| dc.description.abstract | English has become an international language all over the world, and is applied in various fields. Thus, improving English ability is an important issue for students. Vocabulary is a critical element for improving English abilities. To this end, computer assisted learning is applied to facilitate students to learn English vocabulary. This is because computer assisted learning can provide a flexible learning environment and is helpful to improve students′ motivation. However, there are still several disadvantages in computer assisted learning. For instance, insufficient guidance may make students feel frustrated and increase their cognitive overload. Due to such disadvantages, scaffolding instruction is required in computer assisted learning. Among various types of scaffolding instruction, hints can help students complete learning tasks.
Further to scaffolding instruction, academic emotion also needs to be considered. This is because academic emotion has great effects on student learning. Previous research found positive relationships between learning performance and positive academic emotion while negative relationships between learning performance and negative academic emotion. In addition, individual differences existed among students. Among various individual differences, prior knowledge is especially essential because the prior knowledge can be used to predict the learning situation of the students. Therefore, there is a need to take into account academic emotion and prior knowledge.
Hence, two empirical studies were conducted. The participants of these two studies were research students in a university in Taiwan. Study One aimed to investigate how high prior knowledge students and low prior knowledge students used a prototyped English vocabulary learning system. Based on the results from Study One, Study Two targeted to develop the revised English vocabulary learning system. The results of Study One indicated that there were great differences between high prior knowledge students and low prior knowledge students while they using the prototyped English vocabulary learning system. For example, high prior knowledge students tended to use their abilities to complete the tasks. However, low prior knowledge students tended to use scaffolding hints to complete the tasks. Therefore, significant differences existed between high prior knowledge students and low prior knowledge students, in terms of learning performance. Regarding the learning perception, high prior knowledge students thought that checking answers can help them quickly know if the answer was correct, while low prior knowledge students considered that the basic score was high, and the prompt deduction was reasonable. In addition, both of high prior knowledge students and low prior knowledge students suggested that there is a need to add diverse hints tools.
The results obtained from Study One were applied to redesign the English vocabulary learning system. Diverse tools were provided based on suggestions from high prior knowledge students and low prior knowledge students. According to the different preference of high prior knowledge students and low prior knowledge students, the operation of the English vocabulary learning system was improved and the presentation of the learning system was enriched. The results from Study Two showed that both of high prior knowledge students and low prior knowledge students perceived the sentence hint as the best way to help them. The reason is that the sentence hint can provide the task information, from which students could know how to undertake the task content effectively. However, prior knowledge affected students’ learning behavior. For example, high prior knowledge students tended to use their abilities to complete the tasks while low prior knowledge students tended to use the scaffolding hints to complete the tasks. Regarding the learning performance, the student′s pre-test scores were significantly correlated with positive academic emotion and negative academic emotion, but such a significant correlation was not found for the post-test score. These findings suggested that prior knowledge and academic emotion had great effects on student learning.
In summary, this research contributes to develop deep understandings of how to design English Vocabulary Learning Systems that were suitable for high prior knowledge students and low knowledge students. Moreover, such understandings could help researchers, teachers, students and designers develop English learning systems. By doing so, the goal of satisfying the needs of learners with different levels of prior knowledge can be achieved.
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