Using Web-Based Tools in an English Teaching Classroom - A Study of Applied Foreign Languages Graduate Students at a University of Technology in Central Taiwan

• Main Authors: Yi-Yueh Lin, 林以悅
• Other Authors: Po-Yi Hung
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/30568238230929229969

碩士 === 朝陽科技大學 === 應用外語研究所 === 98 === This study examined how AFL graduate students perceive web-based tools (blog, wiki, podcast, YouTube and Blackboard) in an English teaching classroom at a university of technology in central Taiwan. The research contained both quantitative and qualitative elements, allowing for a triangulated approach to the study. The quantitative data was collected through questionnaires distributed to 13 AFL graduate students. Descriptive statistics, paired-samples t test and linear regression were used to analyze the data at p < .05 level. The qualitative data included three times open-ended questions and 3 students were selected for follow-up interviews. The feedbacks and responses of open-ended questions and interviews were recorded for future reference with respect to web-based tools in l an English teaching classroom. The findings of the research are as followed. First, there were statistically significant differences in AFL graduate students’ perspective toward web-based tools (blog, wiki, podcast, YouTube and Blackboard) in an English teaching classroom after the training programs. Second, YouTube was the first priority of the five web-based tools. However, there is a difference between the students with and without teaching experiences. The participants with teaching experience favored the blog contrary to the participants without teaching experience who preferred YouTube. Finally, according to linear regression analysis, AFL graduate students’ preferences predicted the perspectives toward web-based tools. The explanatory variables (predictors) in turn were podcast, wiki, blog, Blackboard, and YouTube according to the strength of the coefficient. According to the results, the researcher hopes to give other instructors an implication on the integration of technology and English pedagogism when they design such as class in the future.