Newsletter No. 67

CUHK Newsletter No. 67 4th April 1995 3 SelfHelp, Individual Counselling, E-mail Hotline, Language Exchange... S elf-access learning is an alternative mode of learning,' said Dr. Eva Lai, new programme director of the English section of the Independent Learning Centre (ILC). The ILC, located on the fourth floor of the Tin Ka Ping Building, provides fresh alternatives to the ways of acquiring the four basic language skills 一 reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Set up in October 1993, the ILC started out as part of the English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU). From the 1994-95 academic year, however, it has been reorganized into an independent language centre comprising an English and a Chinese section. It also enjoys a separate budget under the Faculty of Arts and is guided by the ILC Coordinating Committee and the ILC Executive Committee. The Executive Committee, chaired by the dean of arts, decides on matters related to resource allocation and general operation while the Coordinating Committee decides on policy matters. Dr. Lai had been helping with research and development of the ILC even before she became the English programme director in January 1995. She said so far she's 'quite happy' with the response to the English programme. In the peak season, that is, the beginning of a term when students have relatively fewer assignments, the number of student users ranges from 100 to 200 each day. The numbers however hit a low near the mid-term tests and the end- of-term exams. This yields an annual average of about 60 users per day. According to Dr. Lai, student feedback has also been encouraging, with lots of requests for extension of the ILC's opening hours and installation of more facilities. It isn't at all surprising that the ILC English programme is well-received, considering the range of materials it has —over 200 films with aids for better understanding, satellite television programmes, multimedia computer software, videos, CD-ROMs, books, magazines, and to keep up with the times, karaoke equipment. Among the I LC 's organized services, the Writing Centre has tutors to assess students' writings and to provide one-on-one tutorials at specified times of the week to help them with written assignments. The teacher-counsellors of the Language Counselling Service give personal advice to students on using I LC resources and help them devise tailor- made plans and strategies for improving English. For those short of time and feeble of courage, there is an e-mail hotline ( ilc-counsel@cuhk.hk) to answer any language-related questions. The Language Counselling Service also holds learner training workshops which address specific topics such as how to use newspapers to improve one's reading skills. For oral and aural practice, the ILC organizes speech activities which include phonetic-alphabet-learning sessions and, for those who may have hangups about speaking English aloud in canteens and the KCR for the sake of practice, there are small conversation groups of seven students each who meet for the sole purpose of conversing with one another under the guidance of a tutor. Dr. Lai added that a new language exchange programme had just been introduced in February for non-native speakers of English, Cantonese, or Mandarin to practise their speaking and listening skills with native speakers. All that the participants of the programme have to do, be they student, staff, or family members of staff, is to indicate at an initial gathering which language(s) they would like to practise and which one(s) they have to offer in exchange. They w i ll then be paired o ff with appropriate partners, whereupon they can decide when and where to meet for practice. The facilities at the ILC, for example the multi-purpose rooms and the karaoke equipment, are at their disposal. Has the students' English standard actually improved since the introduction of this new mode of language learning? Dr. Lai said the ILC hasn't done any survey because, for one thing, improvement is very much dependent on the learner's own initiative. However, if a learner requests to have his language proficiency reassessed so as to find out where and how much he has improved, the ILC does have a number of tests and assessment procedures available. Besides, learners can approach the language counsellors who will act like apersonal trainer in giving advice and keeping a close watch over their progress. Skeptics of self-access learning have often argued that since this mode of learning depends largely on the students' own initiative, it is not well- suited to inactive students. Dr. Lai agrees that inactive students do not come forward except perhaps when they have to take the TOEFL to go overseas. The ILC has tried to deal with the problem by sending out publicity material to department heads, inviting and encouraging them to refer students who should be doing well but who aren't, to the ILC or to contact her direct by phone or e-mail. Dr. Lai said some students need help to understand their problem. They think they haven't put in enough time studying, without realizing that theirs is a language problem. They can't study effectively in English because their language proficiency is not up to the threshold to study.' And what plans are there in the pipeline? Dr. Lai said as the ELTU teachers understand the major weaknesses of CUHK students, they intend to produce more of their own materials which would cater specifically to the students' needs, rather than use commercially produced materials intended for a much broader range of learners. Dr. Lai is also working closely with the Chinese programme director, Mr. Yeung Chung-kee, in the renovation of additional parts of the fourth floor of the Tin Ka Ping Building for use by the Centre. She hopes the new bilingual ILC will be in place by the fall term of 1995. By the way, the services of the ILC are open to both staff and students of the University. So if you want to brush up your public-speaking or memo- wr i t i ng skills in the comfort of a computer-assisted, karaoke-provided multi-purpose room, check out the ILC. Everything is on the house. Piera Chen