An English Vocabulary Learning Website and Self-directed Learning: Students’ Time-on-Task, Attitudes, and Motivation

• Main Authors: Fang, Ting-Yun, 方亭云
• Other Authors: Yeh, Shiou-Wen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/8q4r57

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 英語教學研究所 === 104 === The introduction of Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL) has ushered in an era where leaners are just a few clicks away from a vast amount of learning material thanks to the instant access to the Internet. Therefore, various forms of CALL have been practiced, assessed, and studied in Taiwan, as well as worldwide. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has long promoted the use of CALL in the classroom, with recurring workshops and seminars, to prepare teachers for integrating the technology into teaching so that teachers can manage an online classroom in accordance with the cyber epoch. Although many online learning resources may appear to be motivating, few of them are assessed, including the website Treasure Hunt for English Vocabulary. It has been accessible to teachers and students for many years in a vocational high school, and yet little attention has been paid to its application in the classroom and its possible impact on the time-on-task, attitudes, and motivation of vocational high school students, especially those frustrated or skilled-oriented students. Accordingly, three purposes of this study centered on Treasure Hunt for English Vocabulary: (1) to investigate students’ engagement in English vocabulary learning, (2) to explore their attitudes, and (3) to evaluate its possibility of developing self-directed English vocabulary learners. The research questions of this study are: (1) Are students engaged more in English vocabulary learning on Treasure Hunt for English Vocabulary than in the paper-based environment? (2) What are students’ attitudes towards Treasure Hunt for English Vocabulary? (3) Are students motivated to become a self-directed English vocabulary learner by using Treasure Hunt for English Vocabulary? Thirty-three vocational high school students took five Web-based quizzes and five paper-based quizzes to yield their quiz results and time-on-task recordings. After the quizzes were all completed, they were requested to fill in the attitude questionnaires. Moreover, three groups of three students were interviewed for better insight of their responses to the questionnaires. The results indicated that students were behaviorally and cognitively engaged in the Web-based setting, based on the significant longer time-on-task and better quiz results in the Web-based setting. Furthermore, the results of the questionnaires and interviews showed that the students’ positive attitudes towards the website in terms of their perception of ease to use, perception of usefulness, and attitudes of use, although they did not show equally clear intention to use it. Finally, the results of the questionnaires and interviews revealed nearly 30% of the students were motivated to become a self-directed learner on this Website, and the most motivating factor was the “Pronunciation” function. The limitations, implications and suggestions of this study were also discussed in the thesis.