2019 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
An investigation into the impact of English appropriateness and the nurturing of autonomous learning attitudes on learner developmental processes
| Project/Area Number |
18K00885
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| Research Institution | Tokai University |
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Principal Investigator |
コリンズ ピーター 東海大学, 国際教育センター, 教授 (10307241)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
藤枝 美穂 大阪医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (20328173)
鈴木 広子 東海大学, 教育開発研究センター, 教授 (50191789) [Withdrawn]
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | Reading processes / Taxonomy / Scaffolding activities / Protocol analysis / EAP course design / Tertiary education |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In the 2019 academic year, the PI and Cis elucidated the English as a lingua franca (ELF) components of their educational framework by implementing their revised course designs. The main research activity was to trace, through survey data and learner protocol analyses, student processes of (1) developing learner language, (2) comprehending, and (3) understanding what learning in general means and the value of English language learning. At the beginning of the year, the Pre- and Post-Learning Surveys were revisited and refined in order to better determine how the course design impacted student attitudes toward learning in general and, specifically, learning English for Academic Purposes (EAP). The surveys again targeted lower-intermediate students (Group A), and were compared with an additional group at the upper-intermediate level (Group B). The data supported the previous finding that Group B had been exposed to more English in a wider variety of secondary school activities than Group A. As the Pre-learning survey and diagnostic writing activity revealed, Group A lacked both English linguistic knowledge and cognitive skills, as well as general knowledge relevant to the content of the course’s reading texts. Analyses of learner protocols demonstrated that average students in Group A were gradually able to engage in activities at the Apply, Compare, and Evaluate levels of the Taxonomy. Whereas on Day 1, they had only attempted to list superficial incidences, resulting in relatively weak paragraph coherence, by the end of the course, they were objectifying reading themes.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The Pre- and Post-Learning surveys were adjusted and the target student groups were diversified in order to better determine how the course design impacted student learning experiences of English and attitudes toward EAP and toward learning in general. Resulting data allowed the investigators to continue refining the course design so that target students in 2020 will be empowered to operate more efficiently at higher cognitive levels. Additionally, the collection of past and ongoing student writing outcomes enhanced the investigators’ ability to identify and qualitatively analyze student transition processes of learner English. The handwritten English protocols have been transcribed as digital texts by the research assistant employed in this study. The investigator team plans to increase the frequency of their meetings in 2020, moving them online and making them bi-monthly.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
For the 2020 academic year, the investigators have set three principal goals enabling them to complete this study. First, the digitalization of the learner English protocols will be completed, second, the PI and CIs will determine the most appropriate programs for conducting quantitative analyses of longitudinal data to track students’ linguistic features and progresses, and third, 1) the survey results, 2) the activities in the revised course designs and 3) the results of qualitative and quantitative protocol analyses will be compared to highlight any relationships between types of activities and features, changes, and progress with the learner English protocols. The outcomes were to be presented at AILA 2020 in Groningen, the Netherlands, but the conference has been postponed until 2021. With this in mind, the team plans to extend this study by another year.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Although we were accepted to present at the RELC International Conference in Singapore in March, the conference was cancelled, so the money was left unspent. We plan to attend RELC 2021.
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