POSTER: Helping ESL Students with Open Access English Learning Resources

Abstract

Whereas technology has enabled learning English as a second language (ESL) via the Internet, many ESL students are baffled by questions such as: 1) What open access resources are available to help me improve one or more of my English language skills? 2) How can I assess the resources to ensure the best return for my time investment? Similarly, instructors, ESL or academic alike, wonder about best open access English learning resources so that they can recommend to their ESL students for self-learning after class and/or use such resources in class. To help learners and instructors interested in online learning for themselves or their students, the poster session presents what an experienced English teacher-researcher has found to be some of the best open access online resources for learning English and explains the resource purposes and target audience. In particular, the poster highlights resources that can be used in an audio-visual oral (AVO) approach to help develop the magic language sense and the ability to think in the target language. This way ESL students can hope to achieve English fluency and accuracy. Finally, the audience has an opportunity to share questions, concerns, and their own resources. At the end of the session, the audience feels not only enlightened about online learning potential but feels empowered with resource handouts to help themselves or struggling ESL students