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U5 Blog: Seamless Learning in ESL

I was intrigued by this article because I had not heard of seamless learning as a technical term. The idea behind it is that learning should not be restricted to the classroom, and since mobile devices are becoming commonplace, learning will take place “involuntarily” through technology use in daily life outside the classroom. A great example provided is that when ESL students are consuming online videos in English from services like Youtube, they’ll be improving their listening and speaking skills. 

The authors shared a number of seamless learning theories, including behaviourism, constructivism, and connectivism and looking at the differences between formal and informal learning. I had never considered how important informal learning is for ESL students. ESL teachers are preparing their students for utilizing their skills in daily conversations and interactions, which are for the most part, informal. It stands to reason that informal interactions are where they stand to gain valuable practice and information, oftentimes without being aware that they are learning. 



The issue I see with the idea of seamless learning is that it’s largely uncontrollable. Teachers can encourage students to seek out opportunities and think about what they see on their personal devices as a learning experience, but it’s up to them to actually access that content. The authors are from Malaysia and mention that mobile devices are a part of their way of life, but they may not be as ubiquitous for every student worldwide. Some schools are able to provide 1:1 devices to students that can allow them a degree of seamless learning opportunities, but not all students own a mobile device or have affordable internet access available to them. The authors noted, “However, self-directed learning requires learners to be autonomous learners who are fully in control of their own learning”. That sounds like something worth pursuing, but not something that can be relied on. 


Another example provided was the following: “The shift might be intentional, for instance when learning continues as planned from attaining information from the classroom and proceeding with application through given homework while the shift could also be accidental when for instance, the teacher recalls an information from a TV program and use it as steppingstone to further explore the information through discussion in class with the learners.” 


I think this is a great example of seamless learning that can be kind of controlled. As a teacher, we can encourage students to seek out further information on a topic that was discussed in class, or assign students with loose-structured homework to bring in something they learned or saw outside of class. I think it would be of huge benefit to an ESL classroom to consistently ask students to bring back things they have watched or learned from outside your class, which would foster seamless learning to occur.


Citation:

Abdullah, S. N., & Hashim, H. (2021). Seamless language learning in an ESL context. Creative Education, 12(06), 1349–1363. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2021.126103

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