Instructional Conditions Research Articles

The impact of explicit and implicit instruction on EFL learners’ oral performance

Abstract This quasi-experimental study investigated the impacts of two instructional conditions on the fluency of learners’ performance. In the first condition (strategy training), learners were provided with explicit fluency strategy training for a portion of each lesson before rehearsing versions of the speaking task for the remainder of the lesson. In the second condition (massed practice), learners rehearsed the versions of the target speaking task for the entire lesson. Both instructional conditions allowed learners to benefit from language input and task repetition to help conceptualize and encode the content of their speech. Two intact classes of university EFL learners participated in this study. The data were audio recordings of participants’ oral performance of news report presentations in pre-test and post-test conditions. This data was transcribed and coded for speech rate, articulation rate, phonation/time ratio, number of filled and unfilled pauses, mean duration of pauses, mean length of run, verbatim repetition, and repairs. Although the overall effect of the training was found to be insignificant, the estimation analysis revealed that both instructional conditions improve participants’ speech fluency, with the effect sizes ranging from small to medium. These effect sizes are considered meaningful for the speech fluency development of EFL learners in the study context. Hence, both instructional conditions could be applied as a potentially complementary pedagogical strategy in EFL classrooms at the university level, particularly with regard to increasing the accuracy of teachers’ perceptions of learners’ oral proficiency.

The role of individual learner differences in explicit language instruction

AbstractAptitude–treatment interaction (ATI) research is of both theoretical and practical interest to second language (L2) learning, since it provides insights into the processes linking learner‐internal individual difference factors and learner‐external contextual variables including instructional approach—variables that jointly determine L2 outcomes. The present study employed a full range of aptitude measures mapped onto four explicit instructional conditions: auditory inductive, written inductive, mixed inductive, and mixed deductive. International volunteers (N = 136) completed online language lessons in beginners’ Polish targeting two morphological features. Participants’ phonetic and language‐analytic abilities, level of multilingualism, and age predicted L2 achievement. A cluster analysis identified four learner profiles: high aptitude, low aptitude, memory oriented, and analytically oriented. Deductive instruction seemed to neutralise individual differences in aptitude, while ATI effects were observed in the single‐modality conditions, with auditory input favouring high‐aptitude learners and written input favouring high‐aptitude, analytically oriented, and memory‐oriented learners. We discuss the theoretical and practical import of these findings by highlighting the “capital” afforded by prior language learning experience, over and above the role of cognitive ability. In addition to the inductive–deductive contrast in explicit instruction, we emphasise the importance of input modality, which has hitherto been neglected in the field.

Promoting humanizing, meaningful, and just language instruction for multilingual learners and their peers: A pedagogical vision illustrated by examples from practice

In this article, we engage with the question of how to create just and humanizing instructional conditions for learning through and about language at school. Rather than an empirical study, this article invites readers to rethink the role of languages in education by introducing and illustrating what we call Pedagogies of Voices (POV). Informed by research and practice, POV instructional approaches acknowledge and leverage the reality of multilingual and multidialectal repertoires in linguistically diverse classrooms, counteracting the tendency towards prescriptivism, which constrains what counts as language learning and teaching in schools. Through vignettes from middle-school multilingual classrooms implementing the TRANSLATE literacy curriculum, we illustrate how POV-inspired instruction transforms the conventions of classroom interactions by scaffolding language learning through relational activities that affirm and expand students’ multilingual repertoires and metalinguistic strategies for learning through and about language. These POV-inspired practices shift the role of teachers, who become learners of their students’ ways with language and shift the instructional goal from a narrow focus on teaching the language of school literacy to a concerted effort to foster flexible, resourceful, critical, and creative student voices—what we call Critical Rhetorical Flexibility. These two shifts, we argue, contribute to creating the enabling conditions to foster inclusive, humanizing communities in which students and teachers experience the joyful challenge of learning through languages together. We conclude with thoughts and considerations for theory, future practice-embedded research, and evidence-based educational practice.

Vulnerability to Achievement Stressors: More Evidence That Students With Learning Disabilities Require Intensive Intervention.

In this article, we introduce the term vulnerability to achievement stressors, which refers to differentially low achievement when shifts in the educational environment "stress" or threaten the capacity of an individual or a group of individuals to make academic progress. We also introduce a methodological framework for assessing vulnerability to achievement stressors. Vulnerability to achievement stressors in students with learning disabilities (LD), relative to students without disabilities, is illustrated with two achievement stressors: (a) the shift in learning standards codified in Common Core State Standards, specifically the increase in complexity of the fourth-grade fractions curriculum, and (b) the COVID-19 pandemic, which decreased instructional structure by disrupting in-person teaching. Because these illustrations were embedded within randomized controlled trials, each with an inclusive instruction condition and an intensive intervention condition, they also provide the basis for concluding that intensive intervention is more effective than inclusive instruction for addressing students with LD's vulnerability to achievement stressors and for narrowing their persistently severe achievement gaps.

Increasing Motivation Increases Intelligibility Benefits of Perceptual Training in Dysarthria.

Perceptual training offers a promising, listener-targeted option for improving intelligibility of dysarthric speech. Cognitive resources are required for learning, and theoretical models of listening effort and engagement account for a role of listener motivation in allocation of such resources. Here, we manipulate training instructions to enhance motivation to test the hypothesis that increased motivation increases the intelligibility benefits of perceptual training. Across two data collection sites, which differed with respect to many elements of study design including age of speaker with dysarthria, dysarthria type and severity, type of testing and training stimuli, and participant compensation, 84 neurotypical adults were randomly assigned to one of two training instruction conditions: enhanced instructions or standard instructions. Intelligibility, quantified as percent words correct, was measured before and after training. Listeners who received the enhanced instructions achieved greater intelligibility improvements from training relative to listeners who received the standard instructions. This result was robust across data collection sites and the many differences in methodology. This study provides evidence for the role of motivation in improved understanding of dysarthric speech-increasing motivation increases allocation of cognitive resources to the learning process, resulting in improved mapping of the degraded speech signal. This provides empirical support for theoretical models of listening effort and engagement. Clinically, the results show that a simple addition to the training instructions can elevate learning outcomes.

Evaluation of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) Unlikely Virtues Scale in the detection of underreporting.

The current investigation was designed to examine the impact of underreporting response bias on the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) and the utility of the Unlikely Virtues scale in detecting such responding. Study participants were randomly assigned to either the underreporting (n = 100) or standard instruction (n = 224) conditions. All participants first completed a series of extratest measures under standard instruction prior to the MPQ administration. The results showed that individuals in the underreporting condition scored significantly higher on MPQ scales that reflect positive emotionality and self-control and lower on scales that indicate negative emotionality compared to those in the standard instruction. Moreover, the psychometric validity of MPQ scale scores against extratest measures was substantially attenuated in the underreporting condition compared to the standard instruction condition. The Unlikely Virtues scale differentiated between the conditions at a large effect size magnitude (Hedges' g = 1.21) and showed promising classification accuracy though lower cut scores than those reported in the MPQ manual performed substantially better with respect to sensitivity. Future research needs to replicate these findings in more naturalistic settings with other research designs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

How much active teaching should be incorporated into college course lectures to promote active learning?

A long-standing controversy in the learning sciences involves the appropriate balance between more didactic forms of instruction (e.g., lecture) and those that involve more active teaching (e.g., student learning activities). There have been calls for second generation research that examines how much class time should be allocated to student learning activities and how much to lecture to maximize student learning in college courses—a question of the appropriate mix of instructor lecture and student activity. The purpose of the present study was to systematically compare the effects on learning outcomes of two mixtures of learning activities and lecture during a college course on research methods: mostly lecture (consisting of ∼67 % to 75 % lecture and ∼25 % to 33 % learning activities), and mostly activity (consisting of ∼67 % to 75 % learning activities and ∼25 % to 33 % lecture). In a between-subjects design, students in a research-methods in psychology course experienced in-class lessons that were mostly lecture or mostly activity across two different lessons. Participants in the mostly activity condition scored significantly higher on an assessment of learning than those in the mostly lecture condition for a lesson on single-case research designs (d = 0.38) which was less complex but performance between the two instructional conditions was similar for the lesson on direct observational methods which was more complex. Theoretical implications involve potential refinements to generative learning theory. Practical implications involve recommendations for when to provide high amounts of student learning activities during a class period.

Reframing Confidence Instructions to Child Eyewitness Reduces Overconfidence but Does Not Improve Confidence–Accuracy Calibration

ABSTRACTChildren are well‐documented to exhibit poor confidence–accuracy calibration on lineup identification tasks. Children tend to report overconfidence in their (often inaccurate) lineup identification decisions. This research explored the extent to which school‐aged children's (N = 142; 6‐ to 8‐year‐old) confidence reports are implicitly driven by perceived social pressure to provide a specific confidence rating. Children were randomly assigned to two different confidence instruction conditions: the neutral (n = 69) or the reframed conditions (n = 73). The reframed instructions encouraged honesty and instructed children to ignore perceived pressure when reporting confidence. Results revealed that the reframed instructions resulted in more conservative confidence judgments; however, this shift did not translate into those confidence ratings better reflecting children's identification accuracy. Overall, these findings provide evidence that, while external or social factors play a contributing role, other aspects of development are likely contributing more to the poor confidence–accuracy calibration observed with child eyewitnesses.

Adaptivity or agency? Educational technology design for conceptual learning of materials science

AbstractAs the use of computers in education increases, adaptive learning platforms are becoming more common. However, these adaptive systems are typically designed to support acquisition of declarative knowledge and/or procedural fluency but rarely address conceptual learning. In this work, we developed the Crystallography Adaptive Learning Module (CALM) for materials science to provide students a tool for individualized conceptual learning. We used a randomized quasi‐experimental design comparing two instructional designs with different levels of computer‐provided direction and student agency. Undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of two different instructional designs; one design had students complete an individualized, adaptive path using the CALM (N = 80), and the other gave students the freedom to explore CALM's learning resources but with limited guidance (N = 85). Within these two designs, we also investigated students among different cumulative grade point average (GPA) groups. While there was no statistically significant difference in the measure of conceptual understanding between instructional designs or among the groups with the same GPA, there is evidence to suggest the CALM improves conceptual understanding of students in the middle GPA group. Students using CALM also showed increased participation with the interactive learning videos compared to the other design. The number of videos watched in each instructional condition aligns with overall academic performance as the low GPA group received the most assigned supplements but watched the least videos by choice. This study provides insight for technology developers on how to develop educational adaptive technology systems that provide a proper level of student agency to promote conceptual understanding in challenging STEM topics.

Storifying instructional videos on online credibility evaluation: Examining engagement and learning

This study used video-based instruction to promote adolescents' online credibility evaluation skills and to examine whether storification of instructional videos can maintain students' situational interest and positive activating epistemic emotions during a four-lesson intervention better than non-storified instructional videos. The study also investigated whether storified instruction can enhance students' learning of online credibility evaluation skills better than non-storified instruction. The learning content of the videos was equivalent, differing only in terms of storification. Students participated in either a non-storified (n = 135) or storified (n = 115) video-based instruction (4 x 45-min lesson). In each of the first three lessons, students watched an instructional video explaining one credibility evaluation strategy. In the fourth lesson, the video introduced a case requiring students to apply the taught strategies. After watching the video, students' situational interest and positive activating epistemic emotions (i.e., curiosity and excitement) were measured. Then, students practiced the taught strategies with learning tasks. Students' credibility evaluation skills were measured before and after the intervention with an online credibility evaluation task. The latent growth curve model showed that non-storified and storified videos similarly maintained students' situational interest. No decline was observed. However, a small decline in positive activating epistemic emotions was observed in both instructional conditions. Students' credibility evaluation skills improved equally across instructions. The results underline that professionally produced videos following several multimedia design principles can trigger and maintain situational interest and enhance students’ online credibility evaluation skills without the need to incorporate additional storified elements.

Instruction alters the influence of allocentric landmarks in a reach task.

Allocentric landmarks have an implicit influence on aiming movements, but it is not clear how an explicit instruction (to aim relative to a landmark) influences reach accuracy and precision. Here, 12 participants performed a task with two instruction conditions (egocentric vs. allocentric) but with similar sensory and motor conditions. Participants fixated gaze near the center of a display aligned with their right shoulder while a target stimulus briefly appeared alongside a visual landmark in one visual field. After a brief mask/memory delay the landmark then reappeared at a different location (same or opposite visual field), creating an ego/allocentric conflict. In the egocentric condition, participants were instructed to ignore the landmark and point toward the remembered location of the target. In the allocentric condition, participants were instructed to remember the initial target location relative to the landmark and then reach relative to the shifted landmark (same or opposite visual field). To equalize motor execution between tasks, participants were instructed to anti-point (point to the visual field opposite to the remembered target) on 50% of the egocentric trials. Participants were more accurate and precise and quicker to react in the allocentric condition, especially when pointing to the opposite field. We also observed a visual field effect, where performance was worse overall in the right visual field. These results suggest that, when egocentric and allocentric cues conflict, explicit use of the visual landmark provides better reach performance than reliance on noisy egocentric signals. Such instructions might aid rehabilitation when the egocentric system is compromised by disease or injury.

Exploring the Effects of Instruction and Game Design on Youth Soccer Players’ Skill Involvement and Cooperative Team Behaviour

ABSTRACT Objectives: The relationship between task constraints and player behaviors is of interest to coaches tasked with designing practice to optimize learning. This study aims to compare the skill involvements and cooperative team behavior of teams of youth soccer players engaged in a goal exaggeration and/or a prescriptive coach instruction condition compared to a free-play control condition. Methods: Twenty male soccer players aged 12–15 participated in small-sided games under four conditions: free-play, goal exaggeration, prescriptive coach instruction, and combination over four weeks. Using video footage, teams’ collective skill involvements (shot, pass, dribble) and passing network characteristics (closeness, density, and betweenness) were measured for each game. Results: A Friedmans rank test identified that playing conditions resulted in significant differences in attempted dribbles (p < .001), goals scored (p < .001), network density (p = .001), closeness (p < .001) and betweenness (p = .002). Teams attempted to dribble the most in the free-play and goal-exaggeration conditions, and the most goals were scored in the goal-exaggeration and combination conditions. Additionally, teams exhibited more well-connected passing networks (i.e. higher density, higher closeness, and lower betweenness values) in the combination condition and higher network density in the explicit instruction condition. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that coach instruction may be more associated with cooperative team behavior, whereas free-play or manipulating task constraints in the absence of instruction may be associated with players attempting more individual actions.

Preschool Children’s Science Learning: Instructional Approaches and Individual Differences

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Early science skills predict later science achievement, and persistent achievement gaps in science appear as early as preschool. The current study compared the effectiveness of different instructional approaches for teaching preschoolers about sinking and floating and examined individual differences in learning. Typically developing 4–5-year-olds (N = 93; 47% female) were randomly assigned to an Explicit Instruction, Discovery Learning, or No-Instruction Control condition. A pre-posttest design was used to measure change in children’s knowledge of sinking and floating using an assessment created for the current study. Participants also completed measures of executive function and non-verbal and verbal IQ. Children in the Explicit Instruction condition learned more than children in the other two groups. Additionally, individual differences in age, socioeconomic status, IQ, and executive function predicted learning, although only age and SES were uniquely predictive when all variables were included in the model. Lastly, children’s sinking and floating pretest scores significantly interacted with instructional condition to predict learning. Among children in the Discovery Learning condition, those with more prior knowledge gained more after instruction than children with less prior knowledge. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight the importance of considering how learner characteristics might influence the effectiveness of different instructional approaches.

A Digital Math Game and Multiple-Try Use with Primary Students: A Sex Analysis on Motivation and Learning.

Sex differences have been a rarely addressed aspect in digital game-based learning (DGBL). Likewise, mixed results have been presented regarding the effects according to sex and the conditions that generate these effects. The present work studied the effects of a drill-and-practice mathematical game on primary students. The study focused on an analysis by sex, measuring motivation and learning in the practice activity. Also, two instructional mechanics were considered regarding the question answering to search for possible differences: a multiple-try feedback (MTF) condition and a single-try feedback (STF) condition. A total of 81 students from four courses and two schools participated in the intervention. The study's main findings were as follows: (a) the girls outperformed the boys in terms of the students' learning gains; (b) the girls presented lower levels of competence and autonomy than the boys; (c) under MTF, the girls presented lower levels of autonomy but no differences in competence contrasted with the boys; (d) under STF, the girls presented lower levels of competence but no differences in autonomy contrasted with the boys; (e) no sex differences existed in interest, effort, and value, in general, as per the instructional condition. This study enhances the knowledge of sex differences under diverse instructional settings, in particular providing insights into the possible differences by sex when varying the number of attempts provided to students.

A Motivational Perspective on (Anticipated) Mental Effort Investment: The Biopsychosocial Model of Challenge and Threat

Research in cognitive load theory is increasingly recognizing the importance of motivational influences on students’ (willingness to invest) mental effort, in particular in the context of self-regulated learning. Consequently, next to addressing effects of instructional conditions and contexts on groups of learners, there is a need to start investigating individual differences in motivational variables. We propose here that the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat may offer a useful model to study the motivational antecedents of (anticipated) mental effort. We also report four experiments as initial tests of these ideas, exploring how feedback valence affects students’ challenge/threat experiences, self-efficacy, and mental effort investment. The results showed that negative feedback leads participants to expect that they will have to invest significantly more effort in future problems than positive feedback (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) or no feedback (Experiment 3). Had we not considered the motivational variables in investigating the effect of feedback conditions on effort investment, we would not have known that this effect was fully mediated and thus explained by participants’ feelings of self-efficacy (Experiments 1/2) and threat (Experiment 1). We would also have concluded that feedback does not affect the willingness to invest effort in future problems (all four experiments), whereas actually, there were significant indirect effects of feedback on willingness to invest effort via challenge (in Experiments 1/2) and threat (in all experiments). Thus, our findings demonstrate the added value of considering challenge and threat motivational states to explain individual differences in effort investment.

Comparison of the effects of PBL in 3D virtual environment and F2F on learning and spatial skills

This study aimed to juxtapose the impacts of the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) methodology implemented within a three-dimensional (3D) virtual environment against PBL in a conventional face-to-face setting, along with a control group, on students' learning performance, conceptual comprehension, and spatial aptitude. The investigation concentrated on the structure of matter within a seventh-grade science curriculum, encompassing a cohort of 79 students enrolled in the course. The study was conducted under a mixed methods experimental design and comprised three distinct groups: two experimental groups (E1; E2) and one control group (C). The instructional intervention in the E1 group involved utilizing a 3D virtual environment grounded in the problem-based learning method, whereas the E2 group underwent face-to-face instruction employing worksheets derived from problem-based learning. In contrast, the control group received traditional direct instruction from the science teacher through lectures, demonstrations, and question-and-answer sessions, all focusing on the same topic. Pretests and posttests were administered to the participants before and after the experimental interventions, assessing conceptual understanding, spatial visualization, and mental rotation. Additionally, learning tasks completed by the E1 and E2 groups were evaluated using rubrics to assess learning performance. Subsequent to the post-test, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with randomly selected students from the E1 group. The results indicated that instruction within the problem-based 3D virtual environment significantly enhanced students' learning performance, conceptual understanding, spatial visualization, and mental rotation skills compared to the other instructional conditions.

PENGARUH MODEL REACT TERHADAP BERPIKIR KRITIS PENDIDIKAN AGAMA ISLAM SMA IT AL AMRI

PENGARUH MODEL REACT TERHADAP BERPIKIR KRITIS PENDIDIKAN AGAMA ISLAM SMA IT AL AMRI

Do uncontrolled processes contribute to evaluative learning? Insights from a new two-US process dissociation procedure and ambivalence measures.

The contribution of uncontrolled processes to evaluative learning has been examined in evaluative conditioning procedures by comparing evaluations of conditioned stimuli between tasks or within tasks but between learning instruction conditions. In the present research, we introduced a new procedure that keeps both tasks and instructions constant. In addition, we introduced ambivalence measures to address this uncontrollability question. The new procedure involves forming an impression of conditioned stimuli based on their pairing with one unconditioned stimulus while attending but discarding the influence of another unconditioned stimulus holding the same (congruent trials) versus a different (incongruent trials) valence. When the to-be-used and to-be-discarded unconditioned stimuli share the same (vs. a different) valence, controlled and uncontrolled processes should support the same (vs. opposite) responses. We used this approach in two preregistered experiments (Ntotal = 467) using dichotomous evaluative classifications (Experiments 1 and 2), evaluative ratings, and two measures of attitudinal ambivalence: mouse trajectories and felt ambivalence (Experiment 2). While we failed to find evidence for uncontrolled processes in evaluative classification frequencies separately in Experiments 1 and 2, analyses of aggregated classification frequencies across Experiments 1 and 2 suggested a small contribution of uncontrolled processes. In addition, we found larger felt ambivalence for incongruent than congruent trials. Overall, the present findings are mixed but support the possibility of a contribution of uncontrolled processes to evaluative learning, even when control is applied to a focal stimulus and additional influences come from a to-be-disregarded stimulus.

Investigating low intelligence stereotype threat in adults with developmental dyslexia.

Stereotype threat (ST) is a phenomenon that leads to decreased test performance and occurs when one deals with added pressure of being judged on the basis of stereotyped group membership. The ST effect has been previously investigated in many contexts but not in individuals with dyslexia who are often stereotyped as less intelligent. Prevalent use of intelligence tests in job selection processes and employment gap between people with dyslexia and those without warrants this investigation. Sixty-three participants (30 with dyslexia and 33 without dyslexia; mean age = 33.7; SD = 13.7; 47 F, 13 M, three non-binary) were asked to complete intelligence test typically used in selection processes. All participants were randomly assigned to one of three test instruction conditions: (1) they were told the test was diagnostic of their intelligence (ST triggering instruction); (2) test was a measure of their problem-solving skills (reduced threat); (3) or they were simply asked to take the test (control). Results showed that participants with dyslexia in ST condition performed poorer than those in other conditions and those in the same condition who did not have dyslexia. This study provides preliminary evidence for diminishing effects of ST in individuals with dyslexia.

Who benefits most from language-responsive learning materials in mathematics? Investigating differential effects in heterogeneous classrooms

Students’ proficiency in the language of instruction is essential for their mathematical learning. Accordingly, language-responsive instruction, which includes adapting teaching material to students’ language needs, is thought to promote mathematical learning, particularly for students with lower levels of proficiency in the language of instruction. However, empirical evidence for the effectiveness of this type of instruction in heterogeneous classrooms is scarce, and potential differential effects for learners with different learning prerequisites still need to be studied. The present study examines whether language-responsive instructional materials can promote students’ learning of fractions. We conducted a quasi-experimental intervention study with a pre- and posttest in Grade 7 (N = 211). The students were assigned to one of three instructional conditions: fraction instruction with or without additional language support or to a control group. The results showed that both intervention groups had higher learning gains than the control group. However, students with lower proficiency in the language of instruction benefited more from fraction instruction with additional language support than without it. The opposite was true for students with higher proficiency in the language of instruction. Moreover, learning gains depended on students’ levels of mathematics anxiety. Our study contributes to a more detailed understanding of the effectiveness of language-responsive instruction in heterogeneous classrooms.