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Impact of information technology and constructivist learning tools on the learning of written English
Citation
Divaharan, S., & Wong, P. (2000). Impact of information technology and constructivist learning tools on the learning of written English. In J. Ee, B. Kaur, N. H. Lee, & B. H. Yeap (Eds.), New ‘literacies’: Educational response to a knowledge-based society: Proceedings of the ERA-AME-AMIC Joint Conference 2000 (pp. 804-812). Educational Research Association of Singapore.
Abstract
The objective of this research study was to determine whether the introduction of IT-based writing activities in a constructivist classroom setting improves students’ written English. The research involved students from three streams, namely the Express stream, Normal Academic [N(A)] stream and the Normal Technical [N(T)] stream. A total of 103 students from the secondary level were involved in this research study. 37 students were from the Express stream, 38 from the N(A) stream and 28 from the N(T) stream. The research was conducted using a survey data sheet, a questionnaire and classroom observations. The research study was conducted in three stages: (1) Pre-intervention stage (no IT-based writing tools were introduced). (2) Intervention stage I (IT-based writing tools were introduced with scaffolding). (3) Intervention stage II (IT-based writing tools with no scaffolding). The findings of the study imply that using IT-based writing tools does improve students’ written English in the various grammar components. Improvement was also evident in the students’ final written product. Within the three streams, the N(A) stream saw the greatest improvement. In addition to contributing to the improvement of the students’ written English, the constructivist classroom setting has helped students to become independent learners.
Date Issued
2000
Description
This paper was published in the Proceedings of the ERA-AME-AMIC Joint Conference held at Singapore from 4-6 September 2000