What Kinds of Learners are Able to Learn from Other Learners Effectively? A Study of Learners’ Speech Performance Levels and Their Perceptions About Classmates
This study examines the kinds of learners who are able to learn from other learners (classmates) effectively in a public-speaking university class. The author approaches this question by focusing on two possible factors, learners’ speech performance level and their ways of perceiving classmates, based on her own past pilot study. The subjects are 57 Japanese university students in a public-speaking class. Their responses to post-questionnaire are analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and ANOVA in terms of 1) how they perceive their classmates, 2) how they use performances of both higher and lower performance-levels, 3) how they use classmates’ reactions and feedbacks as audiences, 4) whether the phases of observational learning by Bandura (1977) are seen, 5) what encourages them to listen to classmates’ speeches with interests, and 6) the level of their self-evaluation.
In conclusion, students who pay careful attention to their classmates’ performances for academic purposes are those who have low-level performance and positive images about their classmates as well as those who have high-level performance and negative images about their classmates. Students who actually learn from other learners and apply what they learn to their own learning are those who have high-level performance regardless of the nature of their images of classmates.
Keywords: Speech Performance, Classmates, Observational Learning, Learning Community, Student-centered Learning
Megumi Morisue
Ph.D student, Dept. of Human System Science, The Tokyo Institute of Technology
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Megumi Morisue is also researching in the field of educational technology at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan.
Ref: M06P0610