published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Learning in a multimodal environment entails the presentation of information in a combination of more than one mode (i.e. written words, illustrations, and sound). Past research regarding the benefits of multimodal presentation of information includes both school age children and adult learners (e.g. Koolstra, van der Voort & d'Ydewalle, 1999; Neumen & Koskinen, 1992), as well as both native and non-native language learners (e.g. d'Ydewalle & Gielen, 1992; Kothari et al, 2002). This dissertation focuses how the combination of various modalities are used by learners of differing proficiencies in English to gain better comprehension (cf. Mayer, 1997, 2005; Graber, 1990; Slykhuis et al, 2005). The addition of the written mode (closed captioning) to the already multimodal environment that exists in film and video presentations is analyzed. A Multimodal Multimedia Communicative Event is used to situate the language learner. Research questions focus on the eye movements of the participants as they read moving text both with and without the audio and video modes of information. Small case studies also give a context to four participants by bringing their individual backgrounds and observations to bear on the use of multimodal texts as language learning tools in a second or foreign language learning environment. It was found that Non Native English Speakers (NNS) (L1 Arabic) show longer eye movement patterns in reading dynamic text (closed captioning), echoing past research with static texts while Native Speakers of English (NS) tend to have quicker eye movements. In a multimodal environment the two groups also differed: NNS looked longer at the closed captioning and NS were able to navigate the text presentation quickly. While associative activation (Paivio, 2007) between the audio and print modalities was not found to alter the eye movement patterns of the NNS, participants did alternate between the modalities in search of supplementary information. Other research using additional closed captioning and subtitling have shown that viewing a video program with written text added turns the activity into a reading activity (Jensema, 2000; d'Ydewalle, 1987). The current study found this to be the case, but the results differed in regard to proficiency and strategy.

Det pedagogiska intresset för ”lärstilar” har under senaste åren ökat och barns individualitet i skriftspråkstillägnandet uttrycks även i andra sammanhang. Syftet med denna studie är att belysa och diskutera hur man kan se på och arbeta med barns olika sätt att lära i läs- och skrivundervisningen. Vidare är studien inriktad mot att belysa studieområdet ur en vidare kontext då den empiriska undersökningen genomförts både i Sverige och i Costa Rica med en kombination av intervjuer och observationer. Utifrån en kulturell och utbildningspolitisk kontext belyses variationer och likheter i lärarnas möjligheter och förutsättningar att beakta barns olika sätt att lära sig skriftspråket. Av resultatet framkommer att lärarna påvisar en viss form av beaktande av barns olika sätt att lära skriftspråket främst i form av en inriktning mot individualisering utifrån varje individs nivå och arbetstakt. De uppvisar en ambition att individanpassa undervisningen både i Sverige och i Costa Rica men undervisningen förefaller trots detta vara inriktad mot gemensamma moment. Genom att variera den gemensamma undervisningen, bland annat genom att blanda analytiska och syntetiska läs- och skrivmetoder, försöker lärarna tillgodose barns olika sätt att lära. De intervjuade lärarna framhåller dessutom motivationen hos eleverna som en avgörande faktor för ett framgångsrikt skriftspråkstillägnande och poängterar underhållande arbetssätt och skapandet av intresse hos eleverna som betydelsefulla inslag i undervisningen. Vidare tyder studiens resultat på att till skillnad mot i Sverige framhålls i Costa Rica verbala förmågor då observationer och styrdokument visar på en fokusering av muntliga undervisningsformer. Studiens resultat antyder dessutom att förutsättningar och möjligheter att beakta barns olika sätt att tillägna sig skriftspråket skiljer sig åt mellan de olika kontexterna, främst i form av att de ekonomiska resurserna i Costa Rica inte möjliggör förverkligande av lärarnas pedagogiska ambitioner.

Life alteration stipulates the changing of education ideas, the search of new teaching and learning theories and methods is going on. For a contempory pupil it is not enough to have only formal knowledge and abilities. He/she must become an initiative person having a critical way of thinking and being able to work and create in this constantly changing world. A modern person should be able to learn continually and improve himself/herself as well as his/her activities. From this point of view it is important to understand that studies for each person are not over when he finishes school or any other educational institution, he is an active learner in everyday life and activities. In order to estimate our unique experience, to improve our knowledge and to see what else we need for our improvement we must master modern methods of active teaching which deliberately help to plan learning activity. Such learning activity should be full of sense. In the documents regulating the content of education at comprehensive schools in Lithuania the constructive direction of education is encouraged, the creation of the system of valuable rules is underlined, the importance of educating different kinds of abilities is mentioned, by various methods teachers are stimulated to encourage pupils’ self-dependence and to create auspicious conditions for this at the lessons. Searching to combine these two spheres it is relevant to encourage cognitive processes employing interactive learning strategies... [to full text]

The purpose of this study was to explore the learning strategies that are used by successful science students. In addressing this purpose, a mixed methods approach was adopted in which both quantitative and qualitative methods of data production were used. The participants were both successful and less successful high school science students from grades ten to twelve inclusive. Quantitative data was collected through questionnaires and analysed. The qualitative data was collected through individual semistructured interviews and focus group interviews. This was analysed using a qualitative thematic approach. The research questions were first about the learning strategies that successful science students seemed to use in order to do well academically, and secondly the question of the factors which influenced these successful students. The findings are that there are differences in the use of strategies between the successful students and their less successful counterparts. The successful students in general reported using more learning strategies more often than the less successful students. Successful students also reported that they engaged in strategies for regulating the effort they applied to work on difficult or boring tasks. They engaged more in cognitive strategies that involved deep processing of information, while the less successful students relied more on rehearsal and more superficial strategies like text underlining. Successful students also engaged more in self-regulatory activities that allowed them to monitor and regulate the way they learn. The findings also revealed that the successful students reported that they are influenced in their studies more by such factors as family support, the love of the subject and their goals or ambitions. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Traditionally, geometry at school starts on a formal level, largely ignoring prerequisite skills needed for formal spatial reasoning. Ignoring that geometry has a sequential and hierarchical nature causes ineffective teaching and learning. The Van Hiele theory postulates learner progression through levels of geometry thinking, from a Gestalt-like visual level through increasing sophisticated levels of description, analysis, abstraction, and proof. Progression from one level to the next does not depend on biolog~caml aturation or development only, but also on appropriate teachingllearning experiences. A higher thinking level is achieved through the application of a series of learning phases, consisting of suitable learning activities. The teacher plays an important facilitating role during this process. In accordance with the social cognitive learning perspective on self-regulated learning, geometry learners must direct their thoughts and actions while completing activities in order for effective learning to take place. Learners can be described as being selfregulated to the degree that they are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active in their own learning. The social cognitive theory assumes that students enter learning activities to acquire knowledge, learning how to solve' problems and completing learning activities. Self-regulated learners are aware of strategic relations between self-regulatory processes and learning outcomes and feel self-efficacious about using strategies. Self-regulation is similar to metacognitive awareness, which includes task and personal knowledge. Self-regulated learning requires that learners understand task demands, their personal qualities, and strategies for completing a task. A Van Hiele-based geometry learning and teaching program was designed (with a problem solving context in mind) and implemented in four Grade 7 classes (133 learners) at two schools. The study investigated factors and conditions influencing the effective learning and teaching of spatial concepts, processes and skills in different contexts. Results suggest that the implementation of a Van Hiele based geometry learning and teaching program in a problem solving context had a positive effect on the learners' concentration, when working on academic tasks, and level of geometric thought. The higher levels of geometric thought included higher categories of thought within these levels. Learners who completed the program reasoned on a higher level, ,gave more complete answers, demonstrated less confusion, and generally exhibited higher order thinking skills than their counterparts who did not take part in the program. The only prerequisite' is that the teacher should consistently teach from a learner-centered approach as the program will deliver little or no advantages if the program is presented in a teacher-centered content-based context. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2000.

This research was undertaken to determine the influence of a video class system on the strategic teaching and learning of school mathematics. A literature investigation served as a frame of reference for the planning, execution and assessment of the empirical investigation. Some of the approaches which have the greatest influence on the learning of school mathematics, namely the behaviourist, cognitive and constructivist approaches, are described and, where necessary, critically assessed. Factors which influence the learning of school mathematics are discussed in an interrelated manner and are used to identify the features of the strategic learning of school mathematics. It is then attempted to determine how teaching should take place to enable the strategic learning of school mathematics. To reach this objective, different approaches to the teaching of mathematics are discussed, based on approaches to the learning of mathematics, and the influence of these on the teaching of school mathematics is determined, based on the literature investigation. Different factors which influence the teaching of mathematics are identified and used to describe the characteristics of the effective teacher, who teaches mathematics for the strategic learning of the subject. The empirical investigation involved a quantitative as well as a qualitative investigation. In the quantitative investigation an actual experimental design with a pre-test and post-tests was used. Video recordings were made with one experimental group (video recording class) and delivered (played back) with another experimental group (video delivery class). The control group received conventional mathematics teaching. A quantitative field investigation was undertaken by means of an adapted LASSI-HS to establish the influence of the video class system used in the investigation on the study and learning strategies of the learners. In this way the influence on the strategic learning of mathematics could be determined. At the same time the influence of the video class system on the mathematics performance of the learners was established, in order to determine the extent of success of the use of the video class system. A qualitative investigation by means of an observation schedule, together with the analysis of video recordings of mathematics lessons, was used to determine the influence of the video class system on the teaching of mathematics. The video class system did not have a negative or a positive influence on the performance of either the video recording classes, the video delivery classes or the control classes of the schools who participated in the research. Neither did the video class system have a positive or a negative influence on the use of learning and study strategies (concerning mathematics) of the different class groups who participated in the research. That means that the video class system did not negatively influence strategic learning in learners who may use it. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003

The objective with this research was to establish the correlation between problem solving and the teaching and learning of mathematics in grade 4. The results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) showed that South Africa is behind other countries in terms of the teaching and learning of mathematics, especially with regard to problem solving. Because problem solving is an integral part of the teaching and learning of mathematics, a literature study was conducted (1) to investigate the learning of school mathematics and (2) to describe the manner in which problem solving can take place in the classroom. The learning of school mathematics was studied by focusing on different approaches to the learning of mathematics. The constructionist approach to learning was identified as the appropriate approach towards learning, which correlates with outcomes-based education (OBE) and with the approach currently taught in South African schools. Factors which contribute towards the meaningful learning of school mathematics, namely mathematical knowledge and skills, meta-cognition, learning strategies and tasks and assignments in mathematics, have been discussed. The role of problem solving in the learning of mathematics was studied by means of a possible problem-solving model which may be developed together with the learners. The teaching of problem solving was investigated by referring to the planning of a problem-based lesson and attention was paid to the learning content of the lesson and the planning of the teaching-learning activities. Together with the learners a problem-solving model was developed for the teaching of problem solving. The implementation of the teaching of problem solving was described with reference to the use of big-group presentations as well as problem solving in small groups. Attention was also paid to problem solving, and the use of different assessment techniques was discussed. The empirical investigation was done by means of a case study, and the focus was firstly on the influence of problem solving on the learning of mathematics, and secondly on the manner in which problem solving may be taught. Information was collected during the qualitative investigation by using a questionnaire which was completed by the learners, as well as an interview and observation schedule. The class work, homework and group work books of the learners were studied and transcribed. Video recordings were made of the learners' participation in the big group, small groups and written work, and the transcribed information was used to make deductions about the teaching of problem solving to the learners. From the empirical investigation it became clear that there is a correlation between problem solving and the teaching and learning of mathematics. Problem solving may be taught to learners by means of a problem-solving model, although this does not necessarily result in successful problem solving by all learners. While learners are solving problems, they are also learning mathematical concepts and acquiring and applying mathematical skills. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

As the number of college students studying science continues to grow, it is important to identify variables that predict their success. The literature indicates that motivation and learning strategy use facilitate science success. Research findings show these variables can change throughout a semester and differ by performance level, gender and ethnicity. However, significant predictors of performance vary by research study and by group. The current study looks beyond the traditional predictors of grade point averages, SAT scores and completion of advanced placement (AP) chemistry to consider a comprehensive set of variables not previously investigated within the same study. Research questions address the predictive ability of motivation constructs and learning strategies for success in introductory college chemistry, how these variables change throughout a semester, and how they differ by performance level, gender and ethnicity. Participants were 413 introductory college chemistry students at a highly selective university in the southeast. Participants completed the Chemistry Motivation Questionnaire (CMQ) and Learning Strategies section of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) three times during the semester. Self-efficacy, effort regulation, assessment anxiety and previous achievement were significant predictors of chemistry course success. Levels of motivation changed with significant decreases in self-efficacy and increases in personal relevance and assessment anxiety. Learning strategy use changed with significant increases in elaboration, critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation skills and peer learning, and significant decreases in time and study management and effort regulation. High course performers reported the highest levels of motivation and learning strategy use. Females reported lower intrinsic motivation, personal relevance, self-efficacy and critical thinking, and higher assessment anxiety, rehearsal and organization. Self-efficacy predicted performance for males and females, while self-determination, help-seeking and time and study environment also predicted female success. Few differences in these variables were found between ethnicity groups. Self-efficacy positively predicted performance for Asians and Whites, and metacognitive self-regulation skills negatively predicted success for Other students. The results have implications for college science instructors who are encouraged to collect and utilize data on students’ motivation and learning strategy use, promote both in science classes, and design interventions for specific students who need more support.