Respondent profiles
I received 20 responses to the student questionnaire.1 This represents 45% of the cohort, and drawing conclusions from the answers must be done with caution.
65% of respondents said that English was their first language (L1 students), leaving 35% as secondary speakers (L2 students).
As discussed in blog post 5, I included no other background questions for ethical reasons.
Though the questionnaire was anonymous, I can tell from my consent forms which students responded (but not what they responded). All of these students have a very good level of English, most of them equal to first language proficiency.2
Comparing resources
1. Which of the following resources do you find helpful when learning tailoring terminology?
The technical presentations and worksheets, which are pre-existing resources, were found to be most helpful when learning tailoring terminology.3 See blog post 7 for analysis.
The image based glossary was slightly less popular but still received a favourable response.4
Playing the Pictionary style game was considered ‘very helpful’ or ‘helpful’ by the majority (60%) of respondents. 40% were more cautious about its educational value, and this is also reflected in their comments (see below).
Books are considered ‘very helpful’ or ‘helpful’ by 55% of the students, a smaller cohort than those who found the Pictionary style game ‘very helpful’ or ‘helpful’.
Google/AI is notably less popular than other mediums.5 See appendix 1.
Comparing L1 and L2 students
It is possible that the students answering the questionnaire are those who benefit from existing resources (and are confident in both interpreting the resources and filling out questionnaires). To examine if language background influenced resource preferences, I compared L1 and L2 students. Note that having English as a second language (L2) does not necessarily affect someones English proficiency.
Image Based Glossary. Comparison L1 and L2 students:
Google/AI. Comparison L1 and L2 students:
A noticeably larger proportion of L2 students found the image based glossary ‘very helpful’ compared to L1 students (57% vs 38.5%). L2 students were universally positive about the glossary, with a clear majority finding it ‘very helpful’, and no one finding it unhelpful or unsure of its helpfulness.
The response to using Google/AI was markedly different between the two groups, with most L1 students finding it ‘not helpful’ (38.5%) or ‘a little helpful’ (38.5%). Most L2 students found it ‘helpful’ (42.9%) or responded ‘I don’t know’ (42.9%).
Comparing the two student groups meant splitting an already limited response pool (13 L1 vs 7 L2 students) and firm conclusions can’t be drawn from these results.
Comparing formats of the image based glossary
2. Which of the following resources would you be interested in using?
When it comes to the format of the image based glossary, the most popular option among the students was a physically printed glossary in the classroom (65%). The second most popular option was an online image based glossary (60%).
The respondents were less sure if they would use a Padlet to co-create the glossary.6 It takes time and effort for a student to add to the Padlet, so this was unlikely to be a popular option.
The glossary turned into a game app was also a less popular option.78 Considering the effort involved in making an app, I will not make it a priority.
Thematic analysis of the comments
With the guidance of Braun and Clarke’s (2018) 6 steps for thematic analysis, I analysed the open questions and free comments. Because of the limited amount of data and variation in responses, identifying themes was relatively uncomplicated.
3. How did you find playing the Bespoke Tailoring Pictionary?
Many students found it fun (11) and helpful for learning vocabulary (9). 4 commented that it was not helpful for learning, and 4 commented on the positive interaction. Two comments suggest it would be good to play later in the year. For example:
4. What else might help you learn tailoring terminology?
Repeated use during sessions was mentioned 11 times. Other suggestions included:
5. Do you have any additional feedback?
There was very little additional feedback. Students either commented that the practices already in place are good, or the answers were unrelated to the research question.
References:
Clarke, V & Braun, V (2017) Thematic analysis, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12:3, 297-298.
Clarke, V & Braun, V (2018) Thematic analysis – an introduction. Lecture, University of the West of England, Bristol. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv7C53yvLqk (Accessed 30 December 2025)
Appendix 1: Negative attitudes towards Google searches and A.I.
Google/AI is notably less popular than other mediums when learning tailoring terminology (very helpful 10%, helpful 20%, a little helpful 30%, not helpful 25%, I don’t know 15%).
This answer to question 4 indicates that students might have been taught that using online definitions, and looking things up on Google/AI is not considered good practice. The perception that online knowledge is less valuable could have influenced their answers, resulting in an underreporting in the use of Google/AI and making the printed version seem more popular than it is in reality. Also, I suspect that I have few respondents with a low proficiency in English (see blog post 6), and that the students who did not respond to the questionnaire probably use Google/AI/translation tools more often.
After trying a few AI assisted Google searches, I found the tool was not always accurate at defining tailoring terminology.
- 12 students responded on paper, 8 online. This weighting could have been influenced by the the responders familiarity with physical craftwork, or the fact that the internet connection at East Bank is patchy. ↩︎
- I collected only 15 consent forms, which means 5 respondents either did not fill them out or hand them in. With hindsight, I could have made the consent form part of the questionnaire. ↩︎
- All respondents report finding the technical presentations and worksheets ‘very helpful’, ‘helpful’ or a ‘little helpful’. ↩︎
- very helpful 45%, helpful 35%, a little helpful 15%, not helpful 0%, I don’t know 5% ↩︎
- very helpful 10%, helpful 20%, a little helpful 30%, not helpful 25%, I don’t know 15% ↩︎
- ‘yes’ 35%, ‘maybe’ 15% ↩︎
- ‘yes’ 45%, ‘maybe’ 30%, ‘no’ 25% ↩︎
- The answers are probably influenced by the way the Padlet and game app were presented to the students, which was very briefly and just before answering the questionnaire (see blog post 5). The Padlet is available on their Moodle page, but I have not promoted it further. No student has added to it yet (January 2026). I don’t want to influence the students ‘natural’ behaviour by asking them to use it, but on the other hand, it is our normal teaching practice to keep reminding the students when we add a new technical resource. ↩︎