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Assignment Design and its Effects on Japanese College Freshmen’s Motivation in L2 Emergency Online Courses: A Qualitative Study

Unlike conventional distance learning, the COVID-19-induced emergency online learning environment has resulted in students experiencing prolonged social isolation and anxiety, thereby creating additional barriers to their motivation to learn. Studying under these conditions influences students’ moti...

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Autores principales: Ismailov, Murod, Ono, Yuichi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Singapore 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8043761/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00569-7
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author Ismailov, Murod
Ono, Yuichi
author_facet Ismailov, Murod
Ono, Yuichi
author_sort Ismailov, Murod
collection PubMed
description Unlike conventional distance learning, the COVID-19-induced emergency online learning environment has resulted in students experiencing prolonged social isolation and anxiety, thereby creating additional barriers to their motivation to learn. Studying under these conditions influences students’ motivation to complete and turn in course-related assignments, especially newly enrolled students taking the English reading online courses as second language learners (L2). The aim of this qualitative study is to examine various factors influencing Japanese college freshmen’s (n = 80) motivation when completing graded online assignments as part of asynchronous English reading courses held during the COVID-19 pandemic. The post-course survey of students from three separate classes was used to capture a detailed panorama of learner motivation. Results from an inductive content analysis of responses indicated that higher levels of motivation were strongly associated with assignments that facilitated learner autonomy, social interaction, personal interest, and practical utility of the task. Conversely, decreased motivation appears to be strongly associated with assignments reinforcing the perception of high difficulty, personal inefficacy, and cognitive overload. These findings are consistent with studies examining online learners’ motivation in the pre-pandemic period. This study found that intrinsic motivation plays an explicit role in enhancing learners’ engagement with instructional materials. Researchers recommend that, especially during emergencies such as a pandemic or major crisis, teachers should deliberately and extensively employ strategies to enhance the motivational appeal of instructional materials and assignments. When designing online assignments for freshman courses, special attention must be paid to psychological (autonomy, utility, relevance), cognitive (information overload), social (relatedness, interaction), and environmental (an emergency, uncertainty, isolation) conditions of learning.
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spelling pubmed-80437612021-04-14 Assignment Design and its Effects on Japanese College Freshmen’s Motivation in L2 Emergency Online Courses: A Qualitative Study Ismailov, Murod Ono, Yuichi Asia-Pacific Edu Res Regular Article Unlike conventional distance learning, the COVID-19-induced emergency online learning environment has resulted in students experiencing prolonged social isolation and anxiety, thereby creating additional barriers to their motivation to learn. Studying under these conditions influences students’ motivation to complete and turn in course-related assignments, especially newly enrolled students taking the English reading online courses as second language learners (L2). The aim of this qualitative study is to examine various factors influencing Japanese college freshmen’s (n = 80) motivation when completing graded online assignments as part of asynchronous English reading courses held during the COVID-19 pandemic. The post-course survey of students from three separate classes was used to capture a detailed panorama of learner motivation. Results from an inductive content analysis of responses indicated that higher levels of motivation were strongly associated with assignments that facilitated learner autonomy, social interaction, personal interest, and practical utility of the task. Conversely, decreased motivation appears to be strongly associated with assignments reinforcing the perception of high difficulty, personal inefficacy, and cognitive overload. These findings are consistent with studies examining online learners’ motivation in the pre-pandemic period. This study found that intrinsic motivation plays an explicit role in enhancing learners’ engagement with instructional materials. Researchers recommend that, especially during emergencies such as a pandemic or major crisis, teachers should deliberately and extensively employ strategies to enhance the motivational appeal of instructional materials and assignments. When designing online assignments for freshman courses, special attention must be paid to psychological (autonomy, utility, relevance), cognitive (information overload), social (relatedness, interaction), and environmental (an emergency, uncertainty, isolation) conditions of learning. Springer Singapore 2021-04-14 2021 /pmc/articles/PMC8043761/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00569-7 Text en © De La Salle University 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Regular Article
Ismailov, Murod
Ono, Yuichi
Assignment Design and its Effects on Japanese College Freshmen’s Motivation in L2 Emergency Online Courses: A Qualitative Study
title Assignment Design and its Effects on Japanese College Freshmen’s Motivation in L2 Emergency Online Courses: A Qualitative Study
title_full Assignment Design and its Effects on Japanese College Freshmen’s Motivation in L2 Emergency Online Courses: A Qualitative Study
title_fullStr Assignment Design and its Effects on Japanese College Freshmen’s Motivation in L2 Emergency Online Courses: A Qualitative Study
title_full_unstemmed Assignment Design and its Effects on Japanese College Freshmen’s Motivation in L2 Emergency Online Courses: A Qualitative Study
title_short Assignment Design and its Effects on Japanese College Freshmen’s Motivation in L2 Emergency Online Courses: A Qualitative Study
title_sort assignment design and its effects on japanese college freshmen’s motivation in l2 emergency online courses: a qualitative study
topic Regular Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8043761/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00569-7
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