L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature
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Measuring epistemic beliefs about grammar
Get PDFIn current educational reform much attention is paid to the development of awareness, reflective thinking, and higher order thinking. In language education, the importance of reflectivity for stimulating linguistic awareness and higher order thinking has been emphasized. Crucial for reflective thinking are the underlying assumptions individuals have regarding the nature of knowledge and knowing, so-called epistemic beliefs. Measuring these beliefs is problematic in the domain of language education, where little is known about students’ epistemic beliefs about grammar. This study aims to develop an instrument for measuring students’ epistemic beliefs in the L1 grammar domain. We therefore transposed a questionnaire for measuring beliefs about history into the domain of grammar. Seven linguistic experts and 300 pre-university students from the Netherlands and Belgium completed this questionnaire about grammar. Exploratory factor analysis extracted two factors, which we argue reflect convergent and divergent thinking. This study shows that students’ scores on convergent thinking are higher than the experts’ scores, and that students’ scores on divergent thinking are lower than the experts’ scores. The results also show that students’ scores on epistemic beliefs on divergent thinking are higher than their scores on epistemic beliefs on convergent thinking. Possible explanations for these observations are discussed
THE ONLINE STUDY OF LITERATURE IN ISRAELI TEACHER-EDUCATION COLLEGES: FRAMEWORK AND GUIDELINES
Get PDFStudying literature online has become common in teacher-education colleges since the increase of online learning in the higher education arena. The aim of this study was to identify the primary components of online literature lessons as perceived by preservice teachers (PSTs). Using a qualitative, multiple case study approach, data from a heterogeneous population of 90 PSTs attending three Israeli teacher-education colleges were retrieved, using discussions, questionnaires, and interviews. Thematic-cognitive data analysis yielded three major themes related to technological aspects, teachers’ knowledge, and PSTs\u27 subjective experiences of an online literature lesson. Based on these findings, a theoretical model was constructed for developing guidelines for teaching literature online. Given that there is no existing framework for conducting literature lessons online, this study contributes to the literature by extending the resources available for understanding and researching pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching literature
Layering literacies and metagaming in Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Get PDFThe primary purpose of this ethnographic research is to explore what literacy practices unfold through and beyond gaming, how metagaming is conceptualized and how metagaming shapes the players\u27 view and relation to their literacy practices with a particular focus on the first-person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). Data from this study were drawn from ethnographic research of four young males within and around CS:GO in the context of Cyprus. Findings indicate that players go through a cycle of layering literacies in order to evolve their metagaming. Metagaming is about creating fluid forms of optimal or unexpected tactics and strategies during game play that go beyond the rules of the game to counter the opponent(s) by using pre-existing, current, and new knowledge from past game plays, as well knowledge and information from online and offline literacy practices. These layered literacies are multidirectional, interest-based and are part of learning related to high-level making decisions. The results contribute to the body of literature suggesting ways videogames and more specifically metagaming, could support literacy in L1 classrooms
No, an oral presentation is not just something you prepare at home! Elementary teachers’ practices supporting preparation of oral presentations
Get PDFIn elementary school, oral presentations are among teachers’ favorite activities. From the pupil’s perspective, this activity can have a major impact, as the skills it calls for will prove useful later throughout his/her career and life. While instruction for the presentation generally happens in class, the same is not true for the preparatory work, which is mostly carried out at home with or without parental support, thus creating inequalities between students (Sénéchal, 2017). However, teacher support is essential to help elementary school students prepare their oral presentation.
Our research question is: what kinds of support do teachers offer to students to help them prepare oral presentations? To answer this question, we interviewed 16 teachers from the French-speaking part of Belgium who ask their students to make oral presentations and who say they offer support before the presentation. Their declared practices show a wide variety of types of accompanying support. The practical implications of our study relate to progressive teaching of a complex task, rebalance between time devoted to oral and to written preparation, attention to the speaker and the audience, collection of artifacts, introduction of training modules for teachers, and best practices to be highlighted
Digital games, literacy and language learning in L1 and L2: A comparative review
Get PDFIn this comparative systematic review, we analyse how the use of digital games inside and outside school settings might support primary and secondary students’ literacy and language learning in relation to first language (L1) and second language (L2) educational contexts. Our findings indicate widely different patterns from utilising diverse game aspects, theories, and research methodologies in relation to the two different subject areas, which show that they are less convergent than what often is suggested in research that compares the two subjects in a globalised world. The L1 studies indicate positive findings with mainly commercial games in relation to writing, multimodal production, critical literacy, and, partly, to reading. The L2 studies report positive findings with educational games in relation to the investigated language skills (vocabulary, reading, and writing), though with an increasing number of studies conducted in out-of-school settings examining commercial gaming practices. We discuss the findings from the two K-12 subjects using a cross-disciplinary perspective, and we suggest directions for future research
How relevant is it? Public Elementary School Teachers Encounter Ancient Jewish Texts
Get PDFThis study deals with a learning encounter in a havruta (pair) setting of teachers of public elementary schools in Israel with an ancient legend (Aggadah) drawn from sixth-century Jewish culture. The objective of this study is to examine the teacher’s attitude to the text through a study of the dialogue created in the encounter with the text in the havruta setting. Participants in the study included two groups of mostly women teachers of Hebrew language (L-1): 15 teachers in Group 1, and 14 teachers in Group 2. The groups came from two large and demographically different cities in Israel. The teachers were asked to study the story in pairs and to consider its suitability for teaching in their class. After the legend was studied, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with the teachers. The study corpus included 12 recordings of havruta learning, nine semi-structured interviews and ten lesson plans for teaching the legend in the class. The findings of the study point to different attitudes to the teaching of the text in the class between the groups and to differences in the perception of the relevance of the text for the teachers themselves and for their students. The discussion is based on the definition of relevance (Sperber & Wilson, 1995; Dascal, 1977) as a relative function of efficiency: the maximum contexts and meaning that the listener can extract with minimum effort. This definition explains the sense of relevance or irrelevance of the text as perceived by the participants in the study
Game-informed meaning making in U.S. math class: Cooperative competition and students’ literacies and numeracies
Get PDFThis article features data from a larger, ongoing eight-year study involving game-informed learning in public high school math classes in the Northeastern United States. More specifically, the focus on cooperative competition and assessment reveals how specific principles of gaming, namely discovery, reflexivity, contextual understanding, and sharing, can support the development of students’ literacies and numeracies. Furthermore, this article addresses how game-informed teaching and learning can be applied to L1 classroom
Stardust and statistics: Situated language and literacy in Pokémon Go guides
Get PDFThe ability to understand language-in-use is essential to language and literacy learning. This article focuses on players\u27 acquisition of specialist language and Discourses (Gee, 2014) among players of the mobile augmented reality game Pokémon GO. Specifically, I explore player-written guides by self-identified researchers of the game. These researchers enact scientific Discourses to explain gameplay elements. Using parent interviews and excerpts from the player-written guides, I analyze these game guides\u27 highly specialized and complex language as forms of situated language in-use. I conclude with a discussion of implications based on these findings for L1 in educational settings
Effects of a visual literacy programme for the improvement of reading comprehension in primary and secondary school students.
Get PDFWith basis on previous research findings, a quasi-experimental longitudinal study was designed to analyse the effects of a visual literacy programme using images to improve reading comprehension. Pre-tests and post-tests were used for the recurring measurement of two homogeneous groups. The participants were 221 primary and secondary students in six schools within Andalusia and Madrid (Spain). The results indicated that visual literacy and, specifically, the reading and interpretation of connotative and symbolic images improve reading comprehension, especially at the global or macro-structural level, as well as literal and inferential reading, the comprehension of comparisons (similes) and metaphors, the ability to synthesize, and creativity. A moderate or large effect size was observed for all these variables. The effectiveness of the programme and the need for the planned, intentional use of images as pedagogical and didactic tools were confirmed