CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Project
“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”
– Ignacio Estrada.
Distance learning emerged and became more popular with the evolution of the
Internet, technologies, communication models and video conferencing systems
because it offers a great opportunity to learn, communicate and collaborate regardless
space and time. With the emergence of Distance Learning, the methodologies and
approaches of teaching English as a foreign language have changed pedagogically in
the 21st century (Courtney & Wilhoite, 2015). Therefore, different learning
management tools and systems were emphasized in addition to various online
teaching objects as they were utilized to create a platform for students’ engagement,
investment, motivation and ownership in their learning experience. Accordingly,
based on these studies which suggest that the use of these tools and systems can
encourage challenged learners to develop their communication with others in terms
of receptive and productive skills confidently regarding their young age, L1 and other
individual learning difficulties only if distance learning was conducted productively
according to those learners’ needs. Therefore, this project attempts to encourage
teachers that work for the same online school in China to use different teaching
methodologies to practise English with challenged learners instead of implementing
exercises and activities that do not meet their level and background of the language
by implementing a scaffolded adaptation of the activities that have already been used
with intermediate and advanced Chinese young learners that do not face any
language learning difficulties to help the targeted learners become more involved in