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The application of word associations has become increasingly widespread. However, the association norms produced by traditional free association tests tend not to exceed 10,000 stimulus words, making the number of associated words too small to be representative of the overall language. In this study we used text corpora totaling over 400 million Chinese words, along with a multitude of association measures, to automatically construct a Chinese Lexical Association Database (CLAD) comprising the lexical association of over 80,000 words. Comparison of the CLAD with a database of traditional Chinese word association norms shows that word associations extracted from large text corpora are similar in strength to those elicited from free association tests but contain a much greater number of associative word pairs. Additionally, the relatively small numbers of participants involved in the creation of traditional norms result in relatively coarse scales of association measurement, whereas the differentiation of association strengths is greatly enhanced in the CLAD. The CLAD provides researchers with a great supplement to traditional word association norms. A query website at www.chinesereadability.net/LexicalAssociation/CLAD/ affords access to the database.

Text readability assessment is a challenging interdisciplinary endeavor with rich practical implications. It has long drawn the attention of researchers internationally, and the readability models since developed have been widely applied to various fields. Previous readability models have only made use of linguistic features employed for general text analysis and have not been sufficiently accurate when used to gauge domain-specific texts. In view of this, this study proposes a latent-semantic-analysis (LSA)-constructed hierarchical conceptual space that can be used to train a readability model to accurately assess domain-specific texts. Compared with a baseline reference using a traditional model, the new model improves by 13.88% to achieve 68.98% of accuracy when leveling social science texts, and by 24.61% to achieve 73.96% of accuracy when assessing natural science texts. We then combine the readability features developed for the current study with general linguistic features, and the accuracy of leveling social science texts improves by an even higher degree of 31.58% to achieve 86.68%, and that of natural science texts by 26.56% to achieve 75.91%. These results indicate that the readability features developed in this study can be used both to train a readability model for leveling domain-specific texts and also in combination with the more common linguistic features to enhance the efficacy of the model. Future research can expand the generalizability of the model by assessing texts from different fields and grade levels using the proposed method, thus enhancing the practical applications of this new method.

Pretesting is the most commonly used method for estimating test item difficulty because it provides highly accurate results that can be applied to assessment development activities. However, pretesting is inefficient, and it can lead to item exposure. Hence, an increasing number of studies have invested considerable effort in researching the automated estimation of item difficulty. Language proficiency tests constitute the majority of researched test topics, while comparatively less research has focused on content subjects. This paper introduces a novel method for the automated estimation of item difficulty for social studies tests. In this study, we explore the difficulty of multiple-choice items, which consist of the following item elements: a question and alternative options. We use learning materials to construct a semantic space using word embedding techniques and project an item's texts into the semantic space to obtain corresponding vectors. Semantic features are obtained by calculating the cosine similarity between the vectors of item elements. Subsequently, these semantic features are sent to a classifier for training and testing. Based on the output of the classifier, an estimation model is created and item difficulty is estimated. Our findings suggest that the semantic similarity between a stem and the options has the strongest impact on item difficulty. Furthermore, the results indicate that the proposed estimation method outperforms pretesting, and therefore, we expect that the proposed approach will complement and partially replace pretesting in future.

Traditionally, the visual analogue scale (VAS) has been proposed to overcome the limitations of ordinal measures from Likert-type scales. However, the function of VASs to overcome the limitations of response styles to Likert-type scales has not yet been addressed. Previous research using ranking and paired comparisons to compensate for the response styles of Likert-type scales has suffered from limitations, such as that the total score of ipsative measures is a constant that cannot be analyzed by means of many common statistical techniques. In this study we propose a new scale, called the Visual Analogue Scale for Rating, Ranking, and Paired-Comparison (VAS-RRP), which can be used to collect rating, ranking, and paired-comparison data simultaneously, while avoiding the limitations of each of these data collection methods. The characteristics, use, and analytic method of VAS-RRPs, as well as how they overcome the disadvantages of Likert-type scales, ranking, and VASs, are discussed. On the basis of analyses of simulated and empirical data, this study showed that VAS-RRPs improved reliability, response style bias, and parameter recovery. Finally, we have also designed a VAS-RRP Generator for researchers' construction and administration of their own VAS-RRPs.

Readability is referred to as the degree of difficulty to which an given text (article) can be understood by readers. When readers are reading a text with high readability, they will achieve better comprehension and learning retention. However, it has been a long-standing critical challenge to develop effective readability prediction models that can automatically and accurately assess the readability of a given text. When building readability prediction models for the Chinese language, word segmentation ambiguity is often a knotty problem that will inevitably happen in the pre-processing of texts. In view of this, we present in this paper a novel readability prediction approach for the Chinese language, building on a recently proposed, so-called Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformers (BERT) model that can capture both syntactic and semantic information of a text directly from its character-level representation. With the BERT-based readability prediction model that takes consecutive character-level representations as its input, we effectively assess the readability of a given text without the need of performing error-prone word segmentation. We empirically evaluate the performance of our BERT-based readability prediction model on a benchmark task, by comparing it with a strong baseline that utilizes a celebrated classification model (named fastText) in conjunction with word-level presentations. The results demonstrate that the BERT-based model with character-level representations can perform on par with the fastText-based model with word-level representations, yielding the accuracy of 78.45% on average. This finding also offers the promise of conducting readability assessment of a text in Chinese directly based on character-level representations.

Studies on teaching of reading strategies have found that summarizing is of tremendous help to reading comprehension. However grading students’ summary writings is laborious, but given the importance of summarizing, an effective summarizing learning module is important. This study developed an automatic summary assessment and feedback system based on Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) to provide score, concept and semantic feedback, and then investigated the effects of concept and semantic feedback on the writing of summaries by students in the sixth grade. The design involved two between-subject factors: semantic feedback (with, without) and concept feedback (with, without). 120 sixth-grade students from an elementary school were recruited for the study, and then were randomly assigned to each group. The overall results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed system in improving the summary writing skills of students. The effects of semantic feedback and concept feedback were also discussed.

Mobile devices such as laptops, personal digital assistants, and mobile phones have become a learning tool with great potential in both classrooms and outdoor learning. Although there have been qualitative analyses of the use of mobile devices in education, systematic quantitative analyses of the effects of mobile-integrated education are lacking. This study performed a meta-analysis and research synthesis of the effects of integrated mobile devices in teaching and learning, in which 110 experimental and quasiexperimental journal articles published during the period 1993-2013 were coded and analyzed. Overall, there was a moderate mean effect size of 0.523 for the application of mobile devices to education. The effect sizes of moderator variables were analyzed and the advantages and disadvantages of mobile learning in different levels of moderator variables were synthesized based on content analyses of individual studies. The results of this study and their implications for both research and practice are discussed. This is a meta-analysis and research synthesis study for mobile-integrated education.110 published journal articles that were written over a 20-year period were coded and analyzed.The application of mobile devices to education has a moderate mean effect size.The effect sizes of moderator variables were analyzed.The benefits and drawbacks of mobile learning were synthesized.

Language learning has undergone rapid changes over the past several years, from computer-assisted learning to the more recent mobile-device-assisted learning. Although mobile devices have become valuable language-learning tools, the evident substantial contribution of mobile devices to language learning have not yet been investigated. The present meta-analysis of 44 peer-reviewed journal articles and doctoral dissertations that were written over a 20-year period (1993–2013), with 9154 participants, revealed that mobile-device-assisted language instruction has produced a meaningful improvement with an overall mean effect size of 0.55. Different effect sizes for moderator variables, such as learning stages, hardware use, software used, intervention settings, teaching methods, intervention durations, learning skills, target languages, and L1/L2, were also reported. The results are discussed, together with their implications for future research and practices on the use of mobile devices in language learning.

Textual analysis has been applied to various fields, such as discourse analysis, corpus studies, text leveling, and automated essay evaluation. Several tools have been developed for analyzing texts written in alphabetic languages such as English and Spanish. However, currently there is no tool available for analyzing Chinese-language texts. This article introduces a tool for the automated analysis of simplified and traditional Chinese texts, called the Chinese Readability Index Explorer (CRIE). Composed of four subsystems and incorporating 82 multilevel linguistic features, CRIE is able to conduct the major tasks of segmentation, syntactic parsing, and feature extraction. Furthermore, the integration of linguistic features with machine learning models enables CRIE to provide leveling and diagnostic information for texts in language arts, texts for learning Chinese as a foreign language, and texts with domain knowledge. The usage and validation of the functions provided by CRIE are also introduced.

A number of previous studies on Chinese relative clauses (RC) have reported conflicting results on processing asymmetry. This study aims to revisit the prevalent debate on whether subject-extracted RCs (SRC) or object-extracted RCs (ORC) are easier to process by using the eye-movement technique. In the current study, the data are analyzed in terms of the gaze duration and regression of eye-movement in three critical areas: head noun, embedded verb, and RC-modifying noun phrase as subject. The results show an ORC preference for the processing of RC structures, which supports the word-order account and the Dependency Locality Theory, and a better cross-clausal integration for SRC, which supports the perspective-shift account. The processing asymmetry in Chinese RCs are discussed under relevant theoretical accounts, such as structure-based, memory-based, and perspective shift accounts. We argue that the findings are associated with the syntactic nature of Chinese (a head-initial language with pre-nominal RCs).

One of the trends in collaborative learning is using mobile devices for supporting the process and products of collaboration, which has been forming the field of mobile-computer-supported collaborative learning (mCSCL). Although mobile devices have become valuable collaborative learning tools, evaluative evidence for their substantial contributions to collaborative learning is still scarce. The present meta-analysis, which included 48 peer-reviewed journal articles and doctoral dissertations written over a 16-year period (2000–2015) involving 5,294 participants, revealed that mCSCL has produced meaningful improvements for collaborative learning, with an overall mean effect size of 0.516. Moderator variables, such as domain subject, group size, teaching method, intervention duration, and reward method were related to different effect sizes. The results provided implications for future research and practice, such as suggestions on how to appropriately use the functionalities of mobile devices, how to best leverage mCSCL through effective group learning mechanisms, and what outcome variables should be included in future studies to fully elucidate the process and products of mCSCL.

Test validity is a property of the interpretation assigned to test scores. To provide an objective validating evidence for a standard-referenced assessment is especially important. In this study we utilize a statistical technique, cluster analysis, to explore the validity of one of the expert judgement technique-Yes/No Angoff standard setting method. We first segregated each examinee ability cluster using the hierarchical clustering (HC). Assume that each ability cluster is a Gaussian distribution and that the distribution of each test subject data can be modeled by mixture of Gaussians (MoG), where the mean, variance and the proportion of each cluster were initialized by the HC results. Finally, the ability clustering was implemented by the expectation maximization (EM) method. The results from the traditional standard-setting procedure and cluster analysis were compared. The study concludes that cluster analysis appears useful for helping to set standards on educational tests. In addition, it suggested that cluster analysis could be applied as a support tool to provide validating information in the process of standard setting for high-stakes achievement tests.

The purpose of this research is to develop a hands-on spatial geometry learning system to facilitate the learning of geometry. The development of this system was based on Duval's four critical elements of geometric learning: perceptual apprehension, sequential apprehension, operative apprehension, and discursive apprehension. The system offers support to high school students in the process of spatial geometry problem-solving. It provides a hands-on approach for manipulating spatial figures, thereby developing the students' visualization skills and ability to conceptualize images. The experiment comprised a total of 58 participants from different classes with the experimental group using the proposed learning system, whereas the control group using the traditional pencil-and-paper approach. The study investigated the effects of the hands-on system on the perceptual, sequential, and operative apprehension, and on overall spatial geometry scores and learning attitude. The results indicated improvements on ef...

Multilevel linguistic features have been proposed for discourse analysis, but there have been few applications of multilevel linguistic features to readability models and also few validations of such models. Most traditional readability formulae are based on generalized linear models (GLMs; e.g., discriminant analysis and multiple regression), but these models have to comply with certain statistical assumptions about data properties and include all of the data in formulae construction without pruning the outliers in advance. The use of such readability formulae tends to produce a low text classification accuracy, while using a support vector machine (SVM) in machine learning can enhance the classification outcome. The present study constructed readability models by integrating multilevel linguistic features with SVM, which is more appropriate for text classification. Taking the Chinese language as an example, this study developed 31 linguistic features as the predicting variables at the word, semantic, syntax, and cohesion levels, with grade levels of texts as the criterion variable. The study compared four types of readability models by integrating unilevel and multilevel linguistic features with GLMs and an SVM. The results indicate that adopting a multilevel approach in readability analysis provides a better representation of the complexities of both texts and the reading comprehension process.

Based on kinesthetic learning style theory and interviews regarding teachers' experiences applying traditional astronomy teaching methods, a mobile digital armillary sphere (MDAS) using augmented reality (AR) was developed for use during astronomical observation instruction. The MDAS enables visual processes and limb movements similar to those that would occur in actual outdoor experiences to be employed in the classroom, thereby overcoming existing instructional limitations. A quasi-experimental design method was adopted, and 200 fifth-grade students were selected as participants. The use of the MDAS in astronomical observation courses affected students' learning effectiveness and interest. The experimental results indicated that using the MDAS system during outdoor observation activities effectively enhanced both the students' learning of astronomical observation content and their performance of astronomical observation skills. In addition, use of the MDAS effectively increased students' interest in astronomical observations and learning, which had a substantial effect on retention.

Traditional paper-based teaching activities are restricted by physical space. Therefore, one cannot integrate and collaborate with the design of the instructional materials effectively. As a result, it is unlikely that instructors are able to successfully moderate learners' focus on the content, as well as the order of their focus during their reading and learning processes, which forms a blind spot in teaching and learning. This study applied augmented reality (AR) and image positioning technologies to paper textbooks, and proposed using AR technology to develop two-phase learning processes to effectively control learners' progress in learning textbooks and their learning sequences, so that learning activities match the design of instructional materials. Preliminary empirical research demonstrated a good experience by students using the system and a positive learning attitude from the users.

Assuring e-learning quality is of interest worldwide. This paper introduces the methods of e-learning courseware quality assurance (a quality certification system) adopted by the eLQSC (e-Learning Quality Service Centre) in Taiwan. A sequential/explanatory design with a mixed methodology was used to gather research data and conduct data analyses. Sixty-seven e-learning courseware applications were evaluated using the e-Learning Courseware Quality Checklist (eLCQC). Analyses of item difficulty, item discrimination and generalizability indicated that the eLCQC provides high-quality evaluations. After participating in the certification process, the e-learning producers reported having more confidence in enhancing e-learning courseware quality. The certification experience also helped the producers to change their previous design concepts about e-learning courseware and to develop new concepts; further, their increased confidence about courseware design also enhanced their confidence in marketing courseware.

Mobile devices have been increasingly utilized in informal learning because of their high degree of portability; mobile guide systems (or electronic guidebooks) have also been adopted in museum learning, including those that combine learning strategies and the general audio- visual guide systems. To gain a deeper understanding of the features and limitations of these guide systems in a museum-learning context and also to provide new designs that better guide learners in interacting with peers and exhibitions, in-depth exploration of learners' actual visits and analyses of their behavioural patterns is crucial. This study was based on empirical observation and analysis of the learning behaviours (recorded on video) of 65 elementary-school students who were placed into three groups: mobile guide with problem-solving strategy, audio-visual mobile guide and paper-based learning-sheet guide. By coding and analysing the video and conducting sequential analysis and frequency analysis of learning-related discussion content, behavioural interaction patterns were determined by which the features and limitations of the different types of guides were compared. Among the findings, it was discovered that the students in the problem-solving mobile guide group showed a higher level of two-way interactions with their peers and the exhibits, as well as more learning-related discussions. Relevant suggestions for teachers, researchers and guide-systems developers are also given.

The work described in this paper explores the feasibility of using of a wireless handheld system (WHS) that supports the individual and co‐operative reading activities of students and helps teachers implement reading strategy instruction in Chinese language classes. The experimental findings demonstrate that the WHS benefits students applying reading strategies and improves co‐operative learning in relation to small reading groups.

Museums provide important avenues for lifelong learning, and using information and communication technology to maximize a museum's lifelong learning potential is a recognized issue. This study proposed a human-computer-context interaction (HCCI) framework as a guide for designing a mobile electronic guidebook for a history museum. To fulfill the goals of the HCCI framework, two strategies, problem-based inquiry and historical-context-embedded visiting, were used to implement a HCCI guidebook. To evaluate the effects of the HCCI guidebook, this study conducted an experiment to compare three visiting modes: Visiting with the HCCI guidebook; visiting with a worksheet; and visiting without any supplementary tools. Sixty-two college students participated in the evaluation of the HCCI guidebook in the Tang dynasty tri-color glazed pottery exhibition at the National Museum of History. The results showed that the students with the HCCI guidebooks had, on average, a longer holding time with exhibits than either students with paper-based worksheets or students without supplementary materials. However, there were no significant differences in the knowledge gained about exhibits among the three modes.

Digital teaching portfolios have been proposed as an effective tool for teacher learning and professional development, but there is a lack of empirical evidence supporting their effectiveness. This study proposed the design of a structured digital portfolio equipped with multiple aids (e.g. self-assessment, peer assessment, discussion and journal writing) for the professional development of teachers. This study also empirically evaluated the reflection and professional development as demonstrated in digital teaching portfolios with multiple supporting measures. Fourty-four in-service substitute teachers participated in a course of classroom assessment and used a web-based portfolio system. Based on the framework of teacher reflective thinking developed by Sparks-Langer et al., we found that most teachers demonstrated moderate levels of reflection in their journals but only one-third of them showed the highest level of reflection. We also found that the professional knowledge of teachers about classroom assessment - as shown by their implementation of it - improved significantly during the construction of portfolios. The above findings also represent good evidence that digital portfolios with multiple aids are beneficial to teacher reflection and professional development.

This paper describes the effects of learning support on simulation-based learning in three learning models: experiment prompting, a hypothesis menu, and step guidance. A simulation learning system was implemented based on these three models, and the differences between simulation-based learning and traditional laboratory learning were explored in the context of physics studies. The effects of the support type on learning performance were also quantified. In second-year junior high school students it was found that the outcome for learning about the basic characteristics of an optical lens was significantly better for simulation-based learning than for laboratory learning. We also investigated the influences of different learning models on the students’ abstract reasoning abilities, which showed that the different learning models do not have different effects on individuals with different abstract reasoning abilities. However, we found that students who are better at higher abstract reasoning benefit more from simulation-based learning, and also that the learning results are better for experiment prompting and a hypothesis menu than for step guidance. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131508000365)

This study aimed to design and evaluate multimedia games which were based on the theories of children's development of taxonomic concepts. Factors that might affect children's classification skills, such as use of single physical characteristics of objects, competition between thematic and taxonomic relationships, difficulty in forming hierarchical categories, were identified. Several strategies for overcoming the above disadvantages, such as verbal hints, linguistic labeling, exemplar comparison, and explicit statements were implemented in the Software for Rebuilding Taxonomy (SoRT) for improving children's taxonomic concept learning. Sixty children, aged 4 and 5, participated in the evaluation of SoRT. The results showed that the SoRT was helpful to improve children's distinction between thematic and taxonomic relationships and their learning of hierarchical taxonomic concepts.

In this study, a multimedia learning software program named GeoCAL is described. It is based on van Hiele's geometric thinking level theory, which consists of four levels: recognition, visual association, description/analysis, and abstraction/relation. In addition to presenting the software design, this study also explores the learning effects of GeoCAL on each of the geometric thinking levels and on overall geometric thinking. The subjects of this study are second-grade elementary school students of an average age of eight who have not previously had formal lessons in geometry. The experimental results indicate that, with the exception of recognition ability, GeoCAL produces significant learning effects on visual association, description/analysis and abstraction/relation as well as overall geometric thinking.

A writing process of five stages, setting the topic and goals, planning the outline, organising the structure, building the content, and reviewing, is proposed to guide hypermedia authoring. To explore the effects of the system designed with writing-process guidance, this study enrolled 108 seventh graders at a junior high school as experimental subjects. Results of the experiment show that writing-process guidance does indeed help in the presentation of students’ web page creations. This experiment also explored the differences in web page creations between different genders. Results show that creations of male students are better than those of female students.

The issue of individual differences among learners has thus far received the most attention from education researchers. Many teachers strive to develop a learning strategy with significant effect on the majority of learners. Through literature analysis, this study found that not only could Augmented Reality (AR) improve learning effectiveness, it could also reduce the impact of individual differences on learning outcomes. Therefore, this study designed a set of AR-aided teaching systems to help teachers supplement curriculum content using AR. Sixty-six participants from elementary schools were involved in this study. The results confirmed that AR can help learners to achieve better learning outcomes, and can effectively improve learning achievement in non-high-scoring groups, enabling them to perform closer to those in high-scoring groups and reducing the gap in overall learning level. This study also discovered that technological barriers could reduce the benefits of AR in teaching contexts. Authoring tools with low operating thresholds are valuable for AR-aided teaching systems.

Test validity is a property of the interpretation assigned to test scores. To provide an objective validating evidence for a standard-referenced assessment is especially important. In this study we utilize a statistical technique, cluster analysis, to explore the validity of one of the expert judgement technique- Yes/No Angoff standard setting method. We first segregated each examinee ability cluster using the hierarchical clustering (HC). Assume that each ability cluster is a Gaussian distribution and that the distribution of each test subject data can be modeled by mixture of Gaussians (MoG), where the mean, variance and the proportion of each cluster were initialized by the HC results. Finally, the ability clustering was implemented by the expectation maximization (EM) method. The results from the traditional standard-setting procedure and cluster analysis were compared. The study suggested that cluster analysis could be applied as a support tool to provide validating information in the process of standard setting for high-stakes achievement tests.

The study aims at investigating how the fitness between learners' learning styles and adopted learning modalities influences the learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) by elementary school students. A quantitative research was adopted. 87 fifth graders participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to three groups of learning modalities: video, gesture-based, and 3D virtual. They learned 18 English phrases related to motions for 3 times, once a week. Both performance test and learning style questionnaire were administered after the treatment completed. The analysis results of the current study show that the EFL learners' performances did not differ among the three learning modalities. However, EFL learners' learning styles also influence their performance. Implications of this study for language education and teaching are discussed.

Online reading is developing at an increasingly rapid rate, but the debate concerning whether learning is more effective when using hypertexts than when using traditional linear texts is still persistent. In addition, several researchers stated that online reading comprehension always starts with a question, but little empirical evidence has been gathered to investigate this claim. This study used eye-tracking technology and retrospective think aloud technique to examine online reading behaviors of fifth-graders (N = 50). The participants were asked to read four texts on the website. The present study employed a three-way mixed design: 2 (reading ability: high vs. low) × 2 (reading goals: with vs. without) × 2 (text types: hypertext vs. linear text). The dependent variables were eye-movement indices and the frequencies of using online reading strategy. The results show that fifth-graders, irrespective of their reading ability, found it difficult to navigate the non-linear structure of hypertexts when searching for and integrating information. When they read with goals, they adjusted their reading speed and the focus of their attention. Their offline reading ability also influenced their online reading performance. These results suggest that online reading skills and strategies have to be taught in order to enhance the online reading abilities of elementary-school students.

A Web/spl I.bar/Soc tutoring system for recursion concept learning is proposed. The system integrates different modes of learning, synchronous and asynchronous, collaborative and individualized, into a World Wide Web (WWW) environment. The paper proposes a collaborative learning protocol. Based on the protocol, the principles of the Socratic dialogue are applied to the collaborative learning of recursion concepts. In order to evaluate the effects on learning of the Web/spl I.bar/Soc system, an educational experiment was conducted. The results show that the effects from the Web/spl I.bar/Soc system were more obvious than merely studying articles.

The study proposes a hierarchical hyper concept map (or HHCM) course system. A HHCM course consists of a navigation map, concept maps, and hypermedia documents. The navigation map is a guide to the course, illustrating how the course is composed of learning units. The concept map demonstrates the conceptual structure of each unit, and each node in the HHCM is linked to the hypermedia document, which has a more detailed illustration of the concept. Such a combination for the HHCM course can be viewed as a three-dimensional structure of course representation. The effects of HHCM as a course representation were empirically tested. The experimental results found that students who learn from the course represented by HHCM achieve better learning than those who learn from a linearly represented course. Moreover, students can learn more efficiently than those who learn from the course represented by navigation maps. These findings suggest that the HHCM has a good potential as a device for designing Web-based courses.

Language learning has undergone rapid changes over the past several years from computer-assisted learning to more recently, mobile devices. Mobile devices have become useful learning tools that can potentially be applied in both various settings. This study adopted 44 peer-reviewed journal articles published between from 1993 to 2013 to demonstrate that mobile assisted language instruction provided meaningful average improvement with an overall mean effect size of 0.54. The current analyses revealed few statistically significant findings when applied into some moderators.

This study aimed at bridging CSL students’ learning both inside and outside the classroom. Mobile seamless learning technology was used to enhance their Mandarin performances. Forty-one overseas Chinese students participated in this study. The Mandarin Chinese performances was collected and analyzed to determine the effects of mobile seamless learning on Mandarin Chinese learning by overseas Chinese students. Analysis of the results showed that overseas Chinese students were benefited from connecting the gaps between inside and outside the classroom learning.

The purpose of this research was to construct a recursion programming learning system based on Socratic dialogue. Since recursion programming learning relates to the formation and evolution of mental models, the learning may not be effective if teachers rely only on simply telling the students the standard solutions. Instead, teachers should urge the students to consider the mistakes and contradictions discovered by themselves in the learning process. Socratic dialogue is applied as a dialectic method, which presents questions to students and encourages them to reflect on their own thinking. In this study, we explored the fundamental Socratic dialogue reasoning principles and implemented these principles through production rules. This Socratic-dialectic learning system was implemented using database techniques and evaluated by an empirical study. According to the experimental results, the Socratic dialogue was proven to have positive impact on recursion programming learning.

As for the field of educational research and its applications, evaluating concept difficulty is necessary but difficult to carry out the work. Two major approaches are employed in previous research to evaluate the difficulty of concepts. Both of two approaches do not take into account whether concepts are acquired by learners and readers or not. This paper will be focused on constructing basic concept list of domain knowledge with latent semantic analysis (LSA), and use the age of acquisition of concept for representing the difficulty of concept. This paper will utilize natural science texts of elementary school in Taiwan as experimental materials to verify the validity of using our proposed method for evaluating the difficulty of concept.

The studies of readability aim to measure the level of text difficulty. Although traditional formulae such as the Flesch-Kincaid formula can properly predict text readability, they are only effective for English text. Other formulae with very few features may result in inaccurate text classification. The study takes into account multiple linguistic features, and attempts to increase the level of accuracy in text classification by adopting a new model which integrates Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Genetic Programming (GP). Empirical data are utilized to demonstrate the performance of the proposed model.

The aim of this study is to develop a diagnostic system for mathematical concepts. By adopting a Bayesian network for its high recognition rate in artificial intelligence and diagnosis, and combining and applying deduction methods in computerized tests, this system helps students to understand the difficulties they encounter in mathematical learning, and subsequently helps in implementing immediate remedies. The computerized diagnostic tests established in this research module can diagnose the types of mistakes students make; and in addition to helping students realize their erroneous concepts, this system also helps teachers to grasp the types of mistakes students make, and to implement group remedial teaching accordingly. The study result indicates that the mean recognition rates of the computerized diagnostic system developed in this study are 95.72 %, 99.10 %, 98.73 %, 99.02 %, and 98.96 %; this system can effectively and automatically detect the types of mistakes that students make.

The total initial cost of enterprise learning management system is very high on the infrastructure and software applications, so that enterprises start to adopt cloud computing to reduce expenditure on infrastructure, software and IT human resource. The paper provides a cost effective structure of hybrid cloud architecture that has been implemented the multi-tenant model for enterprise to support customization sharing among different virtualized applications in a tenant area. The schema-sharing and multi-tenant data storage architecture also supports the learning content delivery. The important basis for the design method of software development shall embed with the cost effective structure, such as using multithreads to compute background processing and unzip the content files to reduce brand width usage. Even the file sizes of learning content shall be zipped to the less small size and duplicate to different servers for cutting down the traffic flow of brand width. The detailed calculation of the all I/O computer processing and brand width become the crucial implementation way.

The purposes of this study were to implement a brain-friendly learning environment for EFL early reading by a mobile-device-supported computer assisted reciprocal early English reading (CAREER) system and evaluate its effect upon elementary EFL learners' early reading skills. Results appeared that the students were benefited by collaborating with each other with the support of CAREER.

This study aims to explore the time-management patterns of learners' interactive behaviors during online project-based learning (PBL) from an empirical observation without teachers' interception. According to the derived pattern, the study found how learners allocated their time and how these interactive activities influence learners to allocate their time more appropriately. Finally, we also gave some suggestions for teachers' interception and guidance for promoting the quality of students' projects.

In this paper, we designed a wireless peer-assisted leaning system for early EFL reading to enhance online collaborative EFL reading and provide distributed EFL learners with an opportunity to teach and learn with each other. Compare with the control group, the result shows that wireless EFL reading is emerging as a flexible and portable solution to the pedagogical challenges exist in conventional EFL reading teaching instruction.

In a Web 2.0 e-learning context, the knowledge of teachers and learners is often shared via online discussion environments. In-depth exploring the online discussion behavioural patterns for teacher/learner communities with different interactive learning strategies via empirical observations and comparisons may provides important further references for community managers or system developers. In this paper, we summarise a series of our findings of three-empirical studies in Taiwan, and make in-depth comparison and discussions of the online discussion behavioural patterns of two-interactive strategies: peer-assessment and problem solving, then discuss the features and limitations of the strategies. The comparison and discussions may provide some important references for community management and system development in e-learning environments. In turn, we also propose suggestions regarding guiders’ intervention, strategy design and intelligent agent development.

Works in progress from selected papers presented at the 2006 IADIS International Conference on Mobile Learning provide an overview of the diverse research being conducted in this field.