEM
Spring
(1999-2001)
Lang 306
Fall
(2001-)
Lang.106
Fall
(2000- )
Lang. 106
Spring
(2000-)
Time 14 weeks
3hrs
7/8 weeks
2hrs
10 hours 14 weeks
2hrs
14 weeks
2hrs
Students 50ish
PGs
8/12ish
3rd
Yr UG
700ish
3rd
Year UG
700ish
1st
Yr UG
700ish
1st
Yr UG
Focus Anything Anything Grammar
for Writing
an
Engineering
Report
Vocabulary
building for
Reading
Pronunciation
awareness for
Listening
Assessment No Credit
Pass Fail
Written
Report
Quarter of a
Credit
Grades
Written
Report
Sixteenth of
a Credit
Grades
Half a
Credit
Pass Fail
Written
Report
Half a Credit
Pass Fail
Written
Report
Compulsory No No/Yes Yes Yes Yes

Sarah Toogood 7
The two non-compulsory courses (Lang 503 and Lang 306 SAEM) which allow
learners to choose any skill and any interest for their SALL have not run for a number
of years because they are quite different in approach to traditional classroom teaching
and as a result it has been difficult to persuade teachers to choose to teach them.
However, because of the development of the Virtual English Language Adviser
(VELA) (see http://www.vela.ust.hk - About, Purpose) I have been able to run Lang
306 SAEM again this year with teachers who have gained experience from teaching
on recent versions of Lang 106. The remaining courses in the table were developed
later, and as you can see, are restrictive in terms of focus. The reason for this is to do
with student/teacher ratios. The number of students taking these courses is high
making it difficult for teachers to cope with a high degree of strategy and interest
variety in individual learners’ projects throughout the course, especially as the course
structure requires constant dialogue between each individual learner and the teacher.
The two courses highlighted (Lang 503 and Lang 106) are the ones I’ll be looking at
in more detail later in the paper. Each represents an extreme in terms of the way in
which we provide structure for SALL. This then, provides an interesting picture of the
developments we’ve made in creating structures which aim to help teachers cope with
monitoring and assessing learners progress and improvements and enable learners to
develop the ability to take good control of their language learning. Before looking at
these courses in more detail, I’d like to show how we try to foster autonomy through
the structuring of our SALL courses.
How we try to Foster Autonomy
Figure 1. plays on the metaphor ‘to sink or swim’ and aims to give an indication of
what can happen if the degree of support and freedom on a SALL course, particularly
a mainstream course, is not carefully thought through and controlled. When making
provisions for supporting SALL, our aim at HKUST has been to try and strike a
balance between the degree of support we give and the amount of freedom we
encourage learners to take.
Figure 1.
Control Freedom
Lots of Support
No Support
Choosing your
stroke and
swimming with
guidance
Swimming by
numbers
Swimming
reluctantly
– may sink…
Sink or Swim

Sarah Toogood 8
Our experience over the years, in giving advice in the SAC and in running courses
where SALL is an integral part, has shown that given total freedom and no support,
learners will either sink or swim. The few who do swim, do well on their own or with
minimal support. It is more common however, to see the majority sink. Where
learners are exposed to too much control with the teacher making all the decisions and
no support for them to develop control of their own learning, there is a tendency for
learners to swim reluctantly - sometimes give up and sink. A reason for this may be
that the learning is not understood by the learner or personalised in any way, and as a
result, becomes meaningless and unmanageable. If exposed to too much control and
too much support the result can be a scenario whereby learners simply do what they
are told without caring to think for themselves because there is a lack of
personalisation in the learning. We may find situations where the teacher is providing
too much control yet expecting learners to make decisions. This results in problems:
learners may have worked out what is required of them and may be indicating that
they are doing well, where in fact they are simply jumping through hoops. If
however, the learner is given the right amount of support and the right amount of
freedom, then it is possible to see learners making their own decisions whilst being
guided in how to develop both in language learning and in critical thinking. Back to
the sink or swim metaphor - helping learners choose their stroke and swim with
guidance is the scenario we aim for. How we do it is through providing structure
which is scaffolded.
Structure Like Bamboo Scaffolding
As Benson (2001:170) says (see quote above) learners need support when they make
decisions and this support is only effective when provisions are made through
scaffolding structures. We try to scaffold SALL at HKUST using structural elements
which we hope give support that is:
• Strong - clearly defined and in line with institutional demands (high student
to teacher ratios and the need to give grades which fit the mainstream)
• Flexible – allowing for individual expression; freedom of choice and
development of creativity
For our context in Hong Kong, where bamboo, due to its strength and flexibility, is
the preferred material used to support the building of some of the most impressive
skyscrapers in the world at a prolific and regular rate, we like to take Benson’s idea of
scaffolding structures and think of it in terms of ‘bamboo scaffolding.’ Using this idea
of bamboo scaffolding we have developed a number of structural elements for our
SALL courses at HKUST.
Structural Elements for SALL Courses at HKUST
The aim is to combine a number of elements and get the balance right so that learners
are given freedom with just the right amount of support.
Element One
The first element is the ‘Plan-Dialogue-Diary Spiral’. The idea here is to provide a
framework for learning and an arena for negotiation between learners and the teacher.

Sarah Toogood 9
This concept is not new. It is probably the most common form of support used in most
provisions for SALL whether course based or not. Nevertheless, it is also probably the
most vital element in the structural equation. My interpretation of how it works can be
better explained if you imagine it in terms of how a DNA helix is represented. The
ladder-like structure on the outside representing the Plan-Dialogue-Diary Spiral acting
like scaffolding for the ‘facts’ (of actions planned/taken/planned),
‘examples/products’ (of language work produced) and ‘reflections’ (of actions
planned/taken and or results of work produced) which are contained within. The idea
of the spiral or helix is that the framework can be ongoing and progressive. It can also
allow a teacher and learner to easily see progress through the structure. Our
experience has been that the trick to ensuring that this structural element works well
both for learners and teachers in a mainstream course context, is in ensuring that
documentation of work follows a fixed pattern, is required and followed-up on often
and at regular intervals. Getting the balance right for this and ensuring that the
teachers are not overloaded with marking and learners do not begin to feel overloaded
with documenting their learning rather than actually carrying it out however, requires
very careful planning and attention.
Element Two
The second element is the division of language skills into ‘General’ and
‘Fundamental’. To help learners more easily choose appropriate strategies and
materials, it was necessary that they understand how lack of knowledge in one skill
might be the cause of the problem in another. I therefore divided the 7 skills into
General and Fundamental. Table 2 shows the relationship between the skills in terms
of problems learners may have and what may be the cause.
Table 2
Problems with Caused by lack of knowledge in
Listening Vocabulary & Pronunciation
Speaking Vocabulary & Pronunciation & Grammar
Reading Vocabulary & Grammar
Writing Vocabulary & Grammar
GENERAL SKILLS FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS
In the early days of running SALL courses, where the structure of the courses was
pretty free - allowing learners to choose a skill and discover for themselves which
strategies worked and which didn’t - one of the biggest frustrations we found amongst
teachers and learners was that learners would try to address their problems by
focusing on one skill and one strategy. For example, they might choose listening and
attempt to improve by watching movies or listening to the news, or they might choose
speaking and attempt to improve by giving more presentations. This was fine for
some learners who saw the process as a means of experimenting and enjoying their
learning without pressure. For others however, it was very frustrating with the result
that they would study hard or spend a lot of time listening or presenting but see no
progress. Generally the reason for this was that they had not diagnosed their
problems. They had not considered that their difficulties with listening or speaking

Sarah Toogood 10
might be related to a lack of knowledge in pronunciation features or perhaps a lack of
vocabulary.
From the point of view of the teachers who needed to assess learners’ ability to meet
the most common two aims in our SALL courses: ‘To take responsibility for your
learning and make improvements in your language’, it was highly problematic. How
was it possible to ‘grade’ learners who were ‘exploring’ and had spent the whole of
their SALL project time watching movies? How was it possible to have a meaningful
dialogue about diaries which never showed any change because the practice being
carried out never changed? How was it possible to offer language advice when it was
not clear what the problems were?
In an attempt to address these issues, we decided to make sure that newer SALL
courses required learners to make a connection between the General and the
Fundamental skills when they planned their SALL projects.
Element Three
It was due to the same kinds of issues and frustration that I developed the ‘FTG
Model’ (which in fact may act more like a framework). F meaning Focused Practice,
T, Transfer Practice and G, General Practice, is a way of dividing strategies and
materials into type. It is introduced to learners thus:
Type of Language
Practice
Description Example
Focused This is what you do to teach
yourself something in the
language
If you don’t know the meaning of a
word/phrase or you don’t know how it’s used,
find out through checking meanings and
examples in dictionaries and asking
fluent/native speakers.
Transfer This where you make a
conscious effort to use what
you have learnt in Focused
Practice
If you have collected and checked the meaning
for a list of vocabulary, you can practise the
words/phrases to see if you know how to use
them correctly. You can see if you now know
the meanings when you read, you can use them
in a conversation, writing sentences or in an
essay. You can check to see if you’re correct
by checking in dictionaries again or by
reactions you get and you could also check
with an adviser, teacher or friends.
General This is what you do when you
just expose yourself to the
language
Reading, watching movies, listening to the
radio, to songs and chatting with friends on
the same or a similar topic, even singing in the
shower, are all great ways to keep up with the
kind of vocabulary you are working on.
There’s no need to worry about mistakes or
misunderstandings or knowing everything in
detail - just have fun!
FTG is now used in both our compulsory SALL courses: Lang 106 and Lang 306, as
well as VELA (see above). It has also been incorporated into courses at City
University of Hong Kong’s English Language Centre and at Kanda University of

Sarah Toogood 11
International Studies, Chiba, Japan through provisions made in the Self-Access
Learning Centre (SALC).
Knowing how to select and describe strategies and materials in terms of FTG is not
always easy and the system does still have its faults. However, for the most part it has
been well received as the following quotes from end-of-course questionnaires
indicate:
“In this module, I have learnt to self-study more effectively by setting learning focus,
choosing learning strategies, making learning plan, using varieties of resources in the
SAC, evaluating learning progress, making learning decision based on needs and
balancing between focus practices and transfer practices. I have also made some
improvement on my listening skills on the area of recognizing linking and weak forms
in daily conversations.”
[Lang. 306 SAEM Student]
“No matter how hard I explained, some students couldn’t understand clearly the
differences between them. But once they understood they love the concepts and use
those terms to describe their learning.”
[Lang. 106 Teacher]
“It really helps. I’ve got evidence. I’ve got student’s work showing that they have
improved.”
[Lang. 306 Teacher]
In my view the main advantage of using FTG is that it helps in enabling both the
learners and the teachers see process and progress of SALL clearly. This is vital when
discussing plans and diaries and useful when asking learners to document actions and
products. Sinclair (1999) referred to evaluating SALL from plans and diaries as
‘Wrestling with a Jelly’ and called for the need to provide teachers with a practical
framework that allows for the evaluation metacognitive awareness. I think that to
some extent the idea of matching General and Fundamental skills and dividing
strategies and materials into Focused, Transfer and General practice types helps to
solidify, clarify and enable dissection of the jelly so that when it comes time to
‘wrestle’ with giving the ‘right’ kind of advice or evaluating/grading a learner’s
SALL, it’s not such a wobbly process.
Element Four
Another element we use at HKUST to support our learners when they are taking a
SALL course are our SAC (Self-Access Centre) and (as mentioned above) VELA
(Virtual English Language Adviser http://www.vela.ust.hk).
The SAC was opened in 1993 and is set up in what Gardner and Miller (1999)
described as a ‘supermarket system’. Although nowadays it might be better described
in terms of what Miller (during a telephone conversation August 2005) is referring to
as a ‘multi-mode’ system combining the concept of a shopping environment with a
technology centre. For a while, our SAC set up was considered adequate for the needs
of our learners, however with the incorporation of SALL into courses and when
courses are running concurrently, it can seem a bit small and noisy. Covering an area

Sarah Toogood 12
of 300 m2 it only accommodates 60 learners. This is an issue when learners on SALL
courses need to access materials (such as pronunciation books and resources),
teachers need to hold consultations and only 2 classes out of 6 can be in the SAC
during any 1 class slot. Ironically, prior to incorporating SALL into courses,
especially mainstream ones, we were hearing corridor rumours that the SAC was a
‘white elephant’ as nobody was using it. This wasn’t in fact true but the perception is
that we seem to have gone from one extreme to another: under use to over use.
To help somewhat with the issue and allow for learners to access materials online, we
developed a website for our SAC which directs learners to general advice on skills as
well as lists of materials available. However having incorporated the concepts of FTG
and Fundamental and General skills division into the SALL courses, we found that
access to general advice that was unconnected to materials was not always that useful
either for learners or teachers. This was one of the key reasons behind the proposal to
create VELA.
VELA has two points of entry: Browse and Plan. Both entry points enable users to
make connections between language problems and solutions. Solutions are provided
in the form of case specific strategies matched with materials. Integral to both entry
points are the concepts of FTG and Fundamental and General skills divisions. Use of
a VELA plan has now been incorporated into Lang 106 and is assessed according to
criteria which focus on establishing how deeply and responsibly learners have thought
about their choices as well as whether or not learners have made progress in the area
of language they set out to improve.
Element Five
Assessment of SALL is the fifth element of structure and perhaps the most
interesting. Feelings about the idea of assessment and autonomy run high - some feel
that it’s not possible, others feel it shouldn’t be done, while some have found ways of
doing it which they believe doesn’t impinge on the freedoms of the learner and are
necessary in helping learners pursue more freedoms in their learning. In fact the topic
was recently discussed by a number of people on the AILA Scientific Commission’s
email discussion list Auto-L. The discussion was started by Alex Ding in March 2005
when he posted a question and comments about autonomy and assessment and it
became clear from reading the subsequent postings that there are still many who are
wary about the idea of a match between assessment and promoting autonomy.
Nevertheless there is a body of literature on the topic, showing inroads that have been
made into ways of successfully assessing learners on SALL courses. Jose Lai at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong devised a statistical means of calculating
assessment criteria linked to a course structure, which was published in the 2001 issue
of the AILA review. In the same publication, Marie-France Champagne and her
colleagues at the Asian Institute of Technology describe quantitative and qualitative
assessment measures developed to evaluate learners’ autonomy and language
improvement on a writing course (Talkbase) for a diverse population of pre-masters
learners. Deborah Corder (Fri, 25 Mar 2005 – Re [AUTO-L]: Re: autonomy,
assessment, plurality) in response to Alex Ding’s posting (see above), also reports on
methods implemented at the Auckland University of Technology to incorporate
assessment procedures for SALL into the classroom. Lindsay Miller and David

Sarah Toogood 13
Gardner have written chapters on assessing self-access learning and the evaluation of
SALL in their book ‘Establishing Self-Access from theory to practice.’ (1999)
The approach we have taken at HKUST is to combine all the structural elements
outlined above. Some of our courses are pass/fail and some are graded, however all
use the plan-dialogue-diary spiral and all have now incorporated the concepts of
General & Fundamental skills division and at least the F and T part of the FTG
Model. Each course also has detailed assessment criteria which are strongly linked to
the course requirements. (See Appendix 1. Lang 106 Assessment Criteria)
Structural Extremes in two SALL Courses
To give an idea of the developments we’ve made in terms of structuring and the
seeming impact this has had on being able to say that a learner has taken good or
effective control of their language learning, I’d like to show two extreme examples.
One is from Lang 503 the first SALL course we ever ran and the other is from the
latest running of Lang 106. Both are examples of plans and diaries and can be seen in
Appendix 2, Alvin’s Plan and Diaries and Appendix 3, Jennifer’s Plan and Diaries.
The first thing to notice about the plan and diary forms is the fact that there is an
enormous amount of direction given in the Lang 106 forms compared to the Lang 503
forms. General and Fundamental Skills division as well as the FTG are both much
more apparent in the form and rhetoric of the Lang106 plan and diaries. Lang 503 was
a much ‘freer’ SALL course with support given in the plan and diary forms through
three simple headings: Input, Practice and Evaluation. Lang 106 is a lot more
structured with support given in the guise of many headings and prompts linking
choices and practice specifically to course requirements and assessment criteria. The
question is, which of the structures works best in terms of helping learners take
control and stopping them jump through hoops?
Alvin - Lang 503
The kind of input and support that Alvin received on the latest running of Lang 503
consisted of:
• Orientation workshops on setting and narrowing goals, General &
Fundamental skills: strategies and materials,
• 6 (x 30 mins) meetings with an experienced SALL adviser (and peers)
• Weekly diaries + samples of work
• 14 weeks (3hrs per week)
• Evaluative report (learner + adviser)
• Adviser’s role:
• We will not:
o tell you what skill to focus on
o give you a plan to follow
o tell you the ‘best way’ to learn
o correct all your English mistakes

Sarah Toogood 14
When we first developed the plan and diary forms for this course we wanted to give
learners as much freedom as possible to help them direct their own learning develop
their ability to direct their learning in a supportive and encouraging environment. This
included expressing themselves freely when they documented their learning. As a
result, we minimized the prompts for documentation to three simple headings: Input,
Practice and Evaluation.
This meant that there was very little structure there to help learners see the logical
links between what they set out to do and how they did it. It was basically up to the
adviser to help the learner: see the need for logical links and in accordance with the
aims of the course and help the learner improve in a particular area of language.
One of the most challenging aspects of Lang 503 was trying to strike a balance
between the learner’s freedoms in terms of ‘exploring’ materials and strategies to
achieve their own aims, and getting them through the course aims and requirements
successfully within the course timeframe.
Analysis
Taking a close look at Alvin’s plan seems to indicate that the input he received from
the workshops has paid off and he has a clear idea of which materials to use and what
he needs to do to meet his aim. In other words it seems logical. However a closer look
at his diaries reveals that Alvin didn’t follow his plan.
Alvin did lot of pronunciation exercises from books, changed suddenly in his
penultimate diary to some work on vocabulary, and ended up by throwing himself in
at the deep end by using a presentation he had to give to his supervisor and research
colleagues as a ‘sample of work’ to show his gain and improvement in accordance
with his aim. This shows a logical gap in his learning process because he has not
made systematic connections between the type of practice he has been carrying out
and his aims.
The only time we see a type of practice that we could say ‘transfers’ his knowledge of
the pronunciation features he had been working on is in his final diary where he
reports on the presentation he had wanted to do well in. However in choosing to wait
until this point to transfer what he’d been studying from the pronunciation books, and
in choosing this as a forum for his transfer he has not given himself time to make
mistakes, assess his progress or reflect on the processes he’d used so far.
A requirement of the course was that Alvin needed to show samples of work in his
diaries to indicate language learning or gain. By the time Alvin did this presentation it
was near the end of the course. Without wishing to seem too suspicious, the question
of whether Alvin included this presentation in order to show some kind of transfer
practice has to be asked and if it is true that he did this, then was this a case of
jumping through hoops?
Assessing Alvin to determine whether or not he had the ability to take good control of
his learning and to state that he had improved in his chosen area of language was not
an easy task; not least because despite the quantity of information Alvin provided, it
simply didn’t show whether he had been or could be successful. Tackling issues with

Sarah Toogood 15
strategies such as scripting presentation content to work on transfer was a difficult
task as Alvin had quite strong views on how to prepare a presentation. Respecting
Alvin’s freedom of choice and knowing my job was to support his autonomy, I could
not force him on this and felt like I had to watch helplessly as the end of the course
dawned and he struggled with his presentation. I felt particularly frustrated at not
being able to do more than encourage and say he should keep up the good work. In
dealing with Alvin on this course, I felt as though I was jumping through hoops
myself.
My overall assessment of Alvin was that he was keen to improve and hard working,
but he wasn’t necessarily at a point at which he could take effective control of his
learning because I couldn’t see that he was making the logical links necessary to
achieve his stated aim. However, I also felt that Alvin’s inability to take effective
control of his learning was not due to a failure on his part, it was more to do with a
failing in how the course had been constructed. Despite the fact that Alvin was given
quite a lot of support in terms of my time and initial orientation, the lack of structure
in the plan and diaries resulted in him swimming reluctantly and sinking.
Alvin passed the course on effort, attitude and the belief that he could in the future,
with continued support, be able to take good control of his learning but my sense of
failure as his teacher remained.
Jennifer - Lang 106
The kind of input and support that Jennifer received on the latest running of Lang 106
consisted of:
• A course book scheduled for 14 weeks of a combination of class-based
and SALL-based work
• In class explanations & tasks on how to make logical links between aims,
actions and outcomes
• Description of assessment criteria and how it relates to aims and
requirements
• Diagnostic test + evaluation of results
• VELA Plan (2 drafts)
• Diaries (min 3 showing FTG)
• Weekly consultations (in small groups of approx 5 for 15mins)
• 14 weeks (2 hrs per week: part SALL, part consultation)
• Final test + evaluation of results
• Evaluation report (learner + teacher)
In comparison to Lang 503 this course is very explicit in terms of the structural
elements and how the role they play to help learners develop knowledge of ways to
learn systematically, logically and effectively. As a result, it seems a lot less free than
Lang 503. Specifically, learners are not allowed to choose any skill or combination of
skills, they must focus on Reading and Vocabulary building in one semester and
Listening and Connected Speech in Pronunciation in the other.

Sarah Toogood 16
The VELA plan and the diaries include structural elements, which also restrict the
amount of freedom learners have in creating their plans and documenting their
learning. This begs the question of whether or not we’ve gone too far with the
structure so that it restricts too many learner freedoms. However, from a teacher’s
point of view, the forms do seem to help in terms of giving direction so that the
learner is able to provide the type of information necessary for the teacher to give
advice in accordance with course requirements.
Analysis
Looking at Jennifer’s documentation it is easy to see what she’s doing and how. It is
therefore easy to give feedback with regard to her progress simply by referring to the
prompts in the plan/diary for the type of information that’s needed and using
reference to General and Fundamental skills divisions as well as FTG in order to
highlight where logical links in learning can be made.
From Jennifer’s plan we can see that she’s adapted the original VELA one line
objective to incorporate her own personal goals while at the same time showing
knowledge of and ability to build in course requirements. Moving down to look at the
section on Assessing Progress we can see again how Jennifer has made adaptations
and personalized her plan.
Looking at Jennifer’s final evaluation, it’s clear that she was a happy customer. The
combination of the type of structure we have in the plans and diaries together with the
assessment criteria means that it is easy for both Jennifer and I (her teacher) to ensure
she follows logical systematic learning strategies within the confines (in terms of
time, need to show gains in language and learning when dealing with large numbers
of individuals at one time) of this compulsory course. The fact that the strategies and
materials were chosen by Jennifer in VELA combined with the requirement to
document her learning in the diaries using reference to FTG meant that the pressure
was off me as a teacher to suggest or force what might seem like personal preference
strategies or materials.
Unlike Alvin’s documentation of his learning, the language Jennifer uses is very
personal and shows reflection as well as factual information. This gives the sense that
the decisions Jennifer made are hers despite the amount of direction she is under. The
difference between what we see of Jennifer’s work and Alvin’s is that Jennifer leaves
the course feeling motivated and I as her teacher leave feeling confident that she now
has the knowledge and ability to take good control of her learning and see successful
outcomes.
It is of course impossible to draw conclusions based on two extreme examples but
what is interesting here is that they are extreme. This is quite encouraging because the
developments made in Lang 106 and to some extent Lang 306 are the result of
attempts, over the years, to address a wide variety of problems related to issues of
hoop jumping and whether or not we are helping learners take effective control of
their language learning. Generally the way in which these developments have come
about has been through encouraging teachers and learners to share their feelings about
the courses and particular elements in the courses.

Sarah Toogood 17
Hoops and Control
Below is an indication of the type of comments received from teachers and learners in
an attempt to address the question of whether or not the structures we now have in
place are beneficial to learners and teachers or whether they encourage them to jump
through hoops.
We know that Lang 503 had different parameters to Lang 106 and Lang 306 and
therefore could be less restrictive in many ways. Nevertheless, questions remain: Are
the compulsory courses too restrictive? Does the seemingly excessive amount of
structure cause learners to jump through hoops and take away from their wish and
ability to control their learning? Our results indicate that this does not seem to be the
case for the majority of learners. Here’s a taste of their reactions:
• This course is very good
• There is a lot of freedom and I like the SAC
• It’s systematical and fun and the memory of learning is almost permanent
• I prefer this kind of learning because each person has different problem.
• Everyone should find out what is their problem and solve it
• I prefer an interesting learning such as the learning in the SAC but not the
classroom
• The lang 106 is very good in helping us learn individually
• There are several factors which can lead to success in my learning and
improvements in my language ability. The first factors is a wide range of
materials in the SAC that can provide the language learners suitable and
plenty ways to improve their languages. The second factor is setting up VELA
plans. It is useful because the learners have some useful guidelines and
instruction to learn language step by step
Some however, are not so happy:
• Waste my time due to only 1 credit in 1 year
• Not my own idea, learn by pushing (course requirement)
• If a person really want to study, he will study himself
• (Teacher) Too much work for students and teachers - too much accounting for
what they have done (Lang 306)
• (Teacher) I don’t like dealing with students who lie about their projects.
Students are not serious about their projects. They lie about the hours they
spend. They say what you would like to hear - instead of evaluating the project
and their benefits (Lang 306)
The biggest complaint about SALL courses is the workload. Another issue is to do
with the personal nature of the interactions between learners and teachers about the
work.
HKUST, like other Hong Kong universities, battles with a ‘copy culture’ amongst
students. Language courses are compulsory for the majority of undergraduates

Sarah Toogood 18
throughout their three years of study. If students are not motivated to work on
language or are feeling too pressured by other course commitments then they become
unwilling to put time and effort into their work. When they are required to document
their learning and their reflections on their work for a SALL project, this copying
behaviour and negative or pragmatic attitudes towards the course can become quite
apparent and can be rather disturbing for teachers unused to holding constant dialogue
with individual learners in their classes.
However, on the plus side, if the structural elements are in place and teachers are not
leaving their students to fend for themselves, it becomes quite hard for learners to
cheat. If learners are helped to see the value of working for themselves, it also
becomes meaningless to them. In an interview with students on Lang 306 SAEM the
students admitted to me that they had considered cheating but decided in the end that
it was easier to do the SALL and also more meaningful.
“I came up with that [idea of cheating] when my FYP was due but finally I didn’t do
that, I DIDN’T do that! Because my motivation to join this module wasn’t that
because I’m not actually doing something for you but I’m learning for me. So
although I did have the idea it was my motivation in participation of this module
enabled me to keep a positive attitude towards learning self-learning.”
“The other course focus on the same thing, for example business letter, they [students
on the course] usually come from the same department so the business letter can be
easily modified but on self-access they focus on different area I at least cannot copy
from Michael.” (Toogood & Pemberton 2002:105-106)
Another issue is the question of monitoring and assessing learners on SALL courses.
Does more structure make this easier for both learners and teachers? The responses to
this show that for some, it doesn’t. Some learners hate filling out forms and don’t see
the value in the plans and diaries; some teachers feel uncomfortable without ‘lessons’
or ‘materials’ to use in the classroom and some are unclear about how to assess the
plans and diaries, feeling that they need to ‘police’ the learners.
• Stop asking students do such time-consuming useless stuff
• It’s informative but useless
• The structure of the diaries is good but not flexible enough
• (Teacher) For police work it was useful to have something to chase them
along with but that hardly seems key to IL practice
By far the majority however, seem to feel that it does make things easier:
• After creating VELA plans I can start my study according to the plan and it
helps me quite a lot
• I can follow it to do SALL and it’s more easy
• This help me work in a systematic way. Moreover, it gives me idea how to
start learning vocabulary
• I understand my difficulties and I can use strategy to overcome
• It is good and suitable to do 3 diaries because when doing that allows you to
reflect the method that you are using and how you are doing

Sarah Toogood 19
• Although it is time-consuming but useful for us to know what I’ve done
• Every assignments have feedback. I can really learn something
• Good as to monitor learning progress
• (Teacher) Helps to see the essential elements of making up a plan e.g.
duration how often, how to evaluate etc
• (Teacher)I think [diaries] are necessary to accomplish the goal. Otherwise
they would have no idea what they were actually supposed to be doing
• (Teacher) [FTG] was quite useful
Although the requirements to document learning in plans and diaries where the
concepts of General and Fundamental skills divisions and FTG have been
incorporated do not suit everyone, and although the process is considered time-
consuming by some, on the whole it is accepted and valued. Our end-of-course
questionnaire results from Lang 106 and Lang 306 indicate that, for the majority of
learners and most teachers, the way in which the courses are scaffolded using our
structural elements does seem to make it easier to monitor and assess work on a
SALL project.
Conclusion
Benson (2001:170) tells us that:
It is evident […] that the more successful curriculum-based approaches to autonomy
do not simply leave students to ‘sink or swim’. Invariably, their effectiveness depends
on implicit or explicit scaffolding structures. Without these structures, curriculum-
based approaches would do little to help students develop the capacity to take control
over their learning.”
However, there is still the question of how much structure and what type. At HKUST
we have made inroads in designing compulsory SALL courses by developing
scaffolding structures, which like bamboo are strong, have clearly defined boundaries
yet are flexible and supportive. We have also attempted to bear in mind factors which
influence the willingness and ability of both teachers and learners to handle SALL in
courses. We have done this by providing structural elements which are directive yet
aim to encourage learner control.
According to results from our end-of-course questionnaires, reactions, despite being
for the most part positive and motivating, are still mixed. It seems that even where
very little structure is given, some will not take/give control and some will jump
through hoops. Nevertheless, it is important to continue studying these issues and to
be sensitive and flexible to the varied reactions to incarnations of SALL in
mainstream courses.
References
Auto-L Discussion List – Email Posting: Thur, 21 Apr 2005 – Re: [AUTO-L]:
Assessing learner autonomy

Sarah Toogood 20
Benson, P. (2001) Teaching and Researching Autonomy in Language Learning.
London: Longman.
Brookfield, S. (1990) The Skillful Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Champagne, M-F., Clayton, T., Dimmitt, N., Laszewski, M., Savage, W., Shaw, J.,
Sroupe, R., Thien, M.M. & Walter, P. (2001) ‘The assessment of learner
autonomy and language learning’. The AILA Review, 15, 45-55.
Cotterall, S. (2000) ‘Promoting learner autonomy through the curriculum: Principles
for designing language courses’. ELT Journal, 54:2, 109-117.
Dam, L. (1995) Learner Autonomy 3: from Theory to Classroom Practice. Dublin:
Authentik.
Dam, L. (2000) ‘Evaluating autonomous learning’. In B. Sinclair, et al. (eds.) Learner
Autonomy, Teacher Autonomy: Future Directions. London: Longman, pp.48-59.
Gardner, D. & Miller, L. (1999) Establishing Self-Access: from Theory to Practice.
Cambridge University Press.
La Ganza, W. (2001). Out of sight – not out of mind: learner autonomy and
interrelating in online teaching. Information Technology, Education and Society,
2:2, 27-46.
Lai, J. (2001) ‘Towards an analytic approach to assessing learner autonomy’. The
AILA Review, 15, 34-44.
Pemberton, R. & Toogood, S. (2001) ‘Expectations and assumptions in a self-directed
language-learning programme’. In M. Mozzon-McPherson & R. Vismans, (eds.)
Beyond Language Teaching: towards Language Advising. London: Centre for
Information on Language Teaching and Research, pp. 66-83.
Rubin, J. (2001) ‘Language learner self-management’. Journal of Asian Pacific
Communication, 11:1, 25-37.
Sheerin, S. (1997) ‘An exploration of the relationship between self-access and
independent learning’. In P. Benson & P. Voller (eds.) Autonomy and
Independence in Language Learning. London: Longman, pp. 54-65.
Sinclair, B. (1999) ‘Wrestling with a jelly: the evaluation of learner autonomy’. In B.
Morrison (ed.) Experiments and Evaluation in Self-Access Language Learning.
Hong Kong: Hong Kong Association for Self-Access Learning and Development,
pp.95-109.
Toogood, S. & Pemberton, R. (2002) ‘Integrating self-access language learning into
the curriculum: a case study’. In P. Benson & S. Toogood (eds.) Learner
Autonomy 7: Challenges to Research and Practice. Dublin: Authentik, pp. 85-109.
Toogood, S. & Pemberton, R. (forthcoming) ‘Scaffolding for self-access language
learning and the Focused-Transfer-General Practice Model.’ In T. Lamb & H.

Sarah Toogood 21
Reinders (eds.) Supporting Independent Language Learning: Issues and
interventions. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
VELA http://www.vela.ust.hk - About, Purpose
Voller, P. (1997) ‘Does the teacher have a role in autonomous learning?’ In P. Benson
& P. Voller (eds.) Autonomy and Independence in Language Learning. London:
Longman, pp. 98-113.

Sarah Toogood 22
Appendix 1 Lang 106 Assessment Criteria (Student book 2005:5-6)
Normally, assessment criteria are used by someone else (a teacher or examiner) to evaluate a final piece of work
which you hand in. However, in LANG 106 we encourage you to get involved and use the assessment criteria
listed below throughout your learning.
As you know from reading p. 1, LANG 106 aims to help you take responsibility for your own learning so that
you can control it well and become confident and successful in your ability to use English.
If you really intend to do this, it is essential that you know how to assess your learning and that you carry out
assessments continuously.
The three assessment criteria listed on the next page have been specially developed to help you and others
evaluate and question:
what you did,
how you did it and
why you did it
The answers to these questions will show clearly whether or not you are on the right track.
Look at the table which lists the assessment criteria below, and check carefully to see what each criterion
means, and what you should not do!
Criterion What does it mean? How NOT to do it!
Depth of thought
Relevance of learning carried
out/planned to your learning
objectives
Clarity and elaboration
• Have you thought carefully about your language
learning?
• Have you considered feedback and advice from
others on what you’ve done?
• Is the learning that you have carried out related to
the objectives that you set in your Plan?
• Does the learning that you decide to do next follow
on logically from what you’ve done?
• Is your meaning clear?
• Have you provided examples and justification to
support your points?
• Rush through the task in a
few minutes, with little
thought or effort!
• Ignore what others have
said about your work!
• Carry out some learning
that has no connection to
what you planned to do!
• Continue with the same
strategies and materials
even though they don’t
help!
• Forget to check your
writing before submitting
it!
• Write a short piece with no
examples or explanations!
In order to give you useful feedback on your learning this semester, your instructor will use the assessment
criteria for all your Assigned Tasks. You are strongly encouraged to use the same criteria before you hand in
your Tasks so that you can understand or seek advice on:
• what you could do,
• how you might do it and
• why you should do it
Note: If your instructor feels that you have not met all of these criteria for an Assigned Task, s/he will ask you
to redo the task until you have done so satisfactorily.
At the end of semester, your instructor will evaluate all the Assigned Tasks that you have completed over the
semester (including any that you may have redone) and assign a grade to you.
If you have completed all the Assigned Tasks and met the above criteria for each task, you will receive a Pass. If
at the end of semester you have still not completed all the Assigned Tasks, or have not done so satisfactorily,
you will receive a Fail.

Sarah Toogood 23
Appendix 2 Lang 503 - Alvin’s Plan and Diaries
Alvin’s Plan (draft 2) Aim: to improve my pronunciation when I give presentations, especially focusing on word
stress, sentence stress, rhythm, and intonation so that my speech sounds more fluent and confident.
Input Use the following materials:
* Worksheets,
At the beginning, to make it easier for me. Instead of talking out the whole book, I can
work on loose worksheets, which the areas of pronunciation, level of the exercise and the
time needed is specified on the worksheet.
* Book and Cassette
Better English Pronunciation: Word Stress
Headway Pre-intermediate Pronunciation: Linking
Improving Oral Pronunciation: Word Sentence
In Tempo: Rhythm
Sound English: Intonation
* Video
Many of them have transcripts so I can work out focused exercises on the area of
pronunciation that I’m practicing by using the text, listening to the speech and watch the
way people talk. I also want to expose myself to different accents.
Practice Spend three hours per week:
* Use the materials above and do many exercises from them as I can
* Have a conversation with native speakers
* Give a presentation to my partner every three weeks.
Evaluation * Keep a record of improvement by checking how much I get right in the exercises
against the answers. Re-do some of the exercise and compare the score with the scores
before.
* Tell my partner what I have focused on and ask him to check that particular area when I
present.
* Record my presentation on tape and review it form time to time
* Show the tape-recordings to Sarah during advice session so that I can get extra feedback
Alvin’s Diary 8 (week 10)
Input Book (Improving Oral Communication)
Focus: Rhythm
Practice * Read the chapter which concerning about the sentence stress.
* Do the exercise in the book and record down my conversation, which compare it with
the answer in the tape.
Evaluation * Compare my conversation with the model answer in the tape, I found that I doesn’t have
any pausing even in a long sentence. Listen to the answer in the tape, I found that to
achieve a good rhythm, pausing is necessary. From the practice, I found that I should
divide the sentence into several parts, which need to clarify meaning, to emphasise a
feeling or an idea.
* I need to focus more on pausing in a sentence. And arrange the words into group, move
smoothly from one word to the next without making any sudden stop.
* I want to change the topic little bit by focusing on vocabulary one more field. Because
widen my vocabulary not only can improve the fluency of my speaking, but also reduce
misunderstand probability
Alvin’s Diary 10 (week 13)
Practice * Give a presentation to my research group mate.
Evaluation * I have spoke too fast. I finished the presentation before my time schedule. But it
already has improvement as before.
* Don’t be too nervous, otherwise I will speak too fast.
* Before the presentation I have prepared the script, which I will speak during the
presentation. But the script just is the key points. Don’t memorize the script; otherwise I
will speak too fast not naturally, although it can improve the fluency.

Sarah Toogood 24
* Try to speak slower, to make it more fluent.
* If I can’t continuous, pausing (don’t too long) or use ‘mum’
* Consider which points I want to emphasize, give a strong accent on it, which can
improve the fluent.
Appendix 3. Lang 106 - Jennifer’s Plan and Diaries
Jennifer’s VELA Plan (draft 2)
Items Details
Objectives
*Is your objective what
you really want to
achieve?
*Can you achieve your
objective in the time
available?
*Does your objective link
with your chosen
strategies and materials?
*Have you thought about
how to assess your
progress?
I want to know enough vocabulary to be able to follow fantasy stories easily
*I only use a bilingual dictionary, so I tend only to look at the translation of the word
and don’t get to see many sentences or other information about how the word is/can
be used
*I don’t have a systematic way of building and remembering my vocabulary
knowledge, so I don’t spend enough time and don’t use the best strategies
From the result of the pre-test of the SALL project, it shows that I am very weak on
the adjectives and phrases. So, I would like to learn more on adjectives & phrases,
especially the meaning of the adjectives. Therefore, I think reading fantasy stories
can help me learn more adjectives words. Also, I would like to study more about the
usage of the phrases because sometimes I can guess the meaning but do not know
how to use the word correctly.
Time Allocation
*How many
weeks/months will you
spend on your objective?
*How many hours will
you spend on your
learning each week?
*What days in the week
will you do the learning?
I plan to spend [2 months] on trying to achieve this objective
I plan to spend [3 hours] each week on my learning
I plan to learn on the following days of the week: [Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday]
On Tuesday I would read the materials that I choose for my plan and pick up some
vocabulary that I do not understand. On Wednesday, I would focus on the vocabulary
that I chose on Tuesday check the meaning and usage on the Dictionary and learn
from it. On Thursday, I would write the diary for that week and revise the vocabulary.
Strategies MaterialsStrategies & Materials
*Do your strategies and
materials link logically
together?
*Does your objective link
logically with your chosen
strategies and materials?
F *Strategy A: Selecting
words/phrases from
fantasy books (find
fantasy books from
Transfer Practice
Materials in Step 5) and
using dictionaries
(details)
F Title: Collins COBUILD English Dictionary for
Advanced Learners
Units/pgs: ALL
Type: Book
Accent: N/A
Features: Contains detailed explanations and
examples to show how words are used.
Frequency bands indicate how common a word
is, which is a useful feature. Recommended for
Strategy A, B
Location: HKUST SAC, Reading and Writing
Area: Dictionary Shelf
Title: Macmillan English Dictionary for
Advanced Learners
Units/pgs: ALL
Type: Book
Accent: N/A
Features: Contains detailed explanations and
examples to show how words are used.
Indicates the 7,500 most common words of
English-the ones most worth learning.
Recommended for Strategy A, B
Area: Dictionary Shelf
Title: Cambridge Advanced Learner’s

Sarah Toogood 25
Dictionary
Units/pgs: ALL
Type: Web
Accent: N/A
Features: This dictionary is designed for
learners and has clear definitions and helpful
examples. It is good on phrases/idioms.
Location: http://dictionary.cambridge.org
Title: Yahoo Dictionary Page
Units/pgs: -
Type: Web
Accent: N/A
Features: A list of different types of online
dictionaries from general to specific
vocabulary. Have a look through the list of
links to find a dictionary which you think will
be useful for you.
Location:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Reference/dictionaries
T Strategy D: Checking
your progress through
reading and listening
(details)
T Title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Units/pgs: -
Type: Book
Accent: N/A
Features: This is the first in the Harry Potter
series. A great story about wizards and witches
and a boy’s (often dangerous) adventures at
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Vocabulary: Level 7 (Advanced)
Recommended for Strategy A, B, C, D
Area: Reader’s Shelf (Fantasy)
G *Strategy A: Read
fantasy books on a
regular basis
*Strategy E: Watch
fantasy movies on a
regular basis
*Strategy F: Find
vocabulary-learning
games sites online and
play the games
G Title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Units/pgs: -
Type: Book
Accent: N/A
Features: This is the first in the Harry Potter
series. A great story about wizards and witches
and a boy’s (often dangerous) adventures at
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Vocabulary: Level 7 (Advanced)
Recommended for Strategy A, B, C, D
Area: Reader’s Shelf (Fantasy)
Assessing Progress
*Think about how to
assess your progress
*Review your words on a regular basis
*Test yourself on your target words at the beginning and end of a period of learn ing
*At the end of a period of learning, read the same fantasy stories as the ones you read
at the beginning – or read fantasy stories which are similar in terms of difficulty level
and topic. Can you now read these stories more quickly or with greater understanding
than you did at the beginning of the period of learning?
*Look back at what you’ve achieved after a fixed period of time and ask yourself:
*what have you done?
*how have you done it/
*what do you now need to focus on?
*what do you need to change about how you practise?
*Write diaries every week that show what I’ve done and what I think I’ve learnt.
Every week I will try to work on 25-30 words, and show the work that I’ve done to my
English teacher or my classmate. That’s make me follow the schedule that I have

Sarah Toogood 26
plan.
*Will have a post-test about 100 words after this SALL project to see if I have really
learned the words I chose. It will be testing on the meaning and the usage of the
words I chose. Before the test, I have to hand in a list about 200 words to my English
teacher.
Jennifer’s 3rd
Diary
Diary number: 3
This diary covers my learning from 04/04/05 to 10/04/05
Objective
What did you aim to do within this
period of time?
In this week, I would like to revise and review the word list that I have done
last time. It is because I still have the same problem on checking the meaning
by using online dictionary. But the meaning that I have checked is still not
suitable for the post-test because it would be so easy to know what is the
word is checking for as the dictionary that I used will explain the meaning by
using the word that I wanted to check
Time Allocation
Consider how you spend your time
on different materials and
strategies as this may affect your
progress
Indicate number of hours, when or
how time was used.
Length of time intended
Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun
1 1
Actual time used
Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun
1 1 0.5 0.5
How time was used
Focused Transfer General
1 1.5 0,5
Strategies and Materials
Show what you did – include
evidence of your vocabulary
learning strategies and materials
for each type of practice. Include:
*details of the steps for each
strategy
*details of dictionaries/reading
material used e.g. titles, pg
number, URLs etc.
*samples of reading materials
(with words/phrases highlighted)
*lists of vocabulary learned with
meanings, examples etc.
*your usage: sentences/writing
you have produced
Focused Practice
I have read 6 pages of the Harry Potter book. I collected 20 words from these
6 pages. Then, focused on these 20 words by checking meanings and
examples from online dictionary. I’ve stored the meanings (English and
Chinese)
As I listen to what my advisor said, so I change my reference source to
another online dictionary. Words that I’ve collected: (with reference meaning
from Collins Cobuild Compact English Learners’ Dictionary, Cambridge
Online dictionary and Yahoo dictionary for Chinese meaning)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (P. 21-25)
Wristwatch Glove Puppet
Slug Shrunk (shrink)
Ruins (ruin) Chimney
Snarled (snarl) Maniacs (maniac)
Wailed (wail) Reptile
Sobs (sob) Slithering (slither)
Grin Cobras (cobra)
Frantically (frantical) Glistening (glisten)
Baggy Knuckles (knuckle)
Sellotaped (sellotape) Moaned (moan)
Transfer Practice
I finished reading 6 pages on this week and I still have 20 words to work on
next week.
As I know I do [not] have so much time left, so I might just study more
example sentences that find on the online dictionary instead of making
sentences by my own word. But if I still have time I will try to make myself.
General Practice
This time I changed the way of doing general practice, I tried to read the
story first for a page and then told my friend that what is that page taking

Sarah Toogood 27
about in Chinese to see they understand or not and maybe as them to check
the Chinese version of Harry Potter book to see I am right or wrong.
Assessing Progress
Evaluate your learning in detail,
and explain clearly any problems
you had.
Comment on what you
liked/disliked about the strategies
and the materials.
Provide evidence to support your
self-assessment and reflect on:
*notes you’ve made
*examples of words/phrases you
found it easy or difficult to learn
*scores for tests
*comments from others
* your own feelings about your
progress
Focused Practice
I checked meanings of the words that I collected and revised the word list I
have done before. Tried to remember it.
Transfer Practice
I tried to remember the meanings of the words and study more example
sentences on different online dictionary.
General Practice
My friend and I were quite enjoyed to do this practices even he/she is not
reading the English version of Harry Potter book but they can also study the
English words with me.
What next and why?
Based on what you’ve written
above, state what plan to do next,
giving reasons why.
Consider if you need to modify
your
objective/strategies/materials/time
for your learning
I will keep on study the next 20 new words that I left for the post-test and
study more words in the text book.
I will still using the same strategy on general practice cause it is a good
strategy for a lot of things like getting confidence to talk even in Chinese and
English
Jennifer’s Final Evaluative
My Evaluative Report of SALL Project
After finished all the Post test and peer test, I think I did pretty well on the SALL Project because I got a high scores
of both tests. For the past 7 weeks I learnt a lot of things. I learnt how to learn vocabulary in an effective way, a lot
of vocabulary from the glossary and the fantasy story book “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”.
I met my objective that to learn more on adjectives and phrases. I can recognize 70% for the words from the
glossary. In my VELA plan, I mentioned that I would lik e to focus on adjectives and phrases, but after I started to
read the story book I really think that I need to study more on verbs too.
On the first two weeks, I took a long time to read the story book but every time I can only finish a few pages. There
were a lot of new words for me. It made me like checking every word in the book so my progress was so slow in the
beginning. I can only read 30 pages because this book is level 7. I read the book , checked the meaning of the new
words and noted down the meaning in English and Chinese. I was concentrating on reading the book to write my
own sentences to see I can really understand how to use the word or not. So I had study a lot of example sentences
on the web dictionary and the real dictionary.
I think I will finish reading this story book because this is my goal and will learn more new words from the book.
Actually, I tried to read that before but I gave up because I was so lazy to check the dictionary. So I really want to
finish that this time.

ila05_toogood

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