Raising native cultural awareness through WeChat: a case study with Chinese EFL students

Wu, Junjie Gavin; Miller, Lindsay

doi:10.1080/09588221.2019.1629962

Cited by 30 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…It provides them an opportunity to experience the real world by applying authentic materials and helps teachers hold a more interactive class by utilizing online English exercises. In addition, technology can suggest an active-learning situation for language learners [15,20]. For example, some instructors may ask their learners to make a video about performing action verbs, dramatize a short tale, and so on.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…e learning that takes place in our heads is an internal network (neural) [16,27,29,30]. A network includes associations between entities (nodes), where the nodes can be people, groups, systems, fields, opinions, resources, or society [15,31,32]. Based on connectivism, learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources; learning may dwell in nonhuman appliances; protecting and keeping connections are vital to facilitate continuous learning, which stresses the connections and feedback connections [27,33,34].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effect of WeChat-Based Online Instruction on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Knowledge

Namaziandost

Hashemifardnia

Bilyalova

et al. 2021

Education Research International

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of online instruction through different mobile applications has become more common in education all over the world. Therefore, this research investigated the potential effects of using WeChat-based online instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary knowledge. To achieve this objective, 44 Iranian intermediate subjects were picked out among 67 students based on the findings of the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). The subjects were then randomly divided into two equal groups: experimental and control. After assigning the subjects to two groups, they were pretested by a vocabulary test. Then, the experimental group received vocabulary instruction using WeChat application, while the control group received a conventional vocabulary instruction. After the instruction, a vocabulary posttest was given to both groups to assess the effectiveness of the treatment. The gathered data were analyzed through independent samples t-test, one-way ANCOVA, and paired samples t-test. The outcomes attained in this research demonstrated that there was a significant difference between the posttests of both groups in favor of the experimental group. Eventually, the conclusions and the pedagogical implications of this study were explicated.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of WeChat-Based Online Instruction on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Knowledge

Namaziandost

Hashemifardnia

Bilyalova

et al. 2021

Education Research International

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show abstract

“…Second, involving students in giving peer feedback allowed them to become producers of knowledge (the evaluator), rather than always relying on teacher feedback (Wu and Miller, in press). This permitted students to transform their identities and participate more fully in their speaking assignments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving English Learners’ Speaking through Mobile-assisted Peer Feedback

Miller

2020

RELC Journal

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In this article, we report on an action case study on the use of mobile-assisted peer feedback to improve second language (L2) speakers’ English performance. Drawing on the learning-oriented assessment (LOA) framework (Carless, 2007), the study made in-class use of a newly developed mobile app with the provision of peer feedback. The study was conducted with 25 Business School students in an English for Specific Purposes course at a Hong Kong university. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, including a questionnaire survey, a focus group discussion after the class and a teacher journal. In addition to the participants’ general attitudes, two broad themes were found in relation to the participants’ learning experience, namely the use of peer feedback and the affordances and constraints of technology. Results showed that students generally agreed on the positive effects of mobile-assisted peer feedback (e.g. real-time and anonymous feedback), while they recognized some limitations such as the small screen size of their phones and the limited number of given rubrics. Finally, we discuss the implications from different perspectives based on the reported themes.

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“…The decision was jointly made by the two teachers as the Mainland Chinese and the Taiwanese students did not, initially, know each other and so may have been reticent about having pair chats with total strangers. In addition, Asian students tend to keep silent in unfamiliar environments and lack the awareness of self-autonomous learning (Miller & Wu, 2021;Xu & Carless, 2017). Thus, all the participants were organised into one large group as we hoped that this would lead to more self-initiated discussions between various students, with an option to chat, monitor or do both.…”

Section: Project Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To provide authentic, meaningful and engaging cultural and language learning experiences for learners nowadays, who are to a large extent characterised as digital residents (see a discussion of the term in Hockly, 2011), educators have turned their attention to a pedagogy which includes elements of telecollaboration either between students themselves or between the teachers and their students. The various benefits of using telecollaboration tools have been extensively documented and include the facilitation of learner autonomy (Flowers et al, 2019), linguistic proficiency (Wu & Miller, 2021), intercultural communicative competence (Munezane, 2020) and digital literacies (Yang, 2020). To maximise the positive effects of telecollaboration, different variables must be considered: individual differences of the participants, sociocultural norms, technology acceptance and the learning task design, to name just a few, each of which may lead to failed communication.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges in a mobile English telecollaborative project: Towards a conceptual model

Teng

Miller

2022

AJET

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This paper, drawing upon a mobile telecollaborative project, resonates with the rapid development of technology in language learning. We employed the instant messaging app WeChat to create an English telecollaborative environment for two groups of Chinese students to communicate within. Interview data were triangulated with students’ chat transcripts and comments from a teacher’s reflective journal. A mixed-methods approach, including quantitative descriptive analysis, thematic analysis and content analysis, was used to investigate the challenges and the linguistic performance by applying the community of inquiry framework to the students’ chats. The analysis illustrates some of the complexities and challenges of using online apps as a way of communicating in a second language: students expected more teacher support, they struggled to use the app due to their physical environments and they felt that they were not sufficiently well prepared for chatting in an English medium environment. Based on the findings, a conceptual model is proposed for consideration when encouraging students to engage in telecollaborative learning. Implications for practice or policy: Teachers should enhance their visibility in mobile telecollaborative projects by promoting participants’ contribution through different facilitation techniques. Teachers and educators can capitalise on the proposed conceptual model to guide their own design of such online learning experiences for their learners. Telecollaborative learning can be improved by taking into account various factors such as physical environment, the medium of communication and the potential incentives.

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Raising native cultural awareness through WeChat: a case study with Chinese EFL students

Cited by 30 publications

References 47 publications

The Effect of WeChat-Based Online Instruction on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Knowledge

The Effect of WeChat-Based Online Instruction on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Knowledge

Improving English Learners’ Speaking through Mobile-assisted Peer Feedback

Challenges in a mobile English telecollaborative project: Towards a conceptual model

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