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The Locations Where the Students Completed the Exercises

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS

4.1. Descriptive Statistics from the Server Logs

4.1.3. The Locations Where the Students Completed the Exercises

In terms of the locations where the students logged on to Moodle and completed the exercises online, they preferred to do the vocabulary exercises in private places the most no matter which kind of device they used, as can be seen in Table 5. For the exercises done via mobile phones, 67.7% were done in private places, such as in their own living room or at home, and 28.1% were done in public places, such as in the classroom, in the school campus or in the library. Only 4.1% were done on transportation, such as when they were taking a bus to school. For desktop PCs, private places accounted for 97.5% of the exercises completed. Only 2.5% of the exercises were done in public places. Laptop PCs and tablet PCs were only used in private places.

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Table 5. Locations where the students completed the exercises

Location

The interviews were conducted to gain more insights into the students’ learning behavior and to support the quantitative data collected from the server logs. 22 students who had completed over 60% of the exercises on Moodle were selected and invited for the interview. All of the interviews were carried out by the researcher one-by-one and face-to-face at school. The students’ responses were transcribed from their audio recordings and then labeled by their class, gender and their last name.

In the interviews, the selected students mainly answered questions regarding their perceptions of the vocabulary exercises on the online platform, their preferred devices and locations, and the reasons for their preferences. In general, the students confirmed the usefulness of the vocabulary exercises. Some agreed that doing the exercises helped them better prepare for the quizzes and tests of the textbook unit.

Others considered the exercises useful because they could evaluate their learning of the textbook content. Still others said some types of the exercises, such as blank-filling ones, posed certain challenges and made them think more and therefore memorize the target words better. Most interviewed students revealed their willingness to do the vocabulary exercises online to improve their vocabulary

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learning.

For the preferred type of devices and the locations, most students preferred to use their mobile phones to do the vocabulary exercises in private places. They preferred their mobile phone simply because it was the handiest and most convenient device they owned. They preferred to do the exercises at home mainly because it was a place for them to quiet down and focus on learning, or because their mobile phone had no free WiFi access outside. For example, when asked about the most preferred type of device, a student replied, “I did the exercises when I studied in my room. I always used my mobile phone. It is handy and convenient. I can use it whenever I want to review or practice.” (1-2 Zhang) Another student who preferred using mobile phone for its availability and convenience stated, “The PC at home is owned by my parents.

They need it when working. I choose to use my mobile phone because I can get it and start practicing whenever I want. It is just lying next to me. Besides, it takes some time for the PC to start up, while my mobile phone is always turned on.” (1-1 Cai) Only a few students preferred to use their mobile phones on their way to school or home, saying, “I used my mobile phone to do the exercises when I took a bus to school or back home. I could complete two exercises on a single ride.” (2-1 Jiang)

For the students who preferred to use desktop PCs or laptop PCs at home, they usually used computers for school work or entertainments more often than their peers.

For instance, student who had no mobile phones and used desktop PC at home almost every day said, “I did the exercises on Moodle during the time when I turned on my computer and played some games.” (3-1 Xie) Another student who used laptop PC and tablet PC to complete the exercises, replied, “I usually use the computer on weekends. After I finish my own things or schoolwork, I would sometimes get access to Moodle and do some practices as well.” (3-1 Wang)

When interviewed about whether there were any difficulties regarding using

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mobile phones, such as screen size, font size, screen scrolling, and so on, the majority of the students reported no difficulty in using their mobile phone to access the online platform and complete the vocabulary exercises. Exceptions existed, however. A student who preferred to use desktop PC thought that “the computer screen is much bigger, and the words are bigger and easier to read.” (1-2 Cheng) Another student who took the vocabulary exercises seriously said, “I preferred desktop PC for its bigger screen. I did not like to use my mobile phone to do practices like these. I usually use computer for homework or school assignments like these.” (2-1 Zheng) In sum, although students were generally comfortable with using their mobile phone to do the vocabulary exercises, some would still prefer to use other type of devices, such as desktop PCs, for their own reasons.

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