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What is a self-access centre, why might your students
benefit from using one, and how might you go about setting one
up in your school?
A self-access centre is a physical entity. It might be a classroom
cupboard with a set of dog-eared learner dictionaries and a pile
of supplementary exercises, or it might be an all-singing, all-dancing,
multi-media learning centre with state of the art learning resources
and a team of language counsellors to guide individual student
development.
The physical description of a self-access centre is, however,
only part of the story. Why it's there is the other part of the
equation.
What is the point of setting up self-access
resources for our students?
The answer involves a dash of educational theory and a sprinkling
of politics. In a nutshell, and educational psychologists would
be appalled at the simplification, there is a lot of evidence
to support the idea that we learn better if we are in control
of the learning process. We all have different learning styles:
we all respond differently to different teaching environments;
we are different ages, with different attitudes and interests;
we respond in different ways emotionally when working with other
individuals and groups.
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Why, therefore, do we expect to thrive in a language classroom,
cooped up with ten, fifteen, twenty other individuals?
And that's assuming we're all at the same level, which is by no
means true in all classroom situations!
Notwithstanding the considerable skills and experience of our
teacher, is there not another way for us to learn, a way which
allows us to be more independent, more autonomous, more capable
of making decisions about the development of our own learning?
This is not an argument for pensioning off language teachers,
but it is an argument for the democratisation of learning; for
seeing the teacher and the formal classroom as only two components
of an extensive framework for individualised independent learning.
Central to that framework is the self-access centre, where learners
can help themselves to learn the language.
But you don't need to buy into the whole philosophy. On one
level you could say that a self-access learning resource allows
your students to do extra work on their own in order to develop
their skills, to revise aspects of their work, and to undertake
remedial work when faced with problems in their language development.
The extent to which they are free to undertake their self access
work programme independently will depend on the extent to which
the teacher and teaching establishment is prepared to embrace
the idea of independent learning. It will also depend on the actual
provision of self-access resources and the degree to which these
resources are integrated into actual teaching syllabuses.
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So, what do you want to have in your self-access centre
and what sort of centre do you want to develop?
A self-access centre will include as much or as little as you
have money to finance it, time to develop it and interest to keep
it going over time. One glance at any of the publishers' catalogues
will impress upon you the extent of EFL materials available nowadays.
Some of this material is specifically directed at self-study,
and much of it can be adapted for self-study use. Even a few of
these resources would be a useful supplement to a class course
book.
And you don't always need class sets of these books. Some materials
are photocopiable, and others can be cut up and laminated to form
hard-wearing worksheets, which can be used over and over again.
Or you can make your own worksheets. And if that sounds a bit
daunting, remember that there are a lot of free resources, which
can be adapted for the language classroom. David Gardner and Lindsay
Miller in their book 'Establishing Self-Access', point to different
sources, including not only the obvious ones like newspapers,
magazines, and brochures, but also user manuals, foreign mission
information, airline promotional material and so on. You can also
use old coursebooks, and supplementary books, and there is now
a huge range of graded readers, which will cater for the reading
and vocabulary development of a wide range of learners.
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Work can also be developed using television programmes, radio
programmes and video. If you have computers and access to the
Internet, then this is another rich seam for self-access work.
Sites like the British Council's 'Learn English' provide learners
with an extensive array of learning materials, which can be used
by learners at different ages and levels, and with different language
needs. Materials can be catalogued on a computer database or a
'hard copy' notebook, and arranged on shelves in terms of the
main skill areas and level of the material.
If we know what we are selling in the self-access centre, it
may not always be clear what the 'retail outlet' will be. Gardner
and Miller (1999) offer no less than fifteen types of delivery
for self-access, which they liken to various sorts of 'shops',
from market stalls (Cupboard open Tuesday mornings 11.00 till
11.30!), through 'bring-and-buy' stalls (students bring in resources,
which they develop, catalogue, use and swap) to 'cash and carry'
stores (pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap, not a lot to choose from
but lots of copies available!). Other variations include supermarkets
and department stores. How you will construct your centre will
depend on your resources (money, people and time), and the space
you have to develop the resource.
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Self-access on a budget
Not all self-access ideas need to cost a fortune. Here
are a few ideas for how you might develop resources in your
school. You'll have loads more ideas!
- You'll need 'browser boxes' to hold your worksheets.
If you can afford to get them built, great, but perhaps
students with carpentry skills could build some for you.
Failing that, cardboard boxes, box files or ordinary files
will do.
- Make sure you have a good 'cataloguing system' for
your materials. Even if your resources are limited to
one cupboard, you will want to know where to shelve things
so they can be retrieved easily, and you can check on
missing resources.
- You can cut up published material for self-study, but
use originals, and remember to follow the copyright guidelines
outlined at the back of publishers' catalogues. Don't
forget the answer key and/or notes.
- Remember all the free material available - newspapers,
magazines, journals, brochures…
but remember how long it takes to convert them into worksheets.
- Use your own students' work. (e.g. model compositions,
student produced exercises, puzzles, error correction
texts, etc.).
- Laminate your worksheets if possible. If you can't,
stick them on card for a more durable resource.
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- Create a language lab! It might only be a couple of
walkmans, but it can grow!
- Encourage student feedback at all stages
- Setting up - what do your students want?
- Using - What problems do they encounter? What's useful/popular?
What's missing?
How should the centre be developed? What equipment isn't
working?
- Set up project work to link classroom syllabuses to
self-access centre. E.g. clothes vocabulary in class could
lead to a 'Fashion Project' with worksheets, texts, Internet
sites, video, student artwork, etc.
- Don't be too fussy about levels; aim for a more flexible
structure than in class work. At the British Council,
we're experimenting with a three level structure: elementary/intermediate/advanced.
- Some kind of booking system might be necessary to ensure
that all your students can have access to resources.
- Think about having some competitions to encourage your
students to use the self-access resources, with prizes
for the most imaginative response.
- Decorate your self-access space with exhibitions of
student work - projects, pictures, texts, etc.
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Another aspect of self-access which requires some
thought is the provision of counselling and assessment services.
Although you might encourage students to use the self-access
centre as and how they wish, you - and your students - may appreciate
a few signposts through the forest of self-access. To this end,
clear mapping and physical signs are important in the centre,
as are clear instructions for the use of the resources. In addition,
you will need to provide comprehensive induction sessions, to
ensure that students are clear about procedures. Self-access lessons
also need to be scheduled into teaching syllabuses to ensure that
students are 'learning to learn independently' over time, and
teachers will need to be prepared to give more support during
the early stages of this process. Students might also be encouraged
to keep individual records of their self-access work, showing
what was studied when and with what result. Initially a personal
study programme could be negotiated between an individual student
and his or her teacher, and personalised 'pathways' could lead
them through particular self-access routes.
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Self-access at the British Council
The commitment to self-access at the British Council is leading
towards the setting up of a self-access centre at the BC Lisbon,
not to replace our extensive range of class based courses, but
to give our students the framework to supplement their classroom
work and to allow them to develop their own personalised plan
for more effective learning.
The Lisbon British Council can already pride itself on an extensive
library facility and information centre for people interested
in studying in the UK. In addition, the newly refurbished building
includes a multi-media centre with computers, CALL (computer aided
language learning) software, and access to the Internet. Later
this year the self-study component of LISC (The Library Information
and Self Study Centre) will be inaugurated. The new resource will
have audio equipment, computers, video, television, DVD, and a
wide range of books and worksheets for students to use in class
and in their own time. The centre will cater not only for general
learners of English, but also business learners, young learners
and students learning English for Academic purposes. Nor will
kids be left out. A special 'kids corner' will have lots of resources
to entertain our younger learners and help them develop their
English. Rumour has it wolves and giraffes will feature prominently.
You have been warned!
Further reading
Gardner, D. and Miller, L. 1999 'Establishing Self-Access' CUP
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