Abstract
Background: Singapore launched the first Masterplan in 1997 to guide the integration of ICT (information and communication technology) in education. Since then many schools have started to explore using ICT in their curricula. The school reported in this paper developed a web-based learning environment to assist students in the use of ICT. However, a number of problems were identified with the English version learning environment. The Mother Tongue Department in this school decided to develop a Chinese version web-based learning environment to help students in essay writing.
Aims: The aim of this study was to develop an interactive online portal that is more practical for students to write essays in Chinese. Specifically, the Chinese version learning environment aimed to: i) encourage the use of Chinese language; ii) promote student’s interaction with peers and with the teacher; iii) allow the teacher to control the quality of students’ posts; and iv) provide a more user-friendly environment for both students and teachers.
Sample: In the third round of prototyping, 110 students were surveyed. They were all girls of 14 years old. Majority of them (74%) used English as the first language at home. The others spoke Mandarin or dialects at home. Five of them were selected for an interview based on the survey results.
Method: A survey and a face-to-face interview were conducted. The data collected from the survey questionnaire were tabulated, and the interview results were described.
Results: The results found that students posted longer essays with fewer spelling mistakes. The students were satisfied with the content, tools and interface of the environment. However, not all students enjoyed online learning and their Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音) skills needed to be further improved.
Conclusion: The action research approach is useful for school teachers to design a complicated system that has not been fully articulated. The design processes of the CL Portal reveals that the action research approach allows a research team to gradually revise a system based on the comments collected and eventually produce an optimal product.
| Keywords: | action research; Chinese language learning; online learning environment |
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