Search

This conceptual paper proposes a model to describe the quality of student dialogue during participative collaborative problem solving. Drawing on the participation metaphor of learning, we argue that the construct of mathematical sophistication is useful to describe the quality. We then present two frameworks, mathematical competencies and mathematical practices, as ways to operationalise the construct in the collaborative problem-solving setting. We argue that by using a networking theories approach, the two frameworks will provide nuances of levels of mathematical sophistication that can be observed in student interaction. In addition, they could provide an analysis of both individual and group contributions to mathematical sophistication in a collaborative task setting. Implications of using two approaches for conceptualizing mathematical sophistication for future mathematics education research and teaching practices are provided.

The 2019 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (CSCTFL), held in conjunction with the Ohio Foreign Language Association (OFLA), was held at the Hilton Downtown Columbus from March 14-16, 2019. In accordance with the goals set forth by the founders of CSCTFL, the 2019 conference endeavored "to support language teachers and to advance the study of foreign languages." The conference theme "Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges, Promoting Performance" inspired presenters of 27 workshops and over 200 sessions to focus on three areas: breaking barriers to learning languages, building bridges to new teaching practices and cultures, and promoting and improving student and teacher performance both within and beyond classrooms. A wide variety of sessions and workshop topics offered ideas for infusing world language instruction with music, art, film, literature, technology, current events and much more. Participants explored innovative techniques that integrated technology to enhance student learning. World language educators discovered strategies to engage students to help them take control of their learning. The authors of this year's volume focus on making the U.S. exceptional through language immersion programs, interactive digital technology tools, cross-district and multi-grade collaboration, task-based integrative curriculum and instruction, and more careful mentoring of pre-service teachers during their student teaching practicum.

This year's volume of the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (CSCTFL) Report centering on the conference theme of MultiTasks, MultiSkills, and MultiConnections focused on the importance or world language use within the classroom and beyond with articles extending the conversation on target language use in instruction, on 21st century skills and accompanying Web 2.0 technologies that faculty and students can access and use to connect to the larger world, and applications of standards based instruction at K-16 levels of instruction. The profession's K-16 "Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century" are well represented in this year's volume as all articles connect in some manner with one or more of the 5Cs in meaningful ways, demonstrating how the profession has embraced the national conversation on what "students should know and be able to do in a second or multiple language". The collection of articles in the MultiTasks section, share the theme of instructor target language (TL) use with recent attention placed on the role of the target language in instructed situations. In the MultiSkills section of this publication, readers will find a focus on the Partnership for 21st Century skills and technology integration in three articles. Articles in MultiConnections integrate various aspects of language learning usage for various purposes including connections to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), to service learning for collegiate intermediate Spanish students not necessarily pursuing a major or minor in the language, and to innovations for providing more literature exposure into language learning. "Innovative Approaches to teaching Literature in the World language classroom," examines the need to provide and support literary texts in language instruction by bridging the gap between developing language proficiency for interpersonal communication and developing literary understanding of authentic literary texts.

The 2011 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, a joint conference with the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, focused on trends, innovations, and national programs that are picking up steam as the first decade of the twenty-first century ends. Several innovations have the potential to unify world language goals with universal educational goals. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, newly organized pathways in Career and Technical Education, and the adoption of national Common Core standards are just a few such initiatives that are building steam. At the 2011 conference, more than 165 workshop and session presenters brought information and expertise from across 17 states and across the nation to enlighten conference attendees. Trends and innovations on the themes of assessments, activities and strategies, technology, and the teaching of culture were especially well represented. This volume examines the ways of approaching language instruction with the new generation of students in mind and creating more learning opportunities to promote the acquisition of the twenty-first century knowledge and skills.

The 2008 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages focused on learning about the diverse backgrounds and needs of today's students. The 2009 Conference continued that focus and added diversity by instructors in using a variety of teaching methods, strategies, themes, technologies, and assessments. Presenters from all 17 states that make up the Central States Conference offered a diverse program, including "Best of…" sessions selected by their respective states. "All-Star" 2008 sessions chosen by the Central States Conference Board were invited to share their expertise again with 2009 conference attendees. There were workshops and sessions for language professionals at all levels and languages. This year's volume offers a varied set of articles representing some of the best practices and innovations in language teaching and learning. Topics range from technology to travel, and should offer something of interest to all members of the readership.

This paper explores the concept of self-efficacy and its impact on individual performance on a mobile learning application. Self-efficacy refers to one's belief in their ability to achieve their goals and is a key factor in everyday life. To investigate the relationship between self-efficacy and performance, we conducted an experiment with 104 participants, which consisted of two parts. First, we evaluated their self-efficacy levels using a survey designed to assess their perceived self-efficacy levels before and after their tests. Second, we asked participants to pilot a drone in a virtual environment and complete a series of races as quickly as possible. Our findings demonstrate that self-efficacy does indeed affect the individual performance, as we observed a clear correlation between self-efficacy levels and task completion times. [For the full proceedings, see ED659933.]

Access to body-based resources has been shown to augment cognitive processes, but not all movements equally aid reasoning. Interactive technologies, like dynamic geometry systems (DGS), potentially amplify the link between movement and geometric representation, thereby deepening students' understanding of geometric properties. This study investigated the influence of access to a DGS on students' geometric reasoning and gesture production compared to the impact of only spontaneous gestures. Access to simulations did not significantly increase the likelihood of students producing correct mathematical insights compared to spontaneous gestures. However, when controlling gesture production, DGS access became a significant predictor for transformational proof production. We also found that access to DGS influenced the type of gestures students produced during geometric reasoning tasks. This study underlines the vital role of gestures in geometric reasoning and suggests that while DGS offers benefits, spontaneous gestures remain a crucial embodied resource for exploring geometric concepts. [This paper was published in: "Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2024," edited by R. Lindgren et al., International Society of the Learning Sciences, 2024, pp. 131-38.]

In this paper duality between real world phenomenon and mathematics will be discussed. This duality exists for many years which considerably remarked in the history of mathematics curriculum. One of the good potential for filling the gap between real world phenomenon and mathematical ideas would be modelling tasks which require performing the modelling cycle. In this paper after discussion about modelling in more details, two modelling cycles will be elaborated in the context of mathematical tasks that are related to everyday life. Main ideas behind different modelling cycles is starting point that would be from real world situation. Then gradually mathematical elements of real world phenomenon identified and mathematics problem will have shaped in a form that could be solved through mathematical problem solving techniques. Furthermore, it would be important phase that call interpretation of mathematics answer and check it in front of real world situation. This paper will be followed by discussion about learning theories that support the idea of modelling. Finally, two educational challenges (Design good modelling tasks and assessing of students performance) in mathematical modelling activity will be discussed. [For the complete proceedings, see ED655360.]

Although some research has been conducted on the importance of mediation in language learning and teaching (Dendrinos, 2006; González-Davies, 2020; Piccardo, 2012, 2020; Scarino, 2016), there is still scarce research on the integration of plurilingualism, mediation, and technology. Through qualitative and quantitative methodology, this paper investigates teachers' abilities in Italy and Spain to integrate plurilingualism, mediation, and technology. A survey has been distributed in order to explore teachers' attitudes towards the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their awareness of the definition and importance of mediation. Furthermore, some mediation tasks performed by teachers in which they had to integrate mediation, plurilingualism, and technology were analysed. [For the complete volume, "Intelligent CALL, Granular Systems and Learner Data: Short Papers from EUROCALL 2022 (30th, Reykjavik, Iceland, August 17-19, 2022)," see ED624779.]

Computer-mediated communication tools facilitate international collaboration projects between foreign language learners and peers abroad (O'Dowd, 2018). Social Virtual Reality (VR) applications allow for synchronous interactions and task-based communication in which learners can experience telepresence and immersion and conversate in a foreign language. Based on previous pilot experiences (Jauregi-Ondarra, Gruber, & Canto, 2020, 2021), this Virtual Exchange (VE) project aims to investigate how the specific affordances of Social High-immersion VR (SHiVR) in conjunction with designed tasks influence interaction patterns, and learning episodes. The VE took place between two groups of university students in the Netherlands (N=15) and Cyprus (N=14) through SHiVR in March 2022. The main aims of the tasks were to raise student intercultural awareness, stimulate task-based communication processes using English as a lingua franca and digital pedagogical competences of language education students. Different sources of data were gathered and analysed. In this paper, we describe and present the pedagogical experience and the initial results. [For the complete volume, "Intelligent CALL, Granular Systems and Learner Data: Short Papers from EUROCALL 2022 (30th, Reykjavik, Iceland, August 17-19, 2022)," see ED624779.]

This paper is a slightly revised version of a keynote address given at the 2015 National Quemoy University English Conference, Reimagining the Teaching of Language, Literature, and Culture, in Kinmen, Taiwan, on 5 June 2015. The author contends that teaching English as a Foreign Language is changing rapidly, and successful teachers and scholars need to be prepared for the future. He present six predictions about teaching and researching in the EFL discipline in the year 2020 and beyond, that there will be: (1) A growth of outcome-based instructional engineering, (2) A growth of affordance-based planning, (3) A growth of task-based instructional design, (4) A growth of affordance-based research, (5) Pressure for more curriculum integration of research findings, and (6) Increased scrutiny of peer review, including an expectation that raw data used in studies must be made available for public scrutiny.

This paper explores use of a set of diagrammatic tools for representation and analysis of the moves a teacher makes implementing a mathematical modelling task. The focus here is on identifying what the teacher did so we can subsequently interrogate this, as to the why. Data include pre and post lesson teacher interviews and transcripts of a video and audio-recorded task implementation. The analytical tools developed, with one teacher and one task early in a three-year project were particularly useful in ascertaining what the teacher moves were as we subsequently sought to determine reasons for these.

This paper presents an initial analysis of 10 Preschool children's responses to a look-draw-trace-draw task. The findings suggest that figure-tracing helped half the children to produce a more accurate representation of the geometric figure presented to them, in their second drawing.

There is an educational expectation that children's natural drawing will develop into proficient mathematical representations and formal diagrams, yet there is little research available to guide the assessment and development of children's mathematical drawing skills. The aim of this paper is to explore how Year 2 children (approx. 7 years) chose to represent their interpretations of a simple story that is suggestive of the take-away subtraction process, and what changes occurred when the drawing task was repeated 6 months later. Analysis of 13 pairs of drawings revealed changes in what the children drew (categories of number representations) and how they drew it (style). The findings suggest that substantial change in children's representational ability can occur in within 6 months.

Climate change is a complex issue that requires collective actions from various disciplines, including educating future generations about sustainability. Some countries such as Indonesia and Australia have included sustainability into their school curricula, which require teachers to design and implement tasks related to a sustainability issue. However, teachers may not have the capability and understanding to do so. The challenges are difficult for mathematics teachers because designing a mathematics task pertaining to sustainability is rarely explored. Therefore, this paper draws from mathematics education literature to provide and discuss a new framework for designing sustainability-related, mathematics tasks (green mathematic tasks).

Current issues in educational communications and technology are addressed in this collection of 35 papers, in which research reports predominate. Topics discussed include factors related to the learner, e.g., field dependence/independence, reading ability, learning strategies, and cognitive style. Presentation format and media and stimulus characteristics are also addressed, including information cueing, color realism, aptitude sensitive instruction, advance organizers, visual testing, and imagery form. Several papers examine innovative educational media such as teleconferencing, videotapes, and microcomputers. Additional papers discuss the use of fear in persuasive messages, design of instructional visuals, visualization, patterns for mapping cognitive structure, task analysis, naturalistic inquiry as a research methodology, aptitude treatment interaction research, brain research, and nonverbal communication. References and data tables are included with many papers. Cumulative indexes of authors and descriptors covering the first five AECT conference proceedings volumes (1979-1983) are provided). (LMM)

Much research has focused on cognitive skills in isolation from daily life and from action. However, memory and thinking in daily life are not separate from, but are part of, doing. This study is based on a theoretical framework that encompasses an integrated account of mind in action. This "activity theory" holds that neither mind as such nor behavior as such can be taken as the principal category of analysis in psychology. The starting point and primary object of analysis is the actual process of interaction in which humans engage the world and each other. This study used observation of assemblers carrying out their jobs of filling milk cases in a dairy plant under normal working conditions. Descriptions resulting from these observations enabled the creation of job simulations to observe performance under more constrained conditions. The observation of workers and later of secondary school students in simulated situations showed that the workers acquired nonliteral least-physical-effort strategies simply through doing. Many reached optimal performance without teaching. The study found that in some circumstances, the operations of the hand are functionally equivalent--the head takes over for the hand. The study suggests that practical thinking is orderly, that it exhibits certain common characteristics in a variety of life activities, and that it is amenable to scientific understanding. (KC)

The present exploratory study investigated the efficacy of secondary face-to-face classroom-based English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction digitally supported by the FeedBook, an interactive computer assisted language learning web-based suite of exercises providing item-level scaffolded feedback. Seventy-seven native (L1) German seventh-grade students used the FeedBook during four two-week training periods (cycles, here we analyse Cycle 2 and 3). Classroom and FeedBook practice occurred in parallel, except for grammar constructions for which only FeedBook practice was provided (controls). At the end of Cycle 3, students engaged in a classroom-based communicative task for which the practised constructions were relevant. Custom-designed pre- and post-tests, administered via the FeedBook, assessed language accuracy in each cycle. Mixed-effect models revealed significant pre-/post-test accuracy gains independent of the learners' proficiency in English, but not in controls. Gains from digitally supported instruction were also positively related to accurate use of EFL grammar constructions in the communicative task. Overall, the results indicate learning benefits for face-to-face classroom-based instruction supported by the FeedBook, evidenced both in grammar tests and in communicative activities. [For the complete volume, "Intelligent CALL, Granular Systems and Learner Data: Short Papers from EUROCALL 2022 (30th, Reykjavik, Iceland, August 17-19, 2022)," see ED624779.]

The current study investigated the role of visual short-term memory, working memory, and declarative memory as individual differences in the earliest stages of vocabulary and syntactic learning in "Duolingo"-based language instruction. Thirty-eight L1-Greek adults completed memory tasks and engaged in learning Navajo on "Duolingo." Subsequently, vocabulary and syntax were assessed respectively via a word recognition, a word translation, and a grammaticality judgement task. Multiple regression analyses revealed an advantage for distributed practice both in vocabulary and syntax, after controlling for amount of practice. Further, declarative memory played a significant role in learning syntax and vocabulary, when measured in a word translation task. Extending the analysis for the first time to app-based environments, the results of the present study confirm the importance of declarative memory and distributed practice in adult acquisition of L2 vocabulary and syntax. [For the complete volume, "Intelligent CALL, Granular Systems and Learner Data: Short Papers from EUROCALL 2022 (30th, Reykjavik, Iceland, August 17-19, 2022)," see ED624779.]

The aim of the study was to investigate whether telecollaboration is a suitable environment for the acquisition of the speech act of apologies. Participants were aerospace engineering students from the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) who performed six open role-plays to elicit apologies. The Control Group (CG, n=17) carried out the task in pairs with their Spanish classmates in a Face-To-Face (FTF) setting, while the Experimental Group (EG, n=7) conducted the task with first language (L1) or highly proficient speakers of English from the University of Bath (UK) through synchronous Zoom sessions. The results of the descriptive analysis revealed a higher tendency of improvement in the EG, which also used a higher number of strategies compared to the CG. Findings from the quantitative analysis carried out through an Eta coefficient revealed a significant correlation (r=0.71) between the number of strategies used and the modality where they were performed. [For the complete volume, "Intelligent CALL, Granular Systems and Learner Data: Short Papers from EUROCALL 2022 (30th, Reykjavik, Iceland, August 17-19, 2022)," see ED624779.]

The aim of this study is to compare how two different Virtual Exchanges (VE) contribute to language learning in a Japanese university context. Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) using VE has been a focus in this study. There are huge advantages of using technology in language teaching such as increasing language use opportunities, feedback, and others (Lee, 2016). However, many recent TBLT and VE studies have focused on students' interaction in the classroom (Hagley, 2020). This study investigated whether two different types of VEs have the potential to promote 'real-world communication' in a university context. The findings show that there was no significant difference regarding lexical complexity between both modes. The result suggests that both modes are unlikely to enhance students' vocabularies. [For the complete volume, "Intelligent CALL, Granular Systems and Learner Data: Short Papers from EUROCALL 2022 (30th, Reykjavik, Iceland, August 17-19, 2022)," see ED624779.]

The 31 papers in this collection represent approximately 35 percent of the manuscripts which were submitted for consideration to the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) for presentation at the 1980 AECT convention. All papers were subjected to a blind reviewing process and the ones finally selected represent some of the most current thinking in educational communications and technology. A listing of selected titles indicates the scope of the research paper presentations: "The Cognitive Effect in Bilingual Learners Given Different Pictorial Elaboration and Memory Tasks,""The Relationship of Communication Apprehension Level and Media Competency,""Implications of a Gestalt Approach to Research in Visual Communications,""Research on Pictures and Instructional Texts: Difficulties and Directions,""Imagery--A Return to Empirical Investigation,""A Meta-Analytic Study of Pictorial Stimulus Complexity,""Learner Interest and Instructional Design: A Conceptual Model,""The Organizing Function of Behavioral Objectives," and "Algorithmic Training for a Complex Perceptual-Motor Task." (LLS)

Cloze items are commonly used for both assessing learning and as a learning activity. This paper investigates the selection of sentences for cloze item creation by comparing methods ranging from simple heuristics to deep learning summarization models. An evaluation using human-generated cloze items from three different science texts indicates that simple heuristics substantially outperform summarization models, including state-of-the-art deep learning models. These results suggest that sentence selection for cloze item generation should be considered a distinct task from summarization and that continued advances on this task will require large datasets of human-generated cloze items. [This paper was published in: "Joint Proceedings of the Workshops at the 14th International Conference on Educational Data Mining," Vol. 3051, LDI-6, edited by T. W. Price and S. San Pedro, CEUR-WS.org, 2021.]