Elsevier

Computers & Education

Volume 140, October 2019, 103602
Computers & Education

Effects of caption and gender on junior high students’ EFL learning from iMap-enhanced contextualized learning

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103602Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Mobile-technology-enhanced contextualized language learning is very effective.

  • Mobile-technology-enhanced contextualized language learning motivates learning.

  • Male students learn better and are more motivated while learning without captions.

  • Captions have little influence on female students' performance and motivation.

  • Mobile language learning systems should provide captions for choice, not by default.

Abstract

With the global positioning function, mobile learning technology extends the capacity of modern learning to fulfill location-based learning for learners to learn everywhere contextually. This study developed a digital interactive geographic map (iMap) with GPS function to support location-based contextualized EFL learning. Four classes of ninth-graders from a junior high school voluntarily participated in the 2-session 70-min learning activities using tablet PCs. Two experimental groups (non-caption vs. English-caption) were implemented, and the effects of caption and gender on learning performance and motivation were examined. The results showed that the caption*gender interaction was significant on learning performance, and the male non-caption group outperformed the male English-caption group, while the female learners in both groups performed equally. As for motivation, the participants demonstrated positive motivation in all aspects (i.e., self-efficacy, proactive learning, learning value, achievement goal and environmental incentive), and the non-caption group showed higher degrees of motivation in self-efficacy, learning value and environmental incentive than the English-caption group, while the gender effect was non-significant on these motivation aspects. Furthermore, the caption*gender interaction on proactive learning and achievement goal indicated that captions tended to interfere male learners’ learning intention and sense of achievement, suggesting that the adaption of learning strategies to individual traits and gender differences is imperative. This research extends the investigation on issues concerning the application of iMap-enhanced contextualized learning to the research field of technology-enhanced language learning, and the findings further support the argument that contextualized learning induces high motivation and assists learners in language comprehension and application.

Introduction

With the rapid development of computer technologies, digital learning devices have advanced from stationed desktops to mobile devices that can be easily and conveniently moved everywhere, so mobile and ubiquitous learning is realized, and learners can learn anywhere (Kukulska-Hulme & Viberg, 2018; Zou, Xie, & Wang, 2018). Mobile learning technology equipped with the global positioning system (GPS) further extends its capacity to fulfill location-based learning for learners to learn everywhere contextually (FitzGerald, 2012). As location-based learning provides real-time digital learning content, it brings great potentiality in creating context-aware ubiquitous learning via mobile devices and providing on-site interactions with physical objects and digital multimedia (Chu, Hwang, & Tsai, 2010; Chung, Hwang, & Lai, 2019). Context-aware ubiquitous learning is advantageous in creating interactive learning environment where the learning content is contextualized in concrete and appropriate situations, so it is conducive to effective language learning.

Context-aware ubiquitous language learning has great potentiality in promoting learning motivation and effectiveness of EFL (English as a foreign language) learners. In fact, the motivation of most EFL learners is mainly extrinsic, as their major drives are the needs of passing examinations, obtaining certificates and finding jobs, so they do not consider English learning as a joyful experience and are not aware of the possibility of ubiquitous English learning (Crompton, Burke, & Gregory, 2017). This is perhaps because a large proportion of English learning activities for these EFL learners are decontextualized, although the importance of contextualization for language learning has been widely acknowledged (Kinginger & Wu, 2018). Context-aware ubiquitous language learning is conducive to effective learning as it emphasizes the need of language learning in authentic and interactive situations and considers contexts essential for meaningful information processing and knowledge acquisition (Chen, Wang, Zou, Lin, & Xie, 2019; Lin, Hwang, Fu, & Chen, 2018). Furthermore, attending to the key information of language input is a major difficulty for EFL learners (Badger, 2018). The EFL learners need to consciously attend to the language input so that the knowledge could be further processed in the working memory, but novice learners often lack the capability in attending to the key information and result in poor comprehension efficiency (Gass, 2017; Michel & Smith, 2017, pp. 1–12). It is of significance to solve these three problems as they were common and fundamental problems, the solution of which has important impact in the field of technology-enhanced language learning; and research on effective approaches that engage EFL and ESL learners, situate them in authentic contexts, and guide them to attend to the target information has always been an active area. This study therefore integrated theme-based multimedia into language learning, aiming to raise learners’ awareness of the key information of language input through highlighting them in multiple ways, increase their motivation and decrease the difficulty of information processing through presenting information in various representation modes (Poel & Swanepoel, 2003).

Moreover, to further examine the use of context-aware ubiquitous learning in EFL language skill development, this research developed a digital interactive geographic map (iMap) system to support context-aware ubiquitous learning and investigated students' EFL learning performance and motivation. Due to gender characteristics and individual differences, EFL learners' needs of learning support, such as captions, may vary, indicating that captions and gender may interact with the iMap-enhanced contextualized learning and result in different effects on the EFL learning. This study therefore investigated the effects of caption and gender on junior high school learners' EFL learning performance and motivation. The main objective of this research was to investigate the influences of caption and gender on EFL learners’ learning effectiveness and motivation when they learned from the iMap-enhanced contextualized learning environment.

Section snippets

Literature review

The theoretical foundation of the iMap-enhanced contextualized learning, including context-aware ubiquitous language learning, multimedia learning, captions for technology-enhanced language learning (TELL), gender effect on language learning, and motivation are further examined as follows.

Research methods

A quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of caption and gender on junior high school students’ EFL learning performance and motivation while learning from the iMap-enhanced contextualized learning. The research questions are listed as follows.

  • 1)

    Does the interaction effect of caption and gender exist in students' learning performance while learning from the iMap-enhanced contextualized learning?

  • 2)

    Does the presence of caption influence students' learning performance while

Results

The effects of caption and gender on the participants’ learning performance in and motivation toward the iMap-enhanced contextualized learning are analyzed as follows.

Discussions and conclusions

Based on the results of this study, the research questions can be answered as follows. Firstly, concerning learning performance, the answer to “Research question 1. Does the interaction effect of caption and gender exist in students' learning performance while learning from the iMap-enhanced contextualized learning?” was positive. Caption and gender interactively impacted on the learners' learning performance in the iMap contextualized learning. The male learners in the English-caption group

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, under the grant MOST 106-2511-S-003-018-MY3. This work was, in part, financially supported by the “Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences” of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan.

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