JALT CALL Journal - Vol 10.3, (2014) by The Japan Association for Language Teaching

2014 December Volume Number 157

Kazunori Nozawa

In Memory of Professor Kenji Kitao

Regular Paper

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Wu & Kawamura

Mind and material: The interplay between computer-related and second language factors in online communication dialogues

Forum Papers

175

Aysel Şahin-Kızıl

Blended instruction for EFL learners: Engagement, learning and course satisfaction

189

Li-Tang Yu

A case study of using Facebook in an EFL English writing class: The perspective of a writing teacher

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Robert Swier

Tasks for easily modifiable virtual environments

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Sean Toland, Jeremy White, Daniel Mills & Doris U. Bolliger

EFL instructors’ perceptions of usefulness and ease of use of the LMS Manaba

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John C. Herbert

The effects of syntactically parsed text formats on intensive reading in EFL

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Edo Forsythe

Online intercultural collaborations using wikis: An analysis of students’ comments and factors affecting project success

Forum Papers

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Neil Cowie & Keiko Sakui

Take your pick: Out-of-class, blended language and Web 2.0 projects, and online

C@lling Japan

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Regular Papers

Special Post-Conference Articles

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The Journal of the JALT CALL SIG

Officer reports

ISSN 1832-4215

the

jaltcalljournal

Editorial board Editor-in-Chief

Glenn Stockwell

Waseda University, japan

Associate Editors

Antonie Alm Joseph Hopkins Lara Lomicka

University of Otago, new zealand Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, spain University of South Carolina, united states

Review Board

Ali AbuSeileek Paul Allum Yousif Alshumaimeri Christine Appel Alex Boulton John Brine Jessamine Cooke-Plagwitz Joseph Dias Pauline Ernest Nicolas Gromik Regine Hampel Tammy Jandrey Hertel E. Marcia Johnson Christine Leahy Tuija Lehtonen Gi-Zen Liu Gillian Lord Jo Mynard Mark Peterson Hayo Reinders Lesley Shield Joseph Tomei Jane Vinther Yuping Wang Yasuhisa Watanabe Makoto Yoshii

Al al-Bayt University, jordan Rikkyo University, japan King Saud University, saudi arabia Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, spain Université de Lorraine, france University of Aizu, japan Northern Illinois University, united states Aoyama Gakuin University, japan Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, spain University of New England, australia The Open University, united kingdom Lynchburg College, united states The University of Waikato, new zealand

Publications Officer

Edo Forsythe

Hirosaki Gakuin University,

Production

Paul Mason

Aichi Gakuin University, japan

Proofreading

Matthew Apple, Andrew Blyth, Gregory Friedman, Tom Gorham, Douglas Jarrell, Andrea Little, Robert Lowe, Laura MacGregor, Kevin Miller, David Ockert, Andrew Philpott, & Matthew Rooks

Nottingham Trent University, united kingdom University of Jyväskylä, finland National Cheng Kung University, taiwan University of Florida, united states Kanda University of International Studies, japan Kyoto University, japan University of Groningen, the netherlands The Open University, united kingdom Kumamoto Gakuen University, japan University of Southern Denmark, denmark Griffith University, australia Queensland University of Technology, australia Prefectural University of Kumamoto, japan

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Instructions for contributors The jalt call Journal (issn 1832-4215) is published by the jalt call sig and encompasses and builds upon the sig newsletter, C@lling Japan. It is committed to excellence in research in all areas within the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning, while at the same time offering teaching ideas and suggestions from teachers’ personal experiences. The jalt call Journal will be published three times a year: in April, August, and December.

Contents The journal includes the following sections: ȻȻ ȻȻ ȻȻ ȻȻ

Regular Papers (refereed papers) Forums (including new ideas and teaching hints) Software Reviews C@lling Japan (including news and announcements, sig officer reports, etc).

Preparation of Manuscripts considered for publication will be double blind reviewed manuscripts for their presentation and analysis of new empirical data using appropriate research methods, development of theories relevant to language learning and teaching, development or refinement of language learning pedagogies, and discussion papers relevant to teachers and learners of languages at all levels. All manuscripts must be in apa format throughout (including all citations and references), and include a complete reference list and a 20–30 word biodata for each author. Titles must be clear and specific, and the preferred academic or professional affiliation must also be included with the names of each author. All manuscripts of empirical research must include an abstract of around 100 words in length. Manuscripts should be forwarded to the editor by email attachment in Rich Text Format (rtf), Microsoft Word format (doc or docx), or OpenOffice Writer format (odt). Graphics should be supplied separately to the text, in grayscale or black and white, at a resolution of at least 200dpi. The data used to compile charts and graphs should also be sent, if possible.

Acceptance Please note that there are no requirements of membership to jalt or its call sig for consideration for publication in The jalt call Journal. Any article or review must receive positive recommendation from at least two members of the review board before being accepted for publication. All submissions and correspondence must be directed to journal@jaltcall.org.

Online <www.jaltcall.org/journal/> Copyright All articles in The jalt call Journal are ©2005–2014 by the jalt call sig and the respective authors of the individual articles. For more information on republication and distribution, please contact the editors.

In memory of Professor Kenji Kitao With the passing of Professor Dr. Kenji Kitao on August 20, 2014, the Faculty of Culture and Information Science and Doshisha University lost a major figure. He passed away after a heart attack while attending Eurocall 2014 at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Professor Kitao received his ma and PhD degrees in tesl from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, ks, usa, after he graduated with ba in English Literature from the Faculty of Letters at Doshisha University. When Professor Kitao was at ku, I personally met him and enjoyed attending various events together for international students. He was then elected the president of the Japanese Student Association at ku. The following 1978 photo shows a meeting of the association led by Professor Kitao.

Kazunori Nozawa Ritsumeikan University

This photo was taken in Kansas, usa, in 1977. Even after returning to Japan, our friendship, activities and collaborative projects through academic associations such as jalt increased. We published a few books compiled by Professor Kitao. Typical examples are efl in Japan – 10th Anniversary Collected Papers (jalt, 1985), Trends and Practice of cai (Eichosha, 1993), and Expanding Your Knowledge World: Learn How to Learn at a College (Hitsuji Shobo, 2005). It’s amazing to know that Professor Kitao had more than 720 publications and traveled to 65 foreign countries with his beloved wife, Dr. Kathi E. Kitao of Doshisha Women’s University. He has been quite active in attending both international and national conferences so that

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he has made great academic contributions in the fields of applied linguistics/tesol/Intercultural Communication/Educational Technology. I will never forget him, whether his broad-minded personality as a friend, or his professional behavior as an active researcher.

This photo was taken at Taipei Airport on the way to Australia.

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Mind and material: The interplay between computerrelated and second language factors in online communication dialogues Pin-hsiang Natalie Wu Department of Applied Foreign Languages, Chienkuo Technology University, Taiwan natalie@ctu.edu.tw

Michelle Kawamura College of Economics, Ritsumeikan University, Japan michelle@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp

With a growing demand for learning English and a trend of utilizing computers in education, methods that can achieve the effectiveness of computer-mediated communication (cmc) to support language learning in higher education have been examined. However, second language factors manipulate both the process and production of cmc and, therefore, attention is required when discussing factors influencing cmc in a second language setting. This paper discusses text-based cmc in an English-as-aforeign-language (efl) context and examines correlations between items included in cmc measures via a second language. Results show that cmc measures and second language proficiency are statistically correlated at a significant level. Some key points raised here are (1) a computer user’s second language writing proficiency influences the computer communicative skills that he or she applies to the online dialogues; (2) a computer user’s second language proficiency is related to his or her self-perception of the achievement on online dialogues; and (3) an efl computer user’s motivation for cmc is connected to his or her second language writing ability. Keywords: Computer-mediated Communication; Second Language Learning; efl; cmc Motivation; cmc Skills; cmc Competence

Introduction

Regular Paper

Integrating computer technologies into language learning is considered to reflect the changing educational landscape because it not only meets the needs of the rapidly developing world, but also satisfies the preferences of young learners who are used to 159

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a technology-mediated lifestyle (Hockly, 2013; Garrett, 2009; Levy, 2009). In the Computerassisted Language Learning (call) field, computer-mediated communication (cmc) has been greatly practiced in cross-cultural collaborative learning projects (Kozma, 2003; Kreijns, Kirschner, Jochems, & Buuren, 2007; Kawamura, Wu, & Jung, 2010) for its convenience to communicate across time zones and space. There is an increasing rate of incorporating cmc in cross-cultural projects in higher education settings (Merryfield, 2003; Tolmie & Boyle, 2000; Zeiss & Isabelli-García, 2005) due to the expanding concept of globalization and the gradual formation of multi-regional enterprises (Fitzpatrick & O’Dowd, 2012). Making use of cmc can greatly increase the chances for language learners to communicate cross-culturally and, thus, cultivate intercultural competence (Lee, 2006) interculturality (Jon 2009), and multicultural sensitivity (Oudenhoven & Zee, 2002), which are generally believed to be necessary for coping successfully with cross-cultural issues in the globalized environment (Chen, 2013; Whisted & Wright, 2013). In addition, the advancement of technologies has always helped expand learning pathways, provided communication channels, and created more conversation in visual and actual situations and, therefore, is generally appreciated by scholars (Wu & Marek, 2013). The incorporation of asynchronous and synchronous cmcs has been examined to achieve a deeper understanding in terms of its function in the language learning process (Lapadat, 2002; Zeiss & Isabelli-García, 2005; Wu & Chuang, 2013). cmc is human communication via computers, which involves people who are situated in particular contexts shaped by media for a variety of purposes. Online interactions usually encompass complicated factors, such as the media that it utilizes, skills, personal traits, and social aspects, e.g., group and cultural issues (Spitzberg, 2006; Tolmie & Boyle, 2000). In a cmc-based language learning activity, language is the learning goal, and language learning is the most important factor in it its attainment. This demands particularly close attention when the language of discourse alters (Howard, 2012; Lapadat, 2002; Murphy & Collins, 1997) from the first (l1) to the second language (l2). There is a significant difference between the use of l1 and l2 for discourse, identified by MacIntyre and his colleagues (MacIntyre & Baker, 2001; MacIntyre, Baker, Richard, & Donovan, 2003) because the use of l2 usually introduces complicated factors influencing the conversational setting (MacIntyre & Baker, 2001). Nevertheless, language achievement has to be presented via computer media in cmc-based activities, and an interwoven combination of l2 and computer factors influencing the online communication environment can help obtain a fuller picture of l2 online learning achievement (Chapelle, 2009; Wu & Chuang, 2013; Wu, 2014). This study examines how computer-mediated communication factors are being manipulated in an online setting when the language of discourse is l2. The experience with cmc is limited to the use of text-based online communication in this study since text-based cmc serves as a major method for communication in many studies that support language and cross-cultural learning activities (Kawamura, Wu & Jung, 2010; Kim, 2000; Tolmie & Boyle, 2000; O’Dowd, 2003; Merryfield, 2003; Zeiss & Isabelli-García, 2005). The focus of the paper is on the skills and achievement applied to / presented via online communication using l2. Therefore, other factors, such as group issues, tasks, contexts and the media, will not be included in this study. One hundred eighty-six Asian efl learners participated in this study and offered their views on using l2 for computer communication. The significance of this study lies in its expansion of current theoretical text-based cmc discussions in the l2 dimension and offers insights into the relationship between efl learners’ performance and the many cmc factors being discussed. The research questions are as follows:

Wu & Kawamura: Computer-related and second language factors in online communication 1. What is the language nature of l2-oriented computer dialogue? In which ways will an efl learner’s l2 proficiency influence his or her computer-mediated communication performance? 2. How do efl learners evaluate their cmc skills? How do efl learners perceive their cmc competence via l2 efficiency? 3. How do efl learners relate their cmc motivation to l2 setting ability? How does efl learners’ writing efficiency influence their motivation in online dialogues?

Literature review The language nature of computer-mediated communication Computer-mediated communication of different forms facilitates and supports l2 learning (González-Lloret, 2011) and is becoming increasingly prevalent. cmc for pedagogical use demands attention, but teachers must ensure its successful implementation as a teaching tool (Tolmie & Boyle, 2000). It is clear that cmc users can be very engaged and even immersed in their online discussions; however, it is highly possible that motivation on cmc, being influenced by the users’ language proficiency, manipulates the ongoing process of a successful cmc project that supports language learning (Wu, 2014). Even though the main function of computer interaction has been widely recognized for its efficiency for interpersonal communication, the language of cmc is in an informal written form (Howard, 2012) in its special communication practice aiming for interactive and reciprocal word exchange (Spitzberg, 2006). Even though research on the language of cmc has been examined according to its features, functions, contexts, processes, speed, etc., the “writing” process has been considered especially important in cmc (Lapadat, 2002). Whether synchronous or asynchronous, computer-mediated communications are presented in words. This means that the computer users have to make a meaningful exchange from the written texts in order to create interactions (Levy, 2009). The writing itself contains social meanings in the meaning-making process, but may also involve more complicated influences when the language of discourse changes from l1 to l2. This is considered to be a major transition (MacIntyre & Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1998) because language proficiency introduces issues that do not exist in the l1 setting. Language proficiency will influence the motivation to speak, and will affect both expression quality and meaning-making. Intergroup issues that contain cultural or political elements may also occur (MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1998). The writing task in cmc is more important when l2 is used as the language of online discourse (Murphy & Collins, 1997; Wu & Chuang, 2013). Language proficiency is revealed through written text charged with different functions in synchronous and asynchronous cmc. For synchronous cmc, more concise and speedy language forms the basis of the conversation. For asynchronous cmc, more detailed and expressive writing pieces are likely to be produced (Lapadat, 2002). When the language of discourse is l2 rather than l1, both cmc and a person’s willingness to communicate are contributing to a much more complex situation because of the involvement of language factors. Language proficiency functions differently in the use of l1 and l2, and influences motivation to converse and even generate intergroup issues in social or political contexts (MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1998).

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Factors manipulating computer-mediated communication

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Computer-mediated communications contain various dimensions, such as: 1) personal traits, that are decisive for the act of communicating experience and knowledge of how to communicate; 2) skills that can increase success or the sense of achievement in communication; and 3) media available from which to choose, context, and communicative-related factors (Spitzberg, 2006; Wrench & Punyanunt-Carter, 2007; Tolmie & Boyle, 2000; Kim, 2000). There are multiple factors influencing cmc. For example, Tolmie and Boyle (2000) proposed that the size of the group, knowledge of other participants, prior experience, understanding of the task, and ownership of the task will determine the success of a successful cmc-based project. On the other hand, Wrench and Punyanunt-Carter (2007) stressed the importance of cmc presence, communication apprehension, and media factors. Howard (2012) asserted that the success of cmc depends upon skills and communicative competence. Some research focuses on building up cmc skills for good communication outcomes (Spitzberg, 2006; Savenye & Robinson, 2001), and the importance of sociability in cmc environments (Kreijns, Kirschner, Jochems, & Buuren, 2007; Castellá, Abad, Alonso, & Silla, 2000). Some research proposes different perspectives, for instance: Howard (2012) contended that computer media is mostly functional, and is only a medium that presents texts; Balance (2012) and Hockly (2013) stated that technological revolutions present a challenge to the media factor; whereas, Spitzberg (2006) asserted that media is an influencing factor regarding cmc’s interactivity, adaptability, public-private dimensions, and efficiency. However, optimal use of the medium itself does not guarantee the achievement of meaningful social interactions if the communicators do not understand the socio-cultural meanings embedded in those exchanged texts (Chapelle, 2009). In other words, making meanings in cmc usually depends upon a combination of computer media and situational environments; thus, discussions of cmc skills cannot be based purely on the skill itself, but must be examined in light of their contextual settings (Howard, 2012). Howard’s (2012) contention that cmc users should be divided into native English speakers and non-native English speakers indicates the importance of language ability when using cmc. With different levels of language ability, the production process and achievement of online communication language will be different. Wu and Chuang (2013) conducted a study in which college efl students in Taiwan and Japan participated in an asynchronous cmc-based learning project. The researchers argued that cmc motivation is related to l2 efficiency, and argued the construct of “expressiveness” as being one element of cmc skill that is proven to be statistically significant for efl users’ cmc motivation. This result shows that l2 competence is influential on online expression. In another study, willingness to communicate in l2 written language and the desire to learn English have both been found to be statistically significant for the motivation of using cmc in an efl context (Wu, 2014). Among the factors influencing communication over computers, cmc skills and cmc competence, the final performance on cmc is thought to be closely related to efl users’ language proficiency (Howard, 2012; Wu & Chuang, 2013; Wu, 2014). This research adopts a portion of Spitzberg’s theoretical framework of the Computer-Mediated Communication Competence (cmcc) model (2006). Spitzberg proposed that a computer user’s cmc skills displays his or her computer proficiency, ability to use the computer media, and other skills related to communication management that can predict the outcome of a cmc activity.

Wu & Kawamura: Computer-related and second language factors in online communication Spitzberg further asserted that cmc skills are manifested in the areas of attentiveness, composure, coordination, and expressiveness. The final achievement of cmc is termed “cmc competence” by Spitzberg (2006). Factors displaying competence via computers can be used as standards for evaluations of items for self-efficacy. Spitzberg stated that a user’s cmc competence manifests itself in the following areas: appropriateness, clarity, productivity, satisfaction, attractiveness, and efficiency.

Methodology Measures This study suggests that a combination of l2 factors in computer-mediated communication measurement and a focus on l2 writing proficiency offer increased relevance, particularly in the evaluation of efl learners’ cmc achievement. Moreover, in an l2 communication context, l2 motivation, other than cmc motivation, is believed to manipulate online performance. The purpose of the survey is to understand if and how efl learners’ l2 writing proficiency affects their perception of cmc performance. The survey includes three parts that each examine a single dimension. A questionnaire selected from Spitzberg’s survey on the cmcc Model (2006) and MacIntyre and Baker’s (2001) survey on l2 wtc (MacIntyre, Baker, Clément, & Donovan, 2003) were combined and revised to suit the purpose of the survey of the study. Part A examines four factors (attentiveness, composure, coordination, and expressiveness) that reveal cmc skill. This measure is called “cmc skills” and includes 13 items. The four factors and meanings covered are as follows: Attentiveness can be displayed in a variety of ways: the main content of a message, appropriateness of questions, interpersonal support, and thoughtfulness of the message. Composure can be demonstrated by avoiding cues of uncertainty, such as so-called “filler” words, and the proportion of subjective content in the message. Coordination is displayed by time management, question management, and remaining on task. Expressiveness can be demonstrated using emoticons, emotional variety of message content, the use of humor, and the level of personal openness. Part B examines five factors: appropriateness, clarity, productivity, satisfaction, attractiveness, and efficiency that show cmc competence. This measure is called “cmc competence” and includes another 13 items. The six factors and meanings covered are as follows: Appropriateness refers to what the computer user perceives as being appropriate for a message in the context of cmc. Clarity means the degree to which both the sender and receiver can be mutually understood. Productivity refers to the volume of useful correspondence. Satisfaction means the positive emotion or experience associated with cmc. Attractiveness refers to how appealing the message content is perceived to be by the receiver. Efficiency means the degree of economy with which preferred outcomes are achieved.

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Part C is borrowed from MacIntyre and Baker’s (2001) study on willingness to communicate via l2 in order to examine participants’ cmc motivation using l2. In order to understand motivation for online communication utilizing English, items included in Spitzberg’s cmc motivation and MacIntyre and Baker’s l2 wtc targeted for writing (2001) were combined and revised for the third part of the survey, entitled “l2 cmc motivation.” There are 8 items in this category. Items of all measures with meanings were explained to participants in their native language prior the survey. Data were analyzed using spss software to obtain correlations and mean scores.

Participants The study recruited 186 participants (n = 186; 81 in the Taiwanese group and 105 in the Japanese group) for the survey investigating the attitudinal tendencies of Asian participants towards computer experience in l2 online interactions via writing in a discussion forum. Seventy-two Taiwanese university students, 9 Korean students studying in Taiwan, 98 Japanese college students, and 3 Chinese and 6 Korean students studying in Japan took part in the survey in spring 2013. Participants are in various majors in either their second or third years at a technical university in central Taiwan. The Japanese participants were freshmen and sophomores in various majors. The toeic scores of the Japanese participants ranged from 350 to 550. Taiwanese participants held language proficiency certificates ranging from A2 or B1 levels of local English proficiency tests and international language tests, with scores equal to toeic 350 to 550 and above.

Results and analysis The results and analysis of the study are examined from three aspects: (a) correlations among three measures; (b) mean scores of the three measures, and the highest and lowest ranked items; and (c) individual factors and their relationship to l2 cmc motivation.

Correlations among the three variables

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The reliability coefficient of all measures is .88 (Cronbach’s alpha=.88). The high reliability for the mixed items in the survey shows that l2 factors are closely related to cmc measures in an efl context, and that it is appropriate to evaluate both cmc and language factors in a survey. Other results show that correlations among cmc skill, cmc competence, and willingness to communication via English are significantly correlated. cmc skill (A) measure is correlated to cmc competence (B) at a significant level (p = .000), with a high-level correlation(r = .703); cmc skill (A) measure is correlated to cmc motivation in written l2 (C) at a significant level (p = .000), with a low-level correlation (r = .338); and cmc competence measure (B) is correlated to cmc motivation in written l2 (C) at a significant level (p = 000), with a low to intermediate level correlation (r = .415). Correlations among the three factors utilized in the current survey reached a significant level. It is important to note that willingness to write in l2 has a lower correlation with both cmc skill and cmc competence in statistical analysis. The lower correlation between

Wu & Kawamura: Computer-related and second language factors in online communication Table 1: Correlations among three measures Part A (Skill) Part B (Competence) Part C (L2 Motivation)

Person correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Person correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Person correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

Part A

Part B

Part C

.703** .000 186 1

.338** .000 186 .415** .000 186 1

186 .703** .000 186 .338** .000 186

186 .415** .000 186

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Note. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 2: Item and mean (SD) of individual factors in CMC skill measure M

Factor

.32

0.93 Coordination

3.28

0.96 Attentiveness

3.36

1.09 Expressiveness

3.08

0.98 Composure

Item I know when and how to close down a topic of conversation in CMC dialogues. I am skilled at timing when I send my responses to people who talk to me online. I always propose questions to other people in my CMC I show concern for and interest in the person that I am conversing with in CMC. I can show compassion and empathy through the way that I write my CMC. I take time to make sure my response to others was sent to the particular receiver that I was sending it to. I am very articulate and expressive in my CMC messages. I use a lot of the expressive symbols (e.g., J for â&#x20AC;&#x153;smileâ&#x20AC;?) in my CMC messages. I try to use a lot of humor when writing CMC messages. I have no trouble expressing my opinions forcefully on CMC. I make sure that my purposes are emphasized in my CMC messages. (composure) My CMC are written in a confident style. (composure) I am skillful at revealing composure in my CMC interactions. (composure)

cmc skill, cmc competence, and cmc motivation might be the result of the more flexible linguistic features and socially-oriented, conversational style in most cmc.

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Mean scores of three variables The results of the mean scores provide necessary information for a more complete view of the analysis. The overall mean is 3.25 (M =3.25, sd = 0.11), which demonstrates that most participants have a favorable attitude toward online communication via English. For individual measures, cmc skill is 3.24 (M = 3.24, sd = 0.99); cmc competence is 3.36 (M = 3.36, sd = 0.96); and l2 cmc motivation is 3.06 (M = 3.06; sd = 1.07). Among the means of the three measures, l2 cmc motivation is clearly the lowest. This result shows the manipulation of l2 proficiency in a computer user’s motivation for online communication. A clearer picture describing the situation will be discussed along with mean scores of particular items. Table 2 presents mean scores and standard deviations (sd) of individual factors in cmc skill. In Table 2, the factor “Expressiveness” has gained a higher mean score; whereas, “Composure,” the ability to express with certainty in the content, received a comparative lower mean score. The highest and lowest items for mean scores for the different variables are shown in the following tables. Table 3: Highest and lowest yield items for CMC skill in different learning groups Cultural Group Japan

Taiwan

Overall

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Highest

Lowest

CMC skill

I am skilled at timing when I send responses to people who talk to me online. (m = 3.65) I use a lot of emoticons in my CMC messages. (m = 3.68)

My CMC is written in a confident style. (m = 3.02)

Highest – coordination Lowest – composure

I have no trouble expressing my opinions in CMC.(Item had been reversed) (m = 2.81) My CMC is written in a confident style. (m = 2.99)

Highest – expressiveness Lowest – composure

I use a lot of emoticons in my CMC messages. (m = 3.63)

Highest – expressiveness Lowest – composure

Japanese participants thought that they performed best in coordination regarding replying at the correct times. In fact, most of them exhibit a lack confidence in their writing ability, which is related to another cmc skill, i.e., composure. Taiwanese participants, on the other hand, believe that they are skillful in using emoticons to help express themselves. Like their Japanese counterparts, Taiwanese participants are uneasy about their ability to clearly express themselves in English. The highest yield mean score item is “I use a lot of emoticons in my cmc messages.” This item had an average score of 3.63. The lowest mean score in this category is “My cmc is written in a confident style” (m = 2.99) followed by the second-lowest, “I am skillful at revealing composure in my cmc interaction” (m = 3.08). The highest and the lowest scored items reveal the challenges that participants face when writing online utilizing l2. A lack of confidence or a fear of writing may very possibly result in using a large number of emoticons, since these can be employed to replace text in a message.

Wu & Kawamura: Computer-related and second language factors in online communication Emoticons are widely used in the Asian context to help compensate for incomplete meaning of one’s cmc; whereas, a sense of incompleteness in cmc in an efl context is related to one’s language proficiency regarding linguistic expression, rather than simply as symbols used to enrich the communication context. This strategy can help to hide embarrassment related to the poor written-language skills of a user. From the results, we learned that many participants feel quite lost when texting messages in English. Fear of making mistakes and/ or incompetence in written expression may cause uneasiness or anxiety, preventing the writer from exhibiting composure in cmc writing. This provides insight into the process in which writing tasks appear to be challenging to low- to intermediate-level efl learners. Learners at this level or lower generally experience difficulties in the writing process. Another item that received a lower mean score helps to explain the above situation. According to Spitzberg’s (2006) definition, composure is displayed when a computer user writes with ease and confidence. In this efl context, composure might be related to one’s language proficiency and writing skill. Compared with native English speakers, language proficiency is more crucial for most efl learners than one’s writing skill because efl learners frequently struggle to find appropriate words and correct sentences to express themselves before they are aware of employing any writing skill for their cmcs. In addition, some cmcs are aimed at social interactions and exchanges of information that may not require writing skills in a strict sense. Thus, composure as a cmc competence is more concerned with language proficiency than writing skills. In this study, the lower mean score of the item indicated those efl participants’ anxiety about engaging in cmc using l2. From an overall perspective of participants’ perception of cmc skill, efl learners were challenged by the cmc writing task and did not exhibit ease and confidence in the cmc-based task. Table 4: Items and mean (SD) of factors in CMC competence Mean

3.64

3.12 3.28 3.42 3.27 3.32

Factor

Item

In CMC, I pay as much attention to the way I say things as what I say. 1.06 Appropriateness I am careful to make my comments and behaviors appropriate to the situation. I generally get what I want out of CMC interactions. 0.89 Efficiency I am effective in my CMC conversations with others. I get my ideas across clearly in CMC conversations with others. 0.91 Clarity My CMC comments are usually accurate and clear. I feel understood when I interact with others. I am generally satisfied with my communication encounters. 1.00 Satisfaction I enjoy my interactions with others via CMC. If I talk to someone in CMC conversation, I can usually get them 0.83 Attractiveness to like me. I have a sense of accomplishment on English learning using CMC. 0.96 Productivity CMC technologies are very beneficial to the study of English.

Table 4 presents mean scores of individual factors being measured in cmc competence. “Appropriateness,” which indicates what the computer user perceives as being appropriate 167

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for a message in the context of cmc, received the highest mean; whereas, “Efficiency,” a factor measuring the degree of economy with which preferred outcomes are achieved, received a comparatively lower mean score. Table 5 presents individual items that received highest and lowest mean scores in the measure cmc competence. Table 5: Highest and lowest yield items for CMC competence Cultural Group Japan

Taiwan

Overall

Highest

Lowest

CMC competence

I am careful to make my comments and behaviors appropriate to the situation. (m = 3.99) CMC technologies are very beneficial to the study of English. (m = 3.62) I am careful to make my comments and behaviors appropriate to the situation. (m =3.75)

I generally get what I want out of CMC interactions. (m = 3.10)

Highest – appropriateness Lowest – effectiveness

I am effective in my CMC conversation with others. (m = 3.09) I am effective in my CMC conversation with others. (m = 3.11)

Highest – productivity Lowest – effectiveness Highest – appropriateness Lowest – effectiveness

Concerning perceived cmc competence, participants from these two learning groups displayed different viewpoints. For the Japanese learning group, the strongest competence that they see themselves as possessing is appropriateness, in which they try to make their cmc content appropriate and aligned with social norms. Taiwanese learners, on the other hand, perceive computer conversations from a language-learning perspective and agree that using cmc produces valuable benefits. Therefore, the strongest competence that they perceive is productivity. An interesting point is that participants from both learning groups see effectiveness as their weakest competence item. For overall evaluation, the highest mean score item is, “I am careful to make my comments and behaviors appropriate to the situation” (m = 3.75) followed by another item showing appropriateness as competence, “I am confident at the things that I want to say in my writing” (m = 3.72). The lowest mean scores occur for two items showing effectiveness, “I generally get what I want out of cmc interactions” (m = 3.12) and “I am effective in my cmc conversations with others” (m = .11). The items that yielded higher mean scores show that participants perceive high cmc competence on appropriateness; whereas, they were generally dissatisfied with their own effectiveness in cmc. Table 6 presents mean scores of individual items being measured in l2 cmc motivation. As previously mentioned, items in this dimension received comparatively lower mean scores on average compared to those in cmc skill and cmc competence. Among the eight items, four received mean scores under 3, which indicates “Disagree” on the 5-point Likert Scale. A closer look at the items helps to provide insight into efl learners’ attitudes toward online communication utilizing written English. Those items involving the act of writing received lower mean scores, which indicates a strong connection between willingness to write in English and communicate online. On the other hand, those items asking about 168 participants’ opinions toward the benefits of language learning via online communication

Wu & Kawamura: Computer-related and second language factors in online communication Table 6: Mean (SD) of items in L2 CMC motivation Mean

2.87 2.81 2.90 3.43 3.46 3.02 2.58 3.42

Item

1.15 I like to write in English using the online communicative way to do my homework. I like to write down my viewpoints in English through online communication with 1.07 others. 1.03 I like to share my viewpoints in English online. 0.99 Working with others via online communication is beneficial to my learning. 0.98 Working with others via online communication is interesting to me. 1.14 I am afraid that there will be mistakes in my online English writing. 1.17 I am willing to write English in online communication with other people. 1.06 Working with others via online communication helps me learn English.

received higher recognition. In other words, most participants believe that cmc using l2 is beneficial to their learning (m = 3.43), and they admit that â&#x20AC;&#x153;working with others via online communication is interestingâ&#x20AC;? (m = 3.46). An overall view of the results indicates that even though collaborative cmc-based projects across countries are welcomed and generally meet with approval among efl learners, willingness to use this form of communication might still be low because of the high level of language proficiency required in writing tasks. These conclusions echo results gathered from the first part of the survey regarding cmc skills, in which we discovered that despite the fact that cmc does not require a strict writing formula, cmc writing still presents certain kinds of challenges for efl learners.

Individual factors and their correlation with L2 CMC motivation Results of correlations between individual factors involved in different variables to the main factor, l2 wtc, offer further insights into the analysis. The results are shown in Table 7. Table 7: Correlations among all L2-related measures. Measures Attentiveness Composure Coordination Expressiveness Appropriateness Clarity Productivity Satisfaction Attractiveness Effectiveness Willingness to write via L2

L2 CMC motivation Person correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

Person correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

Pearson correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

.185(**) .291(**) .333(**) .244(**) .246(**) .260(**) .427(**) .395(**) .262(**) .173(**) 1

Note. ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

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Table 7 presents the results concerning how each individual computer-related factor is related to using L2 for computer communication. Among these measurement items are:

CMC skill Attentiveness is statistically significant to willingness to write in L2 (p = .012), with a high level of correlation (r = .185). Composure is statistically significant to willingness to write in L2 (p = .000), with a high to intermediate level of correlation (r = .291). Coordination is statistically significant to willingness to write in L2 (p = .000), with an intermediate level of correlation (r = .333). Expressiveness is statistically significant to willingness to write in L2 (p = .001), with a high level of correlation (r = .244).

CMC competence Appropriateness is statistically significant to willingness to write in L2 (p = .001), with a high level of correlation (r = .246). Effectiveness is statistically significant to willingness to write in L2 (p = .019), with a high level of correlation (r = .173). Clarity is statistically significant to willingness to write in L2 (p = .000), with a high level of correlation (r = .260). Satisfaction is statistically significant to willingness to write in L2 (p = .000), with an intermediate level of correlation (r = .395). Attractiveness is statistically significant to willingness to write in L2 (p = .000), with a high level of correlation (r = .262). Productivity is statistically significant to willingness to write in l2 (p = .000), with an intermediate to low level of correlation (r = .427). All of the factors discussed in Spitzbergâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cmcc model (2006) were found to be significantly related to the measure cmc motivation in written l2 and, again, provide evidence for the interwoven relationship between l2 factors and computer-related factors in a cmc-based project. This parallels the patterns for an efl learnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s motivation to communicate with others (MacIntyre, 2007; Yashima, 2002). A lower level of anxiety, based on better language proficiency, will result in a higher possibility of communication skills. This directs our attention to the fact that, in order to evaluate the success of a cmc-based project or to increase its potential for success, l2 factors must be included as influential elements.

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Discussion The results of this study demonstrate that factors, such as expressiveness and composure displaying cmc skill, are particularly important in an efl context in terms of all factors. This shows that l2 learners evaluate their cmc skill in terms of language proficiency revealed in writing ability. Expressiveness demands a solid command of language proficiency and writing skills so that the computer user can express him or herself proficiently with the use of proper vocabulary to convey accurate meanings. Composure has more to do with the sense of achievement related to a person’s high language proficiency and good writing ability, which allows one to display confidence in writing. The results of our study show that an examination of cmc skill can reveal the influence of language factors and, therefore, can be included in the evaluation of cmc-based activity via l2. These results, corresponding with results and analysis for skill and competence, indicate that language is a barrier and a key factor for online communication using English for efl learners. When examining cmc factors, in most occasions importance is placed on anxiety about using computers, fear of communication or writing, and other related factors. In certain studies, fear of writing is unrelated to computer-mediated communication (Wrench & Punyanunt-Carter, 2007) because of the flexible format of cmc text. This is very likely because cmc does not require proficient writing; however, a lack of language proficiency prevents the user from expressing his or her viewpoints and, therefore, decreases motivation for using cmc. The results of this study indicate that low language proficiency contributes to a reduction in confidence and the quality of writing, and will decrease a person’s willingness to communicate online. Computer communication is not purely about texting, it also concerns how a user sees his or her performance online, and how he or she perceives his or her own language proficiency in terms of writing ability, communication ability, and overall English ability. Regardless of the level of actual achievement, the user’s perception of his or her achievement is crucial. Feedback from others will also be influential in maintaining motivation in a cmc-based project. Therefore, to efl learners, with all of the computer factors discussed that are related to English language proficiency, such as skill and competence, self-perception of one’s own English ability is likely to influence both the process and the outcome of computer-mediated communication dialogue. However, perceptions about the relationship between language and certain cmc skills or competencies might differ from person to person. For example, if a computer user thinks that using many emoticons is sufficient for him or her to express him or herself accurately, he or she might not need to depend too much on English writing ability. This means that the overall satisfaction level toward one’s cmc performance is not necessarily related to one’s perception of one’s own language ability. The results of this study suggest including l2 measures to correct the previous neglect of the language role in some models when evaluating the implementation of cmc projects in higher educational settings. The results obtained from spss software revealed that items developed for motivation to write for communication worked well with other cmc factors. This indicates that language proficiency does matter in a cmc-based activity via l2 and, simultaneously, demonstrates the necessity of including l2 measurements for cmc-based language learning activities. Specific items for the measurement of language competence for writing and communication tendencies can be examined, particularly in their relationship to the utilization of cmc. Generally, Asian efl learners showed uneasiness toward using l2 for computer 171

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communication. This uneasiness was revealed in fear toward mistake-making, unwillingness to write or share viewpoints via computer, and anxiety. It is clear from this research that language proficiency matters a great deal in l2 learners’ motivation for online communication.

Conclusion and implications The Internet and cmc are rapidly becoming vital methods of communication not only for cross-cultural collaboration, but also for enhancing English-language learning. With the growing demand for learning English in almost every part of the world and a rapid expansion of non-native English-speaking populations, the relationship between English learning and computer utilization will become both closer and stronger. However, elements other than technology and English proficiency influence cross-cultural communication. A more in-depth examination of the factors that will contribute to the success of web-based projects, therefore, demands the integration of factors in both areas.

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Wu & Kawamura: Computer-related and second language factors in online communication Kreijns, K., Kirschner, P. A., Jochems, W., & Van Buuren, H. (2007). Measuring perceived sociability of computer-supported collaborative learning environments. Computers & Education, 49(2), 176–192. Lapadat, J. (2002). Written interaction: A key component in online learning. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 7(4). Retrieved from http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/ vol17/issue4/lapadat.html. Lee, P-W. (2006). Bridging cultures: Understanding the construction of relational identity in intercultural friendship. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 35(1), 3–22. Lee, E-J. (2007). Deindividuation effects on group polarization in computer-mediated communication: The role of group identification, public-self-awareness, and perceived argument quality. Journal of Communication, 57, 385–403. Levy, M. (2009). Technologies in use for second language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 93(1), 769–782. doi: 0026-7902/09/769-782 MacIntyre, P. D., Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z., & Noels, K. A. (1998).Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a l2: A situational model of l2 confidence and affiliation. The Modern Language Journal, 82(iv), 545–562. MacIntyre, P. D., & Baker, S. C. (2001). Willingness to communicate, social support, and language-learning orientations of immersion students. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23, 369–388. MacIntyre, P. D., Baker, S. C., Richard C., & Donovan, L. (2003). Talking in order to learn: Willingness to communicate and intensive language programs. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 59(4), 589–607. MacIntyre, P. D. (2007). Willingness to communicate in the second language: Understanding the decision to speak as a volitional process. The Modern Language Journal, 92(iv), 564–576. Merryfield, M. (2003). Like a veil: Cross-cultural experiential learning online. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 3(2), 143–171. Murphy, K. L., & Collins, M. P. (1997). Development of communication conventions in instructional electronic chats. Journal of Distance Education, xii (1/2), 177–200. O’Dowd, R. (2003). Understanding the “other side”: Intercultural learning in a SpanishEnglish e-mail exchange. Language Learning & Technology, 7(2), 118–144. Oudenhoven, J. P. V., & Zee, K. I. V. (2002). Predicting multicultural effectiveness of international students: The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 26, 679–694. Savenye, W. C., & Robinson, R. S. (2001). The Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology. The Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Retrieved from http://www.aect.org/edtech/ed1/40/index.html Spitzberg, B. (2006). Toward a theory of computer-mediated communication competence. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 11(2), 629–666. Retrieved from http:// jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue2/spitzberg.html. Tolmie, A., & Boyle, J. (2000). Factors influencing the success of computer mediated communication (cmc) environments in university teaching: A review and case study. Computers & Education, 34, 119–140. Whisted, C., & Wright, P. (2013). English language learning in the Japanese higher education sector: Towards internationalization. Intercultural Education 24(3), 1–15.

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Wrench, J. S., & Punyanunt-Carter, N. M. (2007). The relationship between computermediated-communication competence, apprehension, self-efficacy, perceived confidence, and social presence. Southern Communication Journal, 72(4), 355–378. Wu, P. H., & Kawamura, M. (2012). A comparison of Japanese and Taiwanese students’ attitudes toward cross-cultural English learning activities. A. M. Stoke (Ed.) jalt Conference Proceedings – jalt2011, Tokyo, Japan, November 21–23, 1–11. Retrieved from http://jalt-publications.org/proceedings/articles/1705 Wu, P. H., & Marek, M. W. (2013). Helping second language literature learners overcome e-learning difficulties: let-net team teaching with online peer interaction. Journal of Education and Learning, 2(4), 87–101. Wu, P. H., & Chuang, W. T. (2013). l2 cmc motivation in task-based computer-mediated communications. Asiacall Online Journal Special Issue. Retrieved from http://asiacall. info/acoj/asiacall2012proc Wu, P-H. (2014). Potential second language factors in cross-cultural communication. spectrum: Studies in Language, Literature, Translation, and Interpretation, 11, 39–56. Yashima, T. (2002). Willingness to communicate in a second language: The Japanese efl context. The Modern Language Journal, 86(i), 54–66. Zeiss, E., & Isabelli-García, C. L. (2005). The role of asynchronous computer mediated communication on enhancing cultural awareness. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 18(3), 151–169.

Author biodata Pin-hsiang Natalie Wu, PhD, is an assistant professor of Chien-kuo Technology University, Taiwan. She has been involved in the field of second language teaching for over 17 years and has many years experiencing cross-cultural, task-based English learning via synchronous and asynchronous computer mediated communications among learners all over the world. Her research in efl instruction stems from her interest in incorporating computer and mobile learning to stimulate student motivation. She also has academic interests in applying new technologies to the teaching of l2 literature. Michelle Kawamura, an associate professor at Ritsumeikan University in Japan, has taught English and other subjects for over 18 years. Her doctoral thesis on native Englishspeaking teachers’ perceptions of language teaching in today’s global society was published by Proquest umi in 2011. She is interested in using English as a bridge for communication and cultural learning between non-English-speaking learners, and this has led to her various international collaborative research on the effects of using technology for assisting language learning and cross-cultural communication.

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Blended instruction for EFL learners: Engagement, learning and course satisfaction Aysel Şahin-Kızıl Fırat University School of Foreign Languages, Turkey ayselsahin1@gmail.com

Offering blended courses has increasingly become common at tertiary education though it is relatively new in the field of language teaching. This paper describes the design of a blended language course through Moodle in an efl context with an emphasis on students’ perceptions. In a survey based approach, a total of 68 university students’ experiences with blended language learning for two consecutive terms were examined. The questionnaire items focused on the effect of blended design on students’ engagement, learning and overall course satisfaction. Student responses revealed that technology-assisted language instruction provided in parallel with face to face teaching could create efficient learning environments. Keywords: Blended language learning, Course management system, Moodle,

1. Introduction

Forum

The advent of e-learning and concomitant development of software such as Course Management Systems (cms) has revolutionized instruction methods in education in more ways than one. Internet based innovations have helped to remove the rigidity of time and space requirements from the delivery of instruction, and these have brought about new forms of distance learning, as well as new terms such as online learning and, more recently, blended learning to convey these newly adopted methods of instruction. Blended learning, in its basic sense, refers to a design which combines self-paced learning generally through web based applications and face to face classroom teaching 175

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(Alonso, López, Manrique, & Viñes, 2005; Oliver & Trigwell, 2005). Although there is a huge body of literature on face-to-face instruction and an extensive body of research about learning in fully online environments, blended designs in higher education is still a developing area (Stacey & Gerbic, 2008). In the emergent body of research, the efficacy of blended courses has been studied across various disciplines ranging from computer science (Govender, 2010), physic (Martin-Blas & Serrano-Fernandez, 2009), communication science (Campbell, 2010) to biology (Riffell & Sibley, 2005). However, with regard to the field of language teaching, there is still a relatively limited amount of research exploring blended environments (Daniels, 2008; Grgurovic, 2011; Jia, Y. Chen, Ding & Ruan, 2012; Klemsen & Seong, 2013; Snodin, 2013; Wu & Liu, 2013). Though mostly promotional in nature, much of the available literature on blended courses for language learning suggests the use of cmss in creating blended environments (Baskerville & Robb, 2005; Godwin-Jones, 2003; Motteram & Sharma, 2009). Among the current cmss, Moodle especially is noteworthy because it is free, user friendly and it avails itself to multimedia support that enables to create any language learning activities easily (Brandl, 2005; Cole & Foster, 2008; Dougiamas & Taylor, 2003). Moodle seems to be an effective tool to create a blended course design as it has great potential to foster students’ engagement and learning (Ausburn, 2004). This paper reports on a blended language course through Moodle in a higher education setting. More specifically, this study attempts to gain insights into students’ perception of blended language learning with a focus on their engagement, learning and overall course satisfaction.

2. Review of the literature 2.1 Blended learning

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Integration of computer technologies and the Internet into education has dramatically changed the means of course delivery. Offering fully online courses and distance education have been a trendy feature of higher education, which has brought up a plenty of research studies comparing online courses with the traditional face-to face course delivery methods. While in most such studies, online courses are claimed to be favourable due to their potential in removing physical barriers (Blake, Wilson, & Pardo-Ballester, 2008), in saving class time and cost efficiently, and in enhancing the self-paced learning (Y. Chen, N. Chen, & Tsai, 2009), cautious remarks about online course delivery are also present in the related literature as it eliminates or greatly reduces face-to-face interaction that is desired for effective teaching and learning (Sitter et al., 2009). Blended courses were developed in order to fully exploit both online and traditional learning environments. Although blended learning may mean different things to different people (Driscoll, 2002; Motteram & Sharma, 2009), a commonly used definition in higher education context is “the integrated combination of traditional learning with web based online approaches” (Oliver & Trigwell, 2005). Blended courses inherit the convenience and flexibility of fully online courses without eliminating interactional aspects of face to face language lessons; therefore, this course design is generally considered the “best of two worlds” (Dziuban, Hartman, & Moskal, 2004; Sitter et al., 2009). The function of blended courses in broader context of education has thoroughly been investigated in a large number of disciplines, and main themes regarding the effectiveness of blended courses are identified as learning outcomes, student engagement and course

Şahin-Kızıl: Blended instruction for EFL learners satisfaction (Campbell, 2010; Govender, 2010; Vernadakis, Antoniou, Giannousi, Zetou, & Kioumourtzoglou, 2011). Regarding the field of language learning, the same themes have also been the focus of studies, though relatively fewer in number. Banados (2006) reports on a study involving 39 efl university students, where the course offered in a blended format was a communicative English course aiming at developing integrated linguistic skills. The relevant data were collected through diagnostic tests and a perception questionnaire. Analysis of the data demonstrated that blended language learning yielded “a substantial improvement in the students’ language skills as well as high satisfaction levels with the communicative English program” (Banados, 2006 p. 544). The findings also imply that blended design can provide a good solution for language instruction in settings with limited class time. Similar conclusions can be drawn from a study carried out by Stracke (2007). Through a qualitative design, the researcher gathered data about the experiences of learners in a blended language learning environment within a German higher education context. The results showed that the students surveyed (n = 190) and interviewed (n = 32) had an overall positive attitude towards blended course design. In a similar vein, Klemsen and Seong (2012) investigated students’ satisfaction in blended learning environments. The analysis of the data collected from 19 university students through questionnaires indicated that overall student perception of blended learning is positive. In a recent study with a total of 360 university students, Wu and Liu (2013), drawing attention to the importance of selected technology as an influential factor, concluded that offering blended instruction creates positive impacts on students’ course satisfaction. With regard to the technology-related part of blended instruction, Neumeier (2005) rightly noted that “approach of blending call applications with face to face teaching is as old as call itself, and most language learners experience call within a [blended] environment” (p.163).What differentiates blended language learning from any kind of simple technology-enhanced environments is closely related to the type of web tools chosen for the course delivery. In blended language learning, web applications should enable the instructor to deliver a significant proportion of course content (more than 30%) through e-learning activities including online quizzes and synchronous-asynchronous discussion complementary to a carefully planned in class language teaching (Allen, Seaman, & Garrett, 2007; Vernadakis et al., 2011). The technology employed in blended courses should fit appropriately into each lesson plan, create interactive and motivating lessons for the students, be a source of instant feedback, and effectively manage students’ assignment (Sharma & Barret, 2007). While there are several options available for teachers, Moodle has been shown to be suited to the requirements of blended courses.

2.2. Moodle for blended language learning Moodle is one of the most popular Course Management Systems currently available, and has “…great potential for supporting conventional classroom instruction, for example to do additional work outside of class, to become the delivery system for blended (or hybrid) course formats...” (Brandl, 2005 p. 17). Through its template-based, user friendly nature, multimedia support, student progress tracking and feedback options, Moodle offers a lot to facilitate language instruction through blended designs. Table 1 summarizes the major modules in Moodle to create blended language learning

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environments (for a comprehensive explanation on using Moodle in language teaching, see Cole & Foster, 2008; Stanford, 2009). Table 1: Major modules to be used in creating blended environments Blended Learning Modules Lesson Module

Quiz Module

Glossary Module

Forum Module

Assignment Module Gradebook Module

Potential Uses in Language Learning Various reading activities to check the comprehension Noticing the points Dictation through a listening activity (Rice, 2006; Stanford, 2009) Creating different types of quizzes (e.g. multiple choice, true/false, matching, cloze tests) to practice language skills, vocabulary and grammar structures Assessment through the “statistics” button (Stanford, 2009) Creating a dictionary specific to the target course Creating personal glossary to individualize the learning environment (Brandl, 2005) Asynchronous discussion in the target language, peer review Any kind of writing activities Increasing interaction between the instructor and the students (Motteram & Sharma, 2009; Robertson, 2008) Any kind of assignment requiring to submit a file Giving feedback (P. Wright & G. Wright, 2011) Presenting the results of students’ activities in detail Helping students to monitor their own progress (Lin, 2011; P. Wright & G. Wright, 2011).

On the basis of the previous discourse in the literature, Moodle has been selected in this study as a convenient tool for designing a blended language course.

3. Method 3.1 Research setting and participants

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Following a survey based methodology; this study was carried out in an English course at the Faculty of Engineering of a Turkish university. The university offers a total of sixty hours English courses organized in two-hour weekly sessions in the first year of the university education. No courses at the faculty use English as the medium of instruction, which means that English course is the only source of input in the formal instructional setting. The objective of the English course in the first year, which the present study is related to, is to improve students’ vocabulary and grammar knowledge. Due to time-constraints (two hours per week) and overcrowded classrooms, the administration in the research setting foregrounds reading skill rather than writing, listening and speaking skills as it is thought to be logistically easier to present the course on reading. Therefore, integration of writing and listening activities into the course poses difficulties, which forms the rationale for the present study. Drawn according to the convenient sampling procedures (Cohen, Manion & Morrison 2000), the sample for this study consisted of sixty-eight fulltime first year students majoring

Şahin-Kızıl: Blended instruction for EFL learners in Engineering ranging in age from 18 to 23. Fourteen of the participants were female and the rest were male. Their level of proficiency in English was measured through the Oxford Placement & Progress Test (for a detailed explanation of the test, see Allan, 2004) at the beginning of the term. Students’ proficiency levels were identified as beginner (including basic user n = 27, false beginner n= 9 and absolute beginner n= 32).

3.2 Blended language course design Students’ English level was the primary focus in designing the course and deciding on the content of the activities placed on Moodle. In accordance with the course objectives, grammar topics were introduced gradually and the skill based activities centred on the use of grammatical structure and the vocabulary of the related week. Main topic presentations were primarily realized during the in-class teaching; however, extension points were presented on the Moodle site as well. Due to the time constraints in face to face meetings, activities related to language skills remained limited. Therefore, a considerable amount of skill related activities were carried out on the Moodle site. The following is the screenshot of the Moodle site designed for the present study.

Figure 1. Screenshot illustrating Moodle site As seen in Figure 1, Moodle was designed in a weekly format, each week focusing on different topics. From the beginning of the course, the glossary module was activated and updated weekly by the instructor by considering the vocabulary used in the activities. As a function of the glossary module, word of the day feature which randomly selects a different word from the glossary on daily basis and presents it to the students was activated as well. Additionally, the students were encouraged to make use of the personal glossary and create their own individual dictionaries. Each week on the Moodle began with a brief description of the objectives of the week, which was followed by grammar notes prepared bilingually in either PowerPoint or text-based forms. This allowed students to access and revise the topic at any time and place. Each week included at least two or more vocabulary exercises to make sure that students were going through the target vocabulary of the week. For the vocabulary exercises, quiz module was employed and activities were generally enhanced by the pictures and video files taken from copyright free websites, and crossword puzzles prepared through Hot Potatoes Quizzes to address the various learning styles. Similar modules 179

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were also used to practise the grammar structures. For the listening and reading activities, the lesson module and quiz module were utilized as illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Sample listening and reading activities YouTube videos which could be easily integrated into Moodle made a great source for audio and video files as also suggested by Lin (2011), and special attention was paid to ensure the materials were authentic and related to the theme/topic of the week. Students were provided with constant feedback for all the responses they produced for any activity. Each week ended with a writing activity which was realized through the forum module. In connection with the topic of the target week, students were required to produce a short writing piece and share it on the forum module as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Forum module for writing activities Both teacher and peer feedback were given on the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; writing and the students were allowed to communicate in English on any topics they chose to enhance the interaction among them. Email button was always kept functional for the interaction with the instructor. The amount and the content of all the activities varied from week to week and were revised depending on the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; reactions throughout the term. At the end of the study, the students were given a post-instruction perception questionnaire.

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3.3 Data collection: Post-instruction perception questionnaire A post-instruction perception questionnaire developed through the related literature (Campbell, 2010; Chenoweth, Ushida, & Murday, 2006) consisted of 25 statements in a fivepoint Likert scale, ranging from 1 (totally agree) to 5 (totally disagree). The statements were centred on three main categories: engagement, learning and course satisfaction, which are included in the criteria for holding high quality courses in universities (Ausburn, 2004; Cole & Foster, 2008). Each category in the questionnaire ended with an open-ended question through which students could share any additional comments about their experiences. The final part of the questionnaire was for demographic data asking about respondents’ age, gender, access to the Internet, computer and Moodle. Each student enrolled in the course was required to complete the questionnaire before the end of the semester. Data were collected within the last three weeks of the second term in a paper-based format. A research assistant working in the department administered the questionnaire. Each questionnaire included brief information about the purpose of the study, a statement that students would remain anonymous and the data collected would remain confidential, and instructions for completing the survey. Considering the students’ level of English, questionnaire items were written bilingually (Turkish and English), and students were allowed to use their l1 to answer the open-ended questions. The data were analysed by utilizing descriptive analysis (frequency and mean scores). In the discussion of the findings, response categories “strongly agree” and “agree” and the categories “strongly disagree” and “disagree” were collapsed into broader categories of “agreement” and “disagreement” respectively to interpret the results in a practical way. The results were presented in the following section.

4. Results and discussion The first part of the questionnaire was related to the students’ perceptions of whether this blended course through Moodle was effective in keeping them engaged. They were asked to reflect on their experiences in this blended course using Moodle as compared to courses where they had not used Moodle. Engagement category consisted of 6 statements regarding student interaction, interest, challenge, participation, connectedness and effort, which are considered to be the characteristics of engaged learners (Egbert, 2007; Lekoko, 2013). Table 2 (overleaf) presents the frequency, percentage and the means for blended language learning and perceived engagement As seen in Table 2, 84% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the use of Moodle helped to make the course work and activities interesting. This perception was reflected in the students’ comments as well: “Activities based on songs were really fun. I spent good time by listening to the songs and studying the vocabulary in those songs” (S 37). “Doing homework by watching videos on Moodle was different for me. I like it very much” (S 18). Additionally, most of the students found activities challenging (x = 2.10). Initiating students’ interests in the course and creating challenging tasks are among the prerequisites for engaging students (Egbert, 2007). The fact that the activities were varied both in number and content only through the blended design by making use of Moodle helped to address diverse interests of students. Having students interact with each other and with the language itself also contributes to the sense of engagement in the learners (Meltzer & Hamman, 2004). With regard to this aspect of the present study, 75% of the students 181

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Table 2. Students’ perceptions of their engagement in language learning Students’ responses

Item The use of Moodle helped me to feel more connected with classmates The use of Moodle helped to make my course work and activities interesting The use of Moodle helped me to feel more challenged in my course work and activities. The use of Moodle increased my level of participation in this course. I believe I can easily communicate with the instructor using Moodle. I am pleased with the effort I put forth in this course.

182

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Strongly Disagree disagree

(%)

8 (11.8)

18 (26.5) 39 (57.4)

8 (11.8)

3 (4.4)

1.94

13 (19.1) 39 (57.4) 12 (17.6)

4 (5.9)

2.10

15 (22.1) 35 (51.5)

9 (13.2)

2.17

2 (2.9)

1.98

9 (13.2)

15 (22.1) 41 (60.3) 10 (14.7) 16 (23.5) 28 (41.2)

7 (10.3) 11 (16.2)

1 (1.5)

10 (14.7) 41 (60.3)

6 (8.8)

2.25

2.45

responded positively, which can be attributed to the use of Moodle as it allowed students to interact at any time and place, and provided them with a plenty of language activities to accomplish that cannot be realized in a-two-hour class time. All these things may have an impact on the level of participation in the course as most of the students agreed that the use of Moodle increased their level of participation in this course (x = 2.17), and 64% of them expressed contentment with the effort they put forth in this course. The second part of the questionnaire consisted of 12 statements assessing students’ perceptions of their learning through the blended language course compared to courses where they had not used Moodle. Table 3 illustrates the results. The first question in this category was related to the gradebook module and tracking functions of Moodle which keeps report of all activities students engaged in, including the right and wrong responses to the activities, grades, feedback from the other users (e.g., peers and the instructor), the number of attempts and time spent on each activity, etc. All these functions are claimed to help learners to monitor their learning process (Cole & Foster, 2008). This function seemed to be appreciated by the participants of the study as 70% of them responded positively. When asked using different wording, the students stated that the use of Moodle enabled them to have greater control over their learning (x = 2.13). Additionally, respondents were in agreement that the course design using Moodle promoted effective learning (x = 2.02) and provided them with a valuable learning experience (x = 2.13) as also explained in students’ comments: “This system helped me a lot to learn the grammar and to enhance my vocabulary”(S 7). “I believe that I wouldn’t learn that much if it [English instruction] were just in the classroom” (S 14). This finding is in line with Hui, Hu, Clark, Tam, & Milton (2007) who reported that web-based language learning support grammar and vocabulary growth because of the learning materials that “students may

Şahin-Kızıl: Blended instruction for EFL learners Table 3. Students perceptions of their learning through blended course design Students’ responses

Item I could assess my progress in the course by using Moodle The use of Moodle was important in assisting me with completing course tasks The use of Moodle helped to provide for more timely feedback on my learning I learned a lot in this course by using Moodle. The use of Moodle provided me with more options that complemented my learning style Studying course content through Moodle I felt I had a more valuable learning experience Moodle tools are compatible with the language activities in my class Using Moodle in this course does not fit the way I learn English I believe that using Moodle helped me to improve my English writing I believe that using Moodle helped me to improve my English reading I believe that using Moodle helped me to improve my English listening In this course format, I had greater control over my learning I am pleased with the effort I put forth in this course.

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Strongly Disagree disagree

(%)

8 (11.8)

17 (25.0) 38 (55.9)

3 (4.4)

4 (5.9)

16 (23.5) 42 (61.8)

6 (8.8)

4 (5.9)

1.97

2 (2.9)

2.02

12 (17.6) 44 (64.7) 10 (14.7) 9 (13.2) 41 (60.3)

4 (5.9)

11 (16.2) 39 (57.4) 16 (23.5)

36 (52.9) 24 (35.3) 7 (10.3)

5 (7.4)

21 (30.9) 37 (54.4)

8 (11.8)

11 (16.2)

2 (2.9)

2.22

6 (8.8)

2.17

3 (4.4)

8 (11.8)

2 (1.9)

17 (25.0) 16 (23.5) 26 (38.2)

6 (8.8)

43 (63.2) 16 (23.5)

15 (22.1) 36 (52.9) 10 (14.7)

2.38

2.13

1.58

11 (16.2) 30 (44.1) 15 (22.1)

5 (7.4)

16 (23.5) 28 (41.2)

13 (19.1) 35 (51.5) 12 (17.6)

-4 (5.9)

3.60 1.86 3.10

3 (4.4)

2.23

7 (10.3)

2.13

7 (10.3) 11 (16.2)

6 (8.8)

2.45

study repetitively at their preferred time and pace” (p. 248). Providing learners with instant feedback is no doubt also a crucial factor to foster language learning (Gass & Mackey, 2007), and it is among the strengths of Moodle, supported by the fact that 85% of participants stated that they were able to receive timely feedback on their learning through Moodle. One of the highest scores obtained from the questionnaire was related to the potential of Moodle in designing language specific activities since the participants strongly agree that Moodle is compatible with all aspects of the English class (x = 1.53), a fact which is continually emphasized in the related literature (Brandl, 2005; Godwin-Jones, 2003; Lin, 2011; 183

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Stanford, 2009). With regard to catering to diverse learning styles, the blended language course through Moodle was perceived positively (x = 2.32) by the students. This can be explained by the comprehensive multimedia support and variety of the quiz types, which was implied in students’ comments: “I like dealing with crosswords, and vocabulary practices through crosswords were very beneficial for me. It was like playing game” (S 23). As for the gains in language skills, writing was perceived as the most improved skill (x = 1.86). During the study, it was observed that students paid special attention to the writing activities. This could be because of the collaborative learning environment created by the forum module, which allowed students to easily communicate with their peers, share their writing, and comment on each other’s work. Regarding the forum module, one student stated that “seeing how other classmates were writing in English was very enjoyable. We also talked to friends in English and this was really encouraging (S 48). Implying the development in his writing skill, another student commented that “at the beginning, I was able to write just few sentences in the forum and I needed to think hard before making a sentence. But now I can write without making so much effort” (S 25). An interesting finding about students’ perceptions of their improvement in language skills through the blended course design is low in the reading-related statement. The students were either neutral (23%) or didn’t perceive that their reading skill improved (38 %). This finding is inconsistent with the findings of Hui et al. (2007) who state that web-based courses had a positive impact on the improvement in reading but not on listening skills in their study. One explanation may be that, unlike

Table 4. Students’ perceptions of their course satisfaction with blended language learning Students’ responses Strongly agree Item

184

The use of Moodle allowed me to participate at times that were convenient for me The ability to access course information and content through Moodle was important In terms of technology, I felt comfortable using Moodle I am satisfied with the course delivery Using Moodle in this course was difficult for me I would like to use Moodle in other courses I feel that Moodle is cumbersome to use. I am pleased with the effort I put forth in this course.

(%)

Agree f

(%)

Neutral f

(%)

Disagree f

(%)

Strongly disagree f

(%)

16 (23.5) 31 (45.6) 12 (17.6)

9 (13.2)

2.20

8 (11.8) 38 (55.9) 15 (22.1)

7 (10.3)

2.30

19 (27.9) 35 (51.5)

7 (10.3)

2 (2.9)

13 (19.1) 38 (55.9) 15 (22.1)

2 (2.9)

3 (4.4)

14 (20.6)

7 (10.3)

42 (61.8)

21 (30.9) 39 (57.4)

7 (10.3)

1 (1.5)

3 (4.4)

16 (23.5) 16 (23.5)

16 (23.5) 28 (41.2)

7 (10.3)

5 (7.4) -

2 (2.9) -

2.10 2.11 3.38 1.82

23 (33.8) 10 (14.7)

3.30

11 (16.2)

2.45

6 (8.8)

Şahin-Kızıl: Blended instruction for EFL learners listening and writing, reading activities were not specifically designed for this particular course. Unlike the listening and writing activities above that were designed for the study, students may not have recognized anything with regards to improving reading skills in this blended language learning environment. The last part of the questionnaire was to asses students’ perceptions of their overall course satisfaction. Students were asked to reflect back on courses where they had not used Moodle compared to the present course. Table 4 displays the results. Student responses in this category reflected a positive level of course satisfaction. Approximately 70% of participants stated that such a course design allowed them to participate in the course at convenient times, and they found easy access to the course content important (x = 2.30). According to Martin-Blas and Serrano-Fernandez (2009), course materials delivered in a format which is easy to access and conducive to learning can enhance student satisfaction and learning effectiveness. When asked if Moodle was difficult to use, only 25% of participants found it difficult, and most agreed they felt comfortable in using Moodle (x = 2.10). All in all, the students expressed contentment with the course delivery method (x = 2.11) which was also clear in their comments: “To me this system increased our motivation to learn and speeded up the learning process” (S 24); “Through this system, I think I learned better because it enabled me to spend more time on English” (S 59).

5. Conclusion In the literature of language learning, there are a restricted number of research studies examining the actual role of blended mode of language instruction. In that sense, the present study provided valuable insights into the impact of blended design on language learning. The fact that most of the students responded positively to the statements measuring engagement indicates that a blended course design can create an instructional environment in which the students are more engaged in language learning. Based on the data of the present study, it also seems that student learning is likely to increase when students’ interaction with the peers and instructor is promoted, and students’ contact with the target language itself is increased. Blended design offers such an environment as it makes it possible to provide students with a myriad of learning materials without eliminating the interaction opportunities of the face-to-face environment (Sitter et al., 2009). Positive perceptions of learning obtained in this study were partly related to the integration of Moodle to add a blended dimension to the course. Moodle offers many tools to create interactive learning materials, to give feedback to the students, to support interaction and to assess the outcomes. Through these properties, Moodle can make language courses different from simple web-enhanced courses “with only course outlines and course announcements being uploaded for the students to have online access” (Vernadakis et al., 2011). Finally, the findings of the study demonstrated that a blended language course can enhance students’ satisfaction with the course as “learning satisfaction relates directly to perceptions and feelings about learning effectiveness or outcomes” (Hui et al., 2007). Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that language teachers functioning in instructional settings with limited class time make use of blended language instruction through tools such Moodle to promote engagement and satisfaction in their students. However, further research should be undertaken to determine if university students’ positive perceptions towards the blended language course through Moodle actually translate into enhanced learning as measured by instruments other than self-report. Additional 185

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studies could include a larger sample for greater validity and generalizations since this study was a small-scale research study documenting individual efforts in creating blended language course. Future research could also focus on individual differences such as gender, age, motivational levels, learning styles and communication styles while measuring students’ perceptions of blended language learning. Given the fact that the present study focused on students’ perceptions of blended learning, which is only one aspect of the topic, further research that explores blended instruction in a broader context integrating teachers’ attitudes and competences as practitioners in higher education is necessary. When taken together, studies investigating different aspects of blended learning such as student perceptions, learning outcomes, teacher competences and different instructional technologies could provide a framework for improving quality in higher education.

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A case study of using Facebook in an EFL English writing class: The perspective of a writing teacher Li-Tang Yu Education Department, Hsinchu City Government (Taiwan) cdpsttarng@gmail.com

The purpose of this study was to address a writing teacher’s perspective about integrating Facebook, a social networking site, into a university-level English writing course in Taiwan. Data, including interviews with the teacher and class postings on Facebook, were analyzed inductively, qualitatively, and interpretively, resulting in three emerging themes about the Facebook usage: students’ participation, the connection between class and Facebook discussion, and the affordance of Facebook. Each theme’s underlying properties were identified. This study provides language instructors with insights into the adoption of Facebook in an efl context and supports them to better design tasks on Facebook. Keywords: Facebook, Social Networking Site, Writing Class, efl , Teacher’s Perspective

Introduction

Forum

Many educational researchers and teaching practitioners have recognized that the application of computer technology can benefit language teaching and learning (e.g., Jamieson, Chapelle, & Preiss 2005; Warschauer & Healey, 1998). Among various applications, computer-mediated communication (cmc) allows learners to participate in and build a learning community to construct knowledge and develop rapport in an online collaborative setting (Bonk & Cunningham, 1998; Peterson, 2009; Shin, 2006; Vinagre, 2005). The application of Web 2.0 tools has the potential to promote collaboration and to increase interaction among users (Wang & Vasquez, 2012). Language learners could develop their 189

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autonomy, intercultural competence, and language skills via Web 2.0 tools (Lee, 2011; Lomicka & Lord, 2012; Mak & Coniam, 2008). Because of its powerful social function and easy access, cmc has been touted as a meaningful approach in which language learners can explore and strengthen relationships with others and build learning communities. These learners have more opportunities to practice and use target languages outside and inside of class. Social networking sites (sns), a Web 2.0 applications, have recently received attention from researchers who have explored their capabilities in language learning and teaching. Based on McCarthy’s (2010) study, sns usage may increase interactions among students and reduce language barriers and social inhibitions. Lomicka and Lord (2012) found that the use of sns could help learners build collaborative communities and provide opportunities for creative language practice outside of class time. Learners could also advance their learning autonomy and develop identity through their interactions on sns (Halvorsen, 2009; Pasfield-Neofitou, 2011). Research has found that Facebook, a widely used sns, has potential to foster language learners’ sociopragmatic awareness (Blattner & Fiori, 2011) and has been viewed as a facilitative platform for language learning (Kabilan, Ahmad, & Abidin, 2010). Learners can undertake more collaborative language-learning activities on Facebook (Lantz-Andersson, Vigmo, & Bowen, 2013), which increase their opportunities to practice using target language and to support their language development through interaction (Long, 1985). Integrating Facebook into language learning settings, especially in the efl context, makes it possible for learners to increase their amount of language production even outside of the language classroom. Most studies have focused solely on students’ views of using Facebook without further exploring teacher’s perspectives (e.g., Erdem & Kibar, 2014; Mitchell, 2012). It is, therefore, essential to explore how a teacher integrates Facebook into his or her instruction. In an attempt to fulfill the gap, the current paper specifically explicates an efl writing teacher’s experience in using Facebook in an efl writing class and exemplifies how he co-constructed a learning community with his students. The central research question that guided the paper is “what was the experience of an English writing teacher using Facebook to support efl students?” The following paper begins by explaining the research methodology, and then reports on the results followed by a conclusion of the research.

Research methodology The primary goal of this case study was to better understand how a writing teacher integrated Facebook into his class. A case study approach allows researchers to examine a situation analytically and holistically. It refers to “a process of inquiry about the case and the product of that inquiry” (Stake, 2000, p.436). According to Casanave (2010), a case study has three features: including the researchers’ interest in the uniqueness of a case, the researchers’ interest in the depth and details of a case, and a demonstration of a thorough understanding of the context where a case is situated. Through a close exploration into individuals’ experiences, a picture of how a subject sees and experiences his or her world can be drawn.

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Yu: A writing teacher’s perspective on using Facebook

Contextual background This research was conducted in a public university located in the central part of Taiwan. Seventeen efl sophomore students were invited to participate in the study, six males and eleven females. All of the students were registered in the night program and had a parttime job during the day. The students took a year-long writing course. In the fall 2012 semester, the students took the class in the form of typical face-to-face instruction. They met for three hours once a week. The course content focused on narrative, descriptive, and explanatory writing, aiming to polish students’ skills at paragraph writing and to improve their competence with English grammar. It was expected that the students could improve their general writing abilities, make connections with reading and writing, and practice different modes of writing. In addition to attending the regular face-to-face class, the students were required to attend weekly Facebook discussions as after-class assignments. It was expected that the in-class discussion would encourage students’ participation in Facebook discussion, and Facebook discussion would complement in-class discussion. Thus, students could increase the amount of target language contact and production. For the online discussion on Facebook, the students were required to contribute at least three postings, including one comment on writing prompts provided by their course instructor and two pieces of feedback to other classmates. To give the students more time to familiarize themselves with Facebook, both the teacher and the students started the online discussion one month later after the course began. There were four components of the class evaluation. Assignment and participation in the class were 50% of the total score, and mid-term and final-term examinations were 10% and 20%, respectively. The Facebook discussion counted for 20%.

Participant The purpose of this case study was to gain an in-depth understanding of a writing teacher’s experience of using Facebook for online writing discussions with his students. Purposeful sampling identified the teacher (Mr Lee, pseudonym) (Patton, 1990), an adjunct assistant professor at the university where the study was conducted. I communicated with the teacher via e-mail and asked for permission to interview him and observe his Facebook class page. Through the e-mail communication, the teacher shared his teaching experience and learning background with me. It was his first time teaching at the university. He previously worked as a part-time lecturer at other universities in Taiwan for three years. He received a Master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages in the us and a PhD degree in instructional technology from a large public university in the American Midwest. His research interests included technology usage as a means to facilitate language learning, such as Mandarin and English. He had published several articles in international journals regarding computer assisted language learning. Due to a miscommunication with a curriculum coordinator at the university, he was informed that he was teaching the class shortly before this semester started. However, he did his best to carefully design a course syllabus for the whole semester. It was also his first time to teach students in a night program. According to Mr Lee, he was a heavy user of Facebook. He regularly logged on to 191

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Facebook and checked any new postings made by his Facebook friends. Before the study, he was very familiar with Facebook functions.

Data collection Within the case study, data were collected using observation of the interaction between Mr Lee and the students on Facebook and semi-structured interviews with Mr Lee. All names in the data were pseudonyms. All postings on Facebook were automatically documented by Facebook. Mr Lee invited me and the students to join a writing page, which was specifically set up for the class at the beginning of the semester. All members on the page were able to initiate new topics, post comments on existing topics, “like” comments, and hide comments as spam. Posting writers and the administrator of the page, who was Mr Lee, were able to delete any posting on the page. Therefore, all postings made by Mr Lee and the students were recorded unless the writers or the page administrator deleted them. During the semester, I invited Mr Lee to take two interviews. The first interview took place mid-semester; the second one was at the end. These interviews were based on my observation of Facebook discussions in order to seek clarification on what happened in the online discussions and what perspectives Mr Lee had about the efficacy of utilizing Facebook as a discussion platform. Questions in the interviews were loosely connected to the observation of the teacher-student interaction.

Data analysis The main source of data includes Facebook posts and comments, and Mr Lee’s interview responses. Data analysis began with a quantitative and qualitative inquiry of Facebook comments in order to understand the teacher-student and student-student interactions on Facebook. I calculated the number of posts and comments made by students and Mr Lee. Then I categorized all posts and comments based on the interaction type. Next, the recorded interviews were transcribed. The interviews were analyzed using an inductive analysis approach and a grounded theory data analysis (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Mr Lee’s responses to the interviews were analyzed with initial coding. Based on this initial coding, salient categories and themes emerged via a systematic, comprehensive examination of the data.

Trustworthiness The issue of trustworthiness was addressed by implementing two steps to increase the quality of the data analysis. First, I sent back the interview transcripts to Mr Lee for inspection. Second, the data were triangulated by examining the Facebook postings and Mr Lee’s interviews. Doing so helped me gain an understanding of how Mr Lee and the students used Facebook in the writing class and present findings from Mr Lee’s perspective.

Results 192

To grasp how Mr Lee and the students participated in the online discussion on Facebook, the first step was to examine their interaction, inducing types from Mr Lee’s and the students’ postings. Based on the analysis of their postings, specific questions about the

Yu: A writing teacher’s perspective on using Facebook postings were posed to Mr Lee in the interviews so that his view about Facebook utilization could be ascertained.

How the teacher and the students participated in Facebook Among the 113 postings, eight were Facebook system messages, such as adding someone to a class group and the status of the page. Twelve topics emerged, which were all initiated by Mr Lee. Nine out of 12 topics were about writing prompts that guided the students to reflect on their own writing experiences or what they learned in class. The remaining three topics were about supplements to class material, class management, and a concern for the students. One hundred and three postings responded to the topics. Four categorizations of the postings were formed: the students’ responses to other students, students’ responses to Mr Lee, Mr Lee’s responses to the students, and Mr Lee’s responses to himself. It was found that the majority of the responses were made by the students in reply to Mr Lee. The second most frequent type of response was Mr Lee’s feedback to the students. The students rarely gave feedback to other classmates and there were only seven examples in this category. Table 1 shows the summary of the postings on Facebook A careful, recursive examination of the interview transcripts was conducted to look for possible themes. Three major themes emerged from the data: (1) students’ participation, (2) the connection between face-to-face class and online discussion, and (3) the affordance of Facebook. From Mr Lee’s perspective, the adoption of Facebook in class involved three significant considerations. These themes are represented in Figure 1, with “the use of Facebook in class” as a central concern. The following sections outline and discuss in turn the three themes of using Facebook in the writing class from Mr Lee’s experience. The affordance of Facebook

The use of Facebook in class

Students’ participation

The connection between face-to-face class and online discussion

Figure 1. Three themes of the use of Facebook in class

Students’ participation Under this theme, “students’ participation,” there are four properties: students’ characteristics, Mr Lee’s scaffolding, his attitudes towards the students’ writing, and the students’ perception of using Facebook in the writing class. These properties are explained further below. 193

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Table 1: Summary of the postings on Facebook Type Facebookinitiated topic

Teacherinitiated topic

Studentinitiated topic Students’ comments

Teacher’s comments

Number of topics Subcategory 8

Adding a new member in the group Informing the creation of the group Showing all participants in the group Posting writing prompts

David Li added MaryKao to the group.

YoYo Wu created the group.

Lee and 19 other people are in this group. Q2-2: As we have discussed the different forms for different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs), how will you apply the word families in your future writing?

Managing the course

Expressing wishes to students

台灣小吃英文對照表! (僅供參考)

Taiwanese-style delicacies English and Chinese comparison table. (Just for reference) This Facebook page is designed to help us discuss experiences or issues related to the learning of English writing… Good luck on the midterm, dear fellow students!

To other students

To the teacher

To students

To his posting

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Supplementing additional materials

Number of posts Example

@朱志加 I have the same problem, we can practice together, we can getting better together. :) Su Wei I have two difficulties in English writing. One is word spelling, and the other is my wordbook. Sometimes, I am not conscious of my word spelling mistakes. I don’t have many vocabularies to use in my writing. I think that’s why I failed on my intermediate GEPT writing test for twice. Lately. I have tried to memorize more vocabularies which are much advanced. @Su Wei, I am sure with your effort and passion, you will do better in GEPT next time. Let’s be patient with the progress =)) Lee: http://www.nciku.com.tw/space. php?uid=11264&do=thread&id=1325

Yu: A writing teacher’s perspective on using Facebook Students’ characteristics. Mr Lee mentioned that the students registered in the night program and worked during the day. Their limited time influenced their involvement in coursework. He noted, They were a special population of learners. Unlike students in the daytime program who have much time to do homework or review their learning, almost all of the students worked during the day and had a break at 5:00PM. They rushed to the class and arrived at sixish in the evening. …. They rarely had time to do their coursework. The students’ low proficiency pushed Mr Lee to change his class activities and to rely on Facebook to extend his class activities. Therefore, the students could have more chances to review the learning materials by participating in the discussion on Facebook. He explained, [a]t the very start of the semester, I spoke only English in class to discuss writing ideas, then I realized it did not work. I changed to use more Chinese. Plus, if the conversation in class is “synchronous” and “simultaneous,” they may carry more pressure on themselves. So if they have more time to ponder some writing ideas, that will be better. They prefer to do it at home without much pressure. If I ask them to answer me immediately, they will freak out. The students’ learning beliefs and goals also influenced their participation. For example, Mr Lee especially indicated one student who had good writing skills but seldom contributed to the discussion on Facebook. He did not post his comments until he was certain that his grammar, vocabulary, and content were perfect. Furthermore, the students just aimed to fulfill the assignment requirement (i.e., three postings). Once they achieved the requirement, they did not want to linger more on the writing page. He illustrated, [o]ne student was very special. Actually, his writing competency was good. But he would not post his comments until the comments looked really perfect. I just told him it’s OK to post whatever you have. Don’t be so self-conscious. You can write whatever you want. But he was not willing to do so. Most of the students seemed to just “care” about the quality of their own writing and if they “fulfilled the assignments”. Additionally, the students took most of the classes together in the night program. Their frequent in-class interaction decreased their motivation to do the online interaction since face-to-face communication was more efficient. It might explain why the students had little feedback for each other but tended to respond to the teacher’s writing prompts on Facebook. As Mr Lee pointed out, They got together every day because they took same classes. If they wanted to interact with each other, it’s quicker for them to do an “oral communication” instead of doing it on Facebook. The teacher’s scaffolding. To cope with the students’ initial low participation in the discussion on Facebook, Mr Lee used a variety of ways to encourage the students. He reminded them to complete the work on Facebook every class. Further, he used grades to push the students to join the discussion and designed a summary sheet for them to record what they did in the online discussion. Before the mid-term examination, he held a teacher-student 195

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conference to motivate the students to participate in the online discussion. He found that the conference had a big impact on the students, … because they got the teacher’s feedback in the conference. I would focus on their problems and tell them how to better improve their writing. Then they would also ask me how to write better in English. When giving feedback to the students on Facebook, Mr Lee would focus on the students’ ideas by giving a range of responses. He would sometimes quote from famous people’s articles, insert multimedia links, or provide explanations about linguistic issues troubling the majority of the students. He said, I usually focused on the macro level of their postings, so they can see that I have read their postings. The purpose was to keep the online discussion going on in these backand-forth responses. Because few students would give feedback to each other, at least I had to do so. I found the students had a lot of questions about punctuation. They also asked the punctuation questions in class. So when I can “address” their questions, I will “address” them on Facebook. Mr Lee swiftly adjusted his role in the online discussion from being an observer to a primary discussant. As an active discussant, he could lead the discussion and connect the course content with the discussion. He noticed, [i]n the beginning, I just thought I slightly moderated the discussion. But I realized that I need to play a key role in the discussion. I had to “proactively lead” the discussion. Furthermore, I had to include what we talked about in the online discussion in the faceto-face class. So the online discussion was a part of my class instruction. Teacher’s attitudes towards feedback to the students’ postings on Facebook. From the summary of the postings in Table 1, it was found that Mr Lee was the most active discussant on the writing page. He initiated writing prompts and frequently gave feedback in response to the students’ comments. According to Mr Lee, he was devoted to the online discussion not only to be a model for the students but also to establish a rapport with the students. He said, I hoped to give each of them responses “equally.” Then, the students would feel that the teacher was paying attention to what they wrote. I think s/he would notice my response if I did it. If s/he noticed the feedback, s/he would feel happier and participate more seriously in the discussion. [W]hen someone demonstrates that he or she is a reader in the discussion, at least writers “emotionally” feel better. They would think that what they did was more than just handed in assignments and made some postings on Facebook. I hoped I can be their loyal reader. But it’s public “readership”.

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Students’ perception about using Facebook in the writing class. The students did not fully favor the online discussion on Facebook when they began this semester. Furthermore, they had doubts if the online discussion was helpful to their writing. Mr Lee recalled a

Yu: A writing teacher’s perspective on using Facebook question from one student about the purpose of having the online discussion as their homework. Their uncertainty stemmed from the inexperience of doing online discussions in their writing class. The students’ doubts were reflected in their passive participation in the discussion. He pointed out, [o]ne student with good writing skills came to me and said that this approach might not fit us. He wanted me to reconsider doing activities on Facebook, such as peer feedback. In the beginning, the students were puzzled as to why they were required to do this stuff because they had no relevant experiences about online discussion. However, with Mr Lee’s promotion and devotion to the online discussion, the students gradually accepted it and became more favorable and willing to contribute to the discussion. From the feedback given by the same student who questioned the purpose of the online discussion, Mr Lee concluded that the students needed time to experience the online discussion on Facebook before they could get involved. He noted, After several weeks, he felt using Facebook was good. So the use of Facebook needs some time to let students get used to and experience this online learning community. So time is important.

The connection between face-to-face class and online discussion The second theme was concerned with the association between face-to-face meeting and virtual discussion activity. Mr Lee emphasized that the focus of the class should be on English writing. Facebook was only a support tool assisting students to better learn course content. He observed, [b]ecause our goal was to learn a language, Facebook became a facilitative tool. The core of teaching was still about how to make students engaged in and willing to participate in learning. After all, Facebook is a discussion-based platform. It must be connected with class instruction….. The class instruction still played an important role in the online discussion. This theme, the connection between face-to-face class and online discussion, involves three properties, including the class material, the use of Facebook, and the teacher’s perspective on technology use. These properties are explained in the following sections. The class material. The class content was very multifaceted. Mr Lee’s writing prompts and comments on the writing page on Facebook presented various topics concerning, for example, picture books, education, movies, and food. This diversity of discussion content was associated with his class. He explained, I had a variety of topics in my class. …The content of our class was “multi-cultural” and had different perspectives. My students came from all walks of life. Their opinions were interesting and respectful. We would discuss topics from fair and objective viewpoints but not from a single perspective. Mr Lee considered that the three-hour face-to-face meeting time with the students per week was insufficient. He wanted more opportunities to interact with the students because most

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of the class time was used for writing lectures to fulfill the students’ needs. Thus, he relied on Facebook to extend his class, and kept in contact with the students. He explained that “I think if we did not use Facebook, our interaction would become much limited. Now using Facebook allows the interaction to ‘expand’.” Mr Lee would adjust the number of weekly writing prompts on Facebook in terms of the students’ learning situations. For example, when the students did not catch up with the weekly discussion or they had to prepare for the mid-term examination, Mr Lee would postpone new writing prompts so that the students could keep up on their missing postings. This time allowance was considered a way to help students. He indicated, [a]fter Question 3, I just gave them more time to ‘make up’ the postings they were required to finish in previous weeks. And I stopped and did not assign new topics on Facebook because I found that the student can’t afford the workload anymore if I kept assigning new topics. Before the mid-term exam, the students had two weeks to “catch up” with the postings. Maybe when they had more time, they could “generate” their own ‘ideas’. The integration of Facebook. For Mr Lee, the adoption of Facebook in his class empowered the students to have more opportunities to refresh what they learned in class. All writing prompts on the writing page came from the learning material Mr Lee covered in class. In his opinion, Facebook was a great platform for the students to review course material. They could learn class content without the time and space limitation. He noted, I think that all content had to “link” to the class instruction when I posted something in the writing page. That is to say, the students would be able to review what they learn in class if they went to the writing page after class and completed after-class activities. They had to review what they learned and digested the learning materials again because the writing prompts were “related” to the textbook or clips played in class. However, Mr Lee did not over-rely on Facebook. He used it cautiously based on its features and teacher’s and students’ needs. For example, when addressing announcements to the whole class, he preferred to use his school e-mail rather than a message function on Facebook because e-mail could more securely deliver the information he sent. Although he spent much time on both his personal page and the class page on Facebook, he made a clear distinction between the two. Unlike his personal page where he socialized with his Facebook friends, the class page never became a social place for him and the students. The writing page confirms that all postings he made rarely concerned socializing with the students. He claimed, [w]riting page was learning-oriented. After all, the page was separated from my “personal” page on Facebook. I think I had a specific role in the page. I’m a teacher and hope that the students were learning from the page. We fulfilled the learning goals via technology tools. Therefore, the “social” part was minimized.

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The teacher’s perspective on technology use. Mr Lee specialized in learning technology. However, the generalization cannot be made that he firmly supported technology usage in language instruction. His experience of technology utilization changed along with the students’ participation and learning outcomes. He pointed out,

Yu: A writing teacher’s perspective on using Facebook [l]ike using technology, I must create a balance between curriculum and technology use in class. But I’m not sure how much technology can do to support language learning. It’s important to consider students’ individual differences and teaching/ learning goals. Mr Lee wanted to conduct research about computer-enhanced language learning, which was one of the reasons that he used technology in his class. He agreed that technology was not a panacea to overcome all problems that students encountered in language learning. It must be used appropriately in order to have a positive effect. He remarked, [h]onestly speaking, I don’t think it’s good to have too much or too little technology in class. We need to find a balance regarding technology use in class. It’s impossible to say technology can solve everything. But we have to face it and explore its potential. After all, it is the trend to deal with technology in our life. Computer-aided teaching and learning is worthy of more research. Mr Lee had a big concern about using Facebook for discussion activities. The students with low English proficiency were unable to differentiate wrong English usage from right and so a vicious cycle of using erroneous words or incorrect grammar was spread out among students’ comments. He recalled, [i]f the information in the online learning platform is incorrect, it might be possible that you would learn the incorrect word use but consider it right. After all, you are immersed in this environment. And the proficiency levels of the students fell between basic and intermediate. Furthermore, throughout the semester, the students did not explicitly express any negative opinions about the online discussion to him again. Mr Lee worried that the students might reveal their dissatisfaction in his teaching evaluation survey at the end of the semester. The writing class was small. Even though few students gave low scores in the evaluation, this could have had a big negative impact on the overall result. He expressed, I’m afraid they did not directly speak out their complaints to me because they might think their grade would be affected by their negative opinions about the Facebook use. But they would reveal their unhappiness in the “teacher evaluation” form when the semester was going to end. It’s a small class. Even one student can extremely lower my evaluation result.

The affordance of Facebook The third theme is the affordance of Facebook, which is concerned with what functions and features Facebook can provide for the class. It is comprised of six properties. Multimedia presentation. Considering the fact that students are inevitably late for class, Mr Lee would play videos at the beginning of the class for two purposes: to wait for the late students and to warm up upcoming class activities. Therefore, Mr Lee took advantage of many multimedia resources on the Internet and presented them alongside various topics for class discussion. Facebook provides a function of embedding multimedia in postings. [T]he videos were a “warm-up” activity. It was also a time for them to prepare themselves

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A platform for submitting homework. Unlike most people using Facebook to seek interpersonal interactions, the students had little private communication on the Facebook writing page because they frequently met with each other in many classes. They viewed the writing page as a place to hand in their assignment. Mr Lee observed, [t]hey just viewed this writing page as a platform for turning in their assignments. So even though they encountered learning difficulties, they didn’t want to use Facebook as a means for communication and discussion of possible solutions. Ease of use. One motivating factor of Facebook usage in the class is its “ubiquity.” At the beginning of the semester, Mr Lee made a background survey about how frequently the students used Facebook and found that the majority of the students often used it. Therefore, Facebook was not a new tool for them and the students could easily adopt it without difficulty. Timeliness. Another feature of Facebook is its timeliness. Mr Lee highly praised Facebook because it automatically notified him when any student made new comments in the writing page. Then, he would go to the page and read the comments. He stated “[i]f there was a new posting on the writing page, the Facebook system would notify me. Then I would go and see. So I checked the page almost every day and saw who posted what.” Uncertainty if students read postings or not. Mr Lee reported one disadvantage of using Facebook: the incapability of checking whether or not the students read the postings on the writing page. Although he posted English writing rules on the class page, he still had to create handouts and go over the rules again in class. According to Mr Lee, this was the only way to make sure that the rules were actually presented to the students. He said, When I found some writing mistakes the students made in their postings, I would ‘address’ them on Facebook. But I’m not sure how many students read my postings. I still needed to make a handout and explain correct writing rules in class. I’m not sure if the students actually read posts in our page when they log on Facebook…. It’s hard to get this information because reading is voluntary.

Summary and conclusion

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This study sought to answer the question: What was the experience of an English writing teacher using Facebook to support efl students? Based on the analysis of the postings on the Facebook class writing page as well as the interview transcripts, the following three themes emerged as the features of the classroom adoption of Facebook: students’ participation, the connection between class and Facebook, and the affordances of Facebook. The identified themes and respective underlying properties in the study were to provide us with a lens through which to understand how the teacher made use of Facebook as a learning platform and encouraged his students to increase their Facebook participation.

Yu: A writing teacher’s perspective on using Facebook The study focused on one teacher, and needs to be replicated with a larger teacher sample. Nevertheless, the fact that the study was carried out in an intact classroom offers an ecologically valid perspective on incorporating social networking sites (Facebook in this study). It also highlights the teacher’s perspective on the value and mechanism of using Facebook in his classrooms, describing how he designed class tasks based on students’ needs. Taking individual students’ learning situations into consideration, the teacher took advantage of Facebook affordance to connect between the inside and outside of the class for creating more opportunities of language use. In future studies, researchers might include voices from students by interviewing them, and could investigate if both instructors and students have similar opinions about Facebook usage in their class. Also, researchers can measure students’ English writing abilities and attitudes towards English writing before and after Facebook discussion so as to confirm the efficacy of Facebook use in students’ writing development. Thus, a more comprehensive blueprint for the integration of Facebook in language class can be delineated.

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Long, M. H. (1985). Input and second language acquisition theory. In S. Gass and C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 377–393). Rowley, ma: Newbury House. Lomicka, L. & Lord, G. (2012). A tale of tweets: Analyzing microblogging among language learners. System, 40(1), 48–63. McCarthy, J. (2010). Blended learning environments: Using social networking sites to enhance the first year experience. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26(6), 729–740. Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/mccarthy.pdf Mitchell, K. (2012). A social tool: Why and how esol students use Facebook. calico Journal, 29(3), 471–493. Pasfield-Neofitou, S. (2011). Online domains of language use: Second language learners’ experiences of virtual community and foreignness. Language Learning & Technology, 15(2), 92–108. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/june2011/pasfieldneofitou.pdf Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, ca: Sage Publications. Peterson, M. (2009). Learner interaction in synchronous cmc: A sociocultural perspective. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 22(4), 303–321. Shin, D.-S. (2006). esl students’ computer-mediated communication practices: Context configuration. Language Learning & Technology, 10(3), 65-84. Retrieved from http://llt. msu.edu/vol10num3/shin/ Stake, R. E. (2000). Case studies. In Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 435–454). Thousand Oaks, ca: Sage. Vinagre, M. (2005). Fostering language learning via email: An English-Spanish exchange. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 18(5), 369–388. Warschauer, M., & Healey, D. (1998). Computers and language learning: An overview. Language Teaching, 31, 57–71.

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Tasks for easily modifiable virtual environments Robert Swier Kyoto University swier.stanley.26z@st.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Recent studies of learner interaction in virtual worlds have tended to select basic tasks involving open-ended communication. There is evidence that such tasks are supportive of language acquisition, however it may also be beneficial to consider more complex tasks. Research in task-based learning has identified features such as non-linguistic goals that are seen as promoting rich learner interaction. In this preliminary work, we report on the development of goal-orientated tasks for the virtual environment Minecraft, offering a qualitative examination of learner interaction using three such tasks. Results show the potential for easily modifiable platforms such as Minecraft to support the implementation of goal-orientated tasks for virtual environments. Keywords: Learner Interaction, Virtual Worlds, Task Design, Minecraft, Second Life

Introduction

Regular Paper

An increasing number of empirical studies have appeared in academic literature in recent years that investigate the use of 3-D multiplayer games and other virtual worlds as environments that may be conducive to second language acquisition. Key factors for this increasing interest include technological advances that make the development and use of such software more practical, as well as developments in cognitive, interactionist, and sociocultural theories of second language acquisition (sla) concerning types of interaction that are theorized to facilitate language learning and which are seen as achievable in these environments. Following sla theory, researchers have suggested a number of benefits to participation 203

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in computer games and virtual worlds, including exposure to comprehensible input and opportunities to negotiate meaning with other interlocutors (Garcia-Carbonell, Rising, Montero, & Watts, 2001); opportunities for goal-directed target-language use and membership in game-related social communities (Thorne, Black, & Sykes, 2009); and opportunities for target language interaction that is both learner-centered and collaborative (Zhao & Lai, 2009). As research in this area of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is still at an early stage, the principle goal for many empirical studies conducted to date has been the necessary task of identifying and verifying such affordances for language acquisition across the range of available platforms, including commercial massively multiplayer online role-playing games (mmorpgs), games designed specifically for educational purposes, and virtual worlds (see Peterson (2013) for a recent summary). Typically, such studies assign a large part of their focus to providing an analysis of the linguistic and social interactions of language learners as they engage tasks set in the virtual world by game designers or by the researchers or educators themselves. It is this latter group of researcher-designed tasks for virtual worlds to which we will turn our focus in this study. We begin by briefly examining the types of tasks that have been used previously in significant empirical studies of virtual worlds. We will note that while the tasks described in the literature have helped shed light on important aspects of learner interaction in these environments, the range of the tasks themselves appears to be largely focused on open-ended communication. After considering some factors that may have influenced the design of tasks in previous work, we offer motivation for the use of a broader range of tasks types, specifically those incorporating clear non-linguistic goals. We then propose the use of Minecraft, a somewhat novel virtual world for language acquisition studies, along with three initial tasks. We present a qualitative analysis of the interactions of six undergraduate students at a Japanese university as they solve the tasks in pairs, and finally we discuss the results of the study and offer our conclusions and notes on future work. Regarding terminology, we must make an important clarification before continuing. As we discuss various multi-user 3-D virtual environments, we will reserve the term game, when used in a technical sense, to refer only to those platforms that explicitly contain elements of gamification, such as a narrative, built-in objectives, and levels or other markers of achievement. Although such games do incorporate a virtual environment, we will reserve the term virtual environment (or virtual world) to refer only to those platforms that do not prominently incorporate such elements of gamification. In contrast to games, virtual worlds generally grant users significant power to create content and modify the environment. Thus, in studies of learner interaction based in virtual worlds, it is incumbent upon the researcher to define the tasks that will be under consideration, whereas studies involving games have the option of observing the interaction of learners as they engage the platformâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s built-in objectives.

Background

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Studies of learner interaction in virtual worlds represent a somewhat smaller section of the available literature in comparison to work that examines games. Table 1 summarizes the chosen platform and researcher-designated tasks of 14 significant and recent studies. As can be seen from the table, most studies have chosen to explore several different tasks, and a majority of tasks involve some form of open-ended computer-mediated discourse between participants. In the study by Toyoda and Harrison (2002), for instance, using the

Swier: Tasks for easily modifiable virtual environments Table 1: Summary of tasks in virtual worlds. Study

Virtual World

Toyoda and Harrison (2002) Peterson (2005)

Active Worlds 3-D Engage in free discourse with a native partner

Peterson (2006)

Deutschmann, Panichi, and Molka-Danielsen (2009) Deutschmann and Panichi (2009) Peterson (2010)

Wehner, Gump, and Downey (2011) Jauregi, Canto, de Graaff, Koenraad, and Moonen (2011)

Cornillie, Clarebout, and Desmet (2012) Peterson (2012)

DuQuette and Hann (2010) Milton, Jonsen, Hirst, and Lindenburn (2012) Liou (2012) Liang (2012)

Description of Tasks

Active Worlds 3-D Opinion exchange: â&#x20AC;&#x153;What are the best ways to master English?â&#x20AC;? Active Worlds 3-D Jigsaw picture arrangement Discuss options in selecting a gift Exchange opinions about ideal marriage partners Second Life Self-introduction role play Give short presentation Second Life Engage in discourse about personal topics Give short presentation Second Life Explain virtual world features to peer Opinion exchange about flu outbreak Give short presentation Second Life Interact with other users and submit chat transcripts to instructor Second Life Complete questionnaire and discuss cultural differences and similarities Explore and discuss a location in the virtual world Discuss areas explored in virtual world with native partner Discuss overall experience in virtual world Custom platform Complete interactive automated dialogs with corrective feedback, related to introducing people and business networking. Second Life Treasure hunt Opinion exchange about improving language education in Japan Opinion exchange about a flu outbreak Short presentation Second Life Provide directions to a specific location Arrange furniture in a room Second Life Situational role-play activities (bank, travel agency, museum, supermarket, etc.) Second Life Orientation to virtual world and free discourse Peer-review editing; tour of virtual world Second Life Role-playing, including: visual puzzle solving, verbal duels, reading poems, treasure hunt.

chat feature of Active Worlds 3-D, learners of Japanese were tasked with engaging in free, open-ended discourse with a native partner that was unrestricted to any particular topic. Later work using Second Life by Wehner et al. (2011) and Liou (2012) also incorporated 205

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similar free and unconstrained discourse tasks for learners. Studies by Peterson (2005, 2006, 2010, 2012), Deutschmann and Panichi (2009), and Jauregi et al. (2011) incorporated tasks in which learners engaged in open-ended discourse centered on particular topics, including the best ways to learn English, ideal marriage partners, personal topics, a flu outbreak, cultural differences, and language education in Japan. In three studies – Peterson (2010), Jauregi et al. (2011), and Liou (2012) – learners were directed to discuss aspects of the virtual world itself. In studies by Deutschmann et al. (2009), Milton et al. (2012), and Liang (2012), role play scenarios were developed to cover such situations as important self-introductions, daily life scenarios, and characters engaged in linguistic play such as verbal duals and poem recitation. Finally, Deutschmann and Panichi (2009), Deutschmann et al. (2009), and Peterson (2010, 2012) incorporated tasks involving the delivery of short presentations. Only three of these 14 studies – Peterson (2006), DuQuette and Hann (2010), and Liang (2012) – incorporate tasks involving definite non-linguistic goals. The study by Liang includes a task where a group of participants look at a visual pattern in the virtual world and try to guess its meaning correctly in order to continue on to other activities. The study by Peterson incorporates a jigsaw task in which pairs of participants each receive half of a set of six pictures depicting a series of events, and must then describe the pictures to each other and reconstruct the story line, as well as a decision-making task in which pairs of participants receive a list of possible gifts and must then come to mutual agreement on a single choice. DuQuette and Hann include a direction-giving task where one participant studies a route that must then be explained to and followed by a partner, and a furniture arrangement task in which one partner directs another to move furniture in a room to achieve a pre-determined arrangement.

Figure 1. Screen shot of Second Life with the chat window open.

Factors that have affected task design As mentioned, the majority of tasks in recent studies of virtual worlds have tended to

206 involve participants engaging in various types of open-ended dialogs. Perhaps one factor

Swier: Tasks for easily modifiable virtual environments that has contributed to the abundance of this type of task is the view, expressed by Wehner et al. (2011) and others, that virtual worlds are primarily social spaces. It is thus not necessarily the case that tasks for such spaces will seek to be goal-orientated or even be exploitive of the fact that they are being implemented in a virtual world. Recognition of the social context for learning dates at least to the work of Vygotsky (1978), and has been influential in various frameworks for language acquisition in computer-mediated contexts (Hampel, 2006, 2010; Warschauer, 1997). A clear purpose of many tasks, then, is to promote social interaction among learners or between learners and more competent speakers of the target language. Still, the lack of task variety given the vast possibilities of virtual worlds may indicate the presence of another factor. All of the studies in Table 1 except for DuQuette and Hann (2010) appear to have used participants for whom proficiency in the virtual world could not be assumed. In such cases, the platform’s learning curve may be significant. Consider Second Life, which was the platform of choice for most of the studies in Table 1. Second Life provides a powerful and highly customizable environment. Such power, however, inevitably leads to complexity. Completing even basic tasks such as moving, chatting, and interacting with objects requires familiarity with a user interface featuring an extensive system of menus and pop-up controls, as shown in Figure 1. Even in its most simple form, the user interface presents over two-dozen icons and menu items, including information about a custom currency system. Wehner et al. (2011), for example, devote two hours of class time to instructing students in Second Life’s most basic operations. Completing tasks at higher levels of difficulty, such as creating objects or modifying the environment, may first require several days of tutorials or other engagement with the platform to gain the necessary expertise (DuQuette, 2011). Ensuring that user-built elements are kept persistent in the world and are safe from other users requires familiarity with the complicated rules of a virtual real estate market, and possibly the payment of monthly fees to Linden Labs (the publisher of Second Life). Creating objects in Second Life that respond to other users or the environment requires users to script those actions manually using a custom programming language, something that is likely to be beyond the skill and interest of all but the most devoted users. While such power very likely could be used creatively and effectively in sla contexts, the relative lack of such uses in the literature suggests that for many studies it is simply impractical. It is worth noting that DuQuette and Hann (2010), the only study in Table 1 to include proficient users, was also the only study to involve modification of the environment. Otherwise, the complexity of advanced operations, particularly in Second Life, appears very likely to have discouraged the investigation of goal-orientated tasks that involve more significant interaction with virtual environments, and instead contributed to the focus on tasks involving open-ended communication.

Potential benefits of more complex tasks There may be benefits for learners in the exploration of more complex tasks. Observing that learning is not inevitable in virtual environments, Milton et al. (2012) have noted that “the challenge for language learning in these environments is to engineer tasks which require learners and native speakers to interact and where a condition of success in the task is the meaningful use of language” (pg. 101). Although interaction with a native speaker may not strictly be necessary for learning to occur, and although meaningful use of language may be not so much a condition of success itself but an emergent requirement of a task’s

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success conditions, the point that task design greatly effects interaction is well taken. In the substantial literature on the use of tasks in communicative sla, goal-orientation and gaps in information have been widely seen as key components of task design, in part because they are thought to promote negotiation of meaning (Long (1996); and see overviews by Bygate, Skehan, and Swain (2001) and Ellis (2003), among others). Goals have even been included in the vary definition of task, as with Bygate et al., “a task is an activity which requires learners to use language, with an emphasis on meaning, to attain an objective” (pg. 11). As noted previously, some virtual world studies have included tasks of this type. In particular, the study by DuQuette and Hann (2010) was further investigating the work of Peterson (2006) on the relationship between task type and level of negotiation in virtual worlds. Peterson was influenced by the work of Blake (2000) and Smith (2003), who made similar investigations using chat software. All of these studies chose tasks situated within the framework developed by Pica, Kanagy, and Falodun (1993) on types of tasks that are most likely to promote negotiation. In this framework, Pica et al. identify five types of tasks – jigsaw puzzles, exchanging information, solving problems, making decisions, and exchanging opinions – that are expected to promote negotiation of meaning to various degrees. Of all these task types, opinion exchanges and other types of tasks involving openended dialog are expected to promote negotiation the least. In consideration of this, and given the striking bias in the recent literature towards open-ended tasks, it may be time to further consider tasks of a broader variety as researchers continue to investigate learner interaction in virtual worlds.

Figure 2. A screenshot of Minecraft, showing a few items in the user’s inventory.

The Study

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Our primary objective in this work is to consider goal-orientated communicative tasks for virtual worlds, and by way of doing so we will adopt Minecraft as our platform of choice. As both the platform and the style of communicative task presented in this work remain

Swier: Tasks for easily modifiable virtual environments under-represented in the literature on virtual worlds, this exploratory work will adopt a qualitative approach in seeking to address the following two research questions: 1. How suitable is Minecraft as an environment for goal-orientated communicative tasks? More specifically, to what degree does the platform address some of the issues that appear to have discouraged task variety in other virtual worlds, such as the level of skill necessary to modify the environment for the creation or completion of tasks with non-linguistic goals? 2. What kinds of examples of feature-rich interaction, if any, are present in learner dialog generated during the completion of goal-orientated tasks in Minecraft? And, how do these findings compare with previous studies of goal-orientated tasks in virtual worlds?

Methodology Arena for tasks: Minecraft Minecraft is a free roaming 3-D virtual world developed by the Swedish studio Mojang AB and recently acquired by Microsoft. The software has been publically available since 2009, and a full release was issued in 2011. A screenshot is shown in Figure 2. Free-roaming worlds (also called “open worlds”) allow the user to explore an environment in a nearly unrestricted and arbitrary way, free from predetermined paths, destinations, and invisible walls. Additionally, Minecraft is also a “sandbox”, as users are free to modify the environment and decide for themselves what they would like to do. Minecraft begins with the creation of a procedurally generated world of identically sized blocks representing various types of material that bears some comparison to a world made of Lego (Duncan, 2011). This is in sharp contrast to a platform such as Second Life, which attempts a higher degree of graphic realism and in which the environment is almost entirely constructed by hand, rather than by an algorithm incorporating an element of randomness. Unlike some online-only platforms such as World Of Warcraft, Second Life, or Active Worlds, Minecraft allows individuals to maintain their own public or private servers, and indeed there is no single developer-run server to host all active users. As such, Minecraft can even be used in a single-player mode on a local machine, or in multi-player mode on a local network. This flexibility in server administration, combined with the ability to randomly generate an arbitrary number of vast worlds, enables Minecraft to dramatically simplify the process by which users can modify the virtual environment. Perhaps due in part to these qualities, Minecraft appears to be attracting increasing interest in its potential applicability for education, seeing use in some form in thousands of schools worldwide (Muffett, 2014). A dominant usage appears to be as providing context and material for writing or literature courses for students working in their native language (Schifter & Cipollone, 2013), however use in language acquisition contexts has also been suggested (Hausrath, 2012; York, 2014).

Tasks and task features In this study, we propose three initial cooperative tasks with non-linguistic goals to explore task creation in Minecraft. The tasks are designed to include goals that involve some exploration and modification of the environment, while also remaining suitable for novices who lack experience with Minecraft or similar platforms. Additionally, the tasks are designed 209

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to expand beyond open-ended communication and incorporate features seen in the framework of Pica et al. (1993) as being more likely to promote negotiation of meaning. The tasks were also designed to use an unmodified, basic version of Minecraft, thus avoiding massive infrastructure construction requiring advanced skills. In particular, the tasks take advantage of the structures and environment generated as part of the Minecraft world. All three tasks were implemented in the same world and designed for two participants. Figure 3 shows an overview map of the task world, indicating the approximate locations and walking destinations of the three tasks. The area covered by the overview is relatively large, requiring approximately five minutes to travel horizontally from side to side at Minecraft’s normal walking pace. The origin point (or spawn point), where users enter the world, is directly in front of a building where the first task takes place.

Figure 3. Overview of task world showing approximate locations and movements.

Task one: Classic information gap

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Task one presents a classic information gap (Prabhu, 1987), and bears some similarity to the furniture arrangement task of DuQuette and Hann (2010). The participants are faced with a building containing two rooms, labeled “A” and “B”. Both rooms contain eight differently colored blocks and are identical except for the arrangement of the blocks. One participant takes the role of entering room B where he or she is able to move the blocks. The other participant climbs to the top of the building where both rooms are visible through an open roof. The player who can see both rooms must then observe and direct the player in room B to arrange the blocks so that they are the same as in room A. The task is complete when both rooms are arranged identically. Modification of the environment necessary to

Swier: Tasks for easily modifiable virtual environments construct the task involved simply placing material to serve as the building and placing material to serve as the colored blocks in each room.

Task two: A short journey Task two was developed as preparation for task three. The participants are told to find a location called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fort Wild Horseâ&#x20AC;?, which in actuality is a small procedurally generated village a short distance from the origin point. The participants must find a trail with a sign pointing toward the village, journey to the village where they must find a chest containing some gold, and then bring the gold back to the origin. The participants must travel together, and along the journey are several obstacles and uncertainties, encouraging collaboration and mutual decision-making. This is again intended to promote rich linguistic interaction, including negotiation. Construction of the task involved locating a nearby village, placing some obstacles as well as a sign and other material to mark the trail, and placing a chest containing some gold in the village.

Task three: A long journey Task three is a journey similar to task two, however it is much longer and involves the collection of more items. Traveling together, the participants must visit three procedurally generated structures: another small village where they must collect some diamonds, a castle where they must collect some clocks, and a pyramid where they must collect some compasses. After collecting all of the items, the participants must make their way back to the origin point. This journey involves several challenges, including some obstacles, and a larger search area to find both the items that need to be collected and the trailheads leading to the next destination. The trails are much longer than in the previous task and in some cases are poorly marked to create uncertainty. Participants were asked to stay together, requiring mutual agreement on which direction to travel. Construction of the task involved locating some suitable structures on the map, placing the items to be collected, and marking the trail. As the final item to be collected was quite far from the origin, an underground walking tunnel was constructed to provide for a faster and more efficient return trip. Although Minecraft has methods for high-speed transportation, this approach did not require additional instruction to the participants.

Participants The tasks were tested with six first or second-year undergraduate students at a Japanese university studying English as a second language. All participants were volunteers and the first language for all participants was Japanese. Details of the participants are summarized in Table 2. Student 1 was significantly older than the other participants and had returned to university to change careers. The toeic scores provide some indication of the participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; English proficiency levels, with Students 1, 3, and 6 having intermediate level proficiency, and Students 2 and 4 having basic-level proficiency. Student 5 did not provide a toeic score or test score from another standardized English proficiency test, though observation during the session suggested that her proficiency was approximately equal to Student 4. The participants were arranged in the following pairs: student 1 with student 2; student 3 with student 4; and student 5 with student 6. Participants were questioned about their 211

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prior gaming experience in pre-study questionnaires and interviews. One student reported having no gaming experience, while the student with ‘minimal’ experience reported having only a few instances of exposure to computer games. Those with ‘some’ gaming experience reported having more than a few experiences playing a variety of games on several different platforms. The student with ‘significant’ experience reported playing a wide variety of computer games regularly during childhood, though not in recent years. No participant was currently a regular player, and all were first-time users of Minecraft. Table 2: Summary of participants. Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4 Student 5 Student 6

Age

Gender

TOEIC Score

Gaming Experience

29 19 20 20 20 20

Male Male Female Female Female Female

740 530 680 400 Not given 650

Significant Some Some Some Minimal None

Procedures

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Data collection occurred during a single session for each pair, lasting approximately two hours. The start state of the virtual environment was identical for each session. In addition to completion of the tasks, the session included pre- and post-questionnaires, a Minecraft tutorial lasting approximately 20 minutes, and semi-structured interviews at the end of the session. The tutorial served to introduce the multi-user environment and covered basic operations necessary for completing the tasks, including how to move, jump, climb ladders, collect items, place items, and dig. After the tutorial, the participants were asked to review a document containing brief descriptions of the three tasks, and begin Task One when they felt they were ready. After the completion of each task, the participants were asked to move on to the next task until all tasks were completed. All three pairs of participants completed the three tasks in approximately 75 minutes. This session length is comparable to other studies of virtual worlds from Table 1, which generally range from 60 minutes (Toyoda and Harrison (2002), for example), to 90 minutes (Peterson (2005) and others). As with many games and virtual worlds, it is not possible in Minecraft to simultaneously communicate by text and control an avatar in the environment because the keyboard is used to control many basic movements and other operations. In order to allow the participants to communicate while also controlling their avatar, the participants were asked to communicate verbally. To facilitate this, the participants were placed in the same room and seated opposite to each other. The participants could see and speak to each other, but could not see the other participant’s computer screen. During the sessions, the researcher also operated an avatar in the environment. The researcher’s avatar was set to a separate game mode, thus allowing it to fly and obtain a view of the activities of both participants on the ground from an overhead third-person perspective. Screen capture software was used to record this viewpoint as well as the audio exchanges of the participants via an external microphone. This third avatar mostly remained as a neutral observer, but did intervene when necessary. For instance, in one of

Swier: Tasks for easily modifiable virtual environments the sessions an avatar died accidently during the completion of a task, causing the character to re-spawn at the origin point, far away from the other participant. The researcher’s avatar was useful in guiding the re-spawned character back to the current task area in a timely manner so that the task could resume. As interaction between the researcher’s avatar and the participants was otherwise kept to a minimum, this was not expected to have a significant impact on the learner interaction, and may be comparable to the physical presence of a teacher or researcher in the same room during learner interaction sessions.

Results and discussion Participant interaction After the sessions were completed, the video recordings were transcribed and analyzed for examples of the kinds of interaction that have been presented in the literature as being supportive of language acquisition. As previously mentioned, the degree to which a task is expected to promote negotiation of meaning has played a particularly prominent role in the evaluation of tasks in the literature. As such, we select three examples of negotiation of meaning from the transcripts to illustrate the interaction that was observed. Dealing with an inadequate description. In the exchange shown below, from task one, Student A is the player who is able to observe both rooms containing colored blocks and who is tasked with directing Student B in how to arrange the blocks in one of the rooms. In line 3, Student B tries to indicate where the red block should be placed, saying “Near the Room A. Side of the pink side… pink side wall.” Player B is attempting to indicate that the red block should be placed along the wall that is both close to room A and also close to a previously placed pink block. This description fails to convey the message successfully, and in lines 4–11 the participants progress through a series of negotiations, including: a clarification of the meaning of pink side (lines 3–6), and a clarification of the reference point of a directional description (lines 9–11). In line 11 Student A is finally successful in indicating which wall should be the new location of the red block, finding a simple and unambiguous description after several attempts and revisions. (1)

Next is red and white.

Red and white? Now I have red block.

Near the Room A. Side of the pink side…pink side wall.

Pink side wall?

Pink side of wall.

Do you mean pink block?

Yeah. Pink block, this side wall.

Do you mean this? <walks to location>

No no no no…Left…Left wall.

Left? I don’t know which direction you mean.

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Uh, sorry. For you, back wall. Back.

Go straight <B reaches the location intended by A>

Maybe there you have to put the red box. On the wall.

Correcting a misheard term. In this exchange, from task two, the participants have read a description of the task indicating that they must find a village called Fort Wild Horse. In line 2, Student B immediately misunderstands horse as house. The misunderstanding persists until line 9 when Student A offers a correction. Student B requests clarification of the meaning of horse in line 10 by repeating the term. In line 11, Student A offers the explanation that “Fort Wild Horse” is the name of the destination town. Still not understanding, Student B apologizes in line 12 and asks for clarification from the researcher. The researcher and Student A confirm in lines 13–14 that the goal of the task is to find a village named “Fort Wild Horse”. In line 15, Student B for the first time acknowledges that the goal is to find a town, and enhances this success by immediately suggesting a possible method for locating it (by looking from a high place). (2)

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So, we have to find where Fort Wild Horse is. The town.

Fort Wild House…we have to find?

Yes.

I go there.

Yes?

I find…I research there. Where, where…Where, where…

Do you know where it is?

I’m nearby a pond. Mr. Bob? We can’t break the…uh…the house is in the fence? <referring to the researcher>

Not “house” but “horse”.

Horse?

The name of the town. Look at this. <Refers to printed instructions> “Fort Wild Horse”. It’s name of the town.

Ah, I’m sorry. Horse? <Looks to researcher>

That’s just the name of the town.

Yeah. So, we have to find the town.

Town? Maybe we have to go to the high place.

Resolving a task-level misunderstanding. In this example, again from task one, Student A is tasked with checking the target positions of the blocks and instructing Student B in how to arrange them. Student A seems to begin the exchange not understanding the goal of the task. In line 2, Student B explains that Student A needs to describe the blocks in Room A, but does not specify what attributes are important. In line 3, Student A asks about the number of blocks. After Student B indicates in line 4 that color is also important, Student

Swier: Tasks for easily modifiable virtual environments A provides a full enumeration of the color and number of each block in Room A. Student B seems to recognize that this information is not helpful (line 6), but accepts the information and provides a more precise description of the task in line 8, this time indicating that her task is to move the blocks. Student A continues to misunderstand what information is relevant, and again provides a list of the blocks (line 11). It is not until Student B specifically asks about location in line 14, her third attempt at explaining the task, that Student A finally understands the goal of the task. (3)

How…how do I do?

You…you should tell me…how blocks…is there in Room A.

Ah! Okay. Make the number of them?

And color.

Color. Black is one. Red is one. Blue is one. Purple is one.

Eh?

Pink is one. Green is one. Orange is one. White is one.

This is Room B. I will move blocks in this room and I want to know how about Room A.

How about in Room A? Room A is uh…black…So, the color?

Color?

Ah, okay. Green is one. Purple is one. Orange is one. Pink is one. Red is one. White is one. Black is one. Blue is one. That’s all.

Okay. It’s same. Yes…it’s same.

Yes.

How about place?

Ah! Ahhh!

Participant attitudes In order to explore the attitudes of the participants towards completing goal-orientated tasks in Minecraft, the participants were asked to complete post-session questionnaires and brief semi-structured interviews. The questionnaires included open-ended questions as well as a number of Likert items using a five-point scale: (5) strongly agree, (4) agree, (3) no opinion, (2) disagree, and (1) strongly disagree. Every participant positively indicated that they did in fact enjoy the session, with the items I enjoyed using the game and I would like to play this game again in the future receiving mean scores of 4.7 and 4.3 respectively. Additionally, the item In the game, I could speak English more freely than in a regular class also received a high mean score of 4.7. Interestingly, although all pairs of participants managed to complete the tasks in roughly the same amount of time, the item The game was easy to use received a score of 3.3, with four participants selecting ‘agree’ and the two participants with the least gaming and computer experience rating the item as ‘disagree’. In interviews and responses to the open-ended questions, all participants indicated that 215

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they felt communication during the tasks could help improve their English ability and that the session provided opportunities for speaking English and working together. As one participant wrote, “Though we sometimes spoke English incorrectly, we had a lot of chances to practice to speak”. Three of the six participants did comment on the length of the tasks and the amount of walking, with one participant noting that there was little to talk about when walking in the tasks involving journeys, saying, “we didn’t talk much while we were just waking, I think the time should be shortened”. This observation was confirmed by the transcript data, which showed that relatively little linguistic interaction took place at times during the tasks when the participants were not facing an immediate problem or decision point.

Conclusions and future work

216

This preliminary study sought to investigate the suitability of Minecraft as a virtual environment for the implementation of goal-orientated communicative tasks, and the ways in which such tasks in Minecraft would encourage features of learner interaction similar to what has been observed in previous studies. In regards to the first research question, Minecraft does indeed appear to be a suitable platform for developing communicative tasks for language learners. The streamlined interface and block-style simplicity of building in the environment, combined with the ability for users to generate new worlds arbitrarily and maintain independent servers, appeared to offer significant advantages over Second Life and other virtual worlds that have been focused on in the existing literature. Three goaloriented tasks were developed with modest effort, requiring the participants to use basic operations to cooperatively explore and modify the environment around them. A short tutorial was found to be sufficient for all three pairs of participants – first-time Minecraft users, some of whom reported having little to no experience with computer games – to complete the tasks successfully and with positive attitudes overall. Regarding the second research question, the analysis in the previous section focused on examples of negotiation of meaning, as this feature has factored prominently in the influential task framework offered by Pica et al. (1993). The analysis found that negotiation did occur during the completion of the three tasks, providing at least preliminary evidence that the tasks were functioning as intended. Thus, the results presented here are largely in agreement with those reported by Peterson (2006) and DuQuette and Hann (2010), though in this case the users were novices in the platform and yet were still able to achieve a significant degree of interaction with the virtual environment itself. Additionally, the transcript analysis and feedback from participants indicated that linguistic interaction was greatly decreased during periods in which the participants were not faced with an immediate goal of solving a problem or making a decision, further underscoring the role that goals may play in promoting linguistic interaction. It must be emphasized that this study is small, consisting of only a single session with three pairs of participants and three tasks. Additionally, some conclusions were drawn from data self-reported by the participants, which could potentially present issues with reliability. A study incorporating a larger number of participants working over several sessions is planned for future work. This larger study will provide an opportunity to explore a greater variety of goal-orientated tasks, possibly including project-style tasks that may persist over several sessions or scenarios in which groups of learners have greater freedom to choose their own activities. A larger study may also provide an opportunity to explore

Swier: Tasks for easily modifiable virtual environments ways in which goal-orientated tasks for Minecraft could play a role in sla classroom contexts. Finally, although the use of Minecraft in this work was motivated by the ease of task creation and user modification of the virtual environment, other possible areas for future investigation include the use of Minecraft as a social arena, similar to studies of other virtual worlds.

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Long, M. H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W. Ritchie & T. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition. San Diego: Academic Press. Milton, J., Jonsen, S., Hirst, S., & Lindenburn, S. (2012). Foreign language vocabulary development through activities in an online 3D environment. The Language Learning Journal, 40(1), 99–112. Muffett, T. (2014, July 27, 2014). Should teachers use Minecraft in our classrooms? bbc News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27936946 Peterson, M. (2005). Learning Interaction in an Avatar-based Virtural Environment: A Preliminary Study. Paccall Journal, 1(1), 29–40. Peterson, M. (2006). Learner interaction management in an avatar and chat-based virtual world. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 19(1), 79–103. Peterson, M. (2010). Learner participation patterns and strategy use in Second Life: An exploratory case study. Recall, 22(3), 273–292. Peterson, M. (2012). efl learner collaborative interaction in Second Life. Recall, 24(1), 20–39. Peterson, M. (2013). Computer Games and Language Learning. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Pica, T., Kanagy, R., & Falodun, J. (1993). Choosing and using communication tasks for second language research and instruction. In G. Crookes & S. Gass (Eds.), Tasks and second language learning (pp. 9–34). Clevedon, uk: Multilingual Matters. Prabhu, N. S. (1987). Second language pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schifter, C., & Cipollone, M. (2013). Minecraft as a teaching tool: One case study. Paper presented at the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2013, Chesapeake, va. Smith, B. (2003). Computer-mediated negotiated interaction: An expanded model. The Modern Language Journal, 87(1), 38–57. Thorne, S. L., Black, R. W., & Sykes, J. M. (2009). Second language use, socialization, and learning in Internet interest communities and online gaming. The Modern Language Journal, 93(Focus Issue). Toyoda, E., & Harrison, R. (2002). Categorization of text chat communication between learners and native speakers of Japanese. Language Learning and Technology, 6(1), 82–99. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind and society. Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press. Warschauer, M. (1997). Computer-mediated collaborative learning: theory and practice. The Modern Language Journal, 81(4), 470–481. Wehner, A. K., Gump, A. W., & Downey, S. (2011). The effects of Second Life on the motivation of undergraduate students learning a foreign language. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 24(3), 277–289. York, J. (2014). Minecraft and Language Learning. In C. Gallagher (Ed.), Minecraft in the classroom: Ideas, inspiration, and student projects for teachers. San Francisco: Peachpit. Zhao, Y., & Lai, C. (2009). Massively multi-player online role playing games (mmorpgs) and foreign language education. In R. Ferdig (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education (pp. 402–421). New York: idea Group.

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Swier: Tasks for easily modifiable virtual environments

Author biodata Robert Swier is a PhD student in the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies at Kyoto University and a lecturer at the Center for Research and Educational Development in Higher Education at Kagawa University. He has graduate degrees in computer science (computational linguistics) from the University of Rochester and the University of Toronto.

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EFL instructors’ perceptions of usefulness and ease of use of the LMS Manaba Sean Toland Ritsumeikan University stoland@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp

Jeremy White

Learning Management Systems (lmss) have become important tools in higher education language instruction, which can facilitate both student learning and the administration of courses. The decision regarding which lms a particular university adopts is a complicated process where the needs and opinions of several stakeholders, including administrators, students, and faculty members, must be considered. The researchers conducted a focus group session with faculty members at a private Japanese university regarding their usage and perceptions of the lms Manaba. The results of this study indicate that while perceptions towards the lms were positive overall, successful integration of the technology is hampered by a lack of institutional support.

Ritsumeikan University jwhite@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp

Keywords: Higher Education, English as a Foreign Language, Learning Management Systems, Focus Group

Daniel Mills

Introduction

Ritsumeikan University dmr11096@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp

We are living in a technologically charged, rapidly changing world, and this fact has altered the dynamics of university classrooms in every corner of the globe. In the current era, technology-enabled learning has become more prevalent and vital in the field of higher education. Torrisi-Steele and Drew (2013) argue that postsecondary administrators are confronted with the challenge of providing a multicultural student population with cost-effective, highquality learning experiences and the “competency demands of a digital society” (p. 378). In recent years, Web-based Learning Management Systems (lmss) have had a profound impact on the use of information 221

Doris U. Bolliger University of Wyoming dorisbolliger@gmail.com

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technology (it) and have been rapidly adopted by numerous universities throughout the world (McGill & Klobas, 2009; Schoonenboom, 2014). Not surprisingly, lmss have become important tools in the arena of postsecondary English-language education. In 2007, the Japanese company Ashai Net Inc. created the Manaba Learning Management System (lms). The word comes from the Japanese words ‘manabi’ (学), which means learning and ‘ba’ (場), which means environment. Combined, the two words translate to “learning environment.” Manaba is a cloud-based lms that is used by 190 postsecondary institutions around the world, including Stanford University and the Harvard Business School (Manaba, 2014). According to the company’s website, this lms offers educators a tool for “connecting users to various communities, participating in discussions, sending and receiving documents, and working on assignments” (para. 1). In 2013, the business and economics departments at a private university in western Japan decided to replace their current course managements system (cms) with Manaba. The purpose of this research was to explore faculty perceptions of this newly adopted lms as it pertained to ease of use, perceived usefulness, as well as the training structure that is currently in place.

Literature review Learning management systems: Definition and benefits

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Throughout the academic literary landscape, the term lms is often used interchangeably with cms (e.g., Sanprasert, 2010) or Virtual Learning Environment (e.g., Stantchev, ColomoPalacios, Soto-Acosta, & Misra, 2014). According to Watson and Watson (2007), the myriad of acronyms and nonstandardized terms that exist have played a role in the inappropriate use of lms in the literature. It is beyond the parameters of this paper to provide a comparative analysis of a cms and a lms. Both systems share a number of similar features; however, there are also some subtle differences. Ferriman (2012) believes a lms is more dynamic than a cms because it includes a course management function as well as learning strategies designed to improve a user’s overall performance. For the purpose of this paper lms will be used exclusively. lmss are defined as Web-based systems that utilize synchronous and asynchronous technologies for the purpose of delivering educational content and facilitating communication between course participants. An lms allows instructors to share instructional resources, create tests, post announcements, and communicate with students online. Black, Beck, Dawson, Jinks, and DiPietro (2007) contend that lmss are designed to support faculty across a range of different subject areas, teaching philosophies, and instructional methods. Students can communicate and interact with peers and work on collaborative projects. Lonn and Teasley (2009) point out that an increasing number of lmss facilitate student learning by actively engaging students with the use of discussion tools, chat rooms, Wikis, and Blogs. These interactive tools provide today’s learners with the opportunity to create and disseminate knowledge. Stantchev et al. (2014) remind us that one of the key objectives in modern day technologically enhanced university classrooms is to involve students more actively in the learning process. There are a number of benefits to be gained if instructors create blended learning spaces – by combining online and face-to-face classroom activities. Hanson and Robson (2003) reported the use of lmss helped to improve student learning and increased faculty productivity at three American universities. Stantchev et al. (2014) write that the

Toland, et al: Perceptions of the LMS Manaba utilization of lmss provides educators with an opportunity to enhance the learning process and management of classes.

LMSs and English-language education In the arena of English-language education, a growing number of university educators are integrating technology to give their students greater access to authentic materials and facilitate communicative activities in the target language. In English as a Foreign Language (efl) classes, teachers and students utilize lmss for a variety of purposes including tracking progress, writing blogs, giving and taking quizzes, and using synchronous chat (Yu, Sun, & Chan, 2010). lmss provide efl educators with a way to organize online content, giving students access to learning resources at any time or place. This situation can lead to greater student autonomy, which has been shown to make learners more responsible for their own learning and provide them with the ability to critically reflect on their learning needs and outcomes (Snodin, 2013). Although more and more language-teaching practitioners have incorporated lmss into their courses, there is a noticeable gap in the literature in regard to how these systems are perceived by efl instructors. Yu et al. (2010) note the majority of studies pertaining to the utilization of lmss and other e-learning technologies in language-learning classrooms have been quantitative. This qualitative study attempts to address this gap by exploring “depth rather than breadth” (Neuman, 2014, p. 71) in the quest to develop a deeper understanding of the users’ thoughts and feelings.

Theoretical framework Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) For the last 25 years, researchers have utilized the Technology Acceptance Model (tam) by Davis (1989) to examine how users accept and apply technology (Alharbi & Drew, 2014; Teo & Noyes, 2011). The tam was created to describe predictors of acceptance regarding a wide range of it across diverse populations. The tam contains the following five elements: (a) perceived usefulness, (b) perceived ease of use, (c) attitudes toward use, (d) behavioral intention, and (e) actual use. Of these five elements, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitudes towards use are viewed as predictors of behavioral intention and actual use. Of the three predictors, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are the essential elements of the model. In essence, the main idea of this model is that if individuals are more accepting of a new system, it is more likely that they will use the system (Jones, McCarthy, & Halawi, 2010). Over the years, the original tam (Davis, 1989) has been modified a number of times. In education, extended versions of the tam have been applied to measure a person’s willingness to integrate new technology in a variety of contexts such as mobile learning (Park, Nam, & Cha, 2012), video games (Bourgonjon, Valcke, Soetaert, & Schellens, 2010), and lmss (Schoonenboom, 2014). According to Escobar-Rodriquez and Monge-Lozano (2012), this widely used empirically tested model is a “robust, powerful, and parsimonious model for predicting user acceptance” (p. 1086). The tam is versatile and valuable and can be used to examine educators’ acceptance of technology in the efl teaching arena. The theoretical framework of this research investigation features the two main elements 223

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from Davis’s (1989) tam: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Both of these elements examine what causes people to accept or reject technology. Perceived usefulness can be viewed as the degree to which individuals believe that the system will assist them in their job performance. Perceived ease of use relates to the extent to which individuals believe that utilizing a certain system would be free of effort (Davis, 1989).

Purpose of the study It was the purpose of the study to investigate faculty perceptions of usefulness and ease of use of Manaba. Additionally, by critically analyzing the elements that may influence instructors’ perceptions of Manaba, the researchers explore ways in which the training structure for faculty workshops could possibly be enhanced. It must be noted that three of the researchers are “insider researcher” (Brannick & Coghlan, 2007) who examined the use of a lms in their workplace. The research questions are as follow: 1. What are faculty perceptions of usefulness pertaining to Manaba? 2. What are the faculty perceptions of ease of use pertaining to Manaba? 3. How can the faculty workshops be enhanced?

Methodology and methods Background From the beginning of the academic year 2013, Webct was replaced with Manaba as the new lms for the university. Training for this new system was mainly conducted in Japanese, although limited training sessions were available in English. Feedback received from nonJapanese teachers who attended the English training sessions revealed that the training sessions were too teacher centered, with the instructor not undertaking a needs analysis of the teachers in attendance, not prepared to accept questions during the lecture, and not willing to divert from the preplanned lesson. Two instructors at the university recognized these problems and developed their own English workshop for Manaba the following year to incorporate differing levels of ability and experience. The instructors held two workshops, one for beginners, and one for more advanced learners. At these workshops the instructors at first demonstrated some of the more useful functions of Manaba and then allowed the rest of the lesson for an interactive learning session, answering any questions the participants had, and demonstrating how to employ functions with which the participants were unsure of or wanted more experience. Following these training sessions the instructors realized the need to further understand the needs and attitudes of the instructors of the university in relation to the use of Manaba, and thus formulated the following research study.

Setting and participants

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The research study took place in the economics and business departments at a private university in western Japan. The qualitative data for this investigation was collected by conducting a focus group session with eight efl instructors in these departments. The total number of efl instructors in these two departments at the time of the study was 63. This includes part-time and full-time lecturers as well as tenured professors. Since the time

Toland, et al: Perceptions of the LMS Manaba the university had adopted the lms Manaba, usage of the system among efl faculty has varied greatly. While some efl instructors made use of a variety of the systems functions such as assignment collection, online quizzes and resources and discussion boards, others included either no online component to their classes or used a system other than Manaba. While the university is eager to see greater adoption of Manaba, and would like to move to blended learning classes in the future, no incentive or requirement is in place to encourage use of the system by the instructors. The participants are experienced efl educators who teach an average of 10.25 undergraduate classes per week of English-language courses focusing on the four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Focus group participants had a combined 152 years teaching experience (M = 19 years) and ranged in age from 35 to 55 years. Two were Senninkoshi (tenured professors), four Shokutaku-koshi (full-time contract instructors), and two Hijokin-koshi (part-time instructors). A number of factors were taken into consideration during the selection process. Participants needed to have different ranks and various levels of experience with lmss. Because the inclusion of two tenured professors in the study had the potential to upset the power dynamic during the focus group session, the researchers discreetly inquired if this would cause a problem among any of the participants. The other members of the focus group indicated that they did not have a problem with their inclusion. In fact, their participation proved valuable to the study because they possessed inside knowledge of the administrative issues and procedures involved with the adoption of this lms. Participants identified themselves as frequent, occasional, or reluctant users of Manaba. It was also important that focus group members felt comfortable exchanging ideas with one another. Krueger and Casey (2009) mention that researchers should avoid including individuals who have different levels of expertise or power related to a situation in a focus group. Therefore, supervisors as well as high-level users of technology were excluded from the selection process. It should be noted, however, that the two tenured professors were in a higher position of power than the other participants. Prior to the focus group session, six participants who were not tenured were asked whether they had an issue with the participation of the two tenured professors; they did not. All eight participants were given pseudonyms in this study. Kidd and Parshall (2000) recommend that a focus group interview should have two members of the research team present in order to enhance the analytical rigor. Therefore, two members of the research team conducted the focus group session. One person served as the session moderator; the other researcher was the observer.

Case study approach: Definition & benefits A case-study methodology was employed to examine faculty members’ perceptions of the Manaba lms. In the last 40 years, there have been numerous definitions of a case study in the academic literature from the simple and straightforward to the highly complex. For example, Johnson and Christensen (2012) succinctly define this approach as “research that provides a detailed account and analysis of one or more cases” (p. 395). In contrast, VanWynsberghe and Khan (2007) write that a case study is “a transparadigmatic and transdisciplinary heuristic that involves the careful delineation of the phenomena for which evidence is being collected” (p. 2). Even though there is a lack of consensus over the most appropriate definition of a case 225

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study, there are a number of notable benefits of using it in a qualitative investigation. Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2011) note that case study explorations are “a step to action” and the insights from this type of research approach can foster a person’s self-development as well as provide evaluative feedback for an institution (p. 292). Simons (2009) argues that the evaluative process is a political one and the case study tactic can be useful in this type of environment. A case study methodology can highlight “participant and stakeholder perspectives, engage them in the process, and represent different interests and values in the programme” (p. 18). Yin (2014) tells us that a case study is a “contemporary phenomenon” that exists in a “real world context” (p. 16) and the reports are readable and accessible to a wide audience (Baxter & Jack, 2008). The final reason for using a case-study approach was that it could be effectively integrated with critical theory (e.g., Smith-Maddox & Solórzano, 2002) to create space for a researcher to examine a problematic situation in more depth and with greater understanding.

Focus groups Definition and background. It is generally accepted that a focus group is a “dynamic discussion” (Liamputtong, 2011) with 6–12 individuals who have similar experiences or concerns and come from similar social or cultural backgrounds (Sagoe, 2012). Morgan (1996) tells us that a focus group is a “research technique that collects data through group interaction on a topic determined by the researcher” (p. 130).

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Benefits and limitations. Focus groups are perceived to be a quick and economical way to conduct research because a number of participants can be interviewed at the same time in the same place (Jowett & O’Toole, 2006). According to Sutton and Arnold (2013), focus groups are an “underutilized research method in studying technology-driven phenomena despite their suitability” (p. 81). There are numerous benefits that can be realized from this research approach. The real strength of a focus group is that it is a “powerful research tool” (Huston & Hobson, 2008, p. 186) that can generate “incredibly rich, thick, and broad” data (Toner, 2009, p. 181). Krueger and Casey (2009) claim that a focus group is a useful evaluative device when researchers are examining various types of programs because it allows researchers to gain a deeper understanding “through the eyes and hearts” of the research participants (p. 8). An effective focus group interview can ignite a formidable fire of group synergy, especially if participants feel comfortable and safe. During the session, participants can be stimulated to openly share ideas, challenge each other’s opinions, and examine their own assumptions (Huston & Hobson, 2008; Kitzinger, 1994). Peek and Fothergill (2009) believe the focus group experience can invigorate persons to talk about things that they would not have disclosed during a one-to-one interview. Another important advantage of the focus group methodology is that it can help to “subvert traditional power relationships in research” by taking advantage of the strength of the peer group (Jowett & O’Toole, 2006, p. 469). However, this technique is not without certain methodological obstacles that must be overcome. Peek and Fothergill (2009) note researchers have less control during interviews with larger groups of participants compared to limiting an interview to one or two participants. Other individuals might not want to share their actual thoughts or feelings with fellow group members or may feel pressure to conform in order to avoid conflict (Huston

Toland, et al: Perceptions of the LMS Manaba & Hobson, 2008). Although focus groups are an effective way to examine group-identified issues, it is not a suitable forum to explore individual participants’ biographical backgrounds. Additionally, the researcher must circumvent logistical barriers such as recruiting the participants, organizing a time and place for everyone to meet, and transcribing an audio file with multiple overlapping voices.

Procedure Data collection The data were collected in a classroom during the second week of the spring term. Participation was voluntary and confidential, and no incentives were provided. Before the interview began, participants were provided with information about the research project and their informed consent was obtained. All chairs and desks were arranged in a circle during the session to create a more relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. The focus group session was audio recorded, and recording devices were placed in an unobtrusive location. The interview lasted 55 minutes and 44 seconds, and participants were informally debriefed. Immediately after the focus group session, the interviewer and observer discussed their observations. The audio recording was transcribed in full and checked for accuracy. Finally, the transcription, field notes, debriefing notes, observational chart, and reflections were coded and analyzed.

Focus group questions Just before the session started, participants were provided with 10 interview questions (Appendix A). The success of a focus group rests on the researcher carefully cultivating well-developed questions that will allow participants to reflect and verbalize their experiences (Ruff, Alexander, & McKie, 2005). These questions were critically analyzed and piloted with two educators at another university.

Observational data Onwuegbuzie, Dickinson, Leech, and Zoran (2009) warn that only interpreting the text from a focus group interview can be “extremely problematic” and a study can be much more rigorous if researchers analyze non-verbal elements (p. 5). The research team utilized the micro-interlocutor analysis chart as a tool to record who responded to each question, the order of answers, the nature of the responses (e.g., rambling), and the various types of participants’ nonverbal reactions (e.g., frowning). The micro-interlocutor tool (Appendix B) was slightly modified, and the observer used it to record the aforementioned items.

Audio recordings & transcription The focus group session was recorded, and the audio file was transcribed. According to Tilley (2003), transcription work is complex and challenging because a transcriber must untangle “knots of information” in the audio recording (p. 758). On a similar note, Richards (2003) contends that it is “methodologically indefensible” and a “dangerous exercise” when a researcher edits or cleans up a transcript for clarity (p. 201). It is important for researchers

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to transcribe their own focus group session data as it will assist them in the coding process and improve the quality of the analysis (Sagoe, 2012). Once the recorded session was transcribed, both researchers verified the transcript several times (Huston & Hobson, 2008) and a member check was performed. Neuman (2014) believes that “member checks” are an important step to ensure the findings of a research investigation capture the participants’ perspectives (p. 84).

Coding the data A close reading and rereading of the transcript helped the researchers to see different themes emerge from the participants’ words. A thematic mind map, created using MindNode Pro, was used to code the participants’ utterances recorded in the transcript. Employing a classical analysis strategy, the researchers used open coding (Cohen et al., 2011) to reorganize the data into smaller and more manageable units. During this stage, it became apparent that there were 17 different codes. Afterwards, these items were reexamined using the axial coding process to better organize and connect the initial codes. Axial coding allows researchers to make links between a major category and subcategories (Liamputtong, 2011). Twelve distinct axial codes were identified in this study. In addition, nonverbal observational data recorded from the micro-interlocutor chart (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2009) were coded. Finally, NVivo 10 for Macintosh was used to scrutinize the findings. NVivo is software package that allows researchers to organize and analyze qualitative data that has been collected in a variety of formats.

Results The data from the study revealed that participants used a variety of technology devices (e.g., overhead projector, computers, smartphones, etc.) in their efl classrooms. In addition, participants believed that technologies were useful and easy to use. Jim captured this sentiment when he noted tablets are ‘. . . wonderful to have . . . you can put it down and just show something quickly.’

Research question one: Perceived usefulness When the conversation shifted to the effectiveness of the Manaba lms, there was a sharp division among the participants. The perceived usefulness component of Davis’s (1989) tam model is valuable because it highlights the degree to which the users of Manaba believe that it will enhance their job performance. Bob felt strongly that Manaba is a valuable tool for teachers to utilize in their writing classes because it allows them to collect and preview students’ work before class. He noted that: ‘. . . I can quickly read through what they’ve done for homework . . . I can pick up the ten major issues pre-class . . . so I can actually make my next class more personal. If I set their deadline for a writing assignment two days before my class, then I can have a quick look and I don’t have to do my 10 most common mistakes from five years ago.’

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Ron agreed with this thought and added his own administrative consideration: ‘you always have a record so there’s no dispute who hasn’t handed anything in . . . in terms of assessment. Having an online copy is easier to just copy and paste and look for cheating’ In

Toland, et al: Perceptions of the LMS Manaba addition to helping teachers organize their courses, a few participants discussed some practical benefits of Manaba. Mike claimed that Manaba is ‘extremely useful for portability. I don’t have to carry papers home . . . huge amounts of information are portable and I can check that at any time.’ Miki liked the fact that she could redirect absent students to Manaba instead of spending time with each and every one of them highlighting the missed lesson material. She noted that, ‘it’s really useful for me because I usually post my lecture after class so students who were absent can go there and read the PowerPoints again.’ The data revealed that participants who perceived Manaba to be useful in their job performance also felt the system was beneficial for their learners. Victoria enthusiastically discussed how Manaba enhances her students’ learning in the following words: ‘… perhaps we’re not to the point where we want to be, but I think these Learning Systems will help us gain more contact hours with the students . . . where we don’t have to be there face to face with them . . . but through leaving them messages . . . having them comment on things . . . interacting with each other even though they’re not in the classroom . . . . Gives more contact hours where we’re not having to be there face to face.’ This statement generated six ‘indicated agreements’ on the observational chart as well as a number of verbal agreements. Mike felt that Manaba would help facilitate his students’ transition into the world of employment. He noted that: I’m in the business faculty and the kids are going to be working in business. I can’t image a company that is still going to base most of its work on paper. We’re preparing our students for the future by using digital media . . . this allows for a more flexible learning environment and . . . we’re no longer shackled to the classroom . . . . There were two participants who disagreed with these comments and who clearly felt that Manaba was not useful for neither the students nor the instructors. Tom wondered aloud: ‘So what’s Manaba? What’s the purpose? Campus Web seems to be the tool that’s actually there. And Manaba is just something they’ve added on that can be used or cannot be used.’ When the focus group was asked: ‘If you had a chance to give advice to the head of your department about the Manaba lms, what advice would you give?’ Craig answered: Get rid of it! It’s a waste of time! It’s . . . . You’re adding to people’s workload and you’re depersonalizing teaching. Um . . . I really think it’s the wrong direction to go. I’d say get rid of it . . . go back to traditional teaching. Teaching is about relationships and it’s about interactions with the students. Craig’s polarizing comments generated a flurry of loud overlapping voices that vehemently disagreed with his idea of getting rid of the Manaba lms. Miki offered this passionate rebuttal: Personally, I think that traditional teaching is definitely important, otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. But, technology is a must . . . it has to be . . . we have to. Technology is moving so fast. I think that some teachers are just intimidated by it. I’m not a techsavvy person . . . . I’m trying very hard to catch up with technology. But it does . . . it really helps me with my teaching. I mean it’s adding to my teaching – not substitute teaching. It’s a plus. The observational chart recorded that five participants agreed with Miki’s statement and perceived Manaba to be useful in their professional practice.

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Research question two: Perceived ease of use To what extent did participants believe that Manaba would be free of effort? There were 24 coded references that focused on the problematic issues related to using Manaba. Jim passionately injected these words into the focus group discussion: ‘I don’t hear a lot of glowing reports about Manaba from other people! I hear like “It’s kinda a pain”’ Tom agreed with this comment and added his own frustrations with using Manaba in the following way: ‘I don’t want to be in the class fluffing around with the Manaba system saying to the students, “Just a minute. I think . . . . Is this the right . . . ? Is this where I put it? Is this the one I wanted to show you . . . ? It’s a waste of time trying to find stuff on the Manaba system . . . to show students . . . .’ The observational chart showed that six of participants indicated they shared Tom’s concerns. On a similar note, three of the focus group members were disappointed with the functionality of Manaba. For example, Bob noted that, ‘There’s no access for anyone other than your students and that’s the problem. You can’t share files with other teachers.’ Ron felt that Manaba needed an online grading book and pointed out the class attendance function did not work properly. Mike claimed that, ‘You’ve got a bunch of assumptions that you work under and then . . . they come back and kinda bite you.’ Despite these negative comments, the focus group participants indicated that Manaba’s interface was easier to use than its predecessor, Webct. Speaking about the features of Webct compared to Manaba Bob said, ‘They had the grades . . . . And some more stuff . . . . But it was clunky . . . . It wasn’t easy to set assignments . . . . The interface was horrible.’

Research question three: Faculty workshops Participants expressed frustration with the training system that is currently in place. Victoria captured this sentiment with these words: ‘I think that it’s just so new. Manaba hasn’t thought ahead, and they don’t know how to train the teachers, let alone the students.’ When Manaba was first introduced at the university, Miki noted that, ‘the only training was in Japanese.’ One year later, Bob reminded everyone that there was only one workshop in English, and the Manaba trainers were not prepared to answer any questions. Bob also mentioned that although two of his technology-savvy colleagues attempted to fill this void by organizing a supplementary tutorial; however, there were only three time slots. Jim believed that instructional videos would alleviate some of the ‘ease of use’ issues. Bob pointed out that it costs money and takes a long time for most people to travel to the campus for a lms training session. He felt the university should provide instructors with a financial incentive to attend professional development workshops. Jim wanted Manaba to ‘make the system so when I have time on my vacation, I could get into this and learn a few things step by step.’ According to Miki, the teachers’ concerns about the inadequate training have fallen on deaf ears. She stated:

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I think Manaba should just ask, ah, they should have a general system . . . that they should ask each university or each faculty what we need. The last time we were in the meeting, but they didn’t seem to care, they were not listening. We were raising all these, you know questions. Give me advice or suggestions . . . please . . . . we begged them.

Toland, et al: Perceptions of the LMS Manaba Mike agreed with Miki and felt the university’s administration was responsible for ‘shortcircuiting’ the ideas to improve the lms. Victoria confirmed this suspicion when she pointed out members of the Manaba team were open to new ideas. ‘But somebody higher up said NO – that the university does not want us to do that. Some people, I think, are receptive but not all of them.’

Discussion The data that emerged from the study demonstrates that many participants are using a variety of it devices in their classrooms and believe that lms can support their teaching practices. efl teachers are extremely busy and do not want to invest time on a technology that will only have limited benefits. While the Manaba lms was perceived by the majority of the instructors to be an effective learning technology, they indicated that at times it was difficult to use. In order for this perception to change, communication channels between administrators, efl educators, and the Manaba lms team must be kept open. In addition, training programs must be specifically tailored to fit the needs of the instructors. One way to provide training at the point of need to the greatest number of instructors is through easily accessed instructional videos. Furthermore, when face-to-face workshops are conducted, they need to be more interactive and deal with the specific concerns of the participants. Finally, the university should provide teachers with a financial incentive to take advantage of training opportunities, if the institution desires increased uptake of the lms and effective implementation of the technology in instructional settings.

Limitations There are notable limitations to the study. First, only one focus group session was conducted, and the sample was small. Other researchers may duplicate the study and conduct additional sessions. Furthermore, a mixed-methods approach could have been employed in order to further triangulate the data and make the findings of this study more robust. Second, the geographical region was limited due to the fact that the study included only one university in Japan. Future research could be conducted that includes multiple sites in Japan or other countries. Other researchers may investigate the actual usage of instructors of the lms at universities.

Conclusion This qualitative study utilized a focus group session to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the faculty perceptions of usefulness and ease of use of the Manaba lms. The findings indicate that the participants in this research project generally held positive views towards the usefulness of Manaba in their efl classrooms. However, problematic issues related to ease of use were exacerbated by a lack of an adequate training, particularly for English-speaking faculty members. Successful technology integration is a complex process that hinges on a number of internal and external factors. While all the issue of successful technology integration have not and could not been solved within the context of this paper, it is hoped that this research will contribute to improvements in the support provided to faculty members in their adoption and use of the Manaba lms.

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Snodin, N. S. (2013). The effects of blended learning with a cms on the development of autonomous learning: A case study of different degrees of autonomy achieved by individual learners. Computers & Education, 61, 209–216. doi:10.1016/j. compedu.2012.10.004 Stantchev, V., Colomo-Palacios, R., Soto-Acosta, P., & Misra, S. (2014). Learning management systems and cloud file hosting services: A study on students’ acceptance. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 612–619. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.07.002 Sutton, S. G., & Arnold, V. (2013). Focus group methods: Using interactive and nominal groups to explore emerging technology-driven phenomena in accounting and information systems. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 14(2), 81–88. doi:10.1016/j.accinf.2011.10.001 Teo, T., & Noyes, J. (2011). An assessment of the influence of perceived enjoyment and attitude on the intention to use technology among pre-service teachers: A structural equation modeling approach. Computers & Education, 57(2), 1645–1653. doi:10.1016/j. compedu.2011.03.002 Tilley, S. A. (2003). “Challenging” research practices: Turning a critical lens on the work of transcription. Qualitative Inquiry, 9(5), 750–773. doi:10.1177/1077800403255296 Toner, J. (2009). Small is not too small: Reflections concerning the validity of very small focus groups (vsfgs). Qualitative Social Work, 8(2), 179–192. doi:10.1177/1473325009103374 Torrisi-Steele, G., & Drew, S. (2013). The literature landscape of blended learning in higher education: The need for better understanding of academic blended practice. International Journal for Academic Development, 18(4), 371–383. doi: 10.1080/1360144X.2013.786720 VanWynsberghe, R., & Khan, S. (2007). Redefining case study. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 6(2), 80–94. Watson, W. R., & Watson, S. L. (2007). An argument for clarity: What are learning management systems, what are they not, and what should they become? TechTrends, 51(2), 28–34. doi:10.1007/s11528-007-0023-y Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, ca: Sage Publications Inc. Yu, W. K., Sun, Y. C., & Chang, Y. J. (2010). When technology speaks language: An evaluation of course management systems used in a language learning context. Recall, 22(3), 332–355. doi:10.1017/S0958344010000194

Author biodata Sean H. Toland is currently a lecturer at Ritsumeikan University. His research interests include technology enhanced learning, call, teacher development, and critical theory. Sean is a PhD student at Lancaster University in the uk studying e-research and technology enhanced learning.

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Jeremy White is an Associate Professor in the College of Information Science and Engineering at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. Jeremy’s research interests include call, mall, and the use of video games in language education. Jeremy is currently studying for his Doctorate in Education (EdD) at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.

Toland, et al: Perceptions of the LMS Manaba Daniel J. Mills is a lecturer of English as a Foreign Language at Ritsumeikan University in Shiga, Japan. He is currently studying for his Doctorate in Education (EdD), specializing in instructional technology. Daniel’s research interests include technology acceptance and integration, and mall. Doris U. Bolliger serves as an associate professor in the instructional technology program at the University of Wyoming. Her research interests include satisfaction, communication, interaction, community, and interventions in the online environment. Secondary research interests are learner-centered instructional environments and message design.

Appendix A Focus Group Questions 1. Please tell us your name, your faculty, and how long you have been teaching English. 2. Can you please tell us about your experiences using different types of technology in your efl classes? 3. Do you enjoy using different types of technology in your classes? Key questions: 4. Let’s talk about the Manaba Learning Management System (lms). Do you think it is easy to use? Do think your students find it easy to use? 5. How do you use Manaba? How often do you use Manaba? (Before, after, or during class) 6. Do you think that the Manaba lms is a useful tool to have in your class? What are the advantages of using it? What are the disadvantages? 7. Do you think that the training for Manaba is adequate? If not, how can it be improved? Summarizing questions: 8. If you had a chance to give advice to the head of your department about the Manaba lms, what advice would you give? 9. How can Manaba (& other lmss) support traditional classroom teaching & enhance the students’ learning opportunities? Concluding question: 10. Is there anything else that you feel that we should have talked about but didn’t? * Thank you once again for your time and assistance with this research project.

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Appendix B

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The effects of syntactically parsed text formats on intensive reading in EFL John C. Herbert National Institute of Technology, Akashi College, Japan herbert@akashi.ac.jp

Separating text into meaningful language chunks, as with visual-syntactic text formatting, helps readers to process text more easily and language learners to recognize grammar and syntax patterns more quickly. Evidence of this exists in studies on native and non-native English speakers. However, recent studies question the roll of vstf in certain efl contexts. The report herein shows eye tracking data and numerical results from efl students engaged in intensive reading activities, which utilized parsed texts or conventional block texts in controlled experiments. This report helps readers to decipher whether or not derivatives of vstf are appropriate for their specific contexts. Keywords: vstf, Parsed Text, Scanning, Skimming, Intensive Reading

Introduction

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Intensive reading instruction in efl, particularly in Japanese high schools and colleges, is often delivered to mixed level classes. This creates a dilemma in which the instructor must find a way to capture every student’s eyes literally on the same page regardless of each student’s reading comprehension level. If the reading is too easy, the higher level students could lose interest quickly. Likewise, if the reading is too hard, the lower level students might just give up on reading it. Therefore, the type of reading task and the format in which the text is delivered become crucial for achieving an educational experience which is more balanced for all of the learners. Regarding the task, higher level reading ability does not necessarily equate to a better performance on activities such as timed 237

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scanning and skimming. At the same time, lower level reading ability should not imply that one cannot be taught to scan and skim challenging texts. Instead, through timed scanning and skimming, the possibility that a lower level reader might happen to come across key information that a higher level reader might have skipped over in the same amount of time increases. Therefore, scanning and skimming integrated with other group reading and discussion activities have played an important role in the author’s mixed level efl classrooms. (See Herbert, Herbert, & Bergman, 2003.) Furthermore, there is an array of ideas out there concerning the manipulation of text formats as a means to make a reading more accessible for lower level readers. For example, children’s books utilize larger fonts and considerable white space. There are fonts that target readers with dyslexia. In business English, bullet points, lists, and charts make it easier to grasp key concepts. All of these ideas could be incorporated into efl textbooks by a publisher or in online or electronically generated readings manipulated by teachers where allowed. And, then there is the e-book. Too small? Zoom in. Don’t know the word? Just tap on it. How much easier will this be in ten years from now? Hopefully, it will be much easier. There is still at least one more big change e-books have not embraced. That is, if a publisher were to create a means for the reader to simply push a button and convert the text format from block to syntactically parsed, as in the manner described hereafter, the reader could potentially have a less challenging reading experience.

Background At the jaltcall 2011 Conference in Kurume, Dr. Mark Warschauer’s plenary address stimulated conference participants’ interests in visual-syntactic text formatting (vstf), which is a form of text manipulation involving syntactically parsed chunks. Dr. Warschauer portrayed vstf as the next logical step in the evolution of written text on the basis of the format being much easier to read because of the way it requires the visual parsing of text into meaningful language chunks which cascade down a page with verbs indicated by color changes (Warschauer, 2011, June). (See Figure 1.) The reformatting of conventional text into vstf has proven to be beneficial for native and non-native English readers across the United States with respect to reading efficiency and comprehension in a number of studies and surveys (Walker, Schloss, Fletcher, Vogel, & Walker, 2005; Walker et al., 2007; Warschauer, Park, & Walker, 2011). Dr. Warschauer’s talk and the aforementioned literature have provided a catalyst for the study herein. Henceforth, this report examines whether or not derivatives of vstf are appropriate for efl contexts with a particular focus on intensive reading.

Previous research in support of VSTF When vstf was introduced at the National Educational Computing Conference 2005 in Philadelphia, five unique features that define the format were explained as follows:

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Lines break at phrase and clause boundaries Shorter rows of text fit in one or two fixation spans Cascading depicts syntactic hierarchies Row-clusters remain vivid in “mind’s eye” Indentations guide the eyes from row to row (Walker & Vogel, 2005, p. 4).

Herbert: Syntactically parsed text formats in intensive reading

Figure 1. Sample text presented in a visual-syntactic text format (Walker Reading Technologies, Inc., 2014). Here one fixation span, or eye span, could be defined in accordance with Demb, Boynton, and Heeger (1997, as cited in Warschauer, Park, & Walker, 2011, p. 257) to be nine to fifteen characters in length. Therefore, any line with 30 letters and spaces could be considered undesirable for this format. Regarding a study involving 48 college students who read three computer-displayed, 500-word texts in a block format and three more in a vstf format matching that described above, comprehension of the vstf texts was 40% better than that of the block texts. However, vstf was read 10% more slowly. The researchers suggested that the extended time on task could have been attributed to the fact that their participants reported less eye strain from looking at the computer display when reading the vstf texts. They also claimed that, even with the slower reading rate, “reading efficiency (comprehension score divided by passage reading time) was 25% higher with the visual-syntactic format” (Walker, Schloss, Fletcher, Vogel, & Walker, 2005, p.8). Later, Walker et al. (2007) focused on the reading comprehension scores of 10th and 11th grade high school students in the us reading electronic textbooks twice a week for one academic year during their history classes. The control group read their history books in a block text format while the experimental group read theirs in vstf. The gain scores in reading comprehension as measured by two versions of a standardize test used as pre- and post-tests were significantly greater for the experimental group than the control group. Both groups consisted of native English speakers and esl students; however, the researchers admitted that most of the esl students had been in the us for a fair amount of time, came from Spanish speaking backgrounds, and had good commands of English (p. 7). At some point, a sixth feature was added to the aforementioned criteria for defining vstf. That is, in more recent reports on vstf related research and as part of the vstf conversion software, WebClipRead by Walker Reading Technologies, Inc., colored fonts for active verbs were introduced “to further highlight meaning” (Warschauer, Park, & Walker, 2011, p. 258). In addition, WebClipRead now includes an optional OpenDyslexic font for making the format even more accessible for readers with dyslexia. However, it is important to note the following points about the WebClipRead software, before putting it to use. According to Walker, Schloss, Fletcher, Vogel, and Walker (2005, 239

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p.4), “For professionally composed, expository English writing (e.g., technical and business communication), this software is consistently able to differentiate principal phrases and specify the hierarchical relations between phrases for most sentences. When writing narrative, personal, or more stylized, phrase groups can still be identified, but clause structure extraction is more difficult.” In other words, optimal parsing is not always achieved for each writing style with WebClipRead. Therefore, researchers, teachers, and readers must bear this in mind when applying vstf to text via WebClipRead. It is for this reason that the derivative of vstf employed herein has not been generated from WebClipRead, but manually by the researcher instead. As discovered in the early stages of this project, even adapted expository prose for efl learners is likely not to fit into the “professionally composed,” “technical and business communication” style desired for using WebClipRead. Therefore, when formatting a text with vstf, efl teachers must make sound pedagogical decisions on their own about what constitutes an appropriate boundary for a phrase or language chunk based on the target audience’s language knowledge and learning needs.

Previous research less supportive of VSTF A review of related literature, outside of those above which advocate the use of vstf, led to two research reports, each worthy of its own set of disclaimers, but both with claims that vstf might not be as uniformly helpful as originally thought for Asian learners of English in the context of their reading research projects. Researchers working with 30 mostly Chinese and other East Asian students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology compared reading efficiencies observed when using a standard block format, vstf, and a format they referred to as the Jenga format. The Jenga format simply involved the adding of white space between each complete sentence of a paragraph, and it yielded significantly higher gains in “comprehension per unit time” over vstf but not over the block format. In addition, the researchers found mixed reactions from participant interviews regarding vstf. Some preferred the syntactic parsing and colorization of verbs while others complained about the number of line breaks per sentence. Furthermore, the same participants had varied performance results which attested to vstf actually slowing down the reader with no significant effect on comprehension scores (Yu & Miller, 2010). Later, a researcher at Tokyo Metropolitan University applied vstf to a software application referred to as Multimedia Player Mint, which was designed to help students read faster. He concluded that vstf did enhance the English reading comprehension and reading efficiency of 17 Japanese readers, but it could not increase the participants reading speed itself to any significant degree in the context of that application (Kanda, 2012). The Mint application reveals text to a reader one chunk at a time, adding to an incomplete paragraph piece by piece until the paragraph is full. Each newly added chunk is presented in specific breath groups which are underlined to capture the reader’s eyes and encourage faster, forward reading. However, whereas the Mint application appears to work better when meaningful language chunks are defined as subjects, predicates, or complete clauses, that constitute a reason to pause, vstf is noted for shorter phrases which can fit into fewer eye spans per line. Therefore, the researcher attributes the failure of vstf to improve reading speed significantly in the Mint application to the increased frequency of line breaks which interrupt the otherwise smoother subvocalization of text (Kanda, 2012).

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Rationale In the empirical study described herein, the participants were required to complete 20 intensive reading assignments as part of a control group or an experimental group over a three month period before taking a post-test in front of an eye-tracking device. The control group was trained to complete the post-test by carrying out 20 assignments in a block text format that were similar in readability and instruction to that of the post-test. During the same period, the experimental group had the same amount of training for the post-test with identical content and instruction, but the format of the content had been changed to a derivative of vstf. Despite the slowed reading rates reported above, the intensive nature of the timed reading activities in this study accompanied by the parsed text format were expected to result in more productive scanning and skimming, more accurate topic guessing upon scanning and skimming, and faster reading with better reading comprehension through the prolonged exposure to the treatment. The goal of the intensive reading activities themselves was to improve these skills, and including parsed text in the mix of activities was expected to enhance these improvements. In order to determine actual gains, numerical results are examined on the number of scanning words found under a time constraint; the accuracy of guessing the gist of a reading just by scanning, skimming, or reading; reading speed; and, comprehension as effected by both conventional block text and parsed text. Furthermore, this report includes heat maps displaying where the research participants’ eye gaze plots indicate common fixation points while the participants scanned, skimmed, and read each of two final texts – one block and one parsed. These heat maps are important because they provide visual representations of how the readers’ eyes collected information with very different eye movement patterns between each text format. Where the parsed text is used, the eye movement patterns reveal fixation points centralized within each language chunk while block text lends itself to more word-by-word fixation points. Advocates of vstf believe this unique difference encourages readers to process language chunk-by-chunk rather than one word at a time; and, in turn, this leads to better reading efficiency (Warschauer, 2011, June).

Research questions This study focused on the following research questions: In an intensive efl reading context, does a syntactically parsed text format affect the . . . 1. Number of words a reader can find during a timed scanning drill? 2. Extent of one’s ability to capture the gist of a reading during scanning, skimming, and timed reading? 3. Speed of reading upon completion of scanning and skimming drills of the same content? 4. Extent of reading comprehension? 5. Eye movements of readers during scanning, skimming, and timed reading?

Creating the parsed format First and foremost, vstf is a creation of Walker Reading Technologies, Inc. and the research teams behind LiveInk.com. Therefore, as that creation is produced by online software which is neither owned nor used by the author, there is no liberty to say that the parsed format

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utilized in this project is, in fact, vstf. Instead, by applying one’s own interpretation of how texts should be parsed, anyone can create a derivative of vstf manually on their own. The derivative of vstf created for this research project differed from that produced by WebClipRead in that the verbs were not colorized, and the determination of where to cut each chunk was decided by the researcher. The criteria used for determining how to divide up the language chunks included the following considerations: 1. Number of eye spans required for perusing one line of text 2. Natural pauses 3. Syntax familiarity Following the aforementioned model set by Walker and Vogel (2005), one or two eye spans, or a total of up to 30 characters per line, was regarded as an optimal amount of text per line to minimize distractions from other surrounding text. Next, in an effort to minimize the interruptions in subvocalization due to frequent line breaks (Kanda, 2012), back indentation was used to indicate natural pauses, or new breath groups. In addition, one blank line was inserted between each sentence. But, there were no paragraph markers. Finally, with respect to syntax familiarity, teacher intuition was used to cater to the participants’ presumed syntax knowledge. This was done either by adding or removing a line as needed without changing the content of the sentence itself.

Materials The 20 readings which made up a prerequisite for participating in this project were selected from McGraw-Hill’s sra Reading Lab 1b. Ten of these readings were uploaded to a Moodle 1.9 lms with two versions each, block and parsed, for the respective groups to complete as homework. The other ten readings were printed as classroom materials in the same two formats. The reading materials used for the post-test were two 185 word expository texts about birds also from McGraw-Hill’s sra Reading Lab 1b, which had been slightly altered with permission, both in content and format. The minor content changes ensured the equal length and first grade readability level of each text.

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In order to recruit a large number of research participants, the 20 aforementioned reading activities were integrated into the curriculum of six third- and fourth-year English conversation classes at a five-year technical college in Japan. As such, the students ranged from age 17 to 21. One set of three classes had 118 regularly attending students, most of whom completed all of the reading assignments in a conventional block text format. Students pulled from these classes to take the post-test were recruited by monetary incentive for the project control group and referred to as the block text group, or bt group because their training in intensive reading focused on block formats. At the same time, the other three classes consisted of 113 regularly attending students, most of whom completed all of the reading assignments in a parsed text format. Therefore, students pulled from these classes were recruited, also by monetary incentive, for the experimental group and were referred

Herbert: Syntactically parsed text formats in intensive reading to as the parsed text group, or pt group because their training in intensive reading focused on parsed text. More specifically, their training focused on a derivative of vstf. All 231 of the English conversation students in regular class attendance responded to an informal survey about the parsed text format. And, the students, who completed all 20 assignments properly, were invited to participate in the study, which focused on two final readings, one block and one parsed. In total, 60 students were given monetary incentives in the form of ¥1,000 book coupons (or “tosho cards”) to complete the final activities in front of an eye-tracking device and to disclose their collected data for research and publication purposes. There was no connection between the students’ grades and these last two reading activities. The first 58 participants stepped forward voluntarily. There were 28 who joined the bt group and 30 for the pt group. At least 100 other students qualified to participate by completing the twenty assignments, but they chose not to do so because of schedule conflicts, a lack of interest, or both. In order to balance the number of participants, two more bt group members were given personal invitations to participate in the experiment. Then, the 60 research participants were equally divided into two groups of 30 with 15 bt group members and 15 pt group members in each group; hereafter referred to as Group One and Group Two.

Procedures In preparation for this research, the author carefully edited and parsed 185 words of Dancers in the wild (Vendetti, 2005) and Who uses tools? (Churchill, 2005) using the criterion discussed above without the aid of WebClipRead. Then, two tests were created with the adapted materials and entered into the EyeMetrix Design software program for eye-tracking. One test displayed the block text of Dancers in the wild and the parsed text of Who uses tools? for Group One. Group Two, on the other hand, was shown the block text of Who uses tools? and the parsed text of Dancers in the wild. Each reading was displayed in its entirety within a single view of a 21.5 inch monitor screen. The eye tracking equipment itself, which can be seen in the middle of Figure 2 below, was a non-obtrusive desk-mounted device that could be adjusted to accommodate the participant’s physical position. Once the device was calibrated to track the participant’s eye movements, that participant was asked to hold that position in a sturdy straight-backed chair during each individual task, but given freedom of movement between tasks without having to re-calibrate for each new task. This was very convenient for research purposes because there were no head supports or head-mounted cameras that might have otherwise obstructed the researcher’s attempt at creating an ordinary reading experience. The instructional procedures followed in this experiment mirrored the 20 reading activities the participants had completed for their classes in every way, except that the steps were performed in front of eye-tracking equipment in the researcher’s office, both text formats were employed, and the participants did not discuss their topic guesses with classmates. The researcher followed these steps: 1. Demonstrate how to use the eye-tracking equipment with self-limiting head movements as allowed by the Mirametrix s2 Eye Tracker for up to 25 × 11 × 30cm (width × height × depth) (Mirametrix, 2014) 2. Discuss ten key vocabulary from each reading and confirm the participants’ understanding of every word 243

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3. Calibrate the eye-tracker with the participant’s eye movements 4. Have the participant repeat the keywords out loud 5. Say each of the ten keywords out loud in 4 second intervals and in the order that they appear in the time-controlled text display, while the participant tries to left-click on each spoken word during eye tracking 6. Ask the participant what they think the reading is about 7. Display the text for 15 seconds for the participant to skim, not read, while tracking their eye movements 8. Ask the participant what they think the reading is about again 9. Time and track the participants reading of every word from start to finish 10. Ask the participant what they think the reading is about one last time 11. Have the students answer five comprehension questions 12. Repeat steps 4–11 with a second reading that is formatted differently.

Numerical results Numerical results for the number of keywords found, the accuracy of topic guesses, reading speed, and comprehension scores were analyzed via t-tests for 49 research participants using spss statistical analysis software. The other 11 participants, who were excluded from the statistical analysis, experienced distractions such as computer malfunctions and loud noise from the school halls. As compensation was fixed for one hour of their time and that

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Figure 2. Eye tracking equipment

Herbert: Syntactically parsed text formats in intensive reading hour had disappeared, their data was thrown out rather than replaced. This left 24 pt participants and 25 bt participants in the data pool. In each statistical analysis, the software’s default probability value for keeping a null hypothesis, α = 0.05, was used to calculate the critical value of t for a two-tailed t-test at t = 2.0106. For the true t-values calculated from post-test data in each of the four categories identified above, an absolute value of t(48) > 2.0106 and a probability of p < 0.05 were sought for throwing out each null hypothesis. However, the only category in which this degree of statistical significance was achieved was in the number of keywords found during the scanning task when the text was parsed.

Scanning results Regarding the scanning activity, many of the research participants commented that the parsed text made it much easier for them to find the words that they were scanning the text to find. On average, the 49 participants found 8.53 out of ten words in each of the two parsed texts, while they only found 7.57 out of ten words within the block texts. (See Table 1.) As stated above, this discovery was the only one in the study which yielded statistically significant results based on a two-tailed t-test, where t(48) = −2.6172, p = 0.0118. As such, the researcher could claim with nearly 99% confidence that students, who have received training in scanning drills, should be able to scan for words more easily if the text were parsed. However, despite these encouraging results, a closer look revealed a bit of irony. That is, while 37 of the 49 participants found the same number of words or more when the text was parsed than when it was not, most of the participants who did not find the same number or more were the ones who had been in the pt group. Specifically, seven participants from the pt group (30% of all the pt group’s research participants) found more words in the block text than the parsed text. At the same time, only five participants from the bt group (just 20% of all the bt group’s research participants) found more words in the block text than the parsed text. Table 1: Statistical analysis on scanning results (number of words found) α = 0.05 Critical value: t = 2.0106 (two-tailed) Block

Parsed

Average = 7.57 8.53 Std. Dev. = 2.14 1.50 Higher score distribution 12 (7) > =10 (4)= < 27 (13) All (PT only) t(48) = −2.6172, p = 0.0118 Interpretation: Throw out the null hypothesis

Topic guessing results Another noteworthy result about introducing parsed text to the scanning exercise was that it led to more accurate topic guesses just by quick glances over the reading content. Normally, one might not imagine using a scanning activity as a comprehension measure. The purpose of scanning is not to find the same general information that skimming helps one find, but to find specific details. However, throughout this project, the keywords that 245

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were scanned for and any information that may have stuck with the participant after catching his or her eyes during the scanning task were used by participants to guess the gist of the reading. Only seven out of 49 participants could guess the main topic of the reading by scanning the block text, but 13 out of 49 guessed the topic correctly after scanning the parsed text. (See Table 2.) After skimming and timed reading, the number of additional correct topic guesses went up steadily; but, by the end of the activity, there were still 14 of 49 participants who could not understand the block text reading, while only eight participants could not understand the point of the parsed text. Of the twelve participants who found it easier to guess the topic of the block text reading, four were from the pt group. Based on the two-tailed t-test for topic guessing, where t(48) = 1.9415, p = 0.0581, the numbers fall just short of the necessary t-value and probability for claiming a statistical significance. (See Table 3.) Therefore, though noteworthy, the researcher must concede that these results are not widely generalizable. Table 2: Number of correct topic guesses after each task After Scanning (3pt) After Skimming (2pt) After Reading (1pt) Incorrect (0pt)

= = = =

Block

Parsed

7/49 21/49 (+14) 35/49 (+14) 14/49

13/49 26/49 (+13) 41/49 (+15) 8/49

Table 3: Statistical analysis on topic guesses α = 0.05 Critical value: t = 2.0106 (two-tailed) Block

Parsed

Average = 1.29 1.63 Std. Dev. = 1.04 1.05 Higher score distribution 12 (4) > =13 (8)= < 24 (12) All (PT only) t(48) = 1.9415, p = 0.0581 Interpretation: Keep the null hypothesis

Timed reading results

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The average reading speed of the parsed texts among all 49 participants was 139.6 words per minute; 11.5wpm faster than the 128.1wpm taken by the same participants to read the block texts. These numbers are reported in seconds to completion in table 4 below. The data sounds impressive until one considers the fact that 36.7% (18) of all 49 participants actually read the block text faster; and, even more surprisingly, 54.2% (13) of the 24 participants from the pt group read the block text faster, while only 20% (5) of the 25 participants from the bt group read the block text faster. Furthermore, with statistics which read t(48) = 1.600, p = 0.116, these results suggest that no significant difference is being made between the reading rates across the two formats. As such, neither format has actually proven to lead to faster reading than the other.

Herbert: Syntactically parsed text formats in intensive reading Table 4: Statistical analysis on reading rates α = 0.05 Critical value: t = 2.0106 (two-tailed) Block

Parsed

Average = 86.62 sec 79.50 sec Std. Dev. = 5.52 28.95 Higher score distribution 5.52 < 31 (11) All (PT only) t(48) = 1.600, p = 0.116 Interpretation: Keep the null hypothesis

Comprehension score results Results from comprehension scores were equally baffling. Again, the bt group out-performed the pt group on the parsed reading questions. While 60% of the participants from the bt group scored the same or higher points for comprehension on the parsed text than on the block text, only 50% of the pt group could say the same. Although the scores were largely different, 81.6 points for the block text compared to 75.5 points for parsed, the twotailed test, t(48) = 1.597, p = 0.117, once again implies that no significant difference was made between comprehension scores across the two formats. As such, neither format has actually proven to lead to better comprehension or reading efficiency than the other. Table 5: Statistical analysis on comprehension scores α = 0.05 Critical value: t = 2.0106 (two-tailed) Block

Parsed

Average = 81.63 75.51 Std. Dev. = 19.08 20.92 Higher score distribution 22 (12) > =14 (6)= < 13 (6) All (PT only) t(48) = 1.597, p = 0.117 Interpretation: Keep the null hypothesis

Eye tracking results After data was collected, the eye movement patterns of 16 participants were compared in three sets of heat maps generated by the eye-tracking software (one set for scanning, one for skimming, and one for timed reading). Each set included four maps; one image for Group One looking at block text, another for Group One looking at parsed text, a third for Group Two looking at block text, and a fourth for Group Two looking at parsed text. Each heat map image was generated by a compilation of gaze traces from eight group members from each group whose eye movement patterns were properly recorded on all six pages that they were asked to scan, skim, or read. A proper recording was defined as one in which the eye tracking equipment maintained a constant and accurate trace for the same participant on every task that participant completed. Figure 3 below shows a proper gaze trace of a single

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user which indicates exactly where he or she was looking over an elapsed time of just a few seconds. Other participants had plenty of proper gaze traces, but they were not consistent across every task due to excessive motion, excessive blinking, calibration problems, or other complications in data collection. Therefore, these 16 participants were the best choice.

Figure 3. Gaze trace (single participant)

Scanning heat maps When setting up the eye tracking equipment to record eye fixations within thresholds of 40 pixels and with a minimum duration of 15 milliseconds, it was easy to see where the participants looked and where they didn’t during their rapid eye movements across the page for scanning, skimming, and timed reading. In Figures 4 and 5 below, two heat maps generated by the recordings of eight participants’ eye movements during scanning exercises in two different groups are displayed. As each image is a compilation of eight participants’ data points, the fixations which lasted for the shortest moments and those fixation points which did not fall in a region common to others do not show up here. However, in the original color images, degrees of intensity for each common fixation point are indicated by bright red for the longest and most common gaze fixation points, followed by orange, yellow, green, and blue, in that order. In the grayscale images pictured below, the outlying shades of gray are the areas that were colored blue or green, the white lines which appear to be outlining shapes were yellow, and the areas inside the white lines were shades of orange to red, where the darkest gray here indicates the brightest shade of red in the original image.

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Figure 4. Heat map of eye fixations while scanning block text.

Herbert: Syntactically parsed text formats in intensive reading

Figure 5. Heat map of eye fixations while scanning syntactically parsed text. In the eye movement recordings taken for the image in Figure 4, the average fixation duration was calculated to be 227.7ms. Therefore, it can be said that the words inside the white outlines were most likely looked at for more than a quarter of a second while the other words most likely were not. The heat maps in Figures 4 and 5 were recorded over the few seconds of time that the researcher had just called out the word “loved” and then “wade.” Since the participants had to find those two words, both of the words are hidden under the darkest shade of gray here. For the block text format, only two words come remotely close to warranting the same amount of attention, “biggest” and “flying,” which were buried under a shade of orange in the original image. However, for the parsed text format of the same section of text, these two words plus four more (also, cranes, five, and feet) draw the attention of the participants with fixation durations of more than the average 205.1ms for that recorded image.

Skimming data The video screen captures of the participants’ eye movements as they skimmed the block text revealed a tendency for experienced skimmers to fixate on topic and closing sentences. However, the parsed text masked the topic sentences and encouraged the skimmer to quickly skim through as much as possible with fewer fixation points along the way. The number of fixation points while skimming for 15 seconds dropped from 26.9 for block text to 21.4 for parsed text on average for Group One and from 23.4 (block) to 16.3 (parsed) for Group Two.

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Timed reading heat maps The number of fixation points during timed readings also decreased noticeably. The number dropped from 134.5 for block text to 90.6 for parsed text on average for Group One and from 90.8 (block) to 76.3 (parsed) for Group Two. As seen by comparing Figures 6 and 7, fewer words are buried under the darker shades of fixation intensity in the parsed text than in the block text. This suggests that the readers have a tendency to observe larger language chunks in one fixation on parsed texts, while they take more time per individual word on block texts.

Figure 6. Heat map of eye fixations while reading block text.

Interpretation and limitations Despite the challenges of acquiring a larger pool of reliable eye tracking records, the eye tracking data collected in this study adds much more to the interpretation of the results than a t-test or any other statistical analysis may offer. Below, the overall effects of using syntactically parsed text formats for scanning and skimming activities in an efl context are further elaborated upon.

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Figure 7. Heat map of eye fixations while reading parsed text.

More on the effects of parsed text on scanning and topic guessing As seen in a comparison of Figures 4 and 5, the block text format lends itself to a wider range of words that are glanced over quickly while scanning than the parsed format. According to Samuels, Rasinski, and Hiebert (2014), a non-fluent reader needs 300ms to recognize a word and longer to comprehend it. As the white outline shapes in Figures 4 and 5 are estimated to represent fixations of about 200 to 250ms, and all fixations outside of the white outlines are estimated to have even shorter durations, the outlying words are assumed to have not been recognized at all. On the other hand, many of the much darker shaded words within the white outlines have fixation durations well over 300ms. Therefore, Figure 5 reveals a tendency, or at least a potential, for participants to recognize more words, irrespective of what they are looking for, during a parsed scanning activity than with a block scanning activity. This sheds light on the reason why the participants were able to guess the topic of the parsed text somewhat more quickly than the block text: Because they were actually taking in more vocabulary during scanning.

More on the effects of parsed text on skimming Regarding the effects of syntactically parsed text on skimming, the participants were challenged by the necessity to skim a much wider plain of text rather than focusing on one intact set of words in a smaller field of view. Some participants complained about this and the fact that they could not find the topic and closing sentences within the parsed text. However, the parsed text also enabled the participant to glance at the text chunk-by-chunk. Therefore, fixating on one word would often equate to fixating on one chunk. While some 251

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video screen captures of the parsed skimming activity suggested that the participants were glancing over most of the chunks in a reading, fixation points in related heat maps were mostly gathered around the first third of the text. At the same time, the video and heat map of the block skimming activity highlight the readers focusing on the first and last sentences of the first two paragraphs. The end results, regarding topic guessing after skimming, were fairly compatible between each format, but the pattern of eye movements to acquire the information was quite different.

Further discussion When the 231 English conversation students in the six classes mentioned above finished all 20 intensive reading activities, each class was given one more activity in the format that they had not yet used for the activity. Then, they were asked in which format they preferred doing the activity. Among the 113 students in the pt group, only 21.2% (24) preferred block over parsed. However, 58.5% (69) of the 118 students in the bt group preferred block over parsed. This information alone shows that when the activity itself is presented in a nonconventional format, it takes time to become comfortable with the new format. As Warschauer (2011, June) has suggested, formats like vstf do take some time for students to adapt to. Nonetheless, this study has stretched out its treatment period much longer than Yu and Miller (2010), Kanda (2012), and the author’s two unpublished pilot studies. The study has also included a larger participant pool and a wider variety of activities. And, yet, the results are quite similar. There is still no conclusive evidence that a syntactically parsed text format can help classes of intensive efl reading students in Asia to read English more efficiently. On the other hand, this begs the questions: Is syntactically parsed text more effective for some individuals than others? Does the ease of reading the syntactically parsed text actually slow down the more analytically minded technical college student, who might be having an “Ah-ha” moment in which they realize they can see the meaning more clearly in chunks; so, they initially slow down for taking it all in rather than moving forward and hoping it all makes sense as they continue along? With respect to the first question, other researchers have had a similar inquiry. In a study focused on span limited tactile reinforcement (sltr), a text format designed for helping dyslexic readers to read on tablets and smart phones, researchers found that left-justified parsed texts with only a few words per line help some readers to a significant degree but not others (Schneps, Thomson, Chen, Sonnert, & Pomplun, 2013). With this in mind, there is an apparent need for further research into vstf and its derivatives. Does a syntactically parsed text help those with dyslexia? Is there a pattern that could noticeably immerge among different types of readers with different skill sets or different levels of reading disabilities? Regarding the question about syntactically parsed text slowing down readers, occasionally, more regressive eye movements were witnessed in the video screen captures of the parsed text than the block text; but, the number of accurate recordings for determining the extent of these occurrences was too limiting to draw a conclusion here. Nevertheless, some of the same participants who were noted for these regressive eye movements and for reading the parsed text more slowly than the block were surprised to learn that they had performed better on the timed reading and questions for the block text activity than the parsed.

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Concluding recommendations Based on the observations made regarding scanning, if a reader is interested in capturing the gist of a reading or quickly obtaining a better understanding of how keywords may be used in context, a syntactically parsed text could help. However, for traditional instruction in skimming, in which developing English readers are taught to find key information by looking at topic sentences and closing statements, a parsed text format might be less desirable because it eliminates the ease at which such statements can be found in conventional paragraphs. Finally, since the effect of a parsed text format seems to differ between individual readers and contexts, and in answering to the voice of several research participants, it would be ideal if a reader could have a choice of format. On paper, that might appear to most as a wasteful project; but, in the form of an e-book reading, in which a push of a button would allow a reader to switch back and forth between formats, such an idea has merit.

Acknowledgements The author would like to express his deep gratitude to Yoshitomo Matsubara and Gordon Bateson for their helpful technical support in the early stages of this project. Also, Yoshitomo Matsubara and Shogo Yasukawa deserve appreciation for their contribution to the initial reformatting of many pages of text for the project. Special thanks are extended to Mark Warschauer for his inspiration and personal advice on conducting research related to vstf. And, finally, the author is grateful to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology in Japan for its financial support. This work was supported by mext Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) Grant Number 24531166.

References Churchill, P. (2005). Who uses tools? In Don Parker (Ed.) sra Reading Lab 1b, Lime Power Builder 4, McGraw-Hill Education. Demb, J. B., Boynton, G. B., & Heeger, D. J. (1997). Brain activity in the visual cortex predicts individual differences in reading performance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 94, 13363–13366. Herbert, H., Herbert, J. C., & Bergman, C. L. (2003, August). Reading quickly, understanding clearly. The Language Teacher, 27 (8), 21–22. Kanda, A. (2012). efl環境におけるvstfによるリーディング活動についての効果と課題. Paper presented at the pc Conference, 2012, Kyoto. 195–198. Retrieved from: http:// gakkai.univcoop.or.jp/pcc/2012/papers/pdf/pcc028.pdf Mirametrix, Inc. (2014). S2 eye tracker technical specifications. Last retrieved on July 31, 2014 from: http://www.mirametrix.com/products/eye-tracker/ Samuels, S. J., Rasinski, T. V., & Hiebert, E. H. (2014). Eye movements and reading: What teachers need to know. TextProject Article Series, February 2014. Retrieved from: http://textproject.org/library/articles/ eye-movements-and-reading-what-teachers-need-to-know/

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Schneps, M. H., Thomson, J. M., Chen, C., Sonnert, G., & Pomplun, M. (2013) E-Readers Are More Effective than Paper for Some with Dyslexia. plos one 8(9): e75634. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075634. Retrieved from: http://www.plosone.org/article/ info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0075634 Vendetti, A. (2005). Dancers in the wild. In Don Parker (Ed.) sra Reading Lab 1b, Lime Power Builder 6, McGraw-Hill Education Walker , R. C., Gordon, A. S., Schloss, P., Fletcher, C. R., Vogel, C., & Walker, S. (2007). Visual-syntactic text formatting: Theoretical basis and empirical evidence for impact on human reading. Paper presented at the ieee Professional Communication Conference, 2007, Seattle. 1–14. Retrieved from: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org Walker Reading Technologies, Inc. (2014). WebClipRead. Last retrieved on July 31, 2014 from: http://www.liveink.com/ Walker, R., & Vogel, C. (2005). Live Ink®: Brain-based text formatting raises standardized test scores. Paper presented at the National Educational Computing Conference, 2005, Philadelphia. 1–39. Retrieved from: http://www.liveink.com/ Walker, S., Schloss, P., Fletcher, C. R., Vogel, C. A., & Walker, R. C. (2005). Visual-syntactic text formatting: A new method to enhance online reading. Reading Online, 8(6). Retrieved from: http://www.readingonline.org/ Warschauer, M. (2011, June). Re-imagining reading in digital learning environments. Plenary address to the jaltcall annual conference, Kurume, Japan. Warschauer, M., Park, Y., & Walker, R. (2011). Transforming digital reading with visualsyntactic text formatting. jalt call Journal 7(3), 255–270. Yu, C. H., & Miller, R. C. (2010). Enhancing web page readability for non-native readers. Paper presented at the chi Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2010, Atlanta. 1–10. Retrieved from: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/uid/projects/froggy/ chi10-froggy.pdf

Author biodata John C. Herbert is an Associate Professor of English at the National Institute of Technology, Akashi College. He is an active member of jaltcall and the Moodle Association of Japan, where he promotes the use and development of open-source courseware for empowering teachers and students to gain better educational outcomes.

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Online intercultural collaborations using wikis: An analysis of students’ comments and factors affecting project success Edo Forsythe Hirosaki Gakuin University forsythe@hirogaku-u.ac.jp

Regular Paper

Online intercultural collaborations using wiki pages are becoming common in foreign language education. However, research into their effectiveness and the types of comments students make in their interactions remains scant. This study addresses this gap by exploring three years’ worth of interactions among Japanese students of English and American students of Japanese. The data demonstrated that the focus of students’ comments matches the overall topic of the collaboration, that interpersonal topics generate more interactions, and that logistical factors have a strong impact on the success of online collaborations. Based on these data-driven conclusions, this paper provides lessons learned and specific tips for conducting successful, online intercultural exchanges among foreign language students using wiki pages as a collaboration medium. Keywords: Intercultural Collaboration, Wiki, Language Learning, efl, Japanese

Introduction Online interactive collaborations have become much more prevalent in foreign language classrooms in the past decade as technology and bandwidth have enabled instant access to people and places around the world. Foreign language classrooms have long struggled with the problem of isolation from the target language and culture – this has been especially true for Asian students of English and English-speaking students of Asian languages. Thanks to the Internet and Web 2.0 tools, this problem exists no more. One might ask why interactive collaborations have become so popular in foreign 255

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language (l2) classes; there are several answers. First, conducting computer-based intercultural exchange activities provides students with an opportunity to develop the communications and computing skills necessary for work in the 21st century global market. The Independent Data Corporation (2013) and Schenker (2013) both found that the top skills required for the best jobs in the 21st century workplace are oral and written communication skills as well as computer literacy. Online intercultural collaborations offer a chance for students to hone both of these skills: the communications opportunities provided include a native speaker with whom language learners can practice their l2 skills as well as learn about the target language culture from a first-hand source. Internet-based intercultural exchanges are especially valuable for language learners living far from the country in which their l2 is spoken, such as Japanese learners of English or American students of Japanese (Nielsen, 2013). Possibly the most impactful rationale for engaging students in online intercultural collaborations is the fact that research has shown that students feel less pressure when interacting online than in face-to-face situations, and therefore are more active in their interactions and take more turns in communicating with others (Brandl, 2012; Ito, 2011; Koh & Lim, 2012; and Nielsen, 2013). Anything that teachers can do to lower their students’ affective filters and improve their engagement must be acted upon. People interact online with more anonymity than in face-to-face situations, and therefore, feel less afraid of making mistakes in their communications. Providing language learners with a safe environment in which to practice their new language without fear of ridicule is a priority for foreign language teachers. Online interactive collaborations provide precisely the environment needed. This paper reports on the findings of data collected through an online intercultural collaboration project conducted over a three year period between Japanese students of English at Hirosaki Gakuin University and American students of Japanese at the University of Wisconsin – River Falls campus. All of the project wiki pages and comments can be viewed at <http://aomoriuwrf.pbworks.com>. An explanation of the project’s beginning and conduct from 2011 to 2013 will be provided along with a discussion of the success of the communications based on the presence of unanswered questions (as in Tanaka-Ellis, 2011), and then a review of the types of comments and interactions conducted by the students in both their native language (l1) and their l2. Finally, lessons learned will be shared with suggestions of how language teachers can begin successful, online intercultural collaborations in their own classrooms.

Literature review Platforms

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Since technology has become a normalized part of the language education process (Bax, 2012), Internet-based collaborations have used a variety of platforms: blogs, podcasts, wiki pages, and social networks. The pedagogy behind these collaborations is similar: to provide learners with an opportunity to use their l2 in a realistic setting with native speakers while performing a task or learning about the target language culture. Among available collaboration platforms, wiki pages have been found to be the best-suited for collaboration (Chu, Siu, Liang, Capio, & Wu, 2013; Koh, & Lim, 2012; Miyazoe, & Anderson, 2010; and Nielsen, 2013). Miyazoe and Anderson (2010) investigated student perceptions in online interactions

Forsythe: Online intercultural collaborations using wikis and found that students prefer collaborations through wiki pages versus blogs or forums. This preference for wikis over other platforms is most likely due to their simple, flexible nature and their ease of creation. Students can begin creating their own wiki pages with minimal instruction and wikis’ ability to accommodate a variety of media allows students several options in their collaborations. Wiki pages allow students to use pictures, videos, audio files, hyperlinks to external websites, or simple graphics to share information needed to perform their assigned task, and are therefore, very well-suited for online intercultural collaborations. (See Chu et al., 2013, for a detailed explanation of the uses of wikis in higher educational contexts for knowledge management.)

Collaboration group dynamics As online interactive collaborations have become more common in the past five years, educators have begun analyzing various aspects of their conduct and the learning outcomes of the participants. Ito (2011), Koh and Lim (2012), Lee (2011), Oliveira, Tinoca, and Pereira (2011), and Wang (2011) all explored the aspects of group work and group dynamics in online collaborations. With regard to the size of groups which best encourage robust online interactions, Oliveira et al. (2011) and Wang (2011) all found small groups preferable to large groups. Small groups encourage the participation of all group members and makes it more difficult for some group members not to participate. Additionally, teacher participation in the group activities was found to have little impact on the types of group interactions (Nielsen, 2013); however, the presence of an instructor in the collaboration can spur interactions among group members who are having difficulty in beginning their collaboration (Oliveira et al., 2011). Therefore, it behooves teachers to monitor the groups’ online collaborations to ensure that progress is being made and to provide encouragement when groups are having difficulty beginning their task.

Interaction types When planning online collaborations between students in different countries or regions, teachers have two interaction options to choose from – synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous interactions can be quite logistically challenging to set up due to the technology needs and the difficulty of aligning time schedules across time zones. Also, synchronous exchanges can have some negative effects on the students, such as increased pressure to perform, higher stress levels, and an inability to expand their l2 knowledge because of a need to respond immediately to interactions using only their existing language skills (Brandl, 2012; Ito, 2011; and Jung, Kudo, & Choi, 2012). In contrast, asynchronous collaborations have been demonstrated to be overwhelmingly beneficial to all students, especially beginners (Chun, 2011; Hirotani, & Lyddon, 2013; Ito, 2011; Nielsen, 2013; and Tanaka-Ellis, 2011). Asynchronous collaborations allow students to plan, create, and revise their work prior to posting it to the collaboration platform; often the posts are much longer than those seen in synchronous interactions (Chun, 2011). Having time to thoroughly consider their input affords students the opportunity to expand their language skills because they can learn new vocabulary or new grammatical constructs which allow them to say what they want to in the interaction (Hirotani & Lyddon, 2013). Having time to consider and plan one’s posts is especially beneficial for beginning language

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learners who may not have developed sufficient language abilities to express themselves as required by the collaboration tasks (Nielsen, 2013; Tanaka-Ellis, 2011).

Task types

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There are a variety of tasks which can be assigned in intercultural online collaborations. Common examples are interpersonal exchanges, sharing cultural information, and collaborative project work in teams or small groups. When deciding the type of tasks to assign, it is important for the instructor to keep in mind that they are creating a learning community for their students to learn both on their own and with the help of others (Wang, 2011). Jung et al. (2012) found that instructions for task completion should be stated as clearly as possible to lower the students’ affective filters and stress levels, while increasing the potential for successful task completion. Brandl (2012) found that open-ended tasks encourage more interaction and participation among the students. Simpler question and answer-style tasks are limiting in their potential for students to expound upon the topic at hand; so instead of providing a set of questions to be answered through interviewing a partner about an aspect of their culture, the students should be tasked with researching and reporting back on a more general topic. For example, Japanese students of English could be assigned to compare the traditional celebrations of the New Year holiday in America and Japan. Such an assignment forces students to contemplate their own culture’s practices and engages their critical thinking skills to determine what questions to ask in order to elicit data for a comparison of the topic. In analyzing how students responded to their tasks and the language they used, Brandl (2012), Lee (2011), and Tanaka-Ellis (2011) found that students rarely corrected one another’s linguistic errors within the collaborations, nor did students’ language improve when their errors were pointed out by others. These findings suggest that online collaborations are more beneficial for learning about target cultures than for directly improving one’s language abilities; however, the positive effects of the opportunity for students to interact with native speakers cannot be discounted. Online intercultural collaborations provide students with the chance to interact with native speakers in their l2 and thereby developing greater confidence in their l2 interactions – an opportunity which they may not have within their own communities. This alone is a powerful rationale for conducting such online collaborations. In summary, a review of the growing number of articles investigating the pedagogical impact of online intercultural collaborations shows that wikis are a preferred platform for collaboration among both teachers and students due to their flexibility and ease of use. When planning the collaboration, teachers should keep in mind that small groups allow for more engagement and interaction among the members; and asynchronous collaborations provide an excellent opportunity for students to plan their interactions and improve their language skills while lowering the stress they experience from interacting in a foreign language. Finally, open-ended tasks allow for freer discussions and the ability to express off-topic thoughts while collaborating with their teammates on a project. Even though students focus primarily on the content of the task assigned, the fact that they are engaging with native speakers in their l2 builds their l2 confidence while they learn about their target country’s culture and people. A review of the literature revealed no studies which specifically explore the types of comments made by participants of online intercultural exchanges. Language use, pragmatics,

Forsythe: Online intercultural collaborations using wikis and communicative competence have been investigated, but little research has been conducted on the content of the students’ interactions. The current collaboration project and analysis of the data were conducted with these ideas in mind.

Method Participants and procedure The students of Hirosaki Gakuin University who participated in this study’s intercultural collaboration were freshmen students in the university’s School of Liberal Arts’ Department of English and English Literature. All of the participants were English majors. In all three years, the Japanese students began the collaboration after the American students due to an uneven alignment of the school calendars. The collaboration was an extra activity for the Japanese students, which was assigned as homework due to the unavailability of a computer lab during the class meeting time. Not all of the students followed the assignment schedule, but the majority of them did. The American participants were students from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (uwrf) in a third semester Japanese language class (japn201). Technology is highly integrated in the daily instruction as well as the course assignments and projects. japn201 students have done a similar wiki-based collaboration project among other uw campuses and with other Japanese language students during the second semester Japanese course. The wiki-based collaboration with the Japanese university students was a part of the course project and graded. For this collaboration project, the American students were required to create a wiki page on a given topic in Japanese and read the Hirosaki Gakuin students’ English wiki pages and leave a comment in English. Table 1: Numbers of participating students and collaboration tasks UWRF Hirosaki Gakuin Collaboration tasks

2011

2012

2013

21 15 Group project creating a local culture information page

9 12 Creating an individual wiki page: Self introduction and open topics

9 9 Creating an individual wiki page: Self introduction and open topics

During the first year of the collaboration, the Japanese students were assigned to create a pictorial culture project in English. They were asked to explain an aspect of local culture along the lines of the Flat Stanley project (https://www.flatstanley.com) using the Hirosaki city mascot, Takamarukun, in place of Flat Stanley (see Figure 1). Alternatively, the Uwrf students adopted a group collaboration project approach. Students were divided into small groups and each group was assigned a different theme (see Table 6 below) and created a group wiki page in Japanese.

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Figure 1. Takamarukun cultural photo project example photo.

During the second and third years of the intercultural collaboration project, both the American and Japanese students were assigned to create wiki pages about themselves to introduce themselves to their counterparts (see Figure 2 for an example of the student’s wiki pages). In all three years, the students were instructed to read their fellow group members’ pages and leave comments in the page author’s l2 about the content – the focus was on sharing cultural information instead of correcting one another’s l2 language errors. As a means of integrating the collaboration project into the curriculum and to give the Japanese students a reason for participating, in all three years of the collaboration project, the Japanese students’ final exam (an oral proficiency interview) included a discussion of something interesting about American culture that they learned from the collaboration wiki pages. This did not require them to create their own page, but did cause the majority of the students to at least visit and read the pages – although there were some students who admitted during their final examinations that they did not look at the wiki pages prior to the examination.

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Because it might have been daunting for the participants of this exchange to attempt to comment on all of the other participants’ wiki pages, it was decided to create small groups of participants to facilitate more interactive communications. Due to uneven student numbers, the participants were randomly assigned to groups usually consisting of two or three Japanese students and one American student. The participants were allowed to view and comment on any other wiki page in the collaboration, but they were instructed to first view and comment on the pages of their group partners. Using this structure provided the participants with a structure within which they could begin communicating, and allowed participants to expand their attention to other wiki pages once they gained confidence. Organizing the participants into small groups was found to be in line with the research findings and recommendations of Oliveira et al. (2011) and Wang (2011).

Forsythe: Online intercultural collaborations using wikis

Figure 2. Example of student’s self-introduction wiki pages.

Research questions In keeping with Tanaka-Ellis’ (2011) analysis of participants’ comments in intercultural collaborations, the following research questions were proposed in this study’s review and analysis of the students’ wiki pages and their comments: a. Do language learners attend to previously posted comments when participating in an online intercultural collaboration? b. What are the possible causes for questions posed in wiki comments being left unanswered? c. What types of intercultural communications can be expected during online collaborations among language learners in different countries? d. Does the theme of the intercultural collaboration have an impact on the types of comments posted by participants?

Data analysis The data from the participants’ comments on the collaboration wiki pages were analyzed in two ways. First, a quantitative review of the numbers of comments was conducted. This data was then analyzed from different perspectives and with comparisons of related comment types: the numbers of comments by language, the numbers of author responses to others’ comments, and the numbers of comments posted by the two instructors. Second, a qualitative analysis of comment types was performed to determine the types of comments being made by participants in online intercultural collaborations. The comments were read and divided into three categories: interpersonal, cultural, and language-related. As no other research was found which analyzed the types of comments that language students make in intercultural communications, the author chose to categorize them based on the general topics observed. In situations where a single comment posted contained both interpersonal 261

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information and cultural statements, the comment was counted in both categories. In future analysis of participants’ comments, it may be more prudent to analyze the comments at the sentence level instead of viewing them as single comment posts.

Results and discussion Analysis of unanswered questions In reviewing the numbers of questions asked and answered or unanswered as an indication of actual communications and intercultural exchange, the data (see Table 2) showed that a total of 59 questions asked on the Japanese-language wiki pages and 115 questions were asked on the English-language wiki pages over the three-year term of the collaboration. Table 2: Numbers of questions asked, and answered or unanswered within the wiki comments Japanese pages

262

English pages

Total questions n

% of Total n

Unanswered %

% of Total n

2011 2012 2013 Total

3 30 26 59

5% 51% 44% 100%

33% 47% 38% 42%

62 32 21 115

54% 28% 18% 100%

58% 56% 76% 61%

1 14 10 25

Total questions

Unanswered 36 18 16 70

Attending to previous posts in learners’ answers. Overall, the comments on the Englishlanguage wiki pages included twice as many questions as the Japanese-language wiki pages; however, the percentage of unanswered questions did not have the same proportions. In reviewing the question patterns in individual years, the data in the first year show a significantly different pattern than in the succeeding years. On the English pages, over half (n = 62) of the entire quantity of questions posed occurred in 2011. Also, the highest percentage of unanswered English-language questions (58%) was posed during the first year of the collaboration. Conversely, the quantity of questions posed on the Japanese pages in 2011 was only 5% (n = 3) of the total number posed in the three-year term of the collaboration and only one of them went unanswered. There are several possible reasons for these results. In the case of the collaboration in 2011, timing seemed to be the primary factor in the lack of communications indicated by the low number of questions on the Japanese-language pages and the high number of questions on the English-language pages. In the initial collaboration, the Japanese participants did not create their wiki pages until late in the semester: the teacher’s example page – Aomori Project – was created on November 17, 2011 and the student-created wiki pages were all posted after December 4, 2011. In the same year, the American students had all created their pages in Japanese by November 15, 2011 and were waiting anxiously for the Japanese students to create their pages in English so that the collaboration could begin. By the time that the English-language pages were posted, only two weeks remained in the American participants’ semester so there was little time for back-and-forth communication via the

Forsythe: Online intercultural collaborations using wikis wiki pages and the American participants’ great number of comments and questions may have overwhelmed the Japanese participants and forced them to focus more on responding to comments on their own pages instead of asking questions about the content on the Japanese-language pages. This could also have been due to the Japanese participants’ lack of confidence in using technology and a general lack of experience in using the Internet or computers in their educational process (see Murray & Blyth, 2011; Nielsen, 2013, for additional information about Japanese students’ lack of technical savvy). This imbalance in question posing and responding in the 2011 collaboration was mirrored in the total number of comments posted on the wiki pages (see Table 3). Again the English-language wiki pages exhibited more interaction than the Japanese-language pages for possibly the same logistical reasons mentioned above. The 2011 English-language pages had more comments and responses than in the other two years combined in spite of the shortened time limit imposed by the university calendar. Table 3: Total numbers of comments to wiki pages and the number of those comments which were responses by the authors Japanese pages

English pages

Total questions

Responses

% of Total n

2011 2012 2013 Total

37 25 23 85

44% 29% 27% 100%

19% 68% 61% 47%

69 32 27 128

54% 25% 21% 100%

33% 28% 22% 30%

7 17 14 40

Total questions

Responses 23 9 6 38

In addition, while there were more comments overall on the Japanese-language pages in 2011, the number of author responses was less than half of the amount seen in the 2012 and 2013 collaborations. This may indicate that since the American and Japanese participants were focusing on the English-language pages, the Japanese participants had little opportunity to post questions to the Japanese-language pages, and therefore, the American participants had less motivation to respond to comments on their own pages. The higher percentage of author responses on the English-language wiki pages would seem to indicate that the focus of the collaborative communications remained on the English-language pages on which the American students pounced as soon as they were created, thereby not really allowing the Japanese students a chance to fully delve into the content presented on the Japanese pages. In the latter two years of the collaboration, communications, as indicated by a balance of questions and responses (see Table 2), seemed to indicate that communications flowed more smoothly possibly thanks to the fact that the English pages were created two weeks earlier in 2012 and 2013 than in 2011 – the first wiki page being created on November 6 during both years. A review of the numbers of comments and author responses shows that the percentage remained nearly equal for all of the wiki pages in 2012 and 2013 as in 2011 (see Table 3) in spite of a change in topic from posts about cultural topics to selfintroductory posts. While the percentages remained nearly the same, the total number 263

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of comments dropped across all categories – this decrease in comments invites further exploration through surveys or interviews of participants. Logistical factors influencing communications success. Tanaka-Ellis (2011) compiled a comprehensive list of possible influencing factors for participant comments, including multiple topics in single comments, lack of implicitness, syntactic or pragmatic errors, or a change of topic by one of the participants (p. 395). In reviewing the participants’ comments, there was no indication that any of these reasons caused the lack of responses to questions or caused a decrease in the number of comments posted. The questions left unanswered were not linguistically difficult. Examples of unanswered questions from the English pages are: When is the best season for this kind of apple?, What is your major?, and What kind of videogames [sic] do you like to play? Examples from the Japanese pages include: あなたは来年シカゴのどんなところに行きたいですか？ [What part of Chicago do you want to go to next year?], なにをかきますか？[What do you draw?], and 何か英語で読みやすいおすすめの本があったら教えてください[Please tell me about easy-to-read English books you like]. Instead of question or language difficulty, it would seem that the logistical factors mentioned above had a great deal of influence on the success of the intercultural communications in the 2011 wiki pages – 92% of the questions unanswered questions were posed after December 10th, which was after the uwrf semester had ended (see Table 4). Table 4: Number of unanswered questions which were posted too late for response

2011 2012 2013 Total

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Japanese pages

English pages

Unanswered questions Total unanswered posted after questions Dec 10

% of Total n

1 14 10 25

33% 47% 38% 100%

0% 7% 30% 16%

36 18 16 70

58% 56% 76% 100%

92% 11% 0% 50%

0 1 3 4

33 2 0 35

To determine the causes of the lack of answers to questions posed in the 2012 and 2013 collaborations, a review of each page author’s final posts on their wiki page was conducted. On the 10 Japanese-language wiki pages with unanswered questions, six pages had zero or one comments by the author prior to the posting of questions by page visitors. On the remaining four pages, the unanswered questions were either posed by the author to visitors, posted too late for comment, or were ignored by the author. In reviewing the 29 English-language pages with unanswered questions over the three-year course of the collaboration, 17 of the pages had zero comments posted by the page authors. Five of the pages had questions posed after the official end of the collaboration in the second week of December; and three of the pages had questions posed by the authors to visitors who did not return to answer them. On the remaining four pages, the questions were posted within the timeframe of the collaboration but after the author’s final comment, so there was no response given.

Forsythe: Online intercultural collaborations using wikis In light of this data, it is apparent that a key factor in ensuring successful communications and intercultural collaboration is active participation of all members of the project so that a complete dialogue among the members can be facilitated within the allotted timeframe. In order to support such active collaboration, the wiki page activities and comments must be an integral part of the participants’ curriculum and syllabus (Brandl, 2012). The reasons for questions being left unanswered do not seem to be a result of the communication hindrances listed by Tanaka-Ellis (2011), but rather a result of logistical matters such as failure of authors to post any comments or the posting of questions after the collaboration’s allotted timeframe had ended. With these factors in mind, the intercultural communications were successful among those participants of this project who did attend to the comments and questions of page visitors and remained engaged in the collaboration from the beginning to the end.

Analysis of participant comments A review of the literature regarding the use of wikis in online intercultural collaborations showed that little research has been done on the types of participant comments and how the collaboration project topics affected the participants’ interactions. This study reviews the types of comments made by participants in their l1 and l2 across the three-year term of this collaboration. The comments and responses were sorted into three categories based on their content and some comments or posts were included in two or three categories if their content warranted. The first category (A) was interpersonal communications; the second (B) was content-related communications; and the third category (C) was l2 languagerelated comments. Category A comments included statements or questions about personal likes and dislikes, preferences, or personal experiences, such as I like to eat that too. or Who is your favorite composer? Category B comments included statements or questions about cultural topics such as The hamburgers and pizza look good and I want to try eating them. or What is famous about your hometown? Category C comments included corrections or recasts of language errors, as in You wrote that you see American tv dramas, but we say, “watch tv dramas.” Statements about participants’ language ability, such as Your Japanese is very good. were not included in Category C. A discussion of the types of comments observed in this collaboration follows. As might be expected, the change in the focus of the assigned topics for the collaboration from 2011 to 2012 and 2013 (see Table 1) resulted in a change in the type of comments posted. The topic of the 2011 wiki pages was culturally focused, thereby resulting in the majority of the comments relating to discussions about the cultural content on both the Japanese- and English-language wiki pages (see Table 5, overleaf). As shown in Table 5, in 2011, the vast majority of the comments posted on Japanese pages and on the English-language pages were Category B, or culturally-related comments. The cause of this trend was most likely that in 2011, the wiki page topics were primarily culturally focused (see Table 6, overleaf). To clarify the topics in Table 6, Takamarukun is the city mascot used in the pictures of the cultural areas and Neputa and Nebuta are major local festivals.

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Table 5: Categories of participants’ comments in each year of the collaboration Japanese pages Comment type

2011 2012 2013 Total

11 16 22 49

25% 53% 63% 45%

33 14 13 60

2011 2012 2013 Total

A 20 40 31 91

% 20% 85% 82% 49%

B 81 6 7 94

75% 0 47% 0 37% 0 55% 0 English pages Comment type % C 79% 1 13% 1 18% 0 50% 2

Total

% of total

0% 0% 0% 0%

44 30 35 109

40% 28% 32%

% 1% 2% 0% 1%

Total 102 47 38 187

% of total 55% 25% 20%

Table 6: 2011 Online intercultural collaboration wiki page topics.

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Japanese Pages

English Pages

グルメ[food] 音楽[music] 芸術[fine arts] 歴史・史跡[history & landmarks] エンターテイメント[entertainment] ラクロス・ウィスコンシン[La Crosse & Wisconsin] シカゴ[Chicago]

Aomori Nebuta Aomori Project Apples & Takamarukun Foreign Missionary Residence Gakuin Chapel HiroGaku Chapel HiroGaku University Hirosaki Gakuin University Hirosaki Ascension Church Hirosaki Station Hirosaki Station Pt 2 Japanese Cakes Our Free Time Takamarukun & Neputa Wright Hall

In 2012 and 2013, the focus of the assigned wiki page topics shifted to personal introductions to facilitate more interpersonal communications among the participants. As a result of this, the percentage of Category A comments increased dramatically on both the Japanese-language and English-language wiki pages (see Table 5). The percentage of the increase was greater on the English-language wiki pages; this is likely due to the logistical factors mentioned above which caused there to be more questions posed on the Englishlanguage pages – the fact that the American participants created their pages weeks ahead of the Japanese students and were waiting to begin the collaboration as soon as the Japanese

Forsythe: Online intercultural collaborations using wikis students created their pages. Once the majority of the exchanges began on the Englishlanguage pages, their momentum kept the focus more heavily on the English-language page comments and interactions. Comment examples from wiki pages. The interpersonal comments spanned a wide range of topics from introductions and statements of likes and dislikes, to hobbies, explanations of family members and hometowns, and school subjects and majors studied. Some examples of the types of interpersonal comments observed include: That reminds me of things I’d do with my family years ago. I also like K-pop. What are your favorite bands? 私もダンスが好きです。[I like dance too.] 私もフランス語をべんきょうしていました。[I have also studied French.] The culturally-related comments covered a wide variety of topics, such as music, local and regional tourism information, traditional crafts and hobbies, and agricultural products, to name a few. Examples of the culturally-related comments observed in the interactions include: I have never heard of these musicians. Are they J-Pop artists? I don’t listen to J-Pop but I would like to try it. I highly recommend you come to Japan to see sakura in spring!!! You also be able to experience ohanami. Do you know ohanami? ミシガン州はとてもきれいですね！私の地元にも十和田湖という青森県で有名な湖がありますよう。[Michigan is really beautiful, huh! My hometown also has a famous lake in Aomori prefecture called Lake Towada.] ミネソタは超きれいな所なので、以上の１４０００の湖があるんです。[Minnesota is a really beautiful place, and it has over 14,000 lakes.] Errors in the participants’ comments. Looking across all three years of the collaboration, there were only two comments which dealt with language corrections, one of which was posted by an instructor. This was not because the participants’ l2 skills were exceptionally high – many errors were evident in the comments and wiki page contents. The types of errors seen in the comments included missing English articles, incorrect word usage (My best favorite group is tvxq.), l1 transfer (I want [you to come to] Hirosaki Gakuin University badly.), and missing particles in the Japanese comments. Overall, the errors did not seem to inhibit communications or alter meanings. The instructors told the participants that language improvement was not the focus of this collaboration project, the focus was on learning about the l2 people and culture through intercultural exchanges. The students followed these instructions and made only one correction – a visitor to an English-language page noticed a spelling error in their own understanding of the abbreviated name of the Japanese university from HiruGaku to HiroGaku. Perhaps it can be assumed that the errors were not 267

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serious enough to affect the communications and understanding of the participants’ posts, but this survey supports the findings of Brandl (2012), Lee (2011), and Tanaka-Ellis (2011) that students rarely correct one another’s linguistic errors within such collaborations.

Discussion This study supported the findings of Chu et al. (2013), Loh and Kim (2012), Miyazoe and Anderson (2010), and Nielsen (2013) in demonstrating that wiki pages provide an excellent platform for online intercultural collaborations. Even with the technological inexperience that Murray and Blythe (2011) reported among Japanese university students, with explicit instruction and demonstration, the students were able to participate freely in the exchanges with the American students. The wiki pages enabled all participants to share pictures, links to other pages, and videos with one another as they shared personal and cultural information with their group members. Regarding the types of comments seen, the fact that the content of the comments changed along with the focus of the assigned content of the wiki pages from 2011 to 2012 demonstrates that the participants will tailor their comments and inquiries to match the focus of an online collaboration project. However, even with a collaboration topic assigned, the participants will also engage in a variety of discussions about both interpersonal exchanges of information as well as about the cultural topic at hand. This study demonstrated that online intercultural collaboration projects provide language learners with an opportunity to learn not only about the target language culture, but also about the people who live in that culture. The participants of this study learned about the differences in university life for students in Japan and America, shared information about popular musical groups in each country, told each other about local places of interest to visit in the future, and discussed traditional cultural hobbies and activities. Participants of such intercultural collaborations are clearly able to broaden their understanding of other cultures by noticing differences and similarities in the l2 culture and their own. In support of the findings of Brandl (2012) and Tanaka-Ellis (2011), this study found that participants in online intercultural collaborations do not engage in language correction or provide specific language-related feedback. As mentioned above, the only language-related feedback given in the three years of this study were a comment by an instructor and a minor correction to the spelling of the university’s name. In spite of numerous errors on both the English and Japanese pages, they were not deemed to be significant enough to hinder communications or require correction.

Lessons learned

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Throughout the three years of this study’s online intercultural collaboration, the instructors have made slight changes to improve the students’ experience and to make the collaboration more successful. Some of the problems with the implementation of the project were that the Japanese students were less technologically experienced than expected for university students. The American students had few problems with the technology, but the Japanese students required guidance and explicit, step-by-step instructions to perform the activities within this collaboration. In future collaborations, it would be beneficial for the instructor to integrate the collaboration project into the curriculum and to begin by taking the students to a computer lab to help them create their initial wiki pages which they

Forsythe: Online intercultural collaborations using wikis can then improve upon in their own time. Relying on the students to create their pages on their own resulted in the delayed commencement of interactions seen during the first two years of this project. Using small groups for the participants’ interactions proved to be an important step in steering the students’ interactions with one another, just as Oliveira et al. (2011) and Wang (2011) reported. Also, Brandl’s (2012) suggestion to use open-ended interaction topics encouraged the participants to follow the tangents in their interactions like a normal conversation would. In choosing a topic for the focus of the an online collaboration, the data from this study as explained above showed that more interpersonal communications occurred when the page topics and discussion were centered around personal introductions and the sharing of personal information. When cultural topics were focused on, there were a large number of comments but fewer responses to inquiries, so it would be preferable to choose more personal topics for the intercultural collaborations because the participants seemed to have a stronger personal connection to the interpersonal communications instead of simply reporting on a cultural topic. Further, the asynchronous nature of wiki page-based interactions allowed the participants to consider their comments and responses more fully. This observation was in keeping with the findings of Hirotani and Lyddon (2013), Ito (2011), Nielsen (2013), and Tanaka-Ellis (2011). Finally, even though Nielsen (2013) found that teacher participation in the interactions had little effect on the participants’ interactions, Oliveira et al. (2011) found that the instructor’s presence served to energize communications among groups which are slow to begin or are having difficulty working together. In this project, the instructors were often the first to comment on the students’ pages, and these comments did spur some interactions among the participants, however, there were also instances in which the authors failed to respond or comment in spite of the teachers’ presence. Overall, the instructors should be engaged in the collaboration project and monitor the participants activities so that they can intercede when activity decreases.

Conclusion The online intercultural collaboration project conducted between Hirosaki Gakuin University and the University of Wisconsin - River Falls in 2011, 2012, and 2013 was a successful collaboration which allowed the participants to exchange both personal and cultural information via student-created wiki pages. To answer research question a), the participants did attend to previously posted comments when time allowed. The participants’ exchanges were the most interactive when the students began the collaboration early in their fall semester; those who joined the collaboration late ran out of time to respond to questions posed by the other participants. This answers research question b) as well: the primary causes for questions going unanswered in this collaboration was a lack of time and failure of the participant to return to their personal wiki page after originally posting it. Given this information, the instructors must ensure that they prepare the students to begin the collaboration early, and integrate the project into the existing curriculum. The participants’ interactions should also be monitored by the instructor to minimize the possibility of communications fading out in the middle of the collaboration. In answer to research questions c) and d), this study demonstrated that the focal topic for online intercultural collaborations has an impact on the types of comments made by the students: when the topic was culturally focused, the participants’ comments primarily 269

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related to cultural information; when the topic was personal, there was greater interpersonal engagement among the participants. Teachers should bear this in mind when planning an online intercultural collaboration, as tailoring the focus topic will allow the communications to remain relevant to the classroom curriculum as the instructor desires. Finally, in preparing to conduct an online intercultural collaboration, instructors should remember that students may require more explicit instruction in the technical aspects of the collaboration – not all students are technologically savvy or comfortable interacting online. The instructor may need to provide individualized instruction at the beginning and during the interactions to ensure that all participants have a successful, educational, and enjoyable online intercultural collaboration project. Future topics of research into online intercultural collaborations include a review of participants’ comment length to determine whether a difference exists between participants comments in their l1 and their l2. Also, the number of comments can be reviewed to explore whether or not a preference is demonstrated for participants to comment in one language over another. Finally, a continuation of the research of Chu et al. (2013) can delve into student perceptions of participating in online intercultural collaborations using wikis. It is hoped that this study’s data will continue to provide useful information for language educators who hope to incorporate such projects into their own curricula.

Acknowledgement The author would like to thank Professor Magara Maeda, Japanese instructor at the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, for her continued support of our online intercultural collaboration, as well as for her assistance in with this paper. Her enthusiasm and dedication to providing an excellent experience for our students has been inspiring.

References

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Bax, S. (2012). How does technology become fully effective in language education? The social and psychological dimensions of educational normalization. Keynote address of the jaltcall 2012 Conference, Konan cube, Konan University, Nishinomiya, Japan. Brandl, K. (2012). Effects of required and optional exchange tasks in online language learning environments. ReCALL, 24(1), 85–107. Chu, S., Siu, F., Liang, M., Capio, C., & Wu, W. (2013). Users’ experiences and perceptions on using two wiki platforms for collaborative learning and knowledge management. Online Information Review, 37(2), 304–325. Chun, D. M. (2011). Developing intercultural communicative competence through online exchanges. calico Journal, 28(2), 392–419. Hirotani, M., & Lyddon, P. (2013). The development of l2 Japanese self-introductions in an asynchronous computer-mediated language exchange. Foreign Language Annals, 46(3), 469-490. Independent Data Corporation. (2013). Skills requirements for tomorrow’s best jobs – helping educators provide students with skills and tools they need (White Paper No. 243853). Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/download/presskits/ education/docs/idc_101513.pdf Ito, R. (2011). efl learners’ proficiency differences and their CMC interaction during an asymmetrical convergent task. The jalt call Journal, 7(2), 177–193.

Forsythe: Online intercultural collaborations using wikis Jung, I., Kudo, M., & Choi, S. (2012). Stress in Japanese learners engaged in online collaborative learning in English. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(6), 1016–1029. Koh, E., & Lim, J. (2012). Using online collaboration applications for group assignments: The interplay between design and human characteristics. Computers & Education, 59, 481–496. Lee, L. (2011). Focus-on-form through peer feedback in a Spanish–American telecollaborative exchange. Language Awareness, 20(4), 343–357. Miyazoe, T., & Anderson, T. (2010). Learning outcomes and students’ perceptions of online writing: Simultaneous implementation of a forum, blog, and wiki in an efl blended learning setting. System, 38, 185–199. Murray, A., & Blyth, A. (2011). A survey of Japanese university students’ computer literacy levels. The jalt call Journal, 7(3), 307–318. Nielsen, B. (2013). Students’ perceptions and learning outcomes of online writing using discussion boards. The jalt call Journal, 9(2), 111–147. Oliveira, I., Tinoca, L., & Pereira, A. (2011). Online group work patterns: How to promote a successful collaboration. Computers & Education, 57, 1348–1357. Schenker, T. (2013). The effects of a virtual exchange on students’ interest in learning about culture. Foreign Language Annals, 46(3), 491–507. Tanaka-Ellis, N. (2011). Interactional behaviour of foreign language learners in asynchronous CMC: Are they really interacting? The jalt call Journal, 7(3), 391–408. Wang, C. (2011). Instructional design for cross-cultural online collaboration: Grouping strategies and assignment design. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 27(2), 243–258.

Author’s biodata: Edo Forsythe is a lecturer at Hirosaki Gakuin University and an EdD Candidate at Northcentral University. His specialty is mobile technology in language learning, and he has published several papers on the use of educational technology. He is the editor of the tlt Wired column in The Language Teacher.

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Take your pick: Out-of-class, blended language and Web 2.0 projects, and online Neil Cowie Okayama University ncowie@okayama-u.ac.jp

Keiko Sakui Kobe Shoin Women’s University ksakui@shoin.ac.jp

Forum

This paper provides a synthesis of the pedagogical practices of e-learning teacher experts into a four-part framework of approaches: out-ofclass, blended language practice, blended Web 2.0 projects, and online. Examples of each approach are illustrated with short extracts from case studies of the participant teachers. It is hoped that these four approaches will be useful as a means for an individual teacher or institution to objectively assess the level of integration of technology within their teaching context and might also serve as a framework for technology-minded language teachers to communicate with other teachers or administrators who might not share a similar mindset. Keywords: E-learning, Universities, Language Learning, Framework, Case Studies

Introduction Garrison (2011) defines e-learning as “learning facilitated online through network technologies” (p. xiii). In this paper we take this to mean the use of digital devices such as computers, tablets, and smartphones and various kinds of software, especially Web 2.0 tools, for teaching and learning. E-learning in higher education is becoming more and more common (Johnson, Adams, & Cummins, 2012) particularly as institutions move to provide more flexible learning opportunities for students on campus and easier access for non-traditional students such as working people and senior citizens. Students are increasingly expected to be digitally literate and familiar with various devices and software that enable interaction and collaboration with their teachers, 273

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classmates and others (Prensky, 2012). In addition, an important aspect to the spread of e-learning in higher education is that students can study wherever they have access to the internet (Rosen, 2010; Turkle, 2011). This means that both teachers and students are creating digital materials to up and download so that they can be exploited outside traditional classroom settings (as in the flipped classroom movement; Bergmann & Sams, 2012). These general trends in higher education also apply to second and foreign language teaching. Language teachers and students can benefit from digital technology in many ways: teachers can use software tools and internet sites to widen their repertoire of teaching approaches, materials and activities; and, students can practice language skills independently or with others in an increasing number of ways both in and outside the classroom. These widening opportunities are reflected in teacher development books which aim to help teachers take advantage of rapidly changing technology (for example, Lewis, 2009; Hockly & Clandfield, 2010; DuBravac, 2012; Prensky, 2012; Stanley, 2013). There are also many theoretical articles examining various themes connecting technology and language learning. These include online teacher training (Compton, 2009); second language development theories and technology (Thorne & Smith, 2011); digital play (Reinhardt & Sykes, 2014); and, Web 2.0 tools and language learning (Thomas & Peterson, 2014). In addition to these research papers there are a number of excellent studies that provide practical and theoretical concepts to describe and critically analyse e-learning. In higher education, for example, Garrison and Anderson (2003) and Garrison (2011) introduce the ‘Community of Inquiry’ framework and the associated theoretical concepts of social, cognitive and teaching presence. This is a well-known approach in higher education which treats e-learning as a way of educating students that is grounded in higher order critical thinking skills and constructivist approaches to knowledge development. As well as initiating a theoretical approach the authors also report on the practicalities of how teachers and learners can work together to create the aforesaid community of inquiry, and they provide many research based examples which demonstrate successful learning outcomes through the use of the framework. One of the interesting perspectives from a language learning point of view is the emphasis on the creation of a learning community through online discussion and shared inquiry. This has great potential as a way to encourage language acquisition, however, thus far there are few language learning examples that have used this approach. More specific language learning based overviews of e-learning have been put forward. Two papers by Levy examine how technology and learning are connected: in 1997, following Taylor (1980), Levy uses a tutor-tool conceptual framework to describe how different digital resources can be related to learning activities; and, in 2009, he discusses various different kinds of technologies and how they have been used across eight language areas and skills. Recently, Dudeney, Hockly and Pegrum (2013) provide an overview of digital literacies that uses a four-part framework of language, information, connections and design. This is also specifically aimed at second and foreign language teachers and gives an excellent overview of all the different kinds of tools, tasks and activities that a teacher would need to know in order to implement an e-learning course to enhance digital literacy. And even more recently, González-Lloret and Ortega (2014) introduce a series of articles which are united within the frame of “technology-mediated” task based language teaching (tblt), which, as the name suggests, is an examination of the relationship between language tasks in a variety of technological environments such as text chat and virtual games. But, despite the rapid uptake of technology, the many books and papers written on these 274 changes, and the excellent overviews of technology and e-learning that have been produced

Cowie & Sakui: Out-of-class, blended language and Web 2.0 projects, online there are still only a small number of institutions in which e-learning of second and foreign languages is normalized (Bax, 2011). Instead, there are many different approaches at both institutional and individual teacher levels and, as far as we are aware, there are few language teacher-oriented frameworks which can help an institution or teacher place their work within a practical context. This paper is, therefore, an attempt to provide such a framework. Four descriptive approaches to e-learning are presented and extracts from case studies of expert teachers are given that illustrate each approach with specific teaching practices and issues of implementation. The framework begins with the approach requiring the least amount of technological know-how (called out-of-class) and ends with the one which needs the most institutional support (online). It is hoped that these four approaches will be useful as a means for an individual teacher or institution to objectively assess the level of integration of technology within their teaching context. They might also serve as a heuristic device for technology-minded language teachers to communicate with other teachers or administrators who might not share a similar mindset. Before describing the four part framework and examples from case studies a brief description of the research study and data that they are based on is given.

Background study In 2012 and 2013 the two authors of this paper visited five universities in four different countries (Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and the uk) as part of a project to gather information on the pedagogical practices of language teachers who were expert in e-learning. Our research questions were: 1) What teaching practices do experts carry out? 2) What devices and technologies do they use? And, 3) What are their underlying teaching approaches and philosophies? It is acknowledged that the term expert is a vague one that is difficult to define but we think the label is justified in that all the teachers who were eventually recruited had the following expert qualities: they all had formal qualifications in e-learning and digital technology; all had published academic articles or books on the subject; and, all maintained websites with their own materials for e-learning. Two of them had also developed online games for language learning. The experts were recruited through a snowball sampling method (Dörnyei & Csizér, 2012) in which personal contacts of the authors were asked to recommend expert language teachers in the e-learning field. We eventually recruited six different expert teachers (teaching EFL, ESL or Japanese as a second language) who were all using e-learning extensively in their work. We were shown around facilities, observed lessons and formally interviewed all the teachers about their teaching experience and approach. The ‘thick description’ (Geertz, 1973) of these visits together with transcriptions of the interviews were then analysed to find recurring themes. The four main results, as reported in Cowie and Sakui (2013), were: 1) teachers used a variety of different Learning Management Systems (lmss) and Web 2.0 tools; 2) the main philosophical approach of the expert teachers was a social constructivist one (Pegrum, 2009); 3) institutions varied enormously in the support that they could offer teachers; and, 4) teaching roles changed as e-learning was introduced. A logical next step in this survey of expert teachers was to synthesize their e-learning practices into a practical framework that can provide other teachers with a general picture of different approaches. In order to do this the data that was gathered from the initial five universities was combined with further observations and interviews at two universities in 275

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Australia and one in the us. The final number of universities that were visited was eight and 13 teachers in total were formally interviewed. This data was then qualitatively analyzed into six categories (following Miles & Huberman, 1994): the need for an lms or not; what kinds of e-learning software are used; what different teaching approaches and e-learning activities are used; to what degree e-learning is used in or out of class time; what different types of challenges do teachers face when implementing e-learning; and, what different types of assessment can be used. These categories were then used to create a framework of four broad approaches to e-learning. These are summarized in Table 1. Table 1: A summary of the four e-learning approaches APPROACH FEATURE 1. Need for an LMS 2. Software tools

3. Teaching approach 4. In or out of class 5. Challenges

6. Assessment

Out-of-class

Blended language Blended Web 2.0 practice Projects

Online

Yes/No

Yes

Vital

Web 2.0 E-books (language skills practice) Traditional

Web 2.0 (language skills practice) Task based

Web 2.0 (collaborative tools) Projects

Virtual classrooms

Out

Both

Choice of e-books and websites

Choice of tools

Traditional/ computerized

Design of projects and choice of tools Rubrics

Online teaching skills Out Staff and materials development Computerized

The framework and approaches are not representative of each geographical area where data was gathered. Rather they are an amalgam of all the different practices that were witnessed and as such we are confident that the framework will fit reasonably well for teachers and institutions in other settings. Listed in the next section are short definitions and explanations of these different approaches: out-of-class, blended language practice, blended Web 2.0 projects, and online.

Four e-learning approaches 1. Out-of-class

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In the out-of-class approach teachers teach a traditional class but use online materials for homework to provide extra practice and activities for students. Specific examples of online resources are vocabulary flashcard sites such as Quizlet (quizlet.com) or Anki (ankisrs.net), corpus tools such as Compleat Lex Tutor (lextutor.ca) or Flax (flax.nzdl.org/greenstone3/ flax), listening sites such as elllo (elllo.org) or EnglishCentral (englishcentral.com), and reading sites such as Breaking News English (breakingnewsenglish.com). Many textbooks also now offer e-learning tools in addition to the paper-based text and publishers provide

Cowie & Sakui: Out-of-class, blended language and Web 2.0 projects, online their own lmss to help teachers administer such activities. Assessment can be carried out as the teacher normally does and does not have to be based on online performance. Challenges include the choice of online sites and materials. Teachers do not have to use computers in class but students will need internet access for homework. This kind of class is not oriented towards e-learning but the use of online materials for homework is a good way for teachers to gain some initial experience of e-learning tools and activities without the pressure of having to use them in the classroom.

2. Blended language practice Garrison and Vaughan (2008) define blended learning as the integration of ‘thoughtfully selected and complementary face-to face and online approaches and technologies’ (p. 148); that is, teachers work in a traditional setting but carry out e-learning activities in class time to supplement or enhance their customary activities. We have divided blended learning into two types: those where language practice activities are foregrounded; and, those where the creation of a digital project using Web 2.0 tools is the main learning outcome. In the blended language practice approach activities are likely to be task based (Ellis, 2003; González-Lloret & Ortega, 2014) with an emphasis on skills development. The e-learning component of a class could include the use of language learning websites and textbooks with an online component. Specific examples include the same kinds of internet resources that are used in the out-of-class approach. Assessment may be very individualized and can be based on student performance in computer-based tests. Challenges include the choice of online sites and materials. Regular access to a classroom with computers and internet access is preferred but if these are not available students can use their own digital devices such as smartphones (the bring your own device policy, Lee & Finger, 2010) or share a class set of tablets or notebook computers (see Brown, Castellano, Hughes, & Worth, 2012, for an example of the use of iPads in the EFL classroom).

3. Blended Web 2.0 projects In a blended Web 2.0 project approach students work on projects using Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter (a social networking service), Google Docs (a collaborative writing tool) and YouTube (a video sharing tool) (these examples are the top three tools in Hart’s 2014 survey of online tools that teachers value most). One important role of the teacher is to introduce and facilitate the use of these various kinds of software. There may be less emphasis on direct language teaching and more on using digital tools to carry out collaborative projects that involve various texts and media. The outcome of a project will be some kind of e-product or digital artifact which is uploaded to the internet (such as a shared written text, a video, a digital story or an animation). The assessment of projects would most likely be carried out using instructional rubrics; that is, comparing the end product with the rubric that describes how to make it. Challenges include the choice of project and choice of software. The regular use of a classroom with computers is vital and it is likely that teachers would need access to an lms.

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4. Online We use Allyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (2004, p. 5) definition of online learning in which learners use the internet to access and interact with materials and to gain support from their fellow learners and teachers. In this approach lesson content and assessment methods are posted online and teachers and students do not need to meet in a face-to-face manner. There may be some kind of virtual classroom or online synchronous meeting place to practice language exchange (such as Blackboard Elluminate or Adobe Connect). Assessment can be carried out in many different ways and all can be computer based. Challenges include the choice of lms technology and materials development. It takes a long time and a lot of experience to create an online course so it is unlikely that this kind of course is possible for an individual teacher to develop in the short term. There also needs to be strong institutional support for this approach.

Examples to illustrate each type of e-learning approach In the next section examples from case studies gleaned from the university visits are provided in order to show what each type of e-learning approach means in practical terms and what the implications for institutions might be. A brief description of each setting is given and then a small number of specific features of each case study are highlighted and commented on. University and teacher names are kept anonymous but short quotations from participant teachers are given to illustrate particular points (the country name and page number of the interview transcription are given). In describing these examples we are not suggesting that other teachers should copy them but that they are indicative of the possibilities of each of the four e-learning approaches. We have not taken a particularly critical stance towards the examples; we have not critiqued how effective we think the approaches are for instance, but instead we have tried to describe them in a clear and objective way and have drawn attention to various issues that may arise in using each approach.

1. Out-of-class

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One expert teacher in an Australian university teaches esp to Asian students who come to Australia to qualify as nurses or midwives. The teacher coaches the students individually in a number of different areas including medical terminology, drug names, patient history taking, ward handovers (when one nurse debriefs another on the patients in their care) and report writing. Most lessons are voluntary and in the form of short tutorials using clearly focused worksheets. There are no e-learning activities during class time. The teacher stores all lesson materials on the university lms and has developed a number of web-based activities where students can practice further what they have learned in the tutorials. For example, students can listen to audio files of particular pronunciation points and then record and compare their own pronunciation. In addition to the lms-based activities, the teacher also runs a web forum in which she answers student questions and has developed (with a programmer and graphic designer) six different computer games that students can play online. These are different kinds of vocabulary practice games in which the students can, for example, cure a patient if they identify drug names correctly or harm them if they get the names wrong. The teacher explains why she has developed the games:

Cowie & Sakui: Out-of-class, blended language and Web 2.0 projects, online I just happened to do it because I’m a single teacher, I’ve got 500 or so students, I can’t service them all, this services them all. Ok, so it’s a logistics thing. It’s cheap and it runs and also my ultimate aim … is to send the games, actually say to the students who are enrolling or interested, that they should get a certain score in each game before they turn up to Australia. (Australia (1), p. 22). She also describes the teaching rationale for the games and the reactions of her students: As far as I’m concerned, games are a medium in which to coordinate multimedia materials in a timed environment, forcing students to respond… for fun, and also to imagine themselves, so like if you look at this avatar, they’re wearing the student placement uniform. They all are, students love that. I didn’t think they’d actually care… but they’re like “Oh my God, it was me” they said. (Australia 1, p. 17). In this example the teacher carries out traditional teaching activities with a strong focus on linguistic form and accuracy that reflect the high stakes learning environment that the students are in: if they do not quickly master the content of the course then they will not qualify to work in the Australian medical system. In addition, in response to the large number of students and limited time that the teacher can spend with each one she encourages them to go online for further practice. This practice may help students to become better language users and the games that they have access to may also increase their ability to identify with their future chosen profession by helping them to imagine themselves as future nurses and midwives (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009). This teacher has a great deal of technological expertise and few others should be expected to create their own website and develop online games in the way that she has. However, there are many other more straightforward means in which teachers can add out-of-class e-learning to their repertoire of teaching activities. Perhaps one of the easiest ways is to use a textbook that includes online versions of materials and activities. There are also many commercial websites (for example: alc.co.jp, cooori.com, dyned.com) which can provide students with extra opportunities for skills practice; and there are many free sites such as elllo.org and breakingnewsenglish.com, mentioned above, which provide authentic and graded materials for student and teacher use. There are also sites where students join a community of learners to collaboratively improve their skills such as the translation sites of duolingo.com and lang-8.com. In these ways teachers that are new to e-learning can begin using it without the need for a great deal of technology or expertise; they just need to demonstrate activities to their students and then encourage them, formally or otherwise, to practice in their own time.

2. Blended language practice In a different university in Australia two teacher-coordinators described how they have developed online materials for other teachers in their institution to use. The materials are designed for general academic lessons for overseas students on short term English courses (from one to six months). All the materials are available through the university lms and teachers can either use them for traditional activities using a whiteboard or a worksheet, or can use them in a more digital manner such as by showing a video online or by guiding students through a series of websites to complete assignments (see webquest.org). One example of a unit of work would be to get students to visit different websites to practice 279

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their reading skills on a particular topic and to identify language useful for discussion. Students would then work face to face and online to create a persuasive presentation based on their reading and research. In another example, students speak on Voice Board (available on the school’s lms, Blackboard) in order to practice answering toefl-type speaking questions. The teacher can use the lms to give feedback to students on their answers. The lms also provides options for teachers to use online discussion boards, forums, wikis, blogs and audio recording. Some teachers use these facilities but not all do; although courses are coordinated teachers are still allowed a great deal of freedom to decide their own use of technology. One online feature which all teachers do have to use is the automated grading and plagiarism checking system from turnitin.com. The teacher-coordinators provide extensive rubrics for written assignments, and, as well as providing grades, teachers are encouraged to highlight important errors and give personal feedback when they electronically return assignments to students. The teacher-coordinators stated that it was important in setting up e-learning for teachers to have a centralized system with a small number of software tools and that these tools be introduced through peers. Instead of teaching all their colleagues about new technological developments at the same time the coordinators show them to a small number of teachers who then peer teach others. As well as being an effective form of teacher development in itself this style of knowledge building is a result of the university having few computers available so only a limited number of teachers can use them at any one time. The teacher coordinators also emphasized that they have had to develop easy to navigate e-learning systems where teachers can show students how to move from one task to another in an educationally sound manner; that is, in a way in which materials are scaffolded and graded for students. They explained that they do not want to use technology for its own sake but to make sure that it can enhance the learning experience for students. The coordinators, although ‘tech-savvy’ (Dudeney, 2009) themselves, were wary of using technology as a result of pressure either from within their own university’s technology support staff or externally from technology companies: iPads were given out to our science students instead of text books and they’ve got their readings online, which is really great on the one hand but … it’s allowing one company to have predominance and also each year they’re going to change their product and then you know, that becomes obsolete. (Australia (2), p. 7–8). It seems that some teachers, at least in Australia, may feel pressure from various sources to use digital technology but are thinking critically about whether this is educationally useful or not. In other comments the participant experts suggested that a blended environment may be more suited to younger students (18–22 year olds) for whom the social side of an educational experience is very necessary, and that more mature students may prefer a fully online course. This is the opposite of what many observers believe is a digital divide between younger ‘digital natives’ who have grown up with technology and older ‘digital immigrants’ who have not (Prensky, 2012; Palfrey & Gasser, 2013). It is important in introducing technology not to assume that younger people are either familiar with the technology or are always accepting of it: The young students were all standing up and saying we don’t want you to put everything online, and they actually kept saying we want more face to face then you’re giving us

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Cowie & Sakui: Out-of-class, blended language and Web 2.0 projects, online now. You’re starting to reduce it too much. And so that was interesting because the university as an institution was thinking the other way. (Australia (2), p. 8). As Thomas (2013) points out it is important to bear in mind that ‘educators have to be wary of adopting conveniently dichotomized modes of thinking – building on the binary logic of “natives” and “immigrants”’ (p. 9). A second example of blended language practice is from a teacher in New Zealand who teaches Japanese as a second language. This teacher would prefer to teach in a fully online environment but her institution, although very supportive, does not yet have enough equipment or digital tools to allow her to do so. Her lessons are divided into traditional classroom teaching, computer-based grammar lessons, and the use of a website that the teacher has created for teaching ‘kanji’ (Chinese characters). The kanji website has a number of different features including a description of metacognitive strategies for learning kanji and various interactive games and flashcards. The reason for the teacher developing the grammar resources and kanji website was because she needed to teach students in the same class who varied widely in their language level: ‘There’s so many different learning preferences … in the classroom, so one method, sole method, sole agent type thing just does not work anymore’ (New Zealand, p. 7). The grammar resources and kanji website enable students to work at their own pace using digital devices. Many of the other teacher experts also described how they had first tried using technology as a way to solve a problem and enhance learning for their students. The New Zealand teacher endorsed this motivation and described why she was enthusiastic about using technology from a teacher development perspective: I think the good thing about technology is you can do it in little bites … you can just make a little tool or a little something and put it up there and now there are so many, that’s one point, there are so many authoring tools that do all the work for you. (New Zealand, p. 16). Not all teachers need respond to a problem in class with technology but, as mentioned above, it is a good first step in getting used to e-learning.

3. Blended Web 2.0 projects Examples of Web 2.0 project-based approaches come from Japan and Singapore. The example in Japan consists of several teachers in one university department who all use digital tools in their communication (not language) classes. Desk top computers were available in all classrooms and each student had their own lap top; the teachers also had a computer linked to a projector which was used to demonstrate activities using the university lms. Lessons ranged from teacher-fronted explanations in Japanese to small groups and pairs of students gathered around one student’s computer. The goal of the classes is to encourage students to use various kinds of Web 2.0 software to create collaborative digital products. Each of the teachers introduced a particular tool (all were available on the university lms) and students worked together to understand how each tool worked and to produce some kind of e-product. Tools that were used during the lesson observations included Flash (animation making software), Google Docs, and Inspiration (a mind mapping tool). Flash was used by students to make an animated presentation to be used to teach elementary school children about cancer. The draft storyboards 281

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made by the students were presented to the local education board to see if they could be used in schools so it was very much a project with real world consequences. Google Docs was used by other students to write a joint paper examining the impact of different technologies. Inspiration was used as a means for students in small groups to jointly reflect on the projects and technology that they had used in their lessons. In these reflections the students mentioned that they had used Dropbox (a file hosting and sharing service), Twitter, bubbl. us (a brainstorming and mind mapping tool), and Scratch (an educational programming language). These give some idea of the range of tools that students used in their projects. The second example of a project approach is from Singapore. The expert teacher taught a number of different courses including communication skills, pronunciation, and an English enhancement course. The teacher used a combination of an lms and his own website to manage the various projects that he set up. Lessons were classroom based with a strong element of technology; the teacher used slides to present ideas and students worked in small groups using their own portable devices. E-learning projects included ones on online journalism, digital storytelling and digital newsletters. For example, students jointly researched a local cultural phenomenon such as traditional funeral rites and created a collaborative video using interviews with local people, subtitled footage and their own commentary. The class videos were then uploaded to YouTube. As of writing these sets of videos have been seen as a collective over 80,000 times. There are a number of reasons why the university in Singapore uses a lot of technology. At a government level Singapore has a strategy for promoting the use of technology in education; this was partly in response to the sars epidemic in the early 2000s when many students could not attend school and partly that Singapore wishes to emphasize the use of technology as a key educational strategy (see Vallance, 2008, for a comparison of Singapore and Japan’s strategies for implementing digital technology). As a result, prospective teachers have a need to be able to use technology that is widely used in Singapore schools and to keep up to date with various Web 2.0 tools that are used for educational purposes. Some of the tools that were being used by students at the time of data collection were Windows Movie Maker (software for making movies and editing photos), Diigo (a social bookmarking site), and Lino (a messaging site for exchanging comments and opinions). One key difference between the language practice and Web 2.0 project blended approaches is that in the former there tends to be an emphasis on language development but in the latter language may be taught more indirectly or not emphasized as much; instead there can be more of a focus on developing skills in using different Web 2.0 tools. Learning language is still a vital part of the Web 2.0 project approach but the teachers’ philosophy was that digital tools and the principles behind them (such as interaction and collaboration) are equally useful in equipping students with life skills that will be of great benefit to them in the future.

4. Online The final two case studies come from the uk and from Japan. In the uk institution most students completed various distance learning language courses (Chinese, English, French and Spanish) using only online materials. Technology can enhance the distance learning experience for students but the uk institution also uses an online approach because, as the expert teacher explains, information technology skills are seen as part of a student’s 282 ‘twenty-first century graduateness and part of their employability’ (uk, p. 18). In other

Cowie & Sakui: Out-of-class, blended language and Web 2.0 projects, online words, it is a fundamental part of the university philosophy that graduates should be able to use digital technology in their learning. Teachers use various lmss to organize both synchronous and asynchronous lessons and, in addition, printed course books are sent by post to students. There are also email tutorials and supplementary online lessons for students that are falling behind. Active language practice is carried out through online chat rooms or virtual classrooms (such as Elluminate) where teachers organize lessons using a webcam and an online whiteboard and various other tools; for example, the teacher can use a pointer to replicate the kinds of actions and activities commonly seen in a face to face classroom. Students can see their classmates and teacher and lessons can be recorded so that students can review what was said and done. This facility is also used by teachers to reflect on their own performance and to use the recording to help develop other teachers’ skills. This is particularly important as teaching a course totally online means that teachers have to develop different ways of interacting with students compared to traditional teaching: We do a lot of staff development… (to) develop aspects of teaching… how do you mark languages? How do you teach languages at a distance? … In some ways it’s the same and some ways it’s different because it’s got the whole sort of double cognitive overload… you’re learning in a language as well as learning about the language. (uk, p. 3). The participant expert explained that students generally respond very positively to the online course as long as it is managed in a clear way: You know if the learning design is quite strong and people can see the point of what they’re doing and how that feeds into what they’re going to be asked to do for the assessment, and what the learning objectives are for the course as a whole, program as a whole, then they’re pleased with it. (uk, p. 19). The expert teacher went on to explain how assessment of students is carried out in a number of different ways in order to give students as many feedback opportunities as possible: tutors give spoken and written comments on spoken and written assignments; there is automated assessment of online exercises that students can resubmit as many times as they like; and, there is interactive computer assessment. In the latter hints are given if errors are made and links to language notes pop up on screen if a student makes further errors. The second online example is taken from a university in Japan which organizes an online course for science-oriented majors to read and write in English about topics in their field such as math, artificial intelligence, programming and robotics. Students attend their major classes on campus in a normal manner but also have to take the required online course. Students read various authentic texts that have been rewritten in a lexically controlled way using the most frequent 2,000 English words. After reading the materials for each unit students then write essays which they must submit at regular intervals during the semester. The university employs a writing tutor to assess essays and give feedback to the students. The expert teacher who administers the course commented on the need for extra staff: You still need somebody as both a technical administrator, so helping students with technical problems, but also giving academic advice or in this case English advice, so you need some kind … of method for them to contact either coming to an office to speak to

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a teacher or Skype or email system. You do need some kind of help, otherwise research shows… where you have minimal supervision you have more drop out. (Japan (2), p. 7). Within the framework of e-learning approaches it would seem that online is the most difficult to set up and maintain. Online courses need a large investment of staff time to develop course materials and computer systems, and once courses have started there needs to be a great deal of technical and language support for students. If not, as the Japan-based teacher describes, many students may not complete the course.

Conclusion It is an exciting and challenging time to be teaching languages. The advent of so many digital tools has meant that teachers can empower their students to access and practice language in more ways than have ever been seen before. However, it can be daunting to adapt this technology in an educationally effective way and teachers need support and information to do this, especially in a way in which there is an optimal balance of technology and educational outcomes. In providing a framework of four approaches to e-learning and examples of practice we hope that this paper will, in a modest way, help second and foreign language teachers implement some form of e-learning; and, it may also prove useful as a heuristic device for tech savvy teachers to discuss e-learning with less experienced teacher or administrative colleagues.

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant number 24520621).

References

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Thomas, M., & Peterson, M. (2014). Web 2.0 and language learning: Rhetoric and reality. calico Journal, 31 (1): i–iii. Thorne, S., & Smith, B. (2011). Second language development theories and technology– mediated language learning. calico Journal, 28 (2): 268–77. Turkle, S. (2011). Alone Together. New York: Basic Books. Vallance, M. (2008). Beyond policy: Strategic actions to support ict integration in Japanese schools. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24 (3): 275–293.

Author biodata Neil Cowie is an English teacher in the Language Education Centre of Okayama University, Japan. His research interests include examining the links between learning and student emotions and exploring how to use e-learning in the language classroom. Keiko Sakui teaches English and teacher training courses at Kobe Shoin Women’s University, Japan. Her recent research interests include educational leadership and management from a feminist perspective and e-learning in different cultural contexts.

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Officer reports As you read this, you are enjoying the final issue of the 10th volume of The jalt call Journal. Our Journal Editor, Glenn Stockwell, has done an amazing job at bringing the call sig’s publication from its infancy to the world stage over the past 10 years. The jalt call Journal. is now indexed in a major academic database and will hopefully spread to others as our prestige continues to grow. The call sig members should all thank Glenn when he gets back from his much deserved sabbatical next year. Two years ago, the call sig sponsored another publication – the Digital Mobile Language Learning (dmll) online magazine <http:// dmll.jaltcall.org>. Several of our call sig members are regularly contributing authors to the dmll. Some of the recent postings were entitled: “At last! Teacher-designed efl apps”; “Baby Steps”; “jalt2014: Blogging the tech parts”; “Mobile test proctoring, anyone?”; and “Wouldn’t it be nice if language students could manage their own discussions?” Once you have finished reading the Journal, please check out the dmll and set the rss feed to alert you when a new post is added. On a personal note, I am the column editor for the Wired! column in jalt’s The Language Teacher magazine. The column continuously needs writers to share their expertise and experience in using call methodologies in the language classroom; so please ponder the idea of submitting an article for consideration to <tlt-staff@jalt-publications. org>. Thank you very much. Thank you also for reading and constantly supporting The jalt call Journal. and the call sig’s superb publications. I hope you have enjoyed this special, post-conference edition of the Journal and I hope to see you all at the jaltcall 2015 Conference next June.

c@lling japan SIG Publications Officer Edo Forsythe

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