MOBILE LEARNING FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION STUDENTS IN VIETNAM: PROMISES AND CHALLENGES

The rise in mobile learning has seen an impressive increase as smartphones and tablets have increased in popularity in recent years. The cheap, easy access to these devices for students contributes to the need for use for educational and learning purposes. This trend is no exception for physical education. This study surveyed 125 physical education students in 4 badminton classes from 2018 to 2020 to evaluate their readiness for mobile learning in terms of hardware devices, technology skills, learning styles, and habits. Data coming from questionnaires in the courses and server logs of a mobile learning system show that the majority of physical education students in the study are ready for mobile learning despite some challenges regarding internet infrastructure and lack of formal online learning skills training. Article visualizations

INSTAGRAM-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING IN ISLAMIC HIGHER EDUCATION: TOWARD ONLINE COLLABORATION

The purpose of this study is to investigate instagram use among English pre-service teachers (EPST) to support their language learning in a particular course. This study sought to explore the following research questions: (1) How do EPST explore instagram to accomplish Online Task-Based Language Learning (OTBLL)? (2) What contents are created and shared by EPST to accomplish OTBLL? To collect the data, this study applied observation and content analysis. In addition several tasks were designed to be accomplished by EPST. The findings shows that EPST were able to integrate both the ability to use instagram and the ability to integrate it for OTBLL. The contents that EPST created and shared met the requirement of OTBLL. The contents included several types: creating video to explain topic assigned, writing phonetic transcription, and other tasks. The results of this study are expected to contribute in improving EPST language skills and their ability to explore social media use for language learning. Being able to seize social media to support language learning is a necessary skill to be nurtured for future language teacher in the 21st century

Augmenting communicative and collaborative skills in an ESP online group project

Rapid technological advancements have resulted in a more user-friendly conducive virtual learning environment. Despite a vast corpus of research on online learning utilising an asynchronous online forum (OF) to improve English, studies on OF to improve English and develop 21st-century skills of communication and collaboration at the university level in Malaysia are still limited. This paper reports the use of OF via a learning management system (LMS) as a platform for teaching and learning in an English for Specific Purpose (ESP) course. This study comprised 26 participants from a public university to look at how OF was implemented in an ESP course to enhance communication and collaboration. Data from interviews and reflective journals were obtained from the participants during their involvement in OF. The findings of this study demonstrate that using OF helps students enhance their 21st century skills like communication and collaboration. It is evident that OF can become a recommended platform for enhancing students to improve 21st century skills based on the promising responses received from the participants in this study. The findings also suggest that OF is relevant for engagement of the language learners and may be worthy to be implemented in English courses or other courses tertiary level

Promoting mobile collaborative language learning in Islamic higher education

This study sought to explore students’ experience in using Instagram to participate in mobile collaborative language learning (MCLL). The contents they produced and shared, as well as their interaction and collaboration, were analyzed. The participants of this study were 110 students in an English education department, in three different classes,who all had taken a translation coursetheir third semester. Online tasks were assigned to students and they were required to produce, share, interact and collaborate to accomplish tasks. This study applied a qualitative method with case study research design using observation, focus group discussion and content analysis. Data were analyzed through stages namely categorization, reduction and interpretation. Results showed that the students were able to participate in MCLL using Instagram. They produced and shared contents that met the requirement of MCLL. The contents included English sentences for structural collaboration in terms of subject-verb agreement and English sentences for word meaning collaborations. They interacted with their peers by writing feedback and comments on the uploaded content. They collaborated with their peers by providing multiple interactions to accomplish tasks in MCLL like writing structural analysis, word meaning, paraphrasing sentences, and sentence translation.</span

Unpacking Online Collaborative Learning in Teaching EFL Speaking: Insights from Three Rural Area Case Studies

The collaborative use of technology and online teaching and learning is a new pedagogical trend following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This pedagogy has created flexible learning modes for teachers and students to practice and develop their speaking skills in English as a foreign language through collaborative activities, interactive group projects, and peer feedback. Despite the plethora of studies pertinent to online learning, online collaborative learning (OCL) insights in rural areas are not well-documented, leaving knowledge gaps. Thus, a study of teachers\u27 and students\u27 perceptions of OCL in rural areas of Papua, Indonesia, is needed. Researchers have confirmed that the OCL is a new pedagogical approach to lifelong and sustainable learning. This study employed a qualitative report, using a triple-case study approach. The results propose that: (1) OCL can be implemented using two learning modes: synchronous and asynchronous. The WhatsApp group (WAG) chat feature was used to deliver written discussions and peer evaluations and the WhatsApp voice note tool to provide oral feedback synchronously. Google Classroom asynchronously provided the materials, tasks, and teacher feedback. (2) Teachers’ reasons for choosing OCL in EFL speaking courses include effectiveness, efficiency, interest, and engagement. Students’ perceptions highlighted the OCL effect in light of three aspects: (a) social, (b) psychological, and (c) speaking skills. (3) Teachers’ barriers during OCL implementation: (a) poor internet connection, (b) free-riders, (c) unpunctuality, and (d) unfamiliarity with technology use. (4) Teacher strategies to overcome the barriers to OCL: (a) university-sponsored internet, (b) OCL orientation at the beginning of class, (c) forming groups and choosing topics regarding students’ prior knowledge, (d) extra peer tutoring time, and (e) self-directed learning

Digital storytelling as an astronomy disciplinary literacy enhancement approach for adolescent Kyrgyzstani EFL students

This research explored the impact of a digital storytelling (DST) video-making intervention in an astronomy course (STEM-A) on EFL students’ STEM-A disciplinary literacy acquisition in English. The research was motivated by the increased significance of English as an international language of STEM instruction and addressed the transition between discourses encountered by students learning STEM in a foreign language. The study was designed and implemented as a mixed methods four-cycle action research with multiple Case Study, multiple-probe quasi-experimental design. In the first cycle, the researcher transitioned from a teacher of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) to a teacher of astronomy in English in a non-English speaking country and developed the STEM-A course. In cycle two, the STEM-A course was piloted and refined based on the learning outcomes of non-native English speakers (EFL) and an analysis of the interactive patterns amongst students who completed the course. In cycle three, the course sequence was further refined to support development of disciplinary literacy for EFL students. In the fourth and final cycle, the most profound course sequence was implemented in a different school context to explore transferability and the potential for the course to support learning in a community of practice. Cycle one was documented after the researcher reflected on her observations of the participants, based on analysis of the video recordings of lessons and the course programs designed for the study. In cycles two, three and four, data were collected from written responses to pre- and post-Astronomy Diagnostic Tests (ADT), coded against SOLO taxonomy (Biggs & Collis, 1982), and analysed using repeated measures ANOVA. Discourse analysis was used to identify communicative functions used by students in the course to qualitatively analyse their growth in disciplinary literacy. Overall, this research contributed to the body of knowledge on integrating technology in STEM education by exemplifying the process of STEM-A course design and refinement. The results indicated a positive effect of the DST intervention on EFL students’ STEM-A disciplinary literacy acquisition in English. Additionally, the study revealed classroom interaction patterns that enhanced EFL students’ disciplinary literacy development, as the DST teaching approach established a collaborative learning environment that led to shared knowledge construction and students’ engagement in authentic learning inquiry. This approach allowed to bridge the gap between EFL and non- EFL students’ disciplinary literacy in STEM subjects

Students with Disabilities Use of Online Learning Accommodations in Higher Education

Special education researchers and practitioners have increasingly demonstrated that disability accommodations may afford students with disabilities (SWD) enhanced opportunities for academic success. However, disability accommodations have primarily been designed and delivered within the context of the traditional classroom settings in higher education. This basic qualitative study explored how students registered with disability services describe access to online learning accommodations in higher education. Two research questions were created: exploring accommodations in online learning that students perceive as contributing to their academic success and understanding accommodations that students perceive as essential to overcoming existing barriers contributing to their academic success. Universal Design for Learning was used to frame the study. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 13 SWD using online accommodations. Interviews were conducted via Zoom to collect relevant data to identify key themes emerging from the participants\u27 responses. The themes identified through the six-step thematic analysis process were positive assessment, negative evaluation, applied accommodation, and knowledge gained via experience. Findings from this study will have positive implications for societal change by identifying how SWD perceive accommodations in online learning. The study has the potential to create positive social equity, which takes into account system inequalities to ensure everyone in a community has access to the same opportunities. Understanding SWD and their desired resources will assist faculty in determining how to facilitate student success in online learning. The study findings support the need for more time on tests and assignments. The reflections gathered will assist SWD with the tools to achieve academic success