The Effects of Regulatory Orientation on Subjective Task Values, Ability Beliefs, and Gameplay in a Grammar Editing Computer Game

This study investigated mean group differences in composite subjective task values, ability beliefs, and gameplay behaviors between low promotion and high promotion English as a Second Language (ESL) postsecondary students while playing two versions of a grammar-editing computer game. First, students were categorized according to their scores on the General Regulatory Focus Measure. Next, students played two identical versions of the grammar-editing game; in the second game version, an independent variable was added in the form of an in-game punishment. In the middle of each game version, students completed a modified version of the Expectancy-value Questionnaire. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to determine any statistically significant group differences between groups in terms of subjective task values, ability beliefs, and gameplay behaviors. Results indicated no statistically significant differences between groups for any of the composite dependent variables tested. However, two individual items measuring utility and attainment value indicated significant group differences. The findings of this study both supported and contradicted aspects of regulatory orientation theory and previous regulatory orientation research. This research contributed to the need for motivation studies in the field of digital game-based learning utilizing well-established theoretical frameworks. In addition, this study offered researchers, teachers, instructional designers, and video game designers insights into the effects of regulatory orientations in the digital game-based learning context

“Like a Whole Thing”: Dialogic Sensemaking in One Sixth Grade Classroom

This qualitative study used a constructivist approach to better understand how students in one sixth grade classroom participate in dialogic discussions while making sense of texts. Participants in the study attended a suburban, public, high-performing middle school in Pennsylvania. Drawing on Sociocultural Learning Theory and Transactional Reading Theory, the researcher observed one English Language Arts class. Nine students participated in five reading events over a period of two months. Data collection, informed by linguistic ethnographic methods, included audio recordings, transcriptions of reading events, fieldnotes, and transcriptions of one on one and small group interviews. In Vivo coding of the interview data helped to honor the voices of the participants, while initial coding of the dialogue led to the development of four themes centering on the talk moves students made when making sense of texts through dialogue: affirming ideas, testing ideas, teaching ideas, and holding onto ideas. Focusing on the perspectives of the students participating in the dialogue, the study revealed specific instructional frames and practices such as carefully constructing questions, providing access to discussion norms and sentence starters, and providing frequent opportunities to engage in dialogue, that enhance the ethos of the classroom community. The classroom culture was further enhanced by an understanding of how to engage in collaborative discussion and a sense of value in the group. The discussion includes implications for future educational practice based on these key findings