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Students’ Perceptions of Independent Learning and Reflection in a Technical English Course
Dr. Ken LauCentre for Applied English Studies
The University of Hong [email protected]
Outline
Independent Learning
& Reflection
Course Description of ProTech & Out-of-class ComponentData Analysis 1:
Pre- and Post-Course QuestionnairesData Analysis 2:
Semi-Structured Interviews
Data Analysis 3: SAR Corpus
Conclusions
ProTech
• Professional and Technical Oral Communication for Engineers
• Compulsory for all first-year Engineering students (>400 students)
• 12 weeks, 24 contact hours
• Three presentation assessments(Diagnostic Pair, Group and Individual)
• Out-of-class learning component• Self-Access and Reflection (SAR) Record
• Diversity of students’ abilities
– Learners taking charge of their own learning;
acknowledgement of ownership (Gardner and
Miller, 1998)
• Coherent Learning Experience
– Sustainable feedback (Carless, et al., 2010)
Self-Access and Reflection Record
Two weaknesses identified by the teacher
Weakness identified by the student
Self Assessment and Reflection
Improvement shown in the next presentation
Evaluation of resources chosen and used, and the quality of reflection
Coherent Learning Experience
1st Presentation
2nd Presentation
3rd Presentation
Feedback, Self-Access
and Reflection
Feedback, Self-Access
and Reflection
Teacher’s Evaluation of Improvement
Teacher’s Evaluation of Improvement
Students’ Perceptions of Independent Learning and Reflection: Data Set
Pre-Course
Questionnaire:
221 (49.55%
)
Post-Course
Questionnaire:
157 (35.20%
)
Semi-Structure
d Interview:
9
SAR Corpus:
853,215 words
Paired Sample:95 (21.30%)
Students’ Perceptions of Independent Learning and Reflection:
Questionnaire Surveys
Self-Perceived Types of Learners
Types of LearnersPre-Course Questionnaire
Post-Course Questionnaire
Do you consider yourself an active/passive learner?
Active: 121 (54.75%)
Passive:100 (45.25%)
After taking ProTech, do you think you have become a more active/passive learner, or same as before?
More Active:120 (76.43%)
More Passive:2 (1.2%)
Same as Before:35 (22.29%)
Paired Samples: Perceived Change in Types of Learners
Active -> More Ac-
tive
Active -> More
Passive
Active -> Same As Before
Passive -> More Active
Passive -> More Passive
Passive -> Same
As Before
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
5046
(85.18%)
1 (1.85%)
7(12.95%)
27 (65.85%)
0
14(45.16%)
• Used by psychologists
• Utter one-word responses to stimulus words within split-seconds
• "Semantic Proximity" (Bahar & Hansell, 2000)
Word-Association
Independent Learning
Reflection
• Actional Terms activities or processes of accomplishing them e.g. respond, react, improve
• Physical Terms physical objects or scientific phenomena e.g. mirror, resources, video
• Mental Terms cognitive activities or appraisal of entities e.g. joyful, spontaneous, difficult
• Personal Terms references to human beings e.g. audience, myself, self
• Compound Terms Hyphenated items Often prefixed with “self-” , e.g. self-discipline, self-evaluation
Word-Association Analysis:Categorisation
• Mental terms dominant in both pre-course (34.85%) and post-course (31.58%) surveys
• Physical terms and personal terms decrease by 6.62% and 2.58% in the post-course surveys
• Actional terms increase by 9.05% (pre-course: 21.21%; post-course: 30.26%)
• Compound terms increase by 2.09%– self-access, self-learning, self-study, self-assessment,
self-awareness, self-control, self-consciousness, self-evaluation, self-driven, self-motivated, self-replying
Word-Association Analysis:Independent LearningPre-Course Questionnaire Post-Course Questionnaire
1. Active 2. Reading 1. Active 2. Reading
3. Library 4. Individual 2. Reflection 4. Improvement
5. Alone 5. Self-Study 5. Myself 6. Self-Access
5. Free 8. Difficult 6. Resources 6. Important
8. Internet 8. Self-Discipline
9. Learn 9. Internet
-- -- 9. Practice 9. Research
• Actional terms dominant in both pre-course (36.5%) and post-course (40.94%) survey responses
• Mental, physical and personal terms decrease in the post-course survey by 2.77%, 4.79% and 1.29% respectively
• Compound terms increase by 3.44%
– self-assess, self-criticism, self-correction, self-work, self-exposure, self-order
Word-Association Analysis:ReflectionPre-Course Questionnaire Post-Course Questionnaire
1. Improvement
2. Mirror 1. Improvement 2. Learning
3. Thinking 4. Response 3. Thinking 4. Review
5. Feeling 6. Refraction 5. Weakness 6. Compare
7. Comment 7. Feedback 7. Experience 7. Self-Learning
7. Light 10. Physics 9. Evaluation 9. Feedback
Usefulness for Language Enhancement: Independent Learning (N=151)
Very Useful Quite Useful Not So Useful Not Useful At All
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
After taking ProTech, do you consider independent learning useful for enhancing language skills?
28 (17.95%)
107 (68.59%)
19 (12.18%)
2 (1.28%)
Usefulness for Language Enhancement: Reflection (N=157)
Very Useful Quite Useful Not So Useful Not Useful At All
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
After taking ProTech, do you consider reflection useful for enhancing language skills?
28 (17.83%)
109 (69.43%)
19 (12.1%)
1 (0.64%)
Students’ Perceptions of Independent Learning and Reflection:
Semi-Structured Interviews
Interviewees
Identi-fier
Sex Nationality Change in perception of type of learner
Perceived usefulness of independent learning
Perceived usefulness of reflection
Wilfred M Mainland Chinese
Passive More Active
Very useful Not so useful
Don M Hong Kong Chinese
Passive More Active
Quite useful Quite useful
Wan M Mainland Chinese
Active Same As Before
Very useful Quite useful
Jeff M Hong Kong Chinese
Active Same As Before
Quite useful Quite useful
Wilfred (Mainlander)
Before taking ProTech
After taking ProTech
Learner type Passive More Active
Perception of reflection calm, alone, repetition
survey, learn, improve
Usefulness of reflection in enhancing language skills
Not so useful
Perception of independent learning
study, discuss, discover
reflection, solution, optimization
Usefulness of independent learning in enhancing
language skills
Very useful
Independent Learningstudy, discuss, discover solution, reflection, optimization
Reflectioncalm, alone, repetition survey, learn, improve
• Learning styles and approaches driven by the physical environment of teaching and learning
• “My ideas have changed a lot during the semester”
• IL as an important transferrable skill • “the most important thing is
to learn the way to learn”
• “I think we learn more by ourselves… without the independent learning, I would have learned nothing”
• Considered reflection as a solitary act, a “one-man show”
• Recognised the role of ‘others’ and picked up knowledge along the way
Wilfred (Mainlander)
Don (Hong Konger)
Before taking ProTech
After taking ProTech
Learner type Passive More Active
Perception of reflection feedback, opinion, response
opinion, react, feedback
Usefulness of reflection in enhancing language skills
Quite useful
Perception of independent learning
self-studying, problem-solving, critical-thinking
flexible, management, self
Usefulness of independent learning in enhancing
language skills
Quite useful
Don (Hong Konger)
Independent Learningself-studying, problem-solving, critical thinking flexible, management, self
Reflectionfeedback, opinion, response opinion, react, feedback
• Typical Hong Kong student; will not go beyond what was required
• Responses very confined to ProTech experiences, failing to show an understanding of the potential application of Independent learning and
reflection in other contexts
• “flexible because it’s not a rigid timetable, you may want to do the research before you do the outline, or you do the outline before you do the research first”
• “management is the most important criteria of independent learning because you are given a deadline”
• “self … you do the whole process yourself”
• “Because reflection is what you can understand yourself more, because you have done your preparation, you have 100% and you think your presentation is best, but some other people may think that you have some other areas to improve, therefore I think reflection is useful for yourself to improve”
Don (Hong Konger)
Wan (Mainlander)
Before taking ProTech
After taking ProTech
Learner type Active Same As Before
Perception of reflection important, self, every day
importance, very hard, learning
Usefulness of reflection in enhancing language skills
Quite useful
Perception of independent learning
hard, necessary, important
necessary, valuable, new
Usefulness of independent learning in enhancing
language skills
Very useful
Wan (Mainlander)
Independent Learninghard, necessary, important necessary, valuable, new
Reflectionimportant, self, everyday importance, hard, learning
• Former experiences heavily directed by teachers and ideologies
• “in 18 years, my teachers and parents they tell me what you should do,
you don’t have to think what’s right, you just go that road they told you
to go. But here, lots of choices, you have to choose, to do this…”
• Very conscious of one-country-two-systems academic practice
• “There are lots of difference between 2 systems. I have to think in this
new system but I don’t have think in that system. And the feeling is very
different because you really do something very responsible to yourself.”
Wan (Mainlander)
Independent Learninghard, necessary, important necessary, valuable, new
Reflectionimportant, self, everyday importance, hard, learning
• “I didn’t say “hard” this time because I got used to it”
• “And I always think what is the meaning of independent learning. It’s not just doing things teacher told you. It’s to remember what she taught and to combine these together and really to digest it. And I really did so I think it’s necessary.”
• “I think all these jobs (reflection) are done in Mainland by our teachers. We don’t think ourselves, she told you what you do better next time.
• “…I discovered that education system or method in HK is very different … I discovered that reflection or evaluation is very common in HK. I have participated in orientation camp. Every night we have to evaluate, so I think it’s very important for HK people”
Jeff (Hong Konger)
Before taking ProTech
After taking ProTech
Learner type Active Same As Before
Perception of reflection meaningful, improvement, recall
evaluation, improvement, weakness
Usefulness of reflection in enhancing language skills
Quite useful
Perception of independent learning
worried, lost, fruitful life-long learning, active, motivation
Usefulness of independent learning in
enhancing language skills
Quite useful
Jeff (Hong Konger)
Independent Learningworried, lost, fruitful life-long learning, active, motivation
Reflectionmeaningful, improvement, recall evaluation, improvement, weakness
• Highly motivated and a long-term planner
• Can see the usefulness of independent learning and reflection in his studies and future careers
• “In the long run, it is very useful to me because I cannot always be supervised by teachers”
• “you have to learn this from time to time, not only in the engineering field, but also in the others …You have to be motivated and to have a thirst for learning”
• “I think that this is a learning process. If you want to improve, of course you cannot just look forward, you need to look back, and do the evaluation, not only the feedback from the teacher, but also to think about the performance by yourself so that I can recognize the problem and find any way to improve. Because I should be the master of my learning, and only I know myself best”
Students’ Perceptions of Independent Learning and Reflection:
SAR Corpus
• Assisted by WordSmith 6.0
• Keywords FunctionIdentifying keywords with statistically higher
instances in the SAR corpusComparing against a reference corpus –
British Academic Written English Selecting text files of comparable genres
(narrative recount and critique)Reference Corpus – 407 texts, 862,336 words
SAR Corpus Analysis
• Try/Tried/Trying (3,075 instances)– Plan for action,
commitment to change (present and future)
– Review of action taken, often not successful (past)
• Concordancing Function– Qualitative analysis
of context of use of the lexical term identified
SAR Corpus Analysis
• Try + to-positive action/manner (1,427 instances)– improve, read, use, memorize, add
– SAR corpus• I should try to improve my pronunciation as I read transferred as
transferr-ded. (SAR056)
• There is no doubt that grammar is one of the most difficult parts in learning English. In order to improve this situation, I try to read the newspaper on the internet every day. (SAR232)
• I have checked the dictionary of the pronunciation of different words and I have rehearsed for a few times to try to be more fluent in the presentation. (SAR057)
– Ref corpus (84 instances)• I will try to concentrate on a strong CPD programme within my future.
SAR Corpus Analysis: Try
• Try my best + to-positive action/manner (86 instances)– Strong commitment to change/improve
– SAR corpus• Learning from successful speakers is a good way to
enhance myself. I will try my best to be a good speaker. (SAR624)
– No examples found from the Ref corpus
SAR Corpus Analysis: Try
• Try + to avoid + action / Try not to + negative action/manner (28 instances)
– SAR corpus• In the coming presentation, I will try to avoid unnecessary stop
and try to make use of the technique of changing talking speed. (SAR629)
• I was nervous and not used to speaking English or giving a presentation in front of people. So, I will get used to it and try not to be nervous. (SAR238)
– Ref corpus (2 instances):• I relate to these points and am often told I am over-critical of
myself; I will therefore try to avoid this and will try to focus on the positives
SAR Corpus Analysis: Try
• Tried + to-positive action/manner (918 instances)– learn, imitate, practise, read, speak, use
– SAR corpus:• Besides learning the pronunciation of IPA symbols from
the websites above, I also tried to learn the rhythm of speech by repeating what had the speaker said because I thought the speaker had performed a good delivery for me to understand the IPA lesson. (SAR302)
– Ref corpus (74 instances): • As part of a module called "second language teaching and
learning" in my postgraduate studies I tried to learn a limited amount of conversational Persian, with associated grammar and vocabulary.
SAR Corpus Analysis: Tried
• Tried my/our best (18 instances)– Self-reassurance of the efforts
– SAR corpus:• Different people have different ability in these
areas. I believe that my group mates and I have already tried our best to give a fluent and clear speech. Indeed, there are some areas that we can improve. (SAR813)
– Ref corpus (only 1 instance): • We tried our best to do accurate forecasting but
forecasting is never accurate and we had penalties
SAR Corpus Analysis: Tried
• Mixed methods (surveys, interviews and discourse analysis) to present a more complete picture of ProTech students’ perceptions of independent learning and reflection.
• ProTech was generally successful in raising the learners’ awareness of:– the value of independent learning and reflection in
skills development– the roles of the ‘significant others’ (e.g. peers) in
independent learning and reflection– independent learning and reflection as transferrable
skills
Conclusions
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Carless, D., Salter, D., Yang, M. and Lam, J. (2011). Developing sustainable feedback practices. Studies in Higher Education, 36(4), 395-407.
Gardner, D. and Miller, L. (1998). Establishing self-access: from theory to practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lau, K. (2012). Self-access and reflection in an ESP course. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 16(1), 155-160.
Luk, J. (2008). Assessing teaching practicum reflections: Distinguishing discourse features of the ‘high’ and ‘low’ grade reports. System, 36(4), 624-641.
White, J. (2008). The use of reflective writing in exploring students experiences in surgery. Journal of Surgical Education, 65(6), 518-520.
Williams, J. M. (2002). The engineering portfolio: Communication, reflection and student learning outcomes assessment. International Journal of Engineering Education, 18(2), 199-207.
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