Learning strategies of INVIL-UNAD cross-disciplinary English students

UNAD, considered as a mega-university in Colombia, in open and distance learning processes, has wanted to reach every corner of the country, including the most remote communities and populations, contributing to the recovery of social networks, the generation of work spaces and citizen participation. The Virtual Institute of Languages INVIL of UNAD is part of the academic and research services, offering courses in English, Portuguese, Spanish for foreigners and French. Given the context and the institutional population, it is necessary to develop a proposal to generate knowledge and theory on bilingual education processes in the distance modality.

This proposal is innovative in the country, because today more than ever students are experiencing the fourth industrial revolution in the presence of digital environments (internet, databases, electronic devices, among others). This is not only a social phenomenon, but is also evident in higher education institutions. This research is divided into two phases: for the first phase, quantitative data were collected in the following way: instrument developed by Honey-Alonso CHAEA. This instrument helped to characterize the INVIL population and to learn about their processes of learning English as a foreign language in this modality. Psychometric tools and specialized software were used to analyze the results. In the second phase to be developed starting in 2022, qualitative data will be collected to define the processes carried out by the students of a specific English group.