Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an animated pedagogical agent on Spanish vocabulary learning. Furthermore, the study examined learners’ reactions and attitudes towards the presence of the pedagogical agent in a web-based environment, as well as how learners used the conversational component of the pedagogical agent in their learning process. A total of 47 university students enrolled in two fourth-semester Spanish classes participated in this study. Both the Control group and the Experimental group used a web-based environment that presented new vocabulary (in audio and text), along with activities for practicing the vocabulary in context. The difference between the two groups was that an animated pedagogical agent (Laura) was present in the environment used by the Experimental group. In addition, a conversational component was added at a second phase to the environment used by the Experimental group, which the learners used to chat with the pedagogical agent about the material presented. The data were analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative data were derived from a demographic information questionnaire, a vocabulary pre-test and two vocabulary post-tests (an immediate post-test and a delayed post-test), as well as from attitudes scales completed prior to the learners’ exposure to the web-based environments and after completing the learning sessions. The qualitative data were derived from a learning experience questionnaire completed by all learners at the end of the learning sessions, as well as from the scripts of the chat sessions between the learners in the Experimental group and the pedagogical agent, and a chatting experience questionnaire completed by the same group. Analysis of the quantitative data did not yield significant differences between the Control and the Experimental groups with respect to vocabulary learning outcomes and affective outcomes. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed learners’ preferences with respect to features embedded in the web-based language learning environments. In addition, it explored how learners utilized the conversational aspect of the pedagogical agent, and provided information as to the type of information the agent’s knowledge base should include in order for the agent to be a beneficial tool for the learners’ progress. / text

本研究的目的是探討學生由上下文猜測字義的能力及其與字彙學習、閱讀能力之相關關係。 研究的對象是台中市育英國中68位二年級的學生。研究的主要工具是兩份評估學生字彙及閱讀能力的全民英檢字彙及閱讀測驗，調查學生關於字彙推論技巧的問卷及訪談各一份。研究過程分為三個步驟：(1)前測— 字彙、閱讀能力測驗及問卷，(2)教學實驗— 字彙推論教學，及(3)後測— 字彙、閱讀能力測驗，問卷，及(4)個別訪談，以獲得更詳盡的資料來支持研究結果的分析。 研究結果發現： （1） 學生的字彙能力及閱讀理解能力具有顯著相關。學生的字彙能力越強，越能幫助他們對文章意義的理解，進而相對地提高他們的閱讀理解能力。 （2） 教授字彙推論技巧有助於學生的字彙學習及閱讀理解。接受字彙推論技巧教學的實驗組學生於後測階段，在字彙能力及閱讀理解測驗的表現均明顯優於未接受字彙推論教學的控制組學生。 （3） 字形、句義及文章大意為最常被學生運用來做字彙推論的線索。這一點控制組及實驗組學生均是如此，但實驗組學生使用地較頻繁，而且利用的推論線索也較控制組學生更多且更適當。 根據以上的結果，本研究提出三點建議： （1） 字彙推論教學可以融合於學校課程之中進行，一節課十至十五分鐘讓學生練習推論字義，四個月的教學，學生已能利用各類推論線索對字義做適當的推論。英語教學雜誌及英語郵報上的文章，是提供學生更多練習機會的理想補充教材。 （2） 老師教導字彙推論技巧時，應選擇適合學生程度、符合學生背景知識及具有充分線索供學生推論的教材或文章，避免學生因推論線索不足而胡亂猜測，無法對其閱讀理解有助益。並從較簡單的『單字本身』及『句內上下文』線索教起，再循序進入較難的『跨句上下文』和『背景知識』線索。 （3） 當學生出現閱讀困難時，老師應先確定困難形成的原因，分辨究竟是字彙基本能力不足或不懂得運用策略造成的，才能對症下藥，幫助學生增進字彙學習及培養閱讀理解能力。 / This study investigates the lexical inferencing made by Taiwan EFL students at a junior high school when they encounter unknown words in English texts. The researcher examines the effect of lexical inferencing on their vocabulary learning and reading comprehension, and the types of knowledge sources and contextual cues they use in the process. Sixty-eight students, thirty-four from Class 201 and thirty-four from Class 204, are selected as the participants for this study. These students are at the similar English proficiency level according to their academic proficiency scores last semester. The vocabulary test and reading comprehension test of GEPT, elementary level (LTTC, 2001) are used in the pretest to measure the participants’ vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension ability before treatment. A questionnaire is applied to investigate the varied types of knowledge sources and contextual cues used by the participants in the process of lexical inferencing both in the pretest and the posttest. The treatment—lexical inferencing instruction, lasting for four months, is conducted on the participants in the experimental group. After the treatment, two posttests of vocabulary and reading comprehension are conducted again to assess if there is any significant difference on vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension between the controlled group and the experimental group. The main findings of this study are as follows: 1. There is a significant correlation between students’ vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Better vocabulary competence contributes to better reading comprehension. Vocabulary competence can serve as good predictors of reading ability in a foreign language. 2. Lexical inferencing instruction does contribute to better performances in vocabulary and reading comprehension tests. The participants who receive instruction demonstrate significant progress. Lexical inferencing instruction also results in the recognition and employment of varied types of knowledge sources and contextual cues which facilitate the appropriate word meanings inferred. 3. Both groups use similar types of knowledge sources and contextual cues when making inferences. However, students in the experimental group make use of more types of knowledge sources and contextual cues in the process of inferencing and they practice the inferencing strategy more frequently. Sentence level meaning, word morphology, and discourse level meaning are the cues most frequently used by both groups. Pedagogical implications of this study and suggestions for further research are also presented. 1. Instruction of vocabulary inferring can be integrated into regular curriculum. It takes only 10 to 15 minutes per class for students to practice the inference strategy. As shown in our experiment, after four months of instruction, students achieve significant progress in the use of knowledge sources and contextual cues while reading. Articles in English learning magazines or bilingual newspapers are good supplementary reading materials for practice. These materials are usually longer and contain various types of knowledge sources and contextual cues. 2. To teach inferring skills, teachers should choose the reading texts which are familiar to students and contain enough knowledge sources and contextual cues. Students incline to giving wild guesses when they can not find adequate cues to help them do the job. Lexical inference instruction can be conducted by focusing on the word level cues in the first phase, then extending to the sentence level cues, and to the wilder discourse level cues. Equipping students with rich world knowledge is also helpful. 3. Teachers should examine students’ reading difficulties should to figure out what the problems are. Students’ reading problems may result from lack of basic linguistic competence or lexical strategies in reading. With knowledge of these problems, the teacher can help the students overcome their difficulties and become successful readers.

本研究旨在探討台灣綜合高中學生學習字彙時所運用的字彙學習策略，研究問題主要探討：學術學程及職業學程的學生在學習字彙時是否運用不同的字彙學習策略並找出其較常和較少使用之字彙學習策略，以及字彙學習高成就者和低成就者字彙學習策略之差異。藉此俾能提供英文老師幫助不同學程、成就的學生運用字彙學習策略，以期達到更佳的字彙學習成效。 本研究抽樣台北縣、市8所綜合高中共648位高三學生為調查對象，研究工具為字彙學習策略問卷與字彙能力測驗。分析方法主要採量化分析，包括獨立樣本t檢定、描述性統計、斯皮爾曼等級相關，本研究結果發現如下： 一、學術學程及職業學程的學生之字彙學習策略使用頻率具有顯著差異，學術學程的學生比職業學程的學生運用較多決定策略及記憶策略。 二、學術學程及職業學程的學生之字彙學習策略使用頻率排序相同，在發現字義部份依序為決定策略、社會策略；在鞏固字義部份依序為認知策略、記憶策略、後設認知策略、社會策略。 三、字彙學習高成就者和低成就者之字彙學習策略使用頻率具有顯著差異，高成就者比低成就者運用較多字彙學習策略。 最後，本文依據研究結果，提出老師英語教學上之應用及未來研究之建議。 / The purpose of this study was to investigate the vocabulary learning strategies used by comprehensive high school students in Taiwan. There were three questions focusing on the differences of use frequency of vocabulary learning strategies between academic-oriented and vocational-oriented students, the strategy use rank between these two groups of students, as well as the relation between vocabulary achievement and vocabulary learning strategy use frequency. A total of 648 students in Taipei City and Taipei County participated in the study. A vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire and a vocabulary achievement test were applied as instruments to obtain the data needed. Data from the students’ responses were computed and analyzed by means of independent-sample t-tests, descriptive statistics, and Spearman’s rank correlation. The findings of this study were summarized as follows. 1.There was a significant difference in vocabulary learning strategy use frequency between academic-oriented students and vocational-oriented students. The former applied more determination strategies to discover the meaning of a new word, and more memory strategies to consolidate the words encountered. 2.The ranking order of use frequency in vocabulary learning strategies by academic-oriented and vocational-oriented students was identical. In Part 1 (discovering the meaning of a new word), determination strategies were used most frequently, then followed by social strategies. In part 2 (consolidating the words encountered), cognitive strategies were used most frequently, followed by memory strategies, metacognitive strategies, and the last, social strategies. 3.There was a significant difference between good learners and poor learners in vocabulary learning strategy use frequency. Good learners applied more vocabulary learning strategies than poor learners to know an English word’s meaning. Based on the above results, some pedagogical implications for English teachers were developed and suggestions for future research were provided at the end of the study.

本文旨在探討情境推論策略對台灣國中生字彙學習及閱讀理解兩方面的成效。本研究結果希望對英文老師在單字及閱讀教學上有很大的啟示作用及幫助。 本實驗的研究對象為台北縣某國中75位國三學生，所有受試者依據其原班級隨機分派為實驗組及控制組，實驗組接受情境推論策略訓練，而控制組則採用傳統教學法。在教學活動前後，實驗組及控制組的所有學生皆施予Paribakht和 Westche設計的字彙知識等級測驗，猜測字義測驗，閱讀理解測驗及英語學習背景問卷，實驗組則於後測時另外接受對此訓練活動的問卷調查。 本研究結果顯示：(一)實驗組在在接受「情境推論策略」訓練後於字彙學習上有顯著差異，亦即「情境推論策略」的教學有效增進學生字彙學習表現。(二)實驗組在接受「情境推論策略」訓練後，在猜測字義的表現上有顯著的進步。(三)在五種情境線索的題目表現，實驗組在「同義線索」和「定義線索」的題目表現上最好，而在「解釋線索」的題目表現上較不理想。至於五種情境線索的運用，實驗組較能正確使用「語調線索」，而較不會正確使用「解釋線索」。(四) 實驗組在接受「情境推論策略」訓練後，於閱讀理解表現上有顯著進步，，亦即「情境推論策略」的教學有效增進學生閱讀理解。(五)從反應問卷中顯示，接受此一策略訓練活動後，大部分的學生對於「情境推論策略」教學傾向於正面的肯定，並期望在未來英語課程中能繼續進行此教學活動。但部分學生對於在閱讀中碰到不認識單字仍有些許不安。 根據上述研究結果，本研究建議國中英語教師可以運用「情境推論策略」教學增進學生字彙學習和猜測字義能力，以及加強他們對於閱讀理解的表現和對英文學習的正面肯定。同時，為了能讓「情境推論策略」在學生字彙學習上發揮最大效益，教師應考慮字彙練習及字彙在文章中重複出現的重要。 / The present study aims to explore the effectiveness of contextual inference strategy (CIS) on vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of junior high school students in Taiwan. Two third- grade junior high school classes were selected as one experimental group and one control group. The research methods involved word-guessing pre- and post-test, vocabulary pre- and post-test, reading comprehension pre- and post-test, and questionnaires. The data analyses were descriptive statistics, Paired Sample T-test, and Independent Sample T-test. Based on the results of this study, major findings are summarized as follows. First, the CIS instruction led to greater gains in learners’ vocabulary knowledge than traditional instruction did. Second, CIS instruction had a significant effect on the experimental group’s word guessing abilities. Third, the participants performed better in the questions of synonym and definition clues while they were not good at questions of explanation clues. As for their use of contextual clues, the correctness rate of mood or tone clue ranks the highest while the explanation clue the lowest. Fourth, the two groups’ scores of the post-reading comprehension tests showed significant difference, indicating participants who were instructed with CIS performed better in the reading comprehension than those who didn’t. Fifth, according to the response questionnaire, most students considered CIS instruction helpful and gave positive responses to this training activity. The aforementioned findings in this study suggested that junior high school teachers could adopt CIS training to enhance students’ vocabulary learning and word-guessing abilities, and to reinforce their reading comprehension and positive attitudes toward English learning. Also, to help students perform better in vocabulary learning, teachers could implement focused instruction, such as redundant presentation and exercises.

A pesar de las recomendaciones científicas sobre una introducción sistemática del input, los materiales didácticos muestran una presentación no sistemática del mismo. La falta de correspondencia entre dicha realidad y la teoría ha suscitado el presente trabajo de investigación, cuyo principal objetivo es averiguar hasta qué punto la introducción no sistemática del vocabulario está relacionada con su aprendizaje. Un grupo de 44 estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera en Educación Primaria participaron en el estudio. Los resultados de la tesis apuntan graves deficiencias en la introducción de input, las cuales se reflejaron en la adquisición por parte de los aprendices. Las cifras apuntan a un ritmo de adquisición léxica irregular solo parcialmente limitado por la introducción de input. Por otra parte, se ha podido observar que es posible predecir la tendencia del ritmo de aprendizaje, pero no la cantidad exacta a la que ese ritmo crece. / Researchers recommend a systematic introduction of input. However, it seems that this recommendation is far from reality. The aim of this work is to find out to what extent non-systematic introduction of vocabulary is related to learning. Forty-four Primary Education learners of English as a Foreign Language took part in the study. The results of this thesis show serious deficiencies in the introduction of input. These deficiencies were reflected in the learners’ low level of acquisition. Figures show an irregular rate of acquisition which is only partially limited by the introduction of input. In addition, it has been observed that we can predict the tendency of the rate of acquisition but not the exact proportion at which this rate grows.

This research is an empirical multiple-case study that is designed to explore adult individual learners’ vocabulary learning processes, and to examine their use of vocabulary learning strategies. It investigates the following key questions: (1) What vocabulary learning strategies do the individual learners usually use to find the meaning of unknown words? (2) What vocabulary learning strategies do the individual learners usually use to consolidate the words? (3) How do the individual learners apply the vocabulary learning strategies for the purposes mentioned above? (4) What are the differences between the learners’ use of vocabulary learning strategies? By using multiple data collection methods – questionnaires, interviews, and think-aloud protocols – I not only investigate what strategies the individual research participants use to study vocabulary, but also look at how they actually employ the strategies while completing a series of vocabulary activities. Finally, I also compare the patterns in the use of strategies between the participants. After the introduction, Chapter Two begins with the clarification of basic terms: “word,” “word knowledge,” and “strategy.” In Chapter Three, studies in the fields of vocabulary learning strategies are reviewed. Chapter Four deals with mental processes involved in vocabulary learning. Chapter Five focuses on the empirical study. I describe briefly the German language course (GER 101) and the language textbook, Vorsprung (2nd edition, 2002), and illustrate in depth the methodology used for data collection and data analysis. The results of the study are presented in Chapter Six. Chapter Seven summarizes the study results, followed by suggestions for foreign vocabulary instruction and for future research. The study illustrates that participants used a variety of vocabulary learning strategies to learn vocabulary. In total, 49 individual vocabulary learning strategies are identified and classified. Further, the differences between the learners are shown to be not only in what strategies they use but also in how they employ them. Finally, the study shows that well-organized and planned learning strategy training should be provided to language learners in order to make sure that they can use the strategies effectively, and that language instructors and the language textbook should play an active role in strategy training.

This research is an empirical multiple-case study that is designed to explore adult individual learners’ vocabulary learning processes, and to examine their use of vocabulary learning strategies. It investigates the following key questions: (1) What vocabulary learning strategies do the individual learners usually use to find the meaning of unknown words? (2) What vocabulary learning strategies do the individual learners usually use to consolidate the words? (3) How do the individual learners apply the vocabulary learning strategies for the purposes mentioned above? (4) What are the differences between the learners’ use of vocabulary learning strategies? By using multiple data collection methods – questionnaires, interviews, and think-aloud protocols – I not only investigate what strategies the individual research participants use to study vocabulary, but also look at how they actually employ the strategies while completing a series of vocabulary activities. Finally, I also compare the patterns in the use of strategies between the participants. After the introduction, Chapter Two begins with the clarification of basic terms: “word,” “word knowledge,” and “strategy.” In Chapter Three, studies in the fields of vocabulary learning strategies are reviewed. Chapter Four deals with mental processes involved in vocabulary learning. Chapter Five focuses on the empirical study. I describe briefly the German language course (GER 101) and the language textbook, Vorsprung (2nd edition, 2002), and illustrate in depth the methodology used for data collection and data analysis. The results of the study are presented in Chapter Six. Chapter Seven summarizes the study results, followed by suggestions for foreign vocabulary instruction and for future research. The study illustrates that participants used a variety of vocabulary learning strategies to learn vocabulary. In total, 49 individual vocabulary learning strategies are identified and classified. Further, the differences between the learners are shown to be not only in what strategies they use but also in how they employ them. Finally, the study shows that well-organized and planned learning strategy training should be provided to language learners in order to make sure that they can use the strategies effectively, and that language instructors and the language textbook should play an active role in strategy training.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Spanish and Portguese, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-52).