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Chapter 7: Strategies for (e)-learning English as a Second Language
The high speed of development in the field of Information Technology and the fact that information and knowledge are regularly and quickly becoming obsolete have led to the situation where Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) is becoming an intrinsic part of one’s life-long learning strategy. In fact, SRL has been increasingly recognized as a core educational process. It is generally seen as one’s ability to plan, control and self-assess his/her learning progress towards personal learning goals. To be successful, SRL requires special cognitive and metacognitive skills.
In higher education, students have to study in a self-regulated manner most of the time. Quite often, however, they are not instructed on how to work effectively and efficiently in this regard. Moreover, research on SRL proves that only few students naturally develop skills required for successful SRL (Zimmerman, 2008).
Widely available ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) tools are often incorporated into the educational process and have become the platform to host self-study courses. However, even though numerous studies have shown the benefits of incorporating web-based tools into learning (Bartolome & Steffens, 2011), some students feel stressed and discouraged when using these tools; they find themselves lost and neglected compared to the traditional classroom-based instructions and study conditions. As a result, instead of the expected good results, poor academic performance and lack of motivation can become the key outcomes of ICT-supported SRL (Zimmerman, 2008).