This has been a long journey, but I think I'm starting to see what my essential question might look like and how I might be able to carry out some kind of study. It was hard to find research articles on my particular topic, as I don't think many people have looked at the effects of technology on language learning. The three that I did find are studies about learning vocabulary which was helpful, and two of them do focus on quizlet in particular which is what I am hoping to look at.
My study itself will just help students in my school; I am trying to get some of my Department members interested in what I am doing so that they might try and use more educational technology in their classrooms. My driving question is "Does educational technology enhance student learning & help improve foreign language vocabulary retention? This may seem quite a far reaching question and if more research is done I do think that it could affect how we approach language learning globally in the years to come. In this particular study I will use quizlet as my vehicle to determine if technology has any effect on how students acquire new vocabulary. In the studies that I looked at they said that teachers should provide students with tasks that promote engagement and motivation. They defined engagement as being made up of 3 elements - behavioral, cognitive & emotional (enjoyment) & that students should experience all 3 of these elements when learning new vocabulary for them to be more likely to retain it. They also suggested that students need to have a sense of control over what they are learning and that when students felt they had this together with elements that grabbed their attention, then they became really focused on the topic in hand. Quizlet is an app that does possess some of these capabilities as students can choose what part of the app they want to focus on. They can learn new vocabulary using the flashcards, they can play a scatter / matching game, they can give themselves a quiz. As a class they can also play quizlet live which involves students working in teams competing against each other to match all of the vocabulary words given as quickly as possible. If they are the fastest group, then they win the game, If they get make one mistake however, they go back into last place, so they really have to be sure to think before selecting their final answer. In the studies that were carried out, all of these relied upon students opinions about whether they felt that quizlet helped them learn the new vocabulary or not. They had scores on the relevant websites saying how well they did on the games/quizzes on the website but no formal assessments were given. My study will be different in the fact that I propose to get students to learn 2 sets of new vocabulary, one will be using traditional methods, ie the textbook, hand-written flashcards, listening/reading/writing activities, the 2nd will use these same techniques but in addition we will use quizlet. Students will be able to look at the flashcards in class online, they will be able to play the matching game and we will also play quizlet live in teams as the classroom. When students have spent 2-3 lessons learning the first lot of vocabulary I will give them a vocabulary quiz to see how well they do. I will then teach the second lot of vocabulary using the same methods plus quizlet and again test them after 2-3 lessons. I will compare the results to see if there is any difference. I would think that there should be, but I am also thinking that this one study may not provide that much data. I am also hoping to do some kind of survey with the students to see if they think that quizlet helps them learn new vocabulary. This would be very similar to the other 3 studies that I looked at. One of the studies focused on primarily comparing 3 programs for learning vocabulary, one of which was in fact quizlet too. I'm hoping that this research will give me real insight into how my students learn and how I can help them achieve more, but really I think it is probably only just the tip of the iceberg. It seems that we are dawning on a new age with the use of educational technology and its role in the classroom. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our research could really make a difference...
5 Comments
9/30/2018 11:58:17 am
I found your blog very interesting, especially the part about the study of Quizlet. Although student feedback is great and encouraged, I don't think basing a whole study on student opinion is very scientific. I think your idea of testing two methods is a much better study.
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Jennifer Perkins
9/30/2018 03:25:00 pm
Hi Tasha! I think integrating technology into foreign language vocabulary lessons is a great idea. I agree that this could impact language learning in the years to come. I am looking forward to hearing the results of using Quizlet as your tool in this study. I like that students have a choice within the app for how they will study their new vocabulary words. I agree that student choice is a powerful way to keep them engaged.
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Catalina J Goldstein
9/30/2018 05:20:01 pm
It's so exciting to be researching strategies that could potentially have a positive impact on our students. I like that you mentioned students feeling like they have a sense of control over what they are learning. It's so important!
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John Castillo
9/30/2018 11:08:12 pm
Even though I have a lot of access to stuff, I still question "I wonder if this will engage them?" As a visual learner, I often just go with what I think would engage me and hope for the best. It is cool to see you in a position where you have a tool that you can explore further with your students. I can't wait to see the outcome!
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Happy Johnson
10/2/2018 01:54:14 pm
Hey Tasha,
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AuthorI am a French & Spanish teacher at Justin-Siena High School wanting to get new ideas to motivate my students. Archives
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