Earticle

The appropriate use of tenses has long been an area of concern for many secondary school students of English as a second language in Hong Kong. This paper reports on a series of cyclical research lessons conducted with five classes of Secondary Two (Grade 8) students in Hong Kong. The teachers designed the lessons in ways that allowed the students to discern, through variation, the critical features of the appropriate use of past tense and present perfect tense in descriptive texts. Observation and evidence from interviews and comparison between pre- and post-test results suggest that the research lessons helped the students to learn effectively. At the same time, teachers benefitted from the collaborative reflections and investigations, as well as applying the Theory of Variation proposed by Marton and Booth (1997), suggesting that this model of professional practice may have broad application in teacher development programmes.

The importance of collaborative activities has been recognized for increasing learning opportunities in language classrooms. However, benefits of collaborative writing in university writing classrooms have not been robustly reported yet. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate students’ perception of a collaborative writing project and its instructional benefits during a course devoted to teaching transitions from writing paragraphs to essays in an EFL classroom. The project involved 15 students in an intermediate-level writing class at a university in Korea. Each group was assigned with different types of paragraph. Other groups gave suggestions on how to transform the paragraph to a five-paragraph essay in a series of peer feedback workshops. Results of surveys and interviews of participants clearly revealed that the collaborative project helped them develop a positive attitude towards writing in L2 English and working in groups. This study contributes to the practice of academic writing by showing that collaborative writing allows students to achieve the goal of understanding composing processes and the goal of producing a presentable essay. For teachers who are reluctant to implement collaborative writing projects in EFL settings, this study provides useful guidelines for project design and practical applications for the classroom.

본 연구의 목적은 창의적 문제해결에서 SNS(Social Network Service)를 활용한 협력적 성찰이 대학생의 학습동기, 문제해결능력, 학업성취에 미치는 영향을 확인하고 협력적 성찰을 지원하는 환경과 도구로써 SNS의 활용 가능성을 탐색하는 데 있다. 연구대상은 서울시 소재 A 대학의 교육방법 및 교육공학을 수강하는 2개 반 학생 총 51명으로 1개 반(26명)은 실험집단, 다른 1개 반(25명)은 통제집단으로 배정하였다. 중간고사 이후 6주간 창의적 문제해결을 진행하였으며, 실험집단에서는 페이스북을 활용한 협력적 성찰을 실시하였다. 학습동기와 문제해결능력에 미치는 영향을 검증하기 위하여 창의적 문제해결을 시작하기 전 실험집단과 통제집단 학생을 대상으로 학습동기와 문제해결능력에 대한 사전검사를 실시하였으며, 창의적 문제해결을 마친 후 사후검사를 실시하였다. 또한 학업성취에 미치는 영향을 검증하기 위하여 교과지식 및 교과기반 창의적 문제해결력을 측정하기 위한 기말고사를 실시하고, 창의적 문제해결 결과보고서와 함께 학업성취를 평가하는 자료로 활용하였다. 연구자료 분석에 있어서 학습동기와 문제해결능력은 사전검사를 공변인으로 하여 공분산분석(ANCOVA)을 실시하였으며, 학업성취도는 창의적 문제해결 보고서와 기말고사의 평가 점수를 토대로 독립표본 t검증을 실시하였다. 더불어 통계적으로 유의미한 차이가 나타난 학습동기 하위영역과 문제해결능력 하위요소, 학습성취도 측면에서 페이스북의 협력적 성찰 기록을 분석하여 협력적 성찰 내용 측면에서 통계 분석 결과를 보완하고자 하였다. 연구결과, SNS를 활용한 협력적 성찰이 학습동기에는 유의미한 영향을 미치지 못하였으나 문제해결능력과 학업성취에는 긍정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과는 SNS가 창의적 문제해결에서 대학생의 문제해결능력과 학업성취를 촉진시키기 위한 협력적 성찰 환경을 제공할 수 있음을 의미한다.

The purpose of this study is to verify the effects of collaborative reflections using SNS(Social Network Services) on college student’ learning motivation, problem solving competency, and academic achievement in Creative Problem Solving activities. 51 college students who were taking a course ‘Instructional Methods and Educational Technology’ in a university in Seoul were participated for this research. These students were allocated two groups, one was an experimental group of 26 students, the other was a control group of 25 students. After mid-term examination, all students of these two group performed Creative Problem Solving activities in the course for six weeks, but only experimental group’s students did collaborative reflection by using facebook, a kind of SNS. Pre- and post-test on motivation and problem solving competency were conducted for both experimental and control group students before and after creative problem solving activities respectively. To verify the effects on academic achievement, final exam result which was designed to measure subject knowledge and student-based creative solving skills and creative problem solving task report score was used. Analysis of covariance(ANCOVA) in which pre-test scores on motivation and problem solving competency respectively were covariates and independent sample t-test with final exam scores and creative problem solving task report scores of participants students were used for statistical analysis. In addition, the qualitative analysis of the collaborative reflection activities on facebook is performed to strengthen the statistical analysis results on the learning motivation, problem solving competency, and academic achievement. As a result, collaborative reflections using SNS don’t affect on motivation, but have an effect significantly on problem solving competency and academic achievement(p<.05). This research shows that SNS can provide college course with an effective environment of collaborative reflection, which is to improve college students’ creative problem solving competency.

This study reports the results of an open-ended questionnaire on the experiences of Korean university students who worked on task-based L2 bimodal collaborative writing enhanced by technology. Thirty-six English major students developed a reading text for 2nd-grade middle school students. Using Microsoft TEAMS as the main platform, participants conducted the collaborative writing task using real-time video conferencing, chatting, commenting, file and image posting, and (a)synchronous feedback/revision functions. Participants 1) used multiple tools to maximize their functions, 2) interacted collaboratively in every writing stage to achieve success, and 3) evaluated the quality of collaborative writing more highly than individual writing and perceived the positive impacts of collaborative writing on L2 writing in audience awareness, paraphrasing technique, and linguistic expressions. The levels of visual editing skills and awareness of online image copyright among students varied.

유아를 평가하는 과정에서 교사의 역할이 매우 중요함에도 불구하고, 교직 입문 과정에서 초임 유아교사들은 충분한 배경지식이나 실제적 지도능력을 갖추지 못하고 있어 상당한 어려움을 겪고 있다. 본 연구에서는 협력적 실행연구를 통하여 한 초임 유아교사가‘유아관찰평가’에 대한 신념과 실제를 반성적으로바라보고 실천적으로 개선해나갈 수 있도록 지원하고자 한다. 실행연구의 순환과정을 통해 참여교사는 유아관찰평가에 대한 자신의 신념과 접근방식을 반성적으로 들여다봄으로 스스로를 성장시키는 계기가 될 것이다. 본 연구결과를 바탕으로 초임 유아교사의 교직입문을 지원할 수 있는 하나의 방안으로 협력적 실행연구의 적용을 제안하고자 한다.

Despite evidence that early childhood teachers play a critical role in guiding children through their child assessment, most beginning teachers in the survival stage face the greatest difficulties in this area. Using the intentional and purposeful tools of action research, this collaborative action study supports a beginning teacher in reflecting upon her perceptions of the 'child assessment' of young children and devising and evaluating good guidance practices. During the course of the study, the participating teacher became engaged in more reflective teaching which prompted her to perceive the “child assessment” of the children from different perspectives. As her understanding of the importance of making her curriculum and classroom climate more engaging and meaningful deepened and she reconceptualized her notion of child assessment, the teacher witnessed positive changes in her students' behaviors which, in turn, increased her sense of efficacy. These very positive, empowering results are strong recommendation for using collaborative action research especially in the novice years of teaching for it provides the teacher with a life-long transformative tool for professional development.