1. Will the proposed research problem, if successfully carried out, be a significant contribution to this area of knowledge, deserving of an M.S. degree?

 An interesting topic, but the experimental design still needs to reconsider.

2. Does the presentation give reasonable evidence that the student is familiar with significant literature in his/her field?

 I think yes. She described a clear review for listening strategy and audio-visual aids. It’s all update literature.

3. Are the proposed methods adequate to provide valid experimental data?

 The whole idea is quite good, but the design may need to consider again in order to providing valid experimental data.

4. Will the proposed experimental design provide valid data applicable to the proposed research problem?

Perhaps it’s not applicable to the proposed research problem because the material design couldn’t match her test.

5.  Are the proposed statistical procedures adequate to provide valid interpretation of experimental data?

Only “t test.” I think it still needs to work.

6. Is the oral presentation clear and professional?

 Questions:

1.      According to your presentation, there is only one cartoon that selects in your research. Do you think it is qualify?

2.      Why you choose fifth graders students to instead of others? And why you choose Huang-Ju elementary school?

Comments/Suggestions

Criteria:

1. Will the proposed research problem, if successfully carried out, be a significant contribution to this area of knowledge, deserving of an M.S. degree?

Since multi-media teaching is considered as an interesting teaching instrument, it would bring a significant contribution in educational field.

2. Does the presentation give reasonable evidence that the student is familiar with significant literature in his/her field?

Yes, Leya shows

3. Are the proposed methods adequate to provide valid experimental data?

No, she doesn’t explain the way of dividing the participants into two groups.

4. Will the proposed experimental design provide valid data applicable to the proposed research problem?

No, the teaching instrument is not consistent with the pre-test and post-test.

5. Are the proposed statistical procedures adequate to provide valid interpretation of experimental data?

There might be a difficulty in having interviews with children.

6. Is the oral presentation clear and professional?

  - conciseness and clarity of the presentation

She was too nervous to delivering a fluent presentation.

  - correct language

Fine.

  - quality of the slides

The PPT is well-organized and lucid.

  - answering of the questions

She did not answer the questions clearly.

  - use of time

4’30 left

Questions:

1.      Could you please explain the lesson plan in detail?

2.      How are you going to divide the groups?

3.      Do you think it will be easy and appropriate to have pre-test and post-test to the fifth grade children in one semester?

Comments/Suggestions

It is easy to understand the method while playing the video you chose in the study.

1.  Will the proposed research problem, if successfully carried out, be a significant contribution to this area of knowledge, deserving of an M.S. degree?

Yes, it is an interesting a topic.

2.  Does the presentation give reasonable evidence that the student is familiar with significant  

     literature in his/her field?

From the presentation, it seemed that Leya is familiar with her research from the literature in her field.

3.  Are the proposed methods adequate to provide valid experimental data?

I thought that she should explain that the method she divides the students into two

groups.

4.  Will the proposed experimental design provide valid data applicable to the proposed research problem?

I thought that the materials Leya used in this research is a little bit difficult for these

participants.

5.  Are the proposed statistical procedures adequate to provide valid interpretation of experimental data?

The instrument for the pre-test and post-test is ILTEA, and semi-structured interview.

6.  Is the oral presentation clear and professional?

Questions:

There are so many elementary schools; therefore, how do you choose the participants in your research? And, are they in the same class or different?

Comments/Suggestions

It is a good idea to choose a movie which people are not familiar with for conducting this research; however, do you think that the 5^th graders understand what the content of the cartoon is? I even think you could choose a famous cartoon for them because they had already know the story; hence, they only need to focus on listing the dialogues of the roles in the cartoon.

1.      Will the proposed research problem, if successfully carried out, be a significant contribution to this area of knowledge, deserving of an M.S. degree?

This is an interesting topic, but the researcher should think over what kind of movie should choose. (Suggestion: choose educational movies)

2.      Does the presentation give reasonable evidence that the student is familiar with significant literature in his/her field?

The researcher gave a clear explanation in the literature part.

3.      Are the proposed methods adequate to provide valid experimental data?

I think the researcher should explain more details in the procedure.

4. Will the proposed experimental design provide valid data applicable to the proposed research problem?

I think the movie which the researcher chose for the participants is too difficult for them to understand.

5.  Are the proposed statistical procedures adequate to provide valid interpretation of experimental data?

Yes, clear explanation on page 12, 13 and you also provide a lesson plan for the students. But use ILTEA for the pre-test and post-test is not appropriate.

6. Is the oral presentation clear and professional?

Questions:

1.      On page 11, 81% of the college students thought….have you ever think about a question that the reason why other researchers chose college students as for their participants rather than chose elementary school students?

Comments/Suggestions

1.      Will the proposed research problem, if successfully carried out, be a significant contribution to this area of knowledge, deserving of an M.S. degree?

Yes, her research might be an reference for teachers who try to use cartoon as an teaching method.

2.      Does the presentation give reasonable evidence that the student is familiar with significant literature in his/her field?

Yes, her literature review part pointed out the important element of her topic.

3.      Are the proposed methods adequate to provide valid experimental data?

Yes, the idea of providing a cartoon which is not so popular is good. It can avoid that some students lose the interest if they have been seen the cartoon.

4.      Will the proposed experimental design provide valid data applicable to the proposed research problem?

In the instrument part, Leya use “starters 101” to test students ability. However, it is not related to the cartoon. It is a point that she should think about.

5.      Are the proposed statistical procedures adequate to provide valid interpretation of experimental data?

Leya said that her study will use mixed research (qualitative + quantitative). But I cannot see more explanation in the PPT.

6.      Is the oral presentation clear and professional?

Questions:

In your procedure, don’t you think the time of watching the film is too short?

Comments/Suggestions

From the procedure, it shows that Leya’s research will have experiment and control group. It means that she have to find two class of students to do the research. It’s not easy and takes time. So, cheer up.

Leya’s Final

Comments and Questions:

1.      Will the proposed research problem, if successfully carried out, be a significant contribution to this area of knowledge, deserving of an M.S. degree?

By now, this study might need more surveys and more solid research designs. Truly hope and good luck.

2.      Does the presentation give reasonable evidence that the student is familiar with significant literature in his/her field?

In slide9, it needs more explanation to get the audience to understand and why and how you will conduct the four strategies.

3.      Are the proposed methods adequate to provide valid experimental data?

It seems there are three more questions in slide 12. They are how long is the pilot study, how many grades are gonna be conducted, and who will be the qualified teacher.

4.      Will the proposed experimental design provide valid data applicable to the proposed research problem?

Because of the unmatched contents of the film and test, it might not so practical.

5.      Are the proposed statistical procedures adequate to provide valid interpretation of experimental data?

In slides 13 to18, the results to be of this study seem able to be affectively accomplished.

6.      Is the oral presentation clear and professional?

Good timing but it needs more solid proofs to make your study supported, so it would let your answers be more convincing.

 Questions:

How could it be sure of the fitness if the contents of both the chosen film and the test are not standardized?

___________________________________________________________________________________

Comments/Suggestions

1.      Will the proposed research problem, if successfully carried out, be a significant contribution to this area of knowledge, deserving of an M.S. degree?

 Yes,  in slide 3 you provided the theoretical framwork of your research. You also have the clear purposes and research questions.

2.      Does the presentation give reasonable evidence that the student is familiar with significant literature in his/her field?

Yes, you are familiar with the research. In slide 6 of literature review is easy to follow what listening problems are.

 3.      Are the proposed methods adequate to provide valid experimental data?

 I am curios about the duration of one month is appropriate. ?

4.      Will the proposed experimental design provide valid data applicable to the proposed research problem?

 I am not sure whether the movie is appropriate for the students.

5.      Are the proposed statistical procedures adequate to provide valid interpretation of experimental data?

 How to analysize the interviewing?

Dear Leya,

Here is my response for you~^^~

Criteria:

1.      Will the proposed research problem, if successfully carried out, be a significant contribution to this area of knowledge, deserving of an M.S. degree?

Yes, I think the proposed research problem will be a significant contribution to English teaching field. It also will offer an interesting material and aim for teaching.

2.      Does the presentation give reasonable evidence that the student is familiar with significant literature in his/her field?

From the detailed literature review, you reviewed literature systematically from identifying listening problems, listening strategy, listening with audio-visual aids and children’s language learning with audio-visual technology.

3.      Are the proposed methods adequate to provide valid experimental data?

It will be better if you offered the timing and period of the duration.

4.      Will the proposed experimental design provide valid data applicable to the proposed research problem?

In my opinion, the research design is good with the detailed explanation.

5.      Are the proposed statistical procedures adequate to provide valid interpretation of experimental data?

Well, if you could claim your research for data analysis, it will be better for us to

       suggest it is good enough or not.

6.      Is the oral presentation clear and professional?

- conciseness and clarity of the presentation：The clear presentation with confidence is great

- correct language：Yes

        - quality of the slides：The PPT is quiet good and clear, I love it!

        - answering of the questions：Good

        - use of time：Good (4’ left)

 Questions:

1. How will you separate students into experiment and control group?

2. When will you do pre-test and post-test in the syllabus?

Comments/Suggestions

You may have to think about the “suitable” video for test students’ performance. I found the video, PEPPA that I talked at your presentation that day. I wish it may give you some ideas about the materials in your research. ^^ http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/dvd/dvdfile.php?item=D020024197

To Dear Leya,

1.   Will the proposed research problem, if successfully carried out, be a significant contribution to this area of knowledge, deserving of an M.S. degree?

Yes, I think if it’s successfully carried out, student’s listening comprehension and the way to improve the listening ability will get a significant progress.

2.      Does the presentation give reasonable evidence that the student is familiar with significant literature in his/her field?

Yes, the researcher uses 4 pages to tell us the background of her research.

3.      Are the proposed methods adequate to provide valid experimental data?

 The researcher doesn’t provide the reliability and the validity of the instruments

4.      Will the proposed experimental design provide valid data applicable to the proposed research problem?

     No, I think the researcher use the video and the book is not consistency. And the test of the students is not suitable.

5.      Are the proposed statistical procedures adequate to provide valid interpretation of experimental data?

     Why do you use paired – sample T test only? Is this enough?

6.      Is the oral presentation clear and professional?

 Questions:

1.    It seems that you only use 15 minutes in watching the video. Why 15 minutes?

2.    So you only use the test to be your quantitative instrument and use interview to be your qualitative instrument?

3.    May I ask that it is your pilot study or formal study?

__________________________________________________________________________________

Comments/Suggestions

1.    Short ppt

2.    Perform better than before, but I am expecting you can be confidence more.

3.    Very nice background of ppt, I really like the color of your design, it’s really fancy.

4.    Weak design of your research so far

5.    Why to choose this video, it’s better for you to find some evidence to support it.

6.    In slide 12, you mentioned that the participants are 4-6, but in your topic it’s 5^th grade students.

7.    Good chart in slide 9.

8.    Good design of your lesson plan

Thesis Proposal Defense Oral Examination Rehearsal Evaluation Form

Date: June 1, 2009

Presenter: Leya Tsai

Thesis Topic: The Effects of Viewing English Cartoon Videos with and without English Subtitle on Fifth Graders’ Listening Ability in Taiwan

Evaluator: Jenny Chen

Criteria:

1.      Will the proposed research problem, if successfully carried out, be a significant contribution to this area of knowledge, deserving of an M.S. degree?

        The presenter did not point out a solid statement of problem, nevertheless she selected an interesting topic. I think if she modifies the research appropriately, it would contribute a lot to this area of knowledge.

2.      Does the presentation give reasonable evidence that the student is familiar with significant literature in his/her field?

        The presenter included relevant literature, which demonstrated her familiarity with the field.

3.      Are the proposed methods adequate to provide valid experimental data?

        There are still some flaws with the proposed methods. The “Starters” tests are irrelevant to the cartoon videos, which could be a major problem in this research.

4.      Will the proposed experimental design provide valid data applicable to the proposed research problem?

        The cartoon videos may be too difficult for fifth graders, especially without subtitles. Therefore an introduction before watching the videos could be helpful.

5.      Are the proposed statistical procedures adequate to provide valid interpretation of experimental data?

        The presenter mentioned using paired-sample t test for the statistical method, however she did not explain the variables. She also did not explain how the qualitative data will be analyzed.

6.      Is the oral presentation clear and professional?

Questions:

1.    For your formal study, how many cartoons will the participants watch?

2.    Are you going to conduct the interview alone with each student? Do you think this could cause some degree of anxiety?

3.    How are you going to record the interview?

___________________________________________________________________________________

Comments/Suggestions