The acceptance of a wiki site as a learning platform in English exam training

Students’ perceptions

Abstract

The development of computer mediated technologies facilitated the paradigm shift in the culture of working and learning. Due to these changes, language education is also going through the development beyond the communicative approach to more complex and dynamic action-oriented approaches. There arises a necessity to explore how language teaching and learning, which are guided by new strategies, can be mediated through technology. This research proposes the deployment of a wiki site as a “learning platform” the design of which is underpinned by the principles of networked learning (NL). A wiki-site created by the teacher will be deployed as a platform for language learning and exam training. The study explores students’ perceptions of accepting a wiki site as a learning platform for IELTS (International English language testing System). The previous research has pointed to the fact that wiki as an educational technology has not been used for improving IELTS training so far. So, before large-scale implementing of it on a regular basis at the formal university level, it is necessary to explore whether students accept or reject this information technology as an educational tool. Taking a pragmatic view of NL approach allows the authors to start with exploring the needs of learners involved in NL environments so that a teacher could co- construct the knowledge about the design together with the learners. Technology acceptance model was used to gather the data via an on-line survey. The participants are undergraduates from different faculties who voluntarily and anonymously took part in the research. The survey included the questions about the main TAM constructs: perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudes, intentions and expectations. The research reports a high level of agreement on easiness and usefulness of wiki sites, with the latter sub-construct having a higher rate of agreement among the respondents. Overall, students are reported to have high expectations of a wiki technology used for practising exam skills. However, there is evidence of some less positive outlook in terms of students’ prior experience of wiki in their studies. Despite some limitations, the paper reveals favorable students’ perceptions and proposes implications for further wiki deployment