UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #934

Research Mentor Information
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Primary Research Mentor Name: Mariana Talpau Joos
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns: Mira
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Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): mmt18d@fsu.edu
Position Title: Graduate Student
Faculty Advisor Name: Professor Alysia Roehrig
Faculty Advisor's FSU Email: aroehrig@admin.fsu.edu
FSU College (if applicable): Education, Health, and Human Sciences
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation: Educational Psychology and Learning Systems
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Additional Research Mentor(s)
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Overall Project Details
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Title of the Project: Students' engagement with app-based learning, gains and transfer to classroom settings
Project Keywords: language learning, learning apps, Duolingo
Are you currently looking for research assistants?: No
Number of Research Assistants Needed : 1
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s):
Education; Modern Languages; Media and technology; Psychology; Instructional Design.

Project Location:: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation?: No, the project is remote
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s):: Partially Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work?: 4
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work?: Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description:
Title of the study in progress: Students’ perceptions of Duolingo engagement, gains and transfer to the L2 classroom
Mobile technology, specifically app-based learning has been increasingly acknowledged as a reliable learning support specifically in informal out-of-class settings. However, whether and how students bridge app-based and classroom learning remains largely unexplored. Compounding insights from several theoretical and conceptual frameworks (e.g., complexity theory, student engagement, and proactive language learning theory), this study seeks to answer the question of how Duolingo-based out-of-class engagement transfers to the classroom via learners’ proactive behaviors. Building on the existing scholarship on the transfer of learning, I extend the conceptualization of transfer as adaptive, and I seek to explore nature of engagement, gains and transfer to language classroom settings. Recruited participants are college students who use Duolingo weekly and take a college course in the same language and at the same level to satisfy their language requirements. I plan to collect and analyze multiple quantitative and qualitative data sources in three time-points over one semester. First, I conduct non-intrusive classroom observations of the focal participants. Second, the participants complete a brief experience sampling survey during or immediately after each of the three observed L2 classes. Lastly, semi-structured in-depth interviews capture forms of engagement across the app and the classroom setting. Conceptual and methodological complexity theory tools (e.g., time trajectories) and grounded theory (e.g., constant comparative analysis) are used for data analyses. In the way of a hypothesis for this study, I expect to capture the participants’ interpretations of experiences and key behaviors with the Duolingo app and classroom learning regarding their proactive engagement (cognitive, affective, behavioral, agentic).  

Research Tasks:
Data transcription; data coding; data analysis.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need::
Interest and beginning skills in qualitative data.
Interest and awareness of learning apps.
Interest in language learning, applied linguistics, psychology of language learners.

Mentoring Philosophy:
 This is my second experience mentoring or working with undergraduate students on research projects. I strongly believe in the social nature of doing research. I believe that critical insights emerge from genuine collaboration and exchange of feelings, thoughts and actions regarding meaningful research goals, questions, settings, methods, and implications. I therefore seek to help from one mentee for my doctoral research I am conducting this school year, 2024-2025.
I intend to create a positive environment of collaboration on my research project that precisely builds on the mentee’s strengths, goals and time availability. I view research projects as a process of trial and error as well as hard and fine work to acknowledge and solve arising issues, collaboratively and constructively. I commit to support the mentee’ development of knowledge-base and analytical skills related to the current project by sharing my own experiences, skills, knowledge and lessons I learned from my 5 years of doctoral work with peers and faculty in my Learning & Cognition program in Educational Psychology and Learning Systems.
My goal is to provide my mentee with a hands-on experience of research resulting in a completed product including a research poster and local conference presentations such the Research Showcase in the College of Education, Health and human Sciences. I believe strongly in the empowering effect of academic socialization, research dissemination and engagement in research dialogue within our communities on campus and elsewhere.


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Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable?: No
Roundtable times and Zoom links:
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UROP Program Elements
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Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication: Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation: Yes
Materials Grant: Yes
UROP Poster Presentation: Yes
Faculty Advisor Confirmation: Yes

Are you interested in attending in a UROP Research Mentor Workshop Series?: No
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Year: 2024
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