Creating a knowledge -building writing environment using computer -mediated communication technology: EFL students taking control of their learning.

摘要

This dissertation reports on efforts of a teacher-researcher to transform a second-year university EFL class (N = 19), over a two-semester period, from a traditional pedagogy model to a knowledge-building community model. Three “design experiment” (Bereiter, 2002a; Brown, 1994) iterations were carried out to assess how the epistemology, curriculum, technology, new forms of interactivity, knowledge-building environment, and educational innovations shaped the transition. Five kinds of data were collected at the end of the iterations: (1) quantity of participation; (2) quality of discussion; (3) quality of writing sample; (4) questionnaire; and (5) formal/informal interviews. The results suggest the quantity of students' participation increased and their essay-writing quality improved. Furthermore, results demonstrate that the students moved from a knowledge telling to a knowledge building approach in their essays, as revealed by a significant increase in the rating scores on students' knowledge attribute from the essays at stage 1 (M = .95; SD = .62) to stage 3 (M = 3.62; SD = .56), p < .000. Multivariate tests indicate a significant change over time, Wilks' Λ = .057, F (1, 18) = 300.41, p = .000. The ‘Results’ and ‘Discussion’ chapters examine how the teacher-researcher fostered a change in the classroom culture. The data suggest that students failed to work collaboratively at stage 1. Therefore, the design experiment for stage 2 targeted greater interactivity through the development of community. Observational data, however, suggest students were more interested in discussing the topics of their own choice than teacher-assigned topics. At stage 3, students were encouraged to engage in activities that would alter their relational understanding of their arguments. It is concluded that the design experiments were effective in shifting the classroom culture toward knowledge building, but that more time would be needed to fully achieve the expected results. Finally, some potential implications for EFL writing instruction are outlined.