EAI Endorsed Transactions on
e-Learning
12 2017 - 10 2018 | Volume 5 | Issue 17 | e4
1
This study used latent profile analysis to cluster students into three groups with homogenous motivational profiles based
on self-reported self-efficacy, task value and task anxiety measures obtained from 263 middle school students. The results
demonstrated that there were distinct motivation profiles among students while engaging in a one-to-one computing
environment for English learning, which resulted in differences on their performance. In general, this eLearning
environment had a significant positive effect on students’ learning achievements regardless of various motivation profiles.
But students with high self-efficacy, task value while low task anxiety performed better than those in other profiles. This
study also suggested that task anxiety impeded students from benefiting from the one-to-one computing environment, but
it could not significantly affect students’ learning outcomes. The profiling of student motivation orientations enhanced our
understanding of the complex interactions of various motivational components and extended our existing knowledge in
this emerging area of student learning. Besides, the findings inform future interventions in curriculum design and effective
scaffoldings.
EAI Endorsed Transactions
on e-Learning Research Article
A latent profile analysis of students’ motivation of
engaging in one-to-one computing environment for
English learning
Shan Li
1,
* and Juan Zheng
1
1
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, McGill University, 845 Sherbooke St
W., Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Abstract
Keywords: one-to-one computing environment, latent profile analysis, self-efficacy, task value, task anxiety
Received on 06 June 2018, accepted on 19 September 2018, published on 03 October 2018
Copyright © 2018 S. Li and J. Zheng, licensed to EAI. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unlimited use, distribution and
reproduction in any medium so long as the original work is properly cited.
doi: 10.4108/eai.25-9-2018.155574
*
Corresponding author. Email:shan.li2@mail.mcgill.ca
1. Introduction
Educational institutions and researchers nowadays have
witnessed the extensive, dramatic use of various educational
technologies in schools for promoting students’ learning
performance, such as online communities, intelligent
tutoring systems and individualized learning space.
Specifically, the one-to-one computing environment gained
great popularity in classroom settings due to the decreasing
costs of laptops and the increasing availability of wireless
connectivity [1]. The one-to-one computing environment,
also known as one-to-one initiatives, was originally raised
by Norris and his colleagues [2], for the purpose of
descripting the phenomenon occurred in US education
systems that each individual student in the classroom is
equipped with a portable digital device whereby they access
electronic learning resources and participate in online
activities. According to Penue [1], the one-to-one computing
environment is more than physical school-issued device, but
also an integrated teaching and learning system featured
with technology-rich interactions, automatic tracking of
students’ learning trajectories and smart classroom
management. However, mixed results existed in current
literature regarding to the effectiveness of the one-to-one
computing environment in promoting students’ academic
performance. For example, some studies claimed that this
environment provided no help on students’ learning since it
impeded students from concentrating attentions [3].
Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, few research