以活動理論探討職前教師參與設計電腦輔助語言教學教材比賽的信念與實施

Abstract

資訊融入教學在國高中及國小老師中已屬趨勢，因此全國性資訊融入教學的教材比賽也蔚為風行，為教師應用科技於教學的努力與專業發展平添獎勵。因此針對相關議題，本研究企圖探討教師參與設計電腦輔助語言教學教材比賽的理念與實施。即便過去文獻中已大量探討教師對科技融入教學的信念，鮮少研究探討教師信念與科技融入教學教材的關聯。 以活動理論(Engeström, 1987, 1999) 做理論框架，本質性研究藉由訪談及文件記錄下三位職前教師設計電腦輔助語言教學教材的過程。本研究有三個研究問題，包含(1)教師在電腦輔助語言教學及語言教學及學習的信念，如何反映在參與比賽中設計的電腦輔助教學教材上，(2)有哪些潛在的因素影響教師的比賽參與，和(3)參與比賽的經驗如何影響到教師的信念及教師在教材設計、科技融入及比賽參與上造成的影響。訪談內容將依據活動理論六大因素進行分析，包含「個體」、「欲達成之目標」、「達成目標的媒介」、「個體存在之社群」、「社群內之規則」、及「個體和他人之間的權力關係」。 研究結果指出，教師信念對他們設計教材及科技上的選擇有重大影響。在語言教學與學習上的信念有三個要點，包含(1)設計吸引人有趣教材的偏好，(2)讓學習者有參與的考量，和(3)專業知識的呈現。另外，缺乏訓練、比賽規定及繳交作品的期限為造成教師信念與實施前後不一致的主因。按照活動理論六大因素來探討，媒介包含教師信念、訓練及教學和設計教材的經驗。第二，關於達成目標的媒介，兩位參與研究的老師採用多樣的輸入管道以求教材多變化，惟有一位老師因為時間緊迫及傾向使用既有資源而採用較少的達成目標的媒介。第三，至於比賽的環境下造成的社群內之規則，不但讓教師使用科技上有限制，對教材設計也造成緊張和阻礙。相反的，個體存在之社群提供了支持及正向的幫助。最後，有關個體和他人之間的權力關係，教師在比賽中對於主辦單位屈居劣勢，而權力也因為考量到學習者和使用者及設計學生為主體的活動而部分流失。雖然本研究未捕捉到教師信念上劇大的改變，但也探討到參與比賽對老師帶來正向及負向的經驗。 對於教學應用有幾項建議，包含鼓勵教師參與比賽及與之建立合作關係，及製定比賽規則時應納入老師的觀點。

Integrating technology into teaching has been a trend among K-12 teachers. With reference to such a trend, contests on designing technology-integrated materials encourage teachers’ efforts in incorporating technology into pedagogical practice. In this regard, the present study aims to explore the process of CALL material design in contests with the focus on teachers’ beliefs and practices. Although teachers’ beliefs in technology integration have been addressed in abundant literature, the relations between beliefs and CALL materials have not yet fully addressed. Drawing on activity theory (Engestrom, 1987, 1999), the qualitative study targets three pre-service teachers and records their process of CALL material design by means of semi-structured interviews and documents. The study addresses three research questions, including (1) how teachers’ beliefs in CALL and language teaching and learning are reflected in their CALL material design in a contest, (2) what underlying factors mediated the process of their participation for the contest, (3) how participating in the contest influences teachers’ beliefs and teachers in terms of material design, technology integration and contest participation. Interview data was coded into six components in Engeström’s (1987, 1999) model of activity theory, including subject, object, mediated artifacts, community, rules, and division of labor. The findings of the study reveal that teachers’ beliefs were influential in their practice. Regarding their beliefs in language teaching and learning, three common themes were found to be crucial, including their preference in creating attractive materials, consideration of involving learners, and their professional knowledge. Additionally, insufficient training, contest regulations and deadline of submission were found to contribute to the inconsistency between teachers’ beliefs and practices. With reference to the components interplaying within teachers’ activity systems, firstly, agency consisted of teachers’ beliefs, training as well as experience in both teaching and material design. Second, the mediated artifacts were adopted by the two participants in varying their materials. Interestingly, only one participant adopted rather few mediated artifacts due to her limited time and the tendency to utilize only the available resource. Third, primarily established within the contest, the rules were found to impact teachers’ use of technology and cause restrictions to their practice. Conversely, the community such as partner or technical support was suggested to be facilitative to teachers. Finally, concerning division of labor, teachers were at disadvantage to the host institute in the context of a contest. Last but not least, despite no drastic change in teacher’s beliefs was spotted, the experience of participating in such contest brought both positive and negative impacts to teachers in terms of material design and technology integration. Several pedagogical implications were proposed, including the encouragement of contest participation and collaboration with partners, and involving teachers’ perspective in constructing contest regulations.