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Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal
http://sisaljournal.org
Promoting Independent English Language
Learning within an Asian Tertiary Institution:
The Lingnan Experience
Marc C. LeBane, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Mariel Shilling, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Austin Harris, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Corresponding author: mclebane@ln.edu.hk
Publication date: September, 2016.
To cite this article
LeBane, M. C., Shilling, M., & Harris, A. (2015). Promoting independent English
language learning within an Asian tertiary institution: The Lingnan experience.
Studies in Self-Access Learning, 7
(3), 322-330.
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To link to this article
http://sisaljournal.org/archives/sep16/lebane_shilling_harris
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SiSAL Journal Vol. 7, No. 3, September 2016, 322-330.
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322!
Promoting Independent English Language Learning within an Asian
Tertiary Institution: The Lingnan Experience
Marc C. LeBane, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Mariel Shilling, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Austin Harris, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Abstract
This article is a self-reflective account of the English Language Support Service (ELSS) at
the Centre for English and Additional Languages at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. The
article gives a brief background of the Centre’s structure, goals, development and the role it
plays in student language development. Stressing the importance of self-motivation and
independent learning, the article examines the issues the centre has had attracting and
retaining students and the on-campus and online promotion used to increase student
attendance, self-access, and face-to-face interactions. The article offers lessons-learned and
future goals that can be applied to other tertiary institution self-access language centres.
Keywords: Self-Access, Independent Learning, Language Development,
Motivation, Student Retention
Background
The English Language Support Service (ELSS) at Lingnan University’s Centre for
English and Additional Languages (CEAL) is a young, independent learning (IL) centre. The
centre opened six years ago, with the goal of bringing self-access to students who may be
unfamiliar with IL and reluctant to use English in a social setting. Prior to university, students
in Hong Kong attend one of three different secondary school streams: Chinese medium of
instruction (CMI), which accounts for 70% of all secondary schools, English medium of
instruction (EMI)—20%, or international schools which follow either International
Baccalaureate or their own home countries’ system. For many students, this Centre may be
their first opportunity to improve their productive English language skills through IL, by
assessing their own problem areas, developing tailored learning outcomes, and making plans
to meet those outcomes.
The Centre is managed by the ELSS Coordinator, who is also a Senior Language
Instructor, responsible for the day-to-day management of the centre and training our three
Visiting English Tutors (VETs). As an IL centre, it is important to provide students with a
consultant or coach to guide them through their learning process (Wielgolawski, 2011).
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Therefore, each year Lingnan hires three VETs to work with students. The VETs are recent
graduates, TEFL-certified, and come from a wide-range of academic disciplines. Having
VETs who are fresh graduates has helped immensely. Being close in age, the VETs and
students tend to readily establish peer-to-peer relationships, giving the VETs a unique role,
while also enabling them to complete many functions of the traditional outside-the-classroom
language learning advisor (Mozzon-McPherson, 2006).
The VETs run four types of academic programmes under the guidance of the ELSS
Coordinator: Reading, Speaking, and Writing Assistance Programmes, as well as a Drop-In
Centre, housing a computer station and English resource library where students can stop by
for casual conversation, specialised English support, or just to read a magazine.
The academic assistance programmes are run daily by the VETs and are designed to
help students improve their English through interactive workshops and discussions. All three
of these aim to give students a relaxed but focused space to practice their English, gain
confidence, interact with native speakers, and improve upon their problem areas.
The Writing Assistance Programme (WAP) consists of one-on-one sessions between
a VET and a student, examining the student’s writing to identify problem areas, suggest
improvements, and provide resources and exercises addressing key issues. The Reading
Assistance Programme (RAP) consists of small-group workshops focusing on a range of
academic reading skills, such as reading comprehension or understanding meaning from
context, to help students improve on common problem areas. Finally, the Speaking
Assistance Programme (SAP) consists of three aspects, free-talk, discussions, and structured
workshops designed to help students gain confidence speaking through improving their social
and academic oral fluency. These are designed by the ELSS Coordinator and the VETs to
support the core curriculum and in turn allow students to develop their academic speaking
skills, such as argumentative skills (agreeing, disagreeing, acknowledging) while improving
oral fluency.
Additionally, the VETs also organize a wide range of social activities, such as movie
nights, casual dinners, and weekend outings. Through the various programs offered by the
VETs, we intend to build lasting rapport with the student body, empower students to practice
English on their own and with their peers, and ultimately offer something to every student,
regardless of their interests, motivations, or language abilities.
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Challenges and Responses
The biggest challenge the ELSS has faced from its onset has been getting students into the
centre in the first place. Many Hong Kong students enter university thinking they possess the
requisite language skills to graduate. However, what they do not realise is that they lack the
level required to find and keep a job once they graduate (Yeung, 2015). Therefore,
demonstrating ‘a need for IL’ has been an obstacle that the ELSS has exhaustively worked to
overcome.
Also, since students today, particularly in Asia, have spent their young lives
undertaking a rigorous learning cycle, driven by ‘Tiger Moms’ and the like, prior to entering
university they have focused much of their attention solely on academic success (Kohler,
Aldridge, Christensen, & Kilgo, 2012, p. 52). Thus, when students enter university, the new
found freedom is often overwhelming and self-improvement is the furthest thing from their
minds. Especially in regards to English language learning, many Hong Kong students have
spent their entire lives taking compulsory English classes without realising the importance of
the language. As far back as 1997, in a study by Gardner and Miller on tertiary level self-
access facilities, one Hong Kong participant even described learning English as an “arranged
marriage” and argued that it took him over ten years of studying the language to understand
its importance (Gardner & Miller, 1997). And sadly, even among the students who do feel
productive English skills are important, many may be reluctant to use a self-access centre, out
of personal shyness or other reasons.
Seeking to address these problems, and seeing strategic benefit for both the classroom
instructors and the centre staff to know what goes on in the classroom and jointly develop
learning materials to support each other (Gardner & Miller, 1997), the ELSS has worked
intimately with language instructors to encourage self-access. Many of the academic
assistance workshops the ELSS offers are specifically designed to support the English
curricular content and coincide with the course schedule. As a result, when students struggle
with a course, they can attend a workshop or the Drop-in Centre for varying degrees of
independent guided practice with feedback, which research has shown to be one of the most
important and effective learning methods (Weinstein, Acee, Jung, & Dearman, 2011). Each
year, the ELSS Coordinator reviews the course materials and assists the VETs to develop
workshops and exercises to extend students’ learning.
Likewise, the classroom instructors supplement the efforts of the centre by requiring
students to attend its services and programs. Mandatory core English courses at Lingnan
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(four courses, 16 credits) have always included an IL component (before establishing the
self-access centre, students could only seek advice from their language instructors {if at all}).
In 2014, the ELSS, in cooperation with the language instructors, developed an Independent
Learner Training unit for the freshman course. This unit introduces students to academic and
social English enhancement programs and activities. To pass their first undergraduate English
course, students must visit at least two of the four academic assistance programmes and at
least one social activity. In the second course, they must attend any two academic or social
activities. The aim of the IL requirement is for students to get acquainted with a variety of the
ELSS services, habituate English usage among and between their peers, and build rapport
with the staff—hopefully extending well beyond the first year.
Although all classes at Hong Kong universities must be taught in English (with some
exceptions, such as Chinese language classes, etc.) students only take English language
courses per se in the first two years of study. Therefore, attracting year 3 and 4 students
remains a major challenge. Lingnan University has begun to recognize this, and last year
mandated every class taught in English must attribute a minimum 10% of a student’s grade to
language proficiency. Even so, without their initial motivation or self-drive, it can be
extremely difficult for students to improve upon their language goals (Murphy, 2011). Thus,
it is of paramount importance for centre staff to focus on helping students become self-
motivated.
Re-designing the IL Unit in the freshman year intends to show students the need to
improve their English, and motivate them to attend ELSS programmes, but student sign-in
data from 2014-2016 shows only a 10-15% return rate for third and fourth year students. This
statistic implies that making it mandatory for students to undertake an IL plan (graded or
otherwise) or attaching a percentage of a final grade to English ability in their earlier years of
study may not be enough to drive students to seek help and advice later in their academic
careers. Thus, the VETs and the ELSS coordinator must avidly work to find alternative
means to promote the services.
On-Campus Promotion
Each year, the VETs and ELSS devote significant effort to traditional forms of
campus advertising, such as tabling outside the canteen, producing a monthly e-newsletter for
all students and designing flyers to be placed on bulletin boards around the various residence
halls and academic buildings. Beyond this, however, the Centre has found a number of new
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and creative ways to market itself to students, ideally from the first day they step onto
campus.
New-staff orientation
In the last two years, the VETs, along with the ELSS Coordinator, have participated
in the new staff orientation to get acquainted with other staff. Each year, the ELSS
Coordinator gives a presentation introducing the services to new faculty members and
stresses the importance of their involvement in the student referral process.
New-student orientation
By holding an “English Salon” during the New Student Orientation period, the ELSS
is able to promote its services before the start of the academic year. The English Salon is a
one-hour session run by the ELSS coordinator and the VETs, in which the services are
introduced, the VETs play an English game with the students, and students are given time to
ask any questions they have and introduce themselves to the VETs. Additionally, the ELSS is
featured in the Lingnan Student Handbook each student receives during Orientation.
Student handbook
Each semester, the centre produces an ELSS Student Handbook, a 50-page booklet
which provides students with information about the language support services and IL
resources, as well as the names of the organizers, to help them manage their time. The aim of
the handbook is to give students a manual to help decide what aspect of their language
learning they want to improve upon in addition to giving them a few options of how to begin
their language learning process. The handbook also contains consultation records and notes
pages so that students can document their independent learning.
Classroom visits
In the first semester, the VETs visit every English freshman class during the first two
weeks to introduce themselves personally, play a video highlighting the most popular
services, distribute the ELSS Student Handbook, and advertise their social events for the
semester. The classroom visits ensure that nearly all students are aware of the ELSS
programmes and have some recognition of who the VETs are.
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Online Presence
From the onset, the ELSS development team at CEAL (headed by the ELSS
Coordinator) realised that technology was rapidly changing the educational landscape.
Particularly for a centre with limits of both space and budget, the best and most progressive
choice was to begin developing online resources to meet the demands of our language
learners. As the Internet became ever more connected with our students, so did we.
CEAL ELSS website
The CEAL ELSS website is designed as a one-stop-shop for all English Language
learning needs. Besides allowing students to connect with the Centre electronically and
physically come to our door, this website offers an entire catalogue of IL materials, and
learning pathways to improve specific language skills. Lingnan recently completed the Inter-
Institutional (with Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong City University, Hong Kong
Polytechnic University, and the Hong Kong Institute of Education) Collaborative Online
Self-Access (ICOSA) project to develop a wide range of English language exercises focused
specifically on Asian students’ language needs. The ICOSA project developed over 1500
ESL and ESP exercises which are now being utilised by students and the general public. In
September 2016, the website launched a real-time discussion board, which will give students
an online platform to interact with the VETs and other students about English language
learning.
Social media
Twenty-first century students are best reached through twenty-first century means. As
such, maintaining a strong social media presence has proven necessary for our centre to make
lasting connections with large groups of students.
For the ELSS, Facebook has successfully reached many key target populations. The
VETs constantly promote the Facebook account via QR-codes in every printed promotional
material. The ELSS maintains two Facebook accounts (one individual “Friend” & one
official Page). Students who want to “friend” the centre can do so through the individual
friend account, while those who do not can follow the official page with no privacy concerns.
The official Facebook page of the ELSS is a platform for the VETs and ELSS
coordinator to share relevant academic posts, which promote useful websites and resources
for students to use to support their language learning. This page has 741 likes at the time of
this writing, and while it does reach a significant audience, it is not the centre’s greatest tool.
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The individual CEAL ELSS account, which operates on Facebook like any regular
user, has over 3,300 friends (more than the entire current undergraduate population of the
university). On this account, the VETs share regular posts (Music Monday, VETs Favourites,
etc.), photos from every ELSS event, humorous and interesting videos, as well as any other
information that the students might find useful. Students are able to post on this page’s wall,
or use Facebook Messenger to directly contact the VETs, making this not only a platform for
promoting the centre, but an actual digital forum, providing distinct opportunities for self-
access users. The benefit of that reach, and the instantaneous nature of communication, is
immense.
Along with the Facebook pages, the ELSS connects with students through Instagram.
This year alone, the ELSS Instagram followers increased from just 11 to over 140, and as the
original content grows, we expect to see similarly rapid growth. On Instagram, the VETs
share photos and videos, simultaneously cataloguing and promoting their many events and
projects. Like any user, the ELSS can cultivate a specific aesthetic, promoting the value of
English language learning and thanks to the effective ubiquity of this platform among
Lingnan students, we believe it can become a valuable source of outreach.
The ELSS YouTube page, conscious of many students’ preference for video over text,
serves as a repository of original content designed to assist self-access users. In less than
three years, the centre staff have created 65 videos, which to date have garnered over 45,000
views. The videos focus on common problem areas among students, as well as basic
language skills. For example, this year the VETs created videos to teach students how to
effectively edit papers, create vocabulary cards, and address common grammatical errors.
More than any other social media platform, YouTube empowers independent learners. Never
before has self-access been so user-friendly, offering students more choice of resources as
soon as he or she completes an old one (Sherer & Shea, 2011). By maintaining the YouTube
channel, and producing a wealth of original content, the ELSS seeks to contribute to the large
and dynamic language learning community that YouTube contains.
Overall, social media has been a great tool to promote the services and share useful
information. Through it, the ELSS is able to promote events, communicate with students, and
share resources. It is evident, however that an online presence cannot replace the value of
working with a VET in person, where students are afforded face to face mentorship to set
outcomes and progress can established and evaluated more readily and the risk of
miscommunication is lessened (Switzer, 2010). Overall, it would be best for students to
combine both conventional and online resources to foster greater language learning.
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Conclusion, Advice, and Suggestions
In the 2013-14 school year, before implementing the IL training component in the
core courses, the academic services were used 1,713 times by students. After implementing
it, attendance increased to 2,448 in 2014-15 and 3,048 in 2015-16. This reflects almost an
80% increase in three years. When looking specifically at the Drop-In Centre, the attendance
rate increased by approximately 130% to nearly 1,000 visits this past academic year. This
substantial rise tends to suggest that the integration of IL into the course curriculum coupled
with the variety of promotional measures undertaken by the Centre seems to have had a
positive impact on student attendance.
In order to continue this trend, the Centre must increase institutional awareness to
ensure all departments are playing a more active role in promoting the ELSS to support
students’ learning (Gardner & Miller, 1997). This top-down approach focuses on not only
attendance, but also student retention among 3rd and 4th year students. To supplement that
goal, we have taken varied measures to foster lasting connections between our students and
staff. We integrate a range of new and traditional platforms, which aim to help an even
broader range of student needs.
The way students learn has changed and will continue to change, and predicting the
future is never easy. New technologies, and new students, continually challenge our
conventional education systems to adapt. If we have learned one thing over our young
history, it is to be open to change. Although something may have worked in the past—even
last semester—it may now be dated and have to be replaced. Maintaining a successful self-
access centre means staying up to date on current trends, and always looking for new ways to
incorporate them into the existing modes of promotion and education.
Notes on the Contributors
Marc C. LeBane is a Senior Language Instructor/ ELSS Coordinator at the Centre for English
and Additional Languages at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. He has been actively
involved in researching the various ways independent and mobile learning can impact
English language learning.
Mariel Shilling graduated from Washington College in Maryland, USA, and spent last year
working as Visiting English Tutor at the Centre for English and Additional Languages at
Lingnan University in Hong Kong.
SiSAL Journal Vol. 7, No. 3, September 2016, 322-330.
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Austin Harris graduated from Carroll University in Wisconsin, USA, and works as a Visiting
English Tutor at the Centre for English and Additional Languages at Lingnan University in
Hong Kong.
References
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Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong.
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moms: Five questions that need to be answered. Childhood Education, 88(1), 52-53.
doi:10.1080/00094056.2012.643724
Mozzon-McPherson, M. (2006). Supporting independent learning environments: An analysis
of structures and roles of language learning advisers. System, 35(1), 66-92.
doi:10.1016/j.system.2006.10.008
Murphy, L. (2011). I’m not giving up! Maintaining motivation in independent language
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Yeung, L. (2015, August 31). You can’t blame the education system once you’ve reached
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