Abstract:

As technology is at the forefront of higher education around the globe, significant changes in university curricula are necessary in order to adapt materials and resources to the upcoming generations (AACTE & P21, 2010; Grabe & Grabe, 2017). In the context of higher education specialised English language teaching and learning, such modifications involve shifts in relation to the types of resources (e.g. text, audio, visual, audio-visual or a combination of them) used in the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classroom. Most higher education students are used to processing information from various channels, among which the audio-visual mode is a very important one. Thus, a good use of these resources in class (as adapted to the needs of a particular group of students) might prove an asset in engaging them in their learning process and increasing their motivation, which might allow them to evolve as more proficient learners in the ESP classroom.

This study focuses on a group of higher-education students taking the ESP subject English for Psychologists at a Spanish university, and aims to survey their perceptions concerning engagement and motivation about different resource types (video, text, and a combination of them) provided to them in order to complete a WebQuest-based model activity (Dodge, 2001) known as ‘Cybertask’ (Girón-García, 2013).

The activity proposed for this paper was designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of three different types of psychotherapy (Cognitive-Based Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). Each kind of psychotherapy was presented to students in a different Cybertask question, whose resources were exclusively video, text, or video and text.

Having completed their Cybertask, students were asked to fill out a questionnaire in which they had to rate (in Likert scale questions) their own perceived degree of motivation connected to the use of a particular kind of resource to complete each Cybertask question, namely:
(1) Video resources used to answer the questions about Cognitive-Based Therapy,
(2) text resources used to answer the questions about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy,
(3) text and video resources used to answer the questions about Mindfulness-Based Therapy.

The paper reports on students’ motivation rates gathered in the questionnaire and then reflects on how the results obtained from their perceptions could lead to the reformulation and modification of the resources employed in the ESP classroom to benefit students’ language learning process. The paper concludes on how more studies in the line of the present one are needed, and how they may open a new world of possibilities in higher education ESP settings.

References:
[1] American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). (2010). 21st centL113,’knowledge and skills in educator preparation. London: Pearson.
[2] Dodge, B. (2001). FOCUS: Five rules for writing a great WebQuest. Learning and leading with technology, 28(8), 6-9.
[3] Girón-García, C. (2013). Learning Styles and Reading Modes in the Development of Language Learning Autonomy through "Cybertasks". Barcelona. Ed. Universitat Jaume I. Doctoral Dissertation. ISBN 9788469591796. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/125440
[4] Grabe, M., & Grabe, C. (2007). Integrating technology for meaningful learning (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Keywords:

ESP, English for Psychologists, Psychotherapy, Cybertask, Motivation.