Background: In example-based learning, examples are often combined with generative activities, such as comparative self-explanations of example cases. Comparisons induce heavy demands on working memory, especially in complex domains. Hence, only stronger learners may benefit from comparative self-explanations. While static text-based examples can…

Background: Teaching Mandarin as a second language (L2) has become an important profession and an important research area. The acquisition of unaspirated and aspirated consonants in Mandarin has been reported to be rather challenging for L2 learners. Objectives: In the current study, a 3-D airflow model was integrated into the virtual talking head…

In this paper, we present a synchronous text-based communication tool, referred to as Adaptive Communication Tool (ACT), which provides capabilities for adaptation and personalization. ACT supports both the free and the structured form of dialogue. The structured dialogue is implemented by two types of Scaffolding Sentence Templates (SST); i.e.…