Population Of Learners Research Articles

Effects of Classroom Noise on Learning: Perceptions of Grade 10–12 Girl Learners

Noise disturbance has been recognised as a problem in schools, affecting the intelligibility of speech, and consequently, educational outcomes. Whilst research has explained various effects of noise on learning, less is known about specific learner populations’ perceptions of the effects of noise on their learning. This article reports on a study that compared the noise perceptions of learners at two all-girls high schools (one comprising mostly English home-language speakers; the other English second-language speakers) in Johannesburg, South Africa. The findings of the purposive questionnaire survey that was administered to girls aged 15–18 are presented. Sound measurements are considered alongside questionnaire data and published standards for acceptable classroom noise. Higher levels of noise interference were reported by second-language speakers, which suggest that increased language processing demands make these learners more susceptible to the negative effects of noise. Thus, the implications point to the need for schools to recognise and minimise the negative effects of noise particularly when learners are engaged in tasks of higher order cognitive demand or when teachers are verbally presenting new or complex concepts. This is particularly true for girls for whom English is their second language.

A Theory of Aggregate Rationality

This paper develops a psychologically micro-founded model of economic learning. Contrary to intuition, it is shown that a large population of boundedly rational learners will, under certain circumstances, aggregate to a fully rational representative agent, even when no individual solves—or even considers—the entire inference problem on their own. The theory places conditions on the emergence of aggregately rationality and characterizes the information-processing frictions that arise when those conditions are not met. This economic implications of the model are developed in the context of a market for Arrow securities, where it is shown that market efficiency depends on the ability of prices to combine the information-processing capacity of many agents.

Rethinking instructional strategies with English learners in the content areas

AbstractThe latest content standards in U.S. K–12 education are academically rigorous for all students, including a fast‐growing population of English learners (ELs). Because these standards are different from previous standards in terms of not only their rigor but also their theoretical underpinnings, enacting instruction aligned to the standards will require shifts in how teachers conceptualize the nature of content and language learning. In this article, the authors argue that instructional strategies traditionally used with ELs in the content areas need to be rethought in light of contemporary theoretical perspectives. After providing a brief overview of these perspectives in content area education and language education, the authors highlight three instructional strategies: (a) preteaching vocabulary, (b) providing sentence frames and starters, and (c) using visual aids. They describe how each strategy has traditionally been used and tensions that may arise in using the strategy in light of contemporary perspectives. Drawing on examples from their curriculum development work in linguistically diverse elementary science classrooms, the authors propose ways that teachers can adapt when and how they use each of these strategies to deliver more theoretically sound instruction. Implications of the adapted strategies for teachers working with ELs in content classrooms are discussed.

Does Lecture Format Matter? Exploring Student Preferences in Higher Education

This article offers an important contribution to understanding students’ perceptions of lectures based on different formats of lecture delivery. The growth in the use of blended, flipped, synchronous and asynchronous learning for lecture delivery raises questions as to whether students prefer these innovative modes of delivery over the traditional face-to-face lectures. Furthermore, the contemporary debates over recording lectures and whether this impacts on student attendance requires further exploration by comparing recorded face-to-face lectures with other methods of lecturing. This article draws on data that explored students’ preferences for lectures by comparing students’ experiences on three different types of lectures. The main findings demonstrate that there is no one preferred method of lectures, with student feedback reporting positive experiences with all three. However, the strengths and limitations of each mode of delivery are provided by the students which indicate that flexibility, interaction and choice enhance participation in lectures. The data indicates that student attendance is only slightly affected by lecture recordings and that other factors need to be considered if lecturers are concerned about attendance. This paper suggests that courses ought to offer a range of different lectures to meet the needs of varied populations of learners and that ensuring the delivery is student-focused will empower students and increase their participation.

Help build a stronger local economy by working with local industry

Prior to coming on board as the Director of Adult and Community Education at Spruce Mountain Adult Education, Robyn Raymond was the Assistant Director of Housing and Academic Success and Residential Life at the University of Maine, Farmington. Raymond said the connections she was able to make there for students being successful in their environment, and translating that to academic success, have been helpful in her work now with an adult learner population.

The English Language Arts Classroom as a Multilingual Literacy Community

Literacy educators have long understood the importance of designing multicultural instruction for students. However, in an educational context that is both increasingly multilingual, literacy educators are not realizing that multiculturalism isn’t enough. This article focuses on practitioner friendly recommendations for understanding linguistic diversity in the middle grades, designing physical spaces that support multilingual literacy communities, and designing affective spaces that support multilingual literacy communities. The recommendations in this article rely on data from a qualitative multiple case study to describe the approaches that middle schools recognized as Texas Schools to Watch were used to meet the needs language and literacy needs of their specific English Learner (EL) populations.

A learning bias for word order harmony: Evidence from speakers of non-harmonic languages

Word order harmony describes the tendency, found across the world's languages, to consistently order syntactic heads relative to dependents. It is one of the most well-known and well-studied typological universals. Almost since it was first noted by Greenberg (1963), there has been disagreement about what role, if any, the cognitive system plays in driving harmony. Recently, a series of studies using artificial language learning experiments reported that harmonic noun phrase word orders were preferred over non-harmonic orders by English-speaking adults and children (Culbertson et al., 2012; Culbertson & Newport, 2015, 2017). However, this evidence is potentially confounded by the fact that English is itself a harmonic language (Goldberg, 2013). Here we sought to extend the results from these studies by exploring whether learners who have substantial experience with a non-harmonic language still showed a bias for harmonic patterns during learning. We found that monolingual French- and Hebrew-speaking children, whose language has a non-harmonic noun phrase order (N Adj, Num N) nevertheless preferred harmonic patterns when learning an artificial language. We also found evidence for a harmony bias across several populations of adult learners, although this interacted in complex ways with their L2 experience. Our results suggest that transfer from the L1 cannot explain the preference for harmony found in previous studies. Moreover, they provide the strongest evidence yet that a cognitive bias for harmony is a plausible candidate for shaping linguistic typology.

Roles assigned to heritage learners in beginner Spanish mixed classes

Recent data indicate that there is a large population of Spanish Heritage Learners (HLs) in postsecondary institutions in the U.S. (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2017). However, only 40% of institutions offer at least one course for this student population (Beaudrie, 2012). This situation forces HLs to take language courses designed for Spanish second language learners (i.e., mixed classes). This article reports a study that was carried out to answer the following research questions: a) what roles do instructors assign to HLs in their beginner classes, and b) how do these observed roles support the HL language instruction goals and meet their needs for cultural connection? Results indicate that teachers assign a variety of roles to heritage learners in their beginner Spanish classes. These roles include serving as a language model or informant in terms of linguistic, pragmatic or cultural knowledge, translating and tutoring. The assigned roles could support or inhibit heritage learners’ linguistic and cultural goals depending on their linguistic level. This article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings as they pertain to the required teacher training to better serve these learners in mixed language classes.

A Mastery Learning Module on Sterile Technique to Prepare Graduating Medical Students for Internship.

IntroductionSterile technique is a basic technical skill used for a number of bedside procedures. Proper use of sterile technique improves patient safety by reducing infection risk.MethodsWe applied the principles of mastery learning to develop a simulation-based mastery learning module for sterile technique that was used as part of a 2-week internship preparatory course for fourth-year medical students. Forty-one medical students entering surgical or emergency medicine internships completed the module. Learners demonstrated baseline skills with a pretest, watched a didactic online video, participated in supervised deliberate practice sessions, and then completed a posttest. Physicians evaluated performance using a nine-item mastery checklist validated by a multispecialty panel of board-certified physicians. Learners who did not demonstrate mastery by correctly performing all nine checklist items received formative feedback and repeated the posttest as needed until mastery was achieved.ResultsNo learners demonstrated mastery of sterile technique during pretesting. A total of 100% of learners demonstrated mastery of sterile technique during either their first or second attempt of the posttest. The learners reported statistically significantly higher levels of confidence at the end of the module.DiscussionOur module highlights the skills gap that exists in the transition from undergraduate to graduate medical education and offers a cheap, effective, and easily reproducible curriculum for sterile technique that could be widely adopted for many learner populations.

Synching up on a Satisfaction: A Mixed Methods Study Exploring Synchronous Online Classroom Learning Satisfaction in the Corporate Training Environment

Despite rapid evolution and innovation, “online learning” is no longer a universal term. There is a need to expand the existing research base to include subsets of online classrooms and include more diverse populations of learners. The overarching question for this study focused on synchronous online classroom satisfaction in a corporate setting. The researcher analyzed four years of historical learner-satisfaction data from post-class Level-1 satisfaction surveys from a Fortune 100 company. In total, 15,577 learner responses were collected, analyzed, and converged with data collected from employee focus groups related to synchronous online classroom satisfaction. The statistical analysis of learning satisfaction survey data yielded a significant difference in the scores reported by learners, with in-person classes receiving a higher overall score than synchronous online classes. The focus group results yielded a similar discovery, with participants indicating a preference for in-person classroom experiences and providing recommendations for improvement in the synchronous online classroom. Although there was a preference by a majority of the participants to attend trainings in-person, the majority also noted that they tended to feel a similar level of satisfaction for both modalities.

A scientist like me: demographic analysis of biology textbooks reveals both progress and long-term lags.

Textbooks shape teaching and learning in introductory biology and highlight scientists as potential role models who are responsible for significant discoveries. We explore a potential demographic mismatch between the scientists featured in textbooks and the students who use textbooks to learn core concepts in biology. We conducted a demographic analysis by extracting hundreds of human names from common biology textbooks and assessing the binary gender and race of featured scientists. We found that the most common scientists featured in textbooks are white men. However, women and scientists of colour are increasingly represented in contemporary scientific discoveries. In fact, the proportion of women highlighted in textbooks has increased in lockstep with the proportion of women in the field, indicating that textbooks are matching a changing demographic landscape. Despite these gains, the scientists portrayed in textbooks are not representative of their target audience-the student population. Overall, very few scientists of colour were highlighted, and projections suggest it could take multiple centuries at current rates before we reach inclusive representation. We call upon textbook publishers to expand upon the scientists they highlight to reflect the diverse population of learners in biology.

Sociocultural approaches to mobile learning in bilingual teacher preparation: The benefits of SAML as both a strategy and belief

ABSTRACT This article presents a cooperative inquiry into how teacher educators prepare bilingual teacher candidates to adopt sociocultural approaches to mobile learning in their field-based courses as a platform for engaging their culturally and linguistically diverse learner populations. A sociocultural approach to mobile learning (SAML) uses mobile devices to bridge students’ home and school lives in meaningful and relevant learning experiences. This study provides insight into how and why teacher educators should prepare bilingual preservice teachers to use mobile learning to address the cultural and linguistic needs of diverse learner populations. The authors posit that adopting sociocultural approaches to mobile learning is not just a strategy but a belief that teaching is about empowering students, being responsive to their cultural and linguistic needs, valuing their diversity, creating equitable access to technology, and making learning relevant and authentic – all of which can be facilitated through mobile learning. These beliefs that are facilitated by SAML are extended to the bilingual teacher candidates and ultimately onto their future students.

Implementation and Impact of a Serious Illness Communication Training for Hematology-Oncology Fellows.

Effective communication between providers and patients with serious illness is critical to ensure that treatment is aligned with patient goals. We developed and tested an implementation strategy for incorporating the previously developed Serious Illness Conversation Guide (SICG), a clinician script, into hematology-oncology fellowship training at a single US academic medical center. Between December 2017 and April 2018, we trained 8 oncology fellows to use and document the SICG. The training included associated communication skills-such as handling emotion and headlining-over 7 didactic sessions. Implementation strategies included training 4 oncology faculty as coaches to re-enforce fellows' skills and an electronic medical record template to document the SICG. We assessed effectiveness using 4 approaches: (1) SICG template use among fellows in the 12months following training, (2) fellow confidence pre- and post-intervention via survey, (3) performance in 2 simulated patient encounters, and (4) semi-structured interviews after 12months. Fellows successfully implemented the SICG in simulated patient encounters, though only 2 of 6 fellows documented any SICG in the clinical practice. Most fellows reported greater confidence in their communication after training. Thematic analysis of interviews revealed the following: (1) positive training experience, (2) improved patient preference elicitation, (3) selected SICG components used in a single encounter, (4) prioritize other clinical duties, (5) importance of emotion handling skills, (6) no faculty coaching receive outside training. Despite acquisition of communication skills, promoting new clinical behaviors remains challenging. More work is needed to identify which implementation strategies are required in this learner population.

Se Acabaron Las Palabras: A Post-Mortem Flores v. Arizona Disproportional Funding Analysis of Targeted English Learner Expenditures

Arizona has played a large part in the development and implementation of policy that directly inhibits equity of opportunity for the English learner (EL) population, the largest and most damaging of which came out of legislation passed due to the Flores v. Arizona case which concluded in 2015. This research article seeks to critically challenge how Arizona-reified barriers to learning ELs continue to experience. This article serves as a post-mortem to Flores v. Arizona and measures the relationship between targeted EL expenditures as a function of the percentage of ELs within districts. The findings suggest that the scale of ELs within districts is inversely related to targeted EL expenditures. Furthermore, Arizona has reified laws that inhibit EL educational opportunities across the state.

0749 Case Simulations in Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Narcolepsy: Patients That Keep You Up at Night

Abstract Introduction 3 CME interventions used online case simulations to facilitate the recognition of residual EDS in patients with narcolepsy and OSA and to improve decision-making when developing strategies for long-term management of residual EDS. Methods Outcomes data were obtained from 3, 30-minute case simulations on residual EDS. Surveys assessing knowledge, confidence, and behavior were administered pre- and post-activity. A separate evaluation provided demographics and other variables used in the model. Data from a 2-month follow-up survey were analyzed to determine performance effects on the learner population (n = 30) compared to matched controls (n = 30). Statistical comparisons of data from baseline to post-intervention were made using McNemar’s tests and paired t-tests. Additionally, predictive modeling was applied to evaluate variables predictive of evidence-based decisions. A longitudinal analysis of results was conducted to evaluate knowledge and performance changes in sleep-related initiatives between 2016 - 2019. Results Learners outperformed controls in utilizing the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and are more likely to interpret ESS scores to confirm EDS diagnosis and select appropriate treatment options in managing patients with EDS. Further, learners are more likely than controls to engage in shared decision-making with patients. When given a real-world case, learners are more likely than controls to identify symptoms and order correct tests. Learners were also more likely to select best treatment options for the patient more often than non-learners. Continued education needs to focus on treatment options for patients with narcolepsy. Conclusion Follow-up assessments were conducted to understand lasting performance in learners attributable to this education. Using data from learners compared to matched controls, we found the education had an effect size of 23% (Cohen’s d = 0.33). This indicates that for every 100 clinicians exposed to this education, 23 will perform more according to evidence than if they were not exposed. Support The educational activity described in this abstract was supported by an educational grant from Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Click-level Learning Analytics in an Online Medical Education Learning Platform

Theory Learning in digital environments allows the collection of inexpensive, fine-grained process data across a large population of learners. Intentional design of the data collection can enable iterative testing of an instructional design. In this study, we propose that across a population of learners the information from multiple choice question responses can help to identify which design features are associated with positive learner engagement. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that, within an online module that presents serial knowledge content, measures of click-level behavior will show sufficient, but variable, association with a test-measure so as to potentially guide instructional design. Method: The Aquifer online learning platform employs interactive approaches to enable effective learning of health professions content. A multidisciplinary focus group of experts identified potential learning analytic measures within an Aquifer learning module, including: hyperlinks clicked (yes/no), magnify buttons clicked (yes/no), expert advice links clicked (yes/no), and time spent on each page (seconds). Learning analytics approaches revealed which click-level data was correlated with the subsequent relevant Case MCQ. We report regression coefficients where the dependent variable is student accuracy on the Case MCQ as a general indicator of successful engagement. Results: Clicking hyperlinks, magnifying images, clicking “expert” links, and spending >100 seconds on each page were learning analytic measures and were positively correlated with Case MCQ success; rushing through pages (<20 seconds) was inversely correlated with success. Conversely, for some measures, we failed to find expected associations. Conclusions: In online learning environments, the wealth of process data available offers insights for instructional designers to iteratively hone the effectiveness of learning. Learning analytic measures of engagement can provide feedback as to which interaction elements are effective.

ARABIC NARRATION BY JAPANESE-SPEAKING LEARNERS

There is an unmistakable upward trend in the population of Japanese-speaking learners of Arabic, reflecting the population growth of native Arabic speakers and recognition of the importance of Arabic languages and cultures as a field of study. The eagerness of Arab corporations to engage in business with Japanese organizations also continues to expose an increasing number of Japanese speakers to nations and cultures of the Arab world. Other reasons include growing attention on the Arab world’s important role in international society. All of these factors have contributed to a heightening of interest in Arabic language learning among Japanese speakers. The aim of this study is to investigate Arabic narration by native speakers of Japanese, primarily focusing on adverbial expressions that were used by Japanese-speaking learners when they were asked to narrate events depicted in the picture book, ‘The Frog Story’. This paper first identifies three Arabic adverbial clause types, classified based on morphosyntactic and functional differences. This is followed by an examination of the different ways in which the learners’ narrations of the events were coded via adverbial expressions and verbs. The first type of adverbial expression is what in Arabic is known as alħa:l^l-mufrad or the ‘accusative adverb’, which for the purpose of this paper is referred to as the ‘noun/participle adverb’. This phrase type comprises a verb participle combined with an accusative case and containing no tense information. An exciting conclusion of this study is that Japanese learners of Arabic tend to utilize this adverb type more frequently than native Arabic speakers do. The second type of adverbial expression, known in Arabic as jumlatu^l-ħa:l or the ‘adverbial sentence’, is referred to as the ‘explicit subject adverbial clause’ in this paper. This clause type comprises a conjunctive particle, a subject pronoun, and a verb. The verb is always imperfect, and the subject need not be coreferential with the main clause subject. Results of this study indicate that Japanese learners of Arabic tend to use this adverbial clause type less frequently compared to native Arabic speakers. This may be due to learners not being aware that the subject of the adverbial clause need not be coreferential with the main clause subject. The third type, also known as the ‘adverbial sentence’, is referred to as the ‘non-explicit subject adverbial clause’ in this paper. This clause type consists of only a verb in the imperfect tense, and has neither a conjunctive particle nor a pronominal subject. This clause type was not found in the learners’ narrations, suggesting that the learners are not familiar with the fact that this kind of clause even exists in Arabic.

Language and reading development in children learning English as an additional language in primary school in England

Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are a growing population of learners in English primary schools. These children begin school with differing levels of English language proficiency and tend to underperform in relation to their non‐EAL peers on measures of English oral language and reading. However, little work has examined the developmental trajectories of these skills in EAL learners in England. EAL learners and 33 non‐EAL peers in Year 4 (age 8–9 years) were assessed at three time points over 18 months on measures of oral language (vocabulary, grammar and listening comprehension), phonological processing (spoonerisms and rapid automatised naming) and reading skills (single‐word decoding and passage reading). At t1, EAL learners scored significantly lower than non‐EAL peers in receptive and expressive vocabulary (breadth but not depth), spoonerisms and passage reading accuracy. Contrary to previous research, no significant group differences were found in listening or reading comprehension skills. With the exception of passage reading accuracy, there was no evidence for convergence or divergence between the groups in rate of progress over time. After three years of English‐medium classroom instruction, EAL learners continue to underperform relative to their non‐EAL peers in breadth of English vocabulary knowledge. This discrepancy in vocabulary knowledge does not appear to narrow as a result of regular classroom instruction in the run up to the final stages of primary school, pinpointing vocabulary as a key target for intervention.

Enhancing motivation in workplace training with casual games: a twelve month field study of retail employees

This study focused on the use of casual games to motivate learners in a corporate retail settings to engage in a online learning platform. The study analyzed two populations of learners who were using the learning platform. One group of learners was in a game condition. In this condition, the learners were provided the option to play a casual game (lasting no more than five minutes) every time they logged into the software. The second group of learners was in a non-game condition. They did not have the option of playing games at any time on the platform. Over a 12 month period of time, the study compared the level of engagement of the two groups as measured by the number of times learners returned to the platform and the proportion of time the learner spent browsing non-required areas of the platform. The results provided evidence that playing a casual game produced significant levels of engagement with the learning platform. It was found that learners in the game condition logged in significantly more often than those in the non-game condition. The evidence supports the conclusion that adult learners are more motivated to come back and engage with the learning platform when they can play a casual game first. In terms of learning, it was found learners in the game condition answered significantly more questions correctly and had significantly longer correct answer streaks than learners in the nongame condition.

The role of verbal working memory in L2 sentence comprehension

AbstractConsiderable variability has been observed in sentence comprehension abilities in both native speakers and second language (L2) learner populations. While it has long been established that, in native speakers, this variability is closely linked to individual differences (IDs) in verbal working memory (vWM), previous research on the role of vWM in L2 sentence comprehension has produced mixed results. Moreover, there is an accumulating body of evidence demonstrating that the relationship between vWM and native language comprehension abilities is mediated by language experience. However, to our knowledge, until now, no attempt has been made to integrate language experience measures into the vWM-L2 sentence comprehension relationship. The goal of the present study is twofold: (1) to determine whether and to what extent vWM – as gauged by a reading span (RSPAN) task – correlates with IDs in two proxy estimates of L2 experience and (2) to investigate the effects of vWM on L2 comprehension of three different types of complex sentences. Thirty-four German advanced learners of English participated in this study. Significant positive correlations were found between the RSPAN scores and both proxy estimates of L2 experience. Mixed-effects modeling revealed that vWM exerted a significant effect on L2 sentence comprehension that was not modulated by sentence type. Taken together, these results provide additional evidence in support of the involvement of vWM in L2 sentence comprehension and, to our knowledge, first evidence for the contribution of L2 experience to RSPAN task performance.