CoP Project Sharing Session Series
Seventh Sharing Session
Date: 17 May 2021 (Monday)
Time: 3:00-4:00pm
Mode: Online by ZOOM
First Speaker: Dr Chin-Hsi Lin (HKU)
Title: The Design of Online Language Courses
Abstract:
Most research on online language learning either compares its overall effectiveness to that of traditional learning, and very few studies have looked into the relationships between the elements of online language courses and their students’ learning outcomes. Based on student-, instructor-, and course-level data from 919 students enrolled in eight online high-school English language and literature courses, it founds that project-based assignments and high-level knowledge activities were beneficial to learning outcomes – though not necessarily among students who took these courses for credit-recovery purposes. Implications for both online course-design practices and future research on predictors of online-learning success will be discussed.
Bio:
Chin‐Hsi Lin is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. He earned his Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Technology from the University of California, Irvine in 2012. His research interests revolve around learning processes and outcomes in online language learning, with special attention to self-regulation, interaction, course design, and teacher effects in fully online courses.
Second Speaker: Dr Chun Lai (HKU)
Title: Affordance of Technological Resources for Vocabulary Learning beyond the Classroom: A Learner Perspective
Abstract:
Research on self-directed language learning with technological resources beyond the classroom has documented positive associations of such learning experience with vocabulary knowledge. Different technological resources have been found to bring different potentials for vocabulary development. However, the same technological resource might be appropriated differently by learners to achieve different learning purposes. To have a better understanding of the affordances of technological resources for vocabulary learning, a learner-experience-centric approach is needed. Based on relevant literature, the technological activity diary entries and interview responses with 46 Chinese EFL learners, this study developed a framework of defining characteristics of out-of-class technological experiences that are associated with vocabulary knowledge and revealed the affordances of different technological resources for vocabulary development in reference to the framework. Implications on how language educators can better guide students’ self-directed language learning with technology beyond the classroom will be discussed.
Bio:
Chun Lai is an associate professor at the Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on understanding and supporting learners’ self-directed language learning beyond the classroom. She has researched various aspects of this research issue and has published widely on this topic. She has published a monograph “Autonomous Language Learning with Technology beyond the Classroom” in 2017 to give an overview of the field.