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| Project Details |
| Funding Scheme : | General Research Fund | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Number : | 18604618 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Title(English) : | A self-regulated and personalised vocabulary learning approach mediated by mobile technologies for university students | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Title(Chinese) : | 以移動技術為媒介為大學生提供一種自律及個人化的單詞學習方法 | ||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investigator(English) : | Dr Ma, Qing | ||||||||||||||||
| Principal Investigator(Chinese) : | 馬清 | ||||||||||||||||
| Department : | Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies | ||||||||||||||||
| Institution : | The Education University of Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||
| E-mail Address : | maqing@eduhk.hk | ||||||||||||||||
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| Co - Investigator(s) : |
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| Panel : | Humanities, Social Sciences | ||||||||||||||||
| Subject Area : | Education | ||||||||||||||||
| Exercise Year : | 2018 / 19 | ||||||||||||||||
| Fund Approved : | 745,980 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Status : | Completed | ||||||||||||||||
| Completion Date : | 31-3-2022 | ||||||||||||||||
| Project Objectives : |
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| Abstract as per original application (English/Chinese): |
A large proportion of mobile assisted language learning (MALL) takes place outside the classroom and university students frequently report that they are easily distracted by various external factors when using mobile devices for learning purposes. Effective learning of second language (L2) vocabulary hinges on the learners’ ability to self-regulate their learning. However, little research interest has been shown in how students self-regulate when they are left on their own to explore MALL. Personalisation also features in a number of mobile vocabulary learning applications in the form of intelligent design, but these do not necessarily improve learners’ ability to learn vocabulary following a personalised path determined by the learners themselves. Also, many learners do not possess sufficient pedagogical knowledge of how L2 vocabulary should be learned.
This proposed research will address these issues by adding two key components, vocabulary pedagogy and enhanced personalisation, to an existing self-regulation model (Zimmerman, 2011). Based on this revised model, a self-regulated and personalised (SRP) vocabulary learning approach is developed and its effectiveness measured where the mobile technologies mediate, the vocabulary pedagogy informs and the personalisation shapes students’ L2 vocabulary learning. This research aims to help students develop a heightened capacity for self-regulation while using mobile technologies and appropriate pedagogical knowledge to learn L2 vocabulary more efficiently and effectively in the long term.
This research will adopt a mixed-method design. An experimental design will be adopted to find out to what extent students can learn L2 vocabulary using the SRP approach in a mobile technology-mediated environment via a self-directed intervention for a period of one semester. It will also examine whether the self-directed SRP approach can help students learn L2 vocabulary receptively and productively better than those who adopt their usual learning approach. Personalised vocabulary tests at both receptive and productive levels will be developed for each participant to measure their learning outcome. In addition, a multi-case study will be conducted to provide qualitative evidence to verify whether the self-directed SRP approach can lead to a heightened capacity for self-regulation. The qualitative evidence collected can also be used to triangulate and validate the quantitative findings.
大部分移動技術輔助語言學習(MALL)在課外進行，並且大學生時常宣稱使用移動設備學習時，他們很容易被各種外界因素幹擾。有效的第二語言單詞學習取決於學習者的自律學習能力。然而，鮮少有研究表明學生自己在探索移動輔助語言學習過程中如何自我調節。個性化也在衆多智能設計的單詞學習移動應用上起重要作用，但是這幷不會必然導致學習者在自我學習道路上根據自身情况學習單詞能力的提升。此外，許多學習者也沒有充分掌握二語單詞學習的有效途徑。 此項研究將會通過在已有的自律學習模型(Zimmerman，2011)上增加兩個核心要素，單詞教學和個性化提升，來解决這些問題。在修改的模型上，創立一種自律個性化(SRP)單詞學習方式。它的有效性體現在移動技術在哪方面融合二語單詞學習，單詞教學在哪方面引導二語單詞學習，以及個性化學習在哪方面構建二語單詞學習。本研究旨在幫助學生在使用移動技術和恰當教學知識進行二語單詞學習時，提升自律能力，從而從長遠發展上更加高效地學習二語單詞。 此項研究將采取綜合方法的形式進行研究。將使用一個實驗設計來探究學生可以使用自律個性化方式，在依託移動技術的環境中，在進行為期一學期的自我安排二語單詞學習後測量達到哪種程度。該實驗也會研究使用自我主導的自律個性化學習方式會的學生是否比那些使用常規學習方法的學生在輸入和輸出二語單詞上會取得更大的學習進步。此外，將實施一個多案例研究來提供定性證據，核實是否自我主導的自律個性化方式可以帶來自我管理能力的提升。 |
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| Realisation of objectives: | 1. Ways to achieve the objectives We integrated the SRP approach in a voluntary IELTS preparation to train Hong Kong university students to become self-regulated and personalized learners of vocabulary to help them prepare for taking the IELTS. To recruit suitable participants for this research, an invitation to the IELTS preparation scheme was distributed to year one and year two undergraduate students. Four briefing sessions were held for students who were interested in learning more about the SRP vocabulary scheme to acquire knowledge and strategies in self-regulating and pesonalising their vocabulary learning assisted with mobile technology. First, during the registration process, students were invited to complete a pre-self-regulation survey designed by researchers to measure their initial self-regulation capacity. The survey includes originally 54 items with 44 items retained after factor analysis. All sub-scales have the reliability of larger than 0.90. Followed with the pre-survey, participants were then invited to take Vocabulary Levels Test (Nation, 2001) to assess their initial vocabulary. The training started with a face-to-face briefing session where students learned about the SRP approach (EG: Experimental group) or the SR only approach (CG: Control group) introduced in the online learning platform via Schoology. Then, to fully understand the SRP approach, the EG participants underwent a two-week online self-training. For the EG students, they are required to learn four components: (1) self-regulated learning, (2) vocabulary pedagogy, (3) personalized learning, and (4) resources for IELTS vocabulary. For the CG students, only (1) and (4) are included. The online learning activities are conducted in both individual and group learning modes with various forms of activities. For example, based on the three-phase for self-regulation proposed by Zimmerman (2011), we tailor-made some e-learning materials for students to learn how to self-regulate their language learning. Students were also guided with instructions for how to do the tasks for each activity, and a discussion form was provided to allow the students to post their personalized stories and comment on others’ stories. In addition, a IELTS vocabulary learning resources package for students to equip them with essential learning resources were provided. After the self-training, participants developed a study plan by completing the critical tasks of the SRP approach (i.e., self-regulated learning, vocabulary pedagogy, and personalized learning) involved in developing their academic L2 vocabulary to help them prepare for their IELTS test. They were asked to set an achievable goal based on their vocabulary baseline, language ability, time span, etc., and develop an individualized strategic plan to achieve their goal. Participants began their vocabulary learning program and uploaded their weekly recorded vocabulary items to the online platform using a researcher-designed vocabulary learning record (VLR) sheet, which was easily accessible via mobile devices (i.e., VLR tasks). The minimum requirement for each participant was to select and record at least 30 self-chosen words weekly. The EG and CG students used different VLR sheet. For EG, they were required to use the sheet to record 6 categories of lexical information (1. Item; 2. Meaning; 3. Source; 4. Word information; 5. p ersonalized strategy; 6. Word use). While for the CG, they only recorded 3 categories of the lexical information (1. item; 2. meaning; 3. word information). In addition, we introduced gamification to motivate our participants to engage in their self-guided learner training. The final stage is the personalized vocabulary test, including a receptive and productive test. We selected 40 items randomly from the 100 items uploaded by each student. 20 was used to develop the receptive and the other 20 for the productive test. We followed three procedures in selecting the vocabulary items. First, we created a profile of the student’s initial vocabulary size information and followed three procedures in selecting the vocabulary items: (1) initial vocabulary level test results, (2) the analysis of the frequency level of students’ selected vocabulary, and (3) word length. In summary, we used different instruments for data collection: (1) a self-designed Self-Regulating Survey for Language Learning (SRSLL) to measure whether the students had enhanced their self-regulation capacity after experiencing the SRP approach; (2) personalised vocabulary tests to measure their vocabulary learning outcomes both receptively and productively; and (3) semi-structured interview to provide qualitative evidence to verify whether the self-directed SRP approach can lead to a heightened capacity for self-regulation and improve their personalized vocabulary learning. Other supplementary measurements included learning evidence submitted by the students and their VLR sheets. 2. To what extent the project objectives have been achieved For Objective 1, a personalized 50-word vocabulary test in which 25 items are used to assess receptive vocabulary knowledge and the remaining 25 items are used to assess productive knowledge was conducted for the participants by analyzing the frequency level of their selected vocabulary using the Nation’s Range program. The test results suggest that the SRP method is superior in improving students' productive vocabulary learning but not clearly in receptive vocabulary learning. In short, although the findings did not demonstrate the effectiveness of the SRP method for receptive vocabulary learning, Objective 1 was achieved. For Objective 2, a post Vocabulary Level Test was conducted for measuring to what extend the SRP approach can help participants increase their vocabulary size. Surprisingly, the results indicate that the SRP method helped participants increase their vocabulary size by about 8%. From this result, it is examined that the SPR method can increase learners' vocabulary size to a certain extent and help strengthen to empower their performance in vocabulary learning. For Objective 3, each participant were invited to complete the post-self-regulating survey and scheme evaluation form at the end of the 4-week intervention. A key conclusion was found based on the survey and scheme evaluation: SRP approach enhanced students’ intrinsic motivation and future planning. In other words, SRP approach can help students develop a heightened capacity for self-regulation, which indicated that Objective 3 was achieved. | ||||||||||||||||
| Summary of objectives addressed: |
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| Research Outcome | |||||||||||||||||
| Major findings and research outcome: | For answering Objective 1, the productive vocabulary test scores of the experiment group(M=13.33) compared to the productive vocabulary test scores of the control group (M= 9.53) indicated a significant improvement (t=-1.81; p<0.05). In other words, the SRP approach is superior to the SR-only approach in enhancing students’ productive vocabulary learning. However, the SRP condition did not show superiority over the Self-regulated condition in terms of receptive vocabulary learning. This situation may be explained by the test nature of the receptive test, which only requires meaningful recognition of the vocabulary items and can be easily achieved by both conditions. For answering Objective 2, there was a considerable increase in the vocabulary size of the participants. They generally increased their vocabulary by 8% before and after participating in this program (a 4-week vocabulary learning). For answering Objective 3, although the metacognitive planning of participants in the experimental group and the control group were improved after the post-test, the participants in the experimental group obtained additional gain in improving their intrinsic motivation. A plausible explanation for this finding is due to enhanced personalization under the SRP condition. What is more, the results demonstrated that the SRP approach could also help students with future planning. The interview data revealed some specific roles of personalization in enhancing students' self-regulation. First, personalization enhanced students' learning interests and helped them engage in vocabulary learning. Second, students found personalized sharing to be constructive in facilitating self-regulated vocabulary learning. This is because personalized sharing can help learners reflect on themselves and improve their learning methods by reflecting on and addressing their weakness. In this sense, the SRP approach can help students develop a heightened capacity for self-regulation compared with SR-only approach to some extent. | ||||||||||||||||
| Potential for further development of the research and the proposed course of action: |
Our study has demonstrated some evidence of students’ improved capacity for self-regulation scaffolded by self-regulated and personalized (SRP) approach; the SPR approach also helped students learn more L2 academic vocabulary productively. During our study, we noticed that personalized learning appears to be a socially constructed concept in MALL contexts and empower learners in various self-regulation phrases. It is recommended that both individual and group learning tasks be included in designing PL elements for MALL implementations. In this sense, we believe that it is necessary to go one step further to validate the effectiveness of personalized learning by including collaborative learning opportunities for English vocabulary learning. In addition, learners’ word selection fitness will also be taken into account to promote connections between learner’s vocabulary choice and personalized learning. In this sense, our future line of research action will focus on two aspects: Can students self-select newly learnt words appropriate to their level? How do students benefit from their personalized vocabulary learning by collaborating with other learners? | ||||||||||||||||
| Layman's Summary of Completion Report: | First, this study will be the first MALL research that integrates explicitly three key factors: self-regulation, personalization, and vocabulary pedagogy. In particular, this research will develop an increased capacity for self-regulation in students to use mobile technologies, deploy appropriate pedagogical knowledge and use personalized strategies to learn L2 vocabulary more efficiently and effectively in the long run. Second, holding students accountable for their learning behavior can motivate them to participate more in the training process and have a longer-lasting impact on students. Third, this self-directed learning, targeting vocabulary acquisition and developing self-regulation skills, can inspire language teachers to innovate classroom language pedagogy by gathering valuable information on how students use mobile technology to facilitate learning inside and outside the classroom. Fourth, on the practical side, this research can help university students expand their academic vocabulary and improve their self-regulation skills, which will better prepare them for high-stakes language exams and improve their language proficiency to increase their capitals for future career prospects. | ||||||||||||||||
| Research Output | |||||||||||||||||
| Peer-reviewed journal publication(s) arising directly from this research project : (* denotes the corresponding author) |
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| Recognized international conference(s) in which paper(s) related to this research project was/were delivered : |
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| Other impact (e.g. award of patents or prizes, collaboration with other research institutions, technology transfer, etc.): |
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| SCREEN ID: SCRRM00542 |