WIKI IN ACTION: BEYOND CLASSROOM LIMITS BEYZA YILMAZ İ stanbul,2010

As this paper explores the relation between wiki and motivation then it is time to watch a video decribing wikis. wikis-plain-english wikis-plain-english

Overview This paper explored the results obtained from a class consisting of 16 elementary students who attended a ten week course in which a class wiki was used as an instructional tool in the English Preparatory Programme at Bahçeşehir University.

CLASS WIKI Sections homework (edited by students) students’ own pages (edited by students) vocabulary journal links compiled by the students and the instructor sections requiring the students to communicate with people outside the class sections requiring the students to work together & report their findings error correction pages

Purpose of the study to find out the relationship between the particular use of a web tool, wiki, and the motivation levels of the students to reflect upon the relationship between wiki use, and motivation of the students to find out the activities the students enjoyed doing most and the ones they disliked for the improvisation of the researcher’s wiki design

Research Questions Does the particular use of wiki motivate EFL learners in the Preparatory Programme at Bahçeşehir University, İstanbul? Which wiki activities do the learners find less motivating? Which wiki activities do the learners find more motivating? Which ones do they like most? What can be done in order to improve the use of wiki in order to make it more motivating/ appealing to EFL learners? What activities need to be added or changed into the programme?

Subjects sixteen elementary level Turkish EFL learners in Bahçeşehir University Foundation Programme, gender of the subjects (11 M, 5 F) ages of the subjects (18-29) Settings BU EPP extra quota schedule Method

instruments an adapted questionnaire interview questions

Data Collection Procedures wiki tasks carried out by the subjects 1 administration of the questionnaire on the subjects 2 interviews 3

Data Analysis Procedures Quantitative Data Manual Analysis Qualitative Data Content Analysis&Pattern Coding (Miles &Hubermann,1980) techniques

Results ideas of EFL students about the particular wiki use as a motivating tool findings parallel to the hyphothesis activities found motivating by the subjects findings parallel to the hyphothesis to some extent activities found less motivating by the subjects storytelling activities suggested by the subjects: online exercises and quizzes animations chat option inviting other people to write sentences in the vocabulary journal section keeping a learning diary essay writing activities video tutorials

CONCLUSION The responses from the survey and the interviews supported the researcher’s main hyphothesis claiming that students find the researcher’s particular use of wiki motivating. They also revealed three aspects of wiki,interaction, enhancement of self confidence and having a real audience motivated the subjects. The findings also pointed out some deficiencies in the researcher’s particular wiki use.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN In the light of the students’ overall responses to the questionnaire and the interviews,the researcher decided to improvise her class wiki use taking the factors emerged from this study which are the importance of interaction either written or spoken, realistic and relevant tasks,into account.

IMPLICATIONS Implications for teachers new insights on this topic further action research on wiki and motivation some tips about wiki design a clearer understanding of how wikis might best be used in language instruction to scaffold language learning after needs analyses Implications for further research conducting a research on different uses of wiki especially on the ones requiring students to use microphones and webcams creating/adapting new PLNs based upon the results of this study and testing whether they increase motivation levels of EFL learners or not conducting the research on learners having different proficiency levels

Screenshots of the class wiki Vocabulary journal section

Students Giving Advice to a Teacher from Brazil

A video and some comments underneath

How do you think wiki can be used in your own context?

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