English at Your Fingertips: Learning Initiatives for Rural Areas

The present paper addresses the practice of a new English classroom on the model of a free e-learning programme in the context of adult education in Armenia, a country where English is taught as a second foreign language. The research reviews the results and impact of an online English language learning programme initiated for those vulnerable groups who have restricted access to English language resources. The research is built on qualitative data collected through the analysis of evaluation questionnaires and reflection exercises administered on the completion of the course. The aspects explored include the reasons for the high level of dropouts, the importance of maintaining social presence in the virtual learning environment, the learners' cognitive frustration caused by the use of the inductive approach (namely guided discovery on an online platform), and the activities that can foster communication among the learners and encourage them to build a strong and supportive community. Taken together, the results highlight the importance of administering pre-course surveys, adjusting the teaching methodology to the learners' past learning experience and maintaining interaction among the learners. The research will benefit teaching English as a foreign language specialists and curriculum designers engaged in the field of online teaching. The results of the research will be invested in improving the overall quality of the further stages of the programme. [This research would not have been possible without the support of the United States Embassy in Yerevan and Children of Armenia Foundation (COAF) in Armenia. For the complete volume, "Beyond the Language Classroom: Researching MOOCs and Other Innovations," see ED574781.]