Choy, Doris

The purpose of this study is to explore and compare fourth grade students’ perceptions of technology enabled self-directed learning and collaborative learning during their five-week English writing lesson. Three elementary schools in Singapore were invited to participate in the study. In this pseudo-experimental study, students in the intervention group were able to use various technology tools to develop their self-directed learning and collaborative learning skills while working on their writing tasks. At the end of the intervention, their perceptions of self-directed learning and collaborate learning with technology were collected and compared with the control group. There were significant differences in the perceptions between the control and the experimental groups.

Little published research has investigated how students interact with authentic audiences. By conducting a two-year classroom-based research intervention with 617 students from three government-aided primary schools in Singapore, this study examined the effect of the socio-cognitive and motivation-and-learning (SCML) approach on students’ writing with a real audience in the classroom context. Data included student compositions and peer feedback via Padlet, a web app that enables users to post notes on a digital wall. Findings showed that there was a significant difference between pre- and post-tests in students’ writing with a real audience after the implementation of SCML writing programmes. Findings also indicated that students were able to provide quality peer feedback on classmates’ compositions. This study contributes to research on students’ writing with a real audience in a school context. The SCML approach encourages peer feedback through the use of Padlet, which is conducive to improving audience awareness in writing.