E-Learning Methodology for Adult ESL Teaching and Learning in Austria — A Discussion of Methodological Teaching Approaches

Christina Auer^{1, 2} 
(1. E-Learning Competence Center of Wirtschaftsförderungsinstitut WIFI Graz, Styria, Austria;
2. Institute of Educational Sciences and Research, Alps-Adriatic-University of Klagenfurt, Austria)

Abstract: This article discusses findings of a pilot study designed to explore effective usage strategies of the English e-Grammar in Austrian Adult ESL courses. The overall aim of the study — launched in one of Austria’s largest Adult Education Institutions — was to generate methodological guidelines for an appropriate use of the English e-Grammar. This article explores the results of the study and the challenges in the application of computer-assisted language learning by generating methodological and pedagogical guidelines for teaching and learning. The evidence is based on: (1) the results of the teacher’s self-reflexive thinking about efficient teaching and learning scenarios and (2) empirical data of the pilot study mainly gained by the analysis of learners’ questionaires and learning diaries. Therefore, the methodological and pedagogical guidelines put forward in this article display recommendations for an efficient implementation of the English e-Grammar in Adult ESL courses. They mirror good-practice examples and experiences of the teachers of the pilot study and the perspective of the adult learners in their own usage of the tool. Evidence suggests that the usage of the e-Grammar depends to a large extent on the following issues: (1) the teacher’s self-concept with regard to digitally supported language learning and to an innovative teaching approach, (2) personal attitude of adult ESL learners towards (self-directed) learning with digital media and its implicit relationship to blended-learning scenarios and (3) the need for institutional support provided by the Adult Education Institution in its realization of an innovative and self-directed approach to digital language learning.

Key words: e-Learning, teaching methodology, adult education, adult language learning