The Impact on Literacy Instruction Using a Technology Platform

Preservice teachers live in a unique world today with the blending of traditional instructional materials for literacy and a variety of high-tech learning technologies present in every 21st century classroom. In the current landscape, teachers are required to learn a variety of technology programs, to know their benefits, and to seamlessly implement them alongside the many pedagogies for maintaining a classroom. This includes teaching a variety of learning strategies and balancing blended online vs. in-person classrooms. This heavy responsibility is compounded by the problem facing many literacy educators today (i.e., how best to instruct within a technology platform and continue to motivate learners to read and to monitor their own use of literacy strategies for comprehension). This chapter outlines a study and subsequent findings of the impact of computer technology for reading strategies instruction with pre-adolescents and its impact for preservice teacher education programs.

THE ONLINE LISTENING STRATEGY INSTRUCTION AND VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE ON LISTENING SKILL OF GRADE 12 JAPANESE LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN BEKASI WEST JAVA

ABSTRACT This article presents the result of empirical research that investigates the effect of online listening strategies instruction and vocabulary knowledge on Japanese language learners' listening skill. Listening strategies instruction used are the integrative model and the Oxford model. Participants in the study were 44 Japanese language learners of grade 12 from SMAN 21 Bekasi. This research used a quantitative approach and a quasi-experimental method. The data was collected by pre-test and post-test related to the learners’ Japanese listening skills. The learners' vocabulary knowledge was also measured using a vocabulary knowledge test. The result showed that the online listening strategy instruction, integrative model could not be given to students of class XII of SMAN 21 Bekasi due to the absence of a significant effect of the method and vocabulary knowledge on listening skills of Japanese language learners of grade 12 from SMAN 21 Bekasi. The research shows the possibility of other factors such as learning independency and learner autonomy that can affect the effectiveness of online listening strategy instruction, integrative model on Japanese listening skills. Keywords: Listening Strategy Instruction; Listening Skill; Vocabulary Knowledge; Japanese language.

The Effect of Reading Strategies Instruction on EFL Learners’ Reading Performances

This study, using pretest-intervention-posttest, investigated whether instructing English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ in the use of reading strategies when they read English passages affects their English reading performances. The participants were 51 Turkish learners of English, who were at elementary level of language proficiency,based on the results of the Oxford Quick Placement Test. The whole treatment/control period lasted for 20 sessions during 10 weeks on a Reading course. The experimental group (n = 26) received instruction in reading strategies (i.e., previewing, finding the main idea, scanning, identifying examples, identifying definitions, identifying time and sequence words, reading numerical tables, making inferences, reading statistical tables, distinguishing fact from opinion) and the control group (n = 25) received instruction based on traditional teaching methods (i.e., reading, paraphrasing, translating, and answering the exercises).Data were collected via a reading proficiency test. The result of the independent samples t-test showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control one.

The Study of the Coherence of English Learning Strategies Used for Understanding Science Modules by Science Students in the EFL Reading Process

This study investigates the effectiveness of reading strategies employed by Thai EFL lower secondary students of the scientific ability program at one private and two government secondary schools in Thailand's southern province. The study integrated cognitive, metacognitive, determination, social, and memory strategies into the reading treatment. The results are expected to enhance the student’s regulation in applying the reading strategies instruction techniques. The study's participants were thirty Thai EFL students from Grade 7 in a government secondary school in southern Thailand. The data were analyzed and interpreted quantitatively and qualitatively. The training program consisted of five reading strategies, eight scientific reading modules, and a variety of enriching and engaging activities. Therefore, the thematic analysis of the interview data revealed overall satisfaction and enhanced students and teachers’ positive attitudes towards Science in English and the benefits of using reading for developing a Science curriculum.

Learning Strategies Instruction

Learning strategies comprise the application of overt and covert metacognitive, cognitive, affective/motivational, social, and behavioral/environmental/management learning tools to enhance the successfulness of surface and deep learning, as well as transfer of learning. The most effective learning strategies for the acquisition and manipulation of information combine the limited use of a behavioristic, teacher-directed transmission approach to teaching with a powerful cognitive and constructivist approach where students take control of their own learning and construct meaning of information.

Comprehending misunderstanding

© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved. Michael Swan and Catherine Walter take issue with the current emphasis in the teaching of listening and reading on higher-order skills-and-strategies training. They argue that L2 learners typically already possess the relevant skills and strategies necessary for listening and reading in L2, and, by implication, can and do deploy them. Further, they claim that research evidence provides little support for skills-and-strategies training. In this Counterpoint article, I subject these claims to closer scrutiny and find them wanting. I also argue that even if the need for 'training' is questionable, skills-and-strategies instruction nevertheless offers rich and varied language learning opportunities through the ways it directs learners to engage with text.

Comprehending misunderstanding

© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved. Michael Swan and Catherine Walter take issue with the current emphasis in the teaching of listening and reading on higher-order skills-and-strategies training. They argue that L2 learners typically already possess the relevant skills and strategies necessary for listening and reading in L2, and, by implication, can and do deploy them. Further, they claim that research evidence provides little support for skills-and-strategies training. In this Counterpoint article, I subject these claims to closer scrutiny and find them wanting. I also argue that even if the need for 'training' is questionable, skills-and-strategies instruction nevertheless offers rich and varied language learning opportunities through the ways it directs learners to engage with text.