What is Classroom Response Systems

This research-based chapter explores East Asian international graduate students' challenges in the U.S. higher education environment and identifies how technology-enhanced instructional practices can increase their active participation in the classroom. The classroom-based intervention study was conducted in a Master of Arts program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at a research university in the Western U.S. The participants were 56 students in this TESOL program. The three types of technology (Padlet, Plickers, and Poll Everywhere) were selected based on criteria including ease of implementation and positive influences on students' participation and learning in class. The data were collected through a pre- and post-survey and three weeks of classroom observation. The resulting qualitative observational and survey data revealed consequences of the technology enhancements in instruction in terms of changes in students' active participation in class, insights produced into critical cultural understandings, and relationships to learning outcomes.