Modal Markers in Japanese: A Study of Learners’ Use before and after Study Abroad

Japanese discourse requires speakers to index, in a relatively explicit manner, their stance toward the propositional information as well as the hearer. This is done, among other things, by means of a grammaticalized set of modal markers. Although previous research suggests that the use of modal expressions by second language learners differs from that of native users, little is known about “typical” native or non-native behavior. This study aims (a) to delineate native and non-native usage by a quantitative examination of a broad range of Japanese modal categories, and qualitative analyses of a subset of potentially problematic categories among them, and (b) to identify possible developmental trajectories, by means of a longitudinal observation of learners’ verbal production before and after study abroad in Japan. We find that modal categories realized by non- transparent or non-salient markers (e.g., explanatory modality no da, or utterance modality sentence-final particles) pose particular challenges in spite of their relatively high availability in the input, and we discuss this finding in terms of processing constraints that arguably affect learners’ acquisition of the grammaticalized modal markers

Helping learners think more hopefully about life after school: The usefulness of participatory visual strategies to make career education more contextually relevant

Learners living in challenging socio-economic circumstances face limited opportunities for further education and employment. In this context, formal career guidance which merely provides information about specific jobs and how to access them may be of little use. This article explores the usefulness of participatory visual strategies as a pedagogical tool for teachers to help learners think more critically, realistically and hopefully about their future life opportunities. Analysed through a resilience lens, findings indicated that the strategies inspired hope in learners; helped them identify assets and barriers in their social ecologies; develop a sense of agency and responsibility for deciding on their futures; and care more for other people, all of which will help them make more constructive choices for life after school. The findings might help teachers make their career education more relevant for children who live in contexts of adversity

Pre-task planning in L2 text-chat: Examining learners’ process and performance

Research suggests that pre-task planning time provides learners with opportunities to formulate, organize, and mentally store content, thereby freeing up attentional resources during tasks (Skehan, Xiaoyue, Qian, & Wang, 2012). However, relatively few studies to date have investigated pre-task planning in a synchronous computer-mediated communication setting (e.g., Lai, Fei, & Roots, 2008; Hsu, 2012, 2015). In addition to a scarcity of computer-assisted language learning research, relatively little is known about what learners do when they plan or how they use their plans during tasks. The goals of the current study were twofold: (a) to examine the relationship between pre-task planning and learners’ production and (b) to explore the affordances offered by computer-mediated contexts to further investigate how and what learners may (or may not) be planning during pre-task and within-task planning time. Results suggest that three minutes of planning time resulted in increases in lexical complexity (but not phrasal or syntactic), although no significant findings were identified for accuracy or fluency. In addition, findings indicate that technology offers researchers a number of unique methodological affordances, such as the ability to see what learners produce, regardless of whether they transmit this information to their interlocutor, thereby providing evidence of L2 knowledge that would otherwise be unobservable

Public libraries in South Africa: Agents or victims of educational change?

The paper explores the impact of educational change in South Africa on public libraries. It surveys the recent literature to conclude that the position of school libraries is precarious and that public librarians feel victimised by the new curriculum. This represents a puzzling contradiction, as librarians’ expectations were that the ethos and methodologies of the new curriculum, Curriculum 2005 (C2005), would provide a more favourable climate. The curriculum has indeed brought increased use of public libraries by school learners yet there has been little recognition in official quarters of the educational role of public libraries. It is suggested that, if librarians are to gain a better footing in curriculum planning, they need to engage with educationists as to the role libraries play in resource-based learning. They will need to provide documented evidence by means of research studies. As an example of such a study, the paper describes the author’s study of school learners’ use of two public libraries in a disadvantaged community in Cape Town. The libraries were found to be playing a crucial role in the learning programme of the learners. However, it is suggested that the two libraries need to design more systematic structured programmes if the needs of school learners for information literacy education are to be met. This might require explicit endorsement of their educational role by their own governance structures and the provincial Education Department.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Teaching new media composition studies in a lifelong learning context

Governmental proposals for lifelong learning, and the role of Information and Learning Technologies/Information Communication Technologies (ILT/ICT) in this, idealistically proclaim that ILT/ICT empowers learners. A number of important governmental funding initiatives have recently been extended to the development of ILT in further education, which provides a particularly appropriate environment for lifelong learning. Yet little emphasis is given to more problematic research findings that students may be ‘disarmed’ in the process of learning to use technology. In the current global shift towards new forms of multimedia literacy, it is important to recognize human diversity by carrying out research focusing on the actual problems students face in adapting to Web‐based technology as a new authoring medium. A case study into multimedia creative composition carried out with FE students in 1996–9 found that students tend to experience a problematic but potentially useful period of ‘creative mess’ when authoring in multimedia, and that ‘scaffolding’ strategies can be useful in overcoming this. Such strategies can empower students to derive benefits from multimedia composition if close attention is given to the setting up of the learning environment: a teachers’ model for supporting novice hypermedia authors in further education is proposed, to assist teachers to understand and support the learning processes students may undergo in dynamic composition using new media technology

Irish Students and Facebook: Informal Learning Choices in a Web 2.0 World

While there has been a commitment in Higher Education (HE) to the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in formal education in the Irish Republic, little is known of the use of social-networking sites (SNSs) in informal learning by students in the Irish Republic, particularly at secondary-school level. Furthermore, there is a lack of evidence on how these choices compare with how Irish students are electing to use other Web 2.0 tools to informally assist their learning. This paper presents research from a survey of Irish students on their informal use of ICT/Web 2.0 tools, with a particular focus on Facebook, in preparation for their Leaving Certificate examination (state exams taken by Irish students at the end of their secondary-school cycle). The literature review looks at research that points to a preference by learners to demarcate SNSs from formal learning spaces, not as a simple desire to keep SNSs as separate from their academic activities, but to use these platforms in an identity-formation role as learners

Data Visualization Tools for Science and Math

As the computers available in schools become more powerful, more and more exciting tools are available to science and math students and teachers. Visualization tools, such as image processing, geographic information systems, modeling, and simulation software, are a class of tools with particular promise. These tools are being used in schools across the country to integrate computer use with the curriculum and to bring more hands-on inquiry to the students. A primary goal of using these computer-based tools is to aid students in developing a deeper understanding of the science and math (not the computers) and to help make difficult concepts a little easier to grasp (and visualize). In particular, these tools allow students to collect, analyze, and manipulate data, a fundamental requirement of the Virginia Standards of Learning [1]. More importantly, these tools allow students with a variety of different learning styles, especially visual learners, to help make abstract concepts into concrete expressions. Teachers can use the computers as a laboratory to study phenomena they could never fit into their classroom (like remote sensing of Earth to study land use and geology from space). One of the challenges in bringing these tools to students is how to do the faculty development to bring the tools to teachers. In this session, we\u27ll explore the possibilities that these tools offer, examine the challenges, and try to understand how to prepare future teachers to use these and other tools in their classrooms

Learners' conceptions about astronomical concepts related to the sun and the earth

Faculty of Science School of Physics[Science Education] 0305541n [email protected] research report is based on a study that investigated South African Grade-10 learners’ conceptions about day and night, and the seasons, after instruction in these topics. The study was motivated by examiners’ reports that learners perform poorly in physical science, and by alternative conceptions that learners have about scientific concepts, as reported in the literature. A motive for conducting the study in South Africa is that relatively little has been published about South African learners’ conceptions about day and night, and the seasons. An open-ended diagnostic questionnaire was used to probe learners’ conceptions about day and night, and the seasons. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were checked by the researchers’ supervisor and colleagues. The questionnaire was piloted in a secondary school in the same township as the school that was later used to collect the main study data. Learners in the pilot study were asked to state problems encountered while answering the questionnaire. This resulted in minor modifications on the questionnaire. The modified questionnaire was then administered to the main study group, and open coding was used to analyze the results. The results show that the majority of learners lacked scientifically acceptable conceptions about day and night, and the seasons, e.g. they did not understand the combined rotation of the Earth about its axis, and the revolution of the Earth about the Sun. The results also show that learners could not properly interpret diagrams, and to effectively use diagrams to clarify their answers. Learners lack scientifically acceptable conceptions despite detailed explanations given in their textbooks, which imply that the books were not used effectively in the learning process. Some recommendations made, following these results, are that learners’ attention should be drawn to rich information presented in their textbooks, and that some 3-dimensional objects should be used when teaching the topic