Promoting Autonomy in Mixed-Ability Secondary Students through e-mail tandem

Abstract

In this article, the results of a study carried out with mixed-ability secondary students belonging to 4th ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria/Secondary Education) at Colegio Dulce Nombre de Jesús (Oviedo, Northern Spain) will be presented. The study took place during the school years 2003-4 and 2004-5 , and the aim was to ascertain whether the students were capable of gaining autonomy in learning by means of email tandem, despite their learning difficulties. A brief explanation of the main features of e-mail tandem and its close relationship with autonomy, collaborative language learning and the Common European Framework will be presented. The second part will be devoted to the methodological aspects of the study, which is based on action-research, as well as the instruments used to measure the results. Finally, the results achieved by the students will be presented, as well as the main conclusions derived from their work.