Developing Research-related Abilities In A BA Thesis Course

During the last decade, the importance of cultivating students'problem solving skills is endorsed by more and more educators and researchers. However, creating a learning environment to foster problem-based learning remains a challenging task to many instructors. Although some studies have reported the implementation and validation of constructivist learning environments (CLEs), few are found to examine the intricate relationship between CLE and problem solving ability development.This qualitative study explores a group of English major students'perceptions of their problem-based learning (PBL) experiences regarding thesis writing in order to understand the constructivist learning environment in relation to their PBL outcomes in terms of research-related abilities sketched by Wang and Chen (2008). The research framework is drawn mostly from a constructive view of learning, Jonassen's (1999) model for designing CLEs in particular. The main data in this study derive from pre- and post-course written interviews, face-to-face interviews, course products, and field observation notes. The major findings of the study are summarized as follows:Firstly, students undergo recursive and upward spiral of affective and cognitive development in the three stages of problem-based learning in this BA Thesis course. In the first stage of formulating the problem, students'initial anxiety, caused by the new environment and the demanding tasks, calls for intense affective, cognitive and social support. Information processing strategies and cognitive modelling are found most helpful in their second stage of analysing the problem. During the last stage of generating solutions, increased student autonomy is exhibited through their improved ability in managing resources for the overall thesis design.Secondly, it is found that students'research-related abilities regarding problem awareness, information literacy, reasoning, and research designing are developed to some extent. Among these four categories, obvious development is found in students'information literacy and research designing ability. Problem awareness also undergoes moderate improvement. However, the development in reasoning skills, particularly with regard to their inference and logic, seems less obvious, though students do demonstrate good reasoning in their citations and justifications. Thirdly, design elements of CLE including social and contextual support, information resources and cognitive tools, and instructional support are crucial to students'research-related ability development. Among these, information resources and cognitive tools are eminent in promoting students'information literacy by providing continuous individualized cognitive support. In addition, the overall friendly knowledge-building environment boosts students'affective and cognitive development. It provides sufficient opportunities for students to interact and negotiate meaning with others, and thus supports students to persistently practise research-related abilities. Besides, instructional support nurtures students'research-related abilities in a holistic way. Interestingly, some of the efforts in task scaffolding are not sufficiently affirmed by students, partly because some of the embedded scaffolds in the Moodle course site are too covert for students to discern when they're focusing on their tasks.Based on the above findings, the researcher makes some suggestions for interested teachers and students, including designing a carefully planned learning task schedules and guidelines, providing situated guidance, and increasing learners'role through gradual scaffold fading.