Effects of a Vocabulary Acquisition and Assessment System on Students’ Performance in a Blended Class for English Subject
Jiyou Jia, Yuhao Chen, Zhuhui Ding and Meixian Reeuan
Computers & Education, 2012
Theme: Grades 9-12/ Blended Learning
Language learning for young children comes naturally; they pick up the languages which they are exposed to in a seemingly effortless manner. However, older learners (middle school and above) need to put more effort into the acquisition of a second language. Although a teacher may implement engaging activities in the classroom, studying and memorizing basic vocabulary can be difficult, tedious and time-consuming. Unfortunately, without the stepping-stones of said vocabulary, functional usage of another language is difficult to obtain.
The article “Effects of a Vocabulary Acquisition and Assessment System on Students’ Performance in a Blended class for English Subject” (Jia, Chen, Ding & Ruan, 2012) compares the achievement of students’ vocabulary acquisition by integrating a web-based system into the experimental class’s instructional time. The experiment involved one teacher who taught two Grade 3 English classes at a junior middle school in China. Each class received nine hours of English instruction per week: the traditional class had regular classroom instruction while the experimental group went to a computer lab for one hour each week (NETS-T-1d; NETS-S-6a, d). The authors’ hypothesis was that blended learning would increase vocabulary acquisition and improve the students’ performances on assessments.
The experimental group practiced vocabulary exercises and completed evaluations which were designed using activities designed using the Moodle Document website’s quiz function (http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/Quiz). The descriptions of the available quiz forms such as multiple choices, cloze and matching are very similar to the activities that my class has used occasionally when accessing the text online. The difference being that the authors’ customized their Moodle activities specifically for the target learners (NETS-T-2c) using resources that came with their language program. The text’s online activities available to my class are generic and identical to the workbook pages. Both programs offer automatic feedback for the students, but encouraging messages and icons were incorporated into the experiment feedback. My students simply received a green check or a glaring red X.
The study was entirely focused on vocabulary acquisition. Therefore, grammar, drills and writing activities were not included during the experiment hours in the computer lab. After my own experience using the online text features, I believe the concentration on the specific skill of vocabulary acquisition makes more sense. My students had difficulty focusing when using the online workbook pages because of the variety of activities and expectations. In addition, the authors state that integrating the vocabulary acquisition system into the regular teaching plan was neither difficult for the teacher, nor frustrating for the students regardless of their technological capabilities. In fact, upon reading this article it is easy to imagine planning and implementing a similar program with the resources that I know are available at my school (NETS-T-3d).
The vocabulary acquisition experiment described in this article provided helpful feedback and supported the authors’ hypothesis. When compared to the sixteen English classes taking place, the experimental group rose from an eighth place ranking at the start of the experiment to number one. It is especially interesting and important to note that the control group also made a significant improvement: from fifteenth place to tenth. This shows that the teacher’s role as the instructor, leader and facilitator in the computer lab and the classroom directly affected the experiment’s success. Through my own experience I have seen that one cannot expect all students to self-guide their learning in the computer lab. It is necessary to demonstrate, clarify and supervise by modelling using a projector and monitoring what each student is doing while online (NETS-T-4b).
At the end of the experiment, the authors conducted interviews and surveys with the student participants. They used an open suggestion format to encourage the students to make any sort of comments about blended learning. I had to chuckle at one that came up quite often: the system homepage was sometime slow to start. That is exactly the reason my students have mostly given up on our text online option. The reflections and comments obtained from the participants of this study were used to solve system problems and make program adjustments. The survey results provided the authors with an overall feeling of success. Although the participants indicated that they liked the blended learning format (NETS-S-5b, c), only half said would like to continue. Others claimed that they either had too much coursework already, or the vocabulary learning online just wasn’t sufficiently entertaining.
The value of creating this sort of blended learning experience is unquestionable. My quest is to discover digital technology options that I can incorporate into language teaching through the blended learning in high school theme. After reading the evidence put forth in this article, I find myself inspired and encouraged.
Reference:
Jia, J., Chen, Y., Ding, Z., & Ruan, M. (2012). Effects of a vocabulary acquisition and assessment system on students’ performance in a blended learning class for English subject. Computers & Education, 58(1), 63-76.
List of the NETS Standards referenced in the review:
NETS-T-1d: Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments
NETS-T-2c: Customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
NETS-T-3d: model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.
NETS-T-4b: Address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies and providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.
NETS-S-5b: Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
NETS-S-5c: Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
NETS-S-6a: Understand and use technology systems.
NETS-S-6d: Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.
Interesting. I have tried the computer, podcast, text edition of trying to self-learn another language. Memorizing vocabulary is very boring, but if it could be put in the format of a game and supervised by a teacher with periodical evaluations, I just might be more motivated to learn vocabulary in another language more quickly.
If they come up with a mandatory online program where you have to hear and use the language with with people who speak it fluently, I believe I would learn it very quickly. With a combination of text and audio (and maybe even video) chat with patient native speakers of the language, older students of a second language would seem to be able to connect. This seems very feasible with today’s global connections.
There are so many programs available to students and teachers online. I think it is important, as you mentioned, to blend teacher feedback and guidance with the learning tools of the internet. While I understand you point about language being harder for older students to grasp, I also think younger students need a great deal of guidance when learning a new language. There’s a tremendous amount of research being done on whether or not kids learn another language faster than adults and, from what I’ve read, it seems both age brackets have their advantages and disadvantages. For instance, an adult a learner might have more background knowledge to build off of and reference when learning a second language. Conversely, a younger student might be challenged by a word they do not have any definition for or connection with. I see this when I’m tutoring children and the curriculum we’re using contains an outdated term. The child is confused and needs to be instructed by me about how to look for clues in the rest of the text or any pictures about what that word can mean, sometimes I just explain the word itself. You must see this frequently in your classroom when students get stuck on vocabulary taken out of context during assessments. I appreciate your perspective and I’m happy that integrating computer learning is working in your classroom.
You have made some good points about outdated terms. I recently had to explain what ‘listening in’ on the phone line meant. A pretty horrifying idea for my teen students!
Great summery! Interesting that you listed the NETS separately. Kind of neat how we all come up with different layouts for our responses.
I agree with your comment “…one cannot expect all students to self-guide their learning in the computer lab” while some students might be proficient with their computer skills, others might not have touched a computer before this time during class
“I find myself inspired and encouraged.” This is something we teachers always need, in my experience I have gotten lots of inspiration and encouragement by attending conferences specific to my field (health and physical education. You should look into them for your field if you haven’t already.