How Flexible Grouping Affects the Collaborative Patterns in a Mobile-Assisted Chinese Character Learning Game

This paper reports the impacts of spontaneous student grouping to develop young students’ orthographic awareness in the process of learning Chinese characters. A mobile-assisted Chinese character forming game is used to assign each student a Chinese character component on their smartphones through a wireless network. Fifteen Singaporean students, all 3rd graders (10-year-old) studying Chinese as a second language (L2), were required to negotiate with their peers to form groups that could assemble eligible Chinese characters by using their respective components. The game process data and the transcriptions of focus group interviews were qualitatively analyzed in order to investigate the dynamics of student collaboration and competition during the games. In turn, the patterns of social interactions during the activities were identified, with a special focus on the varied impacts of the two grouping modes (allowing versus not allowing each student to join more than one group at one time) on the students’ game habits.

[1]  David W. Johnson,et al.  AN OVERVIEW OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING , 2002 .

[2]  J. Thousand.  Creativity and Collaborative Learning: A Practical Guide to Empowering Students and Teachers , 1995 .

[3]  Ivica Boticki,et al.  Designing Technology for Content-Independent Collaborative Mobile Learning , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies.

[4]  Helen H. Shen.  An Investigation of Chinese-Character Learning Strategies among Non-Native Speakers of Chinese. , 2005 .

[5]  Joseph R. Allen.  Why Learning To Write Chinese Is a Waste of Time: A Modest Proposal , 2008 .

[6]  Matthew Kam,et al.  Let's play chinese characters: mobile learning approaches via culturally inspired group games , 2010, CHI.

[7]  Ching Sing Chai,et al.  A blended collaborative writing approach for Chinese L2 primary school students , 2011 .

[8]  Peter Bryant,et al.  Learning to Read Chinese Beyond the Logographic Phase , 1997 .

[9]  Miguel Nussbaum,et al.  Technology as small group face-to-face Collaborative Scaffolding , 2009, Comput. Educ..

[10]  William E. Nagy,et al.  The Role of Morphological Awareness in Learning to Read chinese , 2002 .

[11]  Pamela Jordan.  Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques , 1994 .

[12]  Kukulska-hulmeAgnes,et al.  An overview of mobile assisted language learning , 2008 .

[13]  Heng-Yu Ku,et al.  The effect of computer‐based multimedia instruction with Chinese character recognition , 2011 .

[14]  Ivica Boticki,et al.  Supporting Mobile Collaborative Activities through Scaffolded Flexible Grouping , 2011, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[15]  Ching Sing Chai,et al.  The Chinese Input Challenges for Chinese as Second Language Learners in Computer-Mediated Writing: An Exploratory Study. , 2011 .

[16]  Ivica Boticki,et al.  Improving the scaffolds of a mobile-assisted Chinese character forming game via a design-based research cycle , 2011, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[17]  Shek Kam Tse,et al.  Effective teaching and learning of Chinese characters , 2001 .

[18]  Hiroaki Ogata,et al.  Participatory simulation framework to support learning computer science , 2007, Int. J. Mob. Learn. Organisation.

[19]  William E. Nagy,et al.  Shared-Book Reading in China , 2002 .

[20]  Fei Fei,et al.  Review of Multimedia Learning Suite: Chinese Characters , 2009 .

[21]  Miguel Nussbaum,et al.  Computer supported collaborative learning using wirelessly interconnected handheld computers , 2004, Comput. Educ..

[22]  Miguel Nussbaum,et al.  A constructivist mobile learning environment supported by a wireless handheld network , 2004, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[23]  Chen-Chung Liu,et al.  An analysis of peer interaction patterns as discoursed by on-line small group problem-solving activity , 2008, Comput. Educ..

[24]  Helen H. Shen.  Level of Cognitive Processing: Effects on Character Learning Among Non-Native Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language , 2004 .

[25]  Chee-Kit Looi,et al.  Exploring interactional moves in a CSCL environment for Chinese language learning , 2009, CSCL.

[26]  Eric P.S. Baumer,et al.  A Participatory Simulation for Informal Education in Restoration Ecology , 2008 .

[27]  Peter Lonsdale,et al.  Engaging Learners with Everyday Technology: A Participatory Simulation Using Mobile Phones , 2004, Mobile HCI.