• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.5-19
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this study is to identify possible needs for system improvements and reflect them on the operation and development of the system as a result of the usability assessment of an information site in science and technology. For this study, a variety of data collection techniques, including search logs, interviews, and think-alouds, were used. The search log data was processed to quantify four evaluation aspects, which were the effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, and errors. The verbal data collected by think-alouds and post-interviews were used to identify possible needs of enhancement in a qualitative analysis. The comparison of the usability before and after the system enhancement revealed an increase of 15 points for effectiveness, 35 seconds decrease in efficiency, 5 points increase in satisfaction, and 1.1 errors decreased, implying an overall improvement of the usability of the current system.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.33 no.7
• /
• pp.1418-1430
• /
• 2013

In this study, we investigated the writing process components and the writing strategies that appeared in the process of argumentative writing through students' think-alouds and semi-structured interviews. The subjects were 18 eighth graders. During argumentative writing, students were asked to decide whether they agreed with the given argument or not on the basis of information provided in the writing task. We categorized the writing process components and the writing strategies by analyzing the protocols of students' think-alouds and interviews, and evaluated the level of their written compositions. The analyses of the results indicated that the writing process components of argumentative writing showed different characteristics from those of problem solving writing in several components such as setting goals, organizing an outline, and evaluating content. In addition, the writing process component 'coordinating information' was newly discovered in argumentative writing. The writing strategies were categorized into four groups by the types of decision making (reflective/intuitive) and the existence of outline organization: Reflective decision making and outline organization, reflective decision making and no outline organization, intuitive decision making and outline organization, and intuitive decision making and no outline organization. Students with the reflective decision making and outline organization strategy were found to get the highest scores in written composition in terms of the relationship between the argument and its grounds, the rebuttal of the opposing argument, and the structure of the writing. Educational implications are discussed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.1-25
• /
• 2011

This research primarily aimed to investigate proficient and less proficient EFL readers' awareness and experiences about learning to read and reading in English. The secondary purpose was to explore the participants' reading strategies, and to discover how the genres of English texts influence their reading processing behaviors. The participants consisted of four college students in engineering aged 21-25 years. Three data sources were employed: questionnaires, interviews, and think-alouds. The findings revealed that: (1) the proficient EFL readers judged themselves to be good readers, while the less proficient EFL readers judged themselves to be fair readers; (2) unknown vocabulary was perceived to be the major impediment to reading comprehension; the think-aloud data, however, demonstrated that unknown vocabulary did not significantly interfere with their reading comprehension; (3) regardless of the genre of the text, the participants employed similar reading strategies; (4) the participants were more likely to tolerate ambiguity and predict the content when reading the narrative text than the expository text; (5) there was no set of strategies that distinguished proficient EFL readers from less proficient EFL readers; and (6) when identifying problems, the proficient EFL readers used fix-up strategies more effectively and were better able to provide satisfactory solutions than their counterparts. Pedagogical implications for EFL reading instruction are discussed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.1-22
• /
• 2009

This case study aimed to explore proficient EFL readers' perceptions and experiences about reading tasks and how those perceptions and experiences influence their reading processing behaviors, and to examine how the cultural background of a text affects their reading strategies and comprehension. Three college students who were non-English majors participated in this study. Three data sources were employed: questionnaires, interviews, and think-alouds. The results showed that: (1) the participants emphasized comprehension as the goal of reading and considered themselves good EFL readers; (2) their reading purposes were closely associated with personal pursuits; (3) they preferred to read materials that deal with areas of interest but did not try to take a risk in terms of level of difficulty and/or length; (4) they implemented a multistrategic approach to reading in that the majority of their strategy use was in conjunction with their concern about meaning construction; (5) they were able to develop useful understandings of unknown vocabulary; and (6) their clear awareness of the cultural background presupposed in the text helped them invoke prior knowledge and reduce unknown vocabulary hindrances which contributed to comprehension. Pedagogical implications for EFL reading instruction are provided.