Sunday, 28 December 2014
Sunday, 14 December 2014
Saturday, 13 December 2014
Updated Bloom's Taxonomy for the Digital Age
Bloom’s updated digital taxonomy interactive wheel gained a lot of traction recently.
check the link below
http://call4teachers.blogspot.com/2013/11/updated-blooms-taxonomy-for-digital-age.html
Learner perceptions of reliance on captions in EFL multimedia Listening comprehension
Listening is the most difficult skill to be learned
for EFL learners, because unlike other skills its speed and content are
typically controlled by the speaker. So, many instructors need to look for
various learning support to assist learners. One way to support Listening skill
for learners is captioning which is described as visual text delivered via multimedia
that matches the target language auditory signal verbatim.
Although most support captioning as an
aid to learner comprehension, some results have shown that captioning can be a
hindrance. So,
instructor’s decisions regarding the addition or removal of learning supports
are highly influenced by learner perceptions of instruction and instructional
design.
Previous studies
Previous research results regarding captioning are
inconsistent. Regardless of these inconsistencies, captioning support is
generally not available in authentic, real-time listening. The current study is
an attempt to investigate the issue of captioning support by gathering EFL learners’
perceptions on captioning support, assessing their reliance on captioning
support, and subsequently comparing both in light of individual proficiency.
The aims of the current empirical study are to: (1)
determine if learner perceptions are accurate markers of their reliance on
captioning, and (2) discover whether learners at each of the three levels of
proficiency (low-intermediate, intermediate, or high-intermediate) are able to
accurately judge their reliance on captioning.
Methodology
Participants
Participants are 139 students, 38 males
and 101 females with an average age of 17. All were studying in one of three
classes at a high school in northern Taiwan. While all
students were of a similar age and in the same grade, their individual English
abilities varied from low-intermediate to high-intermediate.
Instruments
There were five instruments employed
in this study:
1)
The intermediate general English proficiency
test
(GEPT) which provides an individual evaluation of English language proficiency.
According to this test, learners where divided into three proficiency levels or
groups (low-intermediate, intermediate, and high-intermediate).
2)
The caption reliance test (CRT) that
determines learners’ reliance on captioning by employing both audio texts and
congruent or identical visual textual captions that include specific incongruent
keywords.
3)
A multimedia system consisting of a
computer, projector, screen, and public address system.
4)
Semi-structured interviews.
Procedure
The experiment began with 12 weeks of listening
comprehension instruction, which included captioned content that was integrated
into the participants’ regular syllabus and conducted during the participants’
first semester of their third year of study. The study took place in the
participants’ regular school classrooms with the instructional content
integrated and delivered over 15 weeks. The data were collected during three
consecutive weeks at the end of the semester to ensure that the participants
were accustomed to the delivery methods. Each of these three weeks corresponded
to one of three stages: Stage 1, the proficiency assessment stage; Stage 2, the
reliance/perception assessment stage; and Stage 3, the interview stage.
Findings
The findings
answer the research questions:
·
Are learner perceptions accurate
markers of reliance on captioning?
The findings suggest that EFL learner perceptions of
reliance on captioning do match their actual degree of reliance. It also
implies that learners can benefit from instructor decisions to deploy
captioning support based on learner perceptions.
·
Do learners at different proficiency
levels accurately judge their reliance?
When proficiency levels were factored in, only
low-intermediate learners provided accurate predictions. One possible
explanation may be that the low-intermediate proficiency learners understood
their need for the additional support, based on their realization that they are
at a lower level of comprehension.
Conclusion
To conclude, captioning can be a valuable support
tool if it is not removed too early, causing frustration, or it is not employed
for too long, causing interference; as such, captioning is simultaneously
beneficial to some and a hindrance to others. This study indicates that learner
perceptions regarding captioning support may be misleading, especially in terms
of those provided by intermediate or high-intermediate proficiency learners.
Thus, one implication of this study is that EFL multimedia instruction might
address the requirements and preferences of individual learners to ensure more
beneficial instruction by taking into account individual differences,
specifically levels of proficiency.
Limitations
The findings of this study cannot be generalized to
regions outside of Taiwan, a non-EFL context, or other proficiency levels. So,
future research is required to consider other variables like individual
differences, learning styles, text characteristics, familiarity of content,
and/or task approach (i.e. pre-task activities or the nature of the
comprehension task), as the effectiveness of this form of support may depend on
such variables.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09588221.2013.776968
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