Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemEffectiveness of computer-assisted instruction to teach vocabulary to students with mild Intellectual Disability( 2022)Students with mild Intellectual Disability (ID) may have significant vocabulary knowledge gaps as compared to typically developing students because of limitations in their phonological loop, the part of working memory that processes language. This limits their academic growth and participation in employment and society post-school. This dissertation investigates the effectiveness of delivering a rich vocabulary intervention consisting of association, comprehension, and generation tasks based on Stahl’s Depth of Processing model delivered via a web-based Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) system designed using Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. The original contribution to knowledge is that students with mild ID can make long-term vocabulary knowledge gains through a rich vocabulary intervention that manages cognitive load and delivered through CAI. A Design-Based Research methodology was used to test and refine an intervention implemented at a special school for students with mild ID in Victoria, Australia. A mixed methods approach captured quantitative knowledge gains from before and after the intervention and qualitative data in the form of teacher interviews, student focus groups, and observation notes. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 compared a rich vocabulary intervention design delivered using CAI versus traditional instruction. Study 2 was designed based on feedback from Study 1 and delivered the rich vocabulary intervention via CAI compared to a blended model of instruction. In the blended model association and comprehension tasks were delivered via CAI and generation tasks were delivered via traditional instruction. This thesis demonstrates that students with a mild ID can learn new vocabulary through a rich and robust intervention that includes deep-thinking tasks delivered via a computer and, importantly, that they can retain new knowledge five months later. Despite the purported benefits of multimedia’s moving images, audio, and interactive games, the intervention design used in this thesis was effective in CAI, traditional, and blended instruction modes. Additionally, qualitative data from teachers and students found positive responses to the interventions. Students particularly responded positively to entertaining animated characters and the natural-sounding voices used in story-telling and definitional videos. Teachers' responses suggest that they should design their own rich and robust vocabulary interventions considerate of cognitive load as they are in the best position to know the unique needs and existing knowledge of their students. As a result of this research, teachers should be encouraged to use more imagery and story context in their vocabulary instruction that challenges students to actively think about the target words, associations, contexts, and how they relate to existing knowledge. Teachers should also incorporate many generation tasks such as semantic mapping, semantic feature analysis, and drawing into their instruction as this research found a positive relationship between the number of these types of tasks and word knowledge gains. Researchers should continue this area of research with larger groups of students with mild ID, as opposed to case study research. The Word Associates Format test should also be studied further as the design used in this study was modified slightly from Read’s original format. Finally, this thesis encourages other researcher-practitioners to study vulnerable populations in authentic environments in order to reduce gaps between them and typically developing children.
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ItemConceptualising and Measuring Wellbeing Literacy( 2022)Abstract This thesis aims to conceptualise and measure wellbeing literacy, an emergent concept regarding the capability of mindful language use about and for wellbeing. Wellbeing literacy has potential value to theory, measurement and practice in fields including wellbeing science, positive education, and public health. However, prior to this thesis, the concept of wellbeing literacy had not been operationalised or measured. A consensus on what wellbeing literacy is and how it is measured is essential for future research and practice using this concept. This thesis is comprised of three studies conceptualising and measuring wellbeing literacy for the first time. Specifically, Study 1 developed a parsimonious measure of wellbeing literacy, and used it to examine the nomological networks and incremental value of wellbeing literacy. Study 2 systematically reviewed the definitions of literacy, which were used to refine the concept of wellbeing literacy in the final study. Study 3 used a Delphi approach to gather experts’ opinions and adjusted the conceptualisation of wellbeing literacy accordingly. The findings from the overall thesis provided some of the first evidence that wellbeing literacy is a distinct construct from wellbeing and illbeing, and it also predicted significant unique variance in these constructs over and above established predictors, such as resilience and emotion regulation. Then an operational framework of wellbeing literacy was proposed based on the systematic review of literacy and refined according to 26 international experts’ feedback. This framework may be useful in developing other measurement tools of wellbeing literacy, including objective measures that do not rely on self-report. This PhD research makes an original contribution to the field of wellbeing science, positive education, and public health by clarifying what wellbeing literacy is and by conducting preliminary examinations of its use as a measurement tool. Future research could use the measure to explore the relationship between wellbeing and other key variables in wellbeing science, positive education, and public health. The operational framework could be applied in developing other measures of wellbeing literacy or education programs for wellbeing literacy.