Lifelong learners: in their own words

This paper draws on research that utilized principles of grounded theory to inquire into the most significant learning relationships throughout the lives of individuals. The partners in this informal learning alliance are defined as ‘learner’ and ‘mentor’. The structure of these alliances is described and the learners' perspective of the alliance is presented. Some meaningful relationships are ascribed to formal settings of schools and colleges, but most take place in social, familial, and community settings, with learning outcomes reported as important for personal development and citizenship. Traditional mentor partnerships are primarily learning relationships and as such are valuable sources of data for those interested in the process of lifelong learning, and what learners value in learning alliances. Traditional mentoring should be considered as valuable as more formal teaching, as it promotes sustainable learning by means of reflection and reflexivity, and appears to be self-perpetuating.     

视频公开课中视听语言的设计应用及影响

运用现代化新媒体视频手段进行教学和文化传播已经成为教学改革的重点。在阐述高校视频公开课重要性的基础之上,从影视制作者的角度分析当下公开课视频存在的视听问题,并对其拍摄过程及后期制作提出建议。     

Active learners’ characterization in MOOC forums and their generated knowledge

This study explores and characterizes learners' participation patterns in MOOC forums, as well as the factors that correlate with learners' participation. Educational data mining and learning analytics methods were used to retrieve and analyze the learners' interpersonal interaction data, which had accumulated in the Coursera log files. The content in the forums was categorized based on Henri's criteria and converted into quantitative values that could be compared and visualized. It was found that only 20% of the learners were collaborating in the forums throughout the entire course and were responsible for 50% of the total posts. A portion of them earned the name “Super Active.” The analyses not only demonstrated the volume of activity and its pattern but also revealed the content of the discussions, which helped to highlight the needs and reasons for students' usage of the forums. The content analysis showed intensity in the “Cognitive” and “Discipline” categories. Thus, forum participants benefit from discussions not only socially but disciplinarily and cognitively as well. Furthermore, even though a strong significant correlation was found between the learners’ completion status and their activity in the forums, a group of learners, who did not complete the course, was highly active.     

Stress typicality effect in Chinese advanced and intermediate ESL learners

In English, positions of lexical stress in disyllabic words are associated with word categories; that is, nouns tend to be stressed more often on the first syllable, whereas verbs are more likely to be stressed on the second syllable (i.e. subject (noun) vs. subject (verb)). This phenomenon, which is called the stress typicality effect, has been shown to facilitate word recognition to native English speakers. However, there is little research on whether it also facilitates word recognition to non-native speakers of English, in particular, to English learners with a tonal first language. To fill this research gap, the present study investigated whether the stress typicality effect modulated word recognition in native speakers of Chinese who learned English as a second language. Both visual grammatical classification and lexical decision tasks were administered to ESL learners with intermediate and advanced English proficiency. The results revealed that Chinese intermediate ESL learners were not sensitive to stress typicality in English; however, the advanced learners were. The findings suggest that different performances in stress assignment among Chinese ESL learners were influenced by their English proficiency levels.     

Women learners and their virtual handbags: invisible experiences and everyday contexts in vocational education

As more and more mature women return to vocational learning, the issues facing this group of learners are being acknowledged and attempts made to address these concerns. Many existing strategies, developed to address the needs of other groups of learners, are applied to mature women. These women are drawn into a formal learning environment in which their everyday lives and homeplace experiences are invisible or misunderstood. Based on research into the experiences of 12 mature‐age women learners in Australia, this paper explores some issues for mature women returning to vocational education. I use the notion of women’s virtual handbags to describe how, within the current framework of lifelong learning, women’s homeplace experiences not only continue to be invisible, but can also be misconstrued to effectively create problems for women learners.     

The effect of films with and without subtitles on listening comprehension of EFL learners

The present study represented a preliminary effort to empirically examine the efficacy of subtitled movie on listening comprehension of intermediate English as a Foreign Language students. To achieve this purpose, out of a total of 200 intermediate students, 90 were picked based on a proficiency test. The material consisted of six episodes (approximately 5 minutes each) of a DVD entitled ‘Wild Weather’. The students viewed only one of the three treatment conditions: English subtitles, Persian subtitles, no subtitles. After each viewing session, six sets of multiple‐choice tests were administered to examine listening comprehension rates. The results revealed that the English subtitles group performed at a considerably higher level than the Persian subtitles group, which in turn performed at a substantially higher level than the no subtitle group on the listening test.     

任务强度差异支架对学生游戏化学习动机和沉浸感的影响

教育游戏的研究者发现,教育游戏中添加教学策略或学习支架能够帮助学生建立游戏和学科知识之间的联系,可以有效发挥游戏的教育价值,提高学生的学习效果和学习体验。本研究在梳理学习支架理论的基础上,针对"The Tiny Bang Story"游戏设计了两种不同强度的任务支架,以研究强度不同的任务支架对不同认知风格学生的学习动机和沉浸感的影响。研究发现:任务强度不同的学习支架对不同认知风格学生的学习动机和沉浸感的影响存在显著差异;场依存型学生的学习动机和沉浸感会随任务支架强度的增加而提升;场独立型学生的学习动机随任务支架强度的增加没有显著性变化,反而沉浸感会随任务支架强度的增加呈现先升后降的正三角趋势。     

Students as learners through the eyes of their teachers in Rwandan higher education

In this study, we aim to explore and thematically analyze higher education teachers’ notions about the most important problems related to students’ learning, including the teachers’ notions about the approaches to learning adopted by students. The study was carried out in Rwanda with 25 university teachers engaged in group interviews. Inspired by the concepts of metaphors for learning and approaches to learning, five main categories of students’ learning problems were identified: dependence, physical and economic resources, experience of a deep approach to learning, reading culture, and previous preparation for higher education. These problems are interrelated and point to the need to understand study levels in education systems as interdependent.     

不同风格学习者对微课效果评价分析

本文为提供分析所依据的相关数据,首先采用问卷调查的方式对三所大学不同学科的大学生展开随机性匿名调查,并对调查结果进行系统化的统计。以学习者的角度对微课教学模式的应用现状以及存在的问题进行了分析,并基于学习者角度对微课教学效果的提升策略进行了研究与阐述。     

法语视听说课程中的跨文化交际研究

本文以跨文化交际与中法语教学视听说课程的密切关系为切入点,旨在培养学生在的跨文化交际能力,同时提出了相应的措施分析了视听说课程对于跨文化交际的重要性,并提出了为培养跨文化交际学生可以采取的相应的措施。从而说明在法语教学过程中教师必须学会合理利用原版影像材料来调动和培养学生的语言及非语言交际能力,从而使得学生能够实现跨文化交际意识内化的教学目标。     

The effect of learning background and imagery cognitive development on visual perception

This research looked into the effect of how cognitive development toward imagery is formed through visual perception by means of a quantitative questionnaire. The main variable was the difference between the learning backgrounds of the interviewees. A two-way ANOVA mixed design was the statistical method used for the analysis of the 2 × 4 (2 by 4) study design. The analysis on the main effect was conducted, and a significant difference was also shown in the result. First, the two variables of student learning background and imagery cognitive development interact with one another. Second, there is a significant difference in students’ learning backgrounds. The cognitive level between the two was visibly apparent. Last, the four aspects that made up the visual perception all showed significant difference. Therefore, cognitive development will be affected by lifestyle, personal preferences, interests, and biological conditions which will have different levels of influence on visual perception.     

Teachers' pedagogical beliefs and their planning and conduct of computer-mediated classroom lessons

In this study, we observed and interviewed six teachers from two Singapore primary school classrooms. The schools were reportedly achieving high levels of computer integration as reflected in a nationwide questionnaire survey. Out of the 18 lessons that we observed, 14 lessons have incorporated some elements of constructivist teaching. However, closer examination revealed that the underlying orientation of the lessons was inclined towards information acquisition and regurgitation. Five out of the six teachers we interviewed were reportedly inclined towards constructivist notion of teaching. The teachers accounted for the inconsistency between their espoused beliefs and the teacher-centric teaching practice as due to contextual constraints. The teachers expressed that the need to complete the syllabi according to stipulated schedules so as to get the students ready for examination was the main barriers that prevented them from engaging in more constructivist teaching. This case study therefore highlights that although it is necessary for teachers to hold pedagogical beliefs that are compatible with the constructivist notion of teaching and learning, this is an insufficient condition to shift traditional teaching practice. Changes in assessment systems and substantial professional development are further conditions that have to be addressed.     

关于增强“两课”教学实效的探讨

高校“两课”在培养“四有”新人和推进素质教育方面发挥着重要的作用。但是,目前高校“两课”面临严峻的困境：“两课”教学不能完全吸引住学生．学生学习兴趣低,缺乏学习热情,大部分学生的主要、甚至唯一的学习动机是应付考试。要改变这种现状,必须增强“两课”教学的实效,进一步深化教学改革。     

原声电影应用于英文视听说课程实践微探

原声电影应用于视听说课程有其理论依据。它能有效地激发学生的兴趣,能为英语学习者提供较为真实的语言氛围,同时也能使学生全方位地了解西方文化。所以将电影融合到英语视听说课程中,必能大幅提高教学效果。探讨如何从原声电影的选择、教师备课、电影教学活动安排三个方面使原声电影和视听说课程最大化结合。     

母语文化对中国日语学习者影响因素的调查与思考

采用日本学者冯富荣教授的研究方法,以日语中表示拒绝意义的"ぃぃ"和表示感谢意义的"す みません"为中心,对中国日语学习者和日本人进行调查和比较.结果表明:由于受不同文化背景的影响,人们在对语言表达的理解上存在着差异;随着时代的发展和学习环境的改善,中国日语学习者对日本文化的理解能力不断提高,其日语武思维方式逐渐养成,受母语文化和习惯的影响越来越小.     

Trying on a new pair of shoes: Urban teacher–learners conduct research and construct knowledge in their own classrooms

This article explores how classroom-based teacher inquiry research supports teachers in constructing understandings about teaching and learning that are uniquely applicable to their own contexts in American urban schools. This study was conducted by two teacher educators in their year-long classroom-based inquiry research classes with approximately 50 teacher education candidates.     

The longitudinal effect of morphological awareness on higher-order literacy skills among college L2 learners

The utilities of morphological awareness in first language (L1) literacy acquisition have been well documented. College second language (L2) learners with the need to enhance higher-level language and literacy competencies are of particular interest to literacy research. Therefore, this study reports on a longitudinal study that examines the multilayered relationship between morphological awareness and higher-order literacy skills (reading comprehension and written composition) among college-level English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. One hundred and twenty-one freshman students participated in this study. They finished reading vocabulary and four morphological awareness measurements including morpheme-form knowledge, morpheme-meaning knowledge, morpheme recognition ability and morpheme discrimination ability at the beginning of their college study. Moreover, they were required to complete reading and writing assessments at two additional time points over one academic year. Drawing upon multivariate analyses, the results showed that initial morphological awareness predicted later reading comprehension ability over the course of one academic year after controlling for reading vocabulary knowledge and the autoregressive effect. Although morphological awareness did not have a significant longitudinal effect on written composition after reading vocabulary knowledge and the autoregressive effect were accounted for, the results did exhibit the increasing robustness of the relationship between morphological awareness and written composition across time. In addition, the results verified the significant and longitudinal effect of explicit morphological knowledge (morpheme-form and morpheme-meaning knowledge) on higher-order literacy skills. The current study substantiated that morphological awareness had positive longitudinal relationships with higher-order literacy skills among EFL students. Implications centered on the utilities of morphological awareness components in higher-order literacy acquisition, the operationalization of written composition, and the uniqueness of second/foreign language literacy acquisition.     

研创式英语视听说教学

研创式视听说教学模式将西方过程教学法的理念引入视听说教学，将传统的视听说教学模式发展为以学生为中心的教学模式。学生在老师指导下，充分发挥想象力和创造性，通过参与个体和集体的研创、相互补充、相互评价等活动，实现主动学习、主动收获、自我提高的主体地位和作用，最大限度体现以学生为中心的理念，实现教学质量的有效提高。同时，说、听、读、写、译的综合培养同学生思维能力、研究创造能力、组织能力和集体主义精神等素质培养的有机融合，也体现了教学大纲要求。