Using Googlemaps for Linguistic Landscape Activities in Self-Access Center: Improving English Department Students' Competencies

Abstract

Today a self-access center needs to transform its focus from a place to provide students with self-learning materials to a place that introduces and offers innovative new ways of learning using digital technology. This paper is a report on how Google Maps and Google Street, supported by Google Search and Youtube are used for developing a new learning method called Digital Linguistic Landscape Learning (DL3). This learning tool is intended to autonomously improve the English Department students' English proficiency and cultural knowledge. The method combines researching and learning to meet the aims of Education in the 21st century. Ethnographic stance is adopted to help students to become deeper learners in discovering cultural phenomena and hypothesizing cultural patterns based on the texts they encounter in public spaces. Although this method is autonomous, students are trained to use the Guide Sheet, which is specially developed for DL3 using the 5-E Learning Steps.