Learners’ Behaviors in Computer-Based Input Activities Elicited Through Tracking Technologies

Some studies reveal that students may not be doing what the program designer or the instructor intends them to do in CALL activities (e.g., Chapelle & Mizuno, 1989; Collentine, 2000). It remains valid however that input activities delivered inside and outside the classroom through the computer have the advantages of learner-control and accessibility over those activities conducted by the instructor in the classroom. Assisted by WebCT’s tracking system, this case/pilot study investigates students’ program access behaviors in such environments. It also demonstrates a method utilized to select tracking data, and derive and interpret students’ learning patterns during the activities. Those patterns in turn are found to correlate strongly with students’ knowledge gain, further supporting the use of the method to derive students’ learning patterns in such environments, with such a program design. Additionally, it suggests that those learning patterns may be used to predict whether a student will have a successful learning outcome. In the light of all the above, the author proposes that for the effective use of computer-based input activities, in addition to giving proper training before students utilize a program (e.g., Hubbard, in press), the instructor’s role is to use the data elicited from tracking technologies to monitor students’ behaviors. This will determine which activities or instructional strategies need to be improved to better suit students. It will also provide the instructor with useful data to communicate with students of poor performance to modify their behaviors in order to improve their learning, giving an additional advantage to CALL activities in addition to learner-control and accessibility.