Computer supported ubiquitous learning environment for ... - CiteSeerX

Int. J. Learning Technology, Vol. X, No. Y, xxxx

Computer supported ubiquitous learning environment for vocabulary learning Hiroaki Ogata*, Chengiu Yin, Moushir M. El-Bishouty and Yoneo Yano Dept. of Information Science and Intelligent Systems, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokushima, 2-1 Minamijosanjima, Tokushima 770-8506, Japan Fax: +81-88-656-7498 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] *Corresponding author Abstract: Ubiquitous computing could help the organisation and the mediation of social interactions wherever and whenever these situations might occur. Using those technologies enables the learning environment to be embedded in the real daily life. One of the most important ubiquitous technologies is radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, which is very useful and efficient to realise the ubiquitous computing, by mapping the real objects and the information into a virtual world. In the near future, RFID tags will be embedded in a lot of physical objects in order to trace the shipping of the products, and so forth. This paper proposes a computer assisted language learning (CALL) environment called tag added learning objects (TANGO). TANGO detects the objects around the learner using RFID tags, and assigns some questions to the learner related to the detected objects that he usually uses during the daily life to improve his vocabulary knowledge. Also, this environment allows the learners to share their knowledge through RFID tags and to learn a language with authentic and tangible objects. This environment is implemented and evaluated. Keywords: computer supported ubiquitous learning; CSUL; mobile learning; pervasive learning; computer assisted language learning; CALL; vocabulary learning; RFID tag. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Ogata, H., Yin, C., El-Bishouty, M.M. and Yano, Y. (xxxx) ‘Computer supported ubiquitous learning environment for vocabulary learning’, Int. J. Learning Technology, Vol. X, No. Y, pp.000–000. Biographical notes: Hiroaki Ogata is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Engineering, Tokushima University, Japan. He received his BE, ME and PhD from Tokushima University in 1992, 1994, and 1998, respectively. He was a Visiting Researcher at L3D, the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA, from 2001 to 2003. His current interests are in computer-supported ubiquitous learning, mobile learning, and CSCL. Chengjiu Yin is an Assistant Professor at Research Institute for Information Technology, Kyushu University, Japan. He received his PhD from Tokushima University, Japan in 2007. His research includes computer-supported ubiquitous learning, mobile learning and second language learning. Copyright © 200x Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

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H. Ogata et al. Moushir M. El-Bishouty received his PhD from Tokushima University, Japan in 2008. Currently he is a Visiting Researcher at Tokushima University and a Research Associate at Mubarak City for Science and Technology, Egypt. His research includes computer-supported ubiquitous learning, mobile learning and agent-based software. Yoneo Yano is currently a Full Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Tokushima University. He received his BE, ME, and PhD in Communication Engineering from Osaka University in 1969, 1971, and 1974, respectively. He was a Visiting Research Associate at the Computer-Based Education Research Lab, University of Illinois, USA. His research interests include computer-supported ubiquitous learning and computer-supported social networking.

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Introduction

Ubiquitous computing (Abowd and Mynatt, 2000) could help to organise and mediate social interactions wherever and whenever these situations might occur (Lyytinen and Yoo, 2002). Its evolution has recently been accelerated by improved wireless telecommunications capabilities, open networks, continued increases in computing power, improved battery technology, and the emergence of flexible software architectures (Sakamura and Koshizuka, 2005). With those technologies, computer supported ubiquitous learning (CSUL) is realised, where an individual and collaborative learning in our daily life can be seamlessly included. One of the important ubiquitous computing technologies is radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, which is a rewritable IC memory with non-contact communication facility. This cheap, tiny RFID tag will make it possible to tag almost everything, replace the barcode, helps computers to be aware of their surrounding objects and to detect the user’s context (Borriello, 2005). The main features of RFID tag are as follows: 1

non-line-of-sight reading: line-of-sight reading is not necessary, and the RFID reader distance range is longer than the bar code scan

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multiple tag reading: RFID unit can read multiple tags at the same time, and it enables to count the number of objects within a second

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data rewritable: RFID has a memory chip that can be rewritten using RFID unit

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high durability: tags are very sturdy against vibrations, contamination (dust and dirt), and abrasion (wear).

We believe that in the near future RFID tags, instead of barcodes, will be attached to almost all products such as clothes, toys, furniture, kitchen accessories and electronic appliances, therefore, we will be able to learn at anytime at anyplace from everyday physical objects by scanning their RFID tags. As related works, there are two types of educational systems that utilise RFID technology. The first type is the systems that can identify the objects on a table and support face-to-face collaboration. For example, envisionment and discovery collaboratory (EDC) (Arias et al., 1999) and Caretta (Sugimoto et al., 2004) consist of a

Computer supported ubiquitous learning environment

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sensing board and objects with RFID tags such as house, school, etc. Detecting objects on the table enables this kind of systems to simulate the environment such as the urban planning. The second type of those systems can detect the learner’s location using RFID tags that allows the system to track the learner’s positions and to send the right messages to the learner depending on his location. eXspot (Hsi and Fait, 2005) is an example of this type of application, which is designed for museum educators. It can capture the user’s experiences at a museum for later reflection. Using RFID, the visitor can bookmark the exhibit he/she is visiting, and then the system records the visitor’s conceptual pathway. After visiting the museum, the visitor can review additional related articles, explore online exhibits, and download hands on kits at home via his personalised web page. In addition, this paper tackles about the utilisation of RFID technology for everyday learning in order to learn from the real objects that surround us and we may use during our daily activities, with their information, and not to be restricted to closed area or specific location as shown in the previous systems. We believe that one of the efficient application domains is the language learning, because it is based on situated and collaborative activities, that could occur wherever and whenever people have problems to solve or knowledge to share (Sharples, 2000). This paper proposes tag added learning objects (TANGO) system for vocabulary learning. This system helps the learner to memorise foreign language vocabularies. TANGO system detects the objects around the learner using RFID tags, and provides the learner with the right information in that context. The idea of this system is to attach RFID tags on real objects instead of sticky labels, annotate them (e.g., questions and answers), and share their information among other learners. Therefore, this system does not only use RFID tags to identify the objects, but also to share and exchange their information. Like tangible user interface (Ishii and Ullmer, 1997), the tags map the physical objects and their information into the virtual world. This paper is organised as follows. Section 2 describes CSUL and its characteristics and Section 3 provides the literature review of vocabulary learning. The design and implementation of TANGO system is presented in Section 4. The experiential results are discussed in Section 5. Finally, Section 6 gives the conclusion and the remarks.

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CSUL: computer supported ubiquitous learning

This section describes the differences between the CSUL and other learning environments such as desktop based learning, pervasive learning. After that, it mentions the features of CSUL and the pedagogical theories that support CSUL.

2.1 What is CSUL? Figure 1 shows the comparison of four learning environments based on Lyytinen and Yoo (2002): desktop-computer based learning, computer supported mobile learning, computer supported pervasive learning, CSUL. Desktop-computer based learning environments, e.g., traditional computer assisted instruction (CAI) systems and intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) are not embedded in the

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real world and difficult to move. Therefore, those systems hardly support learning at anytime and anywhere. Comparing with desktop-computer based learning; the concept of computer supported mobile learning is to increase the learners’ capability to physically move their own learning environment. Computer supported mobile learning uses lightweight devices such as personal digital assistant (PDA), cellular mobile phones, and so on. Those mobile devices can connect to the internet through wireless communication technologies that enable the learners to learn at anytime and anywhere. For example, Thornton and Houser (2005) developed an English text message system using mobile phone. Uther et al. (2005) developed a mobile learning application for speech/audio language training using Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME). Also PhotoStudy (Joseph et al., 2005) was developed in order to support vocabulary study using mobile phones. In addition, there are a lot of commercial products and Podcast contents to support mobile language learning. In this case, computers are not embedded in the learner’s surrounding environment, and they cannot seamlessly and automatically obtain information about the context of his learning. Therefore, they cannot provide suitable information for the learner’s context. Figure 1

Ubiquitous learning

Source: Based on Lyytinen and Yoo (2002)

In computer supported pervasive learning, computers can obtain information about the context of the learning from the learning environment where small devices such as sensors, pads, badges, RFID tags and so on, are embedded and communicate mutually. Computer supported pervasive learning environments can be built either by embedding models of a specific environment into dedicated computers, or by building generic capabilities using computers to inquire, detect, explore, and dynamically build models of the environments. Networked interactive media in schools (NIMES) project (Lingnau et al., 2003) is one of the examples of computer supported pervasive learning environments. The aim of this project is to support classroom activities using embedded computers in the classroom, e.g., on students’ desks and on black boards. Also, EDC and Caretta are considered as computer supported pervasive learning. However, the availability and the usefulness of computer supported pervasive learning are limited and highly localised. Finally, CSUL has integrated high mobility with pervasive learning environments, which is defined as a ubiquitous learning environment that is supported by embedded and invisible computers, and networks in everyday life. While the learner is moving with his mobile device, the system dynamically supports his learning by communicating with


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embedded computers in the environment. TANGO is considered as CSUL environments. This system allows the learners to move with their PDAs and to communicate with the surrounding objects through RFID tags. As for the broad definition of CSUL, it includes both computer supported pervasive learning and computer supported mobile learning. There are other examples of language learning systems using ubiquitous technologies. First, JAPELAS (Ogata and Yano, 2004a, 2004b) helps learner to learn Japanese polite expressions. This system recommends the suitable polite expressions by detecting the social status, the social distance and the formality of the situation. Second, JAMIOLAS (Ogata and Yano, 2006) provides a learner with the appropriate Japanese mimicry and onomatopoeia expressions, which are derived from the learner’s situation and the sensor data such as the light, the rain, the humidity and the temperature. In this way, we believe that language learning is one of appropriate domains for CSUL. The challenge in an information-rich world is not only to make information available to people at any time, at any place, and in any form, but specifically to say the right thing at the right time in the right way (Fischer, 2001). A ubiquitous computing environment enables people to learn at any time and any place. But CSUL environment should provide learners with the right information at the right time in the right way.

2.2 Features of CSUL The main characteristics of CSUL are shown as follows (Chen et al., 2002; Curtis et al., 2002): a

Permanency: Learners never lose their work unless it is purposefully deleted. In addition, all learning processes are recorded continuously every day.

b

Accessibility: Learners have access to their documents, data, or videos from anywhere. That information is provided based on their requests. Therefore, the involved learning is self-directed.

c

Immediacy: Wherever learners are, they can get any information immediately. Thus, learners can solve problems quickly. Otherwise, the learner can record the questions and look for the answer later.

d

Interactivity: Learners can interact with experts, teachers, or peers in the form of synchronous or asynchronous communication. Hence, the experts are more reachable and the knowledge becomes more available.

e

Situating of instructional activities: The learning could be embedded in our daily life. The problems encountered as well as the knowledge required are all presented in their natural and authentic forms. This helps learners to notice the features of the problem situations that cause particular relevant actions.

Moreover, CSUL can include computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) (O’Malley, 1994) environments that focus on the socio-cognitive process of social knowledge building and sharing.

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2.3 Learning theories for CSUL CSUL is advocated by pedagogical theories such as on-demand learning, hands-on or minds-on learning, and authentic learning (Ogata and Yano, 2003, 2004a, 2004b). CSUL system provides learner’s on-demand with some information such as advices from teachers or experts whenever they want to know something. When the classroom activities are related to the real world, students receive great academic delights. Brown et al. (1989) defined authentic learning as coherent, meaningful, and purposeful activities. Also, authentic learning includes action, situated, and incidental learning.

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Vocabulary learning

This section provides the literature review of vocabulary learning that is supported with computers, and it describes mobile and ubiquitous vocabulary learning.

3.1 Technology enhanced vocabulary learning Vocabulary knowledge is an important element in second language (L2) acquisition. By learning new words, students can increase their listening, speaking, reading and writing vocabularies, and improve comprehension and production in L2. Students can increase vocabulary knowledge formally at the classroom and informally outside of the class activities. Recently, learning vocabulary becomes one of the most commonly learning areas, which is taught through technologies and the range of the used technologies is broad, including courseware, online activities, and computer-mediated-communication (CMC) technologies. Ma and Kelly (2006) identified three types of CALL-based vocabulary learning applications: multimedia packages with vocabulary, written texts with electronic glosses, and dedicated vocabulary programs. Multimedia packages tend to include a small amount of vocabulary because the attention is given to all skills. Written texts provide a wide range of vocabulary, but it is necessary to read a large amount in order to cover all needed vocabulary. At the same time, it is possible to skip vocabulary items if they are not necessary for understanding the meaning. Dedicated programs for vocabulary allow more concentrated work on specified items generally following a specified theory of language learning. Those systems mainly aim to enhance incidental vocabulary learning outside of the classrooms. Hulstijn et al. (1996) found that frequency of occurrence will foster incidental vocabulary learning when advanced L2 readers are given the meaning of unknown words through marginal glosses or when they look up meaning in a dictionary more than when no external information concerning unknown words’ meaning is available. In the former case, reappearance of a word will reinforce the form-meaning connection in the reader’s mental lexicon. In the latter case, readers will often ignore unknown words or incorrectly infer their meanings, which will limit the frequency effect. The comparison of the gloss conditions with the non-gloss conditions has revealed the advantage of having glosses for enhancing incidental vocabulary learning. The question, therefore, has been shifted from whether the glosses are useful for incidental vocabulary learning or not, to which gloss type is most effective; some researchers have further investigated the effectiveness of different formats in the text glosses. The effect of three


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annotation types (text-only, picture-only, and a combination of the two) on second language incidental vocabulary retention in a multimedia reading setting, were examined by Yoshii and Flaitz (2002). The results indicated that the combination group outperformed the text-only and picture-only groups on the immediate tests. There was a significant interaction between the annotation type and the students’ proficiency level for the immediate and the delayed tests. Gloss studies above have shown that the combinations of textual and pictorial cues are more effective than text-only cues for enhancing the incidental vocabulary learning. Along with those works, TANGO uses physical objects instead of pictures to enhance incidental learning in our daily life. Miller and Gildea (1987) worked on vocabulary teaching, and described how children are taught words from dictionary definitions and a few exemplary sentences. They have compared this method with the way vocabulary is normally learned outside the school. Miller and Gildea note that people generally learn words in the context of ordinary communication outside the school. This process is startlingly fast and successful. TANGO is also designed to provide a learning opportunity complementally outside the school, e.g., at a kitchen.

3.2 Mobile and ubiquitous vocabulary learning Vocabulary is basically used to communication and often seen as the greatest source of problems by second language learners (when the students travel, they do not carry grammar books, they carry dictionaries) (Segler et al., 2002). Thus, mobile and ubiquitous learning has been identified as one of the natural directions in which CALL is expected to move (Stockwell, 2007). Especially, mobile and ubiquitous technologies have been expected to foster shifting from classroom based learning to the one that is free from time and space boundaries. Thornton and Houser (2005) study indicated that the learners preferred mobile platform rather than PCs. However, their system emails the learners with vocabulary and sentences that are not related to their everyday life. Stockwell (2007) developed a prototype of mobile-based intelligent vocabulary learning system with a view to expand the system across the classes and the year levels depending on the logistical difficulties and the learners’ reactions. Also, the system adapted to the learners’ needs to give them more targeted activities. The use of ubiquitous computing tools within a situated learning approach is recommended to provide adaptive information to the learner’s context. Therefore, we believe that it is very important to support vocabulary learning in the physical world in everyday life. There are a lot of language learning support systems in the virtual world. For example, tactical language training system (TLTS) provides the learners with a basic training for the foreign language and the culture in an interactive simulation/virtual world (Johnson et al., 2004). An intelligent agent coaches the learners through lessons, using innovative speech recognition technology to assess their mastery and provide tailored assistance. However, it is not easy to implement complex social contexts in the virtual world and the vocabulary to be learned using this system. It is limited to what is required for specific situations. In contrast to this system, TANGO employs the physical objects

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for language learning and it is easy to apply the social context of the language learning environment and to work beyond the vocabulary.

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TANGO

4.1 Features of TANGO The features of TANGO are as follows: 1

TANGO supports vocabulary learning from everyday physical objects:

Figure 2

TANGO system (see online version for colours)

Figure 3

Usage scene of TANGO (see online version for colours)


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Learners use PDA equipped with RFID tag reader as shown in Figure 2. We assume that an everyday room can be an educational environment where RFID tags are attached to almost all real objects as shown in Figure 3. Learners can learn vocabulary at anytime and anyplace by using the products that have RFID tags. When the leaner enters a room with his PDA and while using the TANGO, the system can detect the learner’s location by reading the location RFID tag. Then the system asks him some questions based on the available physical objects. For example, when the learner enters a kitchen, the system asks him the following question ‘Where is the rice cooker?’ If he scans the RFID tag of the rice cooker, the answer will be correct. Otherwise, the answer will not be correct and system provides him a hint step by step. In this way, TANGO helps authentic situated learning using everyday physical objects at anyplace and anytime. 2

TANGO provides personalised learning environment. The system asks a learner a suitable question depending on the his/her location, his/her comprehension level, the difficulty level of the word, the level of his/her language skill. The comprehension level is detected by whether the learner’s answer is correct or not. The difficulty level of the word and the level of his/her language skill are given by teachers.

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TANGO provides collaborative learning environment. TANGO allows learner to learn from other learners by sharing comments, questions and answers about the physical objects. By this feature, the learners can learn not only vocabulary but also expressions and cultures.

4.2 Functions TANGO system has the following functions: 1

Registering a new object and information: Although, we assume that RFID tags will be attached to a lot of products in the future, e.g., foods, closes, electronic appliances, and so forth, we also allows the teachers and the learners to attach RFID tags to objects and register their information such as the objects’ name, meaning, how to use, example sentences, and so on. After the teachers confirm the provided information to the learners, the information will be available.

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Asking a personalised question: TANGO asks suitable questions to the learner according to the comprehension level of each word, the difficulty level of each word, and the learner’s skill level of the target language. For example, if the learner correctly answered a certain question before, TANGO will pass this question and ask another question.

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Sharing comments: If a learner has a question regarding an object, the learner can leave a message on the RFID tag of that object. For example, if a foreign student wants to know how to use the rise paddle, the student can write the question on the RFID tag of the paddle. If someone answers the question, TANGO will automatically send the answer to the student by email. Also the question, the answer, and the comments are shared among the learners in the form of text, voices and videos.

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Gaming: TANGO can provide a game-based learning environment. The teacher allows the learners a certain period of time to use TANGO and then divides them into small groups to start a competition and to compare the gained points. If a learner answers correctly, he will get a point. Otherwise, he will lose a point. In our previous study, the learners efficiently used TANGO as a game based learning tool (Ogata et al., 2004a, 2004b).

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Managing user accounts: The system administrator of TANGO can manage the user accounts of this system in order to identify the users and save their logs individually. The logs are used for the personalisation of the questions towards the learners.

4.3 System usage and user interface Figure 4 shows the interface of TANGO on PDA. When the learner enters a meeting room, the system asks him the following question ‘Where is the rice cooker?’ As shown in Figure 4 (1), the learner can listen to the question more than one time by clicking on ‘listen again’ button. Furthermore, if the learner cannot recognise the voice, he can click on ‘hint’ button in Figure 4 (2) in order to show the question as a text in Figure 4 (3). By clicking on the ‘read’ button in Figure 4 (4), the system begins to read the object RFID tag. If the learner scans the tag of the corresponding object (in this case, the rice cooker), the answer will be correct. Otherwise, it will be not correct. That feedback is shown in Figure 4 (5). If the ‘comment’ button is enabled as shown in Figure 4 (6), it means that there is a comment or question. By clicking on the ‘comment’ button, the comment will appear as shown in Figure 4 (B). In this window, the user ‘aka’ entered the comment: ‘Does microwave can be used as a verb in English?’ The learner can add another comment and/or answer the question using ‘comment registration window’ as shown in Figure 4 (8). Figure 4

The interface of TANGO (see online version for colours)

If the learner cannot answer correctly several times, the learner can skip the question by pushing ‘next question’ button in (7). Then the answer of this question will appear and the next question will be given. TANGO also allows the learners and the teachers to attach RFID tags to unknown objects, and create new questions using ‘new object registration window’ as shown in Figure 4 (C). After scanning the tag, the learner can register (9) the object name, (10) a question, (11) a question in Japanese, and (12) the level of difficulty. Those data will be


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available under the teacher’s supervision. In this way, the learners can add data of real objects.

4.4 System configuration TANGO is a client-server application; it consists of the following modules (Figure 5): a

Learner model manager: This module contains the learner’s profile such as name, mother tongue and the comprehensive level of each word.

b

History manager: This module stores the actions log of the learners during using system. For example, the log records the learner’s login time, period of using the system, assigned questions, and correctly answered questions.

c

Learning material manager: This module controls the data of the real objects such as RFID data and a question voice, text and answer. Both learners and teachers can add, delete and modify them during using the system.

d

Comment manger: This module manages the learners’ comments. Those comments are linked to the corresponding object’s ID.

e

RFID manager: This module reads/writes RFID tag data attached to an object, retrieves its data from the database or updates it.

f

Learning manager: This module provides the appropriate questions to a learner based on the learner’s model, history log, learning material, and comments.

g

User interface: This module provides the learner with a suitable interface to easily interact with the system.

Figure 5

System configuration (see online version for colours)

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4.5 Personalisation To ask a personalised question, TANGO has three criteria: 1

the comprehension level of each learner for each word

2

the level of each learner

3

the difficulty level of each word.

When a learner wants to learn vocabulary of a target language using TANGO system, the system identifies his/her comprehension level of each word by asking some questions. There are five comprehension levels in each word for each learner as follows: Level 1

The system has never asked the question to the learner.

Level 2

The learner cannot answer correctly even though the system shows the question written in his mother tongue.

Level 3

The learner can answer correctly after reading its question written in the learner’s mother language.

Level 4

The learner can answer correctly after reading the text of the question written in the target language.

Level 5

The learner can answer correctly after listening to a question without seeing any text.

If the learner cannot answer correctly in the Level 2, the system shows the answer that includes the place of the physical object, the meaning, the pronunciation, and example sentences of the word. Language teachers provide the level of each student, and also the difficulty level of each word. The two levels are represented by the rate from one (beginner) to five (advanced). The system selects a suitable question for a learner according to the level of the learner, the level of difficulty of each word and the comprehension level. First, the system selects the words that have the level of difficulty greater than the level of the learner. Second, the system selects the word that has the lowest comprehension level from them.

4.6 Implementation We have developed the prototype system called TANGO, which works on a Toshiba Genio-e with Pocket PC 2002, RFID tag reader/writer (OMRON V720S-HMF01), and wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b). RFID tag reader/writer is attached to compact flash (CF) card slot of PDA as shown in Figure 2. The tag unit can read and write data into and from RFID tags within 5 cm distance, and it works through a wireless LAN at the same time. The TANGO program has been implemented using Embedded Visual Basic 3.0.

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Experimentation

Eight Japanese students and eight foreign students from our laboratory were involved in an informal assessment of TANGO system for two days. The Japanese students consisted


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of six undergraduate students and two master course students who were 22.4 years as an average age and learnt English for 9.8 years as an average. As for the foreign students, they were four doctor course students (one from Mexico, two from China, and one from France) and four masters students (two from Mexico, and two from China), whose average age was 26.1 years old and learnt Japanese for 2.2 years as an average. The overseas students learned Japanese language using TANGO and the Japanese students learned English language using TANGO. Because they shared the questions and the answers on the physical objects in the same room, the overseas students answered the questions by the help of the Japanese students, and the Japanese students answered the questions by the help of the overseas students. Hence, the overseas students and the Japanese students taught and learned reciprocally through TANGO.

5.1 Method of experimentation Before using TANGO, an examination was assigned to them to measure their comprehensive levels. In addition to this explicit method, TANGO detects the learners’ comprehension levels during using the system. The experiment was conducted over a period of two days. On the first day, the learners were asked to enter a room where there were 20 daily life objects. Appendix A shows the complete list of the objects and the questions that we created for ourselves. We asked an English native speaker and a Japanese native speaker to validate those questions, meanings and example sentences for the 20 objects. We asked them to read the questions and recorded them in order to ask the questions to the users later. Each learner used TANGO through a PDA equipped with RFID reader and connected to the wireless network. When a learner entered the room alone, s/he received a question about an object in the room. For example, the system asked where the microwave was. If the learner answered a question correctly by reading the RFID tag of the right object (microwave), then s/he would get a point. Otherwise, he/she would lose a point and the system would provide the right answer in Japanese and English. Also he/she could add some comments and questions on the object and/or another object. Each learner was given 20 minutes to use the system starting from reading the object’s tag, answering the questions and giving comments. Because the learners did not have the enough experiences of text-input in PDA, they were allowed to write their comments, questions and feedbacks on post-it notes and stick it onto the objects (Figure 7). Appendix 2 shows the list of questions and comments from the learners. After finishing the experiment on the first day, we registered all the comments into TANGO system, where they will be available on the second day. On the second day of the experiment, the comprehension level of each learner was determined based on the questions and answers on the experiment first day. The learners were asked to use the system again, and try to answer all questions using it. Learning also happened by reading and answering additional comments and questions from other learners. After finishing the experimentation, all the learners were asked to answer a questionnaire for their comments and feedback about the system. They had to assign a score between one and five for each one of the ten questions (one – lowest score and five – highest score). Comment about the advantages and disadvantages of the system, feedback and suggestions were given

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Figure 7

TANGO with PostIt (left) on the first day, TANGO without PostIt (right) on the second day (see online version for colours)

5.2 Results Table 1 shows the results of the questionnaire. According to question (1), some of the users felt that the questions assigned by the system were difficult. For question (2), the score was in the middle for the Japanese students but was more effective among the foreign students. There were also comments that the revision, which was conducted on the second day, helped to increase their level of understanding. According to question (3), the comments were equally positive from both groups. There was also a suggestion to let the learners to use a headphone when listening to the names of the objects for better listening. As in question (4), learners were able to identify the objects and its name using the system. According to question (5), the comment function was useful for the Japanese students but not that effective for the foreign students due to some misunderstanding in terms of Japanese language comparing with English. From question (6), it is clear that the system was efficient to help the learners to memorise the names of the objects. One of the learners commented that while using this system, it was easy to understand the terms corresponding with the authentic objects. From questions (7) and (8), we can conclude that the system was efficient to use. As for questions (9) and (10), the learners indicated that the system was interesting and they would like to use the system again. There were also comments that the system was built like a game that makes the learning enjoyable. Some learners commented that they had a feeling of achievement and excitement after using the system. Besides the questions above, comments and feedback were also obtained from the learners. Some of the positive comments were as follow: 1

learning involving real objects was easy to understand

2

both the pronunciation and the spelling of the object name could be learned

3

the level of difficulty (pronunciation, text, and meaning) was useful for learning

4

comment function was useful for the interaction with other learners and convenient for asking questions.


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From the above comments, we can say that the system was useful for learning language during the real daily life. If the system is used frequently, the learners should not need long time to learn new words in the classrooms. Table 1 No.

The results of the questionnaires Questionnaire

Ave. (1)

Ave. (2)

Q1

Were the questions provided by this system difficult?

4.1

4.0

Q2

Do you think that the level of difficulty was properly determined?

3.1

4.3

Q3

Was it easy to listen to the names of the objects using the PDA?

4.5

3.9

Q4

Were you able to identify the object and its names easily from the system?

4.4

3.8

Q5

Do you think that the comment function is useful?

4.3

3.4

Q6

Do you think that this system is useful for language learning?

4.4

4.1

Q7

Do you think that the system was easy to use?

4.5

4.8

Q8

Was the response time of this system adequate for the using?

4.8

4.5

Q9

Was the system interesting to be used?

4.4

4.5

Q10

Do you want to keep using this system?

4.3

4.4

Note: Ave (1) – for Japanese students; Ave (2) – for foreign students

Some negative comments are as follow: 1

there were only fixed pattern questions, so it would be better if the questions were more applicable/ practical based

2

only learning involved objects and names were provided

3

it was nice to learn both English and Japanese names at the same time

4

the answer was given immediately after the second hint

5

foreign students did not know the pronunciation of Kanji in Japanese language.

According to the first comment, the pattern of the question was fixed in the following from, ‘Where is …’ and object names. Since both English and Japanese cannot be used at the same time, the interface should be changed. Some modifications will also have to be done to solve the problem in the fourth comment. As for the last comment, an enhancement should be done when Kanji (Chinese character) is used. As an example, the interaction between the system and a Japanese student who was learning English is shown below. The student’s level was Level 4 and TANGO asked questions whose level was more than four. The system continued to ask question to the student until the time limitation. If the answer of the student was right, the student would get five points. Otherwise, the student would lose a point. This was a competition with other students. If the other users input comments on an object, the system would tell him that there were comments on it. By sharing comments, the users could learn not only vocabulary but also culture. System (S): Where is the black CD boom box? Learner (L): This is it. (Scan the RFID tag of the CD boom box)

16

H. Ogata et al. S: You are right! You get 5 points. Where is the ladle? L: This is it. (Scan the RFID tag of the pan) S: It’s not right! You lose one point. Where is the ladle? (show the text of this question in English) L: This is it. (Scan the RFID tag of the wet wipe) S: It’s not right! You lose one point. Where is the ladle? (show the text of this question in Japanese) L: This is it. (Scan the RFID tag of the ladle) S: You are right. You get five points. There is a comment on the ladle. Do you want to see it? L: (click “show comments button.”) S: “Otama”, ladle in English, is the first time for me (by Chinese student). L: Input a comment, “We, Japanese people usually use Otama to serve Miso soup.” S: Where is the book shelf? L: …

6

Conclusions

As language learners usually use pocket dictionaries in their real world contexts, we believe that language learning is one of the suitable application domains for mobile and ubiquitous learning. As we mentioned at Section 3, there is a number of mobile language learning systems using cellar phones and PDAs. However, those systems cannot provide the appropriate educational information according to the learner’s context. In this paper, a computer-assisted language learning environment is proposed, implemented and evaluated, it is called TANGO. TANGO takes into account the learners’ context by detecting the objects around the learner. TANGO could complement the pocket dictionaries. In the experiment, the learners were very interested in using this system and the experiment results show that this system is useful and helpful to support vocabulary learning. The target of TANGO is to be used not only to learn English or Japanese but also to learn other languages such as Chinese and Spanish. TANGO system can support learning the second language in foreign countries where the language is used. The feedback from the evaluation is used to improve the current system interface and to insure the system usability. RFID tag is a very important element to realise the ubiquitous learning society especially with the recent increasing of the memory storage and the enhancement of the wireless technology. In TANGO system, the RFID is utilised because the future of RFID is promising and its usage will be embedded in various technologies and environments, especially for education and learning systems. Vocabulary is learned through many activities, such as language learning courses, reading texts, watching TV, interaction with other persons, etc. We think that TANGO provides a supplementary and/or complementary learning environment. Also this paper focuses on the design and development of the system and gives initial experimentation. Therefore, this paper did not provide comparative and quantitative evaluation like preand post-test. In future work, we will conduct a formal evaluation.


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Acknowledgements This work was partly supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research No.15700516 and 18700651 from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture in Japan. Also we thank Hewlett-Packard’s Grant for Mobile Technologies in Education.

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Appendix 1 List of the questions that were asked in the experimentation #

Object

Question

Difficulty

1

Cardboard box

Where is the cardboard box for bottles?

5

2

Kettle

Where is the metal kettle?

5

3

Microwave

Where is the microwave?

5

4

Book shelf

Where is the book shelf?

4

5

Wet wipe

Where is the wet wipe?

4

6

Bamboo chair

Where is the bamboo chair?

4

7

Remote control

Where is the remote control of the air conditioner?

4

8

CD boom box

Where is the black CD boom box?

4

9

Ladle

Where is the ladle?

4

10

Pan

Where is the pan?

3

11

Chopping board

Where is the chopping board?

3

12

Sink

Where is the washing stand (sink)?

3

13

Copier

Where is the copier?

3

14

Heated plate

Where is the heated plate?

3

15

Plastic bottle

Where is the plastic bottle for the tea?

2

16

Rice cooker

Where is the rice cooker?

2

17

Barbecue sauce

Where is the barbecue sauce?

2

18

Mirror

Where is the mirror?

1

19

Wooden desk

Where is the wooden desk?

1

20

Cloth chair

Where is the cloth chair?

1

Appendix 2 List of questions and comments from the learners From Japanese students 1

What does cardboard mean?

2

It is not easy to find the cardboard box in this room.

3

Do you know the Kanji of kettle in Japanese?

4

How do you say a ‘microwave with oven’ and ‘oven toast’ in English?

5

Why do we call a microwave ‘Denshi renji’ in Japanese?

6

How do you call ‘bench’ in Chinese?

7

We also call this pan ‘cooking plate’ in Japanese.

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H. Ogata et al.

From overseas students: 1

This copier is out of order. How do you say ‘out of order’ in Japanese?

2

Do you know the Kanji of kettle in Chinese?

3

How do you call wet wipe in Chinese? (by Mexican student)

4

‘Otama’, ladle in English, is the first time for me. (by Chinese student)

5

Can we use ‘pan (nabe)’ for dishes using pan (nabe)?

6

How do you use this (chopping board)?

7

We call this pan ‘Teppan yaki’ in Chinese.

8

Is Oolong tea popular in Japan?

9

The Kanji characters of ‘rice cooker’ are very difficult for us to read.

10 For what do you use this (‘Yakiniku no tare’, BBQ source) in Japan?