Friday, July 11, 2008

Research Plan (Ying Ngai Andrew)

Slide 1
Research Topic
The effectiveness of using English Weblog writing to promote writing of the English language in primary schools of Hong Kong.
Research Questions
1.Can English Weblog writing possibly upgrade the writing ability of the English language in primary schools of Hong Kong?
2.Is there any relationship between English Weblog writing habit and the English language writing skill of primary students?
3.What are the differences of the effectiveness of using English Weblog writing and traditional English diary writing toward the writing ability of English language in primary schools of Hong Kong?
Participants and how are they selected.
Participants: 60 students with similar English writing level

Slide 2 Why is this important topic to study

BBC defined Blogging is a way of collecting links to web pages and sharing thoughts and ideas with people online. They are basically online journals or diaries which are great for sharing information and ideas. Blogger said, “A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space.”
Recently, the EDB of Hong Kong is promoting using Weblog to Promote Reading and Writing of the English Language in Primary Schools. Professional trainings are provided to teachers in order to help them to realize how Weblog (or Blog) could be used to promote students' interest in reading and writing of the English Language.(EDB,2008)
Hopefully, this test may give an insight into the effectiveness of using Weblog writing to promote writing of the English language in primary schools of Hong Kong.

Slide 3 How will data be collected and analyzed

Duration: 1 semester (Sept to Feb)

Pre-test: English writing test1 (School Mid-term English Exam)

  • Experiment Group A: 20 students (random selected) write about their daily life on their own Blog (about 100words) and post them to the public every school day (lunch break). Teachers will mark their works on the comment page of their Blog once week.
    Experiment
  • Group B: 20 students (random selected) write about their daily life on their own diary (about 100words) every school day (lunch break). Teachers will mark their works on their diary once week.
  • Control Group: 20 students (random selected)


Pro-test: English writing test2 (School Final Exam)


Compare and analyze the result of the pre-test (School Mid-term English Exam) and pro-test (School Final Exam) by SPSS. The score may indicate if there is significant relationship between the Blog writing and the writing skills of students.

2 comments:

LIST @ MITE 6025 said...

Your topic is really interesting as it arouses great concern of public. I think all the things are well set. But will the students taught by the same teacher within the years and their work is marked by the same person. I think it may affect the result of the study. But I think your proposal is great!
(Vivian Leung, Group 7 - LIST)

方潤 said...

Interesting topic, but I have 2 questions:

1. Must they write during lunch? Would they write in home?
It might be too hurry for the students.

2. Would it be difficult to find participants? as you want them to write 100 words of English every school day.
It might scared some students, and those agreed to join this study may be different to the whole population, it limits the explanation of study.