Cognitive Processes
Intuition versus Reason: Are They Necessarily in Conflict?
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session John Ray
Reason and intuition are often portrayed as opposing learning methods. Reason deals with the extrinsically plausible, problem solving through the deliberative application of logic and evidence. Intuition deals with the intrinsically plausible by providing spontaneous insight into the solution of a problem. Reason is portrayed as rule base and analytic while intuition is more associative and heuristic. Both are valid methods of learning that should not be viewed as being in opposition. Intuition should be viewed as supplying the matter of learning while reasoning provides the form and rubric of learning. Reasons generally are supported by other reasons but such a process cannot go on to infinity. There must be axioms of thought that come from intuition. Intuition is also necessary for the mind to recognize the successful completion of a learning experience. An example of this would be when a student, as Plato discussed in the Meno, suddenly realizes or “sees” the truth. Using the notion from idealist philosophy of the concrete universal, this paper proposes a theoretical way of uniting intuition and reason in the learning process. Intuition is both the starting point and end of the learning experience with reasoning leading from the beginning to the end.
Examining Students’ Cognitive Load in Processing Corrective Feedback
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Karen Chung Chien Chang
In the past 15 years, there has been an on-going discussion regarding the need to provide corrective feedback (CF) to students learning English writing. Two issues have stood out in this discussion: the effectiveness of corrective feedback and the types of feedback provided. In the past research, not much has been explored about providing EFL learners corrective feedback in their L1. This study aimed at investigating if corrective feedback provided in different languages (English and Chinese) led learners to experience different levels of cognitive load and their perceptions of the feedback given in different languages. In a controlled setting, this study monitored and recorded the time that the students spent on processing the feedback they received in Chinese and English, administered a questionnaire to measure three types of cognitive load, and interviewed the learners to shed light on their perceptiveness of the CF in these two languages. The findings have indicated that these students spent longer time in processing CF provided in English, that the English CF cast higher cognitive loads, and that the participants preferred receiving CF in Chinese for the reasons of a faster understanding, lower tendency in re-reading feedback, less frustration caused by leaners’ uncertainty in CF.
Critical Thinking and Reflective Pedagogical Mediations in Development of Communicative Competence and Political Attitude in University Students
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Luís Fernando Pacheco Pérez
Through Critical thinking and pedagogical mediations of reflective nature it is sought to implant in students of University level a political attitude which is one of the traits of the personality of young people lately that is absent in a regular basis. With the implementation of mediations which help students to reflect upon their learning and the phenomena affecting the society they live in, it is intended to provide not only motivation but also the means for developing features of the communicative competence that belong to the side of the critical thinking and political attitude construction. When students are directed to the point of creating language using their life experience, they feel more important than in a regular master class that only stands out the most academic suited students, leaving the ones with low academic development aside, creating a void for those who take for granted that the low grades determine the rest of their professional and personal build-up process.
Learning about Writing Development through Metacognitive Reflection
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ondine Gage
In this qualitative study, the researcher sought to understand what factors impact the transfer of lower division academic writing abilities (Yancy, Robertson, & Tarzak , 2014) to upper division discipline specific course work. Learning to write academically requires learning to use rhetorical genres (accepted practices of organizing and presenting knowledge) and discourse (language used to convey knowledge within a community) of a new discipline (Hyland, 2006). Moreover, as future teachers, these students must adapt their discourse practices to a wide range of social contexts. As students learned about and engaged in the process of writing in a new genre, what resources aid students in their writing development? Data collected for this longitudinal study of 5 classes over 3 semesters includes: 5 post-draft metacognitive reflections written over the course of each semester. Following Negretti’s (2012) analytical schema for evaluating metacognition in written communication, preliminary findings of this on-going research reveal that the quality of the learning community may facilitate access to transfer of writing skills.
