Suchergebnisse

This study explores the structure of motivation in foreign language (FL) reading among 186 university English language learners (ELLs) in China, and investigated the relations between motivation, strategy use, frequency, and proficiency in FL reading. The data were collected from three questionnaires and the reading section of a mock College English Test (Band 4). The data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), correlation, hierarchical cluster analysis, and t tests. The EFA generated three scales, one for intrinsic motivation (i.e., the Efficacy and Engagement scale) and two for extrinsic motivation (i.e., the Utility Value scale and the Academic Value scale). The correlation analyses showed that only the Efficacy and Engagement scale was significantly correlated with reading proficiency. The cluster analysis identified two groups of students, who differed in the three motivation scales as their motivational profiles. Based on the motivational profiles, differences on strategy use, frequency, and proficiency in English were also observed.

AbstractThis study combines research methods from student approaches to learning research and social network analysis (SNA) to examine patterns of students' collaborative learning based on their learning orientations amongst 193 postgraduates enrolled in a blended course. The study identified two distinct learning orientations, namely 'understanding' and 'reproducing', which differed in approaches to learning through inquiry, approaches to using online learning technologies, perceptions of the online workload, and academic outcomes. On the basis of students' learning orientations and their choice of whether to collaborate and with whom to collaborate, five networks representing five patterns of collaborative learning were found. From these, two did not reveal any collaboration (Understanding Alone and Reproducing Alone networks); and three revealed collaborations (Understanding Collaboration, Mixed Collaboration, Reproducing Collaboration networks). A range of SNA measures were calculated and revealed different features of the three collaboration networks. Viewed together, the combined methodologies suggest that the Understanding Collaboration network has more desirable features of collaboration, such as the intensity of collaboration, having closely knitted groups who tended to seek out and welcome peers and who tended to engage more often in both face-to-face and online modes. The study suggests that helping students adjust their learning orientations, designing some compulsory collaborative assessment tasks, and configuring the composition of collaborative groups are productive strategies likely to improve students' experiences of collaborative learning.