Caleb Prichard Assistant Professor Ferris University, Japan freewebs.com/prichard

What is social bookmarking?  Bookmark web sites on a web page (accessible on any computer)  Make notes & comments  Peers can view your bookmarks & make their own comments.  Make a group page

Example screen shot

What is social bookmarking?  Bookmark web sites on a web page (accessible on any computer)  Make notes & comments  Peers can view your bookmarks & make their own comments.  Make a group page

Independent reading projects  Extensive reading (usually graded readers)  More intensive out-of-class reading (articles in newspapers, web, etc.)  Traditionally recorded in a notebook or log form

Extensive reading in ESL  Improve reading fluency  Increase autonomy & motivation  Build vocabulary & grammar “naturally” (incidental acquisition)

Using social bookmarking for independent reading projects  Better management of project??  More autonomy, cooperation & authenticity??  more motivation??  Build computer skills??  Action research study

Study Participants  Intermediate-level Reading class  2nd-year university students, in 2 nd semester  Private university in Yokohama, Japan  Had previously read graded readers / recorded work in journals

Study procedures (instructions) Every week: 1. Read 2+ articles (found on own or by classmate) If found on own: -Summarize (2-3 sentences) & react (2+ sentences) -Add a “tag”: sports, biz, health,…. If found by a classmate: -Comment on 2 new facts from the article -React (2+ sentences) 2. Comment on at least 1 person’s summary & “Like” at least 1. (Reading article not required.)

Study procedures (instructions) GRADING -Do all the above! -Extra points if classmates “like” and/or choose to read an article you bookmarked -Use your own words (don’t copy!) -Summarize well (demonstrate comprehension of the article)

Procedures: Teacher’s role  2 nd class: students signed up & were shown how to use the site.  3 rd class: students practiced searching for web pages & they were introduced to more sites of interest.  8 th class: news vocabulary & summary writing was reviewed / given tentative score  On going: Monitor their progress. Make comments.

Procedures: Teacher’s role  2 nd class: students signed up & were shown how to use the site.  3 rd class: students practiced searching for web pages & they were introduced to more sites of interest.  8 th class: news vocabulary & summary writing was reviewed / given tentative score  On going: Monitor their progress. Make comments.

Study procedures: Analysis  Number of articles read (motivation)  Found on own or by peers (cooperation)  Quality of summaries (skills)  Survey (motivation, cooperation, etc.) Compared w/ previously completed notebook-based project

Results: Motivation  Should have read about 25 articles  Diigo data: Viewed about 23.6 articles  Wrote summaries for 10.8 articles Some did not read as much as they were supposed to (though they did for the graded readers). Did they understand the directions?

Results: Motivation SURVEY RESULTS (1= strongly agree…..4=strongly disagree)  Before the project, I often read articles in English out of class: 2.45  Doing the project increased my motivation to read in English: 1.86  I will continue to search for & read English articles on the net in the future: 2.09

Results: Cooperation  173 shared articles  543 views 76% of articles viewed shared by others Each viewed 3.14 times (median 2; s.d. 3.40)  40 articles viewed 0 times  11 articles viewed 10+

Results: Cooperation  1.1 additional comments per shared article  Many comments on “non-friends’” articles  “Shy” students did not participate more (some even even less so)

Results: Cooperation SURVEY (1= strongly agree…..4=strongly disagree)  Using Diigo helped me communicate with my classmates  I more often read articles found by classmates on Diigo than search for articles on my own. 2

Results: Building web skills  Ss seemed to improve greatly…. SURVEY: The Diigo project…  …introduced me to many useful websites in English: 1.95  …improved my ability to search for web pages in English: 1.63  …improved my computer skills: 2.23

Results: Sites bookmarked  JAPANESE NEWS: 56 % (Japan Times: 53%)  FOREIGN NEWS: 28 % (CNN: 20%)  TOPICS (MTV.com / NBA.com): 11%  WEB AGGREGATES / OTHER: 5%

Results: Topics (Top Tags) 43 news 31 sports 19 global13 event 4 urban4 health 4 environment3 music 3 movies

Results: Reading skills  Quality not always reflected.

Results: Reading skills SURVEY:  I strived to understand the articles well  Doing the project improved my… reading ability: 1.72 vocabulary: 1.72

Results: Managing the project For Students:  Compared to using a notebook, using Diigo was… more troublesome: 2.23 more time consuming: 2.36 (1= strongly agree…..4=strongly disagree)

Results: Managing the project For the teacher: - Initially more time consuming - Instantaneous access, ongoing supervision - Quantitative data computed automatically - Physically easier (no transporting notebooks) - More enjoyable

Results: Overall  The Diigo project was… useful: 1.77 / fun: 2.09  Reading on the net was more useful than…. text: 2.09 / readers: 2.14  Which out-of-class project do you prefer? Diigo: 11 Readers: 9 Text HW: 1 Reading on web & recording in notebook: 1

Overall conclusions  Diigo moderately increased Ss’ motivation to read, increased interaction, improved Ss’ web skills, and made it easier to manage & evaluate the Ss.  The project is recommended for high- intermediate to advanced learners with decent web access.

Caleb Prichard Ferris University freewebs.com/prichard