• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.257-286
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• 2006

This paper investigates the effects of small group collaborative transcription activities on the improvement of university students' English listening ability. Based on the results of pre-tests, a class of 42 students was subdivided into 11 small homogeneous groups of three to four students. Each group was provided with 7 different news items to be transcribed. Means were compared between pre-test and post-test scores, followed by comparison of transcription errors in content and function words. Finally, students' perception and attitudes about the use of small group transcription for improving listening skills were qualitatively analysed and compared with pre- and post test results. It was found that post test scores highly correlated with improvement of listening ability. It was also found that groups of high degree of collaboration showed improvement in listening ability while lack of collaboration contributed to loss of interests in listening. Students who see process more important were found to make more contribution to the group success than those who place more emphasis on the results.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.217-229
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• 2015

In this study, we explored the development of scientific model through the social-construction process on "combustion." Students were 8th graders from one middle school class. Each student engaged in small group discussions three times and made a group model on combustion. Discourses between peers and teacher were videotaped, audiotaped, and transcribed. The results show that the small groups constructed an initial concept: 'Conditions of combustion', which they then evaluated and revised the initial concept through combustion experiment. Following the discussions, some small groups evaluated their model and made a revised model. Then, the small groups compared various models and constructed a scientific model through consensus within the small group and as a whole class. Finally, students kept revising their model to 'Burning needs oxygen.' This tells us that the social construction process of scientific model made a meaningful role to build scientific model through diverse discussion between the students and their teacher, although they have had some difficult process to reach the final consensus. The data also showed some group features: the members were open to other's ideas. They analyzed the differences between their own ideas from others and revised their model after the whole class discussion. Lastly, they showed the tendency to make a good use of teacher's guidance. This study implies the importance of having social interaction process for students to understand the scientific model and learn the nature of scientific inquiry in class.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.301-311
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• 2024

We developed a small-group training program for in-service teachers focused on scientific modeling. We collected the discourses of the teachers who participated in the activity and analyzed them by type. The training program employed a collaborative approach in which a small group completed tasks and produced outputs based on the theme of 'galaxies and the Universe' to enable practical application in classes. Three in-service science teachers participated in the training program. Their discourses were recorded, transcribed, and classified into types based on individual turns and interaction units. The language expressions of the teachers reflected the unique characteristics of the teaching profession, with each participant having preferred language expression types, albeit with a generally low prevalence of specific language expression types across the participants. Differences in discourse characteristics related to the modeling theme, task presentation method, and model types, revealed that variations in the proportion of interaction unit types during the modeling design, build, and evaluation stages were primarily influenced by the teachers' familiarity with the modeling theme. While the task presentation method also influenced interaction types, model types had little impact on the distribution of interaction types. Considering these findings, training programs on modeling for in-service teachers should include a checklist to encourage sufficient interaction between participants as well as propose proper questions that can be effectively addressed through collaboration.