scholarly journals Development and evaluation of a mobile game as an English learning tool for ESL learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 77-83
Author(s):  
Kobkiat Saraubon ◽  

Learning and memorizing irregular verbs are some of the most difficult aspects of the language for non-native English learners. Research concerning games for education reveals that educational games have a large positive impact on learners’ skills and abilities. This research was divided into two phases including 1) the design, development and deployment of a mobile game used as an English learning tool for ESL learners and 2) an evaluation of the outcome. An Android mobile game was developed and then deployed on Google Play. In the evaluation phase, a quasi-experimental set-up with a non-equivalent pre-test and post-test control group design, was used to evaluate the impact of the use of the mobile game. The sample consisted of sixty-four tenth-grade students who studied English in a Thai school. There were two groups; the treatment group (N=32) and the control group (N=32) selected by cluster sampling. Both groups were given a pre-test to measure their prior knowledge. The sample then learned English in the class using conventional methods over a six-week period. During that period, the treatment group used the mobile game as a supplementary tool. Finally, both groups were given a post-test to measure the learning outcome. In this study, an independent t-test at the significance level of 0.01 was conducted. The results revealed that students who used the mobile game as a supplementary tool had statistically significantly higher learning outcomes.

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.1) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Siti Sarawati Johar ◽  
Sazuliana Sanif ◽  
Fauziah Ani ◽  
Harliana Halim ◽  
Shahidah Hamzah ◽  
...  

In this experimental study, the issue is focused on the influence of emotional intelligence in shaping the political behaviour of university youth students. The specific objective of this study is to examine the impacts of emotional intelligence competency on political behaviour among youth at the university by looking at the significance difference in the treatment group and the control group through application of emotional intelligence module. A total of 608 university students were selected as respondents from four public universities in Malaysia. The measuring tools used were the Emotional Intelligence Self-Description Inventory (EISDI), and the Political Behaviour Questionnaire (PBQ). In this study, T-test analysis and ANOVA test were used to determine the difference between the two control and treatment groups. The findings showed that there was a significant impact on the post-test for the treatment group due to the pre-and post-treatment differences. However, the findings from the control group showed no significant value. In addition, the findings show that the treatment group has the impact of changing the political behaviour with the implementation of emotional intelligence competencies in the teaching modules. The findings of this study provided sharing of the importance of the implementation of emotional intelligence among university students to form positive behaviours in political aspects. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (7) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Azman Hariffin ◽  
Nur Ehsan Mohd Said

ESL instructors across the world acknowledge the importance of vocabulary among their students which led them to experiment with many teaching approaches and language stimuli to find ones that are effective. In line with global technological advancement, the captioned video has become a key stimulus in facilitating vocabulary acquisition among second language learners. The use of technology is highly encouraged in the Malaysian education system to promote meaningful and active learning to accommodate, particularly, the young learners’ needs. By using highly interactive and visually stimulating materials, Malaysian teachers are expected to improve the alarmingly low proficiency in English among primary school learners. This study aims to investigate the effects of captioned videos on English vocabulary involving 44 participants of Year Four (age 10) and Year Five (age 11) at a rural school in Kapit, Sarawak. Using a pre-test-post-test quasi-experimental research design, the participants were divided into a treatment group and a control group. The data were analyzed using SPSS and it was demonstrated that participants from the treatment group outperformed the control group which suggests the effectiveness of captioned videos on vocabulary acquisition in an ESL setting. The results of the study serve as empirical evidence to guide policymakers in their professional decisions and as insights to other ESL practitioners in expanding their teaching repertoire.


ReCALL ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (01) ◽  
pp. 75-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arif Bakla

AbstractDespite their potential benefits, teacher-created animated cartoons have not found much room in second-language (L2) research, probably due to some technical challenges involved in creating them. This paper reports the findings of a mixed-methods embedded experimental study, designed to test the impact of tailor-made animated cartoons on the correct use of common punctuation rules in English. The participants were 112 Turkish-first language (L1) learners of English, assigned to either the treatment or control group through random cluster sampling. The instructional materials in the treatment group included teacher-created animated cartoons, exercises designed using SCORM-compliant software, and a forum for discussions in Moodle. The participants in the control group, on the other hand, used PowerPoint presentations (PPTs) instead of animated cartoons and completed the same follow-up activities. Quantitative results suggested that the treatment and control groups’ post-test and late post-test scores significantly differed in favour of the former. Moreover, qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and document analysis revealed that the participants, especially those in the treatment group, viewed this learning experience highly positively. The findings globally imply that tailor-made animated cartoons might facilitate the learning of punctuation and help raise students’ awareness of it.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Scott Liggett

Today’s society places a lot of pressure on schools, teachers, and students to improve test scores.This paper discusses the possibility of using mathematical manipulatives to improve student testscores and students’ attitudes towards mathematics. Forty-three Grade 2 students with age rangesbetween six and eight from a rural town in Saskatchewan were selected. They were dividedrandomly into two groups: the treatment group (n=22) and the control group (n=21) and theirpre- and post-test scores compared. Findings supported the hypothesis that students in thetreatment group who received the math intervention obtained higher post-test scores incomparison to their classmates in the control group.


Author(s):  
Amr Mahmoud Abdeldaim Mohamed

Learning EFL vocabulary is a difficult task so that teachers try as much as possible to facilitate it for their learners. One of the best strategies that can be used is educational games strategy. The goal of this research is to check the effectiveness of using the educational games strategy in enhancing English vocabulary acquisition and retention at the First stage of basic education pupils. The study adopted the quasi-experimental pre-post test control / experimental group design. The study sample consisted of 40 pupils in sixth elementary grade and was equally divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control one. Students of the experimental group learnt vocabulary through the educational game strategy, while students in the control group received regular instruction. Tools of the study included a pre-post vocabulary achievement test and a text course for grade six named Get Ready 6. The students submitted to a pre-post vocabulary achievement test and the results indicates that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group in the pre/ post-test of English vocabulary achievement in favor of the experimental group.


Author(s):  
Florian Arendt

A test was done to see if reading a newspaper which consistently overrepresents foreigners as criminals strengthens the automatic association between foreign country and criminal in memory (i.e., implicit cultivation). Further, an investigation was done to find out if reading articles from the same newspaper produces a short-term effect on the same measure and if (1) emotionalization of the newspaper texts, (2) emotional reactions of the reader (indicated by arousal), and (3) attributed text credibility moderate the short-term treatment effect. Eighty-five participants were assigned to one of three experimental conditions. Participants in the control group received short factual crime texts, where the nationality of the offender was not mentioned. Participants in the factual treatment group received the same texts, but the foreign nationality was mentioned. Participants in the emotionalized treatment group received emotionalized articles (i.e., texts which are high in vividness and frequency) covering the same crimes, with the foreign nationality mentioned. Supporting empirical evidence for implicit cultivation and a short-term effect was found. However, only emotionalized articles produced a short-term effect on the strength of the automatic association, indicating that newspaper texts must have a minimum of stimulus intensity to overcome an effect threshold. There were no moderating effects of arousal or credibility pertaining to the impact on the implicit measure. However, credibility moderated the short-term effect on a first-order judgment (i.e., estimated frequency of foreigners of all criminals). This indicates that a newspaper’s effect on the strength of automatic associations is relatively independent from processes of propositional reasoning.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Chacko ◽  
A Martinez-Naharro ◽  
T Kotecha ◽  
R Martone ◽  
D Hutt ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cardiac involvement is the main driver of outcome in ATTR amyloidosis. Advances in therapeutics hold potential in transforming the course of the disease but the impact on cardiac amyloid load is unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of patisiran, a new double stranded RNA based gene silencing therapy and a stabilizer, diflunisal, on cardiac amyloid load as measured by CMR and T1 mapping, in patients with ATTR amyloidosis. Methods and results Thirty-two patients with hereditary cardiac amyloidosis were studied. Sixteen patients received treatment with patisiran, and sixteen control subjects did not receive any disease modifying treatment. Patients were assessed with echocardiogram, CMR, NT-proBNP and six-minute walk time measurements at baseline and at 1 year (Mean interval 11.45±3.08 months in treatment group, mean interval 12.82±5.06 months in the control group). CMR analysis comprised LV volumes, T1 mapping to measure the extracellular volume (ECV) occupied by amyloid, T2 mapping and late gadolinium enhancement imaging. At 1-year follow-up, there was a substantial reduction in cardiac amyloid burden, in keeping with cardiac amyloid regression in 45% of patients on treatment. Overall the treatment group showed a reduction in ECV at 1 year follow up compared to an increase in ECV at 1 year in the control group (−1.37%, 95% CI: −3.43 to 0.68% versus 5.02%, 95% CI: 2.86% to 7.18% respectively, p<0.001). The treatment group also showed an improvement in change in 6MWT at 1 year follow up compared to 6MWT at 1 year in the control group (−8.12 meters, 95% CI: −50.8 to 34.6 meters in the treatment group versus −132.27 meters, 95% CI: −216 to −48.6 meters in the control group, p=0.002). The treatment group showed a reduction in BNP at 1 year follow up compared to an increase in the control group (−567.87, 95% CI: −1288.90 to 153.15 in the treatment group versus 2004, 95% CI: 12.82 to 3995.45 in the control group, p<0.001). There was no significant difference from baseline and 1-year data between the control and treatment groups for the difference in echocardiographic parameters, native T1, T2. There was a significant reduction in the percentage of injected dose by 99Tc-DPD scintigraphy in treated patients at 1 year compared to baseline. Conclusions These findings provide the first compelling evidence of substantial cardiac amyloid regression in ATTR amyloidosis, as well as the potential for CMR to be used to track response in treated patients with ATTR cardiac amyloidosis. Combination therapy with transthyretin knock down and stabilizing agents may well be synergistic given enhanced stoichiometry of stabilizers in the face of much reduced plasma transthyretin concentration. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None


Trials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Ye ◽  
Dawei Zhu ◽  
Siyuan Chen ◽  
Xuefeng Shi ◽  
Rui Gong ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hearing loss is quite prevalent and can be related to people’s quality of life. To our knowledge, there are limited studies assessing the efficacy of hearing interventions on quality of life in adults. Therefore, we aim to conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to determine the impact and cost-effectiveness of community-based hearing rehabilitation on quality of life among Chinese adults with hearing loss. Methods/design In this two-arm feasibility study, participants aged 16 and above with some degree of hearing loss (n = 464) will be recruited from Linyi City, Shandong Province. They are randomly assigned to the treatment group or the control group. Those in the treatment group are prescribed with hearing aids, while those in the control group receive no intervention. Reinstruction in use of devices is provided for the treatment group during booster visits held 12 months post-randomization or unscheduled interim visits when necessary. Data are collected at baseline and the follow-up 20 months later. The primary outcome is changes in quality of life over a 20-month study period. Secondary outcomes include sub-dimensions in quality of life, physical functioning, chronic diseases, cognitive function, depression, social support, hospitalizations, falls, and healthcare costs. Finally, we will evaluate whether hearing aids intervention is cost-effective to apply in a large scale. Discussion The trial is designed to evaluate the impact and cost-effectiveness of a community-based rehabilitation intervention on quality of life among Chinese adults with hearing loss. We hope that it would help improve the well-being for Chinese adults and provide references in policy and practice for China and other countries. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1900024739. Registered on 26 July 2019.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-204
Author(s):  
Nurjannah Nurjannah ◽  
Taufiq Hidayah ◽  
Muhammad Nazar

This research is entitled “Using graphic organizer strategy in teaching writing on narrative paragraph (experimental research). Writing is a very important subject that should be learned by English learners. The students should be able to express their ideas and opinion either in the form of a sentence or paragraph. However, the researcher found that many students at the Second Grade Students of SMP Negeri 1 Tanah Luas could not express their ideas and develop into the paragraph. Hence, the appropriate strategy of teaching and learning is very important to help students master writing skills. This research aims to know the effect of achievement between the students who are taught writing by using graphic organizers from those taught writing in the narrative by using traditional methods. This research was experimental research and used a quasi-experimental design. The samples chosen in this research were the whole students of class VIII2 and VIII4 of SMPN 1 Tanah Luas. Class VIII2 consisted of 25 students was chosen as experimental group and class VIII4 consisted of 24 students was chosen as control group. This research was conducted in three phrases; there were pre-test, treatments and post-test. The data collection technique used in this research was test. The tests were pre-test and post-test. The researcher gave pre-test before giving treatment and post-test after giving treatment. The treatment was conducted in three meetings. The data was analyzed by using t-test formula. The research result and the hypothesis authentication found by using t-test formula in significant level 5% or α = 0.05 were obtained that ttest > ttable. The ttest found in this research was 3.91. Meanwhile, ttable was gotten from the list of distribution value with degree of freedom = 47, because the data not in the table, the researcher used interpolation approach and obtained = 1.67. So >  = 3.91 > 1.67. It meant that Ha was accepted and Ho was rejected. So, graphic organizer strategy significantly affects the students’ ability in mastering writing.   Kata Kunci: graphic organizer strategy, teaching and learning, writing narrative paragraph


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 24-33
Author(s):  
Theresa Mangold ◽  
Erin Kinzel Hamilton ◽  
Helen Boehm Johnson ◽  
Rene Perez

Background Surgical site infection is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality following caesarean delivery. Objective To determine whether standardising intraoperative irrigation with 0.05% chlorhexidine gluconate during caesarean delivery could decrease infection rates. Methods This was a process improvement project involving 742 women, 343 of whom received low-pressured 0.05% chlorhexidine gluconate irrigation during caesarean delivery over a one-year period. Infection rates were compared with a standard-of-care control group (399 women) undergoing caesarean delivery the preceding year. Results The treatment group infection rate met the study goal by achieving a lower infection rate than the control group, though this was not statistically significant. A significant interaction effect between irrigation with 0.05% chlorhexidine gluconate and antibiotic administration time existed, such that infection occurrence in the treatment group was not dependent on antibiotic timing, as opposed to the control group infection occurrence, which was dependent on antibiotic timing. Conclusion Intraoperative irrigation with 0.05% chlorhexidine gluconate during caesarean delivery did not statistically significantly reduce the rate of infections. It did render the impact of antibiotic administration timing irrelevant in prevention of surgical site infection. This suggests a role for 0.05% chlorhexidine gluconate irrigation in mitigating infection risk whether antibiotic prophylaxis timing is suboptimal or ideal.


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