Improving Self-Regulation for Learning in EFL Writing in Secondary Education in Blended Environments

[eng] This study aims at improving English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing instruction at secondary level by implementing a blended instructional design that may foster self-regulation through public online learning diaries (Diaries) and formative feedback in a wiki device in combination with face-to-face (F2F) instruction. Also, all elements are interwoven in the assessment program strongly supported by personalised feedback. In Part I, comprehending chapters 1 to 4, we provide the general theoretical framework for this research, which is based on a competence approach to compulsory education that the countries in the EU have adopted. Our aim is helping students to improve in three of the eight key competences (European Parliament, 2006): Learning Foreign Languages, ICT and Learning to Learn. First, we have reviewed and contextualised what the literature says about EFL writing and different approaches to teaching it and discussed the role of grammar, vocabulary and multimodality pathways in learning to write in a foreign language. Then, we have reviewed the literature on self-regulation for learning (SRL) and self-efficacy and the effects that a public design can have on vicarious learning. We have appraised the role of Diaries, feedback and assessment to improve SRL. Subsequently, we have discussed Diaries in EFL writing in a blended design, and how they can help us improve the students’ autonomy in learning. This literature review leads us to formulate our basic assumptions for the instructional design that we will put to the test. From this review, we conclude that a Diary which integrates cognitive, metacognitive and free writing tasks is a suitable tool for EFL writing instruction and ongoing authentic assessment activities with interactive formative feedback to observe and improve self-regulation strategies. Additionally, a public design can act as a basic form of dialogic feedback, even if what students do is lurking at what other students are doing. In Part II, comprehending chapters 5 to 7, we state the three goals of our research to evaluate an instructional design grounded on literature findings that we developed to improve English as a foreign language (EFL) writing instruction in context. We describe the three main components of the learning diary (Diary) and the writing assignments. We study an EFL class of 10thgraders, aged 15 to 16, at a working-class state school in Barcelona and their English teacher, who was a long-experienced professional, newly arrived at that school. There were 26 students in this class (15 boys and 11 girls), of which we selected six (two strong, two average and two weak ones) for close observation. The instructional design combined face-to-face (F2F) teaching following a textbook with an online platform (a wiki) where students completed the Diary and a variety of writing assignments, with the online supervision of the teacher who provided personalised on-site feedback. In the Diary, and mostly as homework, students had to show their capacity to manage learning strategies and writing competence. In the first place, students had to file F2F instruction and produce examples of use of grammar and vocabulary in the form of sentences (cognitive tasks). Secondly, they had to monitor and correct their writing productions (metacognitive assignments) after the teacher had provided personalised feedback on them. She also developed a system of engagement rewards to incentive correct procedures and participation. In part III (Chapters 7-10) we present the results to our research questions. In Chapter 7 we depict the results concerning goal 1. We observe the activity in the online PWS and the students’ and teacher’s perception of it. In the first place, we consider the temporal dimension of the Diary. Then we move on to study how well the students completed it by task, student and term. Next, we study the writing assignments completion by task and term. Fourthly, we consider the positive and negative effects of the online platform. Finally, we deal with the teacher and students’ views of the PWS. Chapter 8 is devoted to feedback. We analyse the amount and characteristics of the teacher’s feedback depending on the task, as well as its timing for both the Diary and the writing assignments. We also consider the nature of conversations in the PWS. To conclude, we focus on the students’ views on feedback Results for goal 3 are exposed in chapter 9, which analyses in which ways the students’ actions and perceptions in the PWS evolved. In the first place, we ask ourselves which improvements can be reported in the Diary. Secondly, we look at the connections between the Diary and the writing assignments. Thirdly, we observe improvements in the writing assignments, comparing the teacher’s marks to external control measures, such as the state exam and the Write & Improve tool. Finally, we consider the teacher and students’ views. A final chapter 10 gathers a panoramic interpretive reading of each of the selected students and the teacher as to draw their learning profiles. For each of the six selected students, we consider their views on the PWS and the writing and feedback impact on them. In part IV we discuss our findings. About the PWS (goal 1), online designs can set students in action, but the technical problems some students face may cause frustration. It also confirms that stronger students are better at SRL, but their agency may not always be directed towards learning. If weaker students are more SRL focused, the chance is that they will advance more. Scarce metacognitive knowledge, low self-efficacy and lack of motivation make progress slow. Students will favour cognitive tasks over metacognitive, which are not adequate in compulsory education when they were based in understanding what the teacher said instead of in what they understood. Teachers need to plan supervising controls to ensure that students do not leave everything for the last minute, and can pay attention to the teacher’s corrections at different moments. Students did not like that the Diary was compulsory, and they did not like that it was public either, but their perceptions concerning the latter improved significantly, and they used each other’s productions as guidance. The Diary was a threat to average and weak students because it was hard work which, if not done, meant failing the term. The wiki’s lack of popularity was strengthened by technical problems. For goal 2, the teacher’s strategy to provide unfocused, indirect, personalised feedback was not appropriate because it meant a lot of work and did not make some of the students respond to it. The fact that it was timely could not solve the design flaw that it was delivered at the end of the term. These students were the same that show low interest for the design (Darío(a)) or weak students with low metacognitive strategies and linguistic knowledge. So, the students who needed it more (although Mariana(a) became an exception) were the ones who used it less. The students’ perception of feedback was positive enough, but somehow unconscious of the effort it meant to the teacher. For goal 3, when we study the students’ performance in the Diary in some depth, we observe that some students used agency for purposes other than learning, and this behaviour is not related to their linguistic knowledge, but bears relation to how much they make sense of a task and the characteristics of the assessment program. Students did not make sense of the cognitive part of the Diary because the sentences they wrote were not connected with the writing assignments. Furthermore, feedback that focuses only in WCF or sentences rather than paragraphs is not appropriate to teach EFL writing, because such input only addresses one aspect of the overall writing ability. Students value the sentences they wrote in the vocabulary task significantly worse at the end than they did at the beginning of the year. However, they value significantly better that the Diary is an efficient tool to learn English. As for its metacognitive part of the Diary, results were poor when the students were not capable of noticing for themselves what they had learnt, but depended on metacognitive explanations from the teacher which they often did not understand. Students expressed that they liked writing more when they could freely choose what to write about, and this perception improved significantly at the end of the school year. But results show that when students are free to write what they please, the use of translators increases. For this reason, designing tasks that makes them use the vocabulary and grammar they have just been taught would give more meaning to instruction and avoid the dangers of technical cheating. Rich environments where students are exposed to a lot of input (such as films in English subtitled in English) promote EFL writing, especially when the students are asked to carry out a diversity of tasks that stretch for some time

The power of reflective journal writing for university students from the EFL perspective

English as a foreign language (EFL) university students use reflective journals as learning logs to express or capture their ideas within a scientific conceptual framework. The objectives of this research are to (1) describe the power of reflective journal writing in communicating ideas, and (2) identify the aspects of reflective journal writing that aid learning in an EFL context. The reflective journals were written by 21 EFL university students. This research takes a qualitative approach, with the primary data coming from several reflective journals (N=124) while the secondary data coming from EFL students’ interviews (N=15). The research results showed that reflective journals were useful for students to make critical reflections and self-discovery responses to writing topics. The students learned to focus on writing components such as order, unity, coherence, cohesiveness, content, and organization of ideas through reflective journal writing. The students’ perspectives on aspects of reflective journal writing were primarily concerned with macro-and micro-level linguistic issues, as evidenced from the interview results. Writing a reflective journal necessitated their ability to reformulate thoughts, provide details, and solve problems. Furthermore, critical thinking, metacognitive skills, and self-reflections became increasingly important in helping the students to develop their ability to write reflective journals

Using mobile technology to foster autonomy among language learners

PhD ThesisMuch has been written about the value of Learner autonomy in language teaching and learning as it is believed to enhance students’ opportunities of success, enable life-long learning, and increase motivation. Extensive research has been dedicated to the investigation of different ways of fostering learner autonomy in language learning and teaching. However, it is not easy to encourage learners to be more independent, motivated, and committed, especially in a teacher-centred educational context. Therefore, this study seeks to explore how learner autonomy can be encouraged in support of language learning at a University in Saudi Arabia by incorporating the use of tablet devices into a language course. It is necessary to establish whether the iPad and iPad-like devices can contribute to developing student autonomy in language learning. More specifically, the study attempts to explore whether the multi-modal functionality and affordances of the iPad, when used in a Mobile Assisted Language Learning environment as part of a teacher-guided EFL (English for Foreign Learners) course, can encourage and motivate students to become more independent and take control over their learning. The study was carried out in the context of a 12-week deployment of the iPad device in the Community College at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (Previously Dammam University) with a group of 21 Saudi university students. Data was gathered from questionnaires, focus group interview, student diaries, think aloud protocol, and online tracker. The findings indicate that students used a wide range of cognitive, metacognitive, and social strategies when working with the iPad, and there was a statistically significant increase in students’ reported use of language learning strategies by the end of the project. The study also provides evidence that the use of the iPad when integrated carefully into a language course, and with the teacher’s instruction, can have positive effects on students’ attitude and learning. There is evidence that these effects extended beyond the end of the course, as post –course interviews suggest that students continued to develop certain types of autonomous behaviour. They displayed a desire to continue to learn English despite the difficulties they encountered in the course. In addition, most students planned to do more practice outside classroom, collaborate with other students, and reflect on their personal beliefs about language learning. Based on these findings, there seem to be clear benefits to integrating the iPad into language courses

Autonomy of English language learners : a scoping review of research and practice

Learner autonomy is a vibrant and diverse field. In its approximately 40-year history, it has drawn liberally on theoretical constructs and research methodologies from other disciplines. In turn, it has contributed to the field of applied linguistics by drawing attention to the fundamental importance of understanding the language learner as an active agent in the learning process. To understand the role of autonomy in, and its connections with other areas of study, it is important to ask how it has been conceptualized and operationalized. In addition, given its elusive and amorphous nature, it is timely to ask if and how (the development of) learner autonomy has been evaluated. In this article we conducted a scoping review, or a systematic and comprehensive literature review, of 61 empirical studies in this field. The results show a rich array of conceptualizations and numerous operationalizations, in addition to a somewhat limited use of evaluations. We draw from this a number of implications for research. In particular, we encourage learner autonomy researchers to make explicit their theoretical frameworks, extend their investigation to the role of language learning beyond the classroom in promoting learner autonomy, and diversify their use of research methods.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Promoting self-regulated learning in technology enhanced learning environments : keeping a digital track of the learning process

Tese de doutoramento (co-tutela), Psicologia (Psicologia da Educação), Faculdade de Psicologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade de Coimbra, Technial University of Darmstadt, 2014Learning autonomously and in a meaningful way is a challenge faced by students and teachers daily in all different types of learning environments. In an attempt to aid students during their learning process, teachers and researchers have made strong efforts to study and implement contemporary methodologies and pedagogical resources that will fit the differential needs of students. Thus, it has become increasingly imperative that academicians and practitioners work towards revising and updating ways of learning and teaching as regulation processes within new learning spaces where Self-regulated Learning (SRL) competencies may be developed. This investigation specifically, focused on understanding and providing insights on how learning could be meaningful and rewarding for students through the regulation of learning in contemporary learning environments. Thus, this investigation aimed to understand how students can learn and regulate their learning individually and collaboratively in a computer-supported learning environment. It also aimed to understand how diary tasks and digital traces could capture the learning processes and perceptions associated to the regulation of learning. The processes involved in the regulation of learning have been widely studied in the field of educational psychology with regards to the impact they have in terms of reflectiveness, motivational/affective aspects and performance outcomes. Nonetheless, the difficulty in measuring these processes in specific contexts has challenged researchers to develop instruments and methods that achieve this purpose. In an attempt to contribute to the already known methods and tools, we also intend to present measures and methods that were used in this investigation to capture the complexity of the regulation of learning. In order to do so, we designed three studies that would allow us to understand the regulation of learning from the students and teachers' perspectives, as well as with objective measures. In a first phase, we proposed to study students' perspectives of themselves as students by studying what they understand about how they think and function in the classroom. Considering some of the literature has indicated that students aged nine to eleven often experience difficulties in reporting their metacognitive functioning, we decided to examine whether students this age overrated their functioning as students under learning situations. Hence, we firstly present a preliminary approach of how metacognitive awareness (MA) could be measured in students of this age group. Thus, the first study aimed to understand how students (n =1029) reported their metacognitive functioning. In a first analysis, Exploratory Factor Analyses revealed a unidimensional structure of the Children's Awareness Tool of Metacognition for Metacognitive Awareness (MA), enclosing metacognitive knowledge (MK) and metacognitive skills (MS) in a single dimension. Then, an analysis with the Item Response Theory approach was conducted to better understand the unidimensionality of the dimension proposed through the interactions between participants and items. With good item reliability (.87), good person reliability (.87) and good Cronbach's α for MA (.95), these results showed the potential of the instrument, as well as a tendency of students aged nine to eleven to overrate their metacognitive functioning. Therefore, we concluded that these students' reflections about how they function in the classroom were not accurate, as has been suggested in the literature with students in similar age groups from different populations (i.e. Lipko-Speed, 2013). In line with these conclusions, we proceeded to develop a second study that would focus on helping students become more reflective about how they learn. In a second phase, we proposed to investigate how changes could occur towards deep reflection and how students could learn about how they learn with training in how to regulate one´s learning. Accordingly, we examined whether students improved how they learned while they reflected and learned about how they learned. Nonetheless, and as we have previously mentioned, the processes and perceptions of students' SRL are not easily measured. Hence, we intended to study ways in which these processes and perceptions of SRL could be investigated and assessed. Specifically, the second study aimed to assess whether training in how to regulate one's learning is related to students' growth patterns regarding their reported self-regulated learning activity. This study also investigates whether this type of training has an impact on students' reflective ability. To reach these goals we examine whether students' use of a diary task - developed by interviewing primary school students (n = 43) and validated with exploratory (n = 78) and confirmatory (n = 83) factor analyses - captures change in students' reported self-regulated learning activity and reflective ability during training in how to regulate one's learning (students: n = 100; diary task entries: n = 1000). Results from Multilevel Linear Modeling revealed a different growth over time of reported self-regulated learning activity between students who experienced training in how to regulate one's learning and students who did not. Moreover, pre and posttest results revealed that the students who experienced the training reported their reflections more autonomously and specifically in their diary task and had better academic performance than students who did not. These results demonstrate how the diary task captured change in students' perceptions, validating it as a monitoring tool. These findings were in accordance with what the literature suggests about learners that regulate their learning. That is, students who are cognitively, metacognitively and motivationally active participants in their learning process, tend to regulate their learning and perform better in tasks (e.g. Wolters, Pintrich & Karabenick, 2003; Zimmerman & Martinez Pons, 1986). Thus, the students that participated in this second study revealed that they were motivated during this learning experience and that they were given opportunities to engage in learning with some degree of freedom. In a third phase, we studied how contemporary learning environments could support changes in reflections about learning in a meaningful way for students and how the latter learn in and from their social environment. Concurrently, we examined whether students improved how they learned while they reflected and learned about how they learned in these contemporary learning environments. Hence, in the third study presented, we specifically aimed to understand whether training in how to regulate one's learning had an impact on students' reported self-regulated learning activity and reflections in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment (CSCL). We also examined if this impact was somehow different from other learning environments, such as training in regulated learning without technology and lessons without training in regulated learning. Furthermore, in this study we investigated whether there were differences in academic performance between students in the different learning environments. In order to do so, a quasi-experimental design with repeated measures was used with one experimental group and two control-groups with process diary data and pre and posttests. A total of 44 elementary school students (diary task entries = 440) studying English as a foreign language participated in this study. Through Multilevel Linear Analysis of the diary data the results showed that there was a difference in growth over time of reported self-regulated learning activity between the students who experienced the training in a CSCL environment and the students who did not. What's more, pre and posttest results demonstrated that the students experiencing training in how to regulate one's learning reported their reflections more specifically and autonomously. Ultimately, the students that had the training, had a greater improvement in oral performance and independently of the technology, gained more vocabulary. Overall, our results provide important information and examples as to how guiding students in the regulation of learning can have positive implications in terms of motivational and metacognitive aspects, as well as academic performance in contemporary learning environments. Hence, providing students with instruments and meaningful environments, where they can engage individually and collaboratively in tasks with the use of technology, can help them become more reflective and strategic in managing their learning process.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Üliõpilaste eneseregulatsiooni ja keeleõppestrateegiate toetamine kombineeritud õppe keskkonnas erialases võõrkeeles

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.Muutused tänapäeva maailmas ja globaliseeruval tööturul eeldavad inimestelt lisaks uutele erialastele teadmistele ja oskustele ka tõhusamaid õpioskusi. Vastavalt Eesti elukestva õppe strateegias 2020 (2014) dokumenteeritud nüüdisaegsele õpikäsitusele, on üks olulisemaid eesmärke õppija sotsiaalse ja individuaalse arengu toetamine ning õpioskusi arendava õpikäsituse rakendamine. Toetamaks eduka elukestva õppija arengut on vaja toetada õppija enesejuhtimise oskust ning selle eeldusena enesereguleeritavaid õpistrateegiaid. Käesoleva doktoritöö uuringud keskendusid keeleõppele kõrghariduse kontekstis. Hoolimata Eesti noorema põlvkonna suhteliselt heast inglise keele oskusest (Kriisa, 2014), on eestlastel sageli raskusi inglise keeles suhtlemisel. Edukas ja sorav keelekasutus eeldab kõrgema taseme keeleõppestrateegiate teadlikku rakendamist. Kuid hea keeleoskuse omandamine ja sobivate õpistrateegiate kasutamine eeldavad muuhulgas õppija võimekust oma õpitegevust reguleerida. Selle uuringu raames uuriti õppijate strateegiakasutuse toetamise võimalusi erialase inglise keele kontekstis. Uuringu üldisemaks eesmärgiks on avardada arusaamist õppija eneseregulatsiooni ja keeleõppestrateegiate toetamise tõhususest. Ilmnes, et Eesti inglise keele õppijate strateegiakasutust selgitavad kõige paremini järgmised 6 faktorit: aktiivne keelekasutus, metakognitiivsed strateegiad, sotsiaalsed strateegiad, kompensatsioonistrateegiad, mälustrateegiad ja seostamisstrateegiad. Uuring andis vastuse ka keeleõppestrateegiate seotuse kohta õpitulemustega. Selgus, et kognitiivsed õpistrateegiad mõjutavad õpioskusi otseselt, samas kui metakognitiivsete strateegiate mõju on kaudne ja see toimub kognitiivsete strateegiate kaudu. Selline metakognitiivsete strateegiate kaudne ja suhteliselt nõrk seotus õpitulemustega väärib kindlasti edasi uurimist lähtudes mitmest aspektist. Esiteks tuleks uurida, mille poolest erinevad õpiprotsessis kasutatavad õpistrateegiad ja testi olukorras rakendatavad testi kirjutamise strateegiad. Teiseks peaks rohkem uurima riigieksami ülesehitust ja ülesande tüüpe. Samuti oleks huvitav vaadelda, kuidas toimub koolides riigieksamiks ettevalmistus. Uuringu teises osas kasutati disainipõhist lähenemist ja keskenduti tõhusaima sekkumise loomisele toetamaks keeleõppijate keeleõppestrateegiate, eneseregulatsiooni ja ainealaste teadmiste arengut. Töö tulemused andsid tunnistust sellest, et ainuüksi kombineeritud õpikeskkond ning oskuslikult loodud õpiülesanded ei too kaasa soovitud muutust. Suurem toetus ülesannete juurde lisatud märguannete näol, mis suunas õppijaid mõtlema ülesandes rakendatavate kognitiivsete ja metakognitiivsete strateegiate üle, parandas nii nende keeleõppestrateegiate kasutust, eneseregulatsiooni kui ka õpitulemusi. Olulisim järeldus on see, õppija eneseregulatsioon ei arene iseenesest, seda tuleb toetada ja õpetada. Käesoleva doktoritöö panus teadusesse on keeleõppestrateegiate struktuuri korrastamine, eestikeelse keeleõppestrateegiate mõõdiku, Est-SILL koostamine ja valideerimine, ning erialase keeleõppe kontekstis hästitöötava õpimudeli loomine toetamaks õppijate keeleõppestrateegiate ja eneseregulatsiooni arengut. Töö praktiline väärtus seisneb panuses kõrgkoolipedagoogikasse ja õpetajakoolitusse, kus peaks enam tähelepanu pöörama ka täiskasvanud õppijate eneseregulatsiooni toetamisele, ning keeleõpetajate ettevalmistamisel nende teadlikkusele kognitiivsete ja metakognitiivsete õpistrateegiate olulisusest ning nende toetamise võimalikkusest.Major changes in today’s world and the global labour market assume that working-age people are able to gain new professional knowledge and skills, but also the skills of using more efficient learning strategies. According to the contemporary approach to learning documented in Estonian Lifelong Learning Strategy 2020 (2014), one of the most essential aims is supporting learner’s social and individual development and the application of the approach developing learning skills. To become a successful life-long learner, a primary presumption of developing self-directedness is acquiring self-regulated learning strategies. The scope of the study is language learning in tertiary level. Even though learning English as a foreign language is popular with Estonian students, and the results of English state exams have been relatively high through the years (Kriisa, 2014), Estonians often face difficulties when communicating in English. Successful use of language assumes conscious implementation of advanced language learning strategies (LLS). But acquisition of good language skills and implementation of suitable learning strategies presume, among other things, learner’s capability to regulate his learning activities. Within the current study, the possibilities of supporting language learners’ strategy use was investigated in the context of Professional English. The general aim of the research was to expand the understanding of the efficiency of supporting learners’ self-regulation and LLS. It appeared that the Estonian EFL learners’ language strategy use can be best described by the factors of active language use, metacognition, social strategies, compensation strategies, memory strategies and connecting strategies. The study also gave an answer about the relations of LLS and learning outcomes which refer to the direct effects of cognitive strategies on all language competencies. The effects of metacognitive strategies are indirect influencing the learning outcomes through cognitive ones. These results encourage for further investigations considering the strategies that are used in the learning process and in the test-taking process. Also, the structure and task types of the state exam should be investigated, and the process of exam preparation should be observed. In the second part of the study, design-based research was used, and the most efficient intervention was seeked and tested to support learners’ use of LLS, self-regulation and content knowledge. The results indicated that blended learning environment and specially designed learning assignments alone do not assure the expected improvement. More efficient support with the use of prompts that guided learners to consider the cognitive and metacognitive strategies, improved their language learning strategy use, self-regulation and learning outcomes. The most important conclusion is that self-regulation does not evolve on its own, it has to be supported and instructed. The current dissertation contributes to educational science with specification of the structure of LLS, compiling and validating the LLS measurement Est-SILL, and designing a learning model to support the development of learners’ LLS and self-regulation in the context of Professional English. The practical implication of the study is its contribution to university pedagogy and teacher education where more attention should be paid to supporting grown-up learners’ self-regulation. In the preparation of language teachers, their awareness of the importance of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies, and the ways of supporting them should be raised

Use of Oral Reflection in Facilitating Graduate EAL Students’ Oral-Language Production and Strategy Use: An Empirical Action Research Study

Research in the fields of second-language acquisition and education has supported the value of written reflection, but scant research has explored how other types of reflection may come into play when learners employ strategies and produce oral language. This paper reports findings from an action research study that focused on integrating individual oral reflection using digital recorders to facilitate 18 graduate-level English-as-an-additionallanguage (EAL) students’ learning of academic speaking skills. The qualitative and quantitative results provide important empirical information about what strategies graduate students used, the relationships between the learners’ strategic behaviours and oral performance, and differences in the quality of reflection between advanced and nonadvanced proficiency learners. The study’s findings indicate that weekly spoken reflection functions as a mediational tool that learners can use to deal with their language-learningrelated thoughts and emotions, which have important implications because of the online nature of speaking. In addition to generating empirical knowledge about a modality of reflection that has direct pedagogical implications, the paper includes a personal reflection on the challenges involved in conducting action research, for the purpose of inviting further dialogue and reflection among action researchers

Exploring the impact of the implementation of a webquest for learning english in a 5th grade classroom of a public school in Pereira Risaralda

El propósito de este estudio fue explorar el impacto de la implementación de una WebQuest para el aprendizaje del inglés en un aula de grado 5° de una escuela pública en Pereira, Risaralda. Seis estudiantes utilizaron la WebQuest "Exploring the Matecaña Zoo", diseñada por las investigadoras, como estrategia de aprendizaje para practicar, mejorar y desarrollar su competencia comunicativa en inglés, teniendo como apoyo el uso de recursos de internet y la facilitación de las docentes durante el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Uno de los objetivos del estudio fue documentar las reacciones y las percepciones de los estudiantes sobre el uso de esta estrategia de enseñanza y aprendizaje, incluyendo las ventajas y desventajas derivadas de la utilización de la WebQuest. Para ello se realizaron observaciones participantes, entrevistas abiertas y un diario de campo de las investigadoras. Otro propósito de este estudio tuvo que ver con la idea de establecer el nivel de competencia comunicativa en Inglés de los participantes antes y después de participar en el Proyecto de la Webquest, con el fin de determinar el impacto de esta estrategia en el desempeño de los estudiantes en el área de inglés. Para ello, las pruebas iniciales y finales se llevaron a cabo. El estudio empleó técnicas tanto cualitativas como cuantitativas en el análisis de datos con el fin de responder a dos preguntas de investigación que implicaron la documentación y el análisis de la estrategia de instrucción, los resultados de aprendizaje de los estudiantes y sus reacciones y percepciones en relación con el uso de la WebQuest para aprender inglés. El análisis de los datos arroja los siguientes resultados: 1. Que la WebQuest tuvo un impacto positivo en el desarrollo de las habilidades orales y escritas en inglés. 2. Respuesta entusiasta de los estudiantes hacia el aprendizaje del inglés utilizando una WebQuest. 3. Que los estudiantes consideraron la webquest como una estrategia interesante y motivadora. 4. Que la WebQuest promovió el trabajo colaborativo de los estudiantes. En este sentido, el presente estudio hace recomendaciones pedagógicas para la implementación de WebQuests en las aulas de inglés como lengua extranjera y continuar la investigación en relación con esta estrategia.The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the implementation of a WebQuest for learning English in a 5th grade classroom of a public school in Pereira Risaralda. Six students used the WebQuest "Exploring the Matecaña Zoo", designed by the researchers as a learning strategy to practice, improve and develop their communicative competence in English, having as support the use of Internet resources and the facilitation of teachers during the teaching-learning process. One of the objectives of the study was to document the reactions and perceptions of students towards the use of this teaching and learning strategy, including the advantages and disadvantages they found from the WebQuest. For this purpose, participant observations, open-ended interviews and field notes were conducted. Another purpose that guided this study had to do with the idea of establishing the students’ level of communicative competence in English before and after participating in the Webquest Project, in order to determine the impact of this strategy on students’ proficiency in English. For this purpose, initial and final tests were implemented. The study used both qualitative and quantitative techniques to data analysis in order to answer two research questions that involved the documentation and analysis of the instructional strategy, participants’ learning outcomes and their reactions and perceptions regarding with the use of the WebQuest for learning English. Data analysis shows the following results: 1. Positive impact of the WebQuest strategy on the development of writing and oral skills in English. 2. The WebQuest as an interesting and motivating strategy. 3. The WebQuest as a trigger for students’ collaborative work. 4. Enthusiastic response of students towards learning English using a WebQuest. This way, this study makes teaching implications for implementing WebQuests in the EFL classrooms and for further research on this topic