E-Learning for Preschoolers?

A Parent-Involved Solution for Linguaphone China

Richard Wenchao He
E-mail: r.he@usyd.edu.au

Abstract: The study explores the feasibility of developing an e-learning solution to promote parental involvement in order to enhance the
learning outcomes of the preschooler-level students attending weekend face-to-face English classes at Linguaphone Group, an international EFL
education provider. A pilot e-learning project was initiated in two classes to help the parents to organise weekly family-based English learning
activities under the instruction of the teachers. An alternative method was taken at the same time in another two classes of the same levels, where
the parents received the same instruction packages in print. The result shows that the E-Learning Group’s and Print Group’s parents participated in
the program using different strategies. The teachers’ and parents’ observations seem to suggest that the students’ progress was associated with
the degree of activeness of the parents’ participation.

Problems
(1) Weekend English classes for preschools in China:
 Out of the framework of kindergartens.
 Difficult in continually supporting students’ learning during weekdays.
(2) Students:
 Do not have enough opportunities to practise during weekdays.
 Feel frustrated due to low effectiveness of weekend learning.
(3) Parents:
 Do not have enough instruction and advice from weekend teachers.
 May not have much idea, confidence and appropriate approaches to
help and promote their children’s learning at home.
(4) Weekend teachers:
 Can not observe the students’ learning process day after day.
 Lack information for learner analysis for weekly instructional design.
Results
Parental Modeling: After the parental Parent-Involved Networked Learning:
involvement program, Print Group’s The solution created a networked learning
parents were much less likely to act as a environment for E-Learning Group, where
model for their children to learn English, the parents served as agents in between
and such significant change has the teacher and the students. The learning
distinguished them from E-Learning resources were not necessary to be totally
Group’s parents. E-Learning Group’s electronic. Through the leverage of the
parents basically remained the same in parents’ collaboration in the network, the
terms of modeling. The following figure teacher could easily connect with the
represents the means of scores of students and utilise various non-electronic
“Modeling” in Pre- and Post-Parental learning resources from each family to
Involvement Possibility Questionnaire: offer continual instruction when the
5
4.15 students were away from the classrooms:
4
3.91 4 E-Learning

?
3 3 Group Teacher
2
Print Group
1

Pre-test Post-test
Parent Parent Parent Parent

Parental Involvement Preference: E-

T F S S M T W T F S S M T Learning Group’s parents tended to work Child Child Child Child
with their children together to implement
H R A U O U E H R A U O U
the family English learning activities and
U I T N N E D U I T N N E they think they benefit themselves from Learning Learning Learning Learning
Resources Resources Resources Resources
the involvement in terms of English
learning, while Print Group’s parents
preferred to monitor and assess their
Research Questions children’s learning process and to report
Enhancing the Outcomes of Children’s
(1) How were the parents involved in their children’s English learning? English Learning:
the results to the teachers so that they  According to the CALL Evaluation
(2) How did the e-learning solution support the parental involvement?
could request the teachers for more Questionnaires completed by the E-
(3) How could the students’ English learning be enhanced by the
attention to their own children. Two Learning Group’s parents, some
parental involvement?
groups’ parents provided the teachers critical components/variables of good
with different amounts of information CALL for enhancing linguistic input
especially for reporting children’s learning and interaction environment were not
and making requests and suggestions, satisfied very much by the parents,
Theoretical Framework because they had different understanding such as negotiation of meaning, the
Second Language and perceptions of the learning activities: link between English learning and the
Parental Involvement E-Learning Acquisition (SLA)
Reporting Children's Learning
family environment, etc.
 Effectiveness  Representations  Linguistic Input and 19% 14%
Questions about Children's Learning
 The parents’ feedback became an
 Parent-School  Networked Learning Interaction in Family Comment on the Materials
important resource for customizing
Partnership  Family Context  Transitional Shift of 8% Questions about Activities

 Communicative Issues  ICT Enhanced Family- 5% 3% the instruction. E-Learning Group’s

Computer Assisted Questions about Classroom

 Possibility School Connections Language Learning 3% Technical Issue feedback came to the teachers more
3%
(CALL) Acknoledgement quickly than Print Group’s, so the
5%
Informing Tasks Completed instruction that E-Learning Group’s
26%
14% Request & Suggestions students received tended to be more
Response to Teacher's Question effective.
Ratio of Themes of Messages Posted  E-Learning Group’s parents tended to
Method by E-Learning Group enjoy learning English for themselves
through the interaction with the
(1) Parental Involvement Program: the students and the parents from Reporting Children's Learning with
No Attitude teachers via Moodle. The behaviour
21% 24% Reporting Children's Learning with
the four classes were divided into two groups, E-Learning Group and Attitude that the parents learned English for
Question about Children's Learning
Print Group, who were given different forms of family-based English themselves has increased the
Comment on the Materials
learning activity packages of the same content during a five-week 7%
students’ motivation and it is one kind
Questions about Classroom
period. For E-Learning Group, the packages were delivered online 6% of “modeling”. The teachers’
Informing Tasks Completed
through a learning management system—Moodle. The teachers 1% 27% observation indicates that if the
Informing Tasks Uncompleted
asynchronously interact with the E-Learning Group parents online 12%
2% parents set the good models, their
Request & Suggestion
during weekdays. As for Print Group, the packages were printed and children have higher learning
given to the parents every weekend when the students attended the Ratio of Themes of Message Written on performance.
classes. The teachers collected weekly feedback forms from Print Print Group’s Weekly Feedback Forms
Group parents every weekend, and adjusted their teaching plans
based on the analysis of the parents’ feedback.
(2) Questionnaires: Parental Involvement Possibility Questionnaire (Pre- Acknowledgement
and Post-Tests), CALL Evaluation Questionnaire, and Parent- The author thanks Dr. Chun Hu for supervising this research
Teacher Communication Questionnaire. project at CoCo, and thanks Mr. Giggs Szeto for coordinating
(3) Telephone Interviews: interviews with the parents and the teachers. the Parental Involvement Program at Linguaphone China.

Centre for Research

on Computer Supported
Learning and Cognition