A Study of the use of computational concept mapping situated in an authentic learning context (CCMAL) in enhancing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ metacognition in reading comprehension classes

Abstract

This thesis described a convergent mixed method research which aims to investigate the influence of computational concept mapping situated in an authentic learning context (CCMAL) on students’ metacognition in English as a foreign language (EFL) reading comprehension classes. A hundred first year English non-majored students were invited for this study. The students participated a two-hour session on a weekly basis during a seven-week reading course. While the fifty students of the experimental group (EG) were exposed to CCMAL, the fifty students of the control group (CG) were exposed to a traditional teaching environment during the reading course. Data was collected through the pre and post-test on reading comprehension, pre and post-survey on metacognition, students’ computational concept maps collected in week 1, week 4 and week 7 of the reading course, weekly learning journals and classroom observation, and individual interviews after the reading course. The study found that the students of the EG outperformed those of the CG in the post-test on reading comprehension. In terms of reading comprehension skills, data showed that CCMAL had positive influence on the students’ use of literal skills, interpretive and inferential skills. The study also found that CCMAL had a positive influence on the students’ metacognition. Specifically, CCMAL was found to have the greatest influence on students’ scores on monitoring followed by evaluation. However, there were no significant differences on the students’ scores on planning. The utilisation of CCMAL positively influence students’ use of metacognitive strategies, such as planning, monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, the study discovered that the students’ CCMAL learning experience was influenced by factors as the relevance between the reading text topics and the students’ experiences, the students’ individual differences, and the affordances of Cmap which was the concept mapping software in this study. In conclusion, this study found that the use of CCMAL had positive influence on students’ metacognition and reading comprehension. It is recommended that CCMAL be widely used in reading comprehension classes to enhance students’ reading achievements. Moreover, it recommended further research into concept mapping related topics for improving the quality of English education in Vietnamese context