(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) an evaluation of appropriateness of applying ‘learn to speak english’ software in teaching speaking skills for non major 1st year students at hanoi university of business and technology

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHÙNG THỊ NGỌC HÀ AN EVALUATION OF APPROPRIATE

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

PHÙNG THỊ NGỌC HÀ

AN EVALUATION OF APPROPRIATENESS OF APPLYING “LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH”

SOFTWARE IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS FOR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR 1 ST YEAR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND

TECHNOLOGY

Đánh giá sự phù hợp của việc áp dụng phần mềm „ Learn to Speak English‟ trong việc dạy kĩ năng nói cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên Tiếng Anh của trường Đại Học Kinh Doanh và Công Nghệ Hà Nội

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 601410

Hanoi – 2013

TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com

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FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

PHÙNG THỊ NGỌC HÀ

AN EVALUATION OF APPROPRIATENESS OF APPLYING “LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH”

SOFTWARE IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS FOR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR 1 ST YEAR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND

TECHNOLOGY

Đánh giá sự phù hợp của việc áp dụng phần mềm „ Learn to Speak English‟ trong việc dạy kĩ năng nói cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên Tiếng Anh của trường Đại Học Kinh Doanh và Công Nghệ Hà Nội

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Đỗ Tuấn Minh, Dr

Hanoi-2013

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i

DECLARATION

I hereby state that I, Phung Thi Ngoc Ha, K20D, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master‟s Thesis deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I worked on the Thesis on my own and used the sources of information listed in the references only

Signature Hanoi, October 2013

Phung Thi Ngoc Ha

TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com

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advice and especially for his valuable correction throughout this study There is no doubt that without his help, this thesis would be impossible to be accomplished

I also wish to express my deep gratitude to all teachers from Faculty of Post Graduate Studies giving lectures and advice that are of great help for me to complete this study

I am very grateful to all the teachers of English Division III and all of the students

of three classes at Hanoi University of Business and Technology for their enthusiastic participation in the survey questionnaire and interview Without their help, this thesis would not be able to be completed

My thanks go to many writers whose important ideas and notions are exploited and developed in the study

Finally, I would like to send my deep gratitude to my family and all of my close friends who are always by my side to take care of and support me in the process of doing this thesis

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(LUAN.van.THAC.si).an.evaluation.of.appropriateness.of.applying.â€˜learn.to.speak.englishâ€™.software.in.teaching.speaking.skills.for.non.major.1st.year.students.at.hanoi.university.of.business.and.technology(LUAN.van.THAC.si).an.evaluation.of.appropriateness.of.applying.â€˜learn.to.speak.englishâ€™.software.in.teaching.speaking.skills.for.non.major.1st.year.students.at.hanoi.university.of.business.and.technology(LUAN.van.THAC.si).an.evaluation.of.appropriateness.of.applying.â€˜learn.to.speak.englishâ€™.software.in.teaching.speaking.skills.for.non.major.1st.year.students.at.hanoi.university.of.business.and.technology(LUAN.van.THAC.si).an.evaluation.of.appropriateness.of.applying.â€˜learn.to.speak.englishâ€™.software.in.teaching.speaking.skills.for.non.major.1st.year.students.at.hanoi.university.of.business.and.technology

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ABSTRACT

With the development of Information and Technology Communication (ITC), computer- Assisted Instruction (CAI) has been brought into the classroom CAI is a kind of instruction that exploits computer software to assist teachers to teach information or skills related to a particular topic, and students can interact directly with lessons programmed into the computer system Universities are also exploiting using many types of software to help develop students‟ English competence Therefore, the research is aimed at evaluating the appropriateness of the software, known as “Learn to Speak English” (LTSE) in teaching English speaking skills as a supplementary material at Hanoi University of Business and Technology And then give some suggestions for adaptation this software to bring the effectiveness on teaching and studying English speaking From the result and discussion of this study, it can be concluded that this LTSE software is suitable as a supporting learning aid for students to improve their English speaking skills Students perceived this courseware as user-friendly and capable for enhancing the learning of the subject However, they also hope for further improvements of the courseware

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study……… 1

2 Aims of the study………1

3 Research questions……… 2

4 Significance of the study ……… 2

5 Scope of the study ……… 2

6 Design of the study……….…… 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: Literature Review……… 5

1 Software in Language Teaching and Learning……….…… …5

1.1 Definition of software……….………… 6

1.2 Roles of teaching and learning software in general English courses.….…… 6

2 Speaking Skill……….………8

2.1 Definition of Speaking……….……….…8

2.2 Characteristics of Speaking……….……… 9

2.3 Teaching and Learning Speaking Skills with Software…….……….10

3 Software Evaluation……… ……… 11

3.1 Reasons for Software Evaluation………11

3.2 Types of Software Evaluation……….……….…… 12

3.3 Software Evaluation Framework ……….……… 13

3.3.1 Presentation and Organization of the Content……… 15

3.3.2 Evaluation of Learning ……… 18

4 Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10 software……….19

4.1 Introduction of Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10 (LTSE) software… 19

4.2 Reasons to Choose Learn to Speak English………20

4.3 Learn To Speak English Deluxe 10‟s content……… 21

Chapter II: Research Methods………25

1 The context………25

1.1 Description of the LTSE course and its objectives at HUBT……….……….25

1.2 Description of the students at HUBT……… 26

1.3 Description of English teachers at HUBT……… 26

2 The Research Methods……….27

2.1 Research methodology ……… 27

2.2 The data collection methods ……… 27

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2.3 Data analysis procedure……… ……… 28

Chapter III: Results and Discussion……… 29

1 Results of general information……… 29

2 Results of how students learn LTSE at HUBT……….30

3 Results of the LTSE’s content evaluation……….33

4 Results of presentation and organization of LTSE’s content……….33

4.1 Pedagogical factors………32

4.2 Interface design factor ……… ………34

5 Results of Learning and Preference toward the use of LTSE Software 39

6 Recommendations for Courseware Improvements……….40

7 Summary of Major Findings……… 42

PART III: CONCULSION 1 Conclusion ……… …45

2 Implications of the Findings……… …46

3 Limitations of the Study……….……47

4 Suggestions for Further Research……….………48 REFERENCES

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: LTSE‟s Vocabulary Part Appendix 2: LTSE‟s Communication Stories

Appendix 3: LTSE‟s Grammatical Point Appendix 4: LTSE‟s Exercises

Appendix 5: LTSE‟s Conversation Part Appendix 6: Questionnaire for Students Appendix 7: Interview Questions for Teachers Appendix 8: Transcription for the semi-structured group interview with teacher

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Results of the LTSE‟s Content Evaluation Table 2: Results of Pedagogical factors of LTSE‟s content Table 3: Results of Interactivity of LTSE‟s content

Table 4: Results of Navigation of LTSE‟s content Table 5: Results of Feedback of LTSE‟s content Table 6: Results of Feedback of LTSE‟s content Table 7: Results of Learning Evaluation

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

For decades, English was taught in classrooms in which the teacher-centered method was applied The teacher gave information, while students gained knowledge passively However, advanced technology has influenced on the educational method in classroom in which computer-based technology is mainly used to reinforce instruction and put the focus on the students in learning process

By incorporating technology in the classroom, the students can be beneficial in a number of ways: assisting students‟ understanding of concepts, enhancing students‟ motivation in exploring, investigating, conjecturing, creating and discovering principles, and making generalization and connections; engaging students involvement in the learning process and motivating them (Wertherimer, 1990) The advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has brought the concept of Computer- Assisted Instruction (CAI) into the classroom CAI is a kind

of instruction that exploits computer software to assist teachers to teach information

or skills related to a particular topic, and students can interact directly with lessons programmed into the computer system (Roblyer, 2004) There are many types of software that teachers can use to develop their own teaching software

Studies demonstrate that the Learn To Speak English software can be to help improve students‟ achievement in English in general and speaking skills in particular hence, to eradicate much English anxiety and fear of using computer software and speaking English

2 Aims of the study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the appropriateness of the software, known

as “Learn to Speak English” (LTSE) in teaching speaking skills as a supplementary material at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) in order to find out conclusions and suggestions for using LTSE in the future The objective is the evaluation of the software by the students and that of the teachers on its strength and

weakness of the software

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3 Research questions

All the above aims are carried out by answering the following research questions:

1 How do Ss learn speaking English with LTSE?

2 How do teachers teach speaking with LTSE?

3 To what extent does LTSE meet the needs of teachers and Ss in teaching and learning speaking?

4 Significance of the study

in learning speaking English and suggesting some solutions, it is hoped that the result of the study will somehow be used as reference to help students to learn speaking skills better with this software in the next semesters In addition, the findings of the study will be a great use not only to the researcher but also to the teachers who are teaching LTSE software to students at HUBT Furthermore, the findings of the thesis will form a foundation toward adapting effectively the software which is currently used for the students at HUBT

5 Scope of the study

Firstly, although HUBT only apply to teach LTSE for students in the first year in order to improve their English in communication skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing), it is believed that LTSE can be continuously used as a reference resource for students after this course Due to the limitation of time and the narrow scale, the study only focuses on evaluating the strength and weakness of

major students at HUBT from the perspectives of students and teachers Then, this study will also give out some suggested solutions generated from the teachers in the interview for students to overcome those difficulties and improve their speaking

skills

Secondly, in software evaluation, there have been a great number of criteria that should be taken into consideration such as: the content, the organization and presentation, the design factors, the pedagogical parameter, and so on In this study,

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the researcher focuses on the following criteria: content, presentation and organization of the content, and students‟ learning

6 Design of the study

There are three main parts in this thesis: introduction, development and conclusion

The introduction provides the rationale, the aims, the scope, the significance, the

research questions and the design of the study

The development consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1 presents a review of literature concentrating on the issues related

to software in language teaching and learning, speaking skills, software evaluation It discusses the definition of software, the roles and types of software evaluation in language teaching and learning, the definition and characteristics of speaking, teaching and learning speaking with the help of software and present major issues in software evaluation including purposes for software evaluation, types of software evaluation, and software evaluation framework Finally is an introduction of LTSE Deluxe 10‟s content

Chapter 2 focuses on the methodology employed in this thesis including an

overview of current English teaching and learning at HUBT, research methodology, an the data collection procedures

Chapter 3 discusses the findings of the study; points out the strengths,

weaknesses of the courseware, and suggests the recommendations for the courseware improvement

The conclusion provides a brief summary of all the major parts being presented in

the study, the conclusions drawn out and suggestions for further research

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PART II: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter I:

Literature Review

1 Software in Language Teaching and Learning

Computers are becoming more and more common, and in an increasingly diverse number of applications They are used in all aspects of life such as schools, hospitals, military, offices, banks, airplanes and so on Therefore, computer is considered as a tool to improve the quality of teaching and learning Sudjana & Rival (2009:137) sated that the use of computer as a teaching media provides several advantages:

process

term memory

Mc Donough, et al (1994:211) had the same idea that there are several advantages

by using computer as learning media, such as:

interest and attention

provides learning sources which are easy to be modified

However, besides those advantages, Sudjana & Rival (2009:138) also explain

several constraints of the use of computer as learning media as follows:

- The program, especially for teaching goal, is still less developed if it is compared with other goal

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- The digital software used is usually not flexible to be used in every computer

by comparing with the benefit itself

- Because the role of human user is still strongly demanded, the teacher should have high- technology skill, at least to operate the system and program of the computer itself

1.1 Definition of software

In Business dictionary, software is defined as organized information in the form of operating systems, utilities, programs, and applications that enable computers to work

Software consists of carefully-organized instructions and code written by programmers in any of various special computer languages

Software is divided commonly into two main categories:

(1) System software: controls the basic (and invisible to the user) functions of a

computer and comes usually preinstalled with the machine See also BIOS and Operating System

(2) Application software: handles multitudes of common and specialized tasks a

user wants to perform, such as accounting, communicating, data processing, word processing

1.2 Roles of teaching and learning software in general English courses

Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) means using computer to support language teaching and learning in some ways The current philosophy of CALL puts a strong emphasis on student-centered material that allows learners to work by themselves Therefore, CALL‟s aim is to facilitate language learning by using technology of computer More specifically, Levy (1997) states that CALL is digital software tool which is designed to develop language learning and it also covers the application of the computer in language teaching and learning Moreover, Ihsanudin (2009:8) in his research states that

"CALL is not focused on technology but on language learning The word assisted indicates that technology only facilities the language learning process A more accurate term for using technology in language learning might be language

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learning through technology reflecting the true position of language in such activity"

Soe (1998) says that there are three main roles of CALL in interacting with students:

Drill and Practice

Computer provides practice to strengthen the learning material, and gives feedback directly from the student's scores In this case, CALL plays a role as complement media in teaching-learning language process in classroom Moreover, this is very useful when teacher cannot interact with students individually

Tutorial

Computer provides some information; moreover explains some addition concept to students through practicing In this case, CALL plays a role as material providers which have been adjusted to each student's proficiency individually

Dialogue

In this case, students are more active in interacting with the computer Computer provides learning material, practice, and some feedback CALL in this role has been trusted as replacement enclosed traditional method which provides more effective

2.1 Definition of Speaking

According to Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997, speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information” Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in

which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences,

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the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving

According to Burn & Joyce, 1997, "speaking" is the delivery of language through the mouth To speak, we create sounds using many parts of our body, including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips In the framework of how we learn our first language, language has been divided into different skill areas A child first learns to practice language through the skill of listening Later, a child uses language by speaking combined with listening Then, when school begins, children learn the skills of reading and writing So speaking is usually the second of the four language skills that we learn This vocalized form of language usually requires at least one listener When two or more people speak or talk to each other, the conversation is called a "dialogue" Speech can flow naturally from one person to another in the form of dialogue It can also be planned and rehearsed, as in the delivery of a speech or presentation

Speaking can be formal or informal:

Informal speaking is typically used with family and friends, or people you know well

Formal speaking occurs in business or academic situations, or when meeting people for the first time

Speaking is probably the language skill that most language learners wish to perfect

as soon as possible

2.2 Characteristics of Speaking

According to Bygate (1987), speaking has the following characteristics:

Firstly, its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving

Secondly, the learners must know how to produce specific points of language such

as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary, but also they understand when, why, and

in what ways to produce language

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Thirdly, speech has its own features, structures, and conventions different from written language

Lastly, Bygate (1987) considers speaking as an undervalued skill in many ways The reason is that almost all people can speak, and so take speaking skill too much for granted Bygate also highly appreciates speaking skill by stating that speaking is the medium through which much language is learnt

To sum up, it is undeniable that speaking is the key to communication By considering what good speakers do, what speaking tasks can be used in class, and what specific needs learners report, teachers can help learners improve their speaking and overall oral competency

2.3 Teaching and Learning Speaking Skills with the Help of Software

According to Harmer (2001) teachers should be aware that teaching speaking closely relates to receptive skill work when teaching speaking skills Teachers

should pay attention to: Output and input, Texts, Reception and production Output and input: output is the language the students produce; input is the feedback or

prompters from students‟ interlocutor (teacher) Teachers can modify their students‟

output Texts: offer students a model to follow, especially when working on specific

functions (agreeing, disagreeing, expressing surprise, approval ), also act as stimuli which then help create language production: discussion (from controversial reading

passage), response (after listening to a tape about a story or opinion Reception is a part of production: conversation between two people is a blend of listening and speaking; comprehend what‟s said is necessary for what‟s said next Production enables reception: oral production works in a way that helps Ss with their listening

comprehension as when they try to speak, they better adjust to understanding other people speaking in the same context

Brown & Nation (1997) think that teachers should give students practice with both fluency and accuracy: teachers should provide students with form-focused and meaning-focused speaking activities that aim at fluency and accuracy development Nunan (2003) believes that teachers had better provide students opportunities to talk (by using group work or pair work and limiting teacher talk), plan tasks involving

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negotiation of meaning, design classroom activities involving guidance, practice for both transactional and interactional speaking

With the help of using software in English language teaching, Al-Mansour, N.S & Al-Shorman, R.A (2011) state that

“First, using software in English language instruction is a novelty This novelty may have encouraged the students to deal with the computer enthusiastically, which may have been reflected in better achievement Second, computers depend on programs that are based on individual learning and consider the level and pace of the individual This may enhance learning as the learner may feel that s(he) is in control of the whole learning process Third, using computers allows the students to repeat the same piece of information or drill as many times as necessary for them to understand Moreover, they are able to refer to the learning material any time they want Fourth, using computers in instruction makes the students become less shy of committing mistakes, which encourages them to learn much better and then improve their achievements Fifth, students using the computers might have felt that they were not being watched or judged and, thus, that the work they did was their own private property Therefore, they were relaxed about pooling information and seeking help from other students Finally, computers have many positive characteristics such as speed, accuracy, variability of presentation and flexibility of use and control, which explains why it outdoes other presentation modes such as books.”

3 Software Evaluation 3.1 Reasons for Software Evaluation

According to Haugland (1992), the type of software that brings impacts to student's computer experiences and even seems to determine whether they have developmental gains from these experiences Therefore, the software like any other resources must have a developmental approach to teaching and learning

It is very important to know whether the suitability of particular software could meet the student's needs, its contribution to the student's performance and achievement, and it could act as a motivation tool

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3.2 Types of Software Evaluation

There are four general types of evaluation of computer assisted learning material (CALM)

Formative evaluation: to help improve the design of the CALM

Summative evaluation: to help users choose which piece of CALM to use

and for what

Illuminative evaluation: to uncover the important factors latent in a particular

to adjust their CALM Formative evaluation would be realistic and helpful because

it uses students in their normal learning situation and their feedback to developers is

a helpful substitute that gets round this constraint

Summative evaluation

Evaluation of CALM is rather like consumer reports on goods: the manufacturer designs and supplies them, and then someone else does tests and produces reports to help purchasers decide which to buy This view of evaluation is linked to a view that CALM is produced like textbooks and other goods, and that evaluation is not expected to have any direct effect on the CAL itself by telling the authors how to improve it It is expected to help consumers in how to use the product: only which

to buy

Illuminative evaluation

"Illuminative evaluation" is the investigator to hang out with the participants (students, teacher, etc) to pick up how they think and feel about the situation, and what the important underlying issues are Its importance is as an open-ended method that can detect what the important issues are, without which other methods often ask the wrong questions and measure the wrong things Illuminative

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evaluation is in effect a systematic focus on discovering the unexpected, using approaches inspired by anthropology rather than psychology

3.3 Software Evaluation Framework

The efficiency of a courseware depends on many issues In order to build up the evaluation instrument the researcher attempted to integrate in a framework a number of important issues emerged from researches on instructional design and system evaluation the past fifteen years, and which should be considered from evaluators of hypermedia courseware (H.C.)(Georgiadou & Economides, 2000) This framework is connected with both social and practical acceptability of

hypermedia courseware, based on Nielsen's idea that "the overall acceptability of a computer system is a combination of its social and practical acceptability” The

term social acceptability is related with the social basis of an educational system The practical acceptability is examined through the evaluation of the following four sectors:

i) Content ii) Presentation and organization of the content iii) Technical support and update processes and finally iv) Evaluation of learning

All sectors are equally important, as hypermedia courseware has to be simultaneously pedagogically and technically sound Moreover, each sector includes a number of criteria that are incorporated in the evaluation instrument, which should be met in a satisfactory level, in order to characterize a piece of hypermedia courseware of high quality Furthermore, cost- effectiveness should

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always be examined when similar products seem to have the same educational values The diagram below presents the sectors included in the framework and the factors that are associated with them

Diagram of the Evaluation Framework

Before presenting the evaluation instrument it is necessary to discuss the underlying theory of the criteria used for the „presentation and organization of the content‟ and

the „evaluation of learning sectors‟

3.3.1 Presentation and Organization of the Content

The factors associated with this sector are the pedagogical ones that are concerned

with learning and instructional design theories and the interface design factor

i) Pedagogical Factor:

This is a complicated factor as there are different beliefs of how humans learn However, cognitive theories stress that learning is an active, constructive, cumulative, self-regulated process in which the learner plays a critical role

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Moreover, current instructional theory focusing on learner-centred approaches depends on information access and learning environments that encourage free interaction with information The agreement with the principles of an instructional design theory depends heavily on the subject matter In addition, teachers‟ belief is

of great importance, especially in cases when the hypermedia courseware is part of the curriculum

Nevertheless, the two core elements that are important in all educational setting are

„motivation‟ and „structure‟, which largely define the instructional natural of an information environment A typical way to motivate the learners is to inform him/her what she/he will achieve at the end of the instruction by stating the aims and objectives

Structured hypermedia consists of sets of nodes, each set accessible from any other set The node sets can be structured in any number of ways, such as node-link, hierarchical, network, depending on the nature of the processing the designer wants

to elicit from the user The structure of each node set with the various available within each set needs to be conveyed on every screen Another method for structuring the node sets is to combine related concepts, tie then together in an introductory block, and then permit access within the set only to concepts contained within the set

In hypermedia learning systems, another important element is „learner‟s control‟, which is primary in the design of interactive learning as it allows students to tailor the learning experience to their own individual needs However, there are dangers in surrendering too much control to the user, as low-ability students may get confused when control depends on a wide range of options The high level of learner control depends on the learner characteristics (age and cognitive capabilities), content, and the nature of the learning task

Moreover, the issues of „accommodation of individual differences‟, and

„cooperative learning‟ are highly important in the effectiveness of based learning In most education contexts learners are not the same in terms of background knowledge, motivation, experience, learning styles and cognitive styles

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