Schedule: 2009-09-11 (12:45 - 13:30)
Parallel Session 3 (Room A-1)

Title: How to transform your daily work into research? The case of ICT and motivation.
Authors: Jozef Colpaert, Frederik Cornillie
Abstract: Educational engineering is an innovating research method which distinguishes itself from the traditional quantitative and qualitative methods for the following reasons: a/ it applies to real-world development, implementation and use; b/ it is geared towards verifying working hypotheses built on both theory and practice; c/ it is a staged and systematic model which allows for detailed analysis and justification of the design logic and d/ it allows to convert daily work into research.

As prospective contributors to the CALL Journal often complain about the challenge to combine their daily work with the pressure to research-and-publish, the latter feature appears to offer them some kind of solution. Indeed, in recent workshops and training sessions, we have succeeded in convincing language teachers to become researchers without revolutionizing their lives, and we are now analyzing obstacles such as the resistance from traditional researchers, the low academic valorization of CALL, poor insight of people in what thrives or hinders them ("you can't change what you don't acknowledge") and the fear of self-management.

This presentation reports on two cases in which a collaborative research project was set up with language teachers in their teaching practice. In both cases, the quality of the learning environment and learner motivation were higher than average if not exceptionally good, there was enough exposure, but the learning outcomes remained lower than expected. After analyzing this phenomenon, we were able to provide local teachers with two hypotheses: a linguistic one and a psychological one. The linguistic hypothesis is related to the way learners have acquired their own mother tongue (not necessarily related to the Mother Tongue Literacy hypothesis). The psychological hypothesis relates to the learners' fear of losing – or betraying - their own identity. We will show how factors like these – deeper than motivation – are better foundations for design geared towards acceptance and effectiveness.

Finally, we will show how educational engineering allows language teachers on higher education level to transform their daily work into research by formulating working hypotheses based on theory and practice, by using their own students and colleagues as research population, and by applying adequate measuring and evaluating techniques. We will conclude by insisting on the importance of collaborative research in this respect.
Keywords: Collaborative research, design, motivation, educational engineering

Main topic: Research in new language learning environments

Biodata: Jozef Colpaert is professor in eLearning, Instructional Design and CALL at the Institute for Education and Information Sciences at the University of Antwerp, and director of the LINGUAPOLIS Language Institute. He is editor of the CALL Journal and organiser of the Antwerp CALL Research conferences. Frederik CORNILLIE is project manager ICT at the LINGUAPOLIS Language Institute and research assistant at the Institute for Education and Information Sciences at the University of Antwerp.
Type of presentation Paper presentation

Paper category Research

Target educational sector Higher education

Language of delivery English

EU-funded project No

Schedule:	2009-09-11 (12:45 - 13:30) Parallel Session 3 (Room A-1)
Title:	How to transform your daily work into research? The case of ICT and motivation.
Authors:	Jozef Colpaert, Frederik Cornillie
Abstract:	Educational engineering is an innovating research method which distinguishes itself from the traditional quantitative and qualitative methods for the following reasons: a/ it applies to real-world development, implementation and use; b/ it is geared towards verifying working hypotheses built on both theory and practice; c/ it is a staged and systematic model which allows for detailed analysis and justification of the design logic and d/ it allows to convert daily work into research. As prospective contributors to the CALL Journal often complain about the challenge to combine their daily work with the pressure to research-and-publish, the latter feature appears to offer them some kind of solution. Indeed, in recent workshops and training sessions, we have succeeded in convincing language teachers to become researchers without revolutionizing their lives, and we are now analyzing obstacles such as the resistance from traditional researchers, the low academic valorization of CALL, poor insight of people in what thrives or hinders them ("you can't change what you don't acknowledge") and the fear of self-management. This presentation reports on two cases in which a collaborative research project was set up with language teachers in their teaching practice. In both cases, the quality of the learning environment and learner motivation were higher than average if not exceptionally good, there was enough exposure, but the learning outcomes remained lower than expected. After analyzing this phenomenon, we were able to provide local teachers with two hypotheses: a linguistic one and a psychological one. The linguistic hypothesis is related to the way learners have acquired their own mother tongue (not necessarily related to the Mother Tongue Literacy hypothesis). The psychological hypothesis relates to the learners' fear of losing – or betraying - their own identity. We will show how factors like these – deeper than motivation – are better foundations for design geared towards acceptance and effectiveness. Finally, we will show how educational engineering allows language teachers on higher education level to transform their daily work into research by formulating working hypotheses based on theory and practice, by using their own students and colleagues as research population, and by applying adequate measuring and evaluating techniques. We will conclude by insisting on the importance of collaborative research in this respect.
Keywords:	Collaborative research, design, motivation, educational engineering
Main topic:	Research in new language learning environments
Biodata:	Jozef Colpaert is professor in eLearning, Instructional Design and CALL at the Institute for Education and Information Sciences at the University of Antwerp, and director of the LINGUAPOLIS Language Institute. He is editor of the CALL Journal and organiser of the Antwerp CALL Research conferences. Frederik CORNILLIE is project manager ICT at the LINGUAPOLIS Language Institute and research assistant at the Institute for Education and Information Sciences at the University of Antwerp.
Type of presentation	Paper presentation
Paper category	Research
Target educational sector	Higher education
Language of delivery	English
EU-funded project	No