Conference Agenda

In this study presented here, the international feedback method "Learning Stories" was implemented in the project “WEICHENSTELLUNG” (setting of the course). The aim was to foster the (intrinsic) motivation and the self-esteem of the children from the project WEICHENSTELLUNG, both basic psychological constructs for the transition process from primary school to secondary school.

The target group of the German project WEICHENSTELLUNG are children from families who cannot sufficiently support their children in the transition to secondary school. These are supported in the project by students of teaching from the fourth to the sixth grade.

The Learning Stories were established in 1996 in early childhood education in New Zealand (Carr, May & Podmore, 1998). In Germany, the approach was adapted by the German Youth Institute (Leu, Flämig, Frankenstein, Koch, Pack, Schneider & Schweiger, 2007). In addition to New Zealand and Germany, the Learning Stories are used in Switzerland (Simoni & Wustmann Seiler, 2013) and in various other European countries such as Ireland (Early Childhood Ireland, undated), but not yet in primary education as in this study.

The approach of the Learning Stories takes a resource-oriented and dialogical perspective with a focus on the development of learning dispositions. In this way, the diversity of learners can be addressed and individual support can take place. All learning dispositions can be related to (intrinsic) motivation and self-esteem (Carr, 2001).

During the transition from primary to secondary school, several studies have shown that intrinsic motivation decreases (Raufelder, 2018). According to the self-determination theory of motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2017), intrinsic motivation is a form of motivation that is not controlled by external impulses. The three basic psychological needs, the need for competence, the need for relatedness and the need for autonomy, are fundamental components of the theory and through their satisfaction intrinsic motivation is fostered. Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is a form of motivation that is controlled by external stimuli.

In addition to the theory of self-determination, research on self-esteem contingencies was used in this study on the construct of self-esteem. Self-esteem contingencies are factors that can influence self-esteem both externally and internally by individuals deriving their self-esteem from them (Morf & Koole, 2014). In this study, the model of Crocker and Wolfe (2001) was used. The development of self-esteem during the transition to secondary school is individual and therefore diverse. Overall, there is a risk of instability of self-esteem, as the model of Hopson and Adams (1976) shows.

This study focused on the feedback function of the Learning Stories. Overall, feedback is attested to a medium to high effect size for learning (from d=0.48 to d=0.79, Wisniewski, Zierer & Hattie, 2019). Feedback processes are influenced by the perception of the recipient (Krause, 2007), which can be applied to the “Angebot-Nutzungs” (offer-use)-model of educational research (Helmke, 2003). The Learning Stories can be understood as an offer that has a different effect on (intrinsic) motivation and self-esteem through mediating processes of perception and use, influenced by the respective learning requirements in the area of (intrinsic) motivation and self-esteem. In this way the emphasis on the individual and diverse learning prerequisites of children can be included in the feedback process.

The main question of the study is "To what extent can Learning Stories foster the (intrinsic) motivation and self-esteem of the children from the project WEICHENSTELLUNG at the transition from primary to secondary school from the point of view of the persons involved in the WEICHENSTELLUNG project?”

The purpose of teaching is to facilitate learning and make the learning process more effective. While adapting teaching to students’ learning styles may not bring the desired results, as the adopted strategies are not always the most efficient, teaching in accordance with students’ preferences may at least improve students’ well-being.

Existing studies have already extensively examined which teaching and learning strategies are effective. Ideally, the methods that have been scientifically proven to be effective would be those students prefer. Knowing the students’ preferences for specific learning and teaching strategies can help improve understanding of their behaviour and keep learners actively involved in the learning process. This in turn may lead to improved competency and better academic achievement.

The study examines students’ preferences towards learning strategies with varying degrees of effectiveness and explores preference heterogeneity patterns across subgroups defined by students’ observed characteristics (gender, academic result) as well as time left to final exams. We hypothesise that although evidence-based learning and teching strategies are often not practiced at schools, students have preferences towards them. Students' preferences towards learnn and teaching strategies may differ due to their proficiency as they may differ from the poor ones in type and regularity of practicing learning strategies (Shaffie et al. 2020), but also due to their age ( Magogwe & Oliver, 2007), and gender. Goh & Foong (1997) found that compensation and affective strategies were significantly more common among female than male students.Moreover, we aim to reveal how preerences may differ due to the conditions of education (pandemic and post-pandemic) and the moment in education (lower or final grade).

Preferences refer to a certain characteristics people like or want to have. Following common in economic theory assumption (Hausman, 2011; Nitzan, 2009), that there exists relationship between peoples’ preferences and their behavior, we can say that learning preferences relate to the tendency of students to choose the way they learn. Knowing preferences enables us to explain and predict behaviours including those related to the learning process. The preferences may differ between people due to their observable characteristics such as gender, age, type and level of education, learning goals, learning situation as well as not observable motives.

Learning strategies relate to a set of approaches and actions taken in the learning process to effectively obtain, process and retain information and skill for later use (Lublin, 2003). There are several classifications of learning strategies (Shi, 2017); they refer to both actions taken by the teacher, such as instructional delivery and the students, and may concern the organization of learning, methods of repetition, and assimilation of material and assessment. We consider the available evidence for the learning strategies widely advocated in recent years, starting with those implemented by students without assistance, including strategies analyzed by Dunlosky et al. (2013).

Literature in cognitive psychology has established learning strategies that are most effective at promoting long-term learning. The strategies with strongest empirical support are self-testing and distributing study activities over time (Black & Allen, 2019). Still, many students rely on ineffective strategies such as rereading or highlighting important points in the text (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011), which may result from the illusion of competence. Effective strategies may also be underutilized because teachers do not know them and hence also students do not implement them (Dunlosky et al. 2013) or due to numerous myths that exist about them.

In our study we consider strategies learning strategies such as mind maps, retreval practice, and traditional methods of studying. Based on the existing studies, we are able to order them according to their effectiveness Moreover we focus on the mode of class delivery (remoty, hybrid, stationary) and forms off assessment.

Introduction

Studies show the important effects of learning motivation and enjoyment on school success (e.g. Geis-Thöne, 2020) and how integrating gamification into the classroom can strengthen motivation and willingness to perform (Dahl, 2021) because intrinsic motivation is self-determined through joy or interest in the respective activity (Brandstätter, 2018).

There are several types of integration of gamification and one is role-playing (Kroker, 2021). Role-play games can provide an environment in which students can imitate social situations that are characterized by interactions with other people (Löffler, 1979) by imitation of real and everyday social situations (Grießhaber, 1987). The use of role-playing in language teaching improves the flexibility and creativity of the students, due to the free improvisation in the preparation. Not only the interaction with the partner expands the language activity of the learners but also performing the piece in front of other students increases and strengthens self-confidence and consequently motivation and interest towards the course (Reich, 2008).

Motivation can be divided into two: extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is described as bringing about positive consequences and avoiding negative consequences. Extrinsic motivation can be external or self-determined (Brandstätter, Schüler, Puca, Lozo, 2018). As soon as the extrinsic factors are gone, the motivation is gone. Intrinsic motivation is the opposite of extrinsic motivation; however, it is also self-determined through joy and interest in things or activities. Humans have the desire to learn certain skills or feel content, but this is not influenced by rewards or punishments from the external environment (Fruhwirth, 2020). Learning is thus controlled consciously and purposefully by an internally controlled learning drive, such as curiosity (Krapp, 1999).

This study aims to show whether the use of role-playing games in language teaching has a positive impact on intrinsic learning motivation in German high schools. With this aim, the following research question will be examined:

-To what extent integration of role-playing games in language classes of German high schools affect the intrinsic learning motivation of students in grades 11 to 13?

To answer the research question Self-Determination Theory developed by Deci and Ryan (1993) will be integrated since its focus is on experiences, competence, autonomy, and social integration which were defined by Howes (1992)as issues that can be explored through gameplay.

The theory deal with the connection between human motivation and learning by framing motivation with autonomous and controlled factors. Based on the theory, three innate psychological needs play an important role: the experience of competence, autonomy, and social integration (Deci & Ryan, 1993). A person's experience of competence is reflected in their need to use and expand their skills. The solvability of the challenge or the task must not be too easy or too difficult. However, it must be feasible for the parties involved. People can then test and expand their skills. There is also autonomy, which is a need that allows people to act in a self-determined manner. This means that he is not pushed into his actions by external influences (Schüler, 2020). Humans can decide for themselves which actions to initiate and which to maintain (Krombaß & Harms, 2006). The last basic need is social integration. This is primarily reflected in the quality of social ties to other people and not in the frequency of this. Thus, the existence of a trusting basis plays an important role in that people can show themselves as they are and are accepted and valued by others (Frühwirth, 2020).