研究項目Projects

The Design of Technology-enhanced Vocabulary Learning: A Research Synthesis

Several recent meta-analyses have confirmed the effectiveness of technology-enhanced vocabulary learning, but it remains unclear which technology-enhanced instructional activities work best. We therefore conducted a research synthesis that retrieved 1,221 journal articles published between 2010 and 2020 based on keyword searches on PsycInfo, and 135 of them met our inclusion criteria. The synthesis focused on three topics – learning strategies, design features, and major learning theories used in technology-enhanced learning activities – and yielded three major findings. First, while cognitive strategies are promoted in technology-enhanced learning environments, designers of such environments should consider promoting other types of learning strategies, especially affective and social ones. Second, instructional activities normally promote noticing, and overlook productive use and elaboration; and third, the design of technology-enhanced learning should be theory-driven.

Developing Pre-service Teachers’ Classroom-talk Competency through Video Visualisation (completed)

Microteaching is an important pedagogical approach to developing pre-service teachers’ core professional knowledge. In our current TDG, we developed a technology-enhanced microteaching model, which includes peer review and reflection, to enhance pre-service teachers’ core pedagogical skills. One thing we have noticed is that, while students have improved their skills in general, their classroom-talk competency has remained unaffected. More specifically, their perceptions of the classroom talk that occurs during their microteaching does not always accurately reflect what is happening or align with teacher comments and peer reviews. To solve this problem, we propose to include video visualisation technology to accurately capture classroom talk and thus facilitate students’ reflection. TDG funding will be used, first, to add functions to our current video visualisation technology; i.e., we currently use manual coding to analyse classroom interaction, but these funds would enable us to employ a combination of machine transcription and human coding. Second, it will be used to evaluate the use of such technology in three teacher-education courses in the Faculty of Education at HKU. Our training model with video visualisation technology will be shared with the teacher-training programmes in the Faculty of Education at the end of the project. The success of this project will be measured via: 1) an expert review of our training model; 2) students’ learning outcomes, i.e., change in the quality of their classroom talk and reflection; and 3) student feedback about the video visualisation technology.

Facilitating Peer Review and Reflection through Technology (completed)

Alongside a paradigm shift towards practice-based learning in teacher education, micro-teaching is an increasingly important pedagogical approach to developing preservice teachers’ core professional Alongside a paradigm shift towards practice-based learning in teacher education, micro-teaching is an increasingly important pedagogical approach to developing preservice teachers’ core professional knowledge. Yet, best practices for the design of micro-teaching activities remain largely unexplored. The proposed project will therefore develop a technology-enhanced micro-teaching model, incorporating two activities – peer review and reflection – that have previously been found highly beneficial to the development of preservice teachers’ practical knowledge, and it aimed at cultivating next-generation reflective practitioners.