Study Of College Learners' English Writing Behaviors In Mobile Learning Environment

Based on social-culture theory,activity theory and “post-process” writing theory,this study constructed a blended learning mode for mobile English writing,and conducted a two-month teaching experiment of English persuasive writing to study students' mobile English writing learning behaviors(MEWLBs),with the aim of answering three research questions: 1.What MEWLBs could be identified? What features did those MEWLBs present? 2.What were the learning outcomes of those MEWLBs? Were there any differences in the learning outcomes? 3.What factors influenced learners' MEWLBs? In what way did those factors affect MEWLBs?Participants of this study were 62 English juniors from a local normal university.The study adopted a mixed research design.Students' MEWLBs were mostly identified from the web log via data mining,and the amount of interaction was measured based on data retrieved from web databases.Students' progress in English writing skills,language use and affective factors was evaluated through data from students' reflection,questionnaire responses and the interview,and pre-test and post-test were conducted to compare the performance between traditional mode and mobile blended learning mode.Factors influencing students' MEWLBs were established by analyzing qualitative data from students' reflection,questionnaire responses and the interview using NVivo 10.0.The results show that students conducted a variety of English writing-related learning behaviors in the mobile learning environment.They spent much time on various learning activities at different times throughout the day;learning locations were no longer confined to classrooms,libraries or dormitories,thus realizing the goal of learning “anywhere,anytime”.Most students responded to writing tasks timely,with less than 20% acting after two days.Cluster analysis reveals that students were grouped into four categories based on their mobile learning involvement: General Active learners,Most-commenting Active learners,General Inactive learners,and Least-commenting Inactive learners.From the social network analysis of post-publishing commenting behaviors,students had an active participation in general,but disparity existed;“expert” students had an outstanding performance,gaining influence and playing a leading role in the formation of self-organized mobile learning community.The pre-test and post-test results prove that the mobile English writing group made significantly greater progress in writing performance than the contrast group.Students also reported progress in English writing skills,language use,and affective factors.In this way,learning involvement was ensured and desirable learning outcomes followed.The results thus lend support to the effectiveness of mobile blended learning mode.Further analysis of the qualitative data collected from students' reflection,questionnaires and the interview reveals that three factors,Performance Expectancy,Effort Expectancy,and External Norms,jointly influenced their MEWLBs,among which the first two originated from technology use while External Norms included compulsory course requirements,incentive mechanism,as well as pressure to comply with rules in collaborative learning.All the three factors came into effect through the mediation of individual traits,such as self-efficacy,motivation and personal preference.Based on the findings,some implications were proposed on the curriculum reform for English majors,on teachers' development in technology-enhanced language learning context,and on technological innovations for foreign language education in China.