Am I Right? The Effects of Feedback on the Performance in a Mental-Rotation Test in Children (Published)
Gender differences in paper-and-pencil mental-rotation tests are usually larger than in chronometric versions. Different task characteristics such as time constraints, number of items, or feedback could partly be responsible for these varying gender differences. In the present study, 40 male and 59 female fourth-grade children participated in a chronometric mental-rotation test. In the feedback condition, children got individual item-wise feedback while children in the non-feedback condition got no feedback about their performance. For reaction time, boys outperformed girls and overall, children in the feedback condition reacted faster than children who got no feedback. On a closer look, only boys but not girls benefited from the feedback and gender differences in favour of boys appeared only in the feedback condition. Results indicate that feedback encouraged boys to solve the items faster while it made no difference for girls. For mental-rotation as a spatial task that is perceived as more male-stereotyped, boys could have been more confident in their own ability. The feedback could then have enhanced this confidence so that boys felt sure enough to react faster. It seemed that girls were not able to use the feedback to reduce their own uncertainty.
Keywords: Feedback, Gender differences, mental rotation
Language Learning Strategy Preference among EFL Students in the College of Basic Education in Kuwait (Published)
The purpose of this study is first to identify language-learning strategies used by students learning English language in the college of Basic Education in Kuwait. It further intends to explore the relationship between learning strategies and the learners’ language achievement. It will investigate into the combinations of strategies that are associated with language achievement and differentiate between successful and less successful learning strategies. Secondly, the study will develop an understanding of what strategies contribute to language achievement and how certain variables (gender, age, marital status, travelling abroad) affect the use of learning strategies. Thereby the study’s findings will contribute to pedagogical achievement. The knowledge of the relationships between these variables can help teachers discern the various elements needed to achieve success in learning the English language. In order to examine English language learning strategies used by students in the College of Basic Education in Kuwait, a set of English learning standardised questionnaire – the Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning ESL/ EFL ( SILL) Version 7.0 ( Oxford, 1990) – will be adopted. The researcher in this study reflects the desire to develop means that will allow and enable learners to express a fuller, more active and participatory role in their language learning problems. In addition, it will provide empirical evidence of the connection between language learning strategies, language achievement, and other individual variables. This study will reveal extensive information that will contribute to the field of teaching and learning in the classroom in an EFL program. The pragmatic implication of studying these strategies is that they can be taught to learners and thus can modify EFL learners’ progress.
Keywords: Applied linguistics(AL), College students and EFL learners, Gender differences, Kuwait higher Education, Language Learning Strategy (LLS), Language learning acquisition (ALA), Teaching English as foreign Language (EFL)