Student Profiles Based on Affective Models
5.3 Association Rules Model
5.3.3 Association Rules Results
Results
The results of Apriori algorithm for each of the transaction constructed are shown
5.3 Association Rules Model 71 Table 5.5Antecedent and consequent rule representation
Antecedents Consequents
Student affective features ⇒Learning Achievement
Transaction data
Transaction 1
Transaction 2
Transaction 3
Transaction 4
Apriori : {Supp: .10} and {Conf: .80}
Apriori : {Supp: .05} and {Conf: .80}
Apriori : {Supp: .01} and {Conf: .80}
Apriori algorithm
Transaction 1 Result
Transaction 2 Result
Transaction 3 Result
Transaction 4 Result Motivation
Attitude Personality
Anxiety Self-Esteem
Figure 5.1 Process of conducting Apriori algorithm
in Table 5.6. There are rules that are not generated with the specific parameters.
The rules generated for all of the transactions across minimum support and mini-mum confidence with respect to student achievement are as follows: Transaction 1 and Transaction generated 2 rules of Fair achievement, Transaction 3 generated 63 rules of Fair and Poor achievement, and Transaction 4 generated 16 rules of Fair achievement, 270 rules of Fair and Good achievement, and 26295 rules of Poor, Fair, Good achievement. For the purpose of describing student affective factors in relation with learning achievement, the affective factors refer the indicators in the question-naire. Examples of rules generated are shown in Table 5.7.
Transaction 1is used to describe student motivation and anxiety for fair achiev-ers. Student affective factors for fair achievers characterize a student who has common interest and is willing to integrate to the target language, uses a fair range of English to achieve something, is fairly motivated to enhance their ability, has self-initiative to learn, typically uses English to complete a task, and is very anxious in the classroom.
The generalized rule of Transaction 1 is shown in Table 5.8.
72 Chapter 5 Student Profiles Based on Affective Models
Table 5.6 Association analysis result
Transaction MinSup MinConf Rules Generated Cons Generated
1
0.10 0.80 -
-0.05 0.80 -
-0.01 0.80 2 Fair
2
0.10 0.80 -
-0.05 0.80 -
-0.01 0.80 2 Fair
3
0.10 0.80 -
-0.05 0.80 -
-0.01 0.80 63 Fair, Poor
4
0.10 0.80 16 Fair
0.05 0.80 270 Good, Fair
0.01 0.80 26295 Good, Fair, Poor
Table 5.7Examples of generated rules for poor, fair, good achievement
No. Rule Support Confidence Lift
1 Att=High, Pers=Low⇒A=Poor 0.0106 1 8.1739
2 Mot=Low, Pers=Low⇒A=Fair 0.0213 0.80 1.4188
3 Mot=Low, Att=Mod, Pers=Low⇒A=Fair 0.0160 1 1.7735
4 ResM=Low, TasM=Mod⇒A=Good 0.0106 1 3.1864
5 TasM=Mod, AttC=High⇒A=Good 0.0159 1 3.1864
Table 5.8Rule representation of fair achievement in Transaction 1
MinSup Affective Factors
Achievement Confidence
Mo An
0.01 M H Fair 0.80
Mo: Motivation; An: Anxiety
5.3 Association Rules Model 73 Transaction 2 is used to describe student motivation, attitudes, and personality for fair achievers. In terms of the student motivation, the rules obtained reveal an interesting finding. A student who has very little interest in the target culture is very weak in utilizing English as the purpose of achieve something, has a very little motivation to enhance their ability in English, has little self-initiative to learn, and rarely uses English as a means to complete a task, will get fair learning. Seen from their attitude, fair learning is achieved when a student fairly respects the language, is comfortable around English speakers, considers English as a fairly “great language”, and finds learning English is somewhat “easy and fun”. Finally, in terms of personality, a student who is very passive, very anxious, and shaky in speaking in the class will have a fair learning achievement. The confidence of this rule is 0.9. The generalized rule of Transaction 2 is shown in Table 5.9.
Table 5.9Rule representation of fair achievement in Transaction 2
MinSup Affective Factors
Achievement Confidence
Mo An Pe
0.01 L M L Fair 0.90
Mo: Motivation; An: Anxiety; Pe: Personality
Transaction 3 describes poor and fair learning achievement. Motivation, atti-tude, personality, anxiety, and self-esteem were used to infer student affective factors.
Transaction 3 results generated more details with anxiety and self-esteem treated as independent factors. The generalized rule of Transaction 3 is shown in Table 5.10.
The rules obtained for poor achievers show that, in terms of student attitude, a stu-dent of this type respects the target language fairly, is somewhat comfortable around native speakers, considers English as a common language, and finds learning English somewhat “easy and fun”. In terms of student personality, the student is very passive and quiet in the class.
74 Chapter 5 Student Profiles Based on Affective Models Fair achievers are characterized by the following: In terms of their motivation, they have common interest in the target culture and are OK to integrate with the target culture, use a fair range of English as the purpose to achieve something, have a fair motivation to enhance their ability after achieving good grades, have a fair self-initiative to learn, and use English as means to complete a task. In terms of their attitude, they are fairly respectful to the target language, are somewhat comfortable around native speakers, consider English as a fairly “great language”, and find learning English somewhat “easy and fun”. In addition, they are also very passive and quiet in the class, unconfident in speaking English in the class but are very relaxed in joining the class, and do not feel any pressure or nervousness.
Table 5.10 Rule representation of fair and poor achievement in Transaction 3
MinSup Affective Factors
Achievement Confidence
Mo At Pe An Se
0.01 - M L - - Poor 1
0.01 M M L L L Fair 1
Mot: Motivation; Att: Attitude; Pers: Personality; Anx: Anxiety; Sel: Self-esteem
Transaction 4 generates the poor, fair, and good learning achievement. In this result the transaction was more specific, with all factors treated as independent fac-tors. The rule representation for Transaction 4 is shown in Table 5.11.
Affective factors of poor achievers in Transaction 4 are as follows: They fairly use English as means to achieve something (e.g. passing an exam, admitted to higher ed-ucation etc.). They are somewhat self-motivated in learning English, and use English very rarely in order to perform well in other subjects. Also, they feel OK around peo-ple speaking English, consider English as rather important in their lives, somewhat enjoy learning, and are very passive, or prefer to be quiet in English classes and avoid
Table 5.11 Rule representation of good, fair, and poor achievement in Transaction 4
MinSup Affective Factors
Ach Conf IntM InsM ResM IntrM TasM AttC AttE AttLE Int Ext Anx Sel
0.01 - M M M L M M M M L - - Poor 1
0.01 - H M H H - M - H L H - Fair 1
0.05 M M - M - M H M M - M - Fair 0.93
0.10 M - - M - M H M M - M - Fair 0.84
0.05 - - - H M - H M M - M - Good 0.83
0.01 M H L L M H M L L H - - Good 1
IntM: Integrative; InsM: Instrumental; ResM: Resultative; IntrM: Intrinsic; TasM: Task AttC: Attitude to Community; AttE: Attitude to English; AttLE: Attitude to Learning
Int: Introversion; Ext: Extroversion; Sel: Self-esteem; Anx: Anxiety; Ach: Achievement; Cnf: Confidence
76 Chapter 5 Student Profiles Based on Affective Models talking in English.
As seen in Table 5.11, there are mainly three types of fair achievers. The first type is the one who has very clear ideas in learning English as a means to achieve something (e.g. admitted to higher education), is fairly motivated to learn more if the student achieves a good grade, and has a high self-initiative to learn English.
This student typically uses English in order to perform well in other subjects very frequently, considers English as rather important in their lives, is very passive in participating English, avoids being involved to communicate in English, and is very anxious in classroom. The confidence of this rule is 1. The second type is the fair learner who is somewhat interested in the target culture, fairly uses English to achieve something (e.g. passing an exam), somewhat self-motivated in learning English, and feels OK with people speaking English around. This student also considers English as rather important in their lives; learning English is somewhat “fun”; this student is willing to participate in English conversation, and is somewhat relaxed in classroom.
The confidence of this rule is 0.93. The third type is the same as the second student type without additional traits of fair use of English as means to achieve something (e.g. passing an exam). The confidence of this rule is 0.84. The illustration of students with all three types of fair achievement is shown in Table 5.11.
Generally there are two types of students who get good achievement as shown in Table 5.11. The first type is the student who has high self-initiative in learning English, uses English occasionally in order to perform well in other subject, and considers English as very important in their lives. This type also thinks that learning English is OK, is willing to participate in English conversations, and is somewhat relaxed in the classroom. The second type is one who is somewhat interested in the target culture, uses English frequently as a means to achieve something (e.g.
admission to higher education), and is unmotivated to learn more even he/she gets
5.3 Association Rules Model 77 good grades in English. Also, the student is typically non self-initiative in learning English, although he/she highly respects and appreciates people speaking English.
He/she also considers English as rather important in their lives, and dislikes learning English as it is considered difficult and not fun although he/she is very active in participating English conversations and seek people to talk in English.
Discussion
In Transaction 1, the rule representation result of motivation is in accordance with the work by Masgoret and Gardner [117] and also supports the findings of studies by Burrow [23] and Lasagabaster [25] who reveal the positive and significant relationship between motivation and learning English. The rule aspect of anxiety is confirms in an empirical study by Park and Lee [118] showing that the higher the level of the students’ anxiety, the lower the score they get. Further, when the student is anxious, low self-valued, and low in capability (Bailey, Onwuegbuzie, & Daley as cited in [12]), then ineffective learning will occur [28]. This empirical finding also supports Krashen and Terrell’s [119] affective filter hypothesis: When students’ psychological filters be-come thicker due to factors like anxiety, their learning is significantly reduced. This means that students who are moderately motivated in learning, such as willingness to integrate with the target culture or using English to complete a task, and being simultaneously very anxious will have a fair learning achievement. When associated with the correlation for each factor, students tend to have a good learning achieve-ment when they have more motivation. The higher anxiety a student has, the lower achievement the student gets in the class.
In Transaction 2, the obtained rule implies that even if a student has very little interest in the target language, is motivated little to improve English ability, rarely uses English to complete a task, is very nervous, and passive in the class but fairly respects English, is comfortable around English speaker, and finds learning English
78 Chapter 5 Student Profiles Based on Affective Models somewhat easy and fun would have fair achievement. An explanation comes from empirical evidence showing that attitude itself relates with integrative motivation [117]. Integrative orientation plays a role in the achievement of English learning in individuals who express an interest in learning the language in order to interact, meet, socialize, make friends, etc. with members of an English speaking community. Thus, although students’ affective factors like motivation and positive personality traits are low, they still can obtain fair achievement when they have a moderate attitude.
Furthermore, even if a student is passive in the class, this does not mean this trait has negative impacts. In fact, a more introverted personality may be suited to classroom settings [117].
The poor achievers in Transaction 3 imply that passiveness and inactiveness in the class inhibit a student even if the student respects the target language very much, is comfortable around English speakers, and enjoys learning. A student that has a positive attitude will show positive behaviors towards learning such as engaging in the course and making an effort to learn more [24]. However, previous studies show that a passive student is associated with low self-confidence and tends to be incapable of carrying out given tasks [12,26]. Conversely, students who are active and willing to take risks tend to be more successful [26]. The fair achievers in Transaction 3 imply that quietness in personality, and unconfidence in classroom become the hindrance in student learning. However, these negative traits are counterbalanced with the positive traits of having positive motivation, such as wanting to integrate with English speaking culture. A student’s success in language learning was found to be dependent upon the affective reactions toward the target culture [90]. A student with positive beliefs about language learning, such as enjoying the learning and having a chance to increase positive attitude, will be successful in learning [24, 98].
5.3 Association Rules Model 79 The rules obtained in Transaction 4 for the poor achievers profiles implies the presence of someone who is very passive, prefers to be quite in English classes, avoids talking in English, and rarely uses English to complete tasks in other subjects. These traits limit student learning even when the student possesses positive traits of using English to pass an exam, is somewhat self-motivated in learning, and has positive attitudes. Passive traits are undesirable as students who are active and willing to take a risk will be more successful in learning [26]. In addition, infrequent use of English in student activities, especially in completing a task perturbs student learning.
Fair achievers in Transaction 4 imply that a student who maintains positive moti-vation and attitude is able to learn English. A success in language learning is shown in a student who is interested in the target culture [90]. In addition, a positive atti-tude will sustain satti-tudent motivation in learning as positive attiatti-tude itself relates with integrative motivation [117]. Another profile implies that clear orientation to achieve something (e.g. admission to higher education), becoming intrinsically motivated to have a competence, and using English in order to perform well in other subjects very frequently support students in learning. Nonetheless, student passiveness and anxiousness in the classroom may inhibit student learning.
Students who have a good achievement have a high level in these characteristics:
intrinsic motivation, and attitude towards English, but with a moderate level in these: attitude towards learning English, introverted personality, and anxiety. The assumption that arises in this affective profile is that students who feel that studying English is important for themselves and who value the learning will achieve a good level in learning the language. As mentioned by Ellis [13], self-determination of competence in the course is also found to influence student success as these traits maintain their curiosity and to engage them in learning. Another noteworthy profile is that students who have a clear orientation of using English to achieve something
80 Chapter 5 Student Profiles Based on Affective Models (e.g. pass an exam), and highly respect the target culture, are comfortable around native speaker, and active in the classroom but low in self-motivation and do not enjoy learning, will still achieve a good learning. This finding may be rephrased in the condition that follows. The students will achieve good learning achievement under the condition that their orientation to use English is instrumental and they are extroverted even when they are not highly motivated intrinsically. The work by Wakamoto (as cited in [12]) found that extroverted students were likely to make better use of learning strategies.
The findings of the present study, however, should be interpreted very cautiously.
There are factors that pose constraints in the present study. First, affective factors are more unstable factors compared to cognitive factors [120]. Affective factors are situational and subject to changes in context. As a consequence, a student’s affec-tive traits in one situation may differ from another situation. Similar studies may gather affective factor data multiple times to reduce inconsistencies from context or temporary fluctuations. In addition, the present study uses questionnaires to collect students’ affective factors. There are limitations in questionnaires as a data-collecting instrument. Students may not respond to the questions in the questionnaire candidly.
For instance, students become bored when there are a number of items in the question-naire to be completed. Next, methodologically, association rules to mine students’
affective data are sensitive only to the data that are commonly appearing data or those that are frequently observed. Rare data in normal distributions, those in the lower (tail) and higher areas (head), may be out of reach of association rules.