The Effect of Using the Internet on EFL Elementary School Students’ Writing

This research analyzes the effect of using the internet on Arab EFL students' performance in English writing. The research design of this study used a pre-test/post-test to identify the influence of the internet on students' writing in English. The subjects were purposefully chosen from a private school in Irbid district in Jordan. They were  instructed  in the traditional way in the first semester and their writing was rated as a pre-test. In the second semester they were instructed using the internet as a mean of teaching/learning. Their writing was rated afterwards as a post-test to examine the effect of using the internet on their writing. The results showed that students' overall performance on the post-test improved significantly. The most significant improvement was on the use of vocabulary and the least was on the development of their paragraphs in general. Keywords: English as a foreign language, Internet, Technology, Jordan, Vocabulary, Writin

Incorporando la experiencia profesional en la discusión mediada por un entorno blended-learning: ¿cómo y qué aprenden los profesores?

We discuss the results of a study aimed at shedding light on the influence that the sharing of professional teaching experiences may have on teachers’ professional learning. The focus is on the uses that participants make of their notes about their lesson planning experience in an in-service blended learning course, and the mediation strategies undertaken by the tutor in the virtual sessions. The study suggests that bringing in professional experience, which is generally well accepted, appears to be irrelevant, or may show a modest impact on professional learning development. Specific expertise is necessary for tutors to be able to support the meaning making process and effectively help in-service teachers to move from the mere exchange of experiences towards the appropriation of the target concepts.Discutimos los resultados de un estudio cuya finalidad es profundizar en la comprensión de cómo la compartición de experiencias profesionales de enseñanza puede influir en el aprendizaje profesional del profesorado. El foco incide en los usos que hacen los docentes, en un curso blended-learning, de las anotaciones sobre su experiencia de planificación de las clases y las estrategias de mediación llevadas a cabo por el tutor en las sesiones virtuales. El estudio sugiere que incorporar las experiencias profesionales al proceso formativo recoge una buena aceptación general, pero puede ser irrelevante o producir un impacto modesto en el desarrollo del aprendizaje profesional. Los tutores necesitan de competencias específicas para poder apoyar el proceso de construcción de significados y ayudar efectivamente a los docentes para que logren progresar desde del mero intercambio de experiencias hacia la apropiación de los nuevos conceptos

Bringing in professional experience to a discussion mediated by a blended-learning environment: how and what do teacher learn?

We discuss the results of a study aimed at shedding light on the influence that the sharing of professional teaching experiences may have on teachers’ professional learning. The focus is on the uses that participants make of their notes about their lesson planning experience in an in-service blended learning course, and the mediation strategies undertaken by the tutor in the virtual sessions. The study suggests that bringing in professional experience, which is generally well accepted, appears to be irrelevant, or may show a modest impact on professional learning development. Specific expertise is necessary for tutors to be able to support the meaning making process and effectively help in-service teachers to move from the mere exchange of experiences towards the appropriation of the target concepts.We discuss the results of a study aimed at shedding light on the influence that the sharing of professional teaching experiences may have on teachers' professional learning. The focus is on the uses that participants make of their notes about their lesson planning experience in an in-service blended learning course, and the mediation strategies undertaken by the tutor in the virtual sessions. The study suggests that bringing in professional experience, which is generally well accepted, appears to be irrelevant, or may show a modest impact on professional learning development. Specific expertise is necessary for tutors to be able to support the meaning making process and effectively help in-service teachers to move from the mere exchange of experiences towards the appropriation of the target concepts

Examining Student Course Outcomes in First Year Anatomy and Physiology Using E-Books Versus Traditional Textbooks

Over the last several years, use of e-books in higher education has increased significantly and is projected to continue through the next decade. Institutions of higher learning have implemented use of e-books without any data that verified the impact on student learning outcomes. The purpose of this ex post facto, quantitative study was to compare student learning outcomes in Human Anatomy and Physiology I courses using e-books versus using traditional textbooks at a two-year public community college in South Texas. With a participant population of 686 students, data were analyzed by their final grades comparing the differences between those who used an e-book with those who used traditional textbooks. Analysis of the data indicated that student learning outcomes (success) in Human Anatomy and Physiology I were independent of the type of book used. Whether students used a traditional textbook or an e-book, no significant difference was found for student learning outcomes (success). Student learning outcomes in Human Anatomy and Physiology were at the same level for students using e-books because of built-in features of the books. These features, which have been termed the e-book effect by this author, combine aspects of constructivist, social constructivist, and active learning that allowed a student to progress through Bloom’s Taxonomy to gain mastery of the subject matter

Unravelling Secondary Students’ Challenges in Digital Literacy: a Gender Perspective

The use of the Internet to learn involves complex cognitive activities. Educational researchers claim more attention in studying the nature of students’ challenges when using digital information for learning purposes. Our research investigated in depth the challenges that secondary students face when solving web information-problem tasks. We thoroughly analysed how forty secondary students (18 girls and 22 boys) solved a scholar task using web information. The students’ actions on the computer screen were logged. Findings showed specific difficulties in solving digital tasks due to when (1) typing appropriate search terms, and when (2) selecting reliable and useful results from a “search engine results page”, which hinders the correct finding and understanding of web information needed to solve the digital task. In addition, the participants had a lack of reflection regarding the different actions to solve the digital task. Furthermore, our findings revealed that gender was not associated with differences in digital attainment

A validity argument for the use of scores from a web-search-permitted and web-source-based integrated writing test

The field of language assessment has seen a recent surge of literature on assessment tasks that integrate two or more skills, such as reading and writing. Source-based writing is also gaining much interest in both first and second language studies, with a particular focus on issues relating to source selection and source language use. The purpose of this study is to build a validity argument for the use of scores from a web-search-permitted and web-source-based integrated writing test. Scores from the test are intended to be used as final exam scores in an academic writing course for international undergraduate students at a large research university in the US. The construct that the test is intended to measure is web-researching-to-write or web-source-based writing, which is defined by the course syllabus and teaching/learning activities. There are seven inferences that make up the validity argument: domain description, evaluation, generalization, explanation, extrapolation, utilization, and implication. This chain of seven inferences connects the target language use domain and observations of performance to scores and leads ultimately to the consequences of test use. Each inference is supported by a warrant, which in turn is supported by one or more assumptions. Each assumption is backed by evidence. Mixed methods were used to collect and analyze data that would become the backing. Data included 48 Camtasia screen capture recordings, 50 test essays, 40 post-test test-taker questionnaire responses, 6 post-test test-taker interviews, 9 follow-up test-taker questionnaire responses, 9 follow-up test-taker interviews, 5 instructor interviews, and documents. All of the assumptions underlying the seven inferences were at least partially supported by the backing, which means that the overall validity argument can be upheld by the chain of seven inferences. Further research is suggested to produce additional backing in support of the comparatively weaker inferences. This study contributes to validation research in language assessment by providing an example of a validity argument constructed for low-stakes classroom-based testing. Furthermore, the study introduces the web-search-permitted and web-source-based integrated writing test as a test that has potential to be adopted by various stakeholders and opens up new possibilities for research on integrated language assessment tasks

Students’ Strategies for Writing Arguments from Online Sources of Information

This study builds on previous work on writing (e.g., Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987; Hayes & Flower, 1980) and writing from sources (e.g., Spivey, 1997). Its purpose was to investigate processes and strategies for writing from online sources of information. High-achieving Grade 12 students were recorded as they researched on the Internet and wrote arguments about cosmetics testing on animals. Data included think aloud protocols, video recordings of participants and computer screens, writing products, and interviews. Data was analyzed using narrative summaries and cross-case comparisons. A coding scheme was developed and applied, in order to establish interrater reliability. Writers used one of three overall processes: 1) Writers alternated between researching online and structuring content into an outline, and then drafted a text; 2) Writers researched online, writing notes and a separate outline, and then drafted a text, drawing on both documents; 3) Writers drafted the text and their research while drafting. Each process was comprised of sub-ordinate strategies and operations. Two contributions of this work are discussed. First, the strategies of participants were similar in that they demonstrated translations between content and rhetorical problem spaces (cf. Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987). These translations occurred during researching, as well as drafting and reviewing, and were apparent through students’ Internet activity. Second, participants constructed different task environments (cf. Hayes & Flower, 1980) and used different strategies; all were adapted to the affordances and constraints of the Internet, the electronic writing medium, and internal cognition. Final sections address writing instruction, the method, and future research