- International Journal of Technology and Engineering

Transcription

International Journal of Technology and Engineering Education
Editor
Associate Editor
Assistant Editors
Publication Committee
David W. S. Tai
Hungkuang University, Taiwan
Chih-Feng Chuang
National Changhua University of Education, Changhua, Taiwan
David F. S. Chen
Joseph C. Chen
Iowa State University, Iowa, U.S.A.
Jia-Ling Chen
Yen-Ling Yeh
Chi-Cheng Chang
National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
Huo-Tsan Chang
Chien Chou
National Chiao Tung University, Hsinshu, Taiwan
Lance N. Green
The University of New South Wales, Australia
Norbert Grünwald
Wismar University of Technology, Business and Design, Germany
Jeou-Shyan Horng
Jinwen University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
Fei-Bin Hsiao
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
Hsi-Chi Hsiao
Cheng Shiu University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Yoau-Chau Jeng
Ming H. Land
Appalachian State Universi ty, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Steven Lung-Sheng Lee
Shi-Jer Lou
National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan
Sam Stern
The new School of Education, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, U.S.A
Chuen-Tsat Sun
National Chiao Tung University, Hsinshu, Taiwan
Shir-Tau Tsai
Kuo-Hung Tseng
Mei-Ho Institute of Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan
Clyde A. Warden
National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
Copyright © 2007 Association of Taiwan Engineering Education and Management (ATEEM)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Association of
Taiwan Engineering Education and Management (ATEEM). Published on December 31st, 2007
2007, Vol.4 No.2
Contents
Articles
Automatic Classification of Technical English Articles in Blogs Using Backpropagation
Neutral Network
By Shu-Chen Cheng ………………………………………………………………………. 1
Establishing Mobile Pipeline Monitoring and Management System for Educational Application
By Ting-Sheng Weng & Kazuo Sakai......................................................................................... 7
The Perceptions’ toward English Teachers and English Learning from Evening College
Students at a Technological University
By Ru-Chu Shih, Luke Huang, & Tien-Hsin Hsin………...….…............................................. 13
The Study of Instructional Design in a Chat Room Environment
By Wen-Yen Wang, Chao-Hua Li, & Chin-Chieh Chiang………………………………..…… 23
Authors Index ……..……………..…………..…………..…………………..………..….. 33
Submission Guidelines ……..………..…………..…………….………….…...………..… 35
2007, Vol.4 No.2
2007, Vol.4 No.2
Articles
2007, Vol.4 No.2
Int. J. Technol. Eng. Educ.
2007, Vol.4, No.2
Copyright 2007, ATEEM
Automatic Classification of Technical English Articles in Blogs Using Backpropagation
Neutral Network
Shu-Chen Cheng
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering,
Southern Taiwan University, Tainan, Taiwan
Abstract
The fast development of the internet as well as the sudden rise of the Blog, in which more and more people are posting
and sharing their learning experiences, has enabled easier capturing of key points through reading posts, which has also
helped to speed up the learning curve. However, when the amount of posts in blogs increase over time, even user
enquiries via search engines would be a waste of time, as it probably will not match what you’re looking for, and thus
results in reduced learning efficiency and motivation to learn. Therefore, an automatic document classification of Blog
articles is proposed in this paper. To classify the original technical English posts in Blogs, we utilize backpropagation
neural network, and divide the posts into four types: query, response, introduction, and garbage posts; and classify the
essence posts into a priority posts category, which helps users in reading them directly without wasting unnecessary
time in searching, thus improve learning efficiency as well.
Keywords: Document Classification, Backpropagation Neural Network, Blog, TFIDF.
propaganda by which the garbage text that wastes
database space could possibly be filtered to minimize
time and manpower. Thus, if there is no effective way to
handle the huge information, the amount of time and
manpower needed would definitely be significant. This is
how we proposed an efficient management classification
system, which can automatically collect the text
according to priority, via which the useful information
and knowledge can be successfully searched with ease.
This study contains the following sections: Section 2
Brief Origin of the Blog in Document Discussion, Neural
Network; Section 3 Study Method and System
Architecture; Section 4 Experimental
Results
and
Discussion; Section 5 Conclusions and Future
Development.
INTRODUCTION
As information technology has made continuous
advances, more and more technical information is kept in
real text form; where the technical information is usually
held in English. When a new technical term appears in
English, often, few people know what it means. Thanks
to the populated internet as well as the rise of the Blog,
more people tend to use it in writing posts. Some may
define these technical English terms, but the rest will be
organized, saved, and shared in private Blogs. The
internet comes with no timing, so spacing limit
management tasks, which increase with the increase of
traffic, becomes difficult to handle and results in
searching difficulties; i.e. when a student intends to
search for the definition of a technical term or English
grammar, it would take longer time to search for the
target information.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
So far, there are many documents related to the
classification system, which means the issue of
automatic text classification has always been researched
and discussed. The, two renown methods are: supporting
vector mechanism (SVM) (Chen, Lee, & Kao, 2004),
Decision Tree (Wang, Haralick, & Phillips, 2001), Naïve
Bayesian (Wang, Hodges, & Tang, 2003), Genetic
Algorithms (Liu, Lu, & Lee, 2000) , and Neural Network
(Farkas, 1993; Farkas, 1995; Paquet, 2003) that results in
excellent classification. On the other hand, the author has
probed into the characteristics of the text itself for study;
where, Wu and Chen proposed keywords in clusters.
Clusters of similar keywords together when adjusting the
number of keywords results in optimal identification and
minimum vector dimension. Meanwhile, Shi and Chen
proposed text based Information Extraction to Chinese
characters in order to retrieve the important information.
Currently, there are probably hundreds of millions of
Blogs available on the web. Almost everyone has his
own, which includes a self-introduction, mood diary,
description of what’s happening, learning notes and
albums...etc. Whenever users perform an enquiry via a
search engine, the existence of the huge amount of data
would take a lot of time, and the result may not
necessarily be what the user wants. Thus, it affects
learning efficiency and surely reduces the motivation to
learn. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a function
with auto classification when handling huge text content
and screening out the target information that the user can
search for in the shortest time, and hence to speed up
learning efficiency. As the text content in Blogs may
cover a wide range of knowledge and indexing of
technical English in classification shall be focused;
where, a lot of Blog content may not necessarily be
related to the topics or only with some advertising
As the text in Blogs is classified by the user, it is clear
for this part, but the response part could be nonsense or
1
Automatic Classification of Technical English Articles in Blogs Using Backpropagation Neutral Network
advertising. The issue of the text in classification is to
classify many individual text based on its class as
defined; i.e. to the text in the Blog, and it needs to be
divided into the published text into four types:
introduction, query, response and garbage (spam) so as to
achieve the purpose of automatic management. In this
study, we expect that the garbage text (spam) can be
isolated after classification. Besides, by using the
priority formula as proposed in this study in screening
out the text in priority into the priority zone from the
original texts of introduction and response, it is more
convenient for performing queries. In the mean time the
text in different priority can be segregated. The text
classification method as proposed in this article is
primarily to study and focus on the issue of the Blog text
in classification.
z
z
easy to use, share, and data management is
automatic.
Provides a super link in connecting to other
websites, which makes interactive learning
effective.
Provides students with electronic file service of
homework and scoring.
The Discussion of Blogs Applied to Teaching
In fact, the Blog stresses on information absorption and a
life style of sharing, which represents the writers' values
and belief, and is also a form of broadcasting media
centered by the writer himself.(Wu, 2005) It is where
many would collect personal learning experiences,
technical documents...etc. The text in blog content
enables the reader to take hold of the related key points,
hence reading them will speed up learning efficiency.
Many domestic scholars have used the Blog in their
teaching facilities, such as in the application of
after-school assistance, and a campus knowledge sharing
mechanism based on Web 2.0 mode in study (Chin ,&
Chignell, 2006; Marlow, 2006; Beeson, 2005) have used
the Blog as a part of the learning process in order to
improve learning effectiveness.
Introduction to Blog
“Blog” (Paquet, 2003) was developed by Barger in 1997
as a form or "weblog" on the internet, which is a
simplified discussion board site that posts users log-on
time in order or in reverse; and in the mean time the user
can publish and reply with their opinions. "Blog" is
either a verb or a noun. A person who keeps a Blog
website is called a "blogger"; the text published on the
Blog is called "blogging"; and to disperse, cluster related
text posts is called "blogosphere".
Term Frequency – Inverse Document Frequency
(TF-IDF)
While the Blog can be described as one or many
contributors' periodicals with direct text in description or
linking on the web, many blogs gather other
"descriptions" of multimedia, such as images and
audio/video. Usually a Blog website in construction may
include:
Here, we shall describe how to use a data retrieving
method in assisting users in the enquiry of an
introduction to scenic spots. Whenever users want to
express what he/she thinks after traveling, he can use the
PC and link to the internet where he/she can write and
allow other users to select various topics for response.
z
Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF)
is used in analyzing all the text content in Blogs and
calculating the weight ratio of keywords vs. posts. All
keywords of the text shall be given a specific weight
ratio.
z
z
z
z
z
Date of issuing -- the date and time of the text
issued.
Classification -- which category the text may
belong to.
Topics -- the main topic of the text issued.
Content -- the main content of the post as issued.
Response -- replies from readers.
Related links -- linking to other related websites.
Term Frequency (TF) indicates the number of times
keywords appear in the document. The frequency of
appearance indicates the importance of that term; the
higher the frequency, the more important it is, with its TF
defined as follows:
A Blog is different from the traditional web page,
moreover, it comes with many advantages as follows:
z
z
z
z
It is easy to publish new text. Usually when new
information comes up, it would go through a
simple discussion board via membership sign-in or
registration, and then it will be put on the Blog.
The Blog can be operated by users even without a
technical background and has become an easy tool
for experienced web writers.
The filters provided in the various blogs cover:
date, category and writers... etc...
Under most Blog platforms, the administrator
would invite and permit access to new writers,
which is easy to manage.
It provides a personal writing web space, which is
(1)
nj: indicates the frequency the keywords appear in the ai document.
nall: indicates the total frequency of the meaningful keywords appear in
the ai document.
Inverse document frequency (IDF) is defined as the
reciprocal of the frequency of the appearance of the text.
Keywords that appear in several texts indicates the
representative is lower. On the contrary, when it appears
in fewer texts, it would mean the keyword comes with
representative. The detailed IDF is defined as follows:
2
Shu-Chen Cheng
The concept of EBP refers to control output by the
auditor and feedbacks the deviation between actual
output and ideal output for the purpose of revising the
weight ratio of the network in order to approach the ideal
value, which is called EBP architecture.
(2)
N: indicates the total number of documents.
dfj: indicates the number of times the keyword j appears in all text.
TF multiplied by IDF: this figure indicates the weight
ratio of the keyword j in i document in revision; where,
the detailed TF-IDF formula is shown as follows:
(3)
The important idea here is that each keyword is different
in every text.
Neural Network
Originally, neural networks were proposed by
McCulloch and Pitts in 1943; then Rosenblatt developed
a series of perception learning rules in 1958, which were
verified by Minsky and Papert. Complicated logic
algorithm problems could not be solved, which left the
development of neural networks in a state of
embarrassment. Until 1986, Rumelhart and McClelland
had organized a PDP (Parallel Distributed processing)
research team and proposed the BPN method, which is
based on multi-layer network architecture, and was able
to solve complicated logic algorithm problems and hence
drove the study of neural networks, which has been
around for so long. BPN consists of two concepts:
(Multilayer perceptron, MLP) and (Error Back
Propagation, EBP). MLP is able to solve the problem
that the previous single layer perceptron could not do,
which was divided into an input layer, hidden layer, and
output layer with the common architecture shown in
Figure 1.
Figure 2: The Architecture of EBP
The desirek in Fig. 2 indicates desired output value;
while the dotted lines indicate that the Output Layer will
adjust weight ratio according to the deviation of the
Hidden Layer and Input Layer. The deviation function
Err is defined as:
(5)
Based on the steepest descent method in seeking the
optimal solution of Err, the adjusted weight ratio is
calculated as:
(6)
As BPN is able to train up the irregular non-linear
function, BPN shall be utilized in handling the document
classification in the discussion board in this article,
classify the document in discussion board based on the
weight ratio after being trained in order to achieve
effective management of the discussion board.
System Architecture and Study Method
For data retrieval, the most commonly used analysis and
comparison method for terms; i.e. most documents are
based on text in description, thus naturally the key of
identification would be based on text in judging whether
is a related text or its importance. Through the use of
TF-IDF in determining the importance of the term in text
and screening out by threshold in ranking the higher
score in priority for user's browsing or collecting into the
text in priority that the data retrieval base on term is
rather effective.
Figure 1: The Architecture of MLP
The data was keyed in from the Input Layer, and usually
the Input Layer will transfer the data to the latter layer
via the Hidden Layer by multiplying the related weight
ratio and obtaining the output value through a function;
and finally sent to the Output Layer. Here, the commonly
used formula is:
System Architecture
(4)
The automatic document management system
architecture as proposed in this article is called the
3
system architecture chart. It is mainly to classify the text
into four specific categories. The use of the number of
times the keyword appears in the text enables giving the
specific weight ratio according to the characteristics of
the number of times the keyword appears to represent the
feature of text so that it comes with different possibilities
of being distributed to where it belongs.
Figure 3: Recording Blog Text Using Metadata
Meanwhile, screening out the more important text via
IDF and the threshold of viewing, the user is able to
directly browse the text in priority, without wasting time
as it is retrieved one by one, so that the efficiency can be
achieved. The main purpose is to automatically screen
out the text in priority, which is convenient for the user
in learning and viewing. First we have to collect
keywords of technical English text and build a keywords
database; then train the weight ratio of BPN (Back
Propagation Network); where, the relationship of
category vs. characteristic value in training time is as
shown in Table 1.
Figure 4: Flow Chart of Classification System
Table 1: The Characteristic Value vs. Category
Type
IsFirstPost
CharCount
KeyWordCount
RepeatChar
AskWord
Q
TRU
shorter
more
less
more
A
EFALSE
shorter
more
less
less
Intro.
TRUE
long
many
less
less
Spam
TRUE
shorter
less
more
less
Proceeding BPN neural training of the characteristic
value of the collected text and obtain weight ratio so we
can classify them into four categories; then, via the third
step of the system screen out the priority from those
distributed into introduction and response; where, the
priority value formula as proposed in this article is as
follows:
Table 2: Normalized characteristic values in processling
Characteristic value
Normalize
IsFirstPost
0 or 1
Char
KeyWordCount
RepeatChar
AskWord
CharCount
Max(CharCount )
KeyWordCou nt
Document _ Length
(7)
RepeatChar
Max (RepeatChar )
AskWord
Max ( AskWord )
It is mainly via IDF weight ratio as owned by
summarizing the keyword in the text and obtains the
importance as well as the viewing number and the
number of recommendations in normalizing in order to
screen out the text in priority into the priority zone.
Whenever an original document was to be added to the
Blog, the system will carry out the first step,
pre-processing to the text by recording it in the initial
publication or the response. Meanwhile the topics,
content, author, and time of issue into the database is
recorded. Also, the total characters, number of times the
keyword appears, number of repetition, number of times
the inquired term appears and normalized are calculated,
as shown. <IsFirstPost> is the Booleen value while
<CharCount>,<KeyWordCount>,<RepeatChar>,
and
<AskWord> has passed, all are stored within the value of
0~1.
EXPERIMENT
This section divdes 4080 articles in the database such as...
into clusters of training and testing; and divides the text
into five groups by random numbers; where, four groups
are used as the training cluster, and the remaining one as
the testing text. Then, collect the text in priority. While,
in the intro and response text of the cluster, manually
determine 520 articles in priority the Essence text and
randomly distributed it into five groups via the exchange
of the testing group and training group as the training
cluster, and test it interchangeably until every group has
been tested. It is the BPN network structure as planned
by this experiment.
BPN was adopted in the classification of all text, with
five characteristic values; <IsFirstPost>, <CharCount>,
<KeyWordCount>, <RepeatChar>, and <AskWord> in
Metadata, as shown in Figure 3, and as input of BPN so
it can be divided into query (Q), response (A),
introduction (Intro.), and garbage (Spam), as shown in
Figure 4.
Table 3 Classified Number of Articles
Class Q
A
Intro. Spam
28
116 600
52
Test
Train 112 464 2400 208
Total 140 580 3000 260
4
Total
816
3264
4080
Essence
520
Shu-Chen Cheng
Proceed five times of BPN neural training with every
four groups as a cluster, and the experimental error rate
and iterative times can be seen from Figure 6 that the
error rate goes down when the iterative times reaches 40.
At this time, classify and test the cluster of the BPN
weight value from the result of five experiments as
shown in Table 4. The accuracy of the testing result of
the five groups is kept at about 95%. Then, proceed with
the priority in calculation of the intro and response type
text out of the completed test and classification, ranking
and obtaining the cluster of priority value. As there are
104 records text in priority in each group of testing
cluster, we decided to take the first 104 records in
ranking from the priority cluster for the discussion if they
belong to the text in priority as shown in Table 5. It is
clear the accuracy of the text in priority out of the testing
cluster of the five groups is about 97%.
CONCLUSION
In this study, we mainly utilize BPN in training technical
English text, and when the weight ratio of BPN is
adjusted to its error less than the threshold, the training
will be ended. While the system utilizes the trained BPN
network in classifying the technical English text, except
for the special exceptions made which enable the system
failure to be correctly judged successfully by the user, its
accuracy could achieve up to about 95%; i.e. the
classifying efficiency is quite satisfactory. Besides, the
accuracy of each text in priority via the priority formula
as proposed in this system is achieved by screening out
the testing cluster reaching up to 98%. From the result
of the system analysis, it is able to provide reference to
the user in browsing the text, which reduces the
searching time and speeds up learning efficiency.
The selection of characteristic value of text results
greatly influences the result of classification. When a text
whose characteristic value does not locate in the range as
defined, the system would possibly make a wrong
decision and cause an error in classification; thus, there
are still room for improvement, such as "What does the
text mean exactly?" or “Is the URL as published an
advertising URL or a valuable website for reference?
This is under the subject of Ontology discussion and
shall be a research target in future.
REFERENCES
Alvin, C., & Mark C., (2006). A Social Hypertext Model
for Finding Community in Blogs, Conference on
Hypertext and Hypermedia, 11-22.
Beeson, P., (2005). Bringing blogs into the classroom.
Quill, 93(6), 27-29.
Cameron, M., (2006). Audience, structure and authority
in
the
weblog
community,
International
Communication Association Conference, 1-6.
Chen, C. M., Lee, H. M., & Kao, M. T., (2004).
Multi-class SVM with negative data selection for
Web page classification, Proceeding of 2004
International Conference on Neural Networks, 3,
2047-2052.
Farkas, J, (1993). Neural networks and document
classification, Conference on Electrical and
Computer Engineering, 1, 1-4.
Farkas, J., (1995). Towards classifying full-text using
recurrent neural networks, Conference on Electrical
and Computer Engineering, 1, 511-514.
Farkas, J., (1995). Document classification and recurrent
neural networks, Proceedings of the 1995
conference of the Centre for Advanced Studies on
Collaborative research, page 21, 1995.
Liang, J. Z., (2004). SVM multi-classifier and Web
document classification, Proceeding of 2004
International Conference on Machine Learning and
Cybernetics, 3, 1347-1351.
Liu, C. H., Lu, C. C., & Lee, W. P., (2000). Document
categorisation by genetic algorithms, IEEE
International Conference on Systems, Man, and
Figure 5: BPN Network Structure
Figure 6: BPN Training Error Rates and Iteration
Table 4 Test Classification Result
TestGroup
FirstGroup
SecondGroup
ThirdGroup
FourthGroup
FifthGroup
Intro.
1.10%
1.10%
1.35%
0.86%
0.61%
A
0.37%
0.25%
0.37%
0.37%
0.12%
Q
2.21%
2.82%
2.94%
2.82%
3.06%
Spam
0.49%
0.74%
0.49%
0.37%
0.37%
Total
4.17%
4.90%
5.15%
4.41%
4.17%
Table 5: Essence Result
TestGroup
FirstGroup
SecondGroup
ThirdGroup
FourthGroup
FifthGroup
Essence Articles
0.00%
0.96%
1.92%
2.88%
1.92%
5
Cybernetics, 5, 3868-3872.
Wang, Y., Haralick, R., & Phillips, I.T., (2001). Zone
content classification and its performance
evaluation, Proceeding of sixth International
Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition,
540-544.
Wang, Y., Hodges, J., & Tang, B., (2003). Classification
of Web documents using a naive Bayes method,
Proceeding of 15th IEEE International Conference
on Tools with Artificial Intelligence, 560-564.
Paquet, S., (2003). Personal knowledge publishing and
its uses in research. Knowledge Board, 10.
Retrieved
May
29,
2003,
from
http://www.knowledgeboard.com/cgibin/item.cgi?id
=96934&d=744&h=746&f=745.
Salton, G., & McGill, M., (1983). An introduction to
modern information retrieval.
Wu, W. S., (2005). Using blogs in an EFL writing class,
The 2005 Conference and Workshop on TEFL and
Applied Linguistics, 426-432.
AUTHOR
Shu-Chen Cheng was born in
Taiwan, R.O.C., in 1966. She
received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees
in Engineering Science from
National Cheng-Kung University,
Taiwan, in 1989 and 2004, and the
M.S. degree in Mechanical
Engineering from The Ohio State
University, Columbus, in 1993.
Since 2004, she has been an Assistant Professor in
Department of Computer Science and Information
Engineering in Southern Taiwan University, Taiwan. Her
research interests include e-learning, artificial
intelligence and image processing.
6
2007, Vol.4, No.2
Establishing Mobile Pipeline Monitoring and Management System for Educational
Application
Ting-Sheng Weng* & Kazuo Sakai**
* National Chiayi University, Chiayi , Taiwan
** Meiji University, Toyoko, Japan
Abstract
This study used Embedded Visual C++ (EVC) and 1:5000 pipeline drawing of the Central Taiwan Science Park to
construct a mobile PDA engineering pipeline monitoring and management system to facilitate rapid repairs of the
pipeline, and further solve the delays of manual repairs by locating the position of errors in the pipeline. EVC is an
object-oriented program language, thus, future function enhancements can accomplish rapid implementation, meeting
pipeline monitoring requirements. It can be applied to industry allocation, production management, engineering
maintenance and implementation, management and analysis, as well as mobile learning, program languages, and
teaching and learning.
Keywords: Pipeline Engineering, Engineering Information Management, Engineering Monitor and Measurement,
Application of Geographic Information System, M-Learning
sewers database and maintenance and management
system information network” (Construction and
Planning Agency, 2001) applied GIS (Geographic
Information System) and information technologies for
the integration of plans related to the engineering
pipeline. All these reflect the importance of
engineering information management systems. This
study aims to establish an engineering pipeline
monitoring database and engineering database
management system for the Central Taiwan Science
Park, and explore the collection, maintenance, and
application methods of the engineering pipeline
monitoring database, which is established on the GIS,
in order to provide value-added and decision support
services, increase informatization, and facilitate the
management efficiency of the underground pipeline in
pipeline research and data management. It can be
applied
to
algorithm
methods,
engineering
management teaching and learning, and applied
technology education of action learning, and has effect
on actual park surveys and practical skills training.
INTRODUCTION
With development and popularization of network and
communication systems, real-time information
circulation is one of the important bases for decision
making in organizations and departments, and real-time
information circulation involves many software and
hardware systems, including information management
system implementation, information collection flow
processes, and the formulation and promotion of
information integration application methods and
strategies. The Taiwanese government and research
facilities, such as the Water Resources Agency,
implemented
water
engineering
information
management systems (Huang & Wu, 2000). In 2001,
Taipei County promoted the “Road Information and
Underground Pipelines Management Database
Construction Plan” (Taipei County Government, 2001),
which converted the digital terrain diagrams of some
township, and integrated public pipelines database,
underground pipelines database construction, road
information management system development,
educational training and software/hardware facilities.
In 2004, the project extended to the construction of the
underground pipelines database construction of
neighboring township, and incorporated engineering
management system development, education, and
training (Taipei County Government, 2004). The
sewage system (pipes and manholes) diagrams (Taipei
County Government, 2003) and sewage geology
information system (Taipei County Government, 2005)
were constructed in 2003 and 2005, respectively. In
2001, Kaohsiung City Government Public Works
Bureau promoted the “Public Pipeline Management
System Integration Plan”, with an integrated public
pipeline database, and conducted road excavation
information management (Kaohsiung City Government,
2001). I n 2002, Construction and Planning Agency's
LITERATURE REVIEW
Urban pipelines are important infrastructure of cities,
and can be considered the lifeline of cities.
Underground pipelines are closely related to national
economic growth and the development of society. To
satisfy public demands for drinking water and power,
countries around the world make efforts to improve
existing equipment and management methods,
introduce new information technologies, and develop
tap water pipelines and gas systems. GIS is an
information system that applies modern computer
graphics and database technologies to input, store,
compile, search, display, and output geographical
graphics and attribute data. Currently, many developed
countries have used GIS to help in the maintenance,
7
management, and analysis of pipelines, and integrate
management information systems to achieve better
management efficiency.
industry allocation management, production flow
management, industry technology education, and
engineering education are important.
Past literature optimized underground pipeline
planning and used FORTRAN to write software
(Pranesh & Johnson, 1995). Some scholars used neural
networks in the pipeline design (Baniotopoulous and
Preftitsi, 1999), and the optimization of pipeline
network configuration (Weng & Liao, 2005).
Fukushima et al. (2000) focused on gas pipeline
monitoring designed and improved monitoring
software for gas pipeline leakages. For the petroleum
pipeline transmission or gas pipeline monitoring,
scholars used other methods to study improvements
(Rejowski and Pinto, 2003; Fukushima et al., 2000).
Wang (2006) studies underground pipeline information
management system. Tian et al. (2006) studied the
urban underground pipeline information infrastructure.
Pipeline planning and distribution used GIS for
planning, thus, Feldman et al. (1995) used satellite
remote sensing data to analyze and determine the most
reasonable and low-cost planning route. As seen, it is
of great importance for pipeline design, as well as
optimal planning and management.
METHOD & RESULTS
Previously, pipeline data were manually plotted, which
is time-consuming and difficult, update speed is slow,
demand for storage space of relevant drawings and
graph cards is great, and searches are difficult, which
affects management and search efficiency. The goal of
a mobile PDA engineering pipeline monitoring
management system is to establish a search
management system for pipeline drawings, and a basic
topographic map data using a computer and network
technologies to match unified standards of the national
pipeline data. The pipeline drawings record data are
stored in computers, and GIS and MIS are used for data
management and application. With professional GIS
design, space attribute databases of different layers are
established, and nodes of spaces are connected.
Accordingly, the overall space structure would display
the pipeline network of the Central Taiwan Science
Park, providing auxiliary information system for
business planning. In the future, systems can be
expanded in stages for supporting leakage repair,
facilities maintenance, engineering management, and
pipeline monitoring to improve service quality and
operational efficiency.
When developing a new city, it is necessary to pay
attention to the planning and management of pipelines,
while the basic data for underground pipelines are the
important basis for urban planning, design,
construction, and management. Monitoring the
conditions of underground pipelines and establishing
underground pipeline information system have
significant meanings,
Thus, this study used EVC (Embedded Visual C++)
and 1:5000 pipeline drawing of Taiwan’s Central
Science Park, and an algorithm to design the mobile
pipeline monitoring and management system. The
algorithm of the system is described as follows:
Three points determine included angle, azimuth
angle, and distance (boundary)
In Figure 2, click or input the number of testing station
points, fixed points, and setting out points to
automatically calculate the included angle, azimuth
angle, and distance (Figure 2: the blue arc is the
included angle, the red arc is the azimuth angle, the
distance is from testing station point to setting out point,
and the angles are measured clockwise).
Figure1: Mobile PDA Pipeline Monitoring and
Management System
Testing station point: Position of measuring
apparatuses.
Fixed point: Given backsight point.
Setting out point: Given forward sight point.
and could achieve scientific management of
underground pipelines and bring significant economic
and social benefits to the cities. Thus, this study
designed a mobile pipeline monitoring and
management system (Figure1) for the pipeline design
of the Central Taiwan Science Park, allowing pipeline
repair personnel to increase repair speed by
immediately determining the position of a pipeline
problems through the mobile system. Taiwan has many
science parks where large high-tech enterprises are
located, thus, pipeline monitoring and maintenance,
The testing station point, fixed point, and setting out
point are the layers of the pile point, mapping control
point, control point, boundary point, or complementary
control point. Users can select three points in the
drawing, or an interface is provided for users to input
three points for automatic calculation of included angle,
azimuth angle, and distance (Figure 3: blue arc is
included angle, red arc is azimuth angle, and the
distance is from the testing station point to setting out
point, and the angles are measured clockwise), and the
8
Ting-Sheng Weng & Kazuo Sakai
testing station point, fixed point, setting point, and their
coordinates, are given.
and the assigned value of the D error is the Error of x
coordinate*cd length/(bc + cd + de + ef + fg + gh) is
rounded up, as shown in Figure 4:
Figure 4: Connecting Traverse
Figure 2: Three-point determined included angle,
azimuth angle, and distance
Closed traverse
Like a connecting transverse, it returns to point A, and
the error distribution method is the same as the
principle, as shown in Figure5:
Figure 3: Included angle and azimuth angle
Ray method
Figure 5: Closed traverses
Like the boundary method, the coordinates of the
setting out point are determined in terms of given
backsight fixed point, testing station point, included
angle of blue arc, and the distance between testing
station point and setting out point.
System operation menu
This system uses EVC to develop the platform, Figure
6 shows the system loading layer menu; Figure 7
shows the system pipeline query graph.
Connecting traverse
The operation menu examples set by the algorithm are
seen in Figure8, as point-to-point distance and an
azimuth angle operation menu, Figure 9 shows the ray
method menu, and Figure10 shows the menu of the
connecting traverse method. Figure 11 shows the
system using GPS (Global Positioning System) to find
the position of the pipeline:
The coordinates of C, D, E, F, G, and H can be
determined in terms of given A,B, and H coordinates,
and abc, bcd, cde, def, efg, and egh included angles
(blue arc), and bc, cd, de, ef, fg, and gh distance. If the
calculated H coordinates and given H coordinates have
errors, the error should be distributed in the calculated
point position. The allocation principle is [error* the
total length], and the assigned point positions include C,
D, E, F, G, and H. It is expected that the final H
coordinates and actual H coordinates are consistent,
9
Figure 6: Added and deleted system menu of layer
Figure 7: System pipeline query graph
Figure 8: Point-to-point distance and azimuth angle operation
10
Ting-Sheng Weng & Kazuo Sakai
Figure 9 Ray method menu
Figure 10 Connecting Traverse Menu
Figure 11 GPS positioning menu
which plays an important role in Taiwan’s economic
development in the 21st century, shall not be ignored,
as each link is important for the production flow of
high-tech plants.
CONCLUSION
Based on system validation, the mobile PDA pipeline
monitoring and management system can locate the
pipeline faults and the manhole nearest the fault
pipeline through GPS satellite, allowing pipeline repair
personnel to immediately repair faults. The pipeline
maintenance of the Central Taiwan Science Park,
This study designed a mobile pipeline monitoring and
management system to manage and maintain an
engineering pipeline, which is intended for the rapid
11
maintenance of important engineering pipelines, and
reduce the losses of pipeline faults and increase
Taiwan’s economic growth rate. As for education, this
research contributes to an algorithm method, industry
allocation management, mobile management teaching
and education, production flow management education,
industry technology education, and engineering
education.
Construction Plan for Taipei County, Taipei
County Government Department of Public Works.
Taipei County Government (2003), Diagrams for
sewage (pipelines, manholes), Taipei County
Government Department of Water Resources.
Taipei County Government (2005), Sewage Geology
Information System, Taipei County Government
Department of Water Resources.
Taipei County Government (2004), Road Information
and Underground Pipelines Management Database
Construction Plan for Taipei County, Taipei
County Government Department of Public Works.
Tian, R., Chung, W.J., Chu, C. (2006). Study on the
framework of the urban underground pipeline
information structure, Modern Surveying and
Mapping, 29(2), 14-16.
Wang, R.W., Liu, K.P., Fan, M., Zhao, H.T. (2006).
Design and Implement of Zhongshan Underground
Pipelines Information Management System,
Geospatial Information, 4(2), 38-40.
Weng H.T., Liao S.L. (2005), Hybrid Computation of
“Sewage
network
system
configuration
optimization model”, the 18th Environmental
Planning and Management Seminar.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author appreciates the comments of the review
committee. This project was financial supported by the
National Science Council under Grant No. NSC 932218-E-150-005.The authors would like to thank
Central Taiwan Science Park Administration Office,
Prof. Chia-ming Yan, and Mr. Chia-cheng Yan.
REFERENCES
Baniotopoulous C.C. and Preftitsi F.(1999). Influence
of the design parameter on the stress state of
saddle-supported pipeline: an artificial neural
network approach. International Journal of
Pressure Vessels and Piping, 76, 401-409.
Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the
Interior R.O.C.(2001). Installation of Sewer
Database & Maintenance Management System.
Feldman, S. C., Pelletier R. E., Walser E., Smoot, J. C.,
and Ahl, D.(1995). A Prototype for Pipeline Routing
Using Remotely Sensed Data and Geographic
Information System Analysis. Remote Sens.
Environ., 53, 123-131.
Fukushima, K., Maeshima, R., Kinoshita, A., Shiraishi,
H., Koshijima, I. (2000). Gas pipeline leak
detection system using the online simulation
method. Computers and Chemical Engineering, 24,
453-456.
Fukushima K., Maeshima R., Kinoshita A., Shiraishi
H., and Koshijima, I.(2000). Gas Pipeline Leak
Detection System Using the Online Simulation
Method. Computers and Chemical Engineering, 24,
453-456.
Huang, F.H., Wu, J.P.(2000). Web-Based Water
Engineering Information Management Support,
Collected Papers of 11st Water Resource
Engineering Workshop, 1-6.
Pranesh M.R. and Johnson A. S.(1995). Submarine
Pipeline Routing Software. Computer and
Structures, 57(2), 233-252.
Public Works Department of Kaohsiung City
Government (2001). The plan of public pipeline
management system.
Rejowski R. and Pinto J. M.(2003). Scheduling of a
Multiproduct Pipeline System. Computers and
Chemical Engineering, 27, 1229-1246.
Taipei County Government (2001), Road Information
and Underground Pipelines Management Database
AUTHORS
Ting-Sheng Weng is an
Assistant Professor of the
department
of
Business
Administration at National
Chiayi University, Taiwan. He
received his Ph. D. in Division
of
management
and
information science, Graduate
School
of
Advanced
Technology
from
Kinki
University, Japan in 2000. He had served as visiting
Professor at Meiji University in Japan from 2006
through 2007. His major research interests include
science technology and management, e-learning, MIS,
and
image
processing.
E-mail:
[email protected].
Kazuo Sakai is a Professor of
the school of Law at Meiji
University, Japan. He received
his DSc in Division of Physics,
Graduate School of Science from
Science University of Tokyo,
Japan in 1987. He had received
as visiting Professor at Lisbon
University in Portugal in 1999.
His major research interests
include information, education, innovation, and
thanatology. E-mail: [email protected].
12
2007, Vol.4, No.2
The Perceptions’ toward English Teachers and English Learning from Evening College
Students at a Technological University
Ru-Chu Shih*, Luke Huang**, & Tien-Hsin Hsin*
*
Department of Modern Languages, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
**
Department of Technology, University of North Dakota, USA
Abstract
This study aimed to explore evening college students’ needs and expectations toward learning English as a second
language (ESL) at a technological university in southern Taiwan. Semi-structured survey questionnaires were sent to
414 evening college students with 385 valid responses. Eight students participated in the in-depth interviews. The
results of the study indicate that evening college students tend to be low achievers in learning English due to lack of
motivation to learn, busy work and life, and aging; English teacher’s personalities and charisma, teaching methods, and
auxiliary teaching materials are important elements for enhancing students’ learning motivation; and listening skill is
considered the most important English learning need and writing is considered the least important skill for the students.
Keywords: evening college students, English as a second language (ESL), needs assessment, technological university
approach might harm or ruin the adult learners’
motivation and interest in learning a second language.
Therefore, to understand adult learner’s English learning
motivation and barriers as well as how to design and
offer appropriate language programs to meet the special
learning needs for all, especially for those who have left
the school, have become an important issue for the
English teachers of adult education.
INTRODUCTION
With the rapid growth of information technology and the
globalization of the world in the 21st century, it has
brought people to a new situation demanding continuous
lifelong learning, particularly learning English. In
addition, English language has become the most
powerful as well as a global language in the world
nowadays. More than forty countries use it as the official
language, which made English one of the most universal
tools of communication. Premier Yu of Executive Yuan
announced in 2002 that English should become the
official second language of Taiwan. Therefore, English is
not only a tool of learning new knowledge and a bridge
for interpersonal relationship, but also facilitates one’s
job, recreation, and cultural exchange. In addition, in the
national development project “Challenge for year 2008,”
Executive Yuan (2002) proposed plans for constructing
English living environment for our nations in order to
promote the nation competitiveness and thus to create a
global Taiwan. In the high-tech, knowledge-intensive
information era, the availability of high-quality human
resources is vital for competitiveness and success.
Furthermore, developing Taiwan into an island of science
and technology is also a gateway to the Asia-Pacific
region, the market of markets of the 21st century. Thus,
understanding multi-cultures and multi-languages has
become a necessary access to be a modern citizen.
Unlike day-school students, many evening college
students have left schools for a number of years and may
not have opportunities or sufficient time to use or study
English on a regular basis. In addition, returning adult
students may possess different psychological status and
attitudes in learning English due to their various life and
work experiences. Furthermore, due to the discontinuous
learning at schools and many other issues in relation to
their life experience and professions, evening college
students may encounter critical issues or difficulties in
learning English as returning students. As a result, many
English instructors may have had the similar teaching
experience of the low English competency and
proficiency of adult evening college students. Thus, it is
important to understand and explore the students’ desired
English teacher’s personality, teaching methods, styles,
and auxiliary teaching materials to enhance their English
learning motivation, needs, and expectations and thus to
assist students to learn English more efficiently as well
as to make English teaching and learning transaction
more effective.
Among the studies of adult education in Taiwan,
specifically on language education, most of the concerns
have been emphasized on adult literacy; in contrast, very
little attention has been paid to the study of the foreign
languages. Moreover, despite of the different
characteristics of learning styles, motivations, goals,
learning attitudes and situations between the adult
learners and school students, most of the English
teaching methods for the extension education follow the
same traditional models of teaching the young students.
With the previous frustrating learning experience, this
LITERATURE REVIEW
With the global economy, the knowledge management,
and the information era in the 21st century, it has become
increasingly important to improve one’s ability to
communicate in a foreign language, in particular English.
According to De Swaan (1995), English becomes the
language for international communication in almost all
domains. McArthur (1998) also pointed out, there is now
13
The Perceptions’ toward English Teachers and English Learning from Evening College Students at a Technological University
a widespread realization, and acknowledgement, that
English, in its various forms, has become “the most
universal linguistic entity that humankind has ever
known (p. 57).” Today, English is the language of world
politics, international trade and finance, of the Internet,
global communications, infotainment and the media, of
the world’s tourist, sports, and leisure industry, and of the
international scientific community–more than half the
world’s science journals are in English. Lin & Warden
(2000) addressed that English is the language most often
required in Asia, which results in many students studying
English simply because it is mandatory. There is a
growing concern that we have to make a very conscious
effort to improve proficiency in English throughout the
educational system. It is indispensable for Taiwanese to
have a good command of English, particularly if we want
to be a vital global participant. Thus, language as a door
to communicating and understanding other cultures is
crucial for students in every division of the university.
new knowledge, skills, or attitudes as well as increasing
their enthusiasm for further learning and developing their
skills as learners. Therefore, effective teachers must be
able to build bridges between a learner’s present and
desired ways of thinking within a discipline or area of
practice. In order to do so, teachers should not only
introduce the essential knowledge, but also engage what
learners already know and expand their ways of thinking
and knowing. Within this perspective, learning will occur
only when learners are able to demonstrate their
understanding (Pratt & Associates, 1998).
Regarding teaching materials and auxiliary teaching aids,
Lyman-Hager (1994) suggests systematic usage of
videos and interactive videos and makes a strong case for
“modern technology enhanced classrooms (p.223). Thus,
a capable English teacher should be able to incorporate
contemporary multimedia supports and material;
consider the classroom as a community for
communicative, learner-centered activity. Additionally,
Yin (2001) suggests that teachers should utilize
multimedia language laboratory, including audio-tapes,
video-tapes, paper pictures, and slides to assist teaching.
Hua (2001) also points out that the function of language
should cover as many social activities as possible,
including a variety of fields and domains for students to
learn.
Numerous studies have found that motivation is very
strongly related to achievement in language learning
(Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Gardner, 1985). Gardner
(1985) found that motivation facilitates learning, and that
generally any factors that motivate an individual to learn
will result in increased acquisition. In English learners’
learning process, there are a great number of factors that
may affect their learning outcomes such as the
environment, auxiliary teaching materials and tools,
motivation, and others. Motivation can also be regarded
as interplay between innate and environmental factors
(Lier, 1993). Language educators agree with admirable
unanimity on the supreme importance of motivation in
language learning. Thus, achievement and motivation are
closely related. Schools are not only places of learning
but also places for sorting out students and giving further
encouragement to those capable of learning the most and
the quickest (Campbell, 1974). To enhance students’
learning motivation, teaching methods, including
teaching activities, techniques, use of multimedia play an
extremely important role in English teaching and
learning. According to Chung and Huang (2004),
teaching method is the core of the class and teachers
should be able to find an appropriate and suitable method
for students and themselves.
To conclude, teaching and learning are the major
interactions in class between students and teachers as
well as the core of the whole class. English instructors
should be able to provide appropriate and suitable
techniques, instruments, and methods to teach students in
class in order to make this teaching and learning
transaction more effective, desirable, and joyful. In
addition, many studies indicate that there is no single
method suitable for any one class. As a result, English
teachers should be familiar with their own beliefs and
teaching styles and thus be able to master and blend all
kinds of teaching methods for students to obtain a good
level of teaching effects. In order to achieve these goals,
issues such as the teacher’s personalities, teaching styles,
teaching methods, and desired auxiliary teaching
materials, desired learning environment, learners’ needs,
and learning motivation should be investigated and
analyzed in order to obtain the in-depth and accurate
information and thus to provide appropriate strategies
and suggestions for teachers, practitioners, and policy
makers as references to enhance the quality and
effectiveness of English education.
In addition to teaching methods, the key of a successful
teaching and learning can be the interaction between the
teacher and the students. The role of a teacher for adult
students is considered as a facilitator, a mentor, and a
guide. English teachers should be familiar with their own
teaching styles and be aware of their teaching strengths
and weaknesses in order to adjust their teaching and to
provide the best teaching qualities to students. Mei (2001)
pointed out that English teachers should understand
students’ learning needs and possessed English
competency levels and be able to utilize a lot of teaching
methods, techniques, tools, and create a suitable English
learning environment for students in order to assist them
to learn, develop, and strengthen their English learning
abilities. Heimlich & Norland (1994) define teaching as
guiding and directing the learning process of acquiring
METHODOLOGY
The method of the study is quantitative and descriptive,
and consists of two phases: 1) the construction of the
survey questionnaire, the Delphi technique, and a pilot
study, and 2) the implementation of the survey
questionnaire and an in-depth interview. The collected
data were analyzed by the descriptive analysis,
One-sample t test, One-way ANOVA, and independent t
test of SPSS.
14
Ru-Chu Shih, Luke Huang, & Tien-Hsin Hsin
Their backgrounds and experiences were sufficiently
similar to the population for purposes of survey
questionnaire development.
Delphi Technique
When the draft of questionnaire was constructed, the
Delphi technique and a pilot study were administered
afterwards. The Delphi technique was used to validate
the content validity of the survey questionnaire. The
Delphi panel consisted of seven members of one male
and six females from either private or public universities
or colleges. The position titles and seniority of the panel
represented a broad range of experience in the field.
Three members of the panel had either served as
administrators or are currently serving as administrators
with a variety of experiences and expertise in the field.
There were 23 items in the survey questionnaire in
Round I, which gained all panelists’ consensus on the
importance of the contents of the statements. Especially,
Items A2 “A good English teacher should be patient” and
D1 “please rank your priority need of English four skills
in order” obtained mean scores of 5, indicating the
panelists highly agreed on the content of the statements.
Thus, the content validity of the survey questionnaire
was established when the Delphi members of the panel
were in consensus on the questionnaire. In addition, with
regard to the two panelists’ suggestions on the
descriptions of some statements, the researcher has done
a minor modification on these items after careful
examination and consideration. As a result, the Delphi
study was terminated due to the satisfactory statistical
results from the responses and analyses of the Delphi
Round I (Table 1).
Reliability of the modified survey questionnaire
Table 2 provides the statistical information on the
reliability of the modified survey questionnaire. The
sixteen items on the survey questionnaire obtained r
value ranging from .387 to .728, which indicated that the
correlation of item-totals were acceptable. The survey
questionnaire had a .904 Alpha coefficient of reliability
for the pilot sample (N=45), reflecting a high level of
internal consistency in the questionnaire.
Table 2: The Reliability for the Survey Questionnaire in
the Pilot Study
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
C1
C2
Table 1: The statistical results of responses on Delphi
Round I
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
A7
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
B10
B11
C1
C2
C3
D1
D2
Mean
4.8571
5.0000
4.7143
4.5714
4.5714
4.8571
4.5714
4.5714
4.5714
4.5714
4.2857
4.0000
4.4286
4.1429
3.8571
4.4286
4.7143
4.8571
4.2857
4.7143
4.7143
5.0000
4.8571
SD
.37796
.00000
.48795
.53452
.53452
.37796
.78680
.53452
.53452
.53452
.75593
.81650
.53452
.89974
.89974
.78680
.48795
.37796
.75593
.48795
.48795
.00000
.37796
Scale Mean
if Item
Deleted
68.3111
68.2889
68.3778
68.4000
68.4444
68.4000
68.2889
68.2667
68.4000
68.3556
68.3556
68.3111
68.4222
68.7111
69.0222
68.3111
Scale
Variance if
Item Deleted
32.583
33.483
33.604
33.882
33.889
34.336
33.983
33.927
32.745
33.325
32.780
33.401
32.749
30.574
32.749
33.674
Corrected
Item-Total
Correlation
.556
.713
.647
.591
.583
.509
.617
.642
.728
.707
.676
.645
.723
.520
.387
.597
Cronbach's
Alpha if Item
Deleted
.899
.895
.896
.898
.898
.900
.897
.897
.893
.895
.895
.896
.893
.908
.910
.898
Cronbach's Alpha= .904
Survey questionnaire
After validating the survey questionnaire through the
pilot study, the formal survey questionnaire was
completed. The survey questionnaire contains 23
five-point Likert scale questions regarding English
learning expectations and teaching and eight items on
demographic information.
Participants
When the validity and reliability of the questionnaire were
established, it was administered to the sample population.
Survey questionnaires were randomly distributed to the 414
evening college adult students at a technological university
in southern Taiwan. A total number of 414 evening college
adult students responded to the questionnaires and of 385
respondents answered the questionnaire (92%). Responses
of the survey questionnaire were analyzed by using the
Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 12.0 version
for Windows XP.
Pilot Study
Pilot study serves the purpose of pre-testing and
validating the questionnaire as well as establishing the
reliability of the questionnaire. A total of 45 evening
college adult students participated in the pilot study.
Interview
An in-depth interview was employed to obtain further
information regarding the students’ English learning
15
needs and perceptions toward a good English teacher. A
total of eight volunteer students participated in the
interviews. The response of the interviews were extracted
and analyzed in the last section.
4.6987 (Item B2 “English teachers should be outgoing,
flexible, and interacting with students”), indicating all
respondents have reached a high level of consensus on
all items on the survey questionnaire. In addition, the
standard deviations of all items among the 414
respondents were not greater than 1.00, indicating that
respondents did not have statistically significant
differences on the agreement consensus on all items.
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
Descriptive analysis of demographic information of
respondents
Table 4: The statistical results of the responses to the
survey questionnaire
In order to obtain more detailed information about
respondents, the first part of the survey questionnaire
was demographic information of the respondents. The
demographic information includes sex (male or female),
age (under 20, 21-25, 26-30, 31-40, and over 40),
education background (two year college, five year junior
college, vocational high school, and high school),
College (Agriculture, Management, Engineering, or
Humanity), program (two year program or four year
program), year of enrollment (freshman, sophomore,
junior, or senior), job (part-time, full-time, or none), and
English study hours per week (none, half an hour, an
hour, over two hours). There were 131 male students
(60%) and 154 female students (40%) responding and
providing valid responses to the questions. A total of 48
students aged less than 20 years old and 24 students aged
over 41 years old. These two groups of respondents took
up approximately 20% of the whole population. The
major distribution of students’ age was between 21 and
25 years old. The major groups of respondents’
educational background were vocational high school
(52.2%) and two year junior college (29.4 %). The
percentage of respondents of College of Management
took up 28.1%; College of Agriculture took up 36.9 %;
College of Engineering took up 27.8 %; and College of
Humanity and Social Sciences took up 7.3 % of the
population. Due to the small size of student body at
College of Humanity, it was rather reasonable to have 7.3
% of the respondents from that college. A total of 144
students were from the two-year program (37.4 %), and
241 students were from the four-year program (62.6 %).
The majority of the students were 164 freshman year
students (42.6%) and 171 sophomore year students
(44.4%). Given the fact that the English reading Class
and Listening and Speaking Class were only offered in
the freshman and sophomore year, it was not surprising
to see the greater percentage of freshman and sophomore
year students responded the questionnaire. Over 83% of
the respondents had either a part-time or full-time job.
Only about 17 % of respondents were full-time students.
In terms of hours of studying English per week,
surprisingly there were 43 students (11.2%) who studied
more than 2 hours of English per week. In contrast, there
were 85 students (22.1%) who did not study English at
all per week. In addition, 125 respondents studied
English for half an hour per week, and 132 respondents
studied for one hour per week.
A1 A good English teacher should possess
great communication ability in interacting
with students.
A2 A good English teacher should be very
patient.
A3 A good English teacher should be
open-minded, not too opinionated or
stubborn.
A4 A good English teacher should care for
students.
A5 A good English teacher should respect and
concern about student’s opinions and ideas.
B1 A good English teacher should possess
abundant professional knowledge.
B2 A good English teacher should instruct
lively with multiple sources and be
vivacious.
B3 A good English teacher should combine
general knowledge and life experience into
teaching.
B4 A good English teacher should be able to
use idioms, jokes, and slang to assist
teaching.
B5 A good English teacher should be
student-centered and discuss teaching
methods with students.
B6 A good English teacher should focus on the
accuracy and clarity of students’
pronunciation.
B7 A good English teacher should be able to
correct students’ grammar and vocabulary.
B8 A good English teacher should lead
students to do more recitations and repeats.
B9 A good English teacher should offer
students more individual and group
practices.
C1 A good English teacher should be able to
utilize multimedia and computer to assist
teaching.
C2 A good English teacher should choose
appropriate materials to fit students’ needs
and competency.
Mean
SD
4.7039
.51600
4.6468
.54476
4.5844
.54845
4.6078
.53952
4.5948
.57006
4.5169
.61267
4.6987
.47612
4.6779
.49493
4.5481
.58932
4.4987
.56883
4.4987
.61714
4.5429
.58529
4.5325
.58149
4.2701
.79042
4.0597
.86847
4.6000
.56917
N=385
Results of One-sample t test
The statistical information on One-sample statistics of
the survey responses (Test Value=3) obtained/reached
mean scores ranging from 4.057 to 4.7039 and standard
deviations ranging from .4761 to .8685, indicating that
all respondents have reached statistically significant
consensus on the importance of all items on the survey
questionnaire.
Table 4 shows the statistical results of the responses to
the survey questionnaire. The means of the sixteen items
on the questionnaire ranged from 4.0597 (Item C1 “Can
utilize multimedia and computer to assist teaching”) to
Table 5 shows the statistical information on One-sample
t test of the survey responses (test value=3) with
16
two-tailed significant level of .000 on all items,
indicating all respondents have reached statistically
significant level on the importance of the statements on
the survey questionnaire.
also no statistically significant difference between sex
variable and the statements of survey questions in Part II.
Finally, Factor C “Teaching Materials” obtained a t value
of .410, p< .05 from independent t-test, indicating Factor
C has no statistically significant difference on sex
variable. In other words, regardless of male or female
respondents, the degrees of agreement attitudes toward
the three part questions of the survey questionnaire are
similar.
Table 5: Results of One-sample t test of the survey responses
Test Value = 3
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
1.6522 1.7556
1.5922 1.7013
1.5295 1.6394
1.5537 1.6619
1.5377 1.6519
1.4555 1.5783
1.6510 1.7464
1.6283 1.7275
1.4890 1.6071
1.4417 1.5557
1.4369 1.5605
1.4842 1.6015
1.4742 1.5907
1.1909 1.3493
.9727 1.1468
1.5430 1.6570
Table 7 shows the statistical information on the age
variable from ANOVA analysis. The statistical results
indicate that Factor A “English teacher’s personalities”
obtained a p value of .285; Factor B “English teacher’s
teaching methods” obtained a p value of .530; and Factor
C “teaching materials” obtained a p value of .303. The p
values of the three parts are greater than the statistically
significant difference level at .05. Thus, the respondents’
age difference did not affect the responses to the three
factors of survey questions. That is, respondents with age
difference have reached a high level of agreement on the
importance of the statements of the survey questions.
In order to understand if there is any statistically
significant difference between the three domains of
questions and the sex variables from the responses of
respondents, the researcher administered the independent
samples t-test to examine their relationship. Table 6
shows the results of the independent samples t-test of sex
variables. Factor A “teacher’s personalities” indicates
that there is no statistically significant difference
between sex variable and the statements of survey
questions in Part I (t= .537, p< .05). Factor B “teaching
methods” obtained a t= .634, p< .05, indicating there is
Table 8 shows the statistical information on the
educational background variable from the ANOVA
analysis. The statistical results indicate that Factor A
“English teacher’s personalities” obtained a p value
of .075; Factor B “English teacher’s teaching methods”
obtained a p value of .347; and Factor C “teaching
materials” obtained a p value of .875. The p values of the
three parts are greater than the statistically significant
difference level at .05. Thus, the respondents’
educational background difference did not affect the
responses to the three factors of survey questions. That is,
respondents’ different educational background did not
affect their agreement on the importance of the
statements of survey questions.
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
C1
C2
t
df
Sig.
(2-tailed)
64.792
59.313
56.684
58.472
54.893
48.580
70.005
66.521
51.543
51.697
47.650
51.724
51.710
31.530
23.943
55.158
384
384
384
384
384
384
384
384
384
384
384
384
384
384
384
384
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
Mean
Difference
1.70390
1.64675
1.58442
1.60779
1.59481
1.51688
1.69870
1.67792
1.54805
1.49870
1.49870
1.54286
1.53247
1.27013
1.05974
1.60000
Results of One-way ANOVA analysis of demographic
information of respondents
p< .05
Statistical results of independent t test
Table 6: Statistical results of independent samples t-test on the three factors
Levene's
Test for
Equality of
Variances
F
Sig.
t-test for Equality of Means
t
df
Sig.
Mean
(2-tailed) Difference
Std. Error
Difference
95% Confidence Interval of
the Difference
Lower
A_fac
B_fac
C_fac
Equal variances
assumed
Equal variances
not assumed
Equal variances
assumed
Equal variances
not assumed
Equal variances
assumed
Equal variances
not assumed
.00
0
1.6
26
2.0
59
.985 -.618
.203
Upper
383
.537
-.13853
.22427
-.57948
.30242
-.622 336.038
.534
-.13853
.22265
-.57650
.29944
383
.634
.18182
.38133
-.56795
.93158
.473 319.233
.636
.18182
.38429
-.57425
.93789
383
.410
-.10173
.12324
-.34404
.14057
-.837 343.276
.403
-.10173
.12153
-.34076
.13730
.477
.152 -.825
17
Table 7: Statistical information on the age variable from
ANOVA analysis
A_fac
B_fac
C_fac
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Sum of
Squares
df
Mean
Square
F
Sig.
17.634
3
5.878
1.270
.285
1764.070
381
4.630
1781.704
384
29.756
3
9.919
.738
.530
5119.350
381
13.437
5149.106
384
5.109
3
1.703
1.217
.303
533.317
381
1.400
538.426
384
statistically significant difference level at .05. Thus, the
respondents’ college difference did not affect the
responses to the questions in Factors 1 and 2. That is, the
students from different colleges have reached a high
level of agreement on the importance of the statements of
the questions of Factors 1 and 2. Rather, there is a
significant difference between the college variable and
the Factor C “teaching materials.”
Table 10 shows the statistical information on the
program variable from ANOVA analysis. The statistical
results indicate that Factor A “English teacher’s
personalities” obtained a p value of .632; Factor B
“English teacher’s teaching methods” obtained a p value
of .302; and Factor C “teaching materials” obtained a p
value of .929. The p values of the three parts are greater
than the statistically significant difference level at .05.
Thus, the respondents’ program difference did not affect
the responses to the three factors of survey questions.
That is, the students in both two-year program and
four-year program have reached a high level of
agreement on the importance of the statements of the
survey questions.
Table 8: Statistical information on the educational
background from ANOVA analysis
A_fac
B_fac
C_fac
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Sum of
Squares
df
Mean
Square
F
Sig.
31.912
3
10.637
2.316
.075
1749.792
381
4.593
1781.704
384
44.366
3
14.789
5104.741
381
13.398
5149.106
384
.974
3
.325
537.451
381
1.411
538.426
384
1.104
.347
.230
.875
Table 10: Statistical information on the program variable
from ANOVA analysis
Sum of
Mean
Squares
df Square
F
Sig.
A_fac Between
1.071
1
1.071 .230 .632
Groups
Within
1780.633 383 4.649
Groups
Total
1781.704 384
B_fac Between
14.342
1 14.342 1.070 .302
Groups
Within
5134.764 383 13.407
Groups
Total
5149.106 384
C_fac Between
.011
1
.011
.008 .929
Groups
Within
538.415 383 1.406
Groups
Total
538.426 384
Table 9: Statistical information on the college variable
from ANOVA analysis
A_fac
B_fac
C_fac
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Sum of
Squares
df
Mean
Square
F
Sig.
33.748
3
11.249
2.452
.063
1747.956
381
4.588
1781.704
384
25.652
3
8.551
.636
.592
5123.455
381
13.447
5149.106
384
28.281
3
9.427
7.040
.000
510.145
381
1.339
538.426
384
Table 11 shows the statistical information on the year of
study variable from ANOVA analysis. The statistical
results indicate that Factor A “English teacher’s
personalities” obtained a p value of .436; Factor B
“English teacher’s teaching methods” obtained a p value
of .249; and Factor C “teaching materials” obtained a p
value of .055. The p values of the three factors are
greater than the statistically significant difference level
at .05. Thus, the students’ year of study difference did
not affect the responses to the three factors of survey
questions. In other words, the students in all years,
including freshman year, sophomore year, junior year,
and senior year have reached a high level of agreement
on the importance of the statements of the survey
questions.
Table 9 shows the statistical information on the college
variable from ANOVA analysis. The statistical results
indicate that Factor A “English teacher’s personalities”
obtained a p value of .063, and Factor B “English
teacher’s teaching methods” obtained a p value of .592.
The p values of Factors 1 and 2 are greater than the
18
The statistical results indicate that Factor A “English
teacher’s personalities” obtained a p value of .342;
Factor B “English teacher’s teaching methods” obtained
a p value of .997; and Factor C “teaching materials”
obtained a p value of .992. The p values of the three parts
are greater than the statistically significant difference
level at .05. Thus, the respondents’ job variable did not
affect the responses to the three factors of survey
questions. That is, whether the students have no jobs, or
have part-time jobs or full-time jobs, they have reached a
high level of agreement on the importance of the
statements of the survey questions.
whether the students spend no time, half an hour, one
hour, or two hours on studying English per week
(regardless how much time the students spend on
studying English per week), they have reached a high
level of agreement on the importance of the statements of
the survey questions.
Analysis of the students’ needs for English four skill
learning
Table 13 shows the statistical results of the Part IV
Teaching Content, Question 1 “Please rank the English
four skill learning needs from 1 to 4 (1=very important;
4=least important)”. There was one respondent who did
not answer to the question. The statistical information of
responses for Part IV: Question 1 was listed in Table 13
as follows. According to the statistical results, the four
English skills (Speaking, Listening, Reading, and
Writing) obtained mean scores of 1.8303, 1.7990, 2.6867,
and
3.6841
with
standard
deviations
of .8057, .8274, .8256, and .7840 respectively, indicating
that the students consider listening as the most important
English skill to them, and writing the least important
skill among the four skills.
Table 11: Statistical information on the year of study
variable from ANOVA analysis
A_fac
B_fac
C_fac
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Sum of
Squares
df
Mean
Square
F
Sig.
12.688
3
4.229
.911
.436
1769.016
381
4.643
1781.704
384
55.331
3
18.444
1.380
.249
5093.775
381
13.369
5149.106
384
10.633
3
3.544
2.559
.055
527.793
381
1.385
538.426
384
Table 13: Statistical information of responses for Part IV:
Question 1
Listening
Speaking
Reading
Writing
Table 12: Statistical information on the hour of studying
English weekly from ANOVA Analysis
A_fac
B_fac
C_fac
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total
Sum of
Squares
df
Mean
Square
F
Sig.
4.749
3
1.583
.339
.797
1776.955
381
4.664
1781.704
384
16.478
3
5.493
.408
.748
5132.628
381
13.471
5149.106
384
7.943
3
2.648
530.483
381
1.392
538.426
384
N
383
383
383
383
Mean
1.8303
1.7990
2.6867
3.6841
SD
.80569
.82741
.82564
.78396
Correlation Analysis
In order to further test if the three domains of the survey
questions are related to each other, a correlation analysis
was conducted to obtain the results. Tables 14 and 15
show the statistical information on the correlation of
three domains of the survey questions.
Table 14: Statistical information on correlation of survey
questions
1.902
.129
A_fac
B_fac
C_fac
Mean
23.1377
40.7844
8.6597
SD
2.15403
3.66185
1.18412
N
385
385
385
Table 15: Statistical information on correlation of survey
questions
Table 12 shows the statistical information on the variable
of “hours of studying English per week” from ANOVA
analysis. The statistical results indicate that Factor A
“English teacher’s personalities” obtained a p value
of .797; Factor B “English teacher’s teaching methods”
obtained a p value of .748; and Factor C “Teaching
materials” obtained a p value of .129. The p values of the
three parts are greater than the statistically significant
difference level at .05. Thus, the students’ hours of
studying English per week variable did not affect the
responses to the three factors of survey questions. That is,
A_Fac
B_Fac
C_Fac
Pearson Correlation
Pearson Correlation
Pearson Correlation
A_Fac
1
.659(**)
.414(**)
B_Fac
.659(**)
1
.555(**)
C_Fac
.414(**)
.555(**)
1
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
The results of correlation analysis in Tables 14 and 15
show that the values of the three domains of the survey
questionnaire, including English teacher’s personalities,
teaching methods and styles, and auxiliary teaching
19
materials are Factor A and B with r= .659, p< .001,
Factor A and C with r= .414, p< .001, and Factor B and
C with r= .555, p< .001. That is, the three domains of
survey questions obtained statistically positive and
significant correlation at the .001 level (2-tailed). In
other words, the statements of the three domains are
closely correlated to each other based on the responses of
all respondents.
I like my English teacher because he is very funny. I
never want to skip his class (S1).
I enjoyed my English teacher’s teaching and jokes. He
always makes the class so joyful. My English grade has
improved a lot (S2).
I used to hate English subject and English teacher, but
now I like my English teacher and never want to skip
his class. I failed my English last semester with another
teacher, but now I am improving and feel so confident
(S3).
Results of the open-ended questions on the survey
questionnaire
There are three open-ended questions in addition to the
16 close-ended questions on the survey questionnaire. In
this section, the results of the two open-ended questions
are analyzed and discussed as follows. After a careful
examination of all the responses to the open-ended
questions, approximately 60 % of respondents answered
the questions.
I like his teaching style and methods. He always tried
many different examples to explain grammar and
structures to us by using many life experiences or
current issues. In doing so, we can get a better
understanding of English grammar (S4).
I think my English has improved a lot. It is easier to
memorize vocabulary now than before. I like his
teaching (S5).
Question 6 “In addition to the above listed qualities,
what other personalities should a good English teacher
possess?” The summarized responses are: He or she
should be humorous, funny, and interesting; like to tell
jokes in class; be able to bring to the classroom a happy
and joyful atmosphere; provide a relaxing and vivid
teaching environment, and teach more daily life
conversation; have the experience of studying or living
abroad; never flunk students; understand and care for
students; have confidence in students; never give up on
low achievers, and possess a good command of English.
Question 10 “What teaching methods provided by your
English teacher can enhance your learning motivation
most?” A great number of the students indicated that the
most favorable teaching method of their English teacher
is the use of humor in the teaching for enhancing
learning motivation. Then teaching English songs is also
considered a good teaching method for enhancing
students’ learning motivation. The third most desired
method for enhancing students’ learning motivation is
English
movies.
Respondents
suggested
that
broadcasting foreign movies is also a desirable way to
enhance their English learning motivation. In addition,
building a relaxing, interesting, and interactive classroom
atmosphere is also considered a nice teaching method.
Finally, many students indicated that providing
vocabulary, phrases, and conversation of more daily life
use is also a good way to enhance their learning
motivation.
I never feel pressure in his English class. I enjoyed the
atmosphere which I cannot get from other classes (S6).
My English teacher also respects us a lot. Although he
played jokes on us sometimes, we always think he was
just trying to make the class vividly and joyful (S6).
I used to fall asleep in my English class a lot. But now I
like my English class and never fall asleep again (S7).
My English teacher always encouraged us and told us
a lot about his life and study experiences in the US.
Those experiences are very interesting and precious for
us to motivate our learning (S8).
In summary, the eight students pointed out some positive
influence by their English teacher as well as the
attributes and teaching methods that their English teacher
implemented to enhance their English ability, such as
respecting and encouraging students, playing jokes and
making the class joyful, and providing useful methods
for memorizing vocabulary, etc.
CONCLUSION
This study attempted to explore the evening college
students’ perceptions toward English teachers and
learning needs. The results of the survey questionnaire
and in-depth interviews are summarized and concluded
in this section. In terms of an English teacher’s
personalities, the evening college students expect an
English teacher to possess the following attributes: a
good English teacher should possess a great
communication skill in interacting with students; be very
patient; be open-minded; concern and care for students;
respect students’ opinions and ideas; be humorous, funny,
and interesting; like to play jokes in class; can bring a
Results of in-depth interviews
The researchers recruited eight volunteer students for an
in-depth interview in order to understand the evening
college students’ English learning needs and perceptions
toward English teachers. Some of the points from the
students are similar to the responses to the survey
questionnaire. Some of the important interview extracts
are translated into English and described as follows.
20
happy and joyful atmosphere to the classroom; use a
relaxing and vivid teaching method; have the experience
of studying or living abroad; never flunk students; never
give up on low achievers, and possess a good command
of English. Regarding an English teacher’s teaching
methods, the evening college students expect that a
teacher should possess: a plentiful professional
knowledge and skills, instruct with various sources and
be vivacious, combine general knowledge and life
experience into teaching, be student-centered and discuss
teaching methods with students, be able to use idioms
and slang to assist teaching, focus on the accuracy and
clarity of students’ pronunciation, be able to correct
students’ grammatical errors and vocabulary, do more
recitations and repeats, and offer more individual and
group practices.
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Different English Teaching Styles toward Students’
interactions,
Attitudes,
and
Vocabulary
Recognitions. In Proceedings of the 2004 English
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Pingtung University of Science and Technology.
Pingtung, Taiwan.
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Budapest, 28 Aug-Sep1, 10.
Gardner, R. C. & Lambert. W. E. (1972). Attitudes and
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MA: Newbury.
Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second
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CA: Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers.
Hua, H. F. (2001). A comparative study of motivations
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Peking University Press.
Lin, H. J. & Warden, C. A. (2000). Existence of
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Lier, L. V. (1993). Interaction in the language
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Lyman-Hager, M. A.(1994). Video and interactive media
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Mei, W. S. (2001). Some of the teaching problems to
non-English major students. Research on Teaching
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University Press.
Pratt & Associates (1998). Five perspectives on teaching
in adult education. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing
Company.
Yin, Z. H. (2001). Multimedia computers, internet and
EFL. Research on Teaching College English in
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Yu, (2006). The Introduction of Premier, Executive Yuan,
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http://www.cedi.cepd.gov.tw/aproc/html/index_e.
In terms of auxiliary teaching materials, the students’
attitude toward utilizing multimedia and computer to
assist teaching seem to have different opinions. Some of
them strongly agree that it is important, but some present
(an ordinary) a less positive attitude toward using
multimedia or computer to assist teaching. Most
importantly, the students indicated that choosing
appropriate materials to fit students’ English competency
and needs is extremely important. Additionally, foreign
movies, English songs, and games seem to be the
desirable auxiliary teaching materials for enhancing the
students’ English learning motivation. For demographic
analyses, the educational background, year of study,
hours of studying English per week, and age of the
evening college students did not have significant
difference on the three factors. Only the college variable
showed a significant difference on the teaching material
factor. That is, the students from different colleges
possess different perceptions toward the teaching
materials factor (was this mentioned in the above??).
Finally, regarding the English four skill learning for the
evening college students, the students pointed out the
importance of the skills ranked as the following:
listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
SUGGESTIONS
The results may provide useful messages and
information for English educators for improving their
teaching efficacy. Although the research procedures and
methods have been discreetly designed and implemented
through a series of statistical approaches, the results of
this study may not able to generalize to the entire
evening college students due to the study was limited to
the students in a technological university. Future research
may be conducted with a wide range of students and
English teachers from various universities or an in-depth
study on the relationship among the factors of being a
popular English teacher and the students’ English
performance.
AUTHORS
Ru-Chu Shih, Ph.D. He is an assistant
professor in the Department of Modern
Languages at National Pingtung
University of Science and Technology.
He received his Ph.D. from University
of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. His
research interests include TESOL,
educational technology, digital learning,
and vocational education. Email: [email protected]
REFERENCES
Campbell, D. N. (1974). On being number one:
21
Luke H. Huang, Ph.D. Dr. Huang
received his Ph. D. from Iowa State
University in Industrial Education
and Technology. Professor Huang’s
strong engineering and technology
education background provide solid
support in teaching manufacturing
courses such as industrial materials,
manufacturing automation system,
materials testing, facilities design, manufacturing
strategies, and lean ideas and practice.
Tien-Hsin
Hsin,
Ph.D.
Corresponding author, Email:
She
[email protected]
received
her
Ph.D.
from
University of Connecticut, USA.
Her research interests include
TESOL, Linguistics, Phonology,
Formosan languages (Aboriginal
languages).
22
2007, Vol.4, No.2
Wen-Yen Wang*, Chao-Hua Li**, & Chin-Chieh Chiang***
* Dept. of Information Engineering, Kun Shan University, Taiwan
** Dept. of Applied English, Hsing Kuo University of Management, Taiwan
***Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, Maryland, USA
Abstract
With the rapid rise of the Internet, and the gradual prevalence of Internet courses, chat rooms have been increasingly
used in e-instruction. This study establishes one online chat room, which is applied to animal e-learning in English
instruction for the fourth grade in elementary school, and instruction of this e-learning course applies Zone of Proximal
Development Theory and mental images on the framework of a modified concept mapping, so that the learner finds
ease and interesting in the process of learning and achieves good learning effects. The research participants are 43 grade
four students of certain elementary school in Tainan County. Be divided into the experimental group, 21 people (chat
room learning), and the control group (traditional learning), 22 people. By analyzing grades of pre-test and post-test, it
shows the chat room learning group performed a significant improvement as compared to the traditional learning group.
Keywords: Chat Room, Mental Image, Zone of Proximal Development Theory, Concept Mapping
client-end socket (Allamaraju, 2001). Each learner can
use the connection between the server socket and socket
to log in the chat room and see the learning screen. Then,
with the selection of concept mapping construct course
module, the learner enters the various stages of
knowledge classification, classification guidance, and
target knowledge (Nicholson, 2002). In the process, there
is guidance from peers or teachers, and can interact in
forms to confirm learning effects.
INTRODUCTION
Online chat room has become the most widely-used
application for business productivity and communication
(Kowalski, & Limber, 2007; Mileham, 2007). In this
paper, we modifies the concept mapping construct course
module (Novak, & Gowin, 1984) implemented on one
chat room to form a new learning module, and blends
Zone of Proximal Development Theory (Vygotsky, 1978)
and mental images (Dretzke, & Levin, 1990) in the
construct to enhance learning accomplishment for the
learner.
This study creates one online chat room, which is applied
to animal e-learning in English instruction for the fourth
grade in elementary school, and instruction of this
e-learning course applies e-learning framework and
concepts, so that the learner finds ease and interesting in
the process of learning and achieves good learning
effects. The study participants are 43 grade students of
certain elementary school in Tainan County. Be divided
into the experimental group, 21 people (chat room
learning), and the control group (traditional learning), 22
people. By analyzing grades of pretest and posttest, it is
an attempt to show the chat room learning group
performed a significant improvement as compared to the
traditional learning group.
As we know lately, elements such as sound, images, and
websites with instructional materials began to be added,
so that websites can show information that lets the
learner connect the knowledge he or she has learned, and
annotate such knowledge. Because of the new
instructional materials, E-learning is autonomous
learning conducted through online courses on the internet,
and is gradual prevalence of Internet courses (Levy, Y.,
2007). This also presents a new challenge to teachers
who follow the trends and use E-learning learning
models to help students engage in effective learning
(Kowalski, & Limber, 2007; Mileham, 2007; Levy, Y.,
2007). Actually, there are many applications to allow
free exchange of information on the Internet, for instance,
a chat room is one such application that provides this
function (Kowalski, & Limber, 2007; Mileham, 2007).
After users of the chat room log in, they can see their
friends online, and they just have to click on the name or
corresponding icon of their friend to automatically open
a chat window, so that the user can immediately interact
with friends, or a group of friends he or she would like to
talk to.
Additionally, this study uses multimedia image memory
based on concept mapping framework. The image
connects English vocabulary to pronunciation,
supplemented with multimedia images and multimedia to
help the learner remember vocabulary. This idea is that
the pictorial mental image strategy uses some media with
two-dimensional visual stimulation for improve learning
achievement. To describe the related work in details, the
e-learning concept and methodologies have been stated
in literature section. Research methodologies section
proposes the new concept mapping framework we use,
and how to apply Zone of Proximal Development Theory
and mental images in the framework. As mentioned
The chat room we created in this study uses server socket
settings in the server-end to receive requests from the
23
earlier, the framework and methodologies have been
implemented on one chat room. We describe how to
construct the chat room, and the learner how to use it and
interact with his or her teacher on experimental design
section. Eventually, this research utilized independent
samples ANCOVA analysis to identify the distinct
learning differences and achievements based on the
teaching methods used in the experiments.
instructional materials on websites can allow the learner
to truly learn the important points and meaning in
instruction.
Online learning combines the “e” of electronic digital
transmission, and “learning” of events and things (Koch,
& Schneider, 2000). Online learning is primarily
conducted through the curricular instructional models
transmitted by the internet, and includes three
characteristics: 1) content of instructional materials and
learning objectives; 2) using instructional methods to
guide learning; 3) allow the learner to construct effective
learning (Clark, & Mayer, 2003). The interactivity of
E-learning is another important part that connects
teachers, students, and instructional materials. Using
technological transmissions or sharing the learned
information can allow for teachers and students to
engage in instant conversations through leaving
messages in the discussion area or using the chat rooms.
This allows for achievement of three objectives of
interactive communicative learning, active learning, and
construction of knowledge.
LITERATURE REVIEW
With the rapid rise of the Internet, and the gradual
prevalence of Internet courses, chat rooms have been
increasingly used in e-instruction. This study establishes
one online chat room, which is applied to animal
e-learning in English instruction for the fourth grade in
elementary school, and instruction of this e-learning
course applies Zone of Proximal Development Theory
and mental images on the framework of concept
mapping, so that the learner finds ease in the process of
learning and achieves good learning effects.
E-learning
There are many ideas in online learning, also
“e-learning.” The environment with computers and the
internet provide an online learning system that conveys
contents of a learning course in a learning method, so
that the learner can have control over the environment
for adjustment of learning speed, to effectively learn
what one should learn. However, a good online learning
system does not only provide instructional materials
(Kowalski, & Limber, 2007; Mileham, 2007); it is
necessary for the designers to consider the needs of
different learners, to find the primary factors that
influence learning, which make it more convenient to
design a customized learning environment used to obtain
effective learning accomplishments. The development of
online learning began from education and spread to the
business world, the learning satisfaction makes online
learning platform into the primary element of success.
This has continuously made designers more confident to
design more convenient systems that can further enhance
learning accomplishments and learning motivation.
These factors above are the primarily reasons for the
promotion of learning methods as well as
recommendation for other learners to use.
E-learning is autonomous learning conducted through
online courses on the internet (Kowalski, & Limber,
2007; Mileham, 2007). Website learning is not limited by
time and place, and allows for the learner to plan his own
time, or save time by learning what is necessary. There
are many advantages of internet learning, but there are
still some limitations (Mileham, 2007); it is necessary to
have computer equipment and online access for learning.
In many cases, the definition of online learning is not
only in static websites. In recent years, elements such as
sound, images, and websites with instructional materials
began to be added, so that websites can show
information that lets the learner connect the knowledge
he has learned, and annotate such knowledge. For
instance, if the learner is learning English, there would
be pronunciation of English vocabulary, distinctions
between instructional points by color, explanatory
pictures, as well as links to multimedia instructional
materials; this is called “e-learning.”
In exploring current types of research, it was discovered
that new-generation E-learning primarily provides a few
points, expressing multi-sensory learning methods, so
that the learner can use text, sound, picture, image, and
animation to realize diverse instructional objectives
(Clark, & Mayer, 2003). However, at the same time it
can also have the structural characteristics of information
such as composite management, user interaction,
discussion, and nonlinearity, in which it is possible to
make nonlinear connections among information objects,
screens, and document contents, allowing the user to
learn based on his needs; it is also possible to express the
information with more lively and interesting methods.
This also presents a new challenge to teachers who
follow the trends and use E-learning classroom learning
models to help students engage in effective learning
(Koch, & Schneider, 2000). Applying multimedia
Many current researches have proposed characteristics
that conform to E-learning. However, for any system that
assists with learning, the most important is its suitability
to the learner. Therefore, it is necessary to design
E-learning based on learning conditions to clearly
discover mistakes made by the learner in learning and
make detailed records, in order to determine mistaken
learning behavior by the learner, give them the correct
and legitimate reasons, then engage in remedial
education (Clark, & Mayer, 2003). E-learning instruction
not only manifests the progress in the internet and
computers, allowing processing speeds to become faster,
but can also process learning problems of multiple
learners, achieving instantaneous and synchronized
24
Wen-Yen Wang, Chao-Hua Li, & Chin-Chieh Chiang
online learning effects. Due to effective learning in
recent years, e-learning has become a popular indicator
for research and study, and ushered in new trends in
learning, which have overcome the traditional limitations
in instruction of location and time. Many corporations
have also begun to use this instructional model to carry
out education and training for employees, which
primarily enhanced cost-effectiveness for the learner as
well.
Therefore, the most fundamental function of the chat
room is to transmit instant messages between users.
In fact, each participant can interact via documents,
voice, or even images. If the learner can engage in
resource exchange on the internet to achieve learning
objectives, or even achieve teaching and interaction with
other learners. This will be a very good learning
environment. Based on this, this study constructed a chat
room e-learning platform to achieve the learning
objective of fun in learning. Citation 1 has also
mentioned that since in e-learning, chat rooms are
instantaneous and interactive, which can be used for
exchange of information and interaction through the
sharing of information with others. In addition, [1] also
mentioned that due to the characteristics of functions,
chat rooms can be used as an assistance tool for course
instruction and for discussions by learners.
Chat Rooms
According the “State of Information and Communications
Technology Application in Taiwanese Families in 2003”
conducted by the Institute for Information Industry
ACI-FIND commissioned by Taiwan’s Ministry of
Economic Affairs Department of Industrial Technology,
by the end of 2003, 58% of Taiwanese families were
connected to the internet, which also led to the rise of
other internet activities, such as gaming (Li, 2003),
learning, audiovisual entertainment, and chatting.
Among these, nearly half of the internet activities took
place in chat rooms (Guanghe, & Shuanglan, 2002). In
addition, according to a survey that ended at the end of
December 2005, 9.59 million people in Taiwan
frequently use the internet, the prevalence rate of internet
connectivity is 42%; at the current time, one out of every
2.38 people frequently uses the internet (Li, 2003). It can
be seen that usage of the internet is very prevalent and
has penetrated human life (Guofimg, 2004; Kowalski, &
Limber, 2007; Mileham, 2007). In contrast to e-mail and
electronic bulletin boards, interaction in chat rooms can
be used for instantaneous responses, with multiple
functions such as changes in a chat context, changes in
text, abundant emoticons, and audiovisual interaction.
Implementation & Application of Chat Rooms
With the rapid rise of the Internet, and the gradual
prevalence of Internet courses, chat rooms have been
increasingly used in e-instruction. Literature (Kowalski,
& Limber, 2007) mentions that using chat rooms to assist
in instruction has become an important component in
linguistic online learning. Moreover, those carefully
arranged simultaneous chat room learning activities with
standout points can offer students deep feelings in
internet learning, which greatly enriches the content of
such online courses. Literature (Guanghe, & Shuanglan,
2002) uses Bchat chat room to construct a counseling
room, as an area for interaction and real communication.
As described earlier, the beginning purpose of chatting
room was to communicate with family and friends. But,
it has been used and extended to support informal
communication by some organization due to its potential
in commercial market (Goldsborough, 2001). However,
Chatting room was used in a wide variety of knowledge
fields due to its potential. Goldsborough (Goldsborough,
2001) used a self-developed Web interface system to
explore the discourse and interaction analysis of
university students.
It is clear that the function of chat rooms has become the
media for interpersonal interaction in the virtual world.
The earliest instant messaging software is ICQ (Guofimg,
2004), named for sounding like “I seek you” in English.
Four Israeli youths established Mirabilis in July 1996,
and in November the first version of ICQ was released.
Within six months, 850,000 users registered to use it. In
the early period, ICQ was very unstable in usage, but it
was still very popular. Later, Yahoo also released Yahoo!
pager, and American Online also bundled AOL with
instant
messaging
capabilities
in
Netscape
Communicator. Then, Microsoft further built Windows
Live Messenger into the Microsoft Windows operating
system.
Chatting room is also used in e-learning as implemented
improving distant education (Allamaraju, 2001;
Nicholoson, 2002; Nicholson, 2002). Additionally,
Nicholoson (Nicholson, 2002) also provided a ‘virtual
hallway in e-learning for students and teachers. Huang
(Huang, & Yen 2003) sampled 576 university students to
explore the relationship between the perceived
usefulness of occupational context and the social
activities. Yau (Yau & Dong 2000) developed a chatting
room for peoples to talk simultaneously based on
components-based concept. Yibing (Yibing & Ruihua
2006) surveys the differences on the English language
used in the natural conversation and the conversation in
chatting rooms on the Internet. The result shows that
the functionalities of the chatting room performed well
as expected.
The sharing of information is major advantage of the
Internet. On the Internet, there are many applications to
allow free exchange of information (Kowalski, & Limber,
2007; Mileham, 2007), for instance, the chat room is one
such application that provides this function. After users
of the chat room log in, they can see their friends online,
and they just have to click on the name of their friend to
automatically open a chat window, so that the user can
immediately interact with friends, or a group of friends.
25
from the beginning the knowledge is classified based on
plant and animal characteristics for explanation. After
classification, the stage of classification guidance begins,
in which the features of plants and animals are explained
with examples. For instance, in the animal guidance
section, animals with legs such as dogs, lions, and eagles
are listed, and then the features are used to divide them
into two legs and four legs. Finally, the target knowledge
stage collects the target knowledge, so that the learner
can identify the objects through the guidance of these
features, such as if the object has four legs, can bark, and
has ears, then it is a dog. In the instructional material
design, knowledge guidance of the learning platform is
expressed as
Concept Mapping Instruction
Incorporation of concept mapping into curriculum and
instruction can be used to understand the cognitive
structure and changes in learning. In terms of
implementation, the concept mapping method (Figure 1)
uses a conceptual diagram of issues to express concepts
related to learning, and the implementation can be used
to detect the learner’s cognition regarding knowledge
structures. Novak (Novak, & Gowin, 1984) mentions
that concept mapping is an effective method to
demonstrate knowledge expression and concept changes
in the learner. Prior to instruction, the concept diagram
can be used to trace the preexisting concepts of the
learner, and from this discern the learner’s cognition for
the knowledge structure, and to guide the learner in
combining and clarifying differences between new and
old knowledge, and in turn construct new cognition. In
instruction, teachers and students can also exchange
ideas and views on the effectiveness of the concept
diagram topics and connections. They can also use this to
find mistaken connections between concepts, useful for
negotiating the meaning of concepts and achieve the
objective of learning concepts. After a thematic unit has
been taught, they can use concept diagrams to help
students review and integrate new concepts, using it to
understand the condition of student learning, and
evaluate whether students truly understood the unit they
learned. This is in contrast to Novak’s (Novak & Gowin
1984) belief that incorporating concept mapping into
curricular instruction can be used to express the
foregoing module of the organization of instructional
materials, as well as the curricular structure of the
instructional unit. In view of this, Posner and other
(Posner, & Rudnitsky, 1986) scholars have suggested the
usage of concept mapping as a part of curricular
development.
C (four legs, can bark, has ears) Æ O (dog)
In this list C(n1,n2,…,nm) means that the Object C has m
different features, and O represents the only object that
corresponds to these features.
Figure 1: The modified concept mapping model
In the whole process of experiment, we used the
constructed chat room to engage in three stages of
knowledge structure guidance. In addition, “Zone of
Proximal Development Theory” believes that higher
level intellectual development of children requires adult
guidance or cooperation with peers with high abilities.
Therefore, in the chat room the learner can interact and
discuss with classmates, and teachers can also participate
in discussion and guidance in the chat room. The purpose
of this idea is to emphasize the active participation
process of students, as well as the importance of peer
support and teacher guidance. Additionally, the idea of
proposition is used and replaced in this study with the
object mapping described and photo representation in the
chat room.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
This study modifies the concept mapping construct
course module to form a new learning module, and
blends Zone of Proximal Development Theory and
mental images in the construct to enhance learning
accomplishment for the learner. This concept is that prior
to instruction, the concept diagram can be used to trace
the preexisting concepts of the learner, and from this
discern the learner’s cognition for the knowledge
structure, and to guide the learner in combining and
clarifying differences between new and old knowledge,
and in turn construct new cognition to help with learning.
Figure 1 shows that there are three stages in knowledge
structure
guidance:
knowledge
classification,
classification guidance, and target knowledge.
The process of participation in learning is also used to
achieve a sharing of meaning to establish a more
objective learning result. In addition, if C(n1,n2,…,nm)
the n objectives have been hinted at to the learner, and he
is still unable to answer the corresponding object, then
the teacher can use the “Zone of Proximal Development
Theory” to repeatedly guide the learner to strengthen the
concept diagram for this object.
These three stages are used to guide the learning of
knowledge, so that the learner can understand the content
and content of the entire curriculum. Of which, the
knowledge classification stage divides the knowledge
based on the curriculum content; for instance, in this
experiment there is instruction on plants and animals, so
In addition, in order to make the learner retain the
instructional materials in their long-term memory,
26
images are added in the chat room, which is used to
enhance instructional quality and effect, as well as the
learning interest and motivation for the learner. Below,
we will provide a detailed explanation for the research
methodology.
learner to express their subjective interpretation for the
knowledge. Even though some literature believe that
concept mapping is a very effective learning strategy, but
there are opposing views regarding whether it can better
enhance student learning accomplishments than
traditional instruction. Literature has shown that students,
regardless of their ability, can successfully use concept
mapping to learn and achieve learning efficacy. Some
show that other than students with high learning potential,
it is ineffective for the learning of most students. This
study uses organized learning to guide and discern
cognition of the learner of the knowledge structure, and
guide the learner toward the target knowledge, and in
turn create new cognition to help with learning.
Cognitive Development Theory
Piaget’s (Piaget, 1964) classification of children
cognitive development stages is divided into Sensor
motor Stage, Preoperational Stage, Concrete-operation
Stage, and Formal-operational Stage. In each stage, the
features change according to age. In this study, the
research subjects are fourth grade students who are 11
years old; these students belong in the concrete
operations stage as described by Piaget [Piaget, 1969].
Features of this stage include: can use concrete
experiences and thoughts to resolve problems and given
tasks.
Zone of Proximal Development Theory
Zone of Proximal Development Theory is a method
proposed by Vygotsky to assist learning. He believes that
higher level intellectual development of children requires
adult guidance or cooperation with peers with high
abilities. Here, the zone of proximal development (ZPD)
(Vygotsky, 1978) refers to the gap between the extent
of practical development reflected by a person’s
individual problem-solving and the extent of potential
development reflected from being assisted by adults or
capable peers in cooperation. In fact, there is a gap
between the actual developmental level for an individual
to independently resolve problems and potential
development level after interacting with adult guidance
or those with more experiences.
Piaget argued that in the concrete operations period, the
nature of knowledge is operations. In this stage, they lack
the ability for abstract deduction, but can use concrete
things to engage in thought. The operability of images in
the chat room can be concretely used in the learning of
elementary school students.
Concept Mapping Instruction
An important vision in current curricular designer is that
it is an expression of diverse discourse, emphasizing that
curricula should be produced from the interaction
between learning and instructors (Novak, & Gowin,
1984). Based on the above, the content of curriculum is
redefined. Curricula should be discourse from diverse
angles, and should emphasize interpretation of learner
experience and active construction of knowledge. Thus,
there is significant correlation between whether
knowledge construction was successful and whether
knowledge has been absorbed. Many studies on the brain
and learning functions show that the brain processes the
brain, forming categories or connections in order to
strengthen the efficacy of learning. Concept mapping can
effectively express contextualized knowledge, guiding
the learner to consider the correlation between important
concepts in the course, forming a curricular concept
system, in which knowledge can be integrated and
constructed.
In terms of a learning potential evaluation, Feuerstein
proposed a learning potential evaluation similar to the
perspective of Vygotsky, believing that the cognitive
development problems of most students arise from lack
of mediated learning experience. If mediated learning
experiences occur early and frequently for children, they
are more likely to have greater possibilities in cognitive
development.
Feuerstein (Feuerstein 1987) also emphasized that
mediated learning is a crucial element in cognitive
development, which can be used to diagnose shortcomings
in cognitive functions and can be used to evaluate student
responses to learning, and determine what kind of
mediated learning to use based on these responses.
The evaluation content uses cognitive maps to construct
the work of evaluation, including learning components of
high-level cognitive processes, psychological operations,
and memory, and non-standardized clinical intervention
is used for students (Piaget, 1964). This is a direct and
effective intervention. The basic procedure is
“pre-test-mediated learning experience and training –
post-test.” The pre-test and post-test are both static tests,
then the individual is observed to see whether there are
significant improvements in the learning performance of
cognitive functions after receiving mediated learning
experience.
Tabachnick (Tabachnick, 1998) indicated that from the
perspective of sociology of knowledge, constructivism
emphasizes that knowledge is the result of interaction
between the cognitive agent with the outside world, and
the result of interaction between the individual with
social and cultural values; knowledge is also the product
of the subjective social construction process. Thus, the
subjective interpretations and understanding by students
regarding teacher instruction and textbook content is also
a focus of educational research. Concept mapping
(Novak, & Gowin, 1984) is a concrete tool for the
27
As previously mentioned, the learner’s cognitive
development potential may only be limited in
development with one’s own work, but if they can be
guided by those with more knowledge, such as peers and
teachers, they can achieve transcendent development.
Thus, this study uses Zone of Proximal Development
Theory with the chat room, combining mental images
with concept mapping construct course module to
enhance the learning effect for the learner.
Metal Images
Faced with learning and tests in English, many students
say that because they cannot understand the questions,
they could only guess. Even if students who do not want
to give up want to work hard in learning and answering,
since they do not know many words and are uninterested,
and do not know the key words in the sentences (Dretzke,
& Levin, 1990), they are unable to achieve good learning
effects. From the perspective of information processing
theory, the amount of knowledge that one person can
retain is limited; when learning words takes up too many
resources, the resources used for processing reading
comprehension decreases as a result. Even if they can
read all the words, they may not be able to understand
the meaning of the text. Therefore, Samuel’s theory of
automatic signal processing points out that only after the
reader’s decoding technique becomes automated can
more energy be placed in reading comprehension. In
other words, elevation of reading comprehension
requires the ability and speed of reading vocabulary.
Figure 2: The chat room used by the research
In order to improve the ability and speed of reading
ability, this study uses mental images. Mental images are
one of the first topics to be researched after the rise of
empirical psychology in the 19th Century. Mental images
are mental expressions of things. When things (including
objects, events, and contexts) are not in front of us, our
sensory organs cannot perceive these things, but memory
or imagination can be used to express features of these
things in our minds; the mental expression of features are
mental images.
Figure 3: User A who connects to user B in the chat room
This study uses multimedia image memory. It connects
English vocabulary to pronunciation, supplemented with
multimedia images and multimedia to help the learner
remember vocabulary. For instance, in the chat room, the
learner selects the word Dog, and then the corresponding
pronunciation is played, along with the corresponding
multimedia image and animation to help the learner
remember. In addition, the learner can also dress the
animals or put hats on them. This idea is that the pictorial
mental image strategy uses some media with
two-dimensional visual stimulation, such as pictures,
photographs, or books and illustrations to elicit visual
mental images for the learner, and promote his learning.
Some studies have shown that the multimedia instruction
uses visual and aural senses to stimulate the learner’s
long-term member for the instructional content, used to
enhance the instructional quality and effect, and inspire
the learning interest and motivation for the learner. In
addition, computer assisted learning that appeals to
different senses can elicit learning motivations, to
increase coordination between vision and movement, and
Most psychologists who study mental image cognition
use visualized mental images to achieve their objectives.
For instance, Sternberg points out that visualized mental
images are important ways for people to process
information. The study by Dretzke and Levin (Dretzke,
& Levin, 1990) uses images to help students remember
historical stories of American presidents. They found that
the strategy of image memory can effectively help
students learn massive amounts of materials regarding
current events. Some cognitive psychology studies have
also shown that the difference between experts and
novices is not only in the different in specific
professional knowledge, but also includes whether they
can effectively use various cognitive strategies, as well
as their ability to self-adjust. Many studies have proven
that mental images or images are important cognitive
strategies that are beneficial for student learning.
28
to offer the opportunity for repeated actions. The process
of sufficient practice allows the learner to reach the
learning objective and to make up for problems in
memory; these are the advantages.
This chat room is constructed from the Java language,
and socket in Java is used for connections between
client-ends. The socket is an effective point between two
actual objects for contact. Through the socket, it is
possible to obtain the source IP address and the source
port, the destination IP address and destination port. The
user can connect multiple sockets into one port, so that
single ports can have multiple connections. Through
socket client-ends (Figure 3), it is possible to create a
process usable by many people, and all the clients can
use the unified front-end for work and to communicate
with the server socket (Figure 5).
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION
Before the experiment in this study, the pre-test is first
used to understand whether there are major differences
among the two groups of students before learning. Then,
four weeks of course design and learning platform
instruction are carried out. The purposes are to:

Figure 4: Server socket and sockets

The chat room (Figure 2) in this study uses server socket
settings in the server-end to receive requests from the
client-end socket. Each learner can use the connection
between the server socket and socket to enter the chat
room and see the learning screen as follows (Figure 4).
Then, with the selection of concept mapping construct
course module, the learner enters the various stages of
knowledge classification, classification guidance, and
target knowledge. In the process, there is guidance from
peers or teachers, and can interact in forms to confirm
learning effects.

Understand the current curricular content of the
learner, and how to connect
Let the learner understand how to operate the
learning platform
Let the teacher understand how to operate the
learning platform
Let the teacher understand how to interact with
learners on the learning platform.
After four weeks of course design and preparation, the
two groups of students undergo traditional instruction
and the chat room instruction. Two weeks of instruction
afterwards, the post-learning test is given to learners, and
the pre-test and post-test results are used in statistical
analysis.
The research utilized independent samples ANCOVA
analysis and a variety of posttest comparison to identify
the distinct learning differences and achievements based
on the teaching methods used in the experiments.
Mean & Standard Deviation:
The study participants are 43 grade four students of
certain elementary school in Tainan County. Be divided
into the experimental group, 21 people (Group B using
chat room English learning), and the control group
(Group A using traditional English learning), 22 people.
This is an attempt to analyze grades of pretest and
posttest, and to show the chat room English learning
group performed a significant improvement as compared
to the traditional English learning group.
The experiment Group B improved in its post-test scores.
In comparing post-test standard deviation and pre-test
standard deviation, the post-test standard deviation was
lower, closer to the score standard.
Figure 5: Use B who connects to user A in the chat room
29
Table1: The mean and standard deviation of pre-test and
post-test scores
groups
Group A
Group B
Pre-test
M
SD
25.01
9.37
26.04
8.23
After covariance analysis, it was found that the post-test
scores of the two classes had F-test value of 820.35,
considerably higher than pre-test F value, while p value
0.003 ( < 0.01) significant decreased from the pre-testρ
value, which demonstrates a significant elevation of
post-test scores. As illustrated in Table 4, the mean
difference is larger than 0.05, the significance between
the two groups is obvious.
Post-test
M
SD
45.47
9.24
70.69
8.14
Regression slope homogeneity test:
The slope of regression congruency analysis on the
pre-test scores of the two groups, shows F-test value
2.885, ρvalue 0.097 (ρ>0.01), which means that the
slopes are the same, conforming to the conditions of
covariance regression coefficient.
CONCLUSION
As described, this study changes the concept mapping
construct course module to construct a new learning
module, and blends Zone of Proximal Development
Theory and mental images in the construct to improve
learning accomplishment for the grade four learners. This
concept is that prior to instruction, the concept diagram
can be used to trace the preexisting concepts of the
learner, and from this discern the learner’s cognition for
the knowledge structure, and to guide the learner in
combining and clarifying differences between new and
old knowledge, and in turn construct new cognition to
help with learning.
Table 2: Learning achievement of pre-test on regression
slop homogeneity test
SS
12.923
175.183
Source of variation
Group*pre-test
error
df
1
39
MS
12.923
4.492
F
2.885
ρ
0.097
Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA)
This uses analysis of covariance, and the time of usage is
that in the experimental design, sometimes it is
impossible to exclude some extraneous variables that
would affect the experiment results. At this point, it is
possible to use statistical control methods to make up for
insufficiencies in experimental controls. Analysis of
covariance can be used to exclude variables that affect
the dependent variables but are not manipulated in the
experiment. It uses linear regression to remove other
factors that influence dependent variables. Then, the
adjusted scores are used for variance analysis. Thus,
covariance analysis is the combined use of covariance
analysis and linear regression. In covariance analysis, the
independent variable is a discrete variable, while the
dependent variable and covariance are continuous
variables.
To implement the model, we creates one online chat
room, which is applied to animal e-learning in English
instruction for the fourth grade in elementary school, and
instruction of this e-learning course applies e-learning
framework and concepts, so that the learner finds ease
and interesting in the process of learning and achieves
good learning effects. Additionally, the research utilized
independent samples ANCOVA analysis and a variety of
posttest comparison to identify the distinct learning
differences and achievements based on the teaching
methods used in the experiments. The results
demonstrate the chat room learning group performed a
significant improvement as compared to the traditional
learning group.
REFERENCES
Table 3: Learning achievement of pro-test on analysis
covariance
Source of
variation
Groups
Group
error
SS
df
MS
F
ρ
3411.099
1
3411.099
820.354
0.003
188.096
40
4.702
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A variety of post-test comparison
Table 4: Prot-test comparison
(I) A
Mean
Standard
(J) A difference
Sig.
error
(I-J)
2.00
1.00
group -18.896*
group A
B
2.00group 1.00
group
B
A
18.896*
Difference on
95% confidence
intervala
Low
bound
Upper
bound
.713
.0002 -20.314 -17.478
.713
.0002 17.478 20.314
30
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Nicholson (2002). Socialization in the ‘virtual hallway’:
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AUTHORS
Wen-Yen Wang received his M.S.
and Doctoral degrees in Computer
Science
from
University
of
Massachusetts Lowell, USA, in 1994
and 1999, respectively, and his B.S.
degree in Computer Science from
Tamkang University, Taiwan, in
1989. Dr. Wang was a Research
Member of the R&D department at
Trend Micro Company in Cupertino,
CA, USA, and he is an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Information Engineering at Kun Shan
University in Taiwan. Additionally, Dr. Wang was
awarded the outstanding teaching prize at Hsing-Kuo
University. He is interested in the areas of e-learning,
query scheduling, and mobile computing. E-mail:
[email protected]
Chao-hua Li received her Master
degree in Education from University
of Massachusetts Lowell, USA, in
1994, and her B. S. degree in
Education from National Taiwan
Normal University, Taiwan, in 1989.
She is a lecturer of the department of
Applied
English,
Hsing
Kuo
University of Management, Taiwan.
Her research is focused on e-learning, curriculum design,
and teaching children English.
Chin-Chieh Chiang received his
Ph.D. in Computer Science from
Oklahoma State University, USA. His
research focused on Numerical
methods, Scientific and engineering
applications, Mathematical software,
and e-learning. He is currently a
visiting assistant professor of Mathematics and
Computer Science at University of Maryland Eastern
Shore, USA. He has expanded his research and teaching
interests into Object-oriented programming, Analysis of
algorithms, chat room design, computer networks and
telecommunications. His other areas of interest are
Genetic algorithms and Parallel computation.
31
32
Int. j. technol. eng. educ.
2007, Vol.4 No.2
Authors Index
Shu-Chen Cheng
1
Automatic Classification of Technical English Articles in Blogs
Using Backpropagation Neutral Network
Chin-Chieh Chiang
23
Tien-Hsin Hsin
13
The Perceptions’ toward English Teachers and English Learning
from Evening College Students at a Technological University
Luke Huang
13
Chao-Hua Li
23
Kazuo Sakai
7
Establishing Mobile Pipeline Monitoring and Management
System for Educational Application
Ru-Chu Shih
13
Wen-Yen Wang
23
Ting-Sheng Weng
7
Establishing Mobile Pipeline Monitoring and Management
System for Educational Application
33
2007, Vol.4 No.2
34
2007, Vol. 4, No. 2
Submission Guidelines
International Journal of Technology and Engineering Education (IJTEE) is a biannual journal published in every
June and December. Papers to be considered for inclusion in the IJTEE should be submitted directly to the Association
of Taiwan Engineering Education and Management (ATEEM). Original papers, not previously published, will be
considered for publication on the basis of referee reports from at least two independent international referees. Authors
of papers accepted will be required to transfer copyrights to the publisher. All contributions must be in English and
adhere to the guidelines published in Publication Guidelines of the American Psychological Association format (APA
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paper should comprise a PDF file and an MS Word file on a CD diskette suitable for an IBM PC. In preparing papers,
authors are kindly asked to strictly adhere to the instructions for authors.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS
The ATEEM aims to produce a volume of the International Journal of Technology and Engineering Education with as
uniform an appearance as possible and it is therefore requested that you conform to these instructions when preparing
your article. These instructions are following APA style.
1. A PDF file and an MS WORD file must both reach ATEEM.
1. e-mail your files to [email protected], [email protected]
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Department of Computer Science and Information Management
Hungkuang University
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2007, Vol. 4, No. 2
Process of Paper Evaluation
I. Papers will be evaluated by reviewers come from International Journal of Technology
Engineering Education publication committee and related experts/scholars.
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fields.
III. Each academic paper will be evaluated by two reviewers（double-blind）, reviewers will write
down their opinions in the comment paper.
IV. International Journal of Technology Engineering Education will send the reviewers’ comment
to the papers’ authors and express accept, modify or refuse paper.
V. The process of paper evaluation as following:
Second
P ro c e s s o f E v a l u a t i o n
5
4
3
2
1
Modify
(75-79)
Accept
(80-89)
Accept
(above 90)
Third
Third
Third
Reviewer
Reviewer
Reviewer
Modify
Modify
Modify
Modify
(re-evaluate)
(re-evaluate)
(re-evaluate)
(re-evaluate)
Modify
Modify
Modify
Modify
Modify
(will be
(will be
published)
published)
Modify &
Re-evaluate
(under 69)
(70-74)
Refuse
Refuse
(under 69)
Refuse
Modify &
4 Re-evaluate
(70-74)
Refuse
5
First
Reviewer
3
Modify
(75-79)
2
Accept
(80-89)
1
Accept
(above 90)
Reviewer
Refuse
Third
Modify
Reviewer
(re-evaluate)
Third
Modify
Reviewer
(re-evaluate)
Third
Modify
Reviewer
(re-evaluate)
Modify
Modify
Modify
(will be
Publish
published)
* If two reviewers opinions are too much difference (up to 15 points), the paper will be
evaluated by third reviewer.
* Publication committee have right to determine accept, modify or refuse by reviewers
comments.
36
2007, Vol. 4, No. 2
Topic:
Field:
Engineering Education
Vocational Education
Technological Education
□
□
□
First Author:
Organization and phone number
Second Author:
Third Author:
Contact Person
(O)
／
(H)
／
(Mobile)
E-Mail
Address
Assoication of Taiwan Engineering Education and Management
Phone: +886-4-26521309
Fax:+886-4-26521921
e-mail: [email protected]
Address:(43302) No.34, Chung-Chi Rd., Shalu, Taichung, Taiwan
37