A comparison of the effects of three methods of teaching comma usage to business students.

摘要

Instructors of the Business English course are continually searching for superior methods of teaching comma usage. Using schema theory as a theoretical framework, the present study examined the effects of computer-assisted, collaborative, and lecture-exercise instruction on achievement in comma usage.; Seventy-three students enrolled in six Business English classes participated in the study. The intact classes were randomly divided into computer-assisted, collaborative, and lecture-exercise groups. The computer-assisted and collaborative groups were considered the experimental classes, and the traditional lecture-exercise group was considered the control class. The students were pretested and posttested using an instrument validated by a panel of experts, a reference to the literature, and an examination of textbooks. The instruction material for the study was the computer tutorial Blue Pencil.; The findings of the study indicated no difference in comma usage achievement among students participating in computer-assisted, collaborative, or lecture-exercise instruction. Furthermore, the findings were interpreted to mean that a change in the schematic view of comma usage is equally possible using computer-assisted, collaborative, or lecture-exercise methods of instruction.