Articles
Effectiveness and competence influence the writing of EFL learner
Peyton Walton
Abstract:
The impetus of the present study was to investigate the impact of self-efficacy and proficiency on EFL learners’ written task performance regarding concept load, fluency, complexity and accuracy. One hundred and forty four low-proficiency and high-proficiency learners of English as a foreign language, between ages 18-25, were chosen. Each participant was requested to execute three tasks: a narrative task, a personal task, and decision-making task and fill out the self-efficacy questionnaire. The participants’ performances were then analyzed utilizing the Pearson correlation. The results demonstrated that there was a significant relationship between self-efficacy and narrative and personal tasks in terms of concept load but not in terms of fluency, complexity, and accuracy in high proficiency participants. Also, there was no relationship between self-efficacy and decision-making tasks in terms of concept load, fluency, complexity, and accuracy in both low and high proficiency participants.
Blogging impacts on the achievements of students and the acquisition of knowledge in the subject of instructional technology
Michael King
Abstract:
The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of blogging on Turkish undergraduate students’ achievement levels in issues of instructional technology in a computer course. Moreover, this study reflects the observations of the instructor and the opinions of the students regarding contributions of blogging to their knowledge acquisition and information searching and sharing skills. The methodological framework of the study is based on a pretest-posttest experimental design with a control group and qualitative research techniques including interviews, document analyses and observations. A total of 68 undergraduate first year students in two groups (N=34 in experimental, and N= 34 incontrol) participated in the pretests and posttests. In addition, a total of 21 students took part in the interview process. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of the experimental and control groups in pretest. However, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and control group in the post test in favor of the experimental group. Also, the results indicated that the students in the experimental group had significantly higher scores in the posttest than in the pretest phase. As a result, both experimental and qualitative findings suggest that blogs can be used as supplementary mediums to promote achievement and knowledge acquisition of students as well as information searching and sharing skills within a learning community.
Education online or not online: education in the 21st century
Tyree Cross
Abstract:
Teaching and learning in the Information Age requires different skill sets and thinking models. Professors at a state college agreed that online learning environments have had both positive and negative effects on how they communicated with students and how they delivered their course content. Into the 21st Century, whether online or not online, most professors believed that educators have to continue to give emphasis to people skills.