非英语专业大学生的词汇学习与语言教学

在大学英语教学中,教师要提高词汇教学首先要从研究学生如何学习词汇入手,而学生要学好词汇需从其词汇知识和词汇习得入手。习得词汇知识不只是熟悉词形,还包括熟悉各种意义、概念和已知词的意义关系。此外,教师还应了解学生词汇习得的个体差异以及学生在学习过程中出现的造词现象等。把词汇教学的侧重点放在学生的学方面,研究学生学习词汇的规律和个体差异,以学促教,反之用教进一步引导学,使词汇的教和学相辅相成,互相促进。     

虚拟大学英语学习社区的语言生态和结构探讨

虚拟大学英语学习社区与英语网络自主学习不同,其更加注重社会交际教学,这种社区将网络作为媒介,然后共同汇集专家、教育者及学习者,使他们在一个自主积极互动的场所进行学习交流,进而提升英语水平。虚拟大学英语学习社区也存在一定的语言生态及结构特点,其对英语学习也会提供一些帮助与支持,本文将重点探讨下虚拟大学英语学习社区的语言生态及结构。     

A descriptive study of community college teachers’ attitudes toward online learning

The data gathered provided valuable insights into the attitudes of teachers in relation to distance education. Most of the participants of the survey felt that with adequate training, technology could be a valuable tool in education. The confidence of the respondents in their own computer skills was rather high, although it was apparent that this confidence did not cover the application of their computer skills to the development of online instruction. None of the respondents currently use a course Web site, and most had little interest in doing so. There was also a strong feeling that there was little support from administration, which made the incentives for providing online instruction low. The survey also raised additional questions such as what type of incentives would be required to make distance education a desirable option for a teacher, or whether they would be interested in receiving training on preparing distance course materials. Further research into possible correlation between the subject matter taught and feelings towards online instruction would be beneficial.     

The effectiveness of blended online learning courses at the community college level

Whether through the use of online-only or hybrid/blended formats, colleges and universities across the country are increasingly utilizing online platforms as a medium for the delivery of instruction. At the same time, we know little about how student learning outcomes are related to students’ engagement with online instructional formats. In particular, few studies have evaluated online learning in community colleges, and fewer yet have employed an experimental or quasi-experimental design to do so. In this research, we use propensity score matching to compare learning gains between community college students enrolled in blended courses, (courses that combine online instructional delivery with traditional classroom-based instruction) with gains experienced by students receiving only classroom-based instruction. Among students enrolled in blended courses, we also consider which aspects of student use of online instructional materials are most strongly associated with student learning. While some evidence has suggested significantly poorer outcomes for community college students enrolled in online-only courses, our results suggest that students enrolled in blended courses perform similarly, if not better, relative to students in a traditional instructional setting. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

论外语学习中的语言焦虑(英文)

外语学习焦虑对外语学习有着负面影响,可以作为外语学习成功与否的个体差异因素之一。本文主要阐述了外语学习焦虑的研究,提出了在课堂中降低焦虑、优化教学的教学建议。     

Teachers and students together in a professional learning community

Students represent the majority of the people in a school organisation, but are rarely considered as participants in literature on professional learning communities (PLC). This article explored a PLC with the legitimate participation of students in the classroom. Data was based on interviews with 11 teachers. Community of practice theory provides 3 dimensions that were used as analytical tools: shared repertoire, mutual engagement, and joint enterprise. Shared repertoire refers to how teachers introduce and develop tools for learning; mutual engagement to how to establish relationships and atmosphere with a respect for learning; and joint enterprise to how students’ associations and experiences are used to shape content knowledge in planning for learning. We conclude that the theory of community of practice is useful to describe and understand the formation of a PLC.     

Factors associated with one-year retention in a community college

This study sought to evaluate preenrollment variables as predictors of one-year retention of first-time students in a community college. The purpose was to use information that is typically available when a student begins his or her college program and determine if this information can help identify students who are more likely to drop out within their first year. Based on a logistic regression model to select predictors of retention, the lower the high school GPA, the greater the chance the student will drop out. Over and above this, additional risk is associated with the age range 20–24, attending part-time, and being an ethnic minority other than Asian. When all or some of these are operating, it may be necessary to enhance these students' chances with special programs or services.     

Developing a pan-university professional learning community

Professional learning communities (PLCs) support students’ learning in pre-tertiary education, but have not been sufficiently explored at the tertiary level. Drawing on the literature on PLCs across broader educational contexts, we explore the development of a PLC within our University using analysis of survey responses and through document analyses. Key themes from our data collectively reveal the core features of our evolving PLC – Building community; Ground-up design; Creating a safe space – and demonstrate both the broader impacts of the community and the on-going challenges faced as we seek to develop a sustainable PLC. Recommendations for academic developers interested in the development of PLCs within their contexts are offered.     

A study of teaching presence and student sense of learning community in fully online and web-enhanced college courses

This paper focuses on two components of a model for online teaching and learning—“teaching presence” and “community”. It is suggested that previous research points to the critical role that community plays in academic success and persistence in higher education. Through a review of recent literature it is proposed that teaching presence–viewed as the core roles of the online instructor–is a promising mechanism for developing learning community in online environments. This investigation presents a multi-institutional study of 1067 students across 32 different colleges that further substantiates this claim. An instrument to assess instructor teaching presence (“The Teaching Presence Scale”) is presented and validated. Factor and regression analysis indicate a significant link between students' sense of learning community and effective instructional design and “directed facilitation” on the part of course instructors, and highlights interesting differences between online and classroom environments. Alternative hypotheses regarding student demographics associated with variables such as age (the “net generation” effect) and gender are also examined. Despite recent assertions that younger students are or soon will be too sophisticated to “feel at home” in largely text-based asynchronous learning environments, no significant effects were found by demographic differences examined. Recommendations for online course design, pedagogy, and future research are included.     

社区教育与社区学院建设的若干思考

我国社区教育正由大城市向县级城市及其农村延伸。在社区教育发展过程中,对社区教育的内涵和功能特点,社区学院的办学职能等尚有不同的认识。文章总结归纳了社区教育的四个功能特点,对基层干部群众提出的发展社区教育的一些模糊、片面认识,以及对社区学院的办学职能提出了一些看法,同时,对以基层电大为基础创办社区学院提出了若干对策建议。     

关于建设学习型学院的思考

建设学习型社会是21世纪之国际潮流，也是知识经济时代经济、社会发展之必需。正是适应这一时代发展的趋势，大连市提出了建设学习型城市的发展方略。建设学习型城市要由各级学习型组织的建成作保证，教育学院作为诸多单位之一，把自己建成学习型学院是题中应有之义。基于此，本对学习型学院的概念、建设学习型学院的意义和如何建成学习型学院等问题，作了探讨。     

Interacting for learning: Digital portfolios for a learning community in a university course

This study investigates student interactions in a blog-based learning community in a university course. In addition, this study explores the dynamics of group interactions in individual blog-based environments compared with collaborative wiki-based educational activities. A learning community of 56 graduate students wrote individual blogs and weekly group summaries using a wiki environment. The posts were analyzed by identifying a post content type and explicit feedback promotions, and by counting the number of the blogger's own comments and the number of others’ comments per post, received from peers studying in the same versus the other offline group. The results show that choosing the appropriate type of post content (i.e., sharing experiences rather than providing information, explicitly calling for feedback, and providing the blogger's own comments) augments peer interaction in a blog environment, thus explaining 51.4% of variance in peer comments. Group interactions through comments in individual blogs, without the possibility of changing one another's content, seem to be non-intrusive and prompt interactions with offline as well as with online peers. In contrast, actual editing of texts through multi-authored collaborative wikis remained affected by student offline former acquaintance. The results are discussed in terms of social interactions and pedagogical beliefs.     

From learning community to community learning: pedagogy,technology and interactivity

The authors of this article discuss three pedagogical approaches, learning community, community of practice and community learning, and analyse their significance for knowledge acquisition and construction in higher education. The authors also explore the roles of technology in creating adequate environments for educators to implement teaching practices supported by these approaches and explain, through an illustrative course example, how technology and teaching methods can be used together to promote interaction among learners and help them achieve course goals.

De la communauté apprenante à l’apprentissage communautaire: la pédagogie’la technologie et l’interactivité

Les auteurs de cet article examinent trois approches pédagogiques:la communauté apprenante, la communauté de pratique et l’apprentissage communautaire et analysent leur signification pour l’acquisition et la construction des connaissances dans l’enseignement supérieur. Les auteurs étudient aussi le rôle de la technologie pour créer les environnements adéquats permettant aux éducateurs de mettre en place des pratiques d’enseignement reposant sur ces approches et ils expliquent au moyen d’un exemple de cours significatif,comment la technologie et les méthodes d’enseignement peuvent être utilisées ensemble pour favoriser l’interaction chez les apprenants et les aider à atteindre les objectifs du cours.

Von der lernenden Gemeinde zum gemeinsamen Lernen: Pädagogik, Technik und Interaktivität

Die Autoren dieses Artikels erörtern drei pädagogische Ansätze: Lerngemeinschaft, Übungsgemeinschaft und lernende Gemeinschaft. Sie analysieren ihre Bedeutung für Wissenserwerb und Aufbau einer höheren Ausbildung. Die Autoren erklären außerdem die Rolle der Technik beim Schaffen von adäquaten Umgebungen für Pädagogen, damit diese von diesen Ansätzen unterstützte Lehrübungen durchführen und durch ein illustratives Kursbeispiel erklären, wie Technologie und Lehrmethoden zusammen verwendet werden können, um Interaktion unter Lernern zu fördern und ihnen zu helfen, Kursziele zu erreichen.