Virtual worlds, Internet resources, motivation: The results of a research project

Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00

USING ONLINE RESOURCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNER AUTONOMY AND ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION: THE CASE OF INDIVIDUAL LEARNERS

The paper presents the findings of a quasi-experimental study which sought to explore the effectiveness of online resources on the development of learner autonomy and to determine whether increased autonomy results in greater pronunciation gains as well as to compare it with the effects of traditional instruction when it comes to individual students. What is more, the study sets out to determine whether the gains in the two areas are maintained over time with respect to individual learners. The subjects were 45 Polish senior high school learners. The targeted structure was the final -ed sound of the simple past tense of regular English verbs. Three groups, two experimental and one control group, participated in the study. The intervention spanned the period of two weeks. The learners in Experimental Group 1 were provided with access to the Internet and were thus allowed to exercise more freedom in learning English pronunciation. The students in Experimental Group 2 were taught in a traditional way (i.e. controlled by the teacher) and the learners in the control group did not receive any instruction. The data were collected by means of a pronunciation autonomy questionnaire, as well as pronunciation tests administered before and after the study was concluded. The results reveal that the majority of individual students in Experimental Group 1 showed more autonomy and they outperformed their counterparts on the tests, which provides a justification for using digital technology as a tool for promoting autonomy and teaching pronunciation

A look at the advanced learners' use of mobile devices for English language study: Insights from interview data

[EN] The paper discusses the results of a study which explored advanced learners of English engagement with their mobile devices to develop learning experiences that meet their needs and goals as foreign language learners. The data were collected from 20 students by means of a semi-structured interview. The gathered data were subjected to qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results of the study demonstrated that, on the one hand, some subjects manifested heightened awareness relating to the advantageous role of mobile devices in their learning endeavors, their ability to reach for suitable tools and retrieve necessary information so as to achieve their goals, meet their needs and adjust their learning of English to their personal learning styles, and on the other, a rather intuitive and/or ad hoc use of their mobile devices in the classroom.Kruk, M. (2017). A look at the advanced learners' use of mobile devices for English language study: Insights from interview data. The EuroCALL Review. 25(2):18-28. doi:10.4995/eurocall.2017.7461SWORD182825

The development of learner autonomy through internet resources and its impact on English language attainment

Since the arrival of the Internet and its tools, computer technology has become of considerable significance to both teachers and students, and it is an obvious resource for foreign language teaching and learning. The paper presents the results of a study which aimed to determine the effect of the application of Internet resources on the development of learner autonomy as well as the impact of greater learner independence on attainment in English as a foreign language. The participants were 46 Polish senior high school students divided into the experimental group (N = 28) and the control (N = 18) group. The students in the experimental group were subjected to innovative instruction with the use of the Internet and the learners in the control group were taught in a traditional way with the help of the coursebook. The data were obtained by means questionnaires, interviews, learners’ logs, an Internet forum, observations as well as language tests, and they were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that the experimental students manifested greater independence after the intervention and they also outperformed the controls on language tests

Another look at boredom in language instruction: The role of the predictable and the unexpected

Although recent years have seen a growing interest in positive emotions in second or foreign language learning and teaching, negative emotions are always present in the classroom and they deserve to be investigated in their own right. The article focuses on boredom, a construct that has been explored in educational psychology but has received only scant attention from second language acquisition researchers. It reports a study which examined the changes in the levels of boredom experienced by 13 English majors in four EFL classes and the factors accounting for such changes. Using data obtained from a few different sources (i.e., boredom grids, narratives, interviews, class evaluations and lesson plans), it was found that although boredom can be attributed to different constellations of factors, it was mainly traced to repetitiveness, monotony and predictability of what transpired during a particular class

Potential sources of foreign language learning boredom: A Q methodology study

The present study employed an interpretive approach to investigate individual learners’ viewpoints on foreign language learning boredom (FLLB). To this aim, a Q method, which shares features of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, was used to explore 37 Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ perceptions of potential sources of boredom in the classroom. Nonprobability purposeful sampling was used to select participants from two private language institutes in Mashhad, Iran. A hybrid-type Q sampling was employed to produce 40 statements related to the sources of FLLB. Using PQ Method, an exclusive statistical package for Q methodology, the Q sorts were intercorrelated and factor-analyzed. Three factors were extracted and rotated using varimax rotation and hand adjustment. Factor arrays and qualitative analyses were utilized to find and interpret three different accounts of FLLB. The three factors showed that the students held three divergent prototypical points of view about the sources of boredom experienced in EFL learning in class: (a) teacher-induced boredom, (b) student-induced boredom, and (c) activity-induced boredom. The findings also showed that different learner prototypes experience FLLB distinctly. Thus teachers should consider using different strategies to prevent or reduce this negative emotion in the context of L2 learning since otherwise this process could be impeded

When time matters: Mechanisms of change in a mediational model of foreign language playfulness and L2 learners’ emotions using latent change score mediation model

In a dynamic system, time-dependent links between affective factors can provide more information than the level of response within a single isolated system. In the present study, influenced by the positive psychology movement and the complex dynamic systems theory in the domain of second language acquisition, first, we dealt with change in terms of short-term dynamics and long-term trajectories of foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language boredom (FLB), and foreign language playfulness (FLP) in a sample of 636 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) using univariant latent change score (LCS) models. Then, we explored the developmental processes involved in how changes in FLE and FLP were associated with changes in FLB. In particular, we tested mediation models to see whether the growth of FLP acts as a mediator between FLE and FLB changes in a multivariant LCS mediation (LCSM) model. The findings showed that (a) in a multivariant LCS model, FLE and FLP increases independently predicted decreases in FLB over time and (b) the growth of FLP acted as a mediator between variation in FLE and FLB. Participants showed interindividual and intraindividual divergences in their L2 emotions, not just on the first time of measurement, but also in short-term dynamics and long-term trajectories. The findings facilitate understanding of the complicated mechanism of variation in L2 emotions, thus potentially contributing to enhancement of pedagogical practices and learning outcomes

Macroinvertebrates in streams and rivers in the City of Łódź

In the City of Łódź there are 29 streams and rivers of various sizes, 18 of them named and 11 unnamed, whose total length is 125 km. The aim of the present study was gaining initial knowledge of the abundance and diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates in water courses in the City of Łódź. Collected aquatic macroinvertebrates were represented by 18 taxons. The highest occurrence was recorded for Dipterans (Chironomidae) (present in all samples), Oligochaeta, Ephemeroptera and Gastropoda. The distribution of macroinvertebrates along the investigated streams varied very much. The Jasień and Łódka Streams turned out least abundant and taxonomically diverse in macroinvertebrates. The opposite were the Bzura and Łagiewniczanka Streams. It confirmed that usually the differences in macroinvertebrate distribution and diversity resulted from pollution of the running waters with domestic and industrial sewage, transforming of certain water courses into sewage-storm canals, regulation including covering of river beds and banks with concrete.Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 dofinansowane zostało ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę