WIKI IN ACTION:BEYOND CLASSROOM LIMITS

BEYZA YILMAZİstanbul,2010

• As this paper explores the relation between wiki and motivation then it is time to watch a video decribing wikis.

• http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english

Overview

This paper explored the results obtained from a classconsisting of 16 elementary students who attended aten week course in which a class wiki was used as aninstructional tool in the English PreparatoryProgramme at Bahçeşehir University.

CLASS WIKIhttp://bahcesehira1y.pbworks.com

Sections

homework (edited by students)

students’ own pages (edited by students)

vocabulary journal

links compiled by the students and the instructor

sections requiring the students to communicate with people outside the class

sections requiring the students to work together & report their findings

error correction pages

Purpose of the study

to find out the relationship between the particular use of a web tool, wiki, and the motivation levels of the students

to reflect upon the relationship between wiki use, and motivation of the students

to find out the activities the students enjoyed doing most and the ones they disliked for the improvisation of the researcher’s wiki design

Research Questions

Does the particular use of wiki motivate EFL learners in the Preparatory Programme at Bahçeşehir University, İstanbul?

Which wiki activities do the learners find less motivating?

Which wiki activities do the learners find more motivating? Which ones do they like most?

What can be done in order to improve the use of wiki in order to make it more motivating/ appealing to EFL learners?

What activities need to be added or changed into

the programme?

Subjectssixteen elementary level Turkish EFL

learners in Bahçeşehir University Foundation Programme,

gender of the subjects (11 M, 5 F) ages of the subjects (18-29)

SettingsBU EPPextra quota schedule

Method

instruments

an adapted questionnaire interview questions

Data Collection Procedures

wiki tasks carried out by the subjects1 administration of

the questionnaire on the subjects2 interviews3

Data Analysis Procedures

Quantitative Data

Manual Analysis

Qualitative Data

Content Analysis&Pattern Coding

(Miles &Hubermann,1980) techniques

Resultsideas of EFL students about the particular wiki use as a motivating tool

findings parallel to the hyphothesis

activities found motivating by the subjects

findings parallel to the hyphothesis to some extent

activities found less motivating by the subjectsstorytelling

activities suggested by the subjects:online exercises and quizzes animationschat optioninviting other people to write sentences in the vocabulary journal sectionkeeping a learning diaryessay writing activities video tutorials

CONCLUSION

• The responses from the survey and the interviews supported the researcher’s main hyphothesis claiming that students find the researcher’s particular use of wiki motivating.

• They also revealed three aspects of wiki,interaction, enhancement of self confidence and having a real audience motivated the subjects.

• The findings also pointed out some deficiencies in the researcher’s particular wiki use.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN

In the light of the students’ overall responses to the questionnaire and the interviews,the researcher decided to improvise her class wiki use taking the factors emerged from this study which are the importance of interaction either written or spoken, realistic and relevant tasks,into account.

IMPLICATIONSImplications for teachersnew insights on this topic

further action research on wiki and motivation

some tips about wiki design

a clearer understanding of how wikis might best be used in language instruction to scaffold language learning after needs analyses

Implications for further research conducting a research on different uses of wiki especially on the ones

requiring students to use microphones and webcams

creating/adapting new PLNs based upon the results of this study and testing whether they increase motivation levels of EFL learners or not

conducting the research on learners having different proficiency levels

Screenshots of the class wikiVocabulary journal section

Students Giving Advice to a Teacher from Brazil

A video and some comments underneath

How do you think wiki can be used in your own context?

CONTACT INFORMATION

e-mailbeyzayilmaz@gmail.combeyza.yilmaz@bahcesehir.edu.tr

twitter@beyza

bloghttp://beyzasfirstblog.blogpot.com