Abstract
In remote regions where qualified teachers are relatively fewer, students have less access to tutorial resources compared to their counterparts in urban areas. Nevertheless, with an innovative application generated by information technology applied to tutoring settings, students in need shall be able to obtain different tutorial counselling opportunities despite geographical limit. The research introduces information communication technology to one-for-one junior high school English tutorial situation. XLearn synchronous instant interactive system, designed dedicatedly for teaching purpose, was adopted to conduct one-for-one online tutoring. The research was carried out from January 2005 until June 2006, both qualification and quantification methods employed. Via interviews, questionnaires, operating observation, the process of 20 (10 pairs) tutors and students practicing online tutoring was recorded. By analysing the data, three conclusions are made: 1.Regarding XLearn---Online teachers and students principally make use of its communicative interaction function and teaching material interaction function to do one-for-one real-time interaction. The global appraisal is close to or over the mid-datum 3.0. Each online tutor flexibly chooses different functions of XLearn to develop a teaching method which suits the individual the best. Among all functions, voice chat is mostly employed. However, the integral stability of the system still needs to be improved. Although IM software can assist, it also brings interference. 2. Regarding information communication technology introduced to tutorial settings---The process of introduction must go through three phases which are pre-introduction period, adjusting period and developing period. The roles played by online tutors change in each phase. Nonetheless, it is critical that the tutors maintain a friendly studying ambiance to assure the progress of online studying. From a learning interaction point of view, the interaction between online tutors and tutees tends to be non-structural interaction. Together with the distance between the two parties, online tutors have less guiding power than traditional face-to-face tutors. Besides, under the pressures to advance to a higher school, online tutoring is examination-oriented. Grammar teaching makes up a large proportion of online teaching. From the view of tutees, they generally appreciate the digital teaching material used and take a positive attitude toward online one-for-one studying. 3. Regarding online tutors---Inspired by the flexibility and variety of technology, online tutors are highly keen on applying information communication technology to teaching. A qualified online tutor features professional capability, teaching experience, teaching enthusiasm and information capability. He or she must demonstrate basic documentation processing ability and information searching/editing ability regarding information capability. Globally speaking, the research confirms the positive effect of gratis online public service generated by information communication technology integrated to tutoring. With the sophistication of network infrastructure and two-way network interaction, it is expectable to reduce the “digital divide” and “studying divide” caused by the difference between cities and countries. The system is not yet perfect but is of large-scale implementation worth.