Self-selected Topics Research Articles

To Assign a Topic or Not: Examining Critical Thinking in English as a Foreign Language Speaking

Research has indicated that self-selected (versus teacher-assigned) topics enhance the linguistic aspects of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ performance in learning activities. However, the impact of self-selected topics on non-linguistic meaning-making skills, such as critical thinking (CT), which are essential for content building, has remained understudied. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the effects of two topic-selection approaches – teacher-assigned versus self-selected – on EFL learners’ ability to apply CT in speaking. Forty-two Chinese undergraduate EFL learners were evaluated on their CT in speaking based on their speeches on topics selected using the two methods. The evaluation utilized a six-dimensional rating scale. The results showed that the learners demonstrated significantly higher levels of CT when speaking about self-selected topics than when speaking about teacher-assigned topics. The learners performed better on self-selected topics in five of the six CT dimensions: interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference and self-regulation. There was no significant difference in their performance in the explanation dimension between the two kinds of topics. The findings have pedagogical implications regarding the selection of topics in speaking tasks and can serve as guidelines for EFL teachers in designing activities to enhance learners’ CT and speaking proficiency.

Evaluating a pilot community-based self-management program for adults with spinal cord injury

Objective To evaluate outcomes and perceptions of participating in a pilot spinal cord injury (SCI) specific community-based self-management program. Design A program evaluation conducted through the review of retrospective data. Setting An outpatient vocational rehabilitation service in Singapore. Participants Adults with SCI who completed a self-management intervention. Intervention A self-management educational program was delivered by healthcare professionals with involvement of peer mentors. Up to six self-selected topics were covered using a multi-modal teaching approach. Outcome Measures Retrospective data collected at baseline, post-intervention, and three-month follow-up were analyzed. Outcome measures included the University of Washington Self-Efficacy scale (UW-SES), SCI Secondary Conditions Scale (SCI-SCS), Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ), and employment. Post-program survey findings were also reviewed. Results Data from fifteen participants revealed positive changes over time for the UW-SES (η² = .27), SCI-SCS (η² = .21), and CIQ (η² = .23). Self-efficacy scores increased from baseline to post-intervention with a large effect size (Hedge’s g = 0.89), and from baseline to follow-up with a medium effect size (Hedge’s g = 0.50). Participants reported overall perceived benefit and satisfaction with the program’s design and relevance. They valued access to useful information, effective instructional methods, program customization, and participant empowerment and affirmation. Suggestions for program refinement included: more peer support, psycho-emotional support, and continued program adaptability and accessibility. Conclusion A SCI-specific community-based self-management program was associated with short-term improvements in self-efficacy and was well-received. Further research is required to determine its effectiveness, essential program features that promote successful outcomes, and cost-effectiveness of program implementation.

The Effects Of Self-Selected Topics On Learners Intrinsic Motivation To Speak English As A Foreign Language

The Effects Of Self-Selected Topics On Learners Intrinsic Motivation To Speak English As A Foreign Language

Textbook-assigned and self-selected topics of Iranian male EFL learners: topic interest, topic familiarity, topic importance, and topic difficulty

In recent years, learner-centered teaching has emphasized the demand for making healthy environment where learners’ preferences, interests, personal experiences, cultural backgrounds and lifestyles are taken into account when making decisions about various characteristics of language learning/teaching The choice of topics, which are used in EFL discussion classes, is considered to play an important role in learners’ propensity to engage in a negotiation for meaning. This study was aimed to investigate the perception of Textbook-Assigned and Self-Selected Topics of Iranian male EFL Learners: topic interest, topic familiarity, topic importance, and topic difficulty based on correlational design. It was carried out with 200 male Intermediate EFL learners who were selected by convenience sampling. Although most teachers might be aware of the importance of a good assessment strategy on the topic interest and topic familiarity, rarely do they use it for topic importance and topic difficulty. The results of the study showed that Iranian male EFL learners mostly preferred the topics to be more interesting and familiar in both textbook-assigned (M = 3.1259, SD = .21553, Sig = .000) and self-selected topics (M = 4.0531, SD = .13334, Sig = .000). In addition, there was a significant difference between the learners’ perceptions of textbook-assigned and self-selected topics in terms of interest and familiarity, but less difference in terms of importance and difficulty. The findings of the study indicated that learners’ selection of their own topics can provide the potential implications for their willingness to participate in second and foreign language learning and take responsibility for their own learning process.

Conversational topics discussed by individuals with severe traumatic brain injury and their communication partners during sub-acute recovery

Primary objective: To investigate the nature and patterns of conversational topics discussed by individuals with severe TBI and familiar communication partners at 3 and 6 months post-injury, and to examine changes occurring in conversational topics during sub-acute recovery.Research design: Qualitative content analysis was used to explore the nature of topics and generate conversational themes. Topic analysis provided an understanding of conversational topic management by identifying patterns of topic initiation and maintenance.Methods: Twenty-two people with severe TBI and a familiar communication partner engaged in a 10-minute casual conversation on self-selected topics at 3 and 6 months post-injury.Main outcomes and results: Three main conversational themes were identified: connecting; re-engaging; and impacts of injury. The nature of topics related to these themes changed over time to reflect participants’ sub-acute rehabilitation experiences. Most conversational dyads maintained similar conversational and topic patterns during sub-acute recovery.Conclusions: Qualitative analysis provides a new insight into the conversational topics of individuals with severe TBI. Many participants engaged in appropriate conversations and discussed mutually important topics with familiar communication partners. Findings may inform speech-language pathology intervention in sub-acute recovery to improve conversational discourse abilities of individuals with severe TBI and support their communication partners.

TEACHING STATISTICS THROUGH LEARNING PROJECTS

This paper aims to reflect on the teaching of statistics through student research, in the form of projects carried out by students on self-selected topics. The paper reports on a study carried out with two undergraduate classes using a methodology of teaching that we call ‘learning projects’. Monitoring the development of the various stages of the learning projects allowed continuous adjustment of the process and provided an insight into the benefits and limitations of this approach. Important aspects included the complexity of the group relationships, the importance of choosing the topic of the research, data collection and time management. Students carried out an evaluation of the process, and the resulting information was analysed using quantitative and qualitative approaches. First published November 2014 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

The Effect of Topic Selection on EFL Students’ Writing Performance

The present study aimed at measuring the effect of topic selection on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ writing performance. To this end, a quasi-experimental design was used in the study. Topic selection was considered as the independent variable and the students’ writing performance as the dependent variable. A total of 30 students were selected based on their performance on the placement test administered initially and then randomly assigned into two groups, self-selected topic group (SST) and teacher-assigned topic group (TAT). An independent-samples t test was conducted to compare the scores for the two groups. Findings of the study indicated a significant difference in the performance of the students who wrote on their self-selected topics ( M = 34.53, SD = 3.32) and for those who wrote on a teacher-assigned topic, M = 26.53, SD = 5.24, t(28) = 4.98. The magnitude of the difference in the means was large (η2 = .46).

Exploring and contrasting EFL learners’ perceptions of textbook-assigned and self-selected discussion topics

In an attempt to explore the significance of a ‘willingness to communicate’ (WTC) variable in second language (L2) acquisition, this article reports on a survey study that investigated 101 Japanese university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ perceptions of textbook-assigned and self-selected discussion topics. Additionally, the study examined whether learners’ confidence in discussion differed in relation to textbook-assigned and self-selected topics. The study compiled 40 textbook-assigned topics through analysis of six EFL textbooks and employed 5-point Likert scale questionnaires to collect perceptions and reports of confidence. The study elicited learners’ self-selected topics through an argumentative essay assignment and administered another 5-point Likert scale questionnaire to collect perceptions and reports of confidence regarding these topics. The study found that the learners had statistically significantly greater perceptions of knowledge about and interest in discussing their own topics, but perceived no difference in difficulty or importance compared with the textbook-assigned topics. Moreover, the study found that the learners reported more confidence for discussing their own topics in pair and whole-class situations, but no difference concerning their confidence in group situations compared with the textbook-assigned topics. The study concludes that it is more sensible to have learners select their own topics given the potential implications for L2 WTC and both quantity and quality of production, and suggests that future studies explore the effects of free choice of topic on learners’ interactive behaviors and output.

Vocabulary Use Across Genres: Implications for Students With Complex Communication Needs

This study examined the vocabulary words and multiword sequences used by 124 typically developing kindergarten and 1st-grade students when they wrote about self-selected topics. The study extends previous research by examining the vocabulary used in different genres. A total of 457 writing samples were analyzed. The samples were classified according to 9 genres and were analyzed using the Child Language Analysis ( MacWhinney, 2006) software program. The authors found that 140 words represented 70% of the vocabulary produced. The most common genre types were narrative recounts and opinions. The patterns of frequency for words and multiword sequences varied across genres. The degree of variation was greater for particular vocabulary words. For instance, the word going was used predominantly in 1 genre. In contrast, the word mom was used in every genre except 3. The structure words tended to be used with high frequency across genres. The word lists generated can be used to inform vocabulary selection, organization, and instruction for students with complex communication needs who are beginning writers.

Hiding in Plain Sight

We could, if we wished, usher in an exceptional era of public education simply by employing the most powerful and obvious tactics and strategies that we already know will work. We have ignored, subverted, or postponed these priorities for the past 30 years of so-called reform. This failure, more than anything, explains why student learning as measured by the most legitimate assessments--NAEP, PISA, and TIMSS--has barely budged. The purpose of this column, my for Kappan, is to champion this things first approach. They are those few, straightforward elements and their corollaries that promise to reverse the trend of tepid improvement. Without a doubt, they will have an immediate and decisive impact on the proportion of students who would be ready for college, careers, and citizenship, in virtually in any school. First, we need to massively increase the amount of purposeful reading, writing, and discussion students engage in every day, across the disciplines. Next, we must create and ensure the implementation of decent, coherent, content-rich curriculum in every course. And third, we must ensure that teachers consistently observe the most fundamental elements of a good lesson, which we have known for decades. These will have a profound impact because, despite their unparalleled leverage for improving levels of learning, they are grossly and manifestly under implemented. We maintain current levels of education attainment, such as they are, in the relative absence of these most powerful practices. Few professions are in so propitious a situation. Even reasonable efforts to honestly address these priorities would have immediate and positive effects. There are precedents for swift, even startling improvements in other spheres. Last year, a doctor realized that the lives of thousands of patients hinged on something stunningly simple: the faithful implementation of the most obvious but critical medical procedures. Gathering representatives from a large network of hospitals, he implored them to set a goal to save 100,000 lives in 18 months by unswervingly focusing on the consistent implementation of simple practices known by the entire hospital staff, but consistently practiced by only a few. The result: 122,000 lives were saved, 20% higher than their original goal (Heath & Heath, 2011). Is similarly dramatic, near-term progress possible for schools? Most of us know individual teachers and schools who have made large, fast gains without cutting-edge gadgets, methods, or any of the perennial parade of new programs. A teacher who taught right down the road from my home was singlehandedly responsible for enabling his entire high school--in one year--to make the largest gains in the state on the English language arts exit exam. I watched him teach: He did nothing magical or extraordinary; his preferred technologies were a whiteboard and an overhead projector. He succeeded simply by always (if imperfectly) ensuring a decent curriculum, sound lessons, and plenty of reading and writing--every day. To better grasp the opportunity offered by the back-to-fundamentals approach, let's examine each of these priorities individually, while being fully aware that they're mutually reinforcing. (In future columns, I'll write about each of these facets and their corollaries.) Curricula Robert Marzano's metanalytic studies indicate that a decent, guaranteed curriculum--one that's actually taught by all teachers of the same course--may be the single largest in-school factor that affects learning. No innovation, however sexy or research-based, can overcome the havoc wrought by its opposite: the inevitable hodgepodge of self-selected topics that result in the absence of clear, content-rich curriculum. Moreover, as David Conley has discovered, such common curriculum means very little without clearly specified parameters for how much reading and writing will be required in each course. …

The Vocabulary of Beginning Writers: Implications for Children with Complex Communication Needs

One of the greatest challenges facing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) professionals is providing children with complex communication needs with access to the vocabulary that they need in order to develop mature language and literacy abilities. The purpose of this study was to analyze the vocabulary used by typically developing early-elementary children in the United States and New Zealand when they write about self-selected topics, in order to inform practices with children with complex communication needs. The children's writing samples were compared across school ages and countries. The school age comparisons highlighted the relatively restricted range of vocabulary used by children in the earliest stages of writing development, and the country comparisons revealed differences in core vocabulary. The findings of this study hopefully will assist AAC professionals as they engage in selecting, prioritizing, and organizing vocabulary to support written language development in children with complex communication needs.

Scaffolding the Writing of Students with Disabilities through Procedural Facilitation: Using an Internet-Based Technology to Improve Performance

Relatively little is known about the potential of web-based programs to support and scaffold the writing performance of students with disabilities. In this study, an experimental and control group of students planned and organized their ideas in order to write expository papers about self-selected topics. The experimental group used a web-based environment that scaffolded performance by prompting attention to the topical organization and structure of ideas while students were in the situated act of composing their papers. Control students used similar writing tools, but in traditional paper-and-pencil print formats. The results of the quasi-experimental study revealed that the students in the web-based scaffolding condition produced lengthier pieces and received significantly higher ratings on the primary traits associated with writing quality. The greatest effects were evident in terms of experimental students' abilities to produce topic sentences and to generate more topically coherent pieces overall. These findings suggest the web-based software can be designed to offer universally available supports to improve the performance of struggling writers.

First and Second Graders Writing Informational Text

The author of this article investigated, described, and interpreted the ways in which primary-grade children interacted with informational texts and wrote their own informational texts. In a qualitative study of informational writing in the primary grades, 24 first and second graders worked in pairs over a period of two weeks to research self-selected topics and to produce written work suitable for (classroom) publication. Analysis of the students' written text, together with the transcripts of their conversations, showed that while the students wrote their new texts, their talk centered around the following topics: content suggestion, generating ideas, syntax negotiation, spelling, concern for conventions, organizing and categorizing information, rereading the writing, and revision. Results suggest that common instructional practices in the primary grades may underestimate the ability of these students to comprehend (age-appropriate) informational texts and to produce informational writing of their own.

Speaking to Read: The Effects of Continuous vs. Discrete Speech Recognition Systems on the Reading and Spelling of Children with Learning Disabilities

In recent literature on persons with learning disabilities (LD), speech recognition has been addressed primarily as an assistive technology to compensate for writing difficulties. However, prior research by the authors has shown that speech recognition may have a remedial effect on reading and spelling. The present study was conducted to compare the effects of two types of speech recognition systems, discrete speech and continuous speech, in terms of their relative remedial effects. Thirty-nine students with LD (aged 9-18) had participated in a previous study. Nineteen had used discrete speech systems for 50 minutes a week for sixteen weeks to write on self-selected topics, while twenty students in a control group had received general computer instruction. In the following semester, an additional experimental condition was added. Thirteen participants used continuous speech recognition systems 50 minutes a week for sixteen weeks to write on self-selected topics. Results were then compared across all three groups. Both discrete and continuous speech groups showed significant improvement in word recognition (p<.002, p<.018) and reading comprehension (p<.043, p<.041) over the control group and the discrete condition also showed significant improvement in spelling (p<.015). Pre- and post-tests on five reading-related cognitive processing measures (phonological, orthographic and semantic processing, metcognitive reading strategies, and working memory) indicated that only phonological processing improved significantly, and only for the discrete speech group when compared to controls (p<.04). Results were related to specific differences between continuous and discrete speech systems in terms of the task requirements for generating and correcting text using the two systems.

The Generation and Recall of Personally Relevant Information

An important problem common to the processes of generating and recalling ideas is restricted access to information. Node-link mapping is a visual representation technique that may facilitate access through spatial and verbal cuing. In the present study, students' generation and recall of personally relevant information with techniques that varied in the use of spatial and verbal aspects of node-link maps were examined. The participants generated ideas for 2 self-selected topics and then were tested for recall of their generated ideas 48 hr later. It appears, at least in the present experimental context, that link types initially interfere with cognitive processes that may otherwise operate smoothly. The students who used node-link maps appeared to become more proficient over time than the students who used listing.

A Comparison of Children’s Development of Alphabetic Knowledge in a Skills-Based and a Whole Language Classroom

This study examined how 6 low-income children developed alphabetic knowledge in two different instructional settings, skills-based and whole language. Three learners from each setting were matched on their level of literacy experience at the beginning of kindergarten and on their level of achievement at the end of first grade. They were observed twice a week in their regular kindergarten and first grade classroom contexts. All 6 children learned alphabetic concepts and skills necessary for successful reading and writing, and the pattern of acquisition was similar across the two year period in both instructional settings despite differences in the pace of the children’s acquisition of alphabetic knowledge. The learners in the skills-based classroom acquired alphabetic knowledge primarily through reading basals and writing from teacher prompts. The children in the whole language classroom acquired the same knowledge reading self-selected literature and writing texts with self-selected topics. Both instructional settings provided explicit phonics instruction (albeit contextualized differently), and both settings provided time for children to read self-selected books and to write. These common components may be necessary in beginning literacy instructional programs.

Modeling in Teacher Education: The Effects on Writing Attitude

Abstract Teacher educators must assume more responsibility for developing teachers who know how to write, are confident in their writing ability, and can teach children to benefit from the writing process. This article reports the effects of modeling the writing process on college students' attitudes toward writing. Twenty-one undergraduates enrolled in a language arts methods course experienced the writing process as children would in an elementary setting with 50-minute class periods. While the instructor modeled the role of a teacher, students wrote on self-selected topics, revised and edited a selected piece, bound the final draft in a book, and shared the book with the class. Student scores on the pretest of writing attitudes ranged from negative to slightly favorable. Posttest responses indicated slightly favorable to strongly favorable attitudes toward writing. These gains were significant at the p < .001 level.