International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 9, No. 6; 2019 ISSN 1923-869X E-ISSN 1923-8703

Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education

93

Design and Development of Cloud Learning Tool for English Sentence Patterns

Ching-Fan Chen1 1 Department of Educational Technology, Tamkang University, Taiwan

Correspondence: Ching-Fan Chen, Department of Educational Technology, Tamkang University, 151 Yingzhuan Road, Danshui Dist., New Taipei City, Taiwan. E-mail: cfchen@mail.tku.edu.tw

Received: July 8, 2019 Accepted: August 18, 2019 Online Published: October 13, 2019

doi:10.5539/ijel.v9n6p93 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v9n6p93

Abstract

This study aims at providing Taiwanese students at different levels of study with a cloud language learning tool. The design of the learning tool can be divided into three stages. The first stage is the design of the curriculum. It combines paper learning log sheet with a simple computer program to help students write short essays and “tell” the stories. Findings of this study showed that students were highly motivated to make use of the computer learning tool to practice English sentence patterns and to create short essays. In the second stage, the researcher developed a cloud English learning tool that can be used in different types of computer facilities. This learning tool aims at helping students practicing English sentence patterns and at providing teachers with tools to monitor students learning process and performance. In the third stage, the researcher applied this computer learning tool to vocational high school students. The participants were two classes of high school seniors in New Taipei city, with 34 students in each class. One of the two classes was assigned as the experimental group and the other class the control group. The experimental group practiced English sentence patterns, using the cloud English learning tool. The control group was provided with paper handouts and was taught in a traditional way. The results showed a significant difference in performance between the two groups of students, with an F value 4.563 (p<.05). The experimental group had higher mean scores than the control group had. We may conclude that the cloud English learning tool can improve vocational high school students’ English writing skills.

In the three-stage study, the researcher found that students at different levels of study used different types of computer facilities, for example, senior high school students used smart phones or notebooks, junior high school students used desktops in the computer lab, and elementary school students used learning log sheets to learn. Therefore, the researcher integrated HTML 5 and jQuery into a learning system and provided teachers with learning logs forms to download. That is, teachers can apply this learning system to students of different levels of study. The goal of this learning tool is to help students write short English essays.

Keywords: cloud learning, English teaching, digital storytelling, information technology integration into instruction, Mandala Thinking Method, English writing abilities

1. Introduction

After considerable analyses of high school EFL students’ writing in English, English teachers realized that high school students’ problems in writing lie in the fact that students do not have a clear idea of how to put English vocabulary words in the right order in a sentence. It is not uncommon that they put vocabulary words in a random order to form a sentence, which is usually considered ungrammatical. Saddler, Behforooz, and Asaro (2008) pointed out that the problems with writing may be caused by students’ insufficient knowledge of English sentence patterns, and it is quite often that EFL students make grammatical errors and have problems producing compound or complex sentences. In order to promote EFL students’ writing ability, nurture their global perspective, and motivate them to learn English, the researcher propose to make use of different learning programs online to create a framework of basic English sentence patterns, to which students can apply to create their own short stories.

This study aims at providing different levels of EFL students in Taiwan with a cloud English learning tool. The process of the entire project was divided into three stages. The first stage was curriculum design. The researcher made use of existing learning log sheets and simple computer programs to design the curriculum, focusing on junior high school students. Results of the experimental study showed that students could easily create a short

ijel.ccsenet.

story and “that studenused the discouragedrawback that Englistheir abilisuggestioncurriculumstudents’ E

Our three-students hatheir mobicomputer lto record HTML anappear in dthis progra

2. Method

2.1 Applyi

Mandala iplanning iImaizumi process ofconvergenconstruct a

Figur

Various fawriters usein a step problems tbe the mos

Strate

In his studpieces. Hewords andwriting.

Ways of tthinking asystematic

Strate

Studies ha1987). In same timedoing spel

.org

“tell” the storynts were motivapproach to

ed by the limithas led the ressh teachers mity to write ans for further m and applied English profici

-stage experimave different lile phones or lab to get accewhat they hav

nd jQuery withdifferent digitaam can be used

d

ing Mandala T

is initially a rin the form of(1989), the d

f their creativent, systematicaas shown in Fi

re 1. Mandala D

actors may affee in their writinmay influencethat occur in tst salient ones.

egies in Planni

dy, Kellogg (1e concluded thd hence improv

thinking in Mand systematically connectin

egies in Revisi

as shown that the process of

e. For examplelling check (Le

In

y through the vated to learn Eencourage stuted time they searcher to devay use the cloappropriate se

improvementthe online En

iency has impr

mental study waearning tools alaptops to the

ess to the Interve learned. Toh digital databal tools, and led for different

Thought Patter

religious totemf a 3 x 3 magdivergent and e thinking. Altal, integral, anigure 1 and Fig

Divergent Way

ect the quality ng process. We the rest of athe writing pro.

ing as Related

1988) found thhat careful outve the quality o

Mandala thoughc thinking ar

ng different tho

ing as related t

good writers f revising and e, they may fievy, Newwell,

nternational Jou

help of the picEnglish and haudents to pracan use in thevelop an onlineoud English prentences. Engt were sincer

nglish learningroved significa

as conducted fand learning ene school; whilrnet. As for eleo solve the pr

base in a languearning log shlevels of stude

rn to English W

m, and it wasgic square. It h

the clock-wisthough Manda

nd balanced nagure 2.

ys of Thinking

of writing pieWriters may face

a writing piecocess. Among

to Divergent M

hat those who tline planningof writing. Ad

ht patterns mare regarded aoughts (Chen,

to Clock-wise

always spend editing, write

find inappropriSnyder, & Ca

urnal of English

94

ctures and desad better ideas

actice and proe classroom to e English learnrogram to monglish teachers’rely welcome.g program to vantly.

for students at nvironments. Ale, at the junioementary schoroblems of divuage learning eets are also aents.

Writing

s later transfohelps individuse patterns in ala can be as sature of think

g Figure

eces. Howevere inter-related ce. Writing strthe issues in t

Mandala

used advanceg helps writersdvance-plannin

ay be appliedas of great he2006).

Mandala

d more time reers may probeiate use conce

arey, 1986).

Linguistics

signed learnings of English seoduce sentenc

have studentsning program initor students’’ assessment In the third

vocational high

different levelAt senior highor high schoolol level, studeverse learningsystem. This

available for te

ormed to repreuals in their pr

Mandala can simple as a 3

king may lead

e 2. Mandala C

r, good writingissues in theirrategies are gthe writing pro

ed writing stras focusing on ng can definitel

d to the writinelp in visuali

evising their we different erroerning phoneti

g log form. Thentence patternces. However,s practice sentin the second s’ learning and of the learnistage, we d

h school stude

ls of study, andh school level, l level, studennts mainly use

g tools, the ressystem may a

eachers to dow

esent strategierocess of think

n especially hex 3 magic sq

d to creation o

Clock-wise Wa

g pieces rely her writing procegenerally deveocess, planning

tegies producetransforming ly facilitate th

ng process. Amizing the writ

writing (Bereitors or problemics, syntax, an

Vol. 9, No. 6;

he researcher fns. The teacher teachers ma

tence patterns. stage. It was hto help them

ing tool and esigned a spe

ents and found

d different levestudents may

nts have to goe learning log searcher integ

allow web pagwnload. Most o

es of thinkingking. Accordinelp students in

quare, its diverof new meanin

ays of thinking

eavily on stratess, and one cheloped to solvg and revising

ed superior wrtheir thoughtse flow of the e

mong them, vter’s thoughts

ter & Scardamms in writing and semantics w

2019

found r also y be This

hoped with their

ecific d that

els of carry to a sheet rated

ges to of all,

g and ng to n the rgent, ngful

egies hange e the may

riting s into entire

visual and

malia, at the while

ijel.ccsenet.

In the couextract impare then eClock-wiswords they

Based on sheet for jpractices oupload the

2.2 Design

The presestory-tellinEnglish stothought pa

Mand

First, studein each of form a senasked to pproduced aclassmates

Story

(1) Story mPowerPoinallows studideas they

(2) Mandaframeworkconnecting

.org

urse of revisingportant compo

excluded in the Mandala leay have learned

the idea of Mjunior high scof sentence paeir products up

n of the Manda

ent study aimng class may ory telling in tatterns.

dala English se

ents will be asf the petals in tntence. At the iproduce as maand integrate ts. The entire pr

y Map and Man

map: Students nt and Photo Sdents to formuformed earlier

ala 5W analyk of a story. Ing story map an

F

In

g, the convergonents and carhe process. Baarning sheet asd. They then us

andala thoughchool studentsatterns, and m

ploaded to You

ala English Sen

ms at investigaffect junior the classroom

entence pattern

sked apply Mathe Mandala tinitial stage ofany sentencesthe sentences inrocedure is sho

ndala 5W anal

need to have bStory3 computulate their storyr as shown in F

sis and story n the course ofnd the final ver

Figure 3. Mand

nternational Jou

gent and balancrefully select reased on the ids shown in Figse sentence pat

ht patterns, thes, in the hope

make simple anuTube to share

ntence Pattern

gating how inhigh school sbased on theo

n instruction

andala thoughtotem with diff

f practice, writs as they coulnto a short essown in Figure

lysis

basic framewoter software toy first, then theFigure 4.

map: The idf curriculum drsion of the sto

dala sentence p

urnal of English

95

ced ways of thelevant concep

dea of Mandalgure 3. Studentterns and story

e researcher dee that they wonimated moviwith their clas

n Curriculum

ntegrating Mastudents’ writiories of story-t

t patterns to anfferent syntactiing logical send. They were

say and share i3.

ork of sentenceo create their oey present thei

dea of story mdesign, Mandaloryboard as sho

patterns

Linguistics

hinking in Mapts. Those irrela thought patnts fill in the by pictures to cr

esigned a curriould be able tes using Photssmates in the

andala thoughing in Englishtelling, second

nalyze the maiic elements anntences was no then asked tt and commen

e patterns and own animate mir story in the

map is intendela 5W analysisown in Figure

Figure 4. S

andala thoughtelevant and untterns, the reseblank circles wreate short ess

iculum along wto produce shoto Story compclassroom.

ht patterns inh and at deved language wr

in elements of nd to integrate ot strictly requio revise the s

nt on each othe

storyline in ormovies. Mandform of a story

ed to help stus can be consid5.

Story map

Vol. 9, No. 6;

t patterns may important conearcher design

with the vocabays.

with a learningort stories thr

puter software

nto digital Enloping a moditing, and Man

f a sentence anall the elemenired. Students sentences theyer’s essay with

rder for them todala thought pay map based o

udents developdered as the b

2019

help cepts

ned a ulary

g log rough , and

nglish el of ndala

nd fill nts to were

y had their

o use attern n the

p the ridge

ijel.ccsenet.

I. Who—

Students wamong theplays in th

II. Why—

This part istory and e

III. Wher

Spatial andon a time p

IV. What

Having ideproblems.

Story

In the coutheir ideaspatterns alredundant,script.

Digit

To presentuse to elim

The last stPhoto Storas shown i

.org

—Main Chara

were required em. They werehe story.

—Problem

in the Mandalenabled studen

re, When—Set

d temporal eleperiod a place

t—Solution

entified the prIt might requi

yboard and stor

urse of writing s derived for llowed studen, unnecessary,

tal story-telling

t digital storiesminate possible

tep, including ry. The moviein Figure 8.

In

acter, Supportin

to relate the me also required

la 5W analysisnts to develop

tting

ements in a stoso that the ent

roblems in theire them to list

ry scripts in M

story scripts oMandala 5W

ts to decide o and illogical

g—Recording

s, an easy and e learning barri

recording, imps were saved a

nternational Jou

Figure 5. M

ng Character

main characterto decide on t

s required studdeeper thinkin

ory may affecttire story can b

e story that to each step or a

Mandala totem

on the story boW analysis. Thon the significa

details. The e

and Presentati

user-friendly iers caused by

port and exporas .wmv files

urnal of English

96

Mandala 5W an

rs and supportithe significanc

dents to descring to produce m

t the developmbe logical and r

be solved, stuaction needed t

oard, students he convergent ance, sequenc

essential comp

ion

movie-editingy computer skil

rt of sounds anand were uplo

Linguistics

nalysis

ing charactersce of each char

ibe and analyzmore detailed a

ment of the entreasonable.

udents might thto solve the pro

were asked toand sequenti

e, and logics onents would

g computer soflls.

nd images, wasoaded to YouT

s and the relatiracter and the

ze the cause oanalysis.

tire story. Stud

hink about theoblems.

o fill in the Mial features ofof the story abe kept as the

ftware was cho

s done, using MTube website to

Vol. 9, No. 6;

ionship betweerole each char

of a problem in

dents had to de

e ways to solv

andala totems f Mandala thoand eliminate te basis of the

osen for studen

Microsoft freeo share with o

2019

en or racter

n the

ecide

e the

with ought those story

nts to

eware others

ijel.ccsenet.

Based on Participantconvenienexperimenexperimenintegrated their Engliresults wecontrol gro

Indire

Both low-writing tesdifference

Direc

Both low-writing tesgroup did.

Over

.org

F

the curriculuts were 58 jun

nce sampling pntal group, anntal group wa

e-learning envish writing sk

ere analyzed, uoup and the ex

ect English wr

-achieving andsts, such as vs were signific

ct English writ

-achieving andsts, such as se The differenc

rall English wr

In

Figure 6. Story

um design denior high schoprocedures. Pand the other ts trained the vironment. Be

kills. At the enusing ANCOV

xperimental gro

riting tests:

d high-achievinocabulary, gra

cant.

ting tests:

d high-achievientence combices again were

riting skill tests

nternational Jou

y scripts mand

Figure 8. Flo

escribed abovool students inarticipants werthe control gMandala thou

efore the instrund of the instruVA statistical oup. The statis

ng students inammar, and se

ing students inination, pictursignificant.

s:

urnal of English

97

ala

owchart of stor

ve, the researn New Taipei re in two clas

group. The enught patterns, uction, the twouction, the twoprogram, to

stical results sh

n the experimeentence struct

n the experimre story-telling

Linguistics

Figure 7. St

rytelling

rcher conductCity in Taiwa

sses. One clasntire research

and the conto groups of stuo groups of stexamine the d

how that

ental group peture, than thos

mental group pg, and essay w

toryboard

ed a quasi-exan. They weres was randomstudy lasted

trol group waudents took a ptudents took adifferences, if

erformed muchse in the contr

performed muwriting, than th

Vol. 9, No. 6;

xperimental se recruited thr

mly assigned aeight weeks.

as instructed ipre-test to exa

a post-test. Thef any, between

h better in indrol group did.

uch better in dhose in the co

2019

tudy. rough s the The

in an amine e test n the

direct The

direct ontrol

ijel.ccsenet.

Both low-control gro

From findinstructionapparentlythan on hknowledgeperformeddifferent leaddition tapproach mbetween wliteral mea

3. Develop

From the forder to pstudents’ lfunction o

3.1 Instruc

There are tdevelopingas shown i

Teachers frepeatedlythey can bchange the

As shownlearning anteachers to

Teachers fFigure 11 make the mwebsite as

.org

-achieving andoup. The differ

dings of the snal method beny, in indirect Ehigh-achievinge of vocabula

d better than esson units. Sto leaving stumay facilitate

words, phrasesanings, but to w

pment of Clou

first stage of eprovide studenlearning, the ref the tool is illu

ction to Teache

two main taskg classroom min Figure 9.

first need to cry used in diffebe switched we order of the c

n in Figure 10nd then reflecto record differe

F

first choose th(left). Then, bmost use of ms shown in Figu

In

d high-achievinrences were sig

study, we maynefits both low

English writingg students. It ary and gramlow-achieving

tudents have opudents with de

students’ reads, and sentencwider interpret

ud Learning T

experiment, thents with an auesearcher furthustrated as fol

ers:

ks for teachers management an

reate a databaserent learning with one anothcolumn.

0 (right), the ct on their instruent features of

Figure

igure 10. The

he class or clasased on the se

mobile phones aure 11 (right).

nternational Jou

ng students ingnificant.

y conclude thw-achieving ang tests, Manda

may be becmmar, which wg students. Fupportunities toeeper impressding comprehees. They will tations of their

Tool for Engli

e Mandala apptonomous learher developed lows.

to do before thnd activities. Th

se to include seactivities. As

her. To simplif

class managemuctional activif different class

e 9. The main m

interface of se

sses to be invoentence patternand laptops, a

urnal of English

98

n the experime

hat integratingnd high-achievla approach ha

cause high-achwere tested inurthermore, tho repeatedly lesion of vocabuension and enhnot limit thei

r use in differen

sh Sentence P

proach was fourning environmcloud learning

he instruction:hus, the two ta

entence patternshown in Figufy the task, ju

ment menu allties. The ‘Remses.

menu after the

entence pattern

olved and thenn database, dev

QR Code is p

Linguistics

ental group pe

g Mandala appving students iad greater inflhieving studen the indirect

he curriculum arn vocabularyulary words ahance studentsir interpretationt contexts.

Patterns

und to be an ement after clag tool for Engl

formulating sasks appear in

ns to be taughure 10 (left), t

ust click and d

lows teachers marks’ column

teacher logs in

ns and class ma

n develop one velop activitiesprovided to hel

erformed super

proach with din their writinguence on low-nts may alret writing test

design proviy words and seand sentence s’ awareness o

on of words an

efficient Englisass and to helplish sentence p

sentence patterthe main menu

t. These sententhe colored codrag the colum

to monitor inn is added to th

n

anagement

or several acts to allow studlp students loc

Vol. 9, No. 6;

rior to those in

digital story-teg in English. M-achieving studady possess

ts. Therefore, ided students entence patternpatterns, Man

of the relationnd phrases to

sh learning toop teachers mopatterns. The e

rns to be taughu of the initial

nce patterns caolumns signifymn to be move

ndividual studhe menu that al

tivities as showents to practic

cate the URL o

2019

n the

elling More dents basic they with

ns. In ndala ships their

ol. In onitor entire

ht and page

an be y that ed to

dent’s llows

wn in e. To

of the

ijel.ccsenet.

Teachers mhave clear

3.2 Instruc

When learactivities, the blankssentences new senten

.org

may create a lier ideas of eac

ction to Learne

rners are invitthey will see

s with vocabulas shown in Fnces as shown

In

F

ist of sentencech sentence pat

Figure 12-1.

Figure 12-2

ers

ted to create aa web page delary words theFigure 13 (left

in Figure 13 (

Figur

nternational Jou

Figure 11. Acti

e patterns and pttern as shown

Sentence patt

2. The interface

an account to emonstrating tey have learnet) or they may(right).

e 13. Web pag

urnal of English

99

ivity menu and

present them in in Figure 12-

tern interface c

e to cover all t

start using thethe entire learned to create sey choose the s

ge to create sen

Linguistics

d QR code

in columns wit1 and Figure 1

created by the t

the sentence pa

e cloud learninning procedurentences and, entence patter

ntence patterns

th examples so12-2.

teacher

atterns

ng tool and toe. Learners aras required, thrns they wish

s

Vol. 9, No. 6;

o that students

o participate inre allowed to fhey may revisto learn and c

2019

may

n the fill in e the

create

ijel.ccsenet.

In the courthe words words in tspent keyisame colum

Having creThe URL of attentionthey need,process by

When learread the esby learnersto figure correction

The reseastudents’ EThe sentencloud langdesigned uof vocation

.org

rse of learningcorrectly. To

the changeableing in vocabulmn so that lear

eated the senteinterface allown caused by m, and then theyy saving the fil

rners are practssays uploadeds as shown in Fout their learor they may u

rcher investigEnglish sentennce patterns pguage learningunder the quasnal high schoo

In

g, one of the obachieve this g

e columns befolary words, therners may pay

Figure 14

ence pattern dws learners to p

moving back any put all the see and submit i

Figur

ticing through d by learners aFigure 16 (righrning situation

use computer s

Figure 16

gated how thence writing skipresented in thg tool was usi-experimentalol seniors from

nternational Jou

bjectives is to goal, learners fore they can oe same vocabugreater attenti

4. Pop-up dialo

database, learnput all the sentnd forth of the entences in an it as shown in F

re 15. A short

all the proceds shown in Fight). It is not nen. Instructors screen or white

. Instructors ch

e cloud suppleills. Participanhe English texsed in the invl research para

m New Taipei

urnal of English

100

enable studentare required to

organize them ulary words caion to sentence

ogue box used

ners need to chtences in the saweb page. Leaappropriate orFigure 15.

essay created b

dures, instructogure 16 (left), aecessary for in

may provideeboard to have

heck learners’

ementary teacts were vocati

xtbook were mvestigation of adigm, using pCity. One clas

Linguistics

ts to repeatedlyo provide the into sentences

an be used in de patterns.

to add new wo

hoose appropriame web pagearners are firstrder. Finally, t

by the learner

ors may monitand they can astructors to tal

e learners wit more interacti

learning outco

ching tool mayional high schomainly used asf sentence pattpre- and post-tess was assigne

y encounter thcorrect numbe

s. In order to different sente

ords

iate sentences e. This may redt required to chthey complete

tor learners lealso classify thlk to learners fth immediate ions or discuss

omes

y affect vocaool students ins the instructitern instructioest. Participanted as the exper

Vol. 9, No. 6;

he words and toer and tense osave learners’

ence patterns i

to create an educe the distrahoose the sente

the entire lear

arning processe sentences cre

face to face in ofeedback or

sions with lear

ational high scn Northern Taiional material.on. The studyts were two clrimental group

2019

o use of the

time n the

essay. ction ences rning

s and eated order error

rners.

chool iwan. The was

asses p; the

ijel.ccsenet.

other the chandouts. teaching toteaching to

3.3 Cloud

This langustudents’ questions wTest questsentence trwriting absentence seach queststudents’ t

5 points

4 points

3 points

2 points

1 point

0 point

Participantrecruited pas the expeother classgroups of the two gro

Table 1. R

Note. O1、O

Ways of tehandouts, group wascompared school stuweek.

Table 2. T

Procedure

Presentation of Sentence Patterns: How Teacher PresentSentence Patterto Students

.org

control group. The students

ool; while the ool may help v

English Senten

uage learning tbasic writing were developetions includedranslation. The

bility. There artructure, sentetion took fivetotal points wa

correct

acceptable se

acceptable se

acceptable se

acceptable sen

more than fou

ts were seniorparticipants threrimental grous was assignedstudents wereoups took a pr

Research design

O3: English Writin

eaching was thwas required

s not. English wwith that of th

udents, they w

Teaching proce

Traditional (Control Gr

ts rns

The teachersentence paon the boarpatterns. For examplExclamatioHow + AdjWhat + (a/aV!

In

Both the two in the experistudents in th

vocational high

nce Pattern Le

tool can be us skills, includ

ed based on thed four parts: e teacher desigre ten multipleence paraphras points. The f

as:

entence structu

entence structu

entence structu

ntence structur

ur errors or no

rs of tourism rough conveniup. They used d as the contro then tested an

re-test and a po

n

Group

Experimental Control Group

ng Test; O2、O4:

he independento use the clo

writing performhe post-test. There taught the

dures for the e

Teaching Methodroup)

r presents the atterns to be taughd and explain thes

le: n . + S + Be! an) + Adj. + N + S

nternational Jou

groups of studmental group

he control grouh students with

earning Tool a

sed to test thatding linguistice third volumegrammar mul

gned their owne choice questise, and sentencfull marks tha

ure with one m

ure with two m

ure with three m

re with four m

answer was gi

majors at a vience samplingthe cloud langol group, and nd compared fost-test. The en

Pre

Group O1p O3

English Writing T

nt variable in toud language mance was thehe controlled ve same instruct

experimental g

d Cloud Sent(Experimen

ht se

S +

Before clasThe teachersentence lepatterns to 1. The teacwhite columthe blanks punctuationshown on t

urnal of English

101

dents were givewere instruct

up were not. Th their English

as Applied in C

t test students’c knowledge,

e, unit 1 of Tunltiple choice, n paper-and-peions. Each righce translation pat can be gaine

minor error

minor errors

minor errors

minor errors

iven

vocational higg. The class wguage learningthey did not u

for their perforntire research d

e-test Treat

X C

Test; X: Treatmen

the present stulearning tool

e dependent vavariables were tional material

group and cont

tence Learning Enntal Group)

ss: r makes use of the

earning tool to creabe taught:

cher can choose fromns and ask studein the white columns to create sententhe right-hand side

Linguistics

en “An overvited with the hThis is to invesh writing skills.

Classroom Inst

’ writing skillsgrammar, an

ng-Da vocationsentence stru

encil test questht answer wasparts, there areed were 100 p

gh school in nwho was taugh

tool to practicuse the cloud rmance. In thidesign is show

tment Po

O2O4

nt—Cloud languag

udy. The experto practice se

ariable. The methe two group

l, and the rese

trol group

nvironment

e cloud ate sentence

om the ents to fill in mns and add nces as e.

1.

iew of Englishhelp of the clostigate how clo.

truction

s. The entire tnd sentence snal high schoo

ucture, sentenctions to explors awarded foure four questionpoints. The ru

new Taipei Ciht by the researce English senlanguage learn

is quasi-experiwn in Table 1.

st-test

2 4

ge learning tools; C

rimental groupentence patternean score of thps were all senearch period w

. Create a sentence

Vol. 9, No. 6;

h sentence patteoud supplemenoud suppleme

testing system structure. The

ol English textbce paraphrase,re students’ Enr points. As fons for each parubric used to c

ity. The researcher was assi

ntence patternsning tool. Theimental study,

C: No treatment.

p, in addition tns, and the cohe pre-test wasnior vocationalwere the same

e pattern menu.

2019

erns” ntary ntary

tests e test book. , and

nglish or the t and count

rcher igned . The e two

both

o the ontrol then high

, one

ijel.ccsenet.

Practice of sentence patternStudents practicon their own

.org

ns: ce

1. Practice sStudents ushandouts ofto practice s2. Examineoutcome: Adown the anto check if tsentences.

In

sentence patterns:se the paper ffered by the teachsentence patterns. students learning

Ask students to wrinswers on the boathey have correct

nternational Jou

2. The teacneeded as s3. The teacsentence paactivities. During the The teacherpatterns to pattern menside.

her

g ite

ard

Practice senkey in vocaorder of theexample:1. Studentsunder the cFigure 1 onthe down awords as share allowedof vocabulalearned. Ththe words t2. After keyvocabularyCreate sentshown in Fto create a revise or deExamine stThe teacherstudent’s nsentences hstudents’ anthe screen tclass as shoright-hand 3. Collaborentire classgroup is givmembers aimaginationthey have lEach groupfour sentensentences aanother. Stuuse of the clearning toosentences iperformanc

urnal of English

102

cher can also add cshown on the righcher can use the cratterns to design c

class: r can choose the sbe taught from thnu as shown on th

ntence patterns: Sabulary words base sentence pattern

s may key in an adcategory Adj. as shn the right-hand siarrow to key in vochown in Figure 2. d to key in unlimitary words that thehey can also repeathey have chosen bying in the require

y words, students ctences button in th

Figure 1 on the righsentence. They caelete a sentence.tudents’ learning or may click the bu

name and check allhe/she has creatednswers may be prto be discussed wiown in Figure 3 onside. rative learning: Dis into seven groupven a picture. Grore encouraged to un to use the sentenlearned to create sp is required to mances. It is even betare related in someudents are requirecloud sentence patol and then presenn the class as a wace assessment.

Linguistics

columns if t-hand side.

reated classroom

sentence e sentence

he right-hand

2.th

3.se

Students may sed on the ns. For

djective hown in ide. Click cabulary Students

ted number ey have atedly use before. ed can click the he menu as ht-hand side

an also

outcome: utton of a l the

d. Also, ojected on ith the entire n the

ivided the ps. Each oup use their nce patterns entences. ake at least tter if these e way to one ed to make ttern nt the ay of

1.

2.

3.

4.th

. Dialogue box to he menu.

. Design classroomentence patterns.

.Columns for keyi

.Students can add

.Check the sentenc

. Hand out pictureheir own sentences

Vol. 9, No. 6;

add sentence patte

m activities to prac

ing in vocabulary

new vocabulary

ces created by stu

es for students to cs

2019

erns to

ctice

dents

create

ijel.ccsenet.

Review Activities: Take-home sentence patternexercises

4. Data An

The presenstudents’ EThe analysthe depend

4.1 Results

The presenstudents’ EAbility Testatistical mresults are

4.2 Within

Before doiin order towhich wasdifference

.org

n

Take-home 1. The teachhandouts copatterns andpractice senhome. 2. Collect sin next clastheir answe

nalysis

nt study appliEnglish writinsis is aimed todent variable.

s

nt study aims English writinest before and method. The pas follows:

n Groups Homo

ing ANOVA ao avoid interfes not significa, if any, betwe

In

practice: her distributes oncerning sentencd asks students to ntence patterns at

tudents’ assignmes meeting and che

ers one by one.

ed one sampleg tests. The pr explore the di

at exploring hng skills. The

after the instpre-test scores

ogeneity of Re

analysis, analyerence betweenant. Thus, the een pre-test and

nternational Jou

e

ents eck

1. Practice different seshown in FBased on wclass, studesentences.2. The teacuntil he/sheanswers to answers. Th“check” bulearning ofas shown inside. The teeach indivihis/her learaccuracy ofFigure 3 on3. Extendedwork in a gown picturesentences blearned. Eaat least threpatterns. Aassignmentupload the files to the teacher canon Moodlefeedback.

e one-way ANre-test was treifferences, if a

how the cloud experimentaltruction. The dare the Covar

egression Coeff

ysis of within gn groups in thresearcher we

d post-test perf

urnal of English

103

at home: Studentsentence pattern praFigure 1 on the righwhat they have leaents can create the

cher does not havee collects all the stcheck accuracy ohe teacher may us

utton to examine stf a particular senten Figure 2 on the reacher can also geidual student’s filerning history and tf his/her answers an the right-hand sid learning: Ask st

group of three to loes and create theirbased on what theyach group is requiree sentences for tw

After completing tht, each group is resentences, pictureMoodle platform.

n check students’ p and provide imm

NOVA statisticeated as Covarany, between th

language learl and the contdata collected iate and the po

fficient

groups homoghe pre-test. Figent ahead to dformed by the

Linguistics

s may enter actices as hthand side.

arned in the eir own

e to wait tudents’ f these se the tudents’

ence pattern right-hand

et access to e to check to check the as shown in ide. tudents to ook for their r own y have red to form wo sentence he quired to

es, and voice . The performance

mediate

1.st

2.pr

3.co

cal method to riate, and the phe experiment

rning tool maytrol groups ofwere then an

ost-test scores

geneity of regregure 4 shows tdo one-way Atwo groups.

. Students can chotructures

. Teachers can cherogress

. Teachers can moonditions.

analyze the dpost-test the Dal group and th

y improve vocaf students too

nalyzed, using are the Depen

ession coefficithat the f valu

ANOVA analy

Vol. 9, No. 6;

oose and practice s

eck students’ writi

onitor students’ lea

data collected Dependent Vari

he control gro

ational high scok English Wr

one-way ANOndent Variable

ient had to be ue is 2.322 (p>ysis to examin

2019

sentence

ng

arning

from iable. up in

chool riting OVA . The

done >.05), e the

ijel.ccsenet.org International Journal of English Linguistics Vol. 9, No. 6; 2019

104

Table 3. Within groups homogeneity of regression coefficient (independent variable: post-test)

Source Type III sum of squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Corrected Model 16416.801a 3 5472.267 32.794 .000 Intercept 3007.190 1 3007.190 18.021 .000 Group 848.585 1 848.585 5.085 .028 Total score of Pretest 14854.160 1 14854.160 89.018 .000 Group * Pretest 387.471 1 387.471 2.322 .132 Error 10679.478 64 166.867 Total 203251.000 68 Corrected Total 27096.279 67

Note. a. R Squared = .606 (Adjusted R Squared = .587).

4.3 ANOVA Analysis of English Writing Ability

Results of the one-way ANOVA analysis of the English writing ability of the experimental group and the control group as follows:

1) Table 4 shows that the mean score of the control group is 46.62, and the mean score of the experimental group is 55.18.

2) Table 5 shows that the group F value is 4.563 (p<.05), the different is significant. It is evident that the cloud language learning tool affects students’ English writing skills. Table 4 also shows that the mean score of the experimental group is higher than that of the control. It also shows that the cloud language learning tool may improve students’ English writing ability.

Table 4. Descriptive analysis of English writing proficiency tests

Group M SD n

Control group 46.62 22.184 34 Experimental group 55.18 17.066 34 Total 50.90 20.110 68

Table 5. ANOVA analysis of English writing test

Source Type III sum of squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Corrected Model 16029.330a 2 8014.665 47.073 .000 Intercept 2986.169 1 2986.169 17.539 .000 Total Score of Pre-test 14784.021 1 14784.021 86.832 .000 Group 776.936 1 776.936 4.563 .036* Error 11066.949 65 170.261 Total 203251.000 68 Corrected Total 27096.279 67

Note. a. R Squared = .592 (Adjusted R Squared = .579); b. *p<0.05.

5. Conclusion

Analysis of the data collected for the present study showed a significant f-value 4.563 (p<.05). It may reveal that the cloud language learning tool can affect students’ English writing skills. That the mean score of the experimental group is higher than that of the control group further prove that the cloud language learning tool may help develop vocational high school students’ English writing skills.

Based on the teacher’s observation, it takes time for students to learn to make use of the cloud language learning tool to create short essays. Therefore, the researcher developed a three-stage curricular activity. In the first stage, the teacher provides vocabulary words and sentence patterns, and students make use of the cloud language learning tool to form different sentences. Then, after being familiar with the cloud language learning tool, students may provide their own vocabulary words and use the sentence patterns available in the tool to create a short essay. In the third stage, students are encouraged to create their own sentence patterns and provide their own vocabulary words to produce short essays. This three-stage cloud language learning curriculum may also be combined with computer animation and applied to elementary school students to motivate students to learn. Hopefully, this cloud language learning program may prevail in schools of different levels.

ijel.ccsenet.org International Journal of English Linguistics Vol. 9, No. 6; 2019

105

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Chih-Hong Chiang, You-Syun Ling & Ling-Hsuan Chu for their devotion to the research study.

References

Bukhari, S. S. F. (2016). Mind Mapping Technique to Enhance EFL Writing Skill. International Journal of Linguistics and Communication, 4(1), 58–77. https://doi.org/10.15640/ijlc.v4n1a7

Buran, A., & Filyukov, A. (2015). Mind mapping technique in language learning. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 206, 215–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.10.010

Chen, C-F., & Chu, L-H. (2015). A Study of “cloud platform as a teaching supplementary aid” in promoting vocational high school students’ English writing abilities. Paper presented at the 2015 Taiwan Association for Educational Communications and Technology conference, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Chen, L. A. (2006). Theory and Practice of Teaching Creative Thinking (6th ed.). Taipei: Psychology Co.

Chiang, C-H. (2014). A study of “digital storytelling” through mandala thinking method in promoting seven graders’ English writing abilities. Unpublished master’s thesis. Tamkang University, New Taipei City, Taiwan

Imaizumi, C. (1989). Mandala Notebook. Taipei: Coolbooks.

Kellogg, R. T. (1988). Attentional overload and writing performance: Effects of rough draft and outline strategies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 14(2), 355–365. https://doi.org/10.1037//0278-7393.14.2.355

Kellogg, R. T. (1996). A model of working memory in writing.

Levy, B. A., Newell, S., Snyder, J., & Timmins, K. (1986). Processing changes across reading encounters. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 12(4), 467–478. https://doi.org/10.1037//0278-7393.12.4.467

Levy, C., & Ransdell, S. E. (1996). The science of writing: Theories, methods, individual differences, and applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Lin, Y-S. (2014). A research on the development of a cloud platform as a supplementary aid to teaching English sentence patterns. Unpublished master’s thesis. Tamkang University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Saddler, B. (2005). Sentence combining: A sentence-level writing intervention. Reading Teacher, 58(5), 468–471. https://doi.org/10.1598/RT.58.5.6

Saddler, B., & Asaro, K. (2008). Beyond noun-verb: The use of sentence combining to improve sentence writing ability. Insights on Learning Disabilities, 5(2), 41–50.

Saddler, B., Behforooz, B., & Asaro, K. (2008). The effects of sentence-combining instruction on the writing of fourth-grade students with writing difficulties. Journal of Special Education, 42(2), 79–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022466907310371

Vijayavalsalan, B. (2016). Mind mapping as a strategy for enhancing essay writing skills. The New Educational Review, 3(44), 137–150. https://doi.org/10.15804/tner.2016.45.3.11

Copyrights

Copyright for this article is retained by the author, with first publication rights granted to the journal.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).