US-China Education Review 2014(12A)

US-China

Education Review

A

Volume 4, Number 12, December 2014 (Serial Number 43)

David Publishing Company

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D

US-China Education Review

A Volume 4, Number 12, December 2014 (Serial Number 43)

Contents Educational Technology

Investigation of Students’ ICT Skills in Terms of Different Variables in a Technical and Vocational High School for Girls 823

Şebnem Kandil İngeç, Serap Ağa, Mina Şahingöz

Viewing Transformations: Generation of 3D CAD Images 842

Jovani Castelan, Daniel Fritzen

Curriculum and Teaching

Use of Reference in the Narratives of Kurdish-Persian Bilingual Children 848

Hossein Shokouhi, Ali Hemati

Critical Discourse Analysis: A Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Mathematics Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms? 861

Nancy Chitera

Epistemic Impact on Group Problem-Solving for Different Science Majors 873

Andrew J. Mason, Charles A. Bertram

Setting Questions in Class Based on the “Wisdom Class” Theory 880

Wu Cui

The Effect on Enhancing Students’ Inquiry Abilities via Step-by-Step Open-ended Inquiry Teaching Design 887

Chung-Ming Yang, Jeng-Fung Hung, Tai-Chu Huang

Research on Action Learning of Teachers in Higher Vocational Colleges 895

Ming-jiang Song, Jian-zhuang Shi

Pragmatic Analysis on Conflict Talk 899

Ma Yan-hong

US-China Education Review A, ISSN 2161-623X December 2014, Vol. 4, No. 12, 823-841

Investigation of Students’ ICT Skills in Terms of Different

Variables in a Technical and Vocational High School for Girls

Şebnem Kandil İngeç, Serap Ağa, Mina Şahingöz

Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey

This study aims to measure girls’ technical and vocational high school students’ information and communication

technology (ICT) skills and to investigate these in terms of different variables. The singular and relational survey

model was used in this study. The sample composed of 119 technical and vocational high school students. The data

were collected through a paper-based survey composed of two parts. In the first part of the survey, there are 15

items about personal information and demographic information about the participating students. In the second part,

there is a scale about ICT skills. The data were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version

21.0 by means of percent, frequency, mean, mode, median, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskall-Wallis test. The results

showed that there were no significant differences in the technical and vocational high school students’ ICT skills

with respect to gender, class level, experience in the use of computers, frequency of using the Internet, working

style, learning style, and motivation style. As for the “number of aim using the Internet” variable, a significant

difference in the ICT skills scale was observed.

Keywords: information and communications technology (ICT) skills, mobile technology, technical and vocational

high school students

Introduction

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become a significant moving force in the

daily life and economic activities. An overwhelming majority of the residents of Europe currently use computers

for various purposes and using computer is an ordinary daily activity especially for the rising generation

(European Commission, 2011, p. 9). ICTs have become a field which expands its borders constantly and also

increases the number of fields it encompasses every passing day (Çoklar, 2012). As the emerging technological

developments have affected all aspects of our lives in general, they have also made an impact on our education

system and led to changes in it. The technological developments have become pervasive in all phases of the

learning-teaching process and come into use in all phases of education (Kurtoğlu, 2009). Technology-based

teaching systems came out with the works for the integration of computers into the field of education. With the

widespread use of computers and the Internet in particular, the use of technologies in the ways of reaching

information and communication has increased significantly and the concept of ICTs has become increasingly

widespread.

Şebnem Kandil İngeç, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Physics Education, Gazi Faculty of Education, Gazi

University. Serap Ağa, B.Ed., teaching assistant, Department of Physics Education, Gazi Faculty of Education, Gazi University. Mina Şahingöz, B.Ed., teaching assistant, Department of Physics Education, Gazi Faculty of Education, Gazi University.

DAVID PUBLISHING

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INVESTIGATION OF STUDENTS’ ICT SKILLS IN TERMS OF DIFFERENT VARIABLES

824

Since the technologies used in reaching information can be used for communication purposes as well,

information technology and communication technology were used together and thus, the concept of ICTs ensued

(Haznedar, 2012). All kinds of visual, auditory, and written technological tools which ensure a fast flow of

information and ideas without time and space constraints are called “ICTs” (Kurtoğlu, 2009). Developments in

ICTs affect the components constituting both the society and the education system. Therefore, students and

teachers who are components of the education system need to keep up with this change. In this respect, according

to Kurtoğlu (2009), the proper use of ICTs by each student and teacher in all classrooms and schools has recently

gained prominence.

According to the European Commission (2011, p. 9), all the European states have national strategies

designed to promote the use of ICTs in different fields including a specific strategy allocated to education. In

many cases, these strategies aim at enabling the students to acquire the essential ICT skills. For helping the

students acquire ICT skills, ICT skill levels of the students and the variables influencing the ICT skill levels

should primarily be determined. Therefore, the present study aimed at determining the ICT skill levels of the

students and the variables affecting the ICT skill levels. This study is of importance since it may guide future

studies and arrangements.

The purpose of this study is to determine the ICT skill levels of the students studying at a technical and

vocational high school for girls. The present study also aims at examining the impact of various variables, such as

demographic features of the students, motivation, frequency of using the Internet, learning method, and way of

studying on the ICT skills of the students. To this end, answers were sought for the following three questions:

1. What are the ICT skill levels of the students from the technical and vocational high school for girls?

2. Do the ICT skills of the students of the technical and vocational high school for girls vary significantly by:

(a) gender; (b) weekly Internet use; (c) learning methods; (d) way of studying; (e) purpose of using ICTs; (f)

type of motivation; and (g) duration of computer use.

3. What are the variables predicting the ICT skills of the students from the technical and vocational high

school for girls?

Literature Review

In the literature, ICTs constitute a common area of research. In these studies, self-efficacy and attitude of the

students in using ICTs (Papastergiou, 2010; Usluel, 2007; Albirini, 2004; Usta & Korkmaz, 2010; Özdemir, 2010;

Demiralay & Karadeniz, 2010), computer literacy levels and skills (Luu & Freeman, 2011), status of using ICTs

(Yurdakul, 2011; Birgin, Çoker, & Çatlıoğlu, 2010; Özmusul, 2008; Aypay, 2010), levels of benefiting from

ICTs (Özmusul, 2008; Akbaba-Altun, 2006), and competences in ICTs (Cüre & Özdener, 2008; Dinçer &

Şahinkayası, 2011; Tasir, Abour, Halim, & Harun, 2012) were observed.

In some studies conducted on teachers, attitude towards ICTs, success in the application of ICTs, integration

of ICTs into education, and competences in using computers and ICT skills were examined (Demiraslan &

Usluel, 2005; Albirini, 2004; Akbaba-Altun, 2006; Cüre & Özdener, 2008; Özdemir, 2010; Tasir et al., 2012;

Usluel, Mumcu, & Demiraslan, 2007; Balkı & Saban, 2009; Sheehy, 2001). Studies on the integration of ICTs in

education also exist. The process of integration is ambiguous and multi-dimensional (Usluel & Yıldız, 2012).

When the literature is examined, it is seen that the subject was addressed in terms of director, teacher, and school

policy (Sang, Valcke, Van Braak, & Tondeur, 2010; Tondeur, Valcke, & Van Braak, 2008; Tondeur, Van Braak,

& Valcke, 2007; Usluel et al., 2007; Mishra & Koehler, 2005; Bucci, Copenhaver, Lehman, & O’Brien, 2003;


825

Boshuizen & Wopereis, 2003); students (Herzig, 2004; Lim & Ching, 2004; Boshuizen & Wopereis, 2003;

Cartwright & Hammond, 2003); and curriculum (Vanderlinde & Van Braak, 2011; Vanderlinde, Van Braak, &

Hermans, 2009; Vanderlinde, Braak, De Windt, Tondeur, Hermans, & Sinnaeve, 2008).

There are studies where the impact of the use of ICTs on students’ achievements in science and their scientific

process skills were examined (Huppert, Lomask, & Lazarowitz, 2002; Geban, 1990; Tavukçu, 2008; Rohaida,

2004). At the end of these studies, it was determined that the use of ICTs made a positive impact. Furthermore,

numerous studies were conducted in order to determine the status of having ICTs, the levels of benefiting from

these technologies, and scientific process skills among primary school students (Balım, Evrekli, İnel, & Deniş, 2009;

Özmusul, 2008; Tor & Erden, 2004).

When the relevant studies are considered, only a limited number of studies examining the ICTs in terms of

motivation, learning method, and way of studying are available (Haznedar, 2012). Considering the deficiency

detected in the literature, it is suggested that examining ICT skills of the individuals comparatively in terms of

different variables will be useful and significant.

Method

Research Model

The single screening model was employed in order to reveal the ICT skill levels of the students while the

relational screening model was used to examine them in terms of different variables. The single screening model

focuses the research on a single variable and examines its situation in a specific moment or its change in a specific

period (Karasar, 2007). On the other hand, the relational screening model is generally used in the determination

of the interactions among several variables (Şimşek, 2012).

The Survey Instrument

In the research, the survey instrument consists of two parts. The first part includes 15 items in relation to the

demographic attributes that will reveal the personal information of the students as well as their status of using

ICTs descriptively. The second part, on the other hand, consists of a scale prepared by Haznedar as an up-to-date

tool which is more suitable for the conditions of Turkey. Haznedar developed this scale by adapting several items

of the scale developed by Wilkinson, Roberts, and While (2010) on the attitudes towards e-learning.

The second part consists of 28 items with the questionnaire on ICT skills of students which aims at revealing

the students’ perceived skills for using ICTs. For the answers to be given to the items, a 5-point Likert-type rating

that is frequently used by the researchers was preferred. Accordingly, the rating is as follows: 1—“Totally

disagree”, 2—“Disagree”, 3—“Unsure”, 4—“Agree”, and 5—“Totally agree”.

“ICT skills” scale has three dimensions which are information technologies, communication technologies,

and mobile technologies. The reliability coefficient of this scale is α = 0.933. Since the “ICT skills” scale has 28

items, the lowest and highest scores that can be taken from the scale are 28 and 140 respectively (Haznedar,

2012).

Participants

The research was conducted on 119 students studying at a girls’ technical and vocational high school. The

distribution of the participants by gender is given in Figure 1. While 82 (68.91%) of the participants were female,

37 (31.1%) of them were male.


826

Figure 1. Distribution of the participants by gender.

According to the students’ experience in computer use, 6.72% (N = 8) of the participants have experience

less than one year, 13.45% (N = 16) of themhave experience for 1-3 years, 30.25% (N = 36) of themhave

experience of 4-5 years, 28.57% (N = 34) of them have experience for 6-7 years, and 21.01% (N = 25) of them

have experience for more than 7 years (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Distribution of the participants by experience in computer use.

Findings

Descriptive Statistics Concerning Demographic Attributes

Within the scope of the demographic attributes of the participating students, the experience of computer use,

frequency of using the Internet, purposes of using ICTs, learning method, way of studying, way of learning, and

type of motivation were examined. The percentage distributions of the demographic attributes of the

participating students were presented in graphs.

According to the data concerning the students’ frequency of using the Internet, 47.06% (N = 56) of them

use the Internet for 0-7 hours a week, 26.05% (N = 31) of them use the Internet for 8-21 hours a week, 11.76%


827

(N = 14) of them use the Internet for 22-35 hours a week, and 15.13% (N = 18) of them use the Internet for

more than 36 hours a week (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Distribution of the participants’ frequencies of using the Internet.

In relation to the purposes of using ICTs, the students marked one or several of such alternatives as

making searches as regards to the courses, doing homework, radio-TV-newspaper, film-music-video, shopping,

Internet banking, game, communication, social networking, surfing through the Internet, and others. According

to the data in Figure 4, 21.01% (N = 25), 56.30% (N = 67), and 22.70% (N = 27) of the participants chose 0-3,

4-6, and 7-11 alternatives respectively, out of 11 alternatives (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. Distribution of the numbers of purposes selected by the participants for the use of ICTs.

As for the participants’ purposes of using ICTs, 73.9% (f = 88), 74.8% (f = 89), 28.6% (f = 34), 87.4%

(f = 104), 24.4% (f = 29), 2.5% (f = 3), 46.2% (f = 55), 48.7% (f = 58), 73.9% (f = 88), 41.2% (f = 49), and 2.5%

(f = 3) of the participants stated that they use the Internet for making searches as regards to the courses, doing

homework, radio-TV-newspaper, film-music-video, shopping, Internet banking, games, communication, social

networking, surfing through the Internet, and other purposes (see Figure 5). According to the results, ICTs are mostly

used for watching films and videos and listening to music while they are used for Internet banking at the least.


828

Figure 5. Distribution of the purposes of using ICTs among the participants.

As for the learning methods, 40.34% (N = 48) of the students prefer face-to-face education, 47.90% (N =

57) prefer mixed education (face-to-face + e-learning), while 11.76% (N = 14) prefer e-learning (see Figure 6).

Figure 6. Distribution of the participants by the learning method.

In terms of way of studying, 60.50% (N = 72) of the students prefer studying individually while 39.50%

(N = 47) of them prefer studying in groups (see Figure 7). As for the way of learning, 52.94% (N = 63)

stated that they better learn with visual aids while 32.77% (N = 39) of them found auditory aids more useful

and 14.29% (N = 17) of them find tactual aids more useful (see Figure 8). As to the types of motivation,

52.94% (N = 63) have external motivation while 47.06% (N = 56) of them have internal motivation (see

Figure 9).

88

29 58

893

88

3455

49

104

30

20

40

60

80

100

120

making searches as regards to the courses

shopping

communication (e-mail, forum,…)

doing homework

internet banking

social networking (Facebook, Twitter,…)

radio-TV-newspaper

game

surfing through the internet

film-music-video

others


829

Figure 7. Distribution of the participants by the way of studying.

Figure 8. Distribution of the participants by the way of learning.

Figure 9. Distribution of the participants by the type of motivation.


830

Measures of Central Tendency and Variability

The measures of central tendency and variability belonging to the scores of the ICT skills are given in

Table 1 while histogram and quantile-quantile (Q-Q) graph displaying the normal distribution are given in

Figure 10.

Table 1

Descriptive Statistics of the ICTs

Units Statistics

Mean 115.40

Median 119

Mod 124

SD 16.69

Skewness and std. error -0.992222

Kurtosis and std. error 0.945440

Range 79

Minimum 61

Maximum 140

Figure 10. Histogram and Q-Q graph displaying normal distribution.

The lowest and highest scores obtained from the scale of “ICT skills” were 61 and 140 respectively. The

mean of the total score was calculated as 115.40. This result shows that the ICTs of the participants correspond to

4.12 at the 5-point Likert-type scale, in other words, skill levels are high.

Analysis of the Data

The numeric data obtained from the data collection tools were coded and computerized through Statistical

Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 21.0 and analyses based on sub-problems were made. In the

analysis of the demographic attributes, such descriptive statistics as frequency, percentage distribution, and cross

tabulation were employed. Results of the analyses were given in tables and interpreted. In order to examine the

ICT skills of the students in terms of various independent variables, the Kolmogrov-Smirnov test was applied to

determine the tests to be applied and the fitness of the scores to the normality was tested.

When Table 2 is examined, it is seen that the calculated p value of the ICT skill scores of the


831

Kolmogrov-Smirnov test is higher than 0.05. The fact that p value calculated in the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test is

lower than 0.5, which is interpreted in the way that scores deviate from the normal distribution significantly

(excessively) in this significance level (Büyüköztürk, 2002). It is seen in Q-Q graph of the skill scores given in

Figure 10 that the points on the 45 degree straight line deviate from the straight line both at extreme and median

values. Besides, the coefficient of skewness, which is -0.992 (SE = 222) shows that the distribution is negatively

skewed. When all the data are considered after all, the interpretation is that ICT skill scores of the students do not

display normal distribution. Therefore, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskall-Wallis tests, which are nonparametric

tests, were employed in order to examine the impact of different variables on the ICT skills. The Mann-Whitney

U test was used in the comparison of two groups out of independent variables while the Kruskal-Wallis test was

employed to compare more than two groups.

Table 2

Normality Test of ICT Skill Scores

Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk

Statistics Df Sig. Statistics Df Sig.

Skill 0.093 119 0.012 0.933 119 0.000

Note. a Lilliefors significance verification.

Differences in ICT Skills Based on Gender

Whether the sub-dimensions and total scores of the scale of “ICT skills” varied by gender were examined

and the results were presented in Table 3. When the results of the analysis made on the basis of the gender

variable are considered, ICT skills of the students do not vary significantly by gender (U = 1,265.500; p = 0.149;

p > 0.05). The mean rank of the ICT skills of the female students (56.93) is higher than that of the male

students (66.80). However, this difference is not statistically significant.

Table 3

Impact of Gender on the ICT Skills

Variable Gender N Mean rank Total rank U p

Skill Female 82 56.93 4,668.50

1,265.500 0.149 Male 37 66.80 2,471.50

Information technologies Female 82 56.85 4,662.00

1,259.000 0.138 Male 37 66.97 2,478.00

Communication technologies Female 82 57.38 4,705.00

1,302.000 0.214 Male 37 65.81 2,435.00

Mobile technologies Female 82 60.22 556.50

1,499.000 0.906 Male 37 65.81 1,154.50

It was seen that the mean rank of the male students (65.81) was higher than that of the female students

(60.22) in the sub-dimension of mobile technologies of the ICT skills but the difference between them was not

significant (U = 1,499.000; p = 0.906; p > 0.05). As for the sub-dimension of information technologies

(U = 1,259.000; p = 0.138; p > 0.05), the mean rank of the male students (66.97) was found to be higher than

that of the female students (56.85). Likewise, in the sub-dimension of communication technologies

(U = 1,302.000; p = 0.214; p > 0.05), the mean rank of the male students (65.81) was found to be higher than

that of the female students (57.38). These findings can imply that the ICT skills of the students do not differ

statistically significantly depending on the variable of gender in the sub-dimensions of information


832

technologies, communication technologies, and mobile technologies.

As a conclusion, it was accepted that the score averages of the groups did not vary by gender in the ICT

skills scale and its sub-dimensions.

Differences in ICT Skills Based on the Experience in Using Computers

Whether the total score and scores obtained from the sub-dimensions of the “ICT skills” scale showed

difference by the variable of experience in using computers was studied and the results were given in Table 4.

When the results of the analysis concerning the variable of experience of using computers are examined, it is seen

that the ICT skills of the participants did not differ significantly by the variable of experience in using computers

(χ²(4) = 4.355; p > 0.05). Mean ranks of the students’ ICT skills were found to be 41.50, 62.09, 58.00, 67.88,

and 57.02 for the students having experience for less than 1 year, 1-3 years, 4-5 years, 6-7 years, and more than

7 years respectively. This finding may imply that the ICT skills of the students do not vary statistically

significantly by the variable of experience in using computers. In other words, it was accepted that the score

averages of the groups did not differ depending on the experience in using computers.

It was determined that there were no significant differences between the sub-dimension of communication

technologies (χ²(4) = 7.983; p > 0.05) and experience in using computers and the sub-dimension of information

technologies (χ²(4) = 1.886; p > 0.05) and experience in using computers (see Table 4).

Table 4

Impact of Experience in Using Computers on the ICT Skills

Variable Experience in using computers N Mean rank SD χ² p

Skill

Less than 1 year 8 41.50

4 4.355 0.360

1-3 years 16 62.09

4-5 years 36 58.00

6-7 years 34 67.68

More than 7 years 25 57.02

Mobile technologies


4 10.114 0.039

1-3 years 16 67.41

4-5 years 36 57.94

6-7 years 34 67.47


Communication technologies


4 7.983 0.092

1-3 years 16 55.97

4-5 years 36 63.36

6-7 years 34 69.57


Information technologies


4 1.886 0.757

1-3 years 16 60.38

4-5 years 36 56.58

6-7 years 34 65.79


Mean ranks for the mobile technologies skills were found to be 32.75, 67.41, 57.94, 67.47, and 56.78 for

the students having experience in computer use for less than 1 year, 1-3 years, 4-5 years, 6-7 years, and more

than 7 years respectively. It was determined that the difference between the mean ranks in the sub-dimension of

mobile technologies by the variable of experience in using computers was statistically significant (χ²(4) =


833

10.114; p < 0.05). As a conclusion, it was accepted that the score averages of the populations varied by the

variable of experience in using computers in the sub-dimension of mobile technologies.

Differences in ICT Skills Based on the Frequency of Using the Internet

The results of the analysis concerning the variable of frequency of using internet are given in Table 5.

When Table 5 is examined, it is seen that ICT skills of the students do not show significant difference by

the frequency of using the Internet (χ²(3) = 2.777; p > 0.05). Mean ranks of ICT skills of the students

were determined as 60.27, 58.15, 50.11, and 70.06 for the students using the Internet for 0-7 hours, 8-21 hours,

22-35 hours, and more than 36 hours a week respectively. Besides, according to Table 5, there were no

significant differences between the frequency of using the Internet and the sub-dimensions of mobile

technologies (χ²(3) = 1.773; p > 0.05), communication technologies (χ²(3) = 5.091; p > 0.05), and information

technologies (χ²(3) = 2.770; p > 0.05).

As a conclusion, according to the Kruskal-Wallis test, the independent variable of the frequency of using

the Internet had no significant impact on the ICT skills. In other words, it was accepted that the score averages

of the populations did not differ by the frequency of using the Internet.

Table 5

Impact of the Frequency of Using the Internet on the ICTs

Variable Frequency of using the Internet N Mean rank SD χ² p

Skill

0-7 hours in a week 56 60.27

3 2.777 0.427 8-21 hours in a week 31 58.15


More than 36 hours 18 70.06

Mobile technologies


3 1.773 0.621 8-21 hours in a week 31 57.40





3 5.091 0.165 8-21 hours in a week 31 52.03





3 2.770 0.428 8-21 hours in a week 31 59.52



Differences of ICT Skills Based on the Type of Motivation

The Mann-Whitney U test was applied in order to determine whether the type of motivation of the

students affects their ICT skills. The results of the analysis are presented in Table 6.

Mean ranks of the ICT skills of the students’ were found to be 56.66 and 63.76 for those having external

motivation and internal motivation respectively. The mean rank of those having internal motivation is higher.

However, the difference between the average ranks by the type of motivation was not statistically significant

(U = 361.000; p = 0.370; p > 0.05). According to Table 6, ICT skills did not show significant difference in

the sub-dimensions of information technologies (U = 1,612.000; p = 0.418; p > 0.05) and mobile technologies

(U = 1,713.500; p = 0.758; p > 0.05) while they differed significantly in the sub-dimension of communication


834

technologies (U =1,362.00; p = 0.031; p < 0.05). As a conclusion, it was accepted that score averages of the

population differed in favour of the participants having internal motivation in the sub-dimension of

communication technologies of the “ICT skills” scale.

Table 6

Impact of Motivation on the ICT Skills

Variable Motivation N Mean rank Total rank U p

Skill External 63 56.66 3,569.50

1,553.500 0.262 Internal 56 63.76 3,570.50

Information technologies External 63 57.59 3,628.00

1,612.000 0.418 Internal 56 62.71 3,512.00

Communication technologies External 63 53.63 3,378.50

1,362.500 0.031 Internal 56 67.17 3,761.50

Mobile technologies External 63 59.20 3,729.50

1,713.500 0.758 Internal 56 60.90 3,410.50

Differences of ICT Skills Based on the Way of Studying

The Mann-Whitney U test was employed in order to reveal whether the type of motivation, way of

studying, and type of high school affected the ICT skills among the students. The results of the analysis are

presented in Table 7.

Table 7

Impact of the Way of Studying on the ICT Skills

Variable Way of studying N Mean rank Total rank U p

Skill Individual 72 56.83 4,092.00

1,464.00 0.215 Group 47 64.85 3,048.00

Information technologies Individual 72 56.60 4,075.00

1,447.00 0.183 Group 47 65.21 3,065.00

Communication technologies Individual 72 57.80 4,161.50

1,533.50 0.386 Group 47 63.37 2,978.50

Mobile technologies Individual 72 57.29 4,125.00

1,497.00 0.224 Group 47 64.15 3,015.00

As for the way of studying, it was detected that the mean rank of the participants preferring individual

study was higher than that of the participants preferring group study and the difference between them was not

significant (U = 389.00; p = 0.727; p > 0.05). When Table 7 is examined, it is seen that the scores do not differ

statistically significantly by the way of studying in the sub-dimensions of the ICT skills scale. As a conclusion,

it was accepted that the mean scores of the populations did not differ by the variable of way of studying.

Differences in ICT Skills Based on the Way of Learning

The results of the analysis concerning the way of learning are presented in Table 8. According to Table 8,

ICT skills of the students do not differ significantly by the way of learning (χ²(2) = 2.292; p > 0.05). Mean

ranks of the ICT skills of the participants were found to be 64.50, 55.27, and 54.18 for the students finding

visual aids, auditory aids, and tactual/kinaesthetic aids more useful respectively. Besides, according to Table 8,

there were no any significant differences between the way of learning and the sub-dimensions of mobile

technologies (χ²(2) = 0.771; p > 0.05), communication technologies (χ²(2) = 1.616; p > 0.05), and information


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technologies (χ²(2) = 4.477; p > 0.05). As a conclusion, it was accepted that the score averages of the

populations did not differ by the way of learning.

Table 8

Impact of the Way of Learning on the ICT Skills

Variable Way of learning N Mean rank SD χ² p

Skill

Visual 63 64.50

2 2.292 0.318 Auditory 39 55.27

Tactual/kinaesthetic 17 54.18

Mobile technologies

Visual 63 58.29

2 0.771 0.680 Auditory 39 63.46



Visual 63 58.60

2 1.616 0.446 Auditory 39 65.14



Visual 63 66.24

2 4.477 0.107 Auditory 39 52.05


Differences in ICT Skills Based on the Learning Method

Whether the ICT skills of the students differed significantly by the learning method was tested through the

Kruskal-Wallis test, one of the nonparametric tests. In Table 9, the relevant results are presented. When Table 9

is examined, it is seen that the lowest mean rank (53.63) belongs to the students learning through face-to-face

method while the highest mean rank (65.18) belongs to the students learning through mixed education method.

This difference is not statistically significant. The ICT skills of the students did not differ significantly by the

learning method (χ²(2) = 2.808; p > 0.05).

Table 9

Impact of the Learning Method on the ICT Skills

Variable Learning method N Mean rank SD χ² p

Skill

Face-to-face 48 53.63

2 2.808 0.246 Mixed method 57 64.80

E-learning 14 62.32

Mobile technologies


2 1.427 0.490 Mixed method 57 63.23

E-learning 14 59.89



2 0.598 0.742 Mixed method 57 61.32

E-learning 14 53.46



2 3.348 0.200 Mixed method 57 65.18

E-learning 14 62.86

According to Table 9, there are no significant differences between the learning method and the

sub-dimensions of mobile technologies (χ²(2) = 1.427; p > 0.05), communication technologies (χ²(2) = 0.598;

p > 0.05), and information technologies (χ²(2) = 3.348; p > 0.05). This finding implied that the ICT skills of the


836

participants and their scores in the sub-dimensions did not differ by the variable of learning method. As a

conclusion, it was accepted that the mean scores of the populations did not differ by the learning method.

Differences in the ICT Skills Based on the Purposes of Using ICTs

The results of the analysis as regards to the variable of the purpose of using ICTs are presented in Table 10.

The purposes of using ICTs were grouped into three (0-3, 4-6, and 7-11) by the number of purposes marked by

the student for the use of ICTs. When Table 10 is examined, it is seen that the mean ranks of the ICT skills of

the students are 48.38, 58.53, and 74.41 for the students selecting 0-3 purposes, 4-6 purposes, and 7-11

purposes respectively. This finding may imply that the ICT skills of the students improve as the number of

purposes for using ICTs increases. Also, a significant difference was detected between the ICT skills and the

purposes of using ICTs (χ²(2) = 7.676; p < 0.05). According to Table 10, there are significant differences

between the purposes of using ICTs and the sub-dimensions of mobile technologies (χ²(2) = 3.852; p > 0.05),

communication technologies (χ²(2) = 7.554; p < 0.05), and information technologies (χ²(2) = 8.719; p < 0.05).

This finding suggested that the ICT skills of the participants and their scores in the sub-dimensions did not

differ by the variable of the purposes of using ICTs. Thus, it was concluded that the mean scores of the

populations did not differ by the purposes of using ICTs.

Table 10

Impact of the Purposes of Using ICTs on the ICT Skills

Variable Number of purposes N Mean rank SD χ² p

Skill

Between 0-3 25 48.38

2 7.676 0.022 Between 4-6 67 58.53

Between 7-11 27 74.41

Mobile technologies

Between 0-3 25 49.58

2 3.852 0.146 Between 4-6 67 63.19

Between 7-11 27 61.74


Between 0-3 25 44.08

2 7.554 0.023 Between 4-6 67 62.32

Between 7-11 27 68.98


Between 0-3 25 51.72

2 8.719 0.013 Between 4-6 67 56.28

Between 7-11 27 76.91

Examining the Variables Predicting the ICT Skills

Setting the total score obtained from the ICT skills scale as dependent variable, gender (female and male),

experience in using computers (less than 1 year, 1-3 years, 4-5 years, 6-7 years, and more than 7 years),

frequency of using computers (0-7 hours a week, 8-21 hours a week, 22-35 hours a week, more than 36 hours a

week), number of purposes of using ICTs (between 0-3, 4-6, and 7-11), methods of learning (face-to-face,

mixed education, and e-learning), ways of working (individual and group), ways of learning (visual, auditory,

and tactual/kinaesthetic), and types of motivation (external and internal) were used as independent variables.

Out of classification techniques, Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector (CHIAD) analysis finding the

interactions and combinations between the variables was used. The tree structure obtained with CHAID

analysis is presented in Figure 11. Figure 11 displays the predictor variables affecting the skill predicted and the

significance levels of these variables. Accordingly, only the variable of the number of purposes for using ICTs

affects the ICT skills (F(2,4142) = 123.256; p < 0.01). It can be said that gender, experience in using computers,


837

frequency of using the Internet, learning method, way of studying, way of learning, and type of motivation did

not have interpretive roles on the ICT skills.

Figure 11. CHAID diagram related to the variables affecting the ICT skills.

Discussion and Conclusion

The results of the analysis of the data obtained in the present study showed that the ICT skills of the

students correspond to 4.12 in the 5-point Likert-type scale, in other words, their skill levels are high. This

finding shows similarity to some studies conducted on the university students. In the study conducted by Dinçer

and Şahinkaya (2011) on the ICT competences of 440 university students, it was determined that 89.01% of the

students were highly computer literate. In a research conducted by Haznedar (2012) with the participation of

2,949 university students, the ICT skill levels of the students were examined and it was determined that the ICT

skills of the students were 4.2 in the 5-point Likert-type scale, in other words, the skill levels were high.

It was detected that the participants had 4-5 years of experience on average. This finding shows similarity

to the results of Şanlı, Abacı, and Sünkür (2012) who conducted a research with 345 primary school students.

At the end of the research, it was determined that the primary school Grade II students highly benefited from

the ICTs. In the study carried out by Özden and Açıkgül-Fırat (2013) on 487 primary school students, the

average of the students’ levels of benefiting from the ICTs was found to be 2.73 (out of 4). This average shows

that students make use of ICTs sufficiently. However, some studies in the literature revealed conflicting results

with the present study. Conducting a research with 72 students in the first year of the science and technology

high school, Gürcan (2008) determined that the high school students had been using computers for 3-4 years on

average. Examining the statuses of knowing and using computers and the Internet among the 6th, 7th and 8th

grade students studying in the primary schools in the city centre of Ankara, Tor and Erden (2004) found out

that 14% of the students did not know using computers and the Internet at all, 41.5% of them had limited

knowledge, and 44.5% of them had perfect command over computers and the Internet. According to Kanatlı

and Schreglman (2012), who tried to detect the levels of benefiting from the ICTs among the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th,


838

and 8th grade students in primary schools, 27 of 352 (7.7%) students did not know using computers at all, 153

(43.5%) students had limited knowledge, while 172 (48.8%) students were pretty good at using computers.

Özmusul (2008), who conducted a research with 734 secondary grade students, on the other hand, found out

that the levels of the secondary grade students of the primary schools from benefiting from the ICTs were low

in the sub-dimension of self-expression but moderate in the sub-dimensions of reaching information,

research-search, communication, and game entertainment.

It was determined that the variable of gender did not lead to significant differences in the ICT skills of the

students from the technical and vocational high school for girls as well as the sub-dimensions. This finding

shows similarity to the study of Özmusul (2008), who examined the secondary grade primary school students’

levels of benefiting from the ICTs and whether they differed by the social and pedological variables and did not

detect a statistically significant difference between gender and the total scores collected in the scale. In the

study conducted by Özdemir (2010) with the participation of 496 university personnel, the impact of gender on

ICT skills was not found to be significant. This finding reached by Özdemir (2010) also supports the present

study.

However, it was found out in the study carried out by Kışla, Arıkan, and Sarsar (2009) with the participation

of 157 instructors randomly picked from nine faculties that the frequencies of using ICTs differed by gender.

Likewise, Haznedar (2012) determined in the study conducted with the participation of a vast number of

university students that male students had better ICT skills compared to female students. Also, it was revealed in

some studies concerning the ICT skills that gender was a distinctive variable and led to a significant difference in

favour of male students (Taylor, Goede, & Steyn, 2011; Birgin et al., 2010; Aypay, 2010; Tor & Erden, 2004;

Tella & Mutula, 2008; Link & Marz, 2006).

There were no significant differences between the ICT skills of the participants and the frequency of using

the Internet, purposes for using the ICTs, experience in using computers, way of studying, motivation, and

frequency of using the Internet. This was not an expected result. In the literature, there are a limited number of

studies examining the impacts of such variables as motivation and way of studying on the ICT skills. In the study

conducted by Haznedar (2012) with the participation of 2,959 students studying at the Faculty of Education,

Maritime Faculty, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Letters, Faculty of Fine Arts, Faculty of Law, Faculty of

Economics and Administrative Sciences, Faculty of Management, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Medicine,

and Faculty of Nursing, it was concluded that the ICT skills of the students improved as the experience in using

computers, frequency of using the Internet, and the number of purposes for using the ICTs increased.

As for the purposes of using ICTs, it was concluded that the ICT skills of the participants improved as the

number of purposes for using ICTs increased. This is an expected result and the students can improve themselves

in terms of ICT skills by using computers and the Internet. It was concluded in the study conducted by Haznedar

(2012) that the ICT skills of the students improved as the duration of using ICTs increased. Examining the

relationship between ICTs and scientific literacy, Luu and Freeman (2011) found the scientific literacy levels of

the students who were experienced in terms of ICTs, who were using the Internet more frequently, and who had

self-confidence in the basic ICT skills, were higher. The finding presented by Luu and Freeman (2011) is

compatible with the result of the present study. Likewise, Papastergiou (2010) indicated that the students

increased their self-efficacy levels in relation to computers and the Internet and reduced their anxieties stemming

from the computer through the course of scientific literacy.


839

Two recommendations can be made in relation to this study. Firstly, similar studies examining which

variables are influential on the levels of ICT skills should be conducted with larger samples consisting of the

students from the technical and vocational high school for girls. In line with the results to be obtained, the

students will be able to adapt to the education system which has changed with the integration of computers. In the

second place, similar studies can be conducted with the other types of high school. The results can be compared

and taken as the basis for the development of the national education strategies where ICTs are integrated.

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Viewing Transformations: Generation of 3D CAD Images*

Jovani Castelan, Daniel Fritzen

SATC University, Criciuma, Brazil

The propagation and full application of the three-dimensional (3D) computer-aided design (CAD) software by

mechanical engineering and industrial design courses is a fact. However, many students find it difficult because

they have not previously developed a spatial vision and do not understand the internal process of the software to

build 3D models. This work aims at showing the image generation process on the computer screen, inducing the

students to, mentally, generate 3D model projections, improving their spatial vision, and speeding up the process of

interpreting orthogonal and isometric perspective views.

Keywords: transformations, graphic representation, views, three-dimensional (3D) computer-aided design (CAD)

modeling

Introduction

Viewing transformations is responsible for the two-dimensional (2D) image generation process, which

offers the software users the illusion of actually seeing three-dimensional (3D) objects. They concern changes

in the users’ viewpoint and are executed repeatedly in 3D computer-aided design (CAD) systems through zoom

and orbital commands, that allow a full and dynamic visualization of the object. Knowledge of the 3D image

process allows the students to develop and/or improve spatial vision, the main requirement for efficient use of

3D modeling tools. Therefore, the aim of this research is to demonstrate that understanding the algebraic-geometric

process of orthogonal and isometric views can help develop skills to manipulate 3D CAD systems.

Literature Review

The current difficulty of engineering and design students to read and visualize 3D objects may be

connected to lack of knowledge on the computational process that occurs in CAD softwares and responsible for

drawing view generation. This computational process is grounded in the Cartesian system of coordinates,

descriptive geometry, trigonometry, and algebraic processes. If students do not know these processes, their skill

development is impaired.

The skills of spatial viewing can be improved through appropriate tasks. The engineering drawing,

grounded in descriptive geometry, is used according to this purpose for two reasons: 1. It is composed by a

practical base of real situations through representation and visualization of objects; and 2. Real experiences

with geometric objects and their representations aided the development of students’ spatial view. However, * Acknowledgements: This work was financially supported by the SATC University and drawings were made by Prof. Daniel Fritzen.

Jovani Castelan, Ph.D., professor, Design and Manufacture Department, Mechanical Engineering Department, SATC University.

Daniel Fritzen, Ph.D. candidate, professor, Industrial Maintenance Department, Mechanical Engineering Department, SATC University.

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during classes, it is realized that learners have great difficulty in understanding graphic representations, which

is one of the factors that prevents the students from understanding (Seabra & Santos, 2005).

According to Gravina (1996), in mental image-forming, drawing associated with a geometric object plays

a fundamental role. Sometimes it is not clear for students that a drawing is simply a physical instance of object

representation. The aim of this research—viewing transformations—seeks to improve the visual and reading

skills that are widely used in industrial applications. The modeling, viewing, and simulation of mechanical

manipulators are an example (Maciel, Assis, & Dorneles, 2000).

Furthermore, knowing viewing transformations further develops the programming skill in CAD softwares

of open plataform (Chang, Wang, & Wisk, 1987).

Much of the potential of 3D CAD and graphic computational systems is due to the capacity to achieve

viewing transformations between different coordinate systems (Mantyla, 1988).

Viewing transformations basically corresponds to the positioning of an observer relative to an object. This

makes it necessary to determine, besides the observer’s position, the target of their vision. Generally, it is

considered that the observer is positioned on axis Z of the viewing system, seeing the object from this line

(Rogers & Adams, 1990).

The development steps presented here were formulated based on the research work by André Luiz

Battaiola (Battaiola & Erthal, 1999) and also on the Denavit-Hartenberg method (Rosário, 2005).

Development Steps

Viewing transformations begins with using an example object (chamfer cube), as shown in Figure 1.

Using this primitive geometric form is justified by the fact that it is simple to view.

Figure 1. Example object for 3D view generation.

It is important to consider that Figure 1 shows the designer’s idea—A mental image of what will be

represented in the CAD software. To transform the mental image into a computer drawing, the first step is to

draft the shape and determine the object dimensions. Following, the further steps needed to draw the object in

3D are listed.


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Step 1: Obtaining the Cylindrical Projection Points

To make cylindrical projection points of the example object, it is necessary to specify the vertex

coordinates according to the reference system (origin of the axes X, Y, Z). Assigning “1” to cube edge and

considering the mass center located at the origin (0, 0, 0), we will have the definition of object points (vertices),

as shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Object Points in XYZ Cartesian Plane

Pt./Cd. A B C D E F G H I

X -1 1 1 -1 -1 -1 1 1 -1

Y -1 -1 1 0 1 1 1 -1 -1

Z 1 1 1 1 0 -1 -1 -1 -1

Step 2: Determination of the and Angles

The 3D image is determined for the observer position in relation to this one. Thus, besides the object

coordinates, it is also necessary to specify the observer coordinates. These coordinates will give rise to two

angles: , formed by observer displacement under the XY plane, with Y becoming the rotation axis (see

Figure 2); and , formed by observer displacement around the X’ axis, from the XY plane (see Figure 3).

Figure 2 shows an example, the observer coordinates -3, 3, 3 (X, Y, Z). Using basic trigonometric relations and

the right hand rule (see Figure 4), the angle values are achieved: 45° and 35.26°.

Figure 2. Observer’s rotation angle under the Y axis ( .

Figure 3. Observer rotation angle under X’ axis .


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The and angles also determine the standard orthogonal views for technical drawing, as shown in

Table 2.

Table 2

Values of and Angles in Standard Orthogonal Views

View

Front 0 0

Top 0 -90

Left -90 0

Right 90 0

Bottom 0 90

Back 180 0

It should be stressed that the definition of the angle signal is essential to correctly generate the object

images. To assign the signal, a mnemonic resource called the “right hand rule” is used, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. The right hand rule to assign the rotation angle signal.

With the thumb pointing in the positive direction of the rotation axis, the signal standards for rotation of

the related axis and the signal standards for rotation around rotated axes are established.

Step 3: Obtaining the Viewing Transformation Matrix

Once the viewing angles and object coordinates have been defined, it is possible to obtain the viewing

coordinates, which will generate a 2D image (on a XY Cartesian plane), representing a 3D object. The XY

plane can be defined as the 3D CAD work area—a place where the object views are performed.

The view’s coordinates are formed by a 4 3 matrix. Following, this matrix is multiplied by the matrix of

the object’s points (see Table 1). This procedure will provide new points plotted on an XY plane, generating an

image of the object according to observer’s position, which was defined in previous step.

Equation (1)

In Equation (1), = Result matrix; = Matrix of Figure 2 angle; and = Matrix of Figure 3 angle.

Equation (2) shows the trigonometric relations of :

cos 0sin sin cos

sin 0sin cos 0

cos sin cos0 0

sin cos 00 1

Equation (2)

Table 3 is the result of the Viewing Matrix Matrix Constituent of Object Points (see Table 1)

multiplication.


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Table 3

Result Points (Tv Table 1) on a XY Cartesian Plane

A B C D E F G H I

X’ 0.00 1.41 1.41 0.00 -0.71 -1.41 0.00 0.00 -1.41

Y’ -1.63 -0.82 0.82 -0.82 0.41 0.82 1.63 0.00 -0.82

Step 4: Isometric Perspective Drawing

Using point coordinates X’ and Y’, it is possible to design a solid cylindrical projection according to the

chosen view point. The result is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Cube dimensions plotted on XY plane.

In a practical situation using a 3D CAD software, each rotational and translational movement,

accomplished with an orbital zoom tool, makes the matrix check all view points and regenerate the drawing on

the screen. At this point, it is possible to understand the importance of dedicated graphic (off-board) cards,

since the amount of calculations that must be performed instantaneously for image generation is very large.

Graphic cards of the on-board type use many main memory resources, reducing the overall efficiency of the

system.

Results

Figure 6 shows the result of two assessments performed by 22 students who were enrolled in the

computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) course in the first semester of 2011 in the Mechanical

Engineering School, SATC University, Criciuma, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. The first test addressed contents

shown in this paper; the second assessment was a 3D modeling practical test using a CAD software. A

tendency to similar performance in students with a good score in the first test is noted. They also achieved a

good result in the second test. On the other hand, students with weak or poor performance in the first test

showed similar results in the second test.

It is shown that students with a better theoretical understanding, as found in the first test (3D image

generation process), developed a better spatial vision, which is the principal requirement to use a 3D CAD

software.


847

Figure 6. Relationship between scores of the first and second assessments.

Conclusion

In a common situation of a drawing task, it is not expected that the process presented here will be used to

make drawings, since modern 3D CAD softwares have the basic and advanced resources needed to generate 3D

objects dynamically and easily. However, understanding the generation process for 3D images in the CAD

systems is important to develop logical reasoning and spatial vision—fundamental skills for graphic,

drawing/design areas, and also for 3D CAD application development. Practical activities to evaluate process

reliability can be performed with common CAD softwares that are used in industrial design and mechanical

engineering courses.

References Battaiola, A. L., & Erthal, G. (1999). Projeções e o seu uso em computação gráfica (Using views in computation graphic) (M.A.

thesis, Departamento de Computação, Universidade Federal de São Carlos). Chang, T. C., Wang, H. P., & Wisk, R. A. (1987). Developing microcomputer software for CAD and CAM education. Computers

and Engineering, 13(1-4), 194-198. Gravina, M. A. (1996). Dinamic geometry: A new approach to learning of geometry. Porto Alegre: Instituto de Matemática da

UFRGS. Maciel, A., Assis, G. A., & Dorneles, R. V. (2000). Modelagem, visualização e simulação de manipuladores mecânicos (Modeling,

viewing and simulation of mechanical manipulators) (M.A. thesis, Departamento de Informática, Caxias do Sul University). Mantyla, M. (1988). An introduction to solid modeling. Rockville, M.I.: Computer Science Press. Rogers, D. F., & Adams, J. A. (1990). Mathematical elements for computer graphics. New York, N.Y.: McGraw Hill Publising

Company. Rosário, J. M. (2005). Princípios de mecatrônica (Principles of mechatronics). São Paulo: Prentice Hall. Seabra, R. D., & Santos, E. T. (2005). Utilização de técnicas de realidade virtual no projeto de umaferramenta 3D para

desenvolvimento da habilidade de visualização especial (Use of virtual reality tecniques on design of 3D tool to spatial view ability development). Revista Educação Gráfica, 9(2).


Use of Reference in the Narratives of Kurdish-Persian

Bilingual Children

Hossein Shokouhi

Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

Ali Hemati

Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran;

Azad University, Islam-Abad Gharb, Iran

This study investigates some of the differences and similarities between Kurdish-Persian bilinguals and Persian

monolinguals with respect to the use of referring expressions in spoken narratives. The narratives were elicited

from 36 participants, consisting of 24 bilinguals (Groups 1 and 2) and 12 monolinguals (Group 3) in the first four

grades of primary school using picture narrative book. The results have revealed that Group 1 (bilinguals told the

story in Kurdish) used definite noun phrases most frequently followed by zero anaphors, indefinite noun phrases,

and pronouns. Group 2 who narrated the story in Persian produced definite nouns most frequently followed by

pronouns, zero anaphors, and indefinite noun phrases. Group 3 (Persian monolinguals) employed definite noun

phrases most frequently followed by zero anaphors, pronouns, and indefinite noun phrases. The significant

difference between Groups 1 and 2 and Groups 2 and 3 has been in indefinite noun phrases and between Groups 1

and 3 in the use of pronouns. One reason is that children universally apply similar strategies regardless of their first

language (L1). The conclusion is that some of the differences are due to the difference in the structure between

Persian and the dialects of Kurdish.

Keywords: reference, narrative, Kurdish, Persian, bilingual children

Introduction

To introduce and maintain reference in a text, indefinite noun phrases are normally used for newly

introduced topics and the body of the text is usually maintained by definite noun phrases and pronominals,

which can be pronouns or zero anaphors. Among the different text types, narratives, as Berman (2009, p. 358)

stated, are probably “well suited to studying acquisition of referring expressions” whether it is verbal or written.

Narrative is part of a child’s adulthood life at home, in school, and other micro or macro communities, and both

adults and children produce personal narratives, fictional narratives, etc. (Manhardt & Rescorla, 2002).

Narratives can reveal different linguistic aspects, such as event-sequencing, inference-making, and

referent-tracking, and these have been the foci of many studies (Paley, 1981; Kuntay, 1997; Wigglesworth,

1997; Hickmann & Hendriks, 1999; Hickmann, 2003; among others). These studies have part of their focus on

how monolingual children develop the ability to use appropriate referring expressions in narratives. Likewise,

some studies have examined different characteristics of narratives in bilingual children and adults (Alvarez,

2003; Chen & Pan, 2009). The focus of these has been on widely used and studied languages, like English,

Hossein Shokouhi, Ph.D., lecturer, researcher, Faculty of Arts and Education, School of Education, Deakin University. Ali Hemati, Ph.D., Department of English, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz; lecturer, Azad University.

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Spanish, and Chinese. However, languages, such as Persian and Kurdish, have been extremely marginalized. In

fact, there are relatively few studies on these two with respect to the acquisition, development, and use of

referential expressions, excepting for Kadir’s (2005) study which has investigated the characteristics of

narrative in bilingual children whose first language (L1) is Kurdish and whose second language (L2) is English.

The attempt in the current study is to examine the use of referent tracking types in the narratives of

Kurdish-Persian bilingual children. That is, with regards to the similarities and differences in the syntax of the

two languages, we like to seek how the interplay between Persian and Kurdish can help the bilingual speakers

of both languages track the referents.

Theoretical Background

The importance of narrative in developing discourse, cognitive, social, and literal abilities of children has

been deeply investigated by scholars in the field (Nelson, 1996; Norbury & Bishop, 2003; Ozyidirim, 2009).

For example, Norbury and Bishop (2003) believed that production of a good narrative involves complex

linguistic, cognitive, and social abilities and one should also rely on different kinds of knowledge, such as

general knowledge about events, people and social interactions, and memories of episodes. Other studies have

pointed out that narrative provides the context for acquiring different forms of discourse organization, such as

anaphoric reference, thematic coherence, etc., that are of importance for the development of literal ability of

children (Feagans & Appelbaum, 1986; Bruner, 1990). Because of the crucial role that narratives play in social

and literal contexts of preschool and school-age children, a good number of studies have investigated the

prominent place of narrative for revealing differences and similarities between monolingual and bilingual

children (Raz & Bryant, 1990; Alvarez, 2003; Ilgaz & Aksu-Koc, 2005; Serrarrice, 2007; Chen & Pan, 2009;

among others).

Chen and Pan (2009), by eliciting spoken narratives in English from 60 Chinese-speaking participants who

were at different ages—five, eight, and 10, and young adults, examined the development of English referring

expressions in the narratives of Chinese-English bilinguals. For eliciting the data, they used Mayer’s (1969,

p. 429) book Frog, Where Are You? They found that “regardless of whether English is acquired as an L1 or L2,

appropriate use of referring expressions in discourse is developed gradually and is influenced by both discourse

functions (introduction vs. maintenance) and character types (main vs. secondary)”.

Some studies have focused on the fact that whether or not different versions of narratives have any

influence on the performance of children. In this regard, for example, Lynch and Van Den Broek (2007, p. 333)

investigated goal inference making in narratives in children at ages six and eight, and used two versions of

narratives they had developed before: (a) the goal-directed version, in which goals moved from high to low

levels; and (b) the non-goal directed version, in which the goal was not hierarchically related. By attempting to

find goal inference making through the use of think-aloud protocols, they found that “There was no significant

main effect of age on the total number of goal inferences or any significant interactions with the variables”. In

the same line, Ilgaz and AKsu-Koc (2005) compared play-prompted and directed elicited narratives produced

by three to five years old children and found that the former yielded narratives that have more complex episodic

structures than the latter.

Studies have also shown that there is a good relationship between the use of narrative by children and their

academic success (Snow, Tabors, Nicholson, & Kurland, 1995; Roth, Speece, & Cooper, 2002). Economic

condition of the family as well as parents’ language skills can affect the children’s narrative skills. For example,


850

A. A. Zevenbergen, Whitehurst, and J. A. Zevenbergen (2003) investigated the effect of a shared-reading

program on the narrative skills of children from low-income families. They selected 123 four years old children

who attended preschool at four Head Start Centers on Long Island, New York, during the 1992-1993 school

year. They found that children who participated in the intervention program “were significantly more likely to

include references to internal states of characters and dialogue in their narratives in comparison with other

children” (Zevenbergen et al., 2003, p. 1). Hemphill (1989), Raz and Bryant (1990), and Walker, Greenwood,

Hart, and Carta (1994) have shown that children from low-income families entered preschool classes with

language skills that are behind these of their counterparts from higher-income families. Hemphill (1989) further

found that low-income children often use unspecific pronouns.

Kadir (2005) investigated the contrast between the English and the Kurdish language in terms of

grammatical gender by reading two stories, one written in Kurdish and the other in English. He read an English

story titled A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, published in 1969, which was similar to the

Kurdish story called Gelawej authored by Teiyfoor and published in 1992 with respect to length and language

level. He concluded that “The average compound nouns in Kurdish are higher than those in English”, because

the compound nouns are not equivalent in the two languages.

Although Kurdish speakers have lived side by side to the Persian speakers for centuries, there is little

evidence in the exploration of language features including narratives in the two languages. The present study

makes an attempt to examine narratives of Kurdish-Persian bilinguals and Persian monolinguals to shed some

light on the issue.

Kurdish is a language mainly spoken in four countries: Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. Like Persian,

Kurdish is a member of Indo-European family of languages (Lazard, 1993; Mohamadi, Nilipour, & Yadegari

2008). Regarding the classification and origin of Kurdish language, however, different ideas have been put

forward. According to Aryadoust (2006, p. 134), there are two ideas about the origin of the Kurdish language.

Some believe that it is a language belonging to the branch of modern Persian but others consider Kurdish as a

language whose source is Avestan, the language of the religion of Zorastrianism (Haig, 2004, p. 8). Concerning

the branch and classification of Kurdish language, some consider Kurmanji and Sorani as the two main

branches of modern Kurdish. Kurmanji is spoken by the vast majority of Kurds in Turkey, Syria, Armenia, and

Azerbaijan, the area known as “North Kurdistan” with an estimated 15-17 million speakers. Sorani is the

language of most Kurds in Iraq (four to six million speakers) and Iran (five to six million speakers), the area

known as “South Kurdistan” (Thackston, 2001, p. VIII). Aryadoust (2006, p. 134) believed that Kurdish has

other dialects, such as Hawrami, Shekaki, Kalhori, etc., although Hawrami sometimes is considered as a

different language because it is unintelligible to speakers of other dialects of Kurdish.

Another classification is that Kurdish has three main branches: (a) Kurmanji (or northern Sorani) spoken

in northwestern part of Iran, Turkey, and Syria; (b) Sorani spoken in most parts of Kurdistan province in Iran

and Iraq; and (c) Gorani which consists of dialects, such as Hawrami, Kalhori, etc.. In this study, Sorani dialect,

mainly spoken in Kurdistan province and also some parts of Kermanshah in Iran, is the focus of investigation.

In terms of structural characteristics, such as optional subject, expletive subject, the order of subject,

object of verb, etc., Kurdish and Persian are similar. Table 1 sums up the characteristics of these languages

(adopted from Mahand, 2002, p. 6).

The marker for indefiniteness in Persian is the suffix “-i”. However, sometimes a combination of the word


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“yek” meaning “one/a” and the suffix “-i” can be used together to show and emphasize indefiniteness (e.g.,

“yek ketab”, “one/a book”; “ketab-i”, “a book”; or “yek ketab-i”, “a book”). The most outstanding markers for

definite nouns are determiners “in”, “this”, “oun”, and “that”, direct object marker “ra”, which follows the noun

or pronoun, and finally the Ezafe marker “-e” (literally meaning extra but showing possession when suffixed to

a noun phrase followed by another noun phrase, sometimes suffixed to a noun phrase followed by an adjective,

and some other times suffixed to a bare infinitive followed by a noun phrase) (see Dabir-Moghaddam, 1990;

Shokouhi & Kipka, 2003).

Table 1

A Comparison of Persian With Sorani and Hawrami

Language Optional subject

Expletive subject

Pro-drop Order of subject and verb

Replacement of subject and verb

Zero anaphora

Scrambling Enclitics

Persian + - + Subject-object-verb + + + +

Sorani + - + Subject-object-verb + + + +

Hawrami + - -/+ Subject-object-verb -/+ -/+ + -

In Sorani dialect of Kurdish, the markers of indefiniteness are “e” and “ek” and the definite markers which

are suffixed to nouns are “-ah”, “-ke”, and sometimes “-gah” for some dialects in Kermanshah, a city in the

west of Iran mostly populated by Kurdish speakers.

Method

Research Questions

As mentioned earlier, Kurdish and Persian languages are similar in terms of characteristics, such as order

of subject and verb, optional subject, etc.. Yet, it is not clear how Kurdish-Persian bilingual children use

referring expressions in narrative in comparison with their monolingual peers. For this purpose, this study

attempts to examine and answer the following questions:

1. Is there any difference between Kurdish-Persian bilingual children in the use of indefinite nouns,

definite nouns, pronouns, and zero anaphors in spoken narratives told in Kurdish and Persian?

2. What similarity/difference exists between Kurdish-Persian bilingual children and their Persian

monolingual peers in spoken narratives told in Persian?

Participants

A total of 36 children ranging from six to nine years old divided into three groups participated in the study.

The first group (Group 1) consisted of 12 participants who were Kurdish-Persian bilinguals and they were both

a mix of male and female. They were selected from rural areas in order to make sure that their L1, Kurdish, was

intact. There were three participants in each grade in Group 1 (1st through 4th graders). The second group

(Group 2) also consisted of 12 bilingual Kurdish-Persian speakers (male and female) who were also selected

from rural areas and had three participants in the 1st-4th grades. However, the difference between the two

groups, as will seen in the section “Material and Procedure” below, is that Group 1 was narrating the story in

Kurdish and Group 2 in Persian. The third group (Group 3) consisting of 12 participants of the 1st-4th graders

was monolingual Persian speakers whose parents were immigrants and their L1 was Persian. They could not

speak Kurdish although they might have known a few Kurdish words.


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Material and Procedure

For the purpose of data elicitation of spoken narratives, the famous wordless picture book Frog, Where

Are You? (Mayer, 1969) was used. The reason for choosing this picture book is that many researchers have

applied this book in their studies (e.g., Berman & Slobin, 1994; Chen, 2007; Chen & Oller, 2008). The book

consists of 24 pictures and three main characters: a boy, his dog, and his pet frog. One night, the boy’s pet frog

escapes and as the boy and his dog search for it, they face a few adventurous events. In this part of the story,

some other characters, namely, an owl, some bees, and a deer appear. At the end, the boy and his dog find some

adult frogs with a number of baby frogs and they take one of them back home. Introducing and maintaining

reference to these characters can provide a good source of examining referential expressions in narratives. This

study attempted to analyze the initial and subsequent mentions of all the characters by the Kurdish-Persian

bilinguals and Persian monolinguals in the production of narratives in Kurdish and Persian.

As regards the procedure, the participants were met individually at their schools. In order to reduce stress,

they were first approached by some intimate talk in their mother language followed by some general

information about the story. After that, they were asked to look at the pictures in order to familiarize themselves

with the story. Then, they were asked to return to the first picture and tell the story. Group 1 was asked to tell

the story in Kurdish and Group 2 was asked to tell it in Persian. While the participants were narrating the story,

their voices with their own consent were recorded using a tape-recorder. The same procedure was used for the

Group 3, which consists of the monolingual Persian speakers who accordingly were asked to tell the story in

Persian.

Data Analysis

The recorded spoken narratives were transcribed, and for the transcription of recorded narratives, the

authors followed the guidelines given by Berman and Slobin (1994), i.e., narratives were transcribed verbatim

in clauses, then all transcribed narratives were analyzed and the forms of the referring expressions were coded

(indefinite nominal, definite nominal, pronoun, and zero anaphora) for our further investigation.

Results

Initially, the number of occurrences of referring expressions used by each group was obtained and then the

number of referring expressions used by participants of different grades in each group was calculated. For

comparison of groups to one another, independent samples t-tests were used (see Table 2).

Table 2

Number of Occurrences of Referential Expressions in the Three Groups

Referential expressions Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

Indefinite nouns 74 (12.17%) 90 (15.31%) 67 (11.44%)

Definite nouns 321 (52.79%) 308 (52.41%) 275 (46.93%)

Pronouns 67 (11.1%) 95 (16.15%) 111 (18.94%)

Zero anaphors 146 (24.02%) 94 (16.13%) 133 (22.69%)

According to the obtained results in Table 2, Group 1 (those bilingual participants who told the story in

Kurdish) used definite noun phrases most frequently, followed by zero anaphors, indefinite noun phrases, and

pronouns. Group 2 (bilingual Kurdish-Persian speaking children who told the story in Persian) used definite

noun phrases most frequently, followed by pronouns, zero anaphora, and indefinite noun phrases. Likewise,


853

Group 3 produced definite noun phrases most frequently, followed by zero anaphora, pronouns, and indefinite

noun phrases. The results also show that the participants in the three groups sometimes used definite noun

phrases instead of indefinite noun phrases for introducing characters. This generally occurred for the 1st grade

participants in all groups but it was salient for Group 1 (the bilingual participants who told the story in Kurdish),

as shown in the following Kurdish sentence told by a 2nd grade participant in Group 1 (see Example 1).

Example 1: “This is a boy. That is his dog”.

ya ye kabera-ek. ava-ysh saeg-ke

This one boy-IND that-also dog-EZ

Notes. IND = Indefinite; EZ = Ezafe or “addition”, as in possessives.

Example 2 shows definite noun phrases told by a 3rd grade participant in Group 2, where pronouns were

expected instead of the definite noun phrases.

Example 2: “The boy sees a deer, and then the boy wants to catch the deer”.

pesar-eh gavazn-I ra mibin-eh, ba?d pesar-eh mixa-d gavazn-eh ra be-gir-eh

Boy-DEF deer-IND RA IMP-see-3SG then boy-DEF IMP-want-3SG deer-DEF RA SBJN-catch-3SG.AG

Notes. DEF = Definite; IND = Indefinite; RA = Direct object marker; IMP = Imperfective; ? = A glottal stop sound; SBJN = Subjunctive; SG = Singular; AG = Agreement.

Some of the 1st and 2nd graders in all groups failed to introduce some of the characters in their story. Also,

the use of pronouns was restricted to characters, like “the boy” and “the dog” by the 4th grade participants.

Tables 3, 4, and 5 show that although the obtained percentages are different for each grade in the three

groups, the participants in all groups acted approximately similar to one another in terms of using different

types of referential expressions. Likewise, concerning definite noun phrases and pronouns in Groups 1 and 2

and only definite noun phrases in Group 3, the participants took a descending order, that is, with an increase in

participants’ grade, and consequently their age, they used fewer definite noun phrases and pronouns in their

story. However, for zero anaphora, the reverse was true, except for the 3rd grade participants in Group 3.

Group 1 saliently used much more zero anaphora than Group 2 and, to some extent, than Group 3.

Table 3

Number of Referential Expressions Used by the Participants of Group 1

Referential expressions 1st grade (N = 3) 2nd grade (N = 3) 3rd grade (N = 3) 4th grade (N = 3)

Indefinite nouns 15 (20.27%) 18 (24.32%) 19 (25.67%) 22 (29.74%)

Definite nouns 96 (29.90%) 79 (24.61%) 75 (24.61%) 75 (23.36%)

Pronouns 20 (29.86%) 16 (23.88%) 17 (25.37%) 14 (20.89%)

Zero anaphors 23 (15.75%) 31 (21.23%) 40 (27.39%) 52 (35.63%)

Table 4




Definite nouns 100 (33.46%) 76 (24.67%) 69 (22.42%) 63 (20.45%)

Pronouns 33 (34.73%) 23 (24.21%) 25 (26.33%) 14 (14.73%)

Zero anaphors 6 (6.38%) 26 (27.65%) 22 (23.42%) 40 (42.55%)


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Table 5




Definite nouns 80 (29.09%) 71 (25.82%) 66 (24%) 58 (21.09%)

Pronouns 12 (10.81%) 29 (26.12%) 30 (27.03%) 40 (36.04%)

Zero anaphors 23 (17.29%) 38 (28.57%) 35 (26.32%) 37 (27.82%)

Table 6 shows that the means for Group 1 were higher than Groups 2 and 3 regarding the use of definite

noun phrases and zero anaphora but they were lower than Group 2 in terms of using indefinite noun phrases

and pronouns. In order to make sure whether or not the differences were significant (at the level of p < 0.05),

independent samples t-tests were done (see Tables 7, 8, and 9).

Table 6

Mean and Standard Deviation in All Three Groups in Referential Expressions

Referential expressions Group Number of participants M SD

Indefinite nouns

1 12 6.166 1.029

2 12 7.500 1.678

3 12 5.583 1.378

Definite nouns

1 12 26.500 6.792

2 12 25.666 5.970

3 12 22.916 3.579

Pronouns

1 12 5.583 2.274

2 12 7.916 3.203

3 12 9.166 4.302

Zero anaphors

1 12 12.166 7.334

2 12 7.916 6.126

3 12 11.083 3.629

Based on Leven’s test (see Table 7), concerning indefinite noun phrases (0.033 < 0.05), it was concluded

that the variances of both groups were not equal, hence, the difference between the means of Groups 1 and 2

was significant (0.031 < 0.05). Regarding definite noun phrases, variances were assumed to be equal (0.806 >

0.05) and according to the t-test, there were no differences between the means of the two groups at the level of

α (0.752 > 0.05). The case of zero anaphora was like definite noun phrases. In contrast, for pronouns, the

difference between the means of both groups was significant (0.042 < 0.05). This means that the two groups

were different in using indefinite noun phrases and pronouns and were similar in the use of definite noun

phrases and zero anaphora.

As shown in Table 8, the variances for indefinite noun phrases, definite noun phrases, and zero anaphora

were assumed to be equal because the figures 0.248, 0.092, and 0.109 were larger than α (0.05). Therefore,

according to the t-test, there were no significant differences between the means of Groups 1 and 3 regarding the

use of indefinite noun phrases, definite noun phrases, and zero anaphora (0.253 > 0.05; 0.119 > 0.05; 0.698 >

0.05). In contrast, for pronouns, the variances were not assumed to be equal (0.003 < 0.05) and since 0.017 <

0.05, there was a significant difference between the means of both groups. So, by comparing Groups 1 and 3,

the difference is only obvious for pronouns.


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Table 7

Independent Samples Test for Comparing Groups 1 and 2

Referential expressions

Levene’s test for equality of variances

T-test for equality of means

Sig. t Df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean difference

Indefinite nouns Equal variances assumed

0.033 2.34 18.25 0.031 -1.33 Equal variances not assumed

Definite nouns Equal variances assumed

0.806 0.320 22 0.752 0.833 Equal variances not assumed

Pronouns Equal variances assumed

0.075 -2.05 22 0.042 -2.33 Equal variances not assumed

Zero anaphors Equal variances assumed


Table 8



Levene’s test forequality of variances








0.003 -2.64 16.88 0.017 -3.66 Equal variances not assumed



According to Table 9, for all referential forms, the variances were assumed to be equal, because all figures

0.313, 0.085, 0.092, and 0.055 were larger than 0.05 (α). So, the means of Groups 2 and 3 were only different

for indefinite noun phrases (0.006 < 0.05) and they were equal for definite noun phrases, pronouns, zero

anaphora respectively (0.185 > 0.05; 0.428 > 0.05; and 0.138 > 0.05).

Table 9



Levene’s test for equality of variances












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Overall, Tables 7, 8, and 9 demonstrate that the means of Groups 1 and 2 were different from each other in

indefinite noun phrases and pronouns. Similarly, the difference in the means between Groups 1 and 3 was

significant for pronouns. However, the significant difference between Groups 2 and 3 was related to indefinite

noun phrases.

Discussion

The obtained results in Tables 3, 4, and 5 show how Kurdish-Persian bilingual and Persian monolingual

children acquire and use different referential expressions in narrating the story. In fact, by analyzing the

indefinite noun phrases and zero anaphora, it is clear that the bilingual and monolingual participants have been

similar. That is, with an increase in participants’ age, there has been an increase in these two referential

expressions. The similarities, as evidenced by Berman (2001, p. 421) in relation to bilingual and monolingual

speakers of various languages, may be attributed to similar strategies for “global discourse production in their

conceptualization, planning, and organization of their narrations”.

Regarding the referring expression of definite noun phrases, the 1st grade participants in the three groups

produced fewer definite noun phrases to introduce and maintain characters than their 2nd grade counterparts.

The same was true for the 3rd grade children in comparison with the 2nd grade and further for the 4th grade

participants compared to the 3rd graders. The descending order observed in all of groups can show the effects

of age on the use of definite noun phrases as a referential device. This finding, to some extent, supports Chen

and Pan’s finding (2009) that with an increase in participant’s age, there is a descending order in the production

of definite noun phrases. Moreover, the finding is in line with Jisa (2000, p. 597), whose observation made it

clear that from a “discursively economic” viewpoint, the use of definite noun phrases is expected to decrease

with age.

Concerning pronouns, Group 1 (bilingual children who told the story in Kurdish) and Group 2 (bilingual

children who told the story in Persian) acted similarly. That is, the older participants used pronominals less

frequently than the younger ones. However, this was almost reverse for Group 3 (Persian monolingual children),

although there was an exception for the 3rd grade participants of Groups 1 and 2. The differences in the

performance of Groups 1 and 2 in comparison with Group 3 could be relevant to possible differences between

Kurdish and Persian languages. It seems that Kurdish-speaking children use fewer pronouns and use more

definite noun phrases instead, which could partly be due to Kurdish’s number of cliticized pronouns on specific

and frequent verbs, like “go”, “eat”, etc., which are fewer than those in Persian (Rokhzadi, 2000, p. 164). The

comparison of performance of Groups 2 and 3 showed that participants of Group 2 produced fewer pronouns

than those of Group 3. In fact, Group 3 (Persian-speaking children) used more pronouns than the other two

groups. It could be discussed that bilingual participants of Group 2 who told the story in Persian seem to have

been influenced by their L1, Kurdish. It seems that this is an example of bootstrapping that “something that has

been acquired in language A fulfills a booster function for language B” (Gawlitzek-Mailwald & Tracy, 1996,

p. 903). Moreover, altogether the three groups produced fewer pronouns in comparison with definite noun

phrases (see Table 2). This can be supported by Berman (2009) stating that the acquisition of reference is:

Mastered relatively late … and is a cognitively demanding domain, requiring such late developing abilities as: memory retention across stretches of extended discourse; clear grasp of the distinction between new and given information; understanding of mutual knowledge and the ability to provide sufficient non-redundant information about who is being referred to at each point in the unfolding story. (p. 362)


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Berman (2009) continued that coordination of all these types of information processing along with

encoding them by appropriate means of linguistic expression is a challenging task for children, even for those at

the school age. Since using and maintaining pronominals across the narrative requires more cognitive

capabilities in comparison with definite nouns, the participants used more definite nouns in discourse narrative

where a pronominal could be used. Another interesting point which ratifies the above-mentioned quotation is

that all groups experienced a developmental path in acquiring and using definite noun phrases and pronominals.

That is, with an increase in age, the participants of all groups produced relatively less definite noun phrases

revealing their readiness for more pronominals due to more cognitive maturation.

Referential expressions of zero anaphora in all groups were similar in that by an increase in grade and

consequently age, there was an increase in zero anaphors with an exception for the 3rd graders in Groups 2 and

3. The performance of Group 1 in using zero anaphors (24.02%) and Group 3 (22.69%) were close and this can

show that Group 1 had mastered the Kurdish language as their L1, and Group 3 (monolingual children) had

mastered the Persian. This can support Mahand’s (2002, p. 6) explanation of Sorani dialect of Kurdish which is

similar to Persian in terms of the occurrence of zero anaphora. Furthermore, the priority in the production of

zero anaphors in comparison with pronouns by the participants of Groups 1 and 3 may be supported by Givon

(1983) that the most continuous topics are zero anaphors, unstressed pronouns, and stressed pronouns and the

most discontinuous topic is referential indefinite noun phrases. However, Group 1 does not apparently conform

to Givon’s taxonomy in terms of indefinite noun phrases (see Table 2). One reason could be that the

participants of Group 1 who told the story in Kurdish knew that ending pronouns attached to the end of some

particular verbs were the same for second and third plural persons (Rokhzadi, 2000), so in order to remove

ambiguity, they used referring expressions other than zero anaphora, and chiefly among them was the indefinite

noun phrases. Another reason may be related to their lack of knowledge in terms of the place where indefinite

noun phrases could be used.

The results obtained through t-tests revealed that Groups 1 and 2 had significant difference in the

production of indefinite noun phrases and pronouns. In fact, Group 2 significantly produced more indefinite

noun phrases and pronouns than Group 1. The reason for this could be Group 2 participants’ incomplete

acquisition of the structure of Persian. For example, they sometimes used indefinite nouns for some of

characters (such as a boy and a dog) after they had introduced them. Likewise, one reason for the less frequent

use of pronouns by Group 1 (bilingual children who narrated the story in Kurdish) could be related to the

number of endings attached to some verbs in the form of pronouns in Kurdish.

As regards the comparison of the performance of Groups 1 and 3, t-tests showed that they were

significantly different from each other in the use of pronouns. Group 3 (monolingual children) produced more

pronouns (18.94%) in comparison with Group 1 (11.01%) (bilingual children who narrated the story in

Kurdish). An interesting finding is that in Group 1, the higher the participants’ age, the fewer pronouns were

present in their story whereas for Group 3, the reverse was true. This shows that bilingual Kurdish-Persian

speaking children gradually learn that the use of pronouns may cause ambiguity in their narratives, hence,

produced fewer of them.

Similarly, regarding the narratives of Group 2 (bilingual children who narrated the story in Persian) and

Group 3 (monolingual children who told the story in Persian), the mean of Group 2’s performance is

significantly higher than that of Group 3 in terms of indefinite nouns. In fact, the means of Group 2 in terms of

indefinite noun phrases (7.50) and definite noun phrases (25.66) were higher than those of Group 3 (indefinite


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noun phrases = 5.58; definite noun phrases = 22.91), but the means of Group 2 for pronouns (7.916) and zero

anaphors (7.916) were lower than those of Group 3 (pronouns = 9.166; zero anaphors = 11.083). The reason for

this is that, as stated earlier, reference imposes a cognitive load on speakers for processing (Berman, 2009). But

the cognitive load of references in form of pronoun and zero anaphor is much more for Group 2 (participants

who learned Persian as a L2) than Group 3 (monolingual Persian speakers). So, processing of pronouns and

zero anaphors should logically be harder for Group 2 than Group 3. By the same token, Group 3 used fewer

indefinite and definite noun phrases in comparison with Group 2, which may be due to that Group 2

participants, who have erroneously relied on their L1, Kurdish, and further to avoid ambiguity, produced more

definite and indefinite noun phrases than pronominals.

However, the last point to mention about the differences is that some of the discrepancies between

Groups 1 and 2 in Kurdish-Persian bilingual speaker group and Group 3 in Persian monolingual speaker group

may correlate to the social class or participant’s families. As mentioned before, Groups 1 and 2 were selected

from rural parts and Group 3 from urban parts. This selection was compulsory in order to make sure that

Groups 1 and 2 would be those subjects whose spoken language in family and even around the school was

Kurdish and that they only spoke Persian in class. Therefore, it can be supposed that some of differences

between Groups 1 and 2 (as bilingual children) and Group 3 (as monolingual ones) have been due to their

social class, families’ income, and social status. It could be discussed that bilingual participants may be behind

their monolingual peers in urban parts. If we suppose that Groups 1 and 2 were from low-income families (as to

some degree they were) and Group 3 from higher-income families, then some of the discrepancies would be

due to other conditions that could affect the language development. This is in line with other studies which

reveal that children from low-income families enter preschool classes with language skills that are behind those

from higher-income families (Raz & Bryant, 1990; Walker et al., 1994). Further research is needed to prove

whether some parts of the obtained results in the present study could be due to participants’ higher-income

family background. Likewise, further research can be conducted to compare other dialects of Kurdish, like

Kurmanji, to find out whether or not they act like Sorani dialect in comparison to Persian.

Conclusion

This study revealed two points about the use of referential expressions in narrative by Kurdish-Persian

bilingual children and their monolingual Persian peers. First, both monolingual and bilingual children used

similar strategies for producing the expressions and experienced a similar developmental path in acquiring

these expressions. Second, Kurdish-Persian bilinguals who learn Persian as a L2 experience more cognitive

load in producing and processing pronominals and they are, as a result, behind their Persian monolingual peers.

The conclusion is that the differences between Persian monolinguals and Kurdish learners learning Persian as a

L2 in using pronouns and zeros anaphora could be the result of the differences between Persian and Sorani

Kurdish language structures. The implication of this study would be more exposure to narratives in both

languages, which is required to make them realize between the structures of the languages.

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Critical Discourse Analysis: A Theoretical Framework for

Analyzing Mathematics Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms?

Nancy Chitera

University of Malawi-The Polytechnic, Blantyre, Malawi

The purpose of this article is to develop a framework that can be used to describe and explain how mathematics

teachers construct a multilingual classroom and the discourse practices being produced in a mathematics classroom.

It conceptualizes the discourse practices used by mathematics teacher educators as they prepare student teachers to

teach mathematics. The framework developed here is shaped by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) drawn from

Fairclough. This provides the theoretical and conceptual tools to examine the discourse practices of mathematics

teacher educators and how they make available these discourse practices for student teachers to draw on. In broad

terms, this article examines the discourse practices of the mathematics teacher educators and how they support

the student teachers develop discourse practices relevant for teaching and learning school mathematics in

multilingual classrooms. This article is broken down into several sections. The first section discusses what it means

for student teachers to develop discourse practices for mathematics teaching. The second section provides an

introduction to CDA, followed by its origins, key terms, and elements of Fairclough’s CDA. Thereafter, the author

outlines the strategies involved in doing CDA. The last section discusses why CDA is relevant to the mathematics

classroom.

Keywords: mathematics teachers, multilingual classroom, discourse practices, mathematics teacher educators,

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), student teachers

Introduction: Discourse Practices for Mathematics Teaching

In this article, the author suggests that learning how to teach mathematics in multilingual classrooms can

be understood as discourse practices, where discourse practices here mean:

The whole process of social interaction of which text is just part of it; and include language forms (written and spoken), patterns of interactions among the participants, as well as values embedded in the use of language and power relations and attitudes to knowledge. (Fairclough, 1989, p. 24)

Furthermore, discourse practices include language forms (written or spoken) which operate together with

verbal and visual elements, such as depiction and gesture in the context of “meaning-burdened designs”

(Fairclough, Graham, Lemke, & Wodak, 2004, p. 5). In other words, learning how to teach school mathematics

in teacher training colleges includes the language that is in use in the college mathematics classroom together

with accompanying verbal and visual elements in the context of teaching. It is a discourse practice with specific

activities and discursive practices different from the learning of school mathematics. For example, student

Nancy Chitera, Ph.D., associate professor, Mathematics and Statistics Department, University of Malawi-The Polytechnic.

DAVID PUBLISHING

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CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

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teachers, when learning how to teach, have to be able to deal with the problem of attending to different

learners’ solutions, whereas in learning, the issue is just to get the solution, one does not have to know a variety

of solutions. Thus, learning how to teach mathematics can be regarded as a distinct discourse practice.

Student teachers in a college mathematics classroom, therefore, learn and develop familiarity and

confidence with the discourse practices for school mathematics teaching. Willet (1995) argued that learning a

language is the process of becoming a member of a socio-cultural group. Willet (1995) further argued that, by

engaging in the socio-cultural practices of the group, people gradually appropriate the language and culture

needed to be considered an insider or part of the group. In Willet’s (1995) words, it can be said that learning

how to teach mathematics is the process of becoming a member of a mathematics teaching community and

requires student teachers to engage in its practices in order to acquire the discourse practices. The new

discourse practices enable student teachers to become active members and be accepted by the wider community

of mathematics teachers. However, in this case, student teachers can use the discourse practices after these

discourse practices have been made available to them through their mathematics teacher educators in the

teacher training programmes. The question is how do mathematics teacher educators make available these

discourse practices to student teachers?

Through the interaction between student teachers and mathematics teacher educators in the mathematics

teaching classroom, student teachers are initiated into the discourse practices. This means that, through

interaction, mathematics teacher educators in a mathematics classroom display the discourse practices for

mathematics teaching to student teachers, as Mercer (1995) put it, “Teachers are expected to help their students

develop ways of talking, writing and thinking which will enable them to travel on wider intellectual journeys,

understand and being understood by other members of the wider communities of education” (p. 83). Although

Mercer was talking about school learners, his ideas apply just as well to mathematics teacher educators. In

Mercer’s language, mathematics teacher educators are expected to help student teachers develop ways of

talking, writing, and thinking which may enable them to teach in multilingual classrooms. Rogoff (1990, p. 195)

explained that while participating in social activity, individuals jointly build shared understandings of the

activity. It can be argued therefore that it is in the process of finding the common ground and incorporating the

language used, the skills, and the perspectives constituting the activity that student teachers in mathematics

classrooms acquire a range of discourse practices. Therefore, the study argues that mathematics teacher

educators who have been in the practice for some time have acquired the discourse practices that are involved

and need to be encouraged in order to develop discourse practices for school mathematics teaching. However,

this may depend on their community, their access to resources, and/or the availability of the materials needed

for activities related to their discourse practices for mathematics teaching development. Developing discourse

practices for school mathematics teaching in a multilingual classroom is thus not simply an individual’s activity;

rather it is connected to mathematics teacher educators and student teachers’ participation and evolves in and

through interaction in their classrooms. It should be understood, however, that this is not a one-way process by

which student teachers in a mathematics classroom will just appropriate knowledge and skills as displayed by

their mathematics teacher educators. It occurs through the politics of social interaction (Bloome & Willet,

1991). Bakhtin (1982), Gee (1990), Goffman (1967), Gumperz (1982), and Willet (1995) argued that people

not only build shared understandings in the process of interaction, they also evaluate and contest those

understandings as they struggle to further individual agendas. Willet (1995) continued to argue that as people

act and react to one another in a community, they also build social relations (for example, hierarchical relations)


863

and identities (for example, good students). According to Fairclough (1989), these structures both constrain and

sustain relationships of power, solidarity, and social order which are shaped by the broader political and

historical contexts in which they are embedded. Through this process of interaction, these relations, identities,

and ideologies are altered and reshaped (Rodby, 1992).

Bloome and Bailey (1992) argued that people build actions by acting and reacting to one another and

holding one another accountable for acting within the evolving interpretive framework of the event. They

establish participants’ identities and roles and create norms, rules, and strategies for accomplishing events and

criteria for evaluating them. Such an orientation has considerable implications for this article of the discourse

practices of mathematics teacher educators as they interact with student teachers. In the process of acting

and reacting to one another, mathematics teacher educators and student teachers build their discourse

practices. That is, what mathematics teacher educators say and do shapes both their discourse practices

and student teachers’ discourse practices. Similarly, what student teachers do and say in the college

mathematics classrooms also contributes to both the discourse practices of mathematics teacher educators and

of themselves.

In this paper, the author has tried to explain how the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach can be

used to examine the discourse practices of mathematics teacher educators in teacher training colleges. Further,

the author has explained how CDA can be used to explain how mathematics teacher educators enact these

discourse practices for student teachers to draw on. But, first, the theoretical underpinnings of Norman

Fairclough’s CDA should be explained. His systematic approach and method in analysis are the reasons for its

application in this approach.

CDA: What It Is and What It Is for

CDA is generally classified as an approach which consists of different perspectives and different tools and

methods for studying the relationship between the use of language and social context (Waller, 2006). Due to

this diversity, studies in analyzing discourse are different, derived from quite different theoretical backgrounds

and oriented towards very different data and methodologies (Weiss & Wodak, 2002). For example, Waller

(2006) argued that there are those who focus on a detailed analysis of texts—The linguistic features of text,

while, on the other hand, there are those who focus on the social aspects of text production—transformation,

consumption, and redistribution—that are focusing on discourse only. Within this diversity, there also exist a

normative approach and a critical approach (Waller, 2006). The normative approach focuses on just describing

a situation, while the critical approach focuses on deconstructing hegemonic relations of power in and over

discourse and how this undermines the social justice. The key figures in this area include Fairclough (1992a;

1992b; 1992c; 1993; 1995a; 1995b; 1996; 1998; 2001; 2003), Van Dijk (1993; 1997; 1998a; 1998b; 1999;

2001), and Wodak (1996; 2000; 2001) among others. In this article, the author draws exclusively on

Fairclough’s CDA methodology which attempts to bridge the texts and social aspect of text production by

merging the normative and critical approaches.

CDA is discussed by Fairclough (2001) as a visible and influential branch of discourse analysis, which is

useful in analyzing the potential power and value of the words (either written or spoken) used by people in a

community. It is an approach to the mathematics classroom of discourse which considers the use of language as

a form of social practice (Fairclough, 1989, p. 20; Fairclough & Wodak, 1997, p. 258). It considers the context

of language as crucial to discourse (Wodak, 2001) and it takes particular interest in the relation between


864

language and power. In this theory, the analysis of discourse is not just transparent; it is instead a perceptive

and committed approach that includes the Web of examining the social processes implicated in the discourse

(Aman & Mustafa, 2006, p. 5). This theory also proposes that a close and systematic analysis of discourse can

reveal the nature of social practice in discourse. In other words, the theory considers discourse as an aspect of

social practice (Chouliaraki, 2000, p. 297).

Fairclough (2003) further argued that discourse is not only preoccupied with the analysis of texts (e.g.,

books, transcripts, letters, pictures, and so on), but is more a matter of discriminating the systems and

regulations which govern bodies of texts and the processes which texts themselves govern dialectically.

Therefore, discourse, as a “social practice”, is a relatively stabilized form of social activity (Fairclough, 1995a;

1995b; 1995c; 2003; Harvey, 1996).

Social practices refer to actual acts of human activities, utterances, or writing. They also include

economical, political, cultural, and ideological orientations (Fairclough, 1992b, p. 66). In “mathematics

teaching”, social practices include different elements, such as activities that involve reasoning, solving

problems, explaining solutions, and writing on the board. They also include social relations, visual aids,

teachers and learners, written and spoken words, and body language. CDA examines the social practices of

individuals or institutions that involve concerns, such as the use and abuse of power, hegemony, ideological

operations, and social change, as well as conflict, domination, race, and leadership (Fairclough, 1992a; 1992b;

1992c; Van Dijk, 1991; Wodak, 1996). In short, when analyzing discourse, social factors that are embedded

within the discourse as well as determine their own production need to be taken into account (Aman & Mustafa,

2006).

Origins and Key Elements of Fairclough’s CDA

CDA came into being mainly through Fairclough (1989; 2003). It is grounded in theories of language that

define language as a social phenomenon (Halliday, 1978; Kress, 1989). Fairclough (1989) assumed that people

use language to accomplish a variety of social goals. He also assumed that any analysis of language must be

linked to a social theory that encompasses both everyday social practices (for example, students and teachers

discussing a book) and the social institutions in which they occur (such as in colleges), as well as the broader

ideological context. Thus, CDA is a sociolinguistic tool that facilitates a simultaneous focus on the linguistic

features of a specific text, for example, vocabulary, semantics, phonological features, and on the social

structures and practices underlying the text (Bloome & Talwalkar, 1997). Fairclough built on and used existing

social theories; however, he challenged social theory to include a perspective of discourse and language as it

unfolds in actual texts and social interactions (Bloome & Talwalkar, 1997), which he called text-oriented

discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1995a; 1995b; 1995c). Fairclough argued that if social theories are to be helpful

in informing the everyday life of the community, then a thoughtful perspective of the nuts and bolts of language

use must be part of the foundations of social theory because language use is part of the foundations of everyday

life. This is so because, according to Fairclough (2003), language provides a description of structures, events,

social practices, and relations between and among people and between and among institutions. However, for

CDA, “Language is not powerful on its own—It gains power by the use powerful people make of it” (Weiss &

Wodak, 2002, p. 14). CDA, as compared to other kinds of discourse analysis, combines text-oriented discourse

analysis with an in-depth understanding of recent sociological discussions of society, culture, and power

(Gilbert, 1992). In addition, it has also provided a theory-method linkage that is absent in many sociological


865

discussions of everyday life and language use and in many linguistic discussions of social dynamics.

CDA for Fairclough is concerned with the investigation of the relation between two assumptions about

language use that language is both socially shaped and is socially shaping (Fairclough, 1995a, p. 131). Through

the notion of different functions of language in texts, Fairclough (1995a) identified the theoretical assumption

that texts and discourses are socially constitutive: “Language use is always simultaneously constitutive of

identities, social relations and systems of knowledge” (p. 134). In other words, discourse simultaneously

constructs: (a) the social identity of a subject, namely, social position and character type; (b) the social

relationship between people; and (c) knowledge systems and beliefs, in various degrees of importance

depending on situations. Thus, every text contributes to the constitution of these three aspects of society and

culture. Fairclough (1995a) claimed that these three aspects are always present simultaneously and one may

take precedence over the others.

The three simultaneous constructs mentioned above are intricately linked to four language functions,

namely, identity, relationship, ideational, and textual functions (Aman & Mustafa, 2006). Identity functions are

related to the ways in which social identities are constructed by discourse. Relationship functions refer to the

manner in which social relationships among participants are negotiated. Ideational functions concern the

ways texts reflect not only the world but also its processes, entities, and connections. Textual functions, on the

other hand, refer to linguist information and social institutions that are outside of the text (Fairclough, 1992b,

p. 65).

Moreover, CDA aims at raising awareness of how people’s subjectivities are shaped, influenced, and

constrained by institutional social structures, and by demonstrating the extent to which texts, produced by an

individual, construct or position the participants in the community (Fairclough, 1989). For Fairclough, these

structures determine the role people act out in particular social situations, the identities and interpersonal

relationships they perform, and the representation of the world that gets taken for granted as they interact with

others. Thus, CDA gives tools to analyze how language symbolizes the community in particular interests and

how texts position the members of the community and produce the relations of institutional power at work in

classrooms. It assigns special significance to the structure of speech and texts and provides methods for

specifying the linguistic features of different types of discourse units and the way they are connected together

into larger units of meaning.

According to Fairclough and Wodak (1997), discourse is not merely a linguistic category or

communicative medium; it is mediation between social structure and cultural practice. As a social process,

discourse is linked intricately to the socio-cultural context from which it operates (Aman & Mustaffa, 2006).

Thus, it is neither produced, nor can it function in a vacuum; it is instead contextual discourse, one that is

embedded within institutional systems of ideology. Consequently, it can be said that mathematics teacher

educators’ discourse practices are tied to the context of teaching and cannot be isolated from it. This suggests

that the discourse practices of the mathematics teacher educators must not be understood as located in their

minds, but in their participation in interaction with each other and the student teachers in a mathematics

classroom. Furthermore, the way educators use texts in a multilingual mathematics classroom could also be a

source of the patterns of particular social settings that they have constructed (The word “text” here refers to the

“social event”) (Fairclough, 1993, p. 138) which includes language in use, whether written or spoken, that has

consistency and at the same time implied meanings (Luke, 1992). It may also be other forms of communication,


866

such as body language and visual images. These patterns, according to Kress (1993), emanate from the

sequence of coherent choices of words in the text, such as grammar. These choices together build up

particular social worlds that represent the members in the community. Fairclough (1989) called this the

“representational function” of the text. Halliday (1978) argued that the purposes and actions of the members

in a community mediate the form of language and grammatical choices to be used in the text. In other words,

texts, written or spoken, build the position (Kress, 1989) of the speaker in the community. That is, the way one

uses his/her text reflects the position he/she assumes in the community. Thus, the way texts are produced and

used in the mathematics classroom portrays the position of mathematics teacher educators and how they

position their student teachers. Thus, language in this sense is symbolic. Therefore, viewing language as

symbolic, it can be argued that the way texts are produced and used by teacher educators in a college

mathematics classroom reveals and portrays the position of mathematics teacher educators and student teachers

in their classrooms.

CDA is also concerned with analysis at both micro and macro levels, through the analysis at the

intermediate level that of social practices and structures, in terms of genres, discourses, and styles accessed,

hence it includes both linguistic analysis and interdiscursive analysis (Fairclough, 2003, p. 3). It emphasizes

ways to approach language (or more broadly, discourse) and to investigate relations of power and how they are

constituted at the micro and macro levels.

Stages of Analysis in CDA

The underlying principles in Fairclough’s CDA theory are its descriptive, interpretative, and explanatory

approaches towards discourse (Fairclough, 1992b). Based upon these principles, Fairclough produced a

three-dimensional approach to discourse analysis, namely, textual analysis, discourse practice analysis, and

social process analysis.

Fairclough (1995c) described this three-dimensional approach to discourse analysis as:

A three-dimensional framework where the aim is to map three separate forms of analysis onto one another: analysis of (spoken and written) language texts, analysis of discourse practice (process of text production, distribution and consumption) and analysis of discursive events as instances of socio-cultural practice. (p. 2)

He claimed that his theoretical analysis includes three comprehensive ways to read the complex social

conditions embedded in discourse, which primarily requires interdisciplinary, or at the very least,

transdisciplinary skills (Fairclough, 1997).

Textual Analysis

Textual analysis is a linguistic analysis of a text in which Fairclough (2001) explained that the main object

of analysis is the text itself (both verbal and non-verbal). It is a process whereby the structure and meanings of

textual discourse are described. This analysis involves highlighting the formal features of the text, such as the

lexical items which include vocabulary, pronouns, and words that suggest a particular conception of how the

community or classroom, in particular, operates and words implying metaphorical meanings, grammatical

features, assumptions being made, and absences. This stage requires analytical reading in order to highlight the

formal features in the texts produced by the participants in the community.

In relation to the objectives and nature of the discourse analyzed in the mathematics classroom, in addition

to highlighting the textual features, explanations also focused on textual structures, that is a description of


867

interaction control, namely, who controls the interaction, turn-taking, and structure of change in discourse. A

reading of these aspects can provide insights into the discourse practices that are commonly used by

mathematics teacher educators in their classrooms and the knowledge system, beliefs, values, or perceptions

regarding social relationships and identities that are embedded in discourse (Fairclough, 1992a, pp. 75-78 &

234-237; 1995a, pp. 133-134).

Discourse Practice Analysis

Discourse practice analysis aims at interpreting the processes of discourse production at the micro level,

that is, the interpretation of the relationship between text and interaction. At this stage, text is seen as the

outcome of a course of action and as a resource in the process of interpretation (Fairclough, 2001). The

interpretation may examine discourse production—whether it has been conventional or creative, producers of

the discourse, the distribution and use of discourse, as well as the presence of elements, such as

interdiscursivity of genre and intertextuality (Fairclough, 1992a, p. 65 & 134).

Genre for Fairclough is the use of language associated with a particular social activity (Fairclough, 1993, p.

138). For example, in a mathematics classroom, mathematics teaching as a genre has its own use of language,

visual aids, bodily movements, sequencing of information, and its own style of teaching, which might be

different from other subjects. Thus, different genres are different means of production of a specifically textual

sort and different resources for structuring (Fairclough, 2000, p. 441). Furthermore, genre is also a set of

relatively stable conventions, which are both creative and traditional. That means that genre is relatively stable

and at the same time open to change.

During this stage, features of the text are highlighted when seen cumulatively and in relation to each other

and to the wider context, which can then be interpreted in terms of the particular epistemological and

ideological beliefs of the participants. In the mathematics classroom, words and phrases of the text when seen

cumulatively and in relation to each other will be highlighted. These words and phrases will act as clues that

will characterize the discourse practices in college mathematics classrooms, that is, whether the discourse

practices are conventional or creative. These clues may also suggest the ways in which student teachers and

their teacher educators relate to each other, the power relationship that exists between them, and some specific

discourse practices.

Social Process Analysis

Social process analysis is concerned with revealing the social issues and practices that are embedded

in discourse through its dialectic relationship with the nature of texts and discourse practices, as

previously discussed. In other words, it is an analysis of the discursive processes and the social processes. It is

concerned with the relationship between interaction and social context. The aim of this stage is to represent

a discourse as a social practice (Fairclough, 2003). It extends the interpretation into an explanation of the

findings found in the descriptive and interpretative stages. Such analysis aims at revealing the reasons why an

addresser produces a particular discourse (Fairclough, 1992a; 1992c). Therefore, in the mathematics classroom,

this stage will represent the mathematics teacher educators’ discourse as a practice that is displayed by the

educators.

Fairclough (1995c), in this three-dimension analysis of CDA, examined the production and utilization of

text (and discourse practices) as a component of the system that ties together the discourse practices of the

participants in the community and the existing power relations. The focus on processes of production and


868

interpretation gives critical discourse analysis a merit for looking beyond individuals (Bloome & Talwalkar,

1997). This process is where the researcher analyses the factors, which may explain the social constructions of

the responses given by the participants. For example, one may look at factors, such as social relations,

instruments or materials, objects, time and place, forms of consciousness, beliefs/values/desires, and

institutions/rituals (Fairclough, 1999; 2003). Thus, for example, the production of a mathematics lesson in

college mathematics classrooms involves not just the work of mathematics teacher educators but also the work

of the social institution including its discourse practices, material resources, and its political and economic

location.

Analysis in CDA moves back and forth between text analysis (description) and analysis of power relations

among the people participating in the community (interpretation). This back and forth analysis shows that the

interpretation as well as the linguistic features of the conversation is bounded (although not strictly) by the

discourse practices of the particular institution within which they take place. However, in analysis, the author

does not focus only on the list of linguistic features outside of their context of use. As Bloome and Talwalkar

(1997) argued, one cannot simply make a linguistic feature and code a transcript to illuminate power relations.

The explication of power relations requires a dialectical praxis—a movement back and forth among social and

linguistic theories and across methodological approaches to the analysis of texts and event. Thus, in practice,

CDA is a form of a descriptive critique.

Exploring Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Discourse Practices Through CDA

CDA provides tools to analyze how discourse symbolizes the mathematics classroom in college

mathematics classrooms in particular interests and how mathematics teacher educators are positioned in

relation to their student teachers in the context of mathematics teaching. In the mathematics classroom, the

theory of CDA can also be used to find out how mathematics teacher educators construct multilingual

mathematics classrooms and how they use their spoken and written language. Furthermore, it can be used to

uncover the discourse practices being used during their teaching in a college mathematics classroom and how

they make available the discourse practices for student teachers to draw on. CDA helps in identifying the tacit

as well as explicit features of mathematics teacher educators’ talk (and accompanying non-verbal

communication) that impact upon the kinds of relationships and identities that exist in their college

mathematics classrooms. These features would point to the discourse practices that mathematics teacher

educators display and make available for student teachers. The central argument here is that the nature of the

typical discourse practices of the college mathematics classroom in multilingual contexts may be a significant

factor for producing the discourse practices for school mathematics teaching and making it available for student

teachers to draw on.

In a classroom situation, mathematics teacher educators and student teachers use language/texts (written or

spoken) to make sense of their community and to construct social actions and relations required for teaching

and learning mathematics. A great deal depends on both mathematics teacher educators and student teachers’

capacities to construct, control, and manipulate texts and if mathematics teacher educators and student teachers

are to participate accordingly in their classrooms. According to Fairclough (2001), whenever people speak,

write, listen, or read, they do so in ways which are considered as appropriate in a particular social setting. It can

therefore be assumed that in a college mathematics classroom, for mathematics teacher educators to produce

texts accordingly (written or spoken language during teaching and interaction with the student teachers) and be


869

able to control and manipulate texts, they need to know what to say and what to do, and at what time. Therefore,

CDA in this case opens up additional ways for investigating what mathematics teacher educators in college

mathematics classrooms know in order to produce, interpret, and evaluate the texts produced when teaching

student teachers and the hidden motivations behind the language used. As for student teachers, they need to

know and understand the texts produced by their mathematics teacher educators and be able to manipulate,

interpret, and evaluate in the context if they are to participate in their classes.

In the case of spoken texts, like conversations in a college mathematics classroom, language is used to

represent mathematics teacher educators’ positions and ideas to establish and build up relations and identities.

Spoken and written texts are objects in which cultural representations and social relations and identities are

expressed through language and other signal structures (Luke, 1992). However, in a classroom situation,

mathematics teacher educators’ texts are not used for a fixed position or identity only. They are the actual

media through which their socially constructed and contested identities are made and remade (Luke, 1996).

Extending this into a mathematics classroom in college mathematics classrooms, interactions between

mathematics teacher educators and student teachers should enable the student teachers to act as mathematics

teachers. It can therefore be assumed that it is through the everyday texts produced by the mathematics teacher

educators that student teachers learn how to recognize, represent, and be a member of a community (i.e., a

mathematics teacher in a multilingual classroom). What this means is that what mathematics teacher educators

say, how they say it, and how they interact with their student teachers together make up available discourse

practices for student teachers to draw on. It is not only the school curriculum and policies that influence student

teachers’ practices but also how mathematics teacher educators use their language. Of course, how student

teachers use what they have learnt when they go for actual teaching in a primary mathematics multilingual

classroom also depends on the context and local factors in the particular school.

Depending on how the discourse practices are made available, they may enhance or limit the development

of the discourse practices necessary for school mathematics teaching in multilingual classrooms. The way

mathematics teacher educators use their language may advantage some student teachers in a mathematics

classroom to have access to the discourse practices for mathematics teaching while at the same time

disadvantaging others. This suggests that the discourse practices of mathematics teacher educators can enable,

obstruct, or even deny the student teachers, and hence, access to the discourse practices for school mathematics

teaching. Through the practices of mathematics teacher educators, student teachers can exercise control and

selection of the mathematics teaching practice. Thus, learning how to teach mathematics is placed in cultural

practice, in the community of a mathematics classroom. Therefore, the organization of activities can make the

discourse practices for mathematics teaching and learning visible to student teachers in practice. It can further

make visible the less explicit facets of multilingual mathematics classroom discourse practices. It will also

provide a means for identifying thoughts that mathematics teacher educators promote and the interests they

serve as they interact with the student teachers.

Thus, this article argues that mathematics teacher educators and student teachers’ interaction or talk in a

mathematics classroom is a critical site at this stage in student teachers’ careers, in which different positions are

created. It is argued that becoming a full participant as a mathematics teacher depends not only on the

availability and use of mathematics or other textbooks, for example, but also on being exposed to and having

insight into mathematics teaching practices. In line with this argument, the discourse practices of the


870

mathematics teacher educators also contribute to the effective development of the student teachers in becoming

full participants. Considering the interaction and talk between student teachers and mathematics teacher

educators in a mathematics classroom, the interaction between them involves the actual actions, problems,

hopes, and needs in regard to the primary mathematics teaching profession. The classroom talk as a discourse is

one where the participants concerned are expected to share the characteristics of teaching. In other words, it can

be said that it is a power relationship which operates through the participant’s thoughts, intentions, desires, and

whatever contributions that may or may not be difficult to tell. In this sense, the interactions in a mathematics

classroom serve to build the participants’ identity as a kind of speaking subject, such as a facilitator or an expert.

Thus, interactions tell a story that reveals the participants’ identities.

Conclusion

This article identifies CDA as a theory that can be used to examine the discourse practices of the

mathematics teacher educators in college mathematics classrooms in teacher training colleges. This article has

shown that CDA tools can be used to identify the tacit as well as explicit features of mathematics teacher

educators’ talk that impact upon the kind of relationships and identities that may hinder or enhance the

development of the discourse practices in student teachers. The article argues that the nature of the typical

discourse practices of the college mathematics classrooms in multilingual contexts might be a significant factor

for producing the discourse practices for mathematics teaching and making available discourse practices for

student teachers to draw on.

This article identifies mathematics teacher educators as a crucial source for student teachers to develop

discourse practices for teaching mathematics in multilingual classrooms. The language used is symbolic in the

sense that the way one uses it reflects the position one holds in the classroom. Through the interaction between

mathematics teacher educators and student teachers, identities are shared and passed on to student teachers.

Therefore, through the everyday use of texts, student teachers learn how to recognize, represent, and be a

mathematics teacher in a multilingual mathematics classroom. Thus, what mathematics teacher educators do,

say, how they say it, together with student teachers’ interaction in the classroom make available discourse

practices for student teachers to draw on. Thus, developing discourse practices for mathematics teaching in

multilingual classrooms and how mathematics teacher educators use them in a college mathematics classroom

are deeply linked to the ongoing activities in the practice of teaching.

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Epistemic Impact on Group Problem-Solving for Different

Science Majors*

Andrew J. Mason, Charles A. Bertram

University of Central Arkansas, Conway, USA

Implementation of cognitive apprenticeship in an introductory physics lab group problem-solving exercise may be

mitigated by epistemic views toward physics of non-physics science majors. Quantitative pre-post data of the Force

Concept Inventory (FCI) and Colorado Learning Attitudes About Science Survey (CLASS) of 39 students of a first

semester algebra-based introductory physics course, while describing typical results for a traditional-format course

overall (g = +0.14), suggest differences in epistemic views between health science majors and life science majors

which may correlate with differences in pre-post conceptual understanding. Audiovisual data of student lab groups

working on a context-rich problem and students’ written reflections described each group’s typical dynamics and

invoked epistemic games. We examined the effects of framework-based orientation (favored by biology majors)

and performance-based orientation (favored by computer science, chemistry, and health science majors) on pre-post

attitude survey performance. We also investigated possible correlations of these orientations with individual

quantitative survey results and with qualitative audiovisual data of lab groups’ choice of epistemic games.

Keywords: problem-solving, epistemic views, meta-cognition, Introductory Physics for the Life Sciences (IPLS)

Introduction

Recently, attention has been turned toward designing Introductory Physics for the Life Sciences (IPLS)

courses to suit the needs of life science majors (Redish et al., 2014; Moore, Giannini, & Losert, 2014). The

importance of problem-solving skills for IPLS students is one of several concerns addressed by these efforts

(Crouch & Heller, 2014). Techniques, such as coordinated group problem-solving (Heller, Keith, & Anderson,

1992), may be a useful way to introduce students to physics problem-solving techniques, in conjunction with

context-rich problems (Heller & Hollabaugh, 1992) designed to assist students in developing a problem-solving

framework.

One concern when addressing these issues regards measuring attitudes toward problem-solving, e.g., the

Maryland Physics Expectations Test (MPEX) (Redish, Steinberg, & Saul, 1998) and the Colorado Learning

Attitudes About Science Survey (CLASS) (Adams, Perkins, Podolefsky, Dubson, Finkelstein, & Wieman,

2006). In particular, it is noted that learning orientation of physical science majors often leads to more

successful careers in the physical sciences (Hazari, Potvin, Tai, & Almarode, 2010); however, it remains

* Acknowledgements: The authors of this paper are grateful to L. Ratz for his assistance in data collection. They are also grateful to L. Kryjevskaia, A. Boudreaux, A. McInerny, B. Lunk, and M. B. Kustusch for their helpful discussions. Funding was provided by the University of Central Arkansas Sponsored Programs Office and Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Andrew J. Mason, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Central Arkansas. Charles A. Bertram, B.Sc. candidate, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Central Arkansas.

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EPISTEMIC IMPACT ON GROUP PROBLEM-SOLVING FOR DIFFERENT SCIENCE MAJORS

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unclear whether such a learning orientation exists toward physics for IPLS students who are not majoring in

physics.

An IPLS Course With Diversity of Majors: Are Expectations Different?

Currently, we are investigating an algebra-based IPLS course taught at a medium-size state university

level with moderate-sized student populations per course section (45-70 students). The format of the course is

traditional in nature, and is taught by two to four instructors each semester in a traditional lecture-lab format,

albeit with no recitation sections. A typical class population contains biology majors as well as chemistry and

computer science majors, in addition to health and behavioral science majors who are housed in a separate

college from the other majors. As a result, content importance, as well as course expectations, may fluctuate

between different majors.

With regard to problem-solving, such a variance in expectations may possibly affect the learning outcomes

and effectiveness of the exercise. One potential effect is lab groups’ choice of epistemic games (Tuminaro &

Redish, 2007) to approach the problem solution; performance-motivated students may choose games that seem

to more directly reach the solution, ignoring other potentially useful games oriented toward a problem-solving

framework.

We examined data from a typical first semester IPLS course section to investigate the nature of

expectation differences and how they may affect student interactions in a group problem-solving exercise. A

reflection exercise (Yerushalmi, Cohen, Mason, & Singh, 2012) is introduced to help students identify areas of

struggle in solving physics problems. Epistemic and attitudinal tendencies among majors will be identified and

considered in light of students’ views toward a problem-solving framework.

Research Goals

We establish a preliminary measure of students’ learning goals, and investigate whether this measure is

related to survey results reflecting content knowledge and attitudes toward physics for the problem-solving

exercise. Choice of major may be correlated to learning goals as well. We also examine whether this same

measure of learning goals for laboratory groups corresponds to choice of epistemic games for a

problem-solving approach.

Procedure

Lab Problem-Solving Exercise

Data were taken in the spring semester of 2014 for a first semester introductory algebra-based physics

course of 48 students spread across two laboratory sections. The study took place with primarily biological

science and health and behavioral sciences majors; the student body also included several computer science and

chemistry majors and some non-science majors. The problem-solving activity comprised the first hour of each

lab section prior to the lab activity.

Beginning each laboratory period, a context-rich problem was introduced to lab groups of two or three

students each to work on cooperatively. Students wrote and submitted their reflections about which part of the

problem-solving process they individually struggled with, if any, on a rubric adapted from a self-diagnosis

study done by Yerushalmi et al. (2012). A learning assistant (Otero, Pollock, & Finkelstein, 2010) was

available to proctor the laboratory sections alongside the instructor. The instructor and the learning assistant

assisted students in a verbal tutorial fashion; in addition, lab groups were permitted to use their lecture notes if


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desired. After the students were finished, the instructor outlined the solution and allowed the students a chance

to reflect on their problem-solving skills, specifically the areas of the problem solution that they struggled to

understand along the way. This process was repeated every week for the duration of the semester, except exam

weeks.

Data Collection

The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the CLASS were given as pre- and post- tests in the first and last

laboratory sections of the semester, with emphasis on the CLASS for attitudinal changes in student population,

both overall and with regard to specific item clusters. Of the two laboratory sections, 39 total students

submitted complete data for both surveys. Four students, two from each lab section, were omitted for either

failing to provide complete data or not taking a form of data seriously (e.g., choosing “Neutral” for all CLASS

questions). Five other students dropped the course prior to its conclusion.

Audiovisual data were taken of the students in a late-semester laboratory lesson regarding rotational

dynamics. The researchers used these data to confirm typical lab group behavior observed anecdotally over the

course of the semester, and to identify epistemic games used by different lab groups in the transcribed data. The

latter goal is useful to understand whether or not choice of epistemic games is related to FCI gains, CLASS

gains, or student survey responses.

In addition, the students were given an end-of-semester survey to provide feedback in free-response form

about the reflection exercise. The survey asked the question: “In what ways did you find the exercise useful

toward learning the material in the course?”. The students’ written responses were collected and transcribed in

order to determine a classification scheme.

Results

Free-Response Survey: Measure of Learning Goals

Responses of the students on the end-of-semester survey showed that 37 of 39 students found the learning

exercise useful as a whole. The remaining two students left comments about the portions of the exercise they

did find useful, and so could still be analyzed. After transcription, the survey responses were found to be

classifiable into one of the three groups.

The first response group was more “framework-oriented”, i.e., responses focused on receiving help on

different aspects of a problem-solving framework (e.g., visualization, concepts, and mapping to equations). The

second group was “performance-oriented”, i.e., their responses were focused on how the exercise helped them

perform in other aspects of the course (e.g., exams, homework, and pre-laboratory preparation). The remainder

of students’ responses offered responses that could not be definitively classified, either because the response

was too general (e.g., helping on problem-solving as a whole) or because the response did not seem to focus

strongly on specific aspects of the course material (e.g., studying in a group). As such, all 39 students were

classifiable by survey responses.

Table 1 shows the distribution of lab sections, as well as the distribution of select majors into response

categories, namely, “framework-oriented”, “performance-oriented”, and “vaguely-defined” response categories.

It is noted that three students gave both framework-oriented and performance-oriented responses, and so are

included in both of those categories.


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Table 1 Students Categorized Into Problem-Solving Exercise Orientations as Determined by End-of-Semester Free-Response Essays

Group Framework-oriented Performance-oriented Vaguely-defined

N (out of 39) 14 19 9

Lab 1 (19) 8 9 5

Lab 2 (20) 6 10 4

Biological science (16) 10 5 3

Health and behavioral sciences (10) 2 5 4

Chemistry/computer science (8) 0 8 0

Non-science (5) 2 1 2

To properly evaluate whether these categories are meaningful, we consider potential overlap with the FCI

and the CLASS. Table 2 compares the average pre-test scores and average individual normalized gains for

students on the FCI and CLASS with regard to the three student categories defined in Table 1. FCI data are in

terms of percentages of correct responses, and CLASS data are in terms of percentages of responses that are

considered more “expert-like”, as opposed to neutral or more novice-like responses. As there are individual

fluctuations in pre-tests and post-tests, an average of individual student gains is different, and more accurate

than comparing the group pre-test score to the group post-test score; hence, post-test scores are omitted to avoid

confusion.

Table 2 Average Scores in Percentile Form for Student Survey Response Groups for FCI and CLASS Pre-test Scores, as Well as Averaged Individual Modified Gains on the Post-test for Both the FCI and CLASS

Group Framework-oriented Performance-oriented Vaguely-defined All

N 14 19 9 39

FCI pre-test (%) 28% 31% 24% 30%

FCI gain (g) +0.22 +0.13 +0.04 +0.14

CLASS pre-test (%) 62% 62% 52% 61%

CLASS gain (g) +0.10 -0.09 +0.00 -0.02

Note. SE ranges from 2-7% for FCI data and 4-9% for CLASS data.

The framework-oriented response group appeared to have the highest averaged individual gain of the three

groups. The vaguely-defined response group had minimal FCI gains and negligible CLASS gains, while the

performance-oriented group experienced moderate FCI gains and an averaged decline across individual CLASS

gains.

With regard to CLASS item clusters, the framework-oriented group experienced moderately strong

positive gains for the three problem-solving item clusters (g = +0.34 for the PS-General cluster, +0.46 for

PS-Confidence, and +0.16 for PS-Sophistication), as well as weak positive gains for Conceptual Understanding

and Applied Conceptual Understanding clusters (g = +0.08). In contrast, the performance-oriented group had

negative gains across all item clusters, with gain values ranging from -0.09 to -0.32.

Despite small sample size, a borderline significant difference existed in average gains of

framework-oriented and performance-oriented students (p = 0.06). The framework-oriented group also showed

borderline significance in FCI gains from the vaguely-defined group (p = 0.056). There were no other

statistically significant differences between the three groups.


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Use of Epistemic Games

Transcriptions from the audiovisual data sample provided examples of epistemic games that could be

corroborated with corresponding reflection rubrics submitted for that particular lab problem. Figure 1 displays

the rubric reflections of a student that was classified as framework-oriented. The student here invokes these

games in terms of reflection upon areas of the problem solution which presented a struggle.

Figure 1. Example of a framework-based student’s rubric from a lab group problem-solving exercise involving rotational dynamics.

In terms of games identified by Tuminaro and Redish (2007), the student exhibits an example of a

Recursive Plug-and-Chug game, i.e., the student realized that one equation for torque does not address the

unknown quantity of angular acceleration, and opted for another equation that does. The student also hints at

use of a Mapping Mathematics to Meaning game; the written phrase “The weight of the hanging mass is

irrelevant if we use the aT given” implies recognition of a target concept, namely, the relationship between

tangential linear acceleration and angular acceleration, which tells the story of why a force from a hanging mass

does not need to be calculated.

Audiovisual data, as checked by rubric performance by the researchers, showed an interesting distribution

of epistemic games preferred by different lab groups, as described by Tuminaro and Redish (2007). The results

are shown in Table 3, in terms of lab groups that were majority (at least two members who were)

performance-oriented, majority framework-oriented, or an even mix of performance- and framework- oriented

response students. One group with two vaguely-defined response students is omitted, as this group hesitated to

use any epistemic games at all. The Physical Mechanism game was present for all lab groups, as the

context-rich problem explicitly prompted its use with constructing a story about the physical situation; as such,

the game is not included in Table 3. Lab groups tended to have either two or three performance-oriented

students (performance groups) or a mixture of performance-oriented, framework-oriented, and vaguely-defined

response students (mixed groups). Performance and mixed groups both heavily used the Recursive

Plug-and-Chug game, while performance groups also focused strongly on Mapping Math(ematics) to Meaning

in trying to find an equation that would relate the target to other problem concepts. However, this game cannot

explicitly be tied to performance-oriented students, as several performance groups had a

non-performance-oriented student with two performance-oriented students.


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Table 3 Tendencies of Different Orientations of Lab Groups Using Given Epistemic Games

Game Performance groups Framework groups Mixed groups Total

Pictorial Analysis 3 2 1 6

Transliteration to Maths 1 2 1 4

Recursive Plug-and-Chug 5 0 5 10

Mapping Math to Meaning 5 1 1 7

Mapping Meaning to Math 0 0 0 0

Total lab groups 6 2 6 14

Note. Physical Mechanism is omitted.

Discussion and Conclusion

Framework-oriented student survey responses are suggested by CLASS and FCI results to translate to

higher relative individual gains in conceptual understanding and higher relative individual gains in attitudes

toward physics. Performance-oriented student survey responses translate to somewhat less robust FCI gains and

broadly negative CLASS gains. Of interest is an indication from Table 1 that most framework-oriented students

were biology majors, accompanied by two health science majors and two non-science majors. Taken in context

with the results in Table 2, biology majors seem more likely to employ a framework-oriented perspective and

benefit more in content and attitudinal gains.

Performance-oriented lab groups heavily, but not exclusively, favor a choice of epistemic games, which,

as observed, seem to reflect a heavy reliance on using equations and typify a novice-like problem-solving

approach. These tendencies seem to support CLASS data suggesting a decline in expert-like attitudes for

performance-oriented students. While the sample size is small for framework-oriented groups, there is a

tendency to focus on Transliteration to Mathematics and Pictorial Analysis games, which correspond to a wider

variety of problem-solving framework elements.

While biology majors were more likely to prefer and benefit from a framework-oriented view, this is not

true for chemistry and computer science majors, who prefer performance, or for health and behavioral science

majors, who either prefer performance or have a vaguely-defined view of problem-solving. Thus far, diversity

of majors appears to be linked to an epistemic disparity that presents a challenge to problem-solving framework

pedagogies. Future class sections will offer a larger sample size in order to further define these tendencies.

References Adams, W., Perkins, K., Podolefsky, N., Dubson, M., Finkelstein, N., & Wieman, C. (2006). New instrument for measuring

student beliefs about physics and learning physics: The Colorado Learning Attitudes About Science Survey. Physical Review

Special Topics—Physics Education Research, 2, 010101.

Crouch, C. H., & Heller, K. (2014). Introductory physics in biological context: An approach to improve introductory physics for

life science students. American Journal of Physics, 82, 378-386.

Hazari, Z., Potvin, G., Tai, R. H., & Almarode, J. (2010). For the love of learning science: Connecting learning orientation and

career productivity in physics and chemistry. Physical Review Special Topics—Physics Education Research, 6, 010107.

Heller, P., & Hollabaugh, M. (1992). Teaching problem solving through cooperative grouping. Part 2: Designing problems and

structuring groups. American Journal of Physics, 60(7), 637-644.

Heller, P., Keith, R., & Anderson, S. (1992). Teaching problem solving through cooperative grouping. Part 1: Group versus

individual problem solving. American Journal of Physics, 60(7), 627-636.

Hestenes, D., Wells, M., & Swackhamer, G. (1992). Force concept inventory. The Physics Teacher, 30(3), 141-158.


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Moore, K., Giannini, J., & Losert, W. (2014). Toward better physics labs for future biologists. American Journal of Physics, 82(5), 387-393.

Otero, V., Pollock, S., & Finkelstein, N. (2010). A physics department’s role in preparing physics teachers: The Colorado learning assistant model. American Journal of Physics, 78(11), 1218-1224.

Redish, E. F., Bauer, C., Carleton, K. L., Cooke, T. J., Cooper, M., Crouch, C. H., ... Thompson, K. (2014). NEXUS/Physics: An interdisciplinary repurposing of physics for biologists. American Journal of Physics, 82(5), 368-377.

Redish, E., Steinberg, R., & Saul, J. (1998). Student expectations in introductory physics. American Journal of Physics, 66, 212-224.

Tuminaro, J., & Redish, E. (2007). Elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games. Physical Review Special Topics—Physics Education Research, 3, 020101.

Yerushalmi, E., Cohen, E., Mason, A., & Singh, C. (2012). What do students do when asked to diagnose their mistakes? Does it help them? Physical Review Special Topics—Physics Education Research, 8, 020109-020110.


Setting Questions in Class Based on the “Wisdom Class” Theory

Wu Cui

Southwest University, Chongqing, China;

The Fifth Primary School in Longquanyi District, Chengdu, China

In the process of classroom education, setting questions in class is an important teaching method, which is used in

the whole teaching activity and acts as the link between the thoughts of teachers and students. Hence, creating a

wisdom class and using according questions to aid the class are of great significance to both students and teachers.

In this paper, 40 elementary students from the 9th grade and 10 of their teachers were studied and the result showed

that learning requirements facing to the whole class and students’ learning beliefs are essential principles, and

questions should be set by having an exhaustive understanding of the textbook, giving previous homework, creating

a thinking atmosphere, and setting a proper difficulty for the students. The proper time to set questions is when the

old knowledge and new knowledge of the student conflict in the awareness of the student, when the teacher wants

to spread thought, and when the teacher wants to make a conclusion.

Keywords: wisdom class, learning questions, method, wisdom of the classroom

Introduction

Education is not only an art for human, but also an art made by human. So, being a good educator requires

more wisdom than just knowledge and technology. The wisdom of education is realized in the reaction between

teachers and students in class. In this aspect, a wisdom class is an efficient class which is based on the

understanding on the law of teaching and learning. “Class wisdom” is a certain activity in class, which is of

wise significance. “Wisdom class” is the general property of the teaching and learning activities, which is the

specific realization of class wisdom.

Literature Review

“Teaching is intended to create learning” is a famous motto suggested by Pearson in 1989. This is

reasonable because learning pushes teaching to make processes and improvements. Over a century, an

impressive change has taken place among the researchers in highlighting learning in terms of the student or the

class constructing wise ideas (Altan, 2006). Educators were thus encouraged to recognize their students with no

strongly held preconceptions and to provide them with experiences which will be helpful to build on their

current knowledge of the world (Duit & Confrey, 1996). Pursuing wisdom and trying to become a wise teacher

have already become the ideal state for many teachers. Both domestic and overseas researchers have made

efforts to develop this topic.

In the 1970s, there was a great change in the Western education and science field—The focus has been

transferred from finding the law of teaching to pursuing the educational significance in learning context. Thus,

Wu Cui, Ed.D. candidate, Southwest University; principal, The Fifth Primary School in Longquanyi District, Chengdu.

DAVID PUBLISHING

D

SETTING QUESTIONS IN CLASS BASED ON THE “WISDOM CLASS” THEORY

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the Western course and teaching theory tend to find wisdom of teaching in the Eastern culture. In Manen’s

(1991) The Tact of Teaching: The Meaning of Pedagogical Thoughtfulness, he used the research method and

aspect of phenomenology to explain the practical significance of pedagogy and wisdom of teaching. His

research focused on the constitution of wisdom, the feature of wisdom, the function of wisdom, the importance

of wisdom, and the way of realization of wisdom. He suggested that the wisdom of education is one of the

forms of knowledge, and also a kind of care shown to children. In the Multiple Intelligences Theory, Gardner

(1983) put forward that intelligence included nine aspects: verbal/linguistic intelligence; logical/mathematical

intelligence; visual/spatial intelligence; bodily/kinesthetic intelligence; musical/rhythmic intelligence;

inter-personal/social intelligence; intra-personal/introspective intelligence; naturalist intelligence; and

existentialist intelligence.

Besides the foreign researchers, many Chinese researchers also realized the importance of teaching

wisdom on the behavior of teaching and learning in class. From the late 1990s until now, the wisdom of

teaching and wisdom class have become an essential category in research in teaching theory (Bernat, 2004;

Bernat & Gvozdenko, 2005). The range of the research could be divided into two parts:

1. Some researchers tend to discuss the wisdom of the class and wisdom class in the aspect of theory.

Some researchers judged the wisdom of teaching by the subject of teaching and thought that the wisdom of

teaching is the activity of teachers who design the curriculum and manage the class. Other researchers

considered that the wisdom of class is practical wisdom, which has a direct point to the action. In other words,

it is the teacher’s reaction in real teaching context to lead the class go as he/she wanted;

2. The topic of wisdom class, at the same time, attracts people’s attention. Some researchers thought

that the class should go from knowledge to wisdom, wisdom class should be set for the growth of wisdom.

Some of them also thought that the wisdom class should show students’ way of thinking, should have various

way of teaching, and should be full of teaching wisdom (Bernat & Lloyd, 2007). In addition, some opinions

held that the wisdom class could enrich students’ knowledge, develop students’ ability, integrate students’

personality, and enhance students’ wisdom. It changes the traditional knowledge-centered teaching form and

focuses on the all-round development of students by creating self-controlled classes, activated classes,

emotional classes, lively classes, and interesting classes. With the establishment of the learning community, the

thinking ability, creative ability, and practical ability could be developed. The core idea of the “wisdom

class” is to promote students’ problem-solving ability. It should be a unity of morality, ability, agility, and

creativity.

Method

In order to answer the research questions, a survey study was designed to the elementary students and their

teachers. The survey was composed of a questionnaire including three parts, which was prepared by the

researcher after a thorough understanding of the literature review.

Three Main Methods

Theoretical research method. Theoretical research is to analyze, synthesize, abstract, and generalize the

nature and relation of complicated educational problems so as to find the inherent law or general conclusion.

This research takes the method of literature review to make a new assessment of the wisdom class with the

previous results of other people’s research.


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Class observations. This study takes the non-participating observation method and makes a qualitative

study by recording the behavior, objective state, and the phenomenon relating to the subject in detail and to

make analysis of the teaching wisdom and the quality of wisdom class in teachers’ teaching practice.

Questionnaire and interviews. The subjects would be asked to give their understanding about the

question and their answers (written or spoken) would be recorded for further analysis.

Participants

The subjects of the study consisted of 40 elementary students from the 9th grade and 10 of their teachers.

Each teacher teaches a different subject. The reason for choosing the subjects of this age group is that students

of this level are teenagers, so they have already had an outlook on world and life. Besides, in their teens, they

started to learn some subjects to a deeper extent, such as geography and geometry, so they could give their

response which has more value for research.

Research Questions

1. What are the principles of setting questions in class?

2. What are the proper occasions to set questions?

3. What are the strategies to set questions?

Procedures

The subjects were asked to write their answers of the research questions in each questionnaire. Each

question was developed after a pilot study had been conducted. The subjects were allowed to enrich their

responses, either positive ones or negative ones. In order to analyze these qualitative date, information was

coded with the sequence of the answer taking the code from 0 to X (X is the number of the choices for each

question). The research questionnaire was developed after a thorough review of literature, resulting in several

basic elements to choose for the answer to each question (see Table 1).

Table 1 The Research Questionnaire Q1: What are the principles of setting questions in class? Teaching on the basis of the standard of the students (0)

Question should be set for the whole class (1)

Making the classactive (2)

Teaching from the easy content to thehard (3)

Developing the students creatively (4)

Others (5) ________

Q2: What are the proper occasions to set questions? When the students have a general picture of the knowledge, but not a detail one (0)

When the knowledge pointcould be spread (1)

When the knowledge could be asked repeatedly to know deeply (2)

Others (3) __________

Q3: What are the strategies to set questions?

Make a deep understanding of the textbook (0)

Setting homework for a new lesson (1)

Creating an atmosphere forthinking (2)

Making a balancebetween the level ofthe ease and difficultyof the question (3)

Stimulating students’ curiosity (4)

Others(5) ________

Classroom questioning is common to every teacher, because this is what he/she has to do in every class

by awareness or not (Horwitz, 1999). So, many people may ignore the design and research on it, and

sometimes teachers may ask students questions in the classroom casually, or they sometimes let the whole class

to answer a question collectively. In fact, it is one of the most direct reflections as a teaching aid and an

important method to check the teaching result of a teacher. But not many teachers would re-examine and


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ponder their questions made in the class, so it cannot play the role of teaching reflection, which is a great pity in

teaching activities.

Results

Responses of Research Question 1

Students. Most of the students thought that the class should be student-centered, and students must enjoy

the class just as they are doing their homework (Schommer, 2004). Teachers’ preparation is usually called as

“preparing students”, which is to study and design lesson plans (Diab, 2006). The selection of teaching

materials and courseware and the use of teaching aids, teaching methods, and teaching strategies are all

inseparable from the study of the students. Designing questions in class should set out from the psychological

characteristics of students. Using fascinating questions, the design must take into account the classroom

recipients’ (students’) characteristics of age (Kalaja & Barcelos, 2003). A greenhand teacher often puts too

much time on the textbook, but does not pay attention to the application of knowledge. The purpose for setting

questions is to develop benign interaction and apply heuristic teaching method so as to stimulate students’

interest, because emotional factors will affect the teaching effect, and language input must consider how to

improve learners’ interest as well as mobilize their enthusiasm.

The students also stated that understanding the psychological characteristics of themselves is a must in

considering the class questions. Classes should be designed with “humorous” problems, which are able to bring

laughter to the classroom. Students of different regions, different ages, different schools, and different

psychological characteristics should be taken separately and teachers could not apply the same problem to

different types of students.

Teachers. From teachers’ point of view, when setting questions, they should promote advantages and

abolish disadvantages. This is a vital principle. Because high-tech features of modern life, the channels of the

students to accept knowledge are very wide, and the popularity of the Internet leads to a rather broad

knowledge of students. Teachers’ knowledge, no matter how rich, is impossible to fully cover students’

curiosity. It is common to see the phenomenon that a teacher sometimes is unable to answer the question raised

by the students. After all, if possible, in the premise of not violating the syllabus, teachers should try to keep

their “teacher’s dignity”, and sometimes design some topics or questions which closely relate to both their

interests and students’ learning desire.


Students. Questioning in class plays a different role at different stages of classroom teaching. Setting

questions before the new knowledge could pave the way for learning; heuristic learning of the new knowledge

could guide students to think actively and seize the focus of knowledge; and setting questions when making a

summary aims to check students’ state of receptivity and create a chance for teachers to make supplement.

Therefore, the appropriate time to raise questions should be chosen when the language material would be

introduced, when knowledge needs to be consolidated, and when students are a little tired.

Teachers. The teachers stated that when raising a question, the question should be firstly said to the whole

class, and then it is the time to ask a specific student to answer. Firstly, this method can make all the students to

pay attention to the question. If the teacher assigned the question to a certain student, then only the designated

student would pay attention to the question, and the rest of the students’ attention would be greatly reduced.


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Secondly, this way can make all the students to create an answer in mind in advance, because each of the

students thought that it might be asked to himself/herself. Thirdly, this method can help each student make

comments on other students’ answers. Because each student has prepared an answer, and he/she could compare

his/her answer to others’. In short, the purpose of the teacher to ask questions is to make the students think

independently and make sure that every student is involved in the enquiry.


When it comes to the strategy of raising questions, the students had a linear perspective shared with the

teachers.

Firstly, both sides stated that the order of asking should not have a certain sequence. Some teachers are

raising questions in accordance with students’ seating order or in accordance with the name list. These

mechanical methods surely could provide an average distribution of the opportunity to ask questions to all

students, but also have a shortcoming because the definite order could give the students a hint that it is

someone’s turn to deal with the question. The rest of the students thus cannot pay attention to the question.

Besides, teachers’ questions should face to the whole class, rather than a few smart ones.

Secondly, the attitude of the teacher when asking questions should be calm and natural, and he/she should

show his/her belief that the student can answer. If he/she shows a serious expression, the student then cannot

think quietly, so he/she is unable to speak out the answer.

Thirdly, each question is declared for just once. Teachers should be clear when coming up with a question.

After that, they do not need to repeat the question, for frequent repeating may reduce students’ attention to the

question (Nikitina & Furuoka, 2006). But, the teacher could explain the question if the student even does not

make the meaning of the question. After the question, the teacher should leave appropriate time for the students

to think rather than ask for a hurried answer. If a student’s answer is not complete, another student could be

designated to make supplement.

Conclusions

The goal of this research was to determine the principles and strategies of setting questions in class

because learning questions are of significant importance to knowledge acquisition.

Research Question 1: Three Principles of Setting Questions

Learning requirements determine the teaching activity. Teaching should start from students’ learning

requirements. The teaching object should be set on the basis of the level of the cognition of the students, the

teaching content on the basis of the requirement of the cognition of the students, and the teaching strategy on

the basis of the law of cognition of the students. Teachers should create student-centered classes. Pair work is

an efficient way to enhance the creativity of both teaching and learning for it requires students to take part in

the class. New tasks are assigned to students continuously so that they have to separate those difficult questions

into easier component, thus, they know how to deal with questions creatively in the subsequent learning.

Facing to the whole class. Respecting every student is the basic principle to carry out teaching activities.

Every student should be encouraged to make trial and errors in studies. The more mistakes a student makes, the

more his/her characters will appear and the more he/she may learn from his/her mistakes. Thus, different

pedagogies were required to realize efficient teaching, and all these pedagogies should be adapted to different

backgrounds of the learners. Otherwise, interpersonal barriers or misunderstandings may ensue. This is also a


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major aim of teaching—to establish a correct cognition of studying of the learners and help them use what they

have learned to the maximum degree.

Developing students’ learning beliefs. In the field of teaching and researching, learners’ individual

differences have attracted more and more attention because individual differences have a great impact on the

learning results. As one of the most important individual differences, learning beliefs may affect the process

and results of learning and acquisition (Kalaja & Barcelos, 2003, p. 1). Learning beliefs belong to the category

of epistemology, which is the knowledge held by students by tuition on knowledge and learning experience

(Buehl & Alexander, 2001). It is a belief system which involves the nature of knowledge, the nature of

learning , and the nature of learning process.

Learning beliefs will affect the behavior of autonomous learning. For example, learning beliefs will affect

students’ self-analyzing and self-monitoring in the learning tasks. Besides, understanding students’ learning

beliefs and learning strategies could help them develop the self-learning ability. That is why teachers should

help develop students’ learning beliefs (Liao, 2006). Learning beliefs correlate positively with the result of a

course. Positive beliefs will promote English studying and negative ones will obstruct the study. In order to

establish a positive effect on the result of study, wise teachers should develop students’ learning beliefs.

Research Question 2: Three Occasions to Set Questions

When the old knowledge and new knowledge of the student conflict in the awareness of the student.

That is to say, a question should be set when the student has a general understanding of what he/she is going to

learn but has no comprehensive picture yet. Because when his/her curiosity is stimulated and transferred into a

strong desire to the unknown world, the teaching process could be carried out easier.

When the teacher wants to spread thought. After learning a lesson, students should try to draw

inferences about other cases from what they have learned (Li, 2005). If the teacher asked the students to create

another sentence with the syntax they have learned just now and the students respond with a right answer, they

could be truly judged as acquiring the knowledge point. So, raising questions at this time could not only be

regarded as a test by the teacher, but also a process of consolidation.

When the class is over and the teacher wants to make a conclusion. A good question may relate to the

main ideas of the knowledge point of the class, and students could have a reflection after being given questions

like that.

Research Question 3: Four Strategies of Setting Questions

Having an exhaustive understanding of the textbook. An exhaustive understanding of the textbook is a

must for teachers who would like to set efficient questions. Only when teachers have a well understanding and

personal interpreting of the textbooks could they apply the textbook creatively and flexibly and then set creative

questions accordingly (Mantle-Bromley, 1995).

Giving previous homework for students. Previous homework could stimulate students’ enthusiasm of

learning new contents and thus make a preparation for them to enter the class to make discussion. Previous

homework is not just a requirement for reviewing, but one for out-class research. Students would be provided

more chances to determine the learning points to explore. When they are learning the textbook with questions,

they are more likely to put forward their own ideas.

Creating a thinking atmosphere. Teachers should use various methods to make a good lead-in in

teaching a new lesson and try their best to keep students’ curiosity. By creating a thinking atmosphere which is


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close to certain subject, the class would be more interesting and attractive.

Making a balance between ease and difficulty. When it comes to setting learning questions for students

in class, every teacher should choose a proper aspect as well as consider the requirements of the whole class

because students vary in learning attitude, personality, and degree of learning. Hence, teachers should have

difficult questions, questions of medium difficulty, and easier questions so as to neither prevent dampening

initiative nor restrain the development of students’ intelligence.

References Altan, M. Z. (2006). Beliefs about language learning of foreign language major university students. Australian Journal of Teacher

Education, 31(2), 45-52. Bernat, E. (2004). Investigating Vietnamese ESL learners’ beliefs about language learning. EA Journal, 21(2), 40-54. Bernat, E., & Gvozdenko, I. (2005). Beliefs about language learning: Current knowledge, pedagogical implications, and new

research directions. TESL-EJ, 9(1), 1-29. Bernat, E., & Lloyd, R. (2007). Exploring the gender effect on EFL learners’ beliefs about language learning. Australian Journal

of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 7, 79-91. Buehl, M. M., & Alexander, P. A. (2001). Beliefs about academic knowledge. Educational Psychology Review, 13(4), 385-418. Diab, R. L. (2006). University students’ beliefs about learning English and French in Lebanon. System, 34(1), 80-96. Duit, R., & Confrey, J. (1996). Reorganising the curriculum and teaching to improve learning in science and mathematics. In D. F.

Treagust, R. Duit, & B. J. Fraser (Eds.), Improving teaching and learning in science and mathematics (pp. 79-93). New York and London: Teachers College Press.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Cambridge, M.A.: Basic Books. Horwitz, E. K. (1999). Cultural and situational influences on foreign language learners’ beliefs about language learning: A review

of BALLI studies. System, 27(4), 557-576. Kalaja, P., & Barcelos, A. M. F. (Eds.). (2003). Beliefs about SLA: New research approaches (pp. 7-33). Dordrecht, the

Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Li, X. P. (2005). An analysis of Chinese EFL learners’ beliefs about the role of rote learning in vocabulary learning strategies.

Asian EFL Journal, 7(4), 109-110. Liao, P. (2006). EFL learners’ beliefs about and strategy use of translation in English learning. RELC Journal, 37(2), 191-215. Manen, M. V. (1991). The tact of teaching: The meaning of pedagogical thoughtfulness. New York, N.Y.: State University of

New York Press. Mantle-Bromley, C. (1995). Positive attitudes and realistic beliefs: Links to proficiency. Modern Language Journal, 79(3),

372-386. Nikitina, L., & Furuoka, F. (2006). Re-examining Horwitz’s beliefs about language learning inventory (BALLI) in the Malaysian

context. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 3(2), 209-219. Schommer, M. (2004). Explaining the epistemological belief system: Introducing the embedded systemic model and coordinated

research approach. Educational Psychologist, 39(1), 19-29.


The Effect on Enhancing Students’ Inquiry Abilities via

Step-by-Step Open-ended Inquiry Teaching Design

Chung-Ming Yang, Jeng-Fung Hung

National Kaohsiung Normal University,

Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Tai-Chu Huang

National Sun Yat-sen University,

Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

The purpose of this study is to promote more open-ended inquiry activities in junior high school science lessons in

the current educational system with fixed textbooks. Researchers adapted existing curriculum-based experimental

activities for more open-ended inquiry ones. In addition, the whole class was provided with more opportunities to

explore complete activities in limited teaching time. This study used Hazel’s proposals of levels of inquiry. The

method was to carry out the current 8th grade experiments through the step-by-step teaching material modification

(from levels of inquiry 0 to 2b) and to combine the experimental teaching method with the 5E (engage, explore,

explain, elaborate, and evaluate) learning cycle. After a quasi-experimental study, we compared the traditional

teaching method with the step-by-step open-ended inquiry teaching one on 8th graders’ basic and integrated science

process skills and academic achievements. The study result showed that the academic achievement in the

experimental group, based on the same instructional time, was not worse than that in the control group. No

significant difference was found on the total scores of the basic science process skills between the two groups, but a

significant difference was found on the “predicting” dimension. There was a significant difference on the total

scores of the integrated science process skills between the two groups. Significant differences were found on

“interpreting data” as well as “experiment designing” dimensions. Hence, the study indicated that it could enhance

students’ inquiry ability through step-by-step openly inquiry levels to change the existing curricula, which served as

a reference of educational reform.

Keywords: step-by-step open-ended inquiry, process skills, 5E learning cycle

Introduction

Can teachers work on inquiry teaching more easily? Since 1999, the Ministry of Education has been

engaging in new curriculum standards in Taiwan. They emphasized grades 1st-9th to develop their inquiry and

research abilities. In practice, science teachers were faced with the pressure of high school entrance

examinations and the limitation of instructional time. In addition, school teachers had difficulty working on

their inquiry teaching. In Taiwan’s junior high schools, students were used to conducting experiments, but they

did them in a “cookbook experiments” way. In fact, teachers should adapt the traditional experiment process for

a more open-ended one. According to Hurd, Bybee, Kahle, and Yager’s (1980) research, most teachers did not

Chung-Ming Yang, Ph.D. candidate, Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University. Jeng-Fung Hung, Ph.D., chairman, Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University. Tai-Chu Huang, Ph.D., professor, Center for General Education, National Sun Yat-sen University.

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teach in an open-ended way. Costenson and Lawson (1986) interviewed several experienced science teachers in

order to understand the key to the problem. They interviewed two groups of teachers who preferred either

lecture pedagogy or inquiry-based teaching methods. The reasons why those experienced teachers did not adopt

inquiry-based teaching methods were as follows: (a) time- and energy- consuming; (b) slow teaching schedule;

(c) difficult for students to read; (d) high risk of using; (e) dividing classes based on students’ academic abilities;

(f) students’ immaturity; (g) teaching habits; (h) lacking order of the textbooks; (i) not getting used to the

method; and (j) without proper laboratory equipment. Lawson (1995) proposed that the ready experimental

class to inquiry in fact should take less time and effort than the class in the lecture and “cookbook” pedagogy.

Once students were convinced that the basis of the information was formed by them, the conclusions obtained

in the classroom would form motivation and participation. During this process, adopting this teaching method

in fact might not need much supervision. According to the main goal of the Educational Policies Commission

(1961), education was to help students develop the ability to think, but if they did not have background

knowledge, they could not develop the ability to think or to apply. Therefore, within the limited time available

for teachers, they should carefully choose the knowledge that students must learn. There were two basic

elements of the knowledge: One was the potential of the development of rational thinking, and the other was

the important knowledge in school and social life (Hung, 2003). As a matter of fact, teachers tended to feel

unable to control when facing both predicaments regarding teachers’ beliefs and the uncertainties of inquiry

teaching activities. So, it was an important issue to make good use of the uncertainties and to handle them.

Metz (2004) indicated that there were five conceptual uncertainties for 4th and 5th graders when they engaged

in scientific researches: (a) uncertainty of how to produce the expected results; (b) uncertainty of the data; (c)

uncertainty of determining the data trends; (d) uncertainty of universal trend; and (e) uncertainty of theoretical

advantages trend. In Metz’s (2004) research, 71% of 4th graders and 87% of 5th graders had uncertainties on

their one or more conceptual areas. In these areas, there were 80% of 4th graders and 97% of 5th graders to

assume how to modify their research strategies to resolve uncertainties. Those analyses indicated that most

children developed a full understanding of how to have access to scientific uncertainties. From the

epistemological perspective, “knowledge problem” in this context reflected their scientific inquiry and these

children showed at least a basic understanding of the complex relationship between the natural world and

verism lacking knowledge. Therefore, inquiry activities were full of uncertainties. It was very important for

teachers to help their students deal with uncertainties. In fact, it is difficult for teachers to transform their

habitual teaching method into the inquiry teaching with uncertainties.

Therefore, the purpose of this research was to help teachers teach inquiry via step-by-step open-ended

inquiry teaching design (SSOID). We also looked forward to seeing teachers able to teach inquiry activities

easily in a more open-ended way.

Schwab (1962) suggested teaching science as a process of study and advocated teaching science by the

inquiry approach. Based on students’ autonomy in science learning, he proposed four levels of scientific

inquiry which were summarized in Table 1.

This teaching mode was arranged from easy to difficult, and the design was called “Invitations to Inquiry”

according to abilities of the inquiry with four stages (Gan & Chen, 1996):

1. A teacher proposed the research scope and prompted the methods of discussion;

2. Students organized questions, pointing out the technical difficulties in the process of inquiry;


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3. Students distinguished questions, pointing out the difficulties that should be resolved during the inquiry

process;

4. Students tried to propose a way of solving the problems.

The important points of the implementation methods were:

(a) Bringing up the needed background knowledge verbally;

(b) Inviting students to answer questions;

(c) Handling students’ responses properly and assisting students to modify their errors and to make them

reasonable;

(d) Trying to guide students to maintain their thinking in a correct way.

Each stage left blank time and teachers should induce students to explore the questions step by step and

make decisions based on the inquiry abilities and the open-ended level of students. In this pattern, teachers

should realize that “the training of pursuing knowledge” was more important than “teaching knowledge”. So,

the purpose of teaching was not to make students to look for the right answers, but rather focused on the inquiry

process of students to do by themselves; teachers needed to be careful to maintain students’ interest and

participation in the activities.

Table 1

The Level of Openness in the Teaching of Inquiry

Level Problem Equipment Procedure Answers Name

0 Given Given Given Given Confirmatory

1 Given Given Given Open Guided inquiry

2a Given Given Open Open Guided-opened inquiry

2b Given Open Open Open Guided-opened inquiry

3 Open Open Open Open Open-ended inquiry

Note. Source: Schwab, 1962; Herron, 1971.

Method

Table 2

The BSCS 5E Instructional Model Phase Summary

Engage These experiences mentally engage the students with an event or question. Engagement activities help students make connections with what they know and can do.

Explore Students work with one another to explore ideas through hands-on activities. Under the guidance of teachers, students experience a common set of experiences that help them clarify their own understanding of major concepts and skills.

Explain Students explain their understanding of the concepts and processes that they are learning. Teachers help students clarify their understanding and introduce information related to the concepts to be learned.

Elaborate These activities challenge students to apply what they have learned and extend their knowledge and skills.

Evaluate Students assess their own knowledge, skills, and abilities. Evaluation activities also allow teachers to evaluate students’ progress.

The teaching strategy on the experiment group was SSOID. In one semester, all experiments and some

activities in a science book were adapted to be an inquiry experimental manual. There were 21 experiments in

this experimental manual. The SSOITD was to open from level 0 to level 2b. We open the level of experiments

step by step. For example, experiment 1-1 is level 1, experiment 1-2 is level 2a, experiment 1-3 is level 2b, and

so on. The open level is determined by the teacher according to the content of instruction. Teachers could revise


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experiments of the textbooks into more open-ended inquiry experiments. The second theoretical basis for the

teaching design activities was the instructional model. Since 1980, the Biological Sciences Curricula Study

(BSCS) developed the 5E (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate) instructional model. The summary

of the five phases is presented in Table 2. In the inquiry activities, the tasks could guide the teachers how to

conduct and instruct students what to do. The five phases could make the teaching process smooth.

Object

Forty-two students in the experimental group were taught by the researcher Chung-Ming Yang. The

researcher was their tutor and science teacher. The control group included 39 students, whose relationship in

the class was very good. They were honorable and often got high performance in school. Students of the control

group had positive learning motivation, and they often discussed homework after class. Their science teacher

managed the class strictly, all the students listened carefully and the teacher and students interacted very well.

The teacher often sacrificed his time to help students solve problems. Because the teacher believed that the

learning quality was very important, so he always taught lesson clearly and explained carefully, led students to

experiment regularly and obey the recipes textbooks’ steps. The control group could get high scores in science

subject.

Research Questions

1. Is SSOID suitable for existing curricula?

2. What is the effect on 8th grades of SSOID?

3. What causes the effect?

Research Tools

The scales we used in this study included Basic Science Process Skills Scale, Integrated Science Process

Skills Scale, and Learning Achievement Tests.

Science process skills scales. The scales were developed by the Lin and Chen (1984), including seven

basic science process skills abilities (observation, measurement, classification, comparison, prediction,

reasoning, and variables understanding) and five integrated science process skills abilities (variables controlling,

operational definition, chart using, hypotheses establishment, and experiments designing). There were 48

questions in these scales and each process skill included four questions. The former 28 questions were basic

science process skills, and the latter 20 questions belonged to integrated abilities. The scales were suitable for

7th-9th graders. So, we used them directly. The validity and reliability of the scales are discussed below.

Validity. In 1984, Lin and Chen original test’s criterion-related validity on full tests was 0.76, on the basic

science process skills was 0.71, and on the integrated science process skills was 0.65. Each validity of our study

are 0.64, 0.68, and 0.58.

Reliability. The reliability of the science process skills scales is shown in Table 3.

Learning achievement tests. When the 8th grade semester began, schools held review examinations

with the range of all the 7th grade science lessons. We used the review examination as the achievement

pre-test. After one semester ended, schools held another review examination with 8th grade science lessons

from Chapter 1 to Chapter 6. We used the latter one as the post-test which matched our teaching and study

time.


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Table 3

The Reliability of Science Process Skills Scales

Scope

Lin and Chen (1984) This study

Retest reliability Kuder-Richardson reliability

Pre-test Post-test Country 7th 8th

Full test 0.92 0.85 0.71 0.81 0.69 0.76

Basic skills 0.89 0.77 0.62 0.75 0.65 0.63

Integrated skills 0.73 0.71 0.52 0.66 0.47 0.67

The Design and Implementation of SSOID

The research was a quantitative and qualitative design. In the face of quantitative research design, it was

based on quasi-experimental research design, and major research-related variables were as follows:

1. The experimental treatments:

(a) The experimental group implements SSOID teaching;

(b) The control group implements traditional teaching.

2. Control variables: teaching scope (Book 3, from Chapter 1 to Chapter 6), 20 weeks, learning

atmosphere, and so on.

3. Research treatments:

(a) Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA): Basic Science Process Skills Scale and Integrated Science Process

Skills Scale;

(b) T-test: learning achievement test.

4. Quantitative research codes: All the audio, video, and other raw data were transcribed into text and data

were encoded (see Table 4). The data were analyzed according to research purposes. Finally, the description

and interpretation of the data were triangulated, related literatures were reviewed, and a conclusion was made.

Table 4

Codes of Data Source

Data source Code

Class record CR

Learning sheet LS

Students’ experience sharing SF

Teaching diary TD

Experiment report ER

Students’ interview SI

Results

Basic Science Process Skills

Table 5 was the summary of the Basic Science Process Skills Scale by the ANCOVA way. Before

experiment, the F value of the “total score”, “observation”, “measurement”, “classification”, “comparison”,

“reasoning”, and “variables understanding” of the experimental group and the control group is not significant

(p > 0.05), so the two groups are homogenous. After the research treatment, the “total score”, “observation”,

“measurement”, “classification”, “comparison”, “reasoning”, and “variables understanding” on the two groups

of the basic science process skills had no significant difference. But they had significant differences in the

“prediction” dimension.


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Table 5

The Adjustment Mean Scores and Significance on Basic Science Process Skills Between the Two Groups

Source Df MS F Sig.

Basic skills total score Group 1 0.338

0.379 0.540 Error 78 0.893

Observation Group 1 2.411 E-03

0.003 0.955 Error 77 0.752

Measurement Group 1 1.068 E-02

0.014 0.905 Error 78 0.743

Classification Group 1 5.097 E-02

0.099 0.754 Error 78 0.517

Comparison Group 1 0.406

0.506 0.479 Error 78 0.803

Prediction Group 1 3.830

6.984 0.010** Error 78 0.548

Reasoning Group 1 0.732

1.048 0.309 Error 78 0.698

Variables understanding Group 1 4.036

3.374 0.070 Error 78 1.196

Integrated Science Process Skills

Table 6 was the summary of the Integrated Science Process Skills Scale by the ANCOVA way. Before

experiment, the F value of the “total score”, “variables controlling”, “operational definition”, “chart using”,

“hypotheses establishment”, and “experiment designing” are not significant (p > 0.05), so the two groups were

homogenous. After the research treatment, “variables controlling”, “chart using”, and “hypotheses

establishment” on two groups of the integrated science process skills had no significant difference. But they

had significant differences on “total score”, “operational definition”, and “experiment designing” dimensions.

Table 6

The Adjustment Mean Scores and Significance on Integrated Science Process Skills Between the Two Groups

Source Df MS F Sig.

Integrated skills total score Group 1 108.200

11.362 0.001** Error 78 9.523

Variables controlling Group 1 4.223

3.294 0.073 Error 78 1.282

Operational definition Group 1 7.279

7.594 0.007** Error 78 0.959

Chart using Group 1 0.388

0.452 0.503 Error 78 0.859

Hypotheses establishment Group 1 4.442

3.725 0.057 Error 78 1.193

Experiments designing Group 1 8.590

7.736 0.007** Error 78 1.110

Achievement Tests

Table 7 showed that there was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the experimental group and the

control group in science achievement test.


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Table 7

The Independent T-test on Achievement Between the Two Groups

Group N Average Sig. Standard error t Df Sig. (2-tailed)

The experimental group 42 59.60 11.549 1.782 2.907 79 0.005*

The control group 39 50.97 10.622 1.701

Findings of Qualitative Analysis

The reasons why SSOITD enhanced students’ science learning were as follows:

1. Open-ended inquiry experimental activities offered students more negotiable opportunities to

communicate, converse, and enhance their thinking; meanwhile, it helped assimilate the construction of

knowledge;

2. With integrating constructivism theory into experimental teaching, students could construct their way of

thinking through group discussion from a different perspective in order to promote a more complete knowledge

construction;

3. Problem-solving orientation could provide learners a better opportunity to use meta-cognition;

4. It needed evaluation and motivation of self-recognition to solve problems. Open-ended inquiry

experiments provided more opportunities, which enabled learners to apply process skills via mega-cognition in

order to solve problems.

Conclusions and Implications

1. Embedded inquiry experiments in science teaching do not affect the progress of teaching. In inquiry

experiments, group discussions, presentations, and sharing take most of the instructional time. However, group

communication can not only construct correct knowledge, but also deepen students’ new science knowledge.

The teacher plays a vital role as a provider and instructor. Adapting all experiments in one semester in teaching

may enable teachers to have more flexible time to adjust their teaching procedures and process;

2. Step-by-step arrangement makes students used to the procedure of experiments and reduces the

frustration of writing experimental paper. Modeling arrangement makes experimental procedure smooth and

easy to the teacher. Experimental manuals or experimental reports should be well-organized; they cannot be

seen as the homework or appendage of the textbook just for students to copy the answer.

References Bryan, L. A., Daly, S., Hutchinson, K., Sederberg, D., Benaissa, F., & Giordano, N. (2007). A design-based approach to the

professional development of teachers in nanoscale science. Retrieved from Highly Interactive Classrooms Presentation Database: http://hi-ce.org/presentations/index.html

Chang, R. P. H. (2008). Vision for global nanoscale science and engineering education. Retrieved from http://www.nclt.us/gnseews2008/presentation.shtml

Costenson, K., & Lawson, A. E. (1986). Why isn’t inquiry used in more classrooms? The American Biology Teacher, 48(3), 150-158.

Educational Policies Commission. (1961). The central purpose of American education. Washington, D.C.: Educational Policies Commission.

Gan, H. G., & Chen, W. D. (1996). The evolution analysis of elementary school natural science curriculum materials. Science Education Research and Development, 13, 26-32.

Greenburg, A. (2009). Integrating nanoscience into the classsroom: Perspectives on nanoscience education projects. American Chemical Society Nano, 3(4), 762-769.

Herron, M. D. (1971). The nature of scientific enquiry. School Review, 79(2), 171- 212.


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Hidi, S. (2001). Interest, reading, and learning: Theoretical and practical considerations. Educational Psychology Review, 13, 191-209.

Hung, C. F. (2003). The historical review of inquiry teaching and preliminary exploration of creative inquiry model. National Kaohsiung Normal University Journal, 15, 641-662.

Hurd, P. B., Bybee, R. W., Kahle, J. B., & Yager, R. E. (1980). Biology education in secondary schools of the United States. American Biology Teacher, 42, 388-410.

Krajcik, J. S. (2008). Learning research in nanoscience. Retrieved from http://www.nclt.us/gnseews2008/presentation.shtml Lawson, A. E. (1995). Science teaching and the development of thinking. Belmont, C.A.: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Lin, B. S., & Chen, Q. S. (1984). The study of junior high school students’ scientific process skills (Unpublished Master’s thesis,

Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University). Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Durik, A. M., Conley, A. M., Barron, K. E., Tauer, J. M., Karabenick, S. A., & Harackiewicz, J. M.

(2010). Measuring situational interest in academic domains. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 70(4), 647-671. Metz, K. E. (2004). Children’s understanding of scientific inquiry: Their conceptualization of uncertainty in investigations of their

own design. Cognition and Instruction, 2(22), 219-291. Schwab, J. (1962). The teaching of science as enquiry. In J. J. Schwab, & P. F. Bradwein (Eds.), The teaching of science (pp.

1-103). Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University Press.


Research on Action Learning of Teachers in Higher

Vocational Colleges

Ming-jiang Song

Southwest University; Chongqing Youth Vocational

& Technical College, Chongqing, China

Jian-zhuang Shi

Chongqing Youth Vocational & Technical College,

Chongqing, China

Action learning refers to that man try everything to find out the new pattern of action in similar situations of the

future by introspection and comprehension about past and present experience (affairs) in order to achieve a certain

purpose or solve a certain problem. Compared with the traditional vocational teachers’ training model, the action

learning model based on “experience-introspection-action” is better to promote and enhance the practical

knowledge growth and personal theory construction of vocational teachers. Action learning can simultaneously

promote mutual development of individuals and learning groups (organizations).

Keywords: action learning, vocational teachers, problem-solving

What Is Action Learning

In daily life, people always refer to action, but very few people go deeply into its concrete meaning.

Obviously, it is quite important and necessary to conduct an in-depth exploration of what is action and to

specify its values. To clarify what is action learning, what is action should be known first. In Chinese context,

action usually refers to an activity that is taken to achieve a certain intention (Xinhua Dictionary, 1985, p. 943).

Thus, action has two meanings: 1. Action is a kind of conscious and purposeful activity; and 2. Action has

initiative and proactive characteristics.

In the West, many scholars respectively put forward various understandings about action. Aristotle

thought that man is a rational animal. Compared with animal, what activities that people are engaged in are

purposefully and consciously rational actions. Weber defined action as interactive action or social action (Jia,

2005). This evidently comes down in one continuous line with the theory of communicative action which he

has consistently advocated. Habermas (1989) defined action as purposefully rational behavior. He believed that

action is the behavior activity conducted by objective guidance and rational choice. Parsons (1980) considered

that all action is behavior, but behavior may not be action, because behavior needs to have certain conditions to

become action (Chi, 1980). Both individual action and social action are conscious, purposeful, and systematical

(Chi, 1980). Ahrendt especially emphasized the subjectivity of action and its effect on self and others. She

* This is one of research production of the project “The Study of Development of Higher Vocational Colleges” (No. 2013YBMK152), supported by Planned Program of Social Science Foundation of Chongqing Municipality, as well as one of research production of the project “Chongqing Urban Integration of Vocational Education Reform and Mechanism Innovation Research” (No. 133267), supported by Chongqing Higher Education Reform Project.

Ming-jiang Song, Ph.D. candidate, Faculty of Education, Southwest University; associate professor, Research Department, Chongqing Youth Vocational & Technical College.

Jian-zhuang Shi, M.Ed., assistant researcher, Research Department, Chongqing Youth Vocational & Technical College.

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believed that “Action, the only activity that goes on directly between men without the intermediary of things

and matters” (as cited in Wang, 2006, p. 59). She also thought that man of action can reveal themselves; or

more specifically, in fact, to reveal self in the intercourse with others is an activity and a conversational action

with others and for others (Yang, 2009). Ahrendt revealed the essential properties of human action. That is to

say, action not only reveals self, but also has an influence on others. Accordingly, we think that action is a

rational activity which man conduct for achieving a certain purpose. This kind of activity is an active and

initiative self-revelation and has an active effect on others.

Learning is man’s basic way of surviving and living. It is very difficult to imagine how man will be

without learning. Generally speaking, learning is always conducted in a particular situation. With increasing

experience and changes, it aims at solving problems on the basis of introspection. We have related concepts of

action and learning, and how can we define action learning? The British scholar Reg Revans believed that the

theoretical hypothesis of traditional education is that any question has a right answer (Revans, 1971). Directed

learning can help people improve abilities to find out right answers. The theoretical hypothesis of action

learning is that there are no action courses can directly and effectively help people solve problems. There exists

differentiation in any one of the managers’ personalities, experiences, beliefs, and ways of thinking. This will

have an influence on the tendency of thinking and problem determination as well as ways to solve problems.

Therefore, the ability to raise an insightful question in the uncertain situation is a more useful learning method.

Professor Mike Pedler thought that action learning is helpful for self-development and organization

development, and action activities derived from the problems can both help to solve problems and change

people who are solving problems (Pedler, 1991). It is worth noting that action learning emphasizes people’s

urgent needs to solve real problems in the real situation; meanwhile, action learning is more dependent on the

model of learning partnership on the basis of introspection of individual experience.

McNulty and Canty (1985) thought that action learning is a process of learning to act by taking actions. To

some extent, without action, there is no learning; and without learning, there is no right action. Generally

speaking, action learning includes three elements: problems needed to be solved, learning tasks, and action

learning groups. Accordingly, action learning can be understood as in order to achieve a certain purpose or

solve a certain problem, man try everything to find out the new pattern of action in similar situations of the

future by introspection and comprehension about past and present experience (affairs). Action learning can

simultaneously promote mutual development of individuals and learning groups (organizations).

The Value of Action Learning to Teachers in Higher Vocational Colleges

Objectively speaking, no one can deny the value of action learning in enhancing individual and

organizational development since action learning has been proposed. But what is the value of action learning?

Different individuals and organizations have different answers, so it is hard to state the specific value of action

learning for individuals and organizations. Thus, when discussing the value of action learning with various

individuals or organizations, people cannot obtain consistent results. Besides, we also do not expect to have the

same effect when discussing the value of the action learning with different individuals or organizations.

This point should be clarified for teachers in higher vocational colleges. Action learning is derived from

the training of enterprise management personnel, while it is relatively less applied in the education field. In

training, it is mainly applied in that trainers and trainees are trained and practicing for some key issues to which

they pay close attention in practice, and that they learn and study in practice until they finally solve problems.


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For higher vocational colleges in China, vocational training of the vast majority of teachers starts from

imparting knowledge. This kind of training mainly emphasizes that teachers obtain teaching knowledge and

skills. The basic hypothesis is that teaching knowledge and skills obtained by teachers can improve teaching

practice and teaching quality and highlight the public knowledge instead of teachers’ practical knowledge.

There is little or less attention to professional development of teachers. Teachers are in the passive position of

teaching training. Obviously, the traditional training paradigm is not conducive to the professional development

of teachers. Therefore, it is imperative to innovate learning methods of teachers in higher vocational colleges.

Action learning is a good choice. First of all, action learning emphasizes learning initiative and

introspection based on experience. It is conducive to the improvement of passive learning methods in the

training pattern for teachers in higher vocational colleges. Introspection, based on experience, largely fits with

practicalness and operability of higher vocational education. Secondly, action learning, as an adult learning

method, is in line with features of working and cognition of teachers in higher vocational colleges. It can

promote the development of practical knowledge of teachers in higher vocational colleges and the construction

of personalized theory. Meanwhile, partner learning helps to improve introspection and cooperation awareness

of teachers in higher vocational colleges, and further promotes their professional development and mutual

development.

Certainly, not everyone approves these positive effects of action learning. However, how many people can

make right value judgment after putting it into practice? We believe that only in a real situation can people face

real problems, take actions, and realize the essence.

How to Conduct Action Learning for Teachers in Higher Vocational Colleges

As we know, a perfect theory is not equal to a perfect reality. From the ideal point of view, numerous

schemes about how teachers in higher vocational colleges conduct action learning can be designed. However,

here we do not intend to make detailed strategies about how they conduct action learning, because we cannot

accurately predict many uncertain factors, such as real teaching situation and teaching psychology. However, it

means that we have no advice on this issue.

It is not difficult to understand that the most effective way for teachers in higher vocational colleges to

conduct action learning is experience introspection, rational action, and team learning. On the basis of

experience introspection, teachers in higher vocational colleges can learn how to solve real problems by

rational action and team learning. Furthermore, they promote the growth of practical knowledge and the

construction of personalized theory, and then have the professional development. Teachers’ professional

development is a lifelong process, so action learning also needs a continuously cyclic process.

At the same time, learning is a very complicated system. In the era of post-figurative culture, knowledge

production, technological innovation, and information dissemination are far more booming and unpredictable

than any previous era. Consequently, the rate of frequency and the difficulty of real problems which teachers in

higher vocational colleges encounter are greatly increased. This even more needs team knowledge and team

wisdom. The emerging of numerous modern wise ideas is the best example.

As mentioned before, action learning is a kind of adult learning. The hypothesis of adult learning is based

on solving problems. That is to say, the logical starting point in professional development of teachers in higher

vocational colleges is usually not modeled knowledge system, but complex and changeable real problems. The

goals are to solve problems. At present, the great challenges that teachers in higher vocational colleges are


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facing are the complexity of internal and external changes in higher vocational education tends to trigger a

serious of adaptive problems of upgrades, such as the industrial organization of regional adjustment,

employment impact of market orientation, revolution of global information technology, etc.. It is difficult for

teachers in higher vocational colleges to find out the right approach to solve the problems if they lack the

consciousness of professional development, the desire of active learning, and the ability of profound

introspection, and if they do not learn from others’ experience or ask experts’ advice.

Obviously, action learning which is centered on problems is just the starting point for the development of

teachers in higher vocational colleges. There are various interests in different professions, so the same problem

encountered is bound to have a different understanding. Even if the same person faces the same problem,

he/she will have a totally different understanding because of different locations and time. Therefore, in team

learning, it is very important to have a personal independence for every teacher in higher vocational colleges.

Only teachers remain independent consciousness and take active participation, action will be conducted,

introspection will be in effect, and learning will be started.

Conclusion

In summary, we believe that combining with working and professional features of teachers in higher

vocational colleges, it is a feasible choice to have a project based on real problems as the core and a team of

task-oriented action learning. Here, “experience-introspection-action” are interrelated basic elements to achieve

individual development of teachers in higher vocational colleges and mutual development of learning teams. A

nonlinear cyclic process exists between these elements. Through deep introspection on the past and present

experience, teachers in higher vocational colleges have the specific grasp of real problems, take actions in

specific projects and tasks, and finally solve problems.

References Chi, Q. C. (1980). Parsons and social action theory. Social Sciences Abroad, 10, 61-63. Habermas, J. (1989). Communication and the evolution of society. Chongqing: Chongqing Press. Jia, C. Z. (2005). The foreign history of sociology. Beijing: China Renmin University Press. McNulty, N., & Canty, G. R. (1995). Proof of the pudding. Journal of Management Development, 1, 53-66. Pedler, M. (1991). Action learning in practice. Aldershot, U.K.: Gower Publishing Ltd.. Revans, R. W. (1971). Developing effective managers. New York, N.Y.: Praeger. Wang, Y. L. (2006). Between philosophy and politics: Hannah Arendit’s political philosophy research (Ph.D. dissertation, Fudan

University, Shanghai). Xinhua Dictionary. (1985). Beijing: The Commercial Press. Yang, E. (2009). Why Brewer Arendt is important? Nanjing: Yilin Press.


Pragmatic Analysis on Conflict Talk

Ma Yan-hong

Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China

Conflict talk, as a common social and cultural phenomenon, is an important subject of discourse analysis. This

paper discusses the different definitions of conflict talk, summarizes researches of scholars at home and abroad, and

analyzes the pragmatic functions of conflict talk with examples, intended to see its diversity of terminology and

research perspectives. Finally, the paper explores pragmatic analysis of conflict talk in the future study.

Keywords: conflict talk, pragmatic analysis, definition, diversity

Introduction

For a long time, cooperative and polite conversational behavior in speech communication is the focus of

pragmatics, while little attention is paid to the noncooperation—the impoliteness, in the conflict speech acts.

Conflict and ease, which are ubiquitous in interpersonal relationships, are not only the two common states of

interpersonal communication, but also a game of illocutionary force in different speech acts, word choices, and

contexts (Ran, 2010).

Research on conflict talk, as a cross research, which involves cognitive linguistics, sociology, pragmatics,

and other disciplines, is based on the integration of information resources in every subject. Research on conflict

talk faces the reality, attempting to guide the verbal communication in people’s interpersonal relationships, so

as to build a harmonious interpersonal relationship and form a benign interpersonal interaction.

Related Research

In 1962, Z. S. Harris, an American structural linguist, was the first to use the term “discourse analysis”.

Since then, many scholars, from many disciplines, such as sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and psycholinguistics,

conduct research on linguistic analysis, and discourse analysis has also become a booming cross-discipline. As

the research on discourse analysis explored by many scholars and researchers at home and abroad deepens,

discourse analysis of conflict has become one of the focuses of these studies.

Firstly, definitions of the term are varied in different angles. Various scholars, at home and abroad, present

different definitions of conflict talk from different angles. Some representatives are as follows: Grmishaw

(1990) defined it as “conflict talk” (as cited in Ran, 2010); Krainer (1988) referred to it as “verbal discord”;

Schiffrin (1985) gave it the definition of “oppositional argument” (as cited in Ran, 2010); and so on.

In domestic research, different definitions were also found, such as “conflict talk”, “confrontational

discourse”, and “opposing discourse”. Diversity of the term definition can not only show varying degrees of

This paper is the stage research of “Pragmatic Study of Conflict Talk in English and Chinese Discourse” (No. XSK201318) of the Qufu Normal University Philosophy and Social Science Program.

Ma Yan-hong, M.A., lecturer, Department of Foreign Language Teaching, Qufu Normal University.

DAVID PUBLISHING

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PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS ON CONFLICT TALK

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conflict and differences of scopes, but also illustrate that conflict sometimes becomes sharp, and it sometimes

manifests the quality of ease only to show the speaker and hearer’s different opinions.

Literature review shows that specific research on conflict talk by scholars and researchers, at home and

abroad, are vey limited, because many studies, as unilateral isolated analysis, are more scattered in

socio-linguistics and some linguistic studies (Grimshwa, 1990). These different terminologies reflect the

specific usages of conflict talk, that is to say, they have different concerns and emphases in different

contexts.

Diversity of the same phenomenon reflects the variety of conflict context, and the corresponding impact

and change happen with the changes of different contexts. Therefore, it can be easily seen that there is a wide

range of disputes about definitions of conflict talk and its scope, and thus systematical research on conflict talk

is particularly important, which hopes to provide a sufficient basis and foundation for pragmatic study of

conflict talk. All in all, conflict talk is some kind of confrontation or dispute in choice of words arising out of

the speaker and the hearer’s disagreement. This is a dynamic process with mutual cooperation between the two

sides of speech act. This is consistent with bi-directional characteristics of the conflict talk.

Secondly, a comparison is made between the spaces of research on conflict talk at home and abroad.

Foreign conflict talk research achievements are embodied in the proceedings entitled “Conflict Talk:

Sociolinguistic Investigations of Arguments in Conversations” by Grimshwa (1990), which included 12

published papers by the conflict talk researchers from around the world. The research initially focused on the

structural feature of language in different speech events (argument, debating, contradiction, etc); later,

researchers gradually began to focus on linguistic strategies with which conflict can be induced or avoided. In

general, some scholars argue about the structure and composition of conflict talk, while some others are

interested in language and social interaction features of conflict talk. This shows that the conflict talk studies

abroad have been very intense.

Compared with foreign research status, analyses on conflict talk started late in China. Zhao (2004)

revealed the construction of conflict and deepened the conflict talk analysis by observing, describing, and

explaining the conflict talk with the help of structural analysis. Pragmatic study of conflict talk in China mainly

involves the theory of linguistic adaptation put forward by Verschueren (2000). Jia’s (2007) study, on the

discourse analysis of the causes of conflict, suggested that conflict talk, as the choice of a dynamic language, is

the result of ignoring the contextual factors. The study also discussed the role of conflict talk generated. The

shortage of the research is that the contextual factors of conflict talk are widely scoped, so it is no easy to

effectively reveal the dynamic causes of conflict talk. These above studies laid foundations for further studies

on conflict talk, but the pragmatic principles and interpersonal constraints about the initiation, sharp, and end of

conflict talk have not been involved yet. At the same time, although some studies involve pragmatics analysis

of conflict talk, but they only analyze simply according to Western principles of politeness and cooperation,

which is lack of specific pragmatic principle in Chinese context. These achievements are not in competition

with the research by scholars abroad either in breadth or depth.

Pragmatic Function of Conflict Talk

A speaker and a hearer do not just use conflict talk for quarrels, but to achieve a particular communication

purpose, which illustrates that there are pragmatic principles of the use of conflict talk, and its function is

subject to the specific influence of pragmatic constraints and interpersonal communication.


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Outlet for Negative Feelings

Devito (2007) pointed that “Both sides are prone to generate negative emotions such as anger, resentment,

dissatisfaction, disappointment in interpersonal conflicts”. In this case, one communicator will vent his/her

frustration or anger through conflict talk, thereby reducing the accumulation of these emotions in the heart and

the chance to produce more conflict, which in a way is conducive to the long-term relationship between the

parties. The function of rhetorical questions, without doubt, is to increase the semantic meaning or express

censure (Wang, 1985). Denial, blame, criticism, complaints, protests, and other negative aspects in rhetorical

questions play an important role in the context of the conflict. Taking the following example as an instance,

Haiping (a television character in Dwelling Narrowness) vented her negative emotions to her husband by using

a combination of rhetorical questions and direct contradiction:

(Haiping and Su Chun did some shopping in the supermarket, Su Chun lost a coin for the bag depositing. Haiping quarreled with Su Chun because of the lost dollar).

Haiping: You go to get the money back. Do not come back if you cannot find it! Su Chun: Is not that one dollar? It has been lost, and you cannot make me go to hell? Haiping: You get it back! Su Chun: Why are you always nagging? Nagging all the time on the way. Now, I am warning you, you have really

got to stop this now! Haiping: Take a good look at yourself, without capabilities what did you contribute to this family? Why did you get

married? How dare you quarrel with me as you really could not support your wife and kids! I was thinking, how could I marry someone like you!

Haiping used two rhetorical questions to refute her husband. Through conflict talk, Haiping expressed her

strong dissatisfaction, complained about her husband, and made him more aware of her feelings, in order to

vent her negative emotions.

Maintenance of Identity

Identity and face are closely interlinked and inseparable. Spencer-Oatey (2007) pointed out that a close

relationship between identity and face is found from the perspective of identity theory. It has been seen that

because identity and face closely intertwine, maintaining identity in communication is to keep and lift one’s

face. At the same time, saving face is the process of maintaining identity. One party in conflict turns to conflict

talk to question, criticize the other, and damage the other party’s image, so as to safeguard his/her own positive

identity.

(Haiping lost her newly-bought bike and very distressed. After returning home, she found that Su Chun was smoking, so she was furious, and conflict happened.)

Haiping: You quickly quit smoking! Su Chun: What hobbies do I have in addition to smoking? Haiping: Why did not you like earning money? Why did not you like doing business? Why cannot you promote to be

rich? After graduation till now, you even have not been a section chief. I have not been promoted, because I have to bear children. What have you done?

Haiping was very angry because her bike was stolen, so her accumulated anger exploded towards

her husband. She adopted negative evaluation language and showed that she was different from her husband

with having children as an excuse for her failure of promotion to maintain and enhance her own image and

face.


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Future Pragmatic Study

Firstly, further studies are to be explored about some specific factors, such as age, power, gender, etc., that

play different roles in conflict talk in different contexts. English and Chinese conflict talk have different

contexts, and the comparison is going to be made to better understand the social pragmatic mechanism in

Chinese context.

Secondly, conflict talk is commonly associated with impoliteness. Courtesy is the care of others’ face. In

communication, a speaker uses politeness to maintain and enhance the social relations between the two sides.

However, the principle of cooperation and politeness are based on the Western philosophy by Western

philosophers. Further research is needed to explore whether these principles fit traditional Chinese culture and

Chinese structure. There is still a wide range of exploration of the differences of pragmatic variety, initiation,

end of conflict talk between Chinese and English conflict talk.

Finally, previous studies concerning language power are mostly concentrated on the party who is in the

dominant position in communication, and especially focused on what kind of strategies or methods one used in

order to maintain his/her dominant position. Therefore, comprehensive and in-depth analysis in the subsequent

research about the various strategies used by both parties can better guide people to use strategies or positive

means to achieve better communication effect, maintain harmonious interpersonal relationships, and expand the

depth of pragmatics study of conflict talk.

Conclusion

In summary, the triggering, upgrading, and ending of conflict talk in different stages reflect the systematic

characteristics in specific context. Specific research under the theory of pragmatics is needed to find the

different context mechanism and systematic characteristics in various stages. At the same time, research on

conflict study can guide people in real-life communication and eliminate unnecessary conflict to achieve better

communication results.

References Devito, J. A. (2007). The interpersonal communication book (10th ed.). Beijing: Peking University Press. Grimshaw, A. D. (1990). Conflict talk: Sociolinguistic investigations of arguments in conversations. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge

University Press. Harris , Z. S. (1952). Discourse analysis. Language, 28, 1-30. Jia, J. T. (2007). A pragmatic study on conflict talk—An adaptation approach (Master’s thesis, Shanxi University). Krainer, E. (1988). Challenges in a psychotherapy group. Proceedings of The Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley

Linguistic Society. Berkeley, C.A.: Berkeley Linguistics Society. Ran, Y. P. (2010). Overview of pragmatic studies about conflict talk. Foreign Language Education, 1, 1-6. Schiffrin, D. (1985). Everyday argument: The organization of diversity in talk. In T. A. Van Dijk (Ed.), Handbook of discourse

analysis (pp. 35-46, Vol.3: Discourse and Dialogue). London, U.K.: Academic Press. Spencer-Oatey,H. (2007). Theories of identity and the analysis of face. Journal of Pragmatics, 4, 639-656. Verschueren, J. (2000). Understanding pragmatics. Beijing: Beijing Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Wang, L. (1985). Modern grammar of Chinese. Beijing: The Commercial Press. Zhao, Y. L. (2004). Conflict talk analysis. Foreign Language Research, 5, 37-42.

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