Introduction
? Statement of the Problem
School education is one of the most important processes in an
individual's life. It has two parts which are teaching and learning; and to
succeed in teaching, teachers need to adopt many teaching methods. For decades,
before technology appears in human' life, teachers have adopted the traditional
way of teaching where they were the only source of knowledge. In the
traditional classroom, the teacher is the dominant entity which has more
opportunities to talk during lessons; whereas, the students primarily learn
individually and rely exclusively on what the teachers say because of the lack
of other resources and materials. It is worth noting that the old way of
teaching promotes memorisation of knowledge neglecting the fact that students
must develop their communication skills and go beyond what is said by the
teacher. Now, since the appearance of technology and since it is being
integrated in school education, the teaching process has progressed. Teachers
have started making use of several visual aids to support the teaching /
learning process. Researchers like Pathan and Alsied (2013) agree that
technology helps both teachers and students in the classroom. In fact, visual
aids make the students involved in the lesson and encourage interaction among
them and with their teachers as well.
Development in EFL learning and teaching depends on the use of
effective strategies which are very important for students in order to succeed
in their learning process. It is often argued that learners understand and
perform in different ways because they have multiple intelligences (Gardner
1983: 59). Indeed, there are some students who better learn through
visualisation activities like drawings, graphics, and watching videos, etc; and
others who learn better through group activities i.e. in collaboration with
others like role plays, debates,
General Introduction
conversations, etc. The current study, then, makes a
combination of the two i.e. visualisation and collaborative learning as a new
teaching strategy of the XXI th century. In more precise terms, the
research work deals with collaborative visualisation in EFL contexts at
university.
Through the teaching and learning processes, teachers may
adopt appropriate strategies for an effective learning of communication skill
which is defined in the Oxford Living Online Dictionary as «the
ability to convey or share ideas and feelings effectively». During
the university years, we experienced in our Department, we observed that
teachers used to teach by judging their students more on their writings and
dissertations. Students still encounter difficulties in communication. We,
then, propose the implementation of a different strategy in educational
technology which is collaborative visualisation, we have read on this technique
which is mainly used in the scientific context and want to know if it is useful
in EFL context. Accordingly, our study is based on investigating students' and
teachers' attitudes towards developing communication skills in English through
collaborative visualisation. This is a project that we suggest to take place at
university.
? Research Questions and Hypotheses
The Present study aims at answering these following questions:
Q1. In which way can the implementation of collaborative
visualisation promote Master I students' communication skills in English at
Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou?
Q2. What are the teachers' and students' attitudes toward the
use of collaborative
visualisation in promoting Master I students' communication
skills in English at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou?
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This study is centred on two main hypotheses which state that:
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General Introduction
H1. Collaborative visualisation promotes the exchange of
information, participation, discussions and debates which help Master One
students at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou to develop their
communication skills.
H2. Teachers and students have a positive attitude toward the
use collaborative Visualisation to Master I students' communication skills in
English at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou.
? Aims and Significance of the Study
Since students always need to improve their communication
skills and overcome their difficulties, we have suggested the implementation of
collaborative visualisation in order to help students' develop their
communication skills. In short, the objectives of this study consist of
identifying students' and teachers' attitudes towards the use of collaborative
visualisation in the learning process in the Department of English at Mouloud
Mammeri University in order to promote students' communication skills; and
exploring to what extent can this strategy be effective in the EFL in general
and in developing students' communication skills in particular according to
both teachers and students.
This study is significant in English Language Teaching because
it has to do with a technique based technology. The idea is that using
collaborative visualisation in learning communication skills enhances and
encourages collaborative learning. In other words, it enhances group activities
and organises them into academic and social learning experiences; therefore, it
might raise students' awareness of the importance of collaborative learning.
Collaborative visualisation can be used as a teaching technique in EFL
classroom, and using it may add variety to the teaching and learning
environment and better attract learners' attention. It is mentioned in Ahmadi
(2018: 116) that the use of technology motivates students in EFL. The results
of this study are also significant to EFL learners as they may help in
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General Introduction
providing better understanding of the usage of collaborative
visualisation in independent learning; that is to say,
students may use collaborative visualisation to learn alone without
being guided by a teacher.
? Research Design and Methodology
In order to investigate the effectiveness of using
collaborative visualisation for developing communication skills in English, we
have opted for the exploratory method. Our participants consist of university
Master one students of different options, and teachers of different modules in
the Department of English, Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou. Concerning
the students, we have selected 220 and only 130 of them have answered the
questionnaire. For the teachers, we have had interviews with 06 of them.
This study has been conducted through structured interviews
with teachers in the Department of English and questionnaires that have been
submitted to students. The questionnaire is a set of questions or statements
given in exactly the same form for a group of people. The reason behind
choosing this instrument is to gather students' attitudes towards the use of
collaborative visualisation; whereas, the interview is the equivalent of a
meeting or a conversation which involves asking a list of questions. It is
mainly used when the population is small. The purpose of having chosen this
data collection tool is to know the experience of teachers in using technology.
Concerning the analysis of data, we have adopted the quantitative method which
aims at quantifying the data and assessing it from the angle of numbers, and a
descriptive analysis of qualitative data to get closer view and have a deeper
understanding of the issue.
? Structure of the Dissertation
The present work is designed following the traditional simple
model of a dissertation. It is composed of «General Introduction»,
«Review of Literature», «Research Methodology»,
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General Introduction
«Discussion and Results», and a «General
Conclusion». First, the introduction presents the topic of the research in
general and states the problem by establishing a niche. Second, the literature
review presents the key terms that are used within the research as defined by
scholars. It has started with collaborative learning, collaborative
visualisation, and communication skills and finished with the theory of
coordination process. Third, the methodology chapter permits to state the
theoretical framework. It involved the sample or respondents, the instruments
to conduct the study, and the tools used to analyse the data. Fourth, the
results section is concerned with the data gained and their analysis. After
that, the discussion section gives the opportunity to discuss and interpret the
findings. Finally, the important points of the research are summarised in the
«General Conclusion».
Chapter One :
Review of the Literature
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Chapter I: Review of the Literature
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