DEVELOPING AN ENGLISH LEARNING TOOL FOR ALBANIAN SPORT STUDENTS

This poster was focused in implementing the use of ICT in English learning, especially for sport students. The tool designed was adapted for the English course, during fall semester 2010, in the University of Sports of Tirana. This work was based on developing an application with a variety of modules like: reading and vocabulary, listening activities, writing and games. The aim of this work was to support Albanian sport sciences students in gaining language proficiency through working with this learning tool. The objectives of this work were to develop an English learning tool which enables: 1) lesson support for teachers, 2) student tool for independent work. The students could access this learning tool while sitting in the Foreign Language Laboratory. Students' perception and satisfaction survey was conducted in order to evaluate the ICT resources. A scale with 12 items measured using 5 point Likert Scale was developed based on literature review. This questionnaire was intended to be a piloted one, followed by revised versions in the future, since analysis is an ongoing process. Mann-Whitney U test used to compare "actual" and "preferred" effectiveness and usefulness of ICT in the English course pointed out significant differences. Results of this work showed that teachers must be selective and creative using the ICT to apply various activities in teaching English in order to improve student's experiences in learning. Findings of this paper revealed that English literacy multimedia resources enabled enhancing the language learning and teaching experiences. The tool was a first prototype that can be further extended by improving the topics, including other learning activities and enhancing the user interface.