Date of Award
1994
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Master of Education
School
School of Education
Faculty
Faculty of Education
First Supervisor
Martyn Wild
Abstract
The issue of sub-standard English language competence in school leavers is one of prime concern to educators. Some Western Australian secondary school teachers endeavouring to improve English language competence in students with learning disabilities have implemented computer-based learning programmes. The purpose of this project was to establish, through the students' attitudes and the teachers' perceptions, whether or not computer-based learning for English language competence is perceived to be successful for those Western Australian secondary school students who have learning disabilities. The study will benefit Western Australian secondary English teachers who may be searching for alternative strategies for inclusion in future programming for their learning disabled students. The research method is descriptive and the report includes the qualitative thematic analysis of data collected through interviews and observation, as well as the quantitative analysis of an attitudinal questionnaire. The findings indicate that the teachers consider computer-based learning to be an invaluable instructional strategy for teaching English language skills to the learning disabled, and that the majority of students have an extremely positive attitude towards their computer-based English language lessons. All students believed that their English language skills had improved with the computer-based lessons, and that these lessons were more motivating than traditional pen and paper English lessons. The teachers reported that computer-based lessons keep the students on task and elevate their self concept through improved performance. This begins a cycle of improvement which benefits the students and eases the teacher's burden. The need for a greater variety of pedagogical English-language-specific software was discovered. The report gives a local aspect of computer-based English learning for students with learning disabilities.
Recommended Citation
Sinclair, D. (1994). An attitudinal study of computer-based learning for English language competence with learning disabled secondary school students. Edith Cowan University. Retrieved from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1730