Rustam Shadiev

Improving English as a Foreign Language Writing in Elementary Schools Using Mobile Devices in Familiar Situational Contexts.

This research proposed a situational learning system to help elementary school students practice and improve their English as a foreign language (EFL) writing skills. Students carried out assigned writing tasks using the support of mobile devices in situations deemed to be familiar to the students, such as on the school playground, within classroom facilities, and at lunch. The study recruited 59 sixth-grade students from two separate EFL classes. A class of 28 students was identified as the experimental group, and another class of 31 students was assigned as the control group. The students of the experimental group carried mobile devices to carry out EFL writing assignments within specific and familiar subject environments, stimulating real-life situations or contexts. The results of the experiment indicated a significant difference in learning achievement between the two groups. Students in the experimental group perceived the designed activities to be fun; thus, they were more inclined to maintain interest in situated learning scenarios. Furthermore, based on interviews with participating students from both groups, we found that the activities presented within familiar contexts, and supported by our proposed EFL writing system, inspired students to not only write more sentences, but to describe the target objects clearly and thoroughly.

Review of research on mobile language learning in authentic environments

ABSTRACT We reviewed literature from 2007 to 2016 (March) on mobile language learning in authentic environments. We aimed to understand publications’ trend, research focus, technology used, methodology, and current issues. Our results showed that there was increasing trend in the publications. Students’ perceptions towards mobile learning technologies and language proficiency were the most common research topics. The most frequently used technologies were smartphones, mobile phones, and personal digital assistants, whereas the most common target language was English as a foreign language. In addition, university and elementary school students were the most common participants. We found that learning activities in most studies were carried out in classroom and specified locations outside of campus. Authentic learning environments in most studies were familiar to students and learning activities were designed using instructor-centered approach. Most studies collected and analyzed qualitative and quantitative data. We also discovered some issues associated with earlier studies, e.g. many studies did not focus on applying newly learned knowledge by students to solve their real-life problems or recently developed intelligent technologies for language learning were overlooked. Based on our results, we discuss some implications and make suggestions over mobile language learning in authentic environments for the educators and researchers.

Effects of Storytelling to Facilitate EFL Speaking Using Web-Based Multimedia System.

This study applied storytelling in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom in order to promote speaking skills. Students were asked to practice speaking EFL through producing individual and interactive stories with a Web-based multimedia system. We aimed to investigate an effectiveness of applying individual and interactive storytelling on speaking skills and the potential effects of multimedia aids in storytelling to facilitate language learning. Furthermore, we explored the relationships between research variables of this study, such as speaking performance on individual and interactive storytelling, the number of animation representations, and the system actual usage, with learning achievement. Four main findings were found in this study. First, students who used the system for creating stories significantly outperformed students who did not use it on the post-test. This finding suggests that storytelling activity with support of the system was beneficial for improving speaking skills. Second, speaking performance and the number of animation representations significantly correlated with learning achievement. Students who performed well during learning activities usually studied diligently and scored higher on final test. Animations could help students remember vocabulary and practice speaking to describe their animated stories. Third, only the speaking performance on individual storytelling was found as the significant predictor of learning achievement. Students working individually on storytelling were independent; they were less distracted from others, and had more opportunity for practice. The last but not the least, most students expressed positive perceptions and attitude toward the system and learning activities. Based on these findings, we suggest that storytelling learning activities supported by the Web-based multimedia system and implementing them in EFL learning classroom can be beneficial for facilitating speaking skills. Students can remember new vocabulary better, practice speaking skills more frequently, become competent in speaking target language, and improve learning performance.

Investigating applications of speech-to-text recognition technology for a face-to-face seminar to assist learning of non-native English-speaking participants

This study applied speech-to-text recognition (STR) technology to assist non-native English-speaking participants to learn at a seminar given in English. How participants used transcripts generated by the STR technology for learning and their perceptions toward the STR were explored. Three main findings are presented in this study. Most participants perceived that transcripts were useful for learning. Nineteen learning strategies to use transcripts were discovered; transcripts were used to understand the topic presented, to find an answer to a question and to write summaries. Participants with different learning achievements demonstrated different learning behaviours when using transcripts. That is, some participants used transcripts effectively (i.e. studied them thoroughly and used the most important parts of them for summaries along with elaborating ideas) but some participants did not (i.e. studied transcripts superficially and employed the copy-and-paste method to complete summaries). Therefore, this study suggests how to teach participants to use transcripts by employing learning strategies meaningfully.

Cognitive diffusion model with user-oriented context-to-text recognition for learning to promote high level cognitive processes

This study proposed Cognitive Diffusion Model to investigate the diffusion and transition of students’ cognitive processes in different learning periods (i.e. pre-schooling, after-schooling, crossing the chasm, and high cognitive processes). In order to enable majority of students crossing the chasm, i.e. bridge lower and higher levels of cognitive processes such as from understanding the knowledge that students learn in class to applying it to solve daily-life problems, this study proposes User-Oriented Context-to-Text Recognition for Learning (U-CTRL). Students participating at learning activities can capture learning objects and then recognize them into text by using U-CTRL. Finally, this study presents a case that shows how to facilitate students’ cognition in English through applying the knowledge to solve daily-life problems with U-CTRL and how to evaluate the case.

Employing self-assessment, journaling, and peer sharing to enhance learning from an online course

This study explored the use of self-assessments, journaling, and peer sharing in an online computer programming course. We conducted an experiment using a pretest–intervention–posttest design in which 64 undergraduate first-year students participated. We aimed to investigate whether self-assessment, journaling, and peer sharing can facilitate students’ learning. Moreover, we examined how the research variables related to each other and to learning achievement. Therefore, after the experiment, (1) prior knowledge, learning performance, and achievement were assessed, (2) online logs representing learning behaviors were analyzed, and (3) students were interviewed. Results demonstrated that self-assessment, journaling, and peer sharing effectively facilitated learning and students’ cognition regulation strategies. Namely, keeping a learning journal enabled students to summarize key concepts, elaborate ideas, and reflect on learning material; self-assessment allowed students to reflect on their understanding of the material under study; and peer sharing enabled students to study peers’ learning journals and self-assessments to improve their own. Although self-assessment, journaling, and peer sharing significantly correlated with each other and with learning achievement, results showed that keeping a learning journal had the strongest effect on learning achievement. Moreover, self-assessment and keeping a learning journal complemented each other and combining the two resulted in even higher learning achievement scores. The findings suggest that the use of self-assessment, journaling, and peer sharing show promise to facilitate learning from an online course.

Enhancing learning performance, attention, and meditation using a speech-to-text recognition application: evidence from multiple data sources

ABSTRACT In this study, we provide STR-texts to non-native English speaking students during English lectures to facilitate learning, attention, and meditation. We carry out an experiment to test the feasibility of our approach. Our results show that the participants in the experimental group both outperform those in the control group on the post-tests and have higher attention and meditation. In addition, our results demonstrate that lower ability students who used STR-texts had higher learning performance, attention, and meditation than lower ability students in the control group. The results also show that attention and meditation are dynamic and change throughout the lectures. Furthermore, we found that attention trendlines have a negative slope, whereas meditation trendlines have a positive slope. Our results suggest that STR-texts are useful for non-native speaking students, especially those with lower language proficiency, and can enhance their comprehension of English lectures and also raise their attention and meditation. However, educators and researchers should keep in mind that interactive strategies need to be applied in order to maintain and even increase low proficiency student attention throughout the lectures.

Investigating the effectiveness of speech-to-text recognition applications on learning performance and cognitive load

This study explores the effectiveness of applying speech-to-text recognition (STR) technology during lectures in English on learning performance and the cognitive load of non-native English speaking students. Furthermore, the study also explores the usefulness of texts generated using STR for students with different levels of English as foreign language (EFL) ability during lectures of varying difficulty levels. Two lectures, one with intermediate difficulty level content and the other advanced, were administered, and STR was adopted to aid student learning. The results of this study show that the students who used STR-generated texts outperformed the students who did not. Furthermore, lectures in English caused less cognitive load for low ability EFL students when they used STR-texts. According to the students, the STR-texts were useful for following the instructor, confirming content, clarifying vocabulary, and making up missed information. It was found that STR-texts were used by low EFL ability students during both lectures whereas high EFL ability students used STR-texts during the lecture at the advanced level and only some of high EFL ability students used them during the intermediate lecture. Based on these results, several suggestions and implications for teaching and research community are proposed. Students who use STR-texts outperform those who do not.Lectures in English cause lower cognitive load for students when they use STR-texts.STR-texts are useful for students learning.STR-texts are beneficial for low EFL ability students learning.

Effects of drag-and-response interaction mechanism of multi-touch operated tabletop technology on users' awareness and collaborative performance

In this study we proposed drag-and-response interaction mechanism of multi-touch operated tabletop technology which features a queue area, a rubber band and a transfer animation function. We conducted one experiment by applying our proposed drag-and-response and existing drag-and-drop and drag-and-pop mechanisms, one at a time, to support collaborative tasks on a large-size tabletop display. This study aimed to compare collaborative performance of participants on tasks with different interaction mechanisms and to explore effects of drag-and-response mechanism on awareness and collaboration of participants. Perceptions of participants toward using drag-and-response mechanism were also investigated. Results of this study revealed that drag-and-drop and drag-and-pop are not convenient mechanisms for collaborative work on a tabletop display. According to the results, drag-and-drop mechanism resulted in more exchange errors, while there were several conflicts and uncoordinated behaviors during collaborative work with drag-and-pop mechanism. Further investigation through questionnaire and interview surveys revealed that drag-and-response is beneficial for facilitating awareness and cohesive collaboration due to its functions, such as a queue area, rubber band and transfer animation. Moreover, the results showed that the rubber band facilitated participants to work with remote targets on a multi-touch tabletop display easily and the queue area enabled participants to control flow of coins into a personal panel and out of it. Participants made less number of exchange errors and drops with drag-and-response mechanism.It took longer time to complete tasks using drag-and-response mechanism.Participants perceived drag-and-response mechanism was easy to use, useful, and playful.Functions of drag-and-response mechanism could increase awareness of participants.Drag-and-response mechanism can improve participants overall collaborative performance.

Investigating the Effect of Taking and Reviewing Annotations and Homework to Math Learning

In the study, one Web annotation system VPen was proposed for facilitating students to foster metacognition by reviewing self and otherspsila annotation and homework. Annotations are personally meaningful and useful for individual reflection later, while homework sharing is generally useful for all because it is assigned by instructors. Therefore, through reviewing these two products, annotation and homework, some metacognition may occur. We conducted the quasi experiment employing VPen system to study the influence of reviewing annotation and homework on math learning. The results showed that reviewing selfpsilas annotation and homework had significant influence on learning achievements. Regarding consulting otherspsila annotation and homework, some interesting different phenomena were obtained; for consulting otherspsila annotation, less usefulness was found on learning achievement because annotation is usually meaningful and useful to it owner only, while consulting otherspsila homework is more useful because all students need to solve homework and can get much benefits from studying other solving methods. From this study, we suggested that the design of learning activities should consider not only taking annotation and homework but also promoting students to review them in order to foster metacognition.