A growing number of researchers have acknowledged the potential for using wikis in online collaborative language learning. While researchers appreciate the wikis platform for engaging students in virtual team work and authentic language learning, many also have recognized the limitations of using wikis to promote student collaboration (). The current study aims to examine what factors facilitated or hindered student collaboration when a wiki environment was used to engage 103 Taiwanese students from two universities in an online picture book production project. Divided into 17 groups of four to six members, the students spent approximately one academic year forming online communities, learning to conduct peer editing, and collaboratively completing a final learning product, an online picture book. A variety of data, including the electronically archived versions of the wiki pages, students' responses to retrospective surveys, and focused follow-up interviews were collected and analysed. The findings suggested that the nature of the learning tasks, students' constant communication and appreciation of different opinions, the difficulties they encountered when communicating asynchronously, and students' expectations toward English learning affected to what extent they were involved in the online collaboration.
The reading response journal has been valued as an effective tool for involving students in authentic reading and writing activities. As the internet has become an essential medium in today’s English classroom, it is advisable to integrate both the web and the journal when approaching our EFL students. In order to motivate and engage my low-achieving students, I implemented a reading response electronic journal in my freshman English course. This article presents the rationale behind the use of a reading response e-journal in language learning and the context of my instruction. Data collection focused on the participating students’ journal entries and their perceptions of their reading and journal-writing experiences. Findings obtained from data analysis show that my goals for the course design were generally achieved, and that more attempts of such an implementation in EFL classrooms should be endeavored in the future.
Cimei Island is a second-class outlying island. In recent years, due to the lack of coastal fishery resources and restrictions on traffic and climate, the traditional fishery and tourism industries that residents rely on for a living have faced challenges. This research is based on the Barbados Programme of Action, from the perspective of environmental conservation, industrial economy, and social development in sustainable development, and from the perspective of local stakeholders, to construct a sustainable tourism action approach and development mechanism in Cimei Island. A qualitative research method was adopted. Various sources of data, including focus discussions and in-depth interviews with local stakeholders, textual materials, and field observations, were collected and analyzed. The results are as follows: (1) Cimei faces great threats in social, economic, and environmental aspects, which has led to Cimei Islands’ promotion of permanent development. (2) The current development of Cimei cannot effectively drive industrial development or the transformation of fishing villages. However, residents are worried that overdevelopment will impact the ecological environment and lifestyle on the Islands. (3) Cimei’s sustainable tourism development approach should be to first take inventory of the ecological environment and cultural resources, plan related environmental laws and regulations, and finally, use sustainable tourism to drive industrial development to carry out island development.
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