Individual Differences In Learning Research Articles

EDUCATION 4.0: HYBRID LEARNING AND MICROLEARNING IN A SMART ENVIRONMENT

The term "4.0" refers here, as in all areas whether Industry 4.0, Work 4.0, or Society 4.0, to the paradigm of digitalization and support through new technologies. In the last few years, education and training are becoming more closely related to the labor market, and so the goal is to foster competent learners to meet the core skills for life and work in the 21st century. Building such a future-ready education system requires the design of curricula, that impart the necessary knowledge and skills for the modern workplace. The various pedagogical and technological innovations in recent years have created new concepts of learning environments, that optimize learners' ability to learn. They are commonly referred to as "smart learning environments". Innovative education based on advanced technologies should focus on stimulating thinking and creativity and address the individual differences of learners. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, combines some educational concepts such as micro and hybrid learning with the support of immersive technologies to develop smart learning environments for a personalized and gamified seamless learning experience. Second, demonstrates how the concept of Micro-hybrid-immersive learning enables a seamless transition between school and the world of work and achieves educational inclusion.

LEARNERS TYPOLOGY: LANGUAGE ACQUIRERS VS LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Krashen’s Monitor Model has been arousing considerable debates for many years and learningacquisition distinction described by the author has become the subject of criticism from both researchers and teachers. But the controversy which is revealed in the Monitor Model and in the follow up literature is not resolved yet. Moreover, scholars and language teachers provide ample justification to foster this hot discussion. We have carried out literature study, introspective and retrospective analysis to examine our own experience as a teacher and as a language learner, and have studied cases described by many other language teachers in a number of teachers’ forums from 15 professional network groups. It is shown that individual learner differences are the key factor which should be taken into consideration when describing the process of second or foreign language mastering. Language learning and language acquisition should not be opposed to each other as they present different means of developing language skills used by different learners. As a result, some learners demonstrate process of language learning characterised by careful grammar rule studying and benefit from error correction, while others develop language skill through subconscious acquisition. Thus, we state that learners fall into two types: language learners and language acquirers whose individual differences predetermine the way learners study the language. The type of a leaner defines the peculiarity of language skill development.

Mediating factors of statistics anxiety in university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Statistics plays a key role in many areas of modern society, including technology, social and behavior studies, economics, and the sciences. Statistics anxiety (SA) has a detrimental impact on academic experiences in university populations, although the mediating factors remain underexplored. We conducted the first systematic review and meta-analysis focused on SA in university students in the context of statistical performance, individual differences in statistical learning, self-perceptions regarding the statistics course and instructor, and sociodemographic factors. Searches were carried out in the PsycINFO, PubMed, Scielo, and Web of Science databases according to our preregistration. Forty studies were selected for systematic review. Seventeen were included in a series of six meta-analyses concerning academic achievement, attitudes, self-perception, procrastination, and gender. The findings reveal learning strategies, procrastination, self-efficacy, and self-awareness as predictors of SA. However, the impact of sociodemographic data in these moderators is still uncharted. We conclude with a critical appraisal of the selected studies and present future directions for research in SA.

Tuning Learning and Teaching Strategies to Individual Differences among Learners of English in Arab Universities

Teachers of English language in different contexts across the world use different strategies to cater to individual learner differences: diversified resources, spectrum of intelligences and multi-sensory experiences, tracking, adaptive teaching, etc. The present study investigated learning and teaching strategies applied by teachers of English in English as the second language (ESL) classes and those with a focus on Arab universities and the strategies to address unique individual student differences. This study reviewed the extant academic literature to identify the documented techniques used by teachers of English in different contexts with a focus on Arab university context. A structured questionnaire survey and Microsoft Excel were utilized to collect, analyze and present data respectively. Results revealed that distinct language learning behavior existed among learners of English in Arab universities: learning styles, personality, proficiency, intelligence, and motivation. As revealed in the results, particular strategies were employed by teachers of English in Arab universities to cater to individual differences among learners with adaptive teaching method as the most dominant technique. These strategies included project-based learning, classroom discussion, cooperative learning, and demonstrations, and other diverse learning materials. Teachers of L2 in Arab university can use these findings to understand what learners of English in L2 classroom needed, how they acquired and learned a language, and the ways to enhance quality learning using strategies that ensured that all learners could learn, gain maximum, and reach their full potential.

Book Review: Individual Differences in Language Learning: A Complex Systems Theory Perspective by Griffiths C and Soruç A

Book Review: <i>Individual Differences in Language Learning: A Complex Systems Theory Perspective</i> by Griffiths C and Soruç A

Testosterone and estradiol affect adolescent reinforcement learning.

During adolescence, gonadal hormones influence brain maturation and behavior. The impact of 17β-estradiol and testosterone on reinforcement learning was previously investigated in adults, but studies with adolescents are rare. We tested 89 German male and female adolescents (mean age ± sd = 14.7 ± 1.9 years) to determine the extent 17β-estradiol and testosterone influenced reinforcement learning capacity in a response time adjustment task. Our data showed, that 17β-estradiol correlated with an enhanced ability to speed up responses for reward in both sexes, while the ability to wait for higher reward correlated with testosterone primary in males. This suggests that individual differences in reinforcement learning may be associated with variations in these hormones during adolescence, which may shift the balance between a more reward- and an avoidance-oriented learning style.

Idiosyncratic learning performance in flies.

Individuals vary in their innate behaviours, even when they have the same genome and have been reared in the same environment. The extent of individuality in plastic behaviours, like learning, is less well characterized. Also unknown is the extent to which intragenotypic differences in learning generalize: if an individual performs well in one assay, will it perform well in other assays? We investigated this using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, an organism long-used to study the mechanistic basis of learning and memory. We found that isogenic flies, reared in identical laboratory conditions, and subject to classical conditioning that associated odorants with electric shock, exhibit clear individuality in their learning responses. Flies that performed well when an odour was paired with shock tended to perform well when the odour was paired with bitter taste or when other odours were paired with shock. Thus, individuality in learning performance appears to be prominent in isogenic animals reared identically, and individual differences in learning performance generalize across some aversive sensory modalities. Establishing these results in flies opens up the possibility of studying the genetic and neural circuit basis of individual differences in learning in a highly suitable model organism.

Neurophysiological Evidence for Cognitive Map Formation during Sequence Learning.

Humans deftly parse statistics from sequences. Some theories posit that humans learn these statistics by forming cognitive maps, or underlying representations of the latent space which links items in the sequence. Here, an item in the sequence is a node, and the probability of transitioning between two items is an edge. Sequences can then be generated from walks through the latent space, with different spaces giving rise to different sequence statistics. Individual or group differences in sequence learning can be modeled by changing the time scale over which estimates of transition probabilities are built, or in other words, by changing the amount of temporal discounting. Latent space models with temporal discounting bear a resemblance to models of navigation through Euclidean spaces. However, few explicit links have been made between predictions from Euclidean spatial navigation and neural activity during human sequence learning. Here, we use a combination of behavioral modeling and intracranial encephalography (iEEG) recordings to investigate how neural activity might support the formation of space-like cognitive maps through temporal discounting during sequence learning. Specifically, we acquire human reaction times from a sequential reaction time task, to which we fit a model that formulates the amount of temporal discounting as a single free parameter. From the parameter, we calculate each individual’s estimate of the latent space. We find that neural activity reflects these estimates mostly in the temporal lobe, including areas involved in spatial navigation. Similar to spatial navigation, we find that low-dimensional representations of neural activity allow for easy separation of important features, such as modules, in the latent space. Lastly, we take advantage of the high temporal resolution of iEEG data to determine the time scale on which latent spaces are learned. We find that learning typically happens within the first 500 trials, and is modulated by the underlying latent space and the amount of temporal discounting characteristic of each participant. Ultimately, this work provides important links between behavioral models of sequence learning and neural activity during the same behavior, and contextualizes these results within a broader framework of domain general cognitive maps.

Individual Differences in Language Learning: A Complex Systems Theory Perspective. Carol Griffiths &amp; Adem Soruç (2020). Palgrave Macmillan, 220 pages, ISBN 978-3-030-52900-0 (eBook).

Individual differences are attached considerable importance in almost all components of the linguistic system, including the acquisition and processing of properties of speech, complex grammatical structures, and discourse (Kidd, Donnelly &amp; Christiansen, 2018). For this reason, research on individual differences has excellent potential to contribute significantly to the debates in the language sciences. Considering each individual as a unique language learner, exploring individual differences can provide language teachers with lots of opportunities concerning material adaptation, adopting appropriate strategies, adjusting their teaching style, and giving feedback in the language learning and teaching process. More specifically, there is a complex relationship among learner variables such as first language literacy, self-efficacy, gender, attainment, and so on (Courtney, Graham, Tonkyn &amp; Marinis, 2017). Individual Differences in Language Learning: A Complex Systems Theory Perspective attempts to decipher this complex system adopting an evidence-based perspective in each significant individual difference presented in different sections. One of the strengths of the book is that each section has been designed in a reader-friendly manner with eye-opener prompt questions at the very beginning and at the end, follow-up tasks, and a list for further reading which serves as a guide for researchers.

Cognitive flexibility in the wild: Individual differences in reversal learning are explained primarily by proactive interference, not by sampling strategies, in two passerine bird species.

Behavioural flexibility allows animals to adjust to changes in their environment. Although the cognitive processes that explain flexibility have been relatively well studied in psychology, this is less true for animals in the wild. Here we use data collected automatically during self-administered discrimination-learning trialsfor two passerine species, and during four phases (habituation, initial learning, first reversal and second reversal) in orderto decompose sources of consistent among-individual differences in reversal learning, a commonly used measure for cognitive flexibility. First, we found that, as expected, proactive interference was significantly repeatable and had a negative effect on reversal learning, confirming that individuals with poor ability to inhibit returning to a previously rewarded feeder were also slower toreversal learn. Second, to our knowledge for the first time in a natural population, we examined how sampling of non-rewarding options post-learning affected reversal-learning performance. Sampling quantity was moderately repeatable in blue tits but not great tits; sampling bias, the variance in the proportion of visits to each non-rewarded feeder, was not repeatable for either species. Sampling behaviour did not predict variation in reversal-learning speed to any significant extent. Finally, the repeatability of reversal learning was explained almost entirely by proactive interference for blue tits; in great tits, the effects of proactive interference and sampling bias on the repeatability of reversal learning were indistinguishable. Our results highlight the value of proactive interference as a more direct measurement of cognitive flexibility and shed light on how animals respond to changes in their environment.

Hungarian secondary school EFL teachers’ perceptions of their students’ individual differences: A validation study

Besides classroom-based EFL lessons, EFL learners have a plethora of opportunities to learn the language by engaging in out-of-school or in other words extramural English activities. As learners pursue these activities for entertainment purposes, extramural English activities may be closely associated with L2 learning motivation. In addition to motivation, several other individual learner differences, namely L2 anxiety and L2 willingness to communicate are also important in both the school-based and the extramural learning contexts, as motivating and stress-free environments may lead to a decrease in learners’ level of L2 anxiety and an increase in the level of their L2 willingness to communicate. Using the quantitative research paradigm, the present pilot study aimed to investigate Hungarian secondary school EFL teachers’ perceptions of their students’ individual learner differences as well as extramural EFL learning. The preliminary results show that participants demonstrate an overall positive attitude towards extramural EFL learning and considered their students to be relatively motivated to learn English, to be willing to speak English in EFL classes. Finally, participants’ responses also show that they do not perceive their students anxious in EFL classes.

Essentials of implementing a competency-based curriculum in Farhangian University student-teachers in social studies

Background and Aim: Competency-based curriculum is one of the new approaches in the field of education that can provide the basis for the growth of learners; Therefore, the main goal of the current research was to identify the requirements for implementing a competency-based curriculum for student teachers at Farhangian University in social studies. Methods: This research, which is applied in terms of purpose and quantitative and qualitative (multi-method) in terms of method, quantitative descriptive survey method was used to determine the validity of the questionnaire and qualitative content analysis method was used to identify the requirements of curriculum implementation. The data collection techniques were a questionnaire designed to determine CVR and CVI content validity, which was sent to 11 professors of curriculum planning, sociology, and Farhangian University, and 30 items were approved; And after that, during face-to-face and telephone interviews, interviews were conducted with 9 professors of sociology, curriculum planning and professors of Farhangian University. Data analysis was analyzed using Max Kyoda qualitative data analysis software and coding method. Results: The findings showed that the requirements for the implementation of a competency-based curriculum in the social studies course include: requirements for student teachers to familiarize themselves with their role, emphasis on the central issue, attention to the role of scientific awareness, emphasis on active teaching methods, individual differences of learners, attention to Values and norms, effective interaction in learning, evaluation, development of various skills, attention to social issues, exploration, content of books and research are central. Conclusion: The results of this research can be used for professors and curriculum planners of social studies course as well as professors and student teachers of Farhangian University.

Educational Psychology

Educational psychology is a field of study that deals with the methods of learning. It mainly caters to the reader's mindset and mentality behind learning a new topic, strategies adopted by him or her to understand the concepts and the opinions that were formulated after the completion of the study. Psychologists who work in this arena, comprehend student outcomes, the instructional process, individual differences in learning, gifted learners, and learning disabilities. They are mainly interested in how people learn and retain new information.&lt;br/&gt; "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world" – Nelson Mandela

Individual Differences in Nucleus Accumbens Activity and Cue-Reward Learning

Individual Differences in Nucleus Accumbens Activity and Cue-Reward Learning

The Evaluation of the Influence of College Students’ Integrative and Instrumental Motivations on Their English Learning

The learning of English as a second language has been studied for several decades. In order to assist the learners in succeeding it, various teaching methodologies has been invented and developed as well as the research into the individual differences in second language learning. This paper critically discussed and analyzed Gardner’s motivation theory and two kinds of motivations (integrative and instrumental) derived from it as well as the evaluation of their influence on college students’ English learning by providing more empirical studies regarding this topic. It concludes that Gardner’s Integrated Motivation theories could be applied to describe college students’ motivations and furnishes some practical implications of English language teaching to college students based on the influence of these two kinds of motivations.

Individual differences in foreighn language learning

Individual differences in foreighn language learning

Assessing self-regulatory writing strategies and their predictive effects on young EFL learners’ writing performance

This paper reports findings from two empirical studies on students’ reported use of self-regulatory writing strategies and the relationships with their writing performance in a secondary school English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Study One adopted a factorial design using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to validate the inferences and uses of a Self-Regulatory Writing Strategy Questionnaire; Study Two explored learner individual differences in developing self-regulatory writing strategies and the predictive effects of these strategies on students’ writing performance. Participants were two convenience samples of 669 and 239 students, who were young EFL learners in junior secondary schools in China. Results provided evidence of the construct validity of responses to the questionnaire. Students in higher grade levels reported more frequent use of self-regulatory writing strategies than those in lower grade levels, and female students reported using self-regulatory writing strategies more than male students. The six strategy factors (i.e., writing planning, goal-oriented monitoring, goal-oriented evaluation, emotional control, memorization, and metacognitive judgment) each had significant predictive effects on secondary school students’ writing performance. These findings suggest the importance of self-regulatory writing strategies to young learners’ writing performance. • The study validates a questionnaire on self-regulatory writing strategies. • Students in higher grade levels reported more uses of writing strategies. • Female students reported more uses of writing strategies. • Self-regulatory writing strategies predict EFL young learners’ writing.

A Study of English Informative Teaching Strategies Based on Deep Learning

The rapid development of artificial intelligence brings new development opportunities and challenges to English teaching university. This paper explores the concept of “smart education” and the path of building an ecological information-based teaching model of English college by interpreting the concepts of artificial intelligence, deep learning, ecological linguistics, and language education. Artificial intelligence, especially deep learning, will be promising in many aspects, such as the analysis of individual differences of language learners, customized learning content, diversified and three-dimensional teaching media, the role of teachers as smart classroom designers, and multidimensional and dynamic formative assessments. By relying on the data mining technology of deep learning to analyze learners’ characteristics, the smart classroom design, the promotion of language learners’ independent learning, and the establishment of dynamic and complete learner profiles, the language learning process is no longer a linear process but an evolving open loop, ultimately forming a harmonious development of various ecological niches in the language learning process. In this paper, we study and design a deep learning-based English informatics teaching system to develop a deep learning-based scoring prediction model. The model incorporates deep learning models based on word embedding and text convolutional networks, which can uncover the hidden interest features of academics for English. The experimental research results prove that the online e-learning service platform cannot only effectively meet the diverse and personalized English learning needs of university students, but also improve the learning efficiency of teachers and students.

Research on the differences of students’ learning styles and knowledge integration in SPOC learning: a case study of course “Basic Portuguese”

Problem and goal. With the advent of the information age, Internet-based online learning has also become one of the learning methods chosen by many learners. They can use these online learning platforms to complete knowledge construction while learning offline. Methodology. Most studies of learning behaviors focus on the discovery of the best learning model and disregard the possible impact of different learning behaviors on knowledge construction. Therefore, based on the Felder - Silverman learning style model, this article uses the Solomon learning style scale to improve the design of the questionnaire and collect four-dimensional differential learning behaviors data. In order to further understand the influence of learning styles on the effectiveness of online learning, we also use online learning data on the Small Private Online Course platform and general cognitive intelligence knowledge integration theory to clarify the relation between learning modes and individuals differences. Results. This study observes and analyzes the learning behavior data of 46 students of Nankai University in the SPOC learning platform, also analyzes the differences in learning styles and knowledge construction of students in the SPOC environment. Compared with the traditional Basic Portuguese teaching method, the blended teaching model based on the Chaoxing Learning platform has unparalleled advantages. Interactions inside and outside the classroom, improving student participation and promoting teaching diagnosis. Conclusion. Through a comprehensive analysis of questionnaire data and online data, we found that some learning styles have different effects on the effectiveness of online learning, ignoring the individual differences of learners will still cause problems in knowledge construction.

The Dynamics of Individual Differences in Teaching/Learning of English as a Second/Foreign Language

The subject of individual learner differences (IDs) in English as a Second/Foreign (ESL/EFL) Language teaching and learning is an area which has been much debated and investigated. Since these differences vary according to the geographical or cultural influences of the learners, variations in results and opinions among language instructors are inevitable. However, the indubitable fact is that these differences considerably influence the ESL/EFL language learners’ performances. Individuals are different in personality styles, and these personality styles are influenced by age, cultural background and a whole lot of other factors. These IDs lead to dynamism in language acquisition. The current study thus examined three set of IDs to determine how they affect the learning style preferred by individuals. The individual differences analyzed in this study include: race, exposure to English Language, and personality type (i.e., introvert or extrovert). The study concluded that while race and exposure to English Language affected the preferred learning style significantly as expected English language acquisition, personality style, however, did not have an influence on the preferred learning style for this study sample. IDs are extremely complex, with a large number of variables. As a result, it is critical for researchers as well as English language instructors to identify the source of the problem from a psychological standpoint and consider variables that would aid in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) improvement.