Digital Storytelling to Enhance Adults’ Speaking Skills in Learning Foreign Languages: A Case Study

Digital storytelling, including text, images, audio, music, and video, has been researched as a means of enhancing learners’ motivation, autonomy, and engagement and as a way to improve oral and speaking skills in foreign language learning. This study examined the relation between adults’ engagement in digital storytelling (scaffolded by an interactive learning environment) and their speaking skills and motivation when learning a foreign language. The study used a pre-test, post-test control group design with two groups of 20 Russians who were beginners in learning Greek as a foreign language (n = 40). The 12-h intervention was technology-supported only for the experimental group. Even though the comparison of participants’ recorded speech pre- and post-intervention revealed a statistically significant decrease of mistakes made during speech from pre- to post-intervention for both groups, an independent samples t-test to compare the groups’ post-intervention speaking performance revealed a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group (t(38) = 4.05, p < 0.05). The analysis of results from a motivation questionnaire administered pre- and post-intervention showed a statistically significant increase in the motivation of the experimental group only. Findings provide an indication that digital storytelling, scaffolded by an interactive learning environment, supports the development of adults’ speaking skills in a foreign language and increases their motivation.

Download Full-text

Using comprehension strategies for students' self-efficacy, anxiety, and proficiency in reading English as a foreign language

Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal ◽

10.2224/sbp.6648 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 46 (3) ◽

pp. 447-458 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hung-Chang Liao ◽

Ya-Huei Wang

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Comprehension Strategies ◽

Control Group ◽

Verbal Persuasion ◽

Reading Comprehension Strategies ◽

English Reading ◽

Significant Difference ◽

And Performance ◽

Experimental Group

We examined whether or not instructing Taiwanese students in the use of comprehension strategies when they are reading English as a foreign language, reduces their English reading anxiety and increases their English reading self-efficacy and proficiency. We used a quasiexperimental design and conducted a 15-week course. The experimental group (n = 31) received instruction in reading comprehension strategies and the control group (n = 31) received instruction by traditional teaching methods. The results show that the experimental group had less anxiety when reading English and higher proficiency than the control group. In regard to self-efficacy when reading English, the experimental group also performed better than the control group in terms of self-affirmation, perseverance, verbal persuasion, and performance overall. However, there was no statistically significant difference for learning attitude between the groups.

Download Full-text

The Effect of Using Group Work Technique on Developing Attitudes of non-English Major Students towards Learning English as a Foreign Language

journal of the college of basic education ◽

10.35950/cbej.v25i103.4587 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 25 (103) ◽

pp. 1-22

Author(s):

Asst. Instr. Hayder Abdulzahra Shalash

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Group Work ◽

Basic Education ◽

Control Group ◽

Significant Difference ◽

English Major ◽

And Control ◽

Experimental Group ◽

Work Technique ◽

Learning English

The present study aims at investigating the effect of applying group work technique on developing non-English major students' attitude towards learning English as a foreign language .Two null hypotheses have been formulated; the first hypothesis states that there is no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control group in their attitude towards learning EFL after the experiment. The second one states that there is no statistically significant difference in (pre-post questionnaire) of the experimental group students' attitude towards learning EFL. To achieve the aim of the study, and verify its hypothesis, the researcher has applied eight week experiment. A sample of 62 students has been chosen and divided into experimental and control groups. It has been chosen randomly from the second year students in the Basic Education College/ Department of History/Academic year (2017-2018). The attitude questionnaire for both groups was applied before and after the experiment. After processing the results statistically, it was found that there is a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group. Having used the t-test formula, it was found that there is statistically significant development in the experimental group students' attitude towards learning EFL, which in turn indicates that the use of GWT is more effective than the traditional method. Conclusion and recommendations were drawn.

Download Full-text

The Effect of Humor-Integrated Pictures Using Quizlet on Vocabulary Learning of EFL Learners

Journal of Curriculum and Teaching ◽

10.5430/jct.v8n2p24 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 24

Author(s):

Mehdi Solhi Andarab

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Vocabulary Acquisition ◽

Vocabulary Learning ◽

Control Group ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Teacher Student ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Experimental Group ◽

Shed Light

The recent improvements in technology and their integration in language learning have played a facilitating role invocabulary acquisition. Quizlet, an online teacher-/student-friendly tool, is one of the leading applications invocabulary acquisition. Along with the effectiveness of visualization in acquiring vocabulary, humor has been alsoextensively indicated to carry a significant role in language learning. With all its facilitating features, the integrationof technology, humor, and vocabulary can be achieved via Quizlet. In this study, the visual integration of humoraccompanying vocabulary on Quizlet was taken into scrutiny to see to what extent humor-integrated pictures onQuizlet account for the retention of vocabulary acquisition. With this purpose, this study examined the effect ofhumor-integrated pictures on vocabulary acquisition of 45 intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learnerson Quizlet. In so doing, the experimental group received a series of unknown vocabulary items for which theintegrated pictures were humorous, while the vocabulary items assigned for the control group were identical, but innon-humorous contexts. At the end, an independent samples t-test applied on the scores achieved from a posttestindicated a significant difference in scores of the control group and that of the experimental group. In fact, thelearners in the experimental group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the control group. The resultsindicated that linking vocabulary items with humorous pictures is more effective than using non-humorous context inlearning vocabulary. Apparently, as the results indicate, the significant effectiveness of technology in vocabularylearning can be boosted with the help of humorous context. The findings shed light on the importance of technologyin language learning and its linking with humor in vocabulary learning.

Download Full-text

Using Audiobooks for Developing Listening Comprehension among Saudi EFL Preparatory Year Students

Journal of Language Teaching and Research ◽

10.17507/jltr.0901.08 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 64 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Manal Mohamed Khodary Mohamed

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Listening Comprehension ◽

Control Group ◽

Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽

Northern Border ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

The Mean ◽

Preparatory Year ◽

Experimental Group

The current study investigated the usefulness of using audiobooks on developing listening comprehension among Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) preparatory year students. It employed the quasi-experimental design which included two groups: an experimental group (n = 44) and a control group (n = 44). The participants were EFL preparatory year students at Arar Branch, Northern Border University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Before conducting the treatment, the experimental group and the control group were pre-tested by using the pre Listening Comprehension Test (LCT) for equivalence of listening comprehension. By the end of the treatment, the experimental group and the control group were post-tested by using the post LCT. The t-test was used to calculate the differences between the mean scores of the pre and post LCT. The results showed that a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the post LCT in favor of the experimental group. The results also revealed that a statistically significant difference was found in the mean scores of the experimental group between the pre and post LCT in favor of the post LCT. Thus, it can be concluded that the audiobooks helped the experimental group develop listening comprehension as they exceeded the control group on the post LCT and they achieved a better result on the post LCT than the pre LCT.

Download Full-text

Building Children’s Resilience through a Web-based Interactive Learning Environment: a Quasi-experiment with Primary-School Children (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.27958 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Iolie Nicolaidou ◽

Evi Stavrou ◽

Georgia Leonidou

Keyword(s):

Learning Environment ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

Interactive Learning ◽

Interactive Learning Environments ◽

Control Group ◽

Management Skills ◽

Interactive Learning Environment ◽

Obsessive Compulsive ◽

Compulsive Disorder ◽

Accessibility Issues

BACKGROUND Resilience is a person's mental ability to deal with challenging situations adaptively and is a crucial skill for managing stressful situations. Psychological resilience and finding ways to cope amidst a crisis is a highly relevant topic due to the recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which enforced quarantine, social distancing measures, and schools' closing across the globe. Parents and children are currently living with increased stress due to COVID-19. We need to respond with immediate ways to strengthen children’s resilience. Internet-based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy interventions (iCBT) for children's stress management overcome accessibility issues such as the inability to visit mental health experts due to COVID-19 movement restrictions. An interactive learning environment was created, based on the preventive program "Friends", to overcome accessibility issues associated with delivering CBT-based interventions in formal and informal education settings. OBJECTIVE The study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a web-based learning environment on resilience in: a) reducing the stress level and b) increasing emotion recognition and stress symptom management skills of 9-10 year-old children. It also aimed to evaluate the learning environment’s usability. METHODS A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test control group design was used. Twenty 4th graders of the experimental group interacted with the learning environment over six, weekly, 80-minute sessions. Twenty-one 4th graders acted as a control group. The main data sources were: a) a psychometric tool measuring children's stress levels, namely Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS-GR), b) three open-ended questions assessing emotion recognition and stress symptom management skills, and c) the System Usability Scale (SUS) to measure usability. RESULTS Results showed that in both groups, there was a small post-intervention decrease in stress levels, but it was not statistically significant, except in the case of the experimental group's obsessive-compulsive disorder. A paired samples t-test showed that students’ obsessive-compulsive disorder was reduced from M=1.06 (SD=0.68) to M=0.76 (SD=0.61) and this decrease was statistically significant (t(19) = 5.16, P = .010). The experimental group had a statistically significant increase in emotion recognition (t(19)=-6.99, P<.001), identification of somatic symptoms of stress (t(19)=-7.31, P<.001) and identification of stress management techniques (t(19)=-6.85, P<.001). The learning environment received a satisfactory usability score. The raw average SUS score was 76.75 (SD=8.28), which is in the 80% percentile rank, and would result in a grade of B. CONCLUSIONS The study showed that interactive learning environments might deliver resilience interventions in an accessible and cost-effective way in formal education, potentially even in distance learning conditions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Interactive learning environments on resilience are also valuable tools for parents who can use them with their children at home, for informal learning, using mobile devices. As such, they could be a promising first-step, low-intensity intervention that children and youth can easily access.

Download Full-text

Effect of an intervention on teachers’ and teaching assistants’ attitudes and academic expectations concerning the educational inclusion of students with Down’s Syndrome

Revista CEFAC ◽

10.1590/1982-0216/20212368421 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 23 (6) ◽

Author(s):

Valentina Mora-Castelletto ◽

María Magdalena Muñoz-Montes ◽

Francisca Pozo-Tapia ◽

Eduardo Fuentes-López ◽

Giorvan Ânderson dos Santos Alves ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Inclusive Education ◽

Teaching Assistants ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Down's Syndrome ◽

Down’S Syndrome ◽

Control Group ◽

Academic Expectations ◽

Post Intervention ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Experimental Group

ABSTRACT Purpose: to assess the effect of an intervention on educational teams’ attitudes and academic expectations concerning the inclusion of students with Down’s Syndrome (DS), in Chile. Methods: a quasi-experimental single-group study was carried out, with an interdisciplinary pilot intervention held comprising three workshops on inclusive education for teachers and teaching assistants. The Attitudes Towards and Academic Expectations For Down’s Syndrome Students questionnaire (CAEASD in Spanish) was used to assess these variables pre- and post-intervention. Results: 48 subjects participated in this study, with 37 in the experimental group and 11 in the control group. No significant differences were observed in the overall CAEASD score, neither before nor after the intervention (p=0.388). However, in the actions part of the attitude component, there was a significant difference in the experimental group (p<0.05), in which, the proportion of positive changes in the overall CAEASD score was also greater than that in the control group. Conclusion: mentoring had a positive impact on educational teams’ attitudes towards students with DS, helping to develop an inclusive educational community.

Download Full-text

Utilizing WhatsApp Messenger to Enhance Listening Skills of Civil Engineering Degree Students in Mandarin Courses at UiTM Penang Branch

International Journal of Modern Languages And Applied Linguistics ◽

10.24191/ijmal.v5i1.11314 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 51-60

Author(s):

Foo Terng Hoe ◽

◽

Teck Heng Lim ◽

Boon Yih Mah ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Test Scores ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Control Group ◽

Listening Skills ◽

Instructional Tool ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Experimental Group

Listening skills are important skills that need to be mastered by foreign language learners. Listening skills have, however, often been neglected in the teaching and learning process. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of using WhatsApp messenger as an instructional tool in enhancing listening skills. This experimental research employs the two-group pre-test post-test design. Two groups of 30 students who enrolled in the Introductory Mandarin course in one of the public universities in Malaysia took part in the study. During the study, the experimental group of 30 students underwent listening drills and exercises using WhatsApp messenger as the treatment, while another 30 students in the control group were taught by another lecturer using the conventional method of teaching listening skills. Listening test scores of before and after the treatment were compared and analyzed using Independent Samples t-Test to identify the significant level of the difference between the scores of these two groups. The findings show no significant difference in the listening pre-test scores between both control and experimental groups. However, after the treatment, the listening scores of the experimental group students are significantly better than that of the control group students. These results indicate that WhatsApp messenger is a useful instructional tool to teach listening skills in foreign language. The findings of this study could be used as a reference for further development of WhatsApp messenger as an instructional tool to enhance listening skills, overcome the constraints on teaching time, and improve the pedagogy as well as the instructions of foreign language learning.

Download Full-text

Enhancing Students Speaking Skills Through Project-Based Learning

Jurnal Lingua Idea ◽

10.20884/1.jli.2020.11.2.2931 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 113

Author(s):

Sintya Mutiara We

Keyword(s):

Private University ◽

Project Based Learning ◽

Control Group ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Speak Up ◽

Motivation And Confidence ◽

Experimental Group ◽

Speaking Skills

The mastery of English speaking skill is one problem for Indonesian learners so that it needs one particular treatment to overcome it. This study was aimed to investigate if Project-Based Learning (PjBL) was effective to improve speaking skills of the second year of non-English students in one private university in Semarang and how PjBL was able to influence their attitude to speaking. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Quasi-experimental research design was applied to 53 students. To collect data, instruments employed were speaking tests, observations, and interviews. The results showed that the experimental group had a better score compared to the control group. The previous mean score was 8.74, and the post mean score was 11.33. The range score of the experimental group and the control group was 3.70. Furthermore, Independent Sample T-test showed sig. value (2-tailed) of 0.00, which was lower than 0.05, indicating that there was statistically significant difference between the two groups. The results of the interviews also showed that the students gave positive attitudes towards the implementation of PjBL. Before the treatment the students had low motivation and confidence in speaking. After the 8 week-treatment, the finding showed that they felt enthusiastic and challenged during all the speaking projects. This method was successful to develop the students’ motivation and confidence to speak up in English.

Download Full-text

The Effects of Google Word Coach Game and Vocabulary Mastery on Students’ Speaking Skill

Ethical Lingua Journal of Language Teaching and Literature ◽

10.30605/25409190.146 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 92-100

Author(s):

Suryadi Suryadi ◽

Winda Widyaningrum ◽

Fajar Erlangga

Keyword(s):

Learning Outcome ◽

Outcome Data ◽

Control Group ◽

Control Group Design ◽

Group Design ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Speaking Skill ◽

Experimental Group ◽

Speaking Skills

The research aims to examine the effects of google word coach game and vocabulary mastery on students' speaking skills. This quasi-experimental study uses a 2x2 nonequivalent control group design with a factorial design carried out in four parallel classes, namely class XI IPS 1, XI IPS 2, XI IPS 3 and XI IPS 4 MA Negeri 1 Serang. Learning outcome data are obtained through pretest and posttest activities. The samples are 80 students randomly taken by adjusting to the condition and aim of the research. The results show a significant difference between the posttest of the experimental group and that of the control group. FO value is 5.225 and Sig. is 0.025 < 0.05. Thus, it shows that the null hypothesis is rejected, and the research hypothesis is accepted. It also means that there is a difference between the interaction effect of Google Word Coach game and that of vocabulary mastery on students’ speaking skills.

Download Full-text

427 - Psychoeducation Program for the Prevention of Older Adults´ Infantilization in Professionals working in Nursing Homes

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610221001861 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 33 (S1) ◽

pp. 48-48

Author(s):

C. Noriega ◽

G. Pérez-Rojo ◽

J. López ◽

C. Velasco ◽

M.I. Carretero ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Nursing Homes ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Intervention Program ◽

Direct Care ◽

Control Group ◽

Post Intervention ◽

Negative Stereotypes ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Experimental Group

IntroductionKayser-Jones (1981) described infantilization as one of the four most frequent types of violence in nursing homes. Older people perceive infantilization as disrespectful and patronizing. In professionals, it can lead to protective behaviors that reduce autonomy and generate more dependency. Despite the importance of this phenomenon, the interventions are scarce and show methodological limitations.ObjectiveThis study analyzed the efficacy of a psychoeducation program for the prevention of infantilization in professionals working in nursing homes. The sample included 154 direct-care workers. The experimental group (N=111) attended a psychoeducational group intervention program while the control group (N=43) did not attend any intervention program. We assessed the infantilized practices the professionals recognized they conducted and the ones observed in the institution before and after the intervention. The intervention lasted 6 hours and included four sessions distributed in two days. These sessions aimed to reduce negative stereotypes, preventing infantilized communication patterns and the use of behaviors or practices that are frequently used with children. We also offered professionals alternative practices that recognize autonomy, decision-making and respect older adults´ dignity and uniqueness. To analyze data, we conducted Repeated measures of ANOVA and one-way ANCOVAs.Results:The scores of infantilization in the experimental group significantly decreased from pre-intervention to post-intervention in the professional, F(1, 85) = 37.184, p = .01, partial η2 = .030, and in the institution, F(1, 84) = 32.128, p = .01, partial η2 = .277, while the control group did not show any changes. There was a statistically significant difference in post-intervention between the experimental and the control group when participants scored their infantilization practices, F(1, 115) = 5.175, p = .03, partial η2 = .043, and infantilization practices observed in the institution, F(1, 115) = 5.810, p = .018, partial η2 = .048.Conclusion:These results reflect the importance of developing interventions focused on preventing infantilization, methodologically rigorous, in which professionals´ training and education are considered key pieces to generate a culture of change. More research is needed to understand this problem in greater depth to develop programs that address this problem at different levels.Funding:This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant no. PSI2016-79803-R).

Download Full-text