BRIDGING IN-CLASS AND OUT-OF-CLASS LEARNING THROUGH PODCAST-INTERTWINED COLLABORATIVE TASKS TO REDUCE EFL SPEAKING ANXIETY AMONG HIGHER PROFICIENCY LEARNERS

Although speaking anxiety among foreign language learners at lower levels of proficiency has been extensively studied, far too little attention has been paid to learners at more advanced levels like student teachers enrolled in English Language Teaching (ELT) programs. However, speaking in the target language is a complicated mental process influenced by several other factors than proficiency. The present study has aptly been undertaken due to considerable reticence on the part of student teachers in communicative activities. An action plan was initiated to identify the sources of student teachers’ avoidance behaviors in oral production and address the concerns generated by these factors. An open-ended survey, journals, overall reflection papers and field notes were employed to gain insights as to the research process. Analysis of qualitative data revealed that student teachers were susceptible to experiencing anxiety in oral production due to personal and interpersonal issues, and they were positive in their perceptions of the planned intervention since it helped them build a sense of community in their classroom and enhance their self-esteem. These findings suggest several courses of action for language practitioners and teacher training institutions. Keywords: speaking anxiety; student teachers; collaborative learning; podcasts; out-of-class learnin

How do I enhance motivation to learn and higher order cognition among students of Science through the use of a virtual learning environment?

In this paper I explore the capacity of Moodle to enhance the teaching and learning of Leaving Certificate Biology within a small urban secondary school. I simultaneously investigate the potential of the technology to enhance higher-order cognition and motivation to learn among the students. Adopting an action research approach has led me to a much deeper understanding of the tacit knowledge that inspires my work. The chief stimulus to my research was the realisation that my explicit practice was in negation of my implicit values. I have come to know my practice and over time changed it. I can now see evidence of a greater congruence between my espoused core educational values and my explicit actions. Cycle one of the research focuses on setting up and introducing Moodle to a group of Biology students. The second cycle shows the feasibility of a community of enquiry through a discussion-forum. A process of social validation runs concurrently, in which interested individuals substantiate my claim that my core educational values are being translated into my practice. Throughout I learn to strike a balance between co-learner and guide. Consequently the students come to act as co-authors in moving away from authoritarian dissemination of facts. This facilitates a community of inquiry, revolving around the collaborative negotiation of meaning. There is clear evidence of increased higher-order cognition and motivation to learn among the participants within this virtual community

Go hand in hand: Showcasing lecturers’ online collaborative teaching practices

Collaborative teaching has been performed by special educators in K-12 schools for decades, and myriads of studies have witnessed its promising impacts on both students and teachers. Notwithstanding its vogue, only a few studies have primarily dealt with its implementation in higher education. Furthermore, empirical attempts accentuating lecturers’ stepwise practices during collaborative teaching implementation remain under-explored, especially when the practices are undertaken online. This study, henceforth, intends to fill the void. In total, the experiences of two collaborating lecturers, leading Teaching English for Foreign Language (TEFL) and Technology-Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) course, were scrutinized. Their practices were documented for 20 weeks and their views were also assembled to grasp how they perceived their online co-teaching practices. In addition, the views from six representative students were assembled at the end of the term through focused group discussion. Through Joint Practice Development (JPD) framework, lecturers’ online collaborative teaching practices were captured and conceptually grouped into five developed stages – collaborative planning, collaborative instruction, peer feedback and evaluation, follow up, and refinement stage. Admitting lecturers’ online co-teaching approach, students contended that its implementation was opportune in bridging their needs of pedagogical knowledge and related technology, facilitating learning efficiency, and fostering their collaboration awareness. Albeit its effectiveness, students are also concerned with collaboration appearance clarity, learning proficiency, and autonomy. Thus far, this teaching approach is worthy of continuing in the higher education, with clear format to adopt

Networked learning environments

This chapter introduces the idea of networked learning environments and argues that these environments provide the totality of surrounding conditions for learning in digital networks. It provides illustrative vignettes of the ways that students appropriate networked environments for learning. The chapter then examines the notion of networked learning environments in relation to the idea of infrastructure and infrastructures for learning and sets out some issues arising from this perspective. The chapter suggests that students and teachers selectively constitute their own contexts and that design can only have an indirect effect on learning. The chapter goes on to argue that design needs to be located at the meso level of the institution and that a solution to the problem of indirect design lies in refocusing design at the meso level and on the design of infrastructures for learning

On The Effect of Online/Offline Approaches on Vocabulary Achievement

Abstract The present study investigated whether online, offline, and blended approaches had any significant influence on vocabulary achievement of Iranian EFL learners in an instructional program. The participants were 100 students, majoring in English Teaching at Islamic Azad University of Ahvaz. The participants were at upper intermediate level of language proficiency. They took a vocabulary pretest and posttest. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between the traditional approach and the other three approaches. That is, computer-assisted teaching approaches significantly affected language learners' vocabulary learning. The findings also manifested that blended approach exerted significant influence on improving L2 vocabulary achievement. The findings implied that language learners who were thought under CALL approaches had more selfassurance than the other learners. Thus, computer-assisted approaches can help language teachers create more creative learning atmosphere and smooth the process of learning

Web-based collaborative writing in L2 contexts: Methodological insights from text mining

The increasingly widespread use of social software (e.g., Wikis, Google Docs) in second language (L2) settings has brought a renewed attention to collaborative writing. Although the current methodological approaches to examining collaborative writing are valuable to understand L2 students’ interactional patterns or perceived experiences, they can be insufficient to capture the quantity and quality of writing in networked online environments. Recently, the evolution of techniques for analyzing big data has transformed many areas of life, from information search to marketing. However, the use of data and text mining for understanding writing processes in language learning contexts is largely underexplored. In this article, we synthesize the current methodological approaches to researching collaborative writing and discuss how new text mining tools can enhance research capacity. These advanced methods can help researchers to elucidate collaboration processes by analyzing user behaviors (e.g., amount of editing, participation equality) and their link to writing outcomes across large numbers of exemplars. We introduce key research examples to illustrate this potential and discuss the implications of integrating the tools for L2 collaborative writing research and pedagogy

Conceitos e métodos para apoio ao desenvolvimento e avaliação de colaboração remota utilizando realidade aumentada

Remote Collaboration using Augmented Reality (AR) shows great potential to establish a common ground in physically distributed scenarios where team-members need to achieve a shared goal. However, most research efforts in this field have been devoted to experiment with the enabling technology and propose methods to support its development. As the field evolves, evaluation and characterization of the collaborative process become an essential, but difficult endeavor, to better understand the contributions of AR. In this thesis, we conducted a critical analysis to identify the main limitations and opportunities of the field, while situating its maturity and proposing a roadmap of important research actions. Next, a human-centered design methodology was adopted, involving industrial partners to probe how AR could support their needs during remote maintenance. These outcomes were combined with literature methods into an AR-prototype and its evaluation was performed through a user study. From this, it became clear the necessity to perform a deep reflection in order to better understand the dimensions that influence and must/should be considered in Collaborative AR. Hence, a conceptual model and a humancentered taxonomy were proposed to foster systematization of perspectives. Based on the model proposed, an evaluation framework for contextualized data gathering and analysis was developed, allowing support the design and performance of distributed evaluations in a more informed and complete manner. To instantiate this vision, the CAPTURE toolkit was created, providing an additional perspective based on selected dimensions of collaboration and pre-defined measurements to obtain “in situ” data about them, which can be analyzed using an integrated visualization dashboard. The toolkit successfully supported evaluations of several team-members during tasks of remote maintenance mediated by AR. Thus, showing its versatility and potential in eliciting a comprehensive characterization of the added value of AR in real-life situations, establishing itself as a generalpurpose solution, potentially applicable to a wider range of collaborative scenarios.Colaboração Remota utilizando Realidade Aumentada (RA) apresenta um enorme potencial para estabelecer um entendimento comum em cenários onde membros de uma equipa fisicamente distribuídos precisam de atingir um objetivo comum. No entanto, a maioria dos esforços de investigação tem-se focado nos aspetos tecnológicos, em fazer experiências e propor métodos para apoiar seu desenvolvimento. À medida que a área evolui, a avaliação e caracterização do processo colaborativo tornam-se um esforço essencial, mas difícil, para compreender as contribuições da RA. Nesta dissertação, realizámos uma análise crítica para identificar as principais limitações e oportunidades da área, ao mesmo tempo em que situámos a sua maturidade e propomos um mapa com direções de investigação importantes. De seguida, foi adotada uma metodologia de Design Centrado no Humano, envolvendo parceiros industriais de forma a compreender como a RA poderia responder às suas necessidades em manutenção remota. Estes resultados foram combinados com métodos da literatura num protótipo de RA e a sua avaliação foi realizada com um caso de estudo. Ficou então clara a necessidade de realizar uma reflexão profunda para melhor compreender as dimensões que influenciam e devem ser consideradas na RA Colaborativa. Foram então propostos um modelo conceptual e uma taxonomia centrada no ser humano para promover a sistematização de perspetivas. Com base no modelo proposto, foi desenvolvido um framework de avaliação para recolha e análise de dados contextualizados, permitindo apoiar o desenho e a realização de avaliações distribuídas de forma mais informada e completa. Para instanciar esta visão, o CAPTURE toolkit foi criado, fornecendo uma perspetiva adicional com base em dimensões de colaboração e medidas predefinidas para obter dados in situ, que podem ser analisados utilizando o painel de visualização integrado. O toolkit permitiu avaliar com sucesso vários colaboradores durante a realização de tarefas de manutenção remota apoiada por RA, permitindo mostrar a sua versatilidade e potencial em obter uma caracterização abrangente do valor acrescentado da RA em situações da vida real. Sendo assim, estabelece-se como uma solução genérica, potencialmente aplicável a uma gama diversificada de cenários colaborativos.Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Informátic