1 INTEGRATING THE VIRTUAL PLATFORM MEMRISE AS A TEACHING TOOL FOR ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDENTS OF SECOND SEMESTER AT SANTIAGO DE CALI UNIVERSITY Mayra Alexandra Idarraga Michelle Rodríguez Villaquiran Universidad Santiago de Cali Education Faculty Bachelor Degree in Foreign Languages Cali, Colombia 2018 2 INTEGRATING THE VIRTUAL PLATFORM MEMRISE AS A TEACHING TOOL FOR ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDENTS OF SECOND SEMESTER AT SANTIAGO DE CALI UNIVERSITY Mayra Alexandra Idarraga Michelle Rodríguez Villaquiran Director Mg. Heriberto González Valencia Line of Research Innovation, Didactics, and Technology Universidad Santiago de Cali Education Faculty Bachelor Degree in Foreign Languages Cali-Valle del Cauca 2018 3 Table of Contents Page. INTRODUCTION 6 1.1 BACKGROUND RESEARCH 10 1.2 JUSTIFICATION 15 1.3 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH 18 1.4. OBJECTIVES 19 1.4.1 General Objective 19 1.4.2 Specific Objectives 19 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTION 19 1.6 RESEARCH RELEVANCE 20 1.7 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS 21 1.8 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS 22 2. REFERENCE FRAMEWORK 25 2.1 Contextual Framework 25 2.2 Theoretical framework 27 2.2.1 Vocabulary 28 2.2.2 Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLS) 29 4 2.2.3 CALL 31 2.2.4 MALL 32 2.2.5 Autonomous learning 34 2.2.6 Constructivism 36 2.2.7 Student-Centered Learning 37 2.2.8 Memrise 39 2.2.9 Spacing effect 41 2.2.10 Testing Effect 42 2.2.11The Information Age 44 2.2.12 ICT 45 2.2.13 WEB 2.0 46 3. METHODOLOGY 47 3.1 Methodology type and approach 47 3.2 Procedure 48 3.3 Instrumentation 50 3.3.1 Instrument #1 51 3.3.2 Instrument #2 52 3.3.3 Instrument #3 53 3.3.4 Instrument #4 54 5 3.3.5 Instrument #5 55 3.4 Participants 56 3.5 Chronogram 58 Figure 8: Research Schedule 58 4. DISCUSSION 59 4.1 Tests 59 4.2 Results 60 5. CONCLUSION 71 5.1 Recommendations 74 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 76 6 INTRODUCTION In the modern world, the English language has become an essential requirement in the educational, professional and social field; it brings people more opportunities and it nourishes the spirit. In Colombia, English has a significant effect in the field of education due to its positive outcomes; therefore, Colombian educational institutes are always looking for different advancements and developments systems that permit a productive learning. In this context, virtual platforms appear as important tools in the educational environment mostly in the acquisition of a foreign language; these technological instruments provide access to the world's entire information and complement the traditional education, in order to go beyond the requirements of survival. Thus, virtual platforms should be considered as a notable element that furnishes the human language and social development. This paper explains how technology has brought a massive change to humanity and illustrates many elements involved in it to know that the integration of technology in a language teaching process can carry a successful learning process by using virtual platforms. In the program of foreign languages at the Santiago de Cali University, some students lack English vocabulary because of not being in a foreign context, not studying at home or because they do not use any alternative tool to improve this situation. It suggests that foreign languages students’ have a lack of knowledge about the technological systems that provides today´s world, it also suggests that learners are not interested in having an 7 autonomous learning. Therefore, this study proposes and applies a popular virtual platform as support of an English class to know if it is effective or not. In the technological era, there are diverse tools for learning a language, one of these, is the virtual platform Memrise which was created in 2010, and manages different strategies to enhance the vocabulary in the long-term memory. This learning platform is able in mobile and web versions, also, it won the Google Play award in 2017 for the best languages application. Accordingly, this research is important in terms of investigating the effects of using virtual tools such as Memrise, in a course of foreign languages. Moreover, this paper shows the need of learning vocabulary, language theories and other concepts related to learning. Additionally, this research uses a quantitative analysis which develops the research hypothesis that aims to better understand the results measurement. The study was conducted in Cali, Colombia at Santiago de Cali University for students of the second semester of foreign languages, in the 2018B period. During this period, the virtual platform Memrise was integrated as a teaching tool to learners in order to practice the vocabulary concerning the English class in their free times. This was done to examine how Memrise impacts the vocabulary learning. Hence, the research precedes four objectives in its procedure; to apply, to create, to implement and to measure. First, it was necessary to apply a pre-test and a post-test to measure the students’ knowledge before and after the use of the platform, and so to be able to know the 8 effect that Memrise had on learners academic performance, later, it was created the content based on the English course demands while the platform Memrise was implemented. Consequently, the impact of research analyzed and measure, with the post-test and the database of Memrise. 9 RESUMEN Este estudio muestra el efecto de la integración de la plataforma virtual Memrise como herramienta de enseñanza del vocabulario del Inglés en un salón de segundo semestre de Lenguas extranjeras en la Universidad Santiago de Cali. Este estudio se desarrolló siguiendo una metodología cuantitativa, donde los datos se obtuvieron a partir de tres bases fundamentales: un pre-test, donde se evidenció el conocimiento previo de los estudiantes sobre los temas a tratar; la base de datos facilitada por la plataforma Memrise, donde fue posible ver el progreso de los estudiantes, y un post-test, donde los estudiantes obtuvieron mejores resultados, demostrando la efectividad de la plataforma Memrise. Palabras Clave: Vocabulario, Memrise, CALL & MALL, Spacing Effect, Testing Effect. ABSTRACT: This study shows the effect of the integration of the virtual platform Memrise as a teaching tool for English vocabulary in foreign language students of second semester at Santiago de Cali University. It was developed following a quantitative methodology, where the results were obtained from three principles: a pre-test, that evidenced the students’ previous knowledge about the subjects involved; the data given by Memrise’s data base which allowed us to see the students’ progress, and a post-test where students obtained better results, demonstrating the effectiveness of Memrise. Key Words: Vocabulary, Memrise, CALL & MALL, Spacing Effect, Testing Effect 10 1.1 BACKGROUND RESEARCH In a world connected by the Internet, national borders are broken and the need to communicate arises through the use of technology which is the main way that allows it to happen. Nowadays, there is a big apogee from people towards technology because it facilitates the requirements of every day. Technologies promote not only the worldwide basic information but also encourage many people to continue improving and enlarging information and knowledge, staying informed of the latest advances (Sevillano, 2004). (Valencia, Enriquez, & Agredo, 2017) stated that “the integration of different and varied forms of technological tools in academia allows teaching and learning processes to become meaningful experiences for students in any field”. Because of this and because of the continuous technological development, several universities around the world have seen the need to incorporate pedagogical strategies that include technologies as the virtual platforms within their curricula and to be in constant updating and training of educational personnel to guarantee the good use and performance of it. In this way, the subsequent researches are related with the use of virtual platforms to enhance students’ foreign languages level. 11 1. TITLE: Strategies Used by Professors through Virtual Educational Platforms in Face-To Face Classes: A View from the Chamilo Platform. AUTHORS: Heriberto Valencia, Jackeline Enriquez, & Patricia Agredo. YEAR: 2017 It is a descriptive study where the researchers qualified the strategies used by two professors in the implementation of the virtual platform Chamilo at the Santiago de Cali University. There, they stated that “The virtual educational platforms are functional elements that help to strength the processes of teaching and learning generating interest in the pedagogical practice of the professor”. Showing that the virtual educational platforms contribute to the evolution of the processes of learning and teaching, working as a tool to integrate a mixed learning with the traditional teaching and the virtual one. This research revealed the importance of the integration of virtual platforms in the courses as a good option to enhance students’ knowledge, considering this, professors must build an attractive and motivational strategy to achieve a significant learning on students, and to develop their independent learning. It is from there where emerges the need to integrate an attractive tool to conceive, to develop and to guarantee the quality of education regarding foreign languages, having into account that students from this major are preparing themselves to use the new language in any field, but mostly professionally. Thus, the process of learning with virtual tools must be well oriented to the acquisition of foreign languages. 12 2. TITLE: Free language-learning platform for boosting basic English sentence structure among students of tenth grade at EGB veinticuatro de julio, santa elena. Province of santa elena. school year 2015 – 2016. AUTHORS: Yefferson Fernando Perugachi Garcia & Tatiana García Villao YEAR: 2016 This research was focused on the implementation of new strategies such as the free language- learning platforms to improve English basic writing, and was evaluated in a qualitative and quantitative approach.