Little is known about the effects of different instructional approaches on learner affect in oral interaction in the foreign language classroom. In a randomized experiment with Dutch pre-vocational learners (N = 147), we evaluated the effects of 3 newly developed instructional programs for English as a foreign language (EFL). These programs differed in instructional focus (form-focused vs. interaction strategies- oriented) and type of task (pre-scripted language tasks vs. information gap tasks). Multilevel analyses revealed that learners’ enjoyment of EFL oral interaction was not affected by instruction, that willingness to communicate (WTC) decreased over time, and that self-confidence was positively affected by combining information gap tasks with interactional strategies instruction. In addition, regression analyses revealed that development in learners’ WTC and enjoyment did not have predictive value for achievement in EFL oral interaction, but that development in self-confidence did explain achievement in EFL oral interaction in trained interactional contexts.
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Little is known about the effect of diverging pedagogies on the development of interactional oral skills in a foreign language. In a controlled study, we evaluated three newly developed instructional programmes that were situated in the same training context, but that differed in instructional focus and type of task. These were compared to the effects of business-as-usual instruction. Multilevel analysis revealed that all experimental groups outperformed the ‘business-as-usual’ control group on oral interaction skills (N = 199), with similar results for the programmes. Positive effects were found on interaction skills for trained contexts of use only. No transfer was found to tasks in other contexts of use. We conclude that receiving contextualised oral interaction instruction is beneficial to the development of pre-vocational learners’ interaction skills.
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Many students persistently misinterpret histograms. This calls for closer inspection of students’ strategies when interpreting histograms and case-value plots (which look similar but are diferent). Using students’ gaze data, we ask: How and how well do upper secondary pre-university school students estimate and compare arithmetic means of histograms and case-value plots? We designed four item types: two requiring mean estimation and two requiring means comparison. Analysis of gaze data of 50 students (15–19 years old) solving these items was triangulated with data from cued recall. We found five strategies. Two hypothesized most common strategies for estimating means were confirmed: a strategy associated with horizontal gazes and a strategy associated with vertical gazes. A third, new, count-and-compute strategy was found. Two more strategies emerged for comparing means that take specific features of the distribution into account. In about half of the histogram tasks, students used correct strategies. Surprisingly, when comparing two case-value plots, some students used distribution features that are only relevant for histograms, such as symmetry. As several incorrect strategies related to how and where the data and the distribution of these data are depicted in histograms, future interventions should aim at supporting students in understanding these concepts in histograms. A methodological advantage of eye-tracking data collection is that it reveals more details about students’ problem-solving processes than thinking-aloud protocols. We speculate that spatial gaze data can be re-used to substantiate ideas about the sensorimotor origin of learning mathematics.
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expressiveness, performance, musicians, skills, educationUsing the genre of Improvisational theatre as a basis, my research aims to design and develop instructional strategies that would help students enhance their expressive skills and achieve the flexibility to adapt their motor behavior to the musical piece. Embodying diverse characters and physicalities, as well as affective states or fictional realities through improv theatre exercises should enable them to expand their expressive range and, therefore, better convey their interpretation to their audience. Through this process, this study also seeks to gain an understanding of the effect this type of training may have on musicians' performance experience, as well as its implications in other areas of their development.
mechanism for fostering innovation competenceThis dissertation focuses on fostering students’ innovation competence in higher education. The research is aimed at developing instructional strategies based on theoretical design principles to aid teachers in higher education foster innovation competence in their classrooms and assess students’ innovation competence. The research was implemented within the existing curriculum of three Netherlands universities of applied sciences in which developing students’ innovation competence was the target learning goal. To aid innovation competence learning, an innovation competence teaching mechanism was developed following education design research steps. The research includes four independents sub-studies which used different research methods. This thesis shows that students’ innovation competence can be positively influenced by instruction. The findings of this study suggested that development of students’ innovation competence takes place through explicitly coordinated teaching and learning activities, design, assessment, and reflection. It was found that this innovation-supportive learning environment influenced the actual innovation competence of students and that the way of teaching (especially a better structured, balanced and more student-centred constructivist approach to teaching) had a positive influence on students’ development of innovation competence. This dissertation has shown that every student has the potential to be innovative, and that teachers can fulfil their role in recognizing the innovation potential of students by creating a teaching and learning environment that promotes and encourages innovation competence.
