Indigenous Students’ Attitudes towards Learning English through a Virtual Program: A Study in a Colombian Public University

Abstract

This article reports an exploratory study carried out at a public university in Bogotá, Colombia, with two indigenous students who took a level I virtual English-course during the second term of 2008 and the first term of 2009. The aim was to analyse their attitudes towards the learning of English through the virtual modality. Interviews, observations and questionnaires were used for data collection. It was found that indigenous students felt frustrated taking a virtual English course, and that their motivation as regards the learning of this language is very low. Thus, they need to be motivated and guided along the process. At the end, some recommendations for teaching or tutoring indigenous students, learning English virtually or any of the other modalities of the English program at the university were derived.

Keywords

• Indigenous students
• virtual learning
• online English courses
• students' attitudes