UBILINGUA: a contextualized EFL/ESP platform

Abstract

This work presents the evolution of UBILINGUA, which started as a supportive learning space especially oriented to address those needs of students at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and has now become an Open Access (OA) foreign language platform intended for any students of Arabic, Chinese, French, German and English. UBILINGUA has been transformed into a ubiquitous learning environment (ULE) that can be accessed anywhere and at any time not only by ULPGC learners but by any interested online user. The outcomes of this study, although especially focused on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP), describe the platform evolution and some learning strategies that promote knowledge building, vocabulary improvement and selfstudy skills that connect individual learners to the Internet in order to respond to specific needs and some flexibility regarding time and space when learning English.