Using BookRoll to enhance academic performance of English-majored graduate students in EFL context

[[abstract]]由於網際網路與科技的發達，使得現今老師們皆在思索如何運用科技輔助英語學習，科技輔助教學已然成為教育現場或學術研究的顯學。對外語學習領域而言，雖然過去有不少研究探討如何利用科技輔助一般英語基本聽說讀寫能力，也聚焦於高等教育，然而，甚少研究特別著墨如何運用科技幫助研究所學生進行專業學術英文論文閱讀。因此，本研究目的是利用一個線上閱讀註記系統「BookRoll」來輔助學生閱讀學術英文文章，進而幫助研究所學生提升專業學術英文理解能力，並探討其使用狀況、使用頻率和使用心得。 本研究的目標是透過BookRoll來提升研究生的專業學術英文理解能力。本研究對象為台灣中部一所私立大學外文系的研究生，共20位，皆是非英語母語人士。學生於研究方法課程中，進行6週傳統紙本註記學習，接著體驗6週BookRoll線上註記學習模式。資料收集包含兩種模式的每週小考成績、問卷調查和深度訪談，除此之外，研究人員從BookRoll的後端資料庫中存取畫記次數之資料並加以分析，以瞭解學生線上閱讀狀況。 研究結果顯示，學生使用BookRoll時，學生使用BookRoll線上註記時，其每週小考成績顯著優於傳統紙本註記，代表線上註記對於提升學生理解力較具成效。課前與課後的顯示不清楚內容的黃色畫記次數亦明顯的降低。另外，大部分學生皆對BookRoll給予一定正面評價，樂於使用此系統進行線上閱讀。授課教師亦滿意BookRoll在教學上的功效。日後希望透過本論文訪談內容歸納並統整後提供給BookRoll研究人員，希望可以精進BookRoll的功能，進而讓更多研究生或老師加以利用。 With the development of Internet and online technology, educators nowadays have been thinking about how to use technology to facilitate English teaching as well as learning. Technology-enhanced language learning (TELL), thus, has become a prominent issue that worth investigation both in educational sites and academic research. As regards foreign language learning, while previous research has examined the effects of technology on the fours skills of general English (i.e., listening, reading, speaking, and writing) and has focused on higher education, few studies have addressed the use of technology in the field of English for Academic Purposes (ESP), specifically in academic text reading. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the affordances of an online annotation system (BookRoll) on enhancing graduate students’ academic text comprehension by specifically investigating benefits offered by the functions of the system, frequency of function utilization, and perceptions of the annotation system. The purpose of the study was to enhance graduate students’ academic text comprehension. The participants were 20 English-majored graduate students enrolled in one Research Method course in one private university in central Taiwan. In the course, the participants used functions of BookRoll (e.g., marker, bookmark, memo) while reading academic texts. Multiple data sources over six weeks included numbers of annotation, reflective journals, and in-depth individual interviews. Furthermore, the log files of BookRoll were also analyzed to yield a better understanding of students’ online reading. The results indicated that markers showing students’ confusion while the students reviewed the academic text significantly decreased when compared with the pre-view reading task stage, suggesting enhanced academic text comprehension with the use of BookRoll. Furthermore, most of the students were positive about the integration of BookRoll in the Research Method course, indicating future intention to use this system for online reading. It is hoped that the functions of BookRoll could be further advanced so that graduate students and even teachers could benefit from using the online annotation system