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Evaluating the effectiveness of an online pre-sessional course for Japanese and international university students
No full textThis study explores the role of an online pre-sessional program in preparing students to matriculate into an English-medium bachelor’s program at a Japanese university. The study covers two program sessions, the first of which consisted primarily of international students, and the second comprised mainly of graduates of Japanese high schools. To accommodate the wide range of students from both Japan and abroad, the instructors aimed to design a program that would introduce participants to the learner-centred, interdisciplinary curriculum of the bachelor’s program, encourage the development of learner autonomy regarding language study and personal academic goals, and generally ease the transition to an English-medium curriculum. Assessment of the pre-sessional program is based on the first two sessions and includes both quantitative data (usage data drawn from the online platform and questionnaires issued at the end of each pre-sessional program), and qualitative feedback gathered through opened-ended comments on the questionnaires and focus group discussions held during the first or second semester after matriculation. Results highlight gaps between instructor goals and student expectations, as well as distinctly different patterns of participation that emerged in the two sessions, despite nearly identical content
An integrated approach to developing and assessing EFL students' speaking ability and strategy use
No full textSpeaking a foreign language is a complicated process that involves linguistic competence, skills, and strategy use. Communicating through English in English for Academic Purposes courses is a basic requirement for EFL learners, but it can be a challenge. To improve the quality of speech, strengthen components of speaking competence, and raise learner awareness of metacognition, Goh and Burns (2012) propose an integrated pedagogical approach featuring a teaching cycle for developing and assessing students’ speaking. The present study accordingly aimed to test how far the teaching-speaking cycle was able to develop intermediate Taiwanese EFL university students’ speaking ability. Sixty university students participated in the study, which employed a quasi-experimental design. The Experimental Group (EG) received Goh and Burns’ integrated pedagogical approach for 18 weeks, whereas the Control Group (CG) simply practiced speaking as regular in-class activities. Speaking tests and questionnaires were used. The results showed that the EG adopted the rehearsal and social strategies more frequently than the CG. In the case of speaking performance, the EG students steadily improved their speaking ability through the semester. The speaking performance of the CG students, however, was limited. A close inspection of the scores revealed marked improvements in particular speaking components for the EG participants
Entangled in two Romance languages: Experiencing language barriers in higher education
No full textSince 2002, which marks the end of the Civil War in Angola, a large multilingual and multicultural workforce from various corners of the world has entered the Angolan education system. This paper investigates language barriers experienced in the classroom of Spanish speaking lecturers by Portuguese speaking students. The study focuses on a group of 81 first year students enrolled at the Pedagogic School of Namibe (Universidade Mandume Ya Ndemufayo) and the Institute of Higher Education Gregorio Semedo. Using questionnaires and observation techniques, the article shows how Spanish poses a language barrier to efficient communication in the teaching-learning process. It also shows that students employ various strategies; from asking help from fellow colleagues to recording lectures, in order to comprehend the lecturers’ explanation. Given that the Angolan higher education system hosts a great number of foreign lecturers, largely from Cuba, the paper offers recommendations through which to lower language barriers and thus create a conducive environment for meaningful learning
What constitutes vocabulary learning difficulty? A classroom-based study of semantic relatedness and L1 familiarity effects on L2 word learning
No full textThere has been a plethora of studies investigating the effect of semantic relatedness on second language (L2) word learning.However, most prior studies failed to control for the lexical properties of target words, which may be responsible for the mixed results yielded. This study, therefore, sets out to revisit this issue by controlling for L1 familiarity, one of the lexical factors confirmed to impact L2 learnability. Another goal of this study is to explore the extent to which semantic relatedness interacts with L1 familiarity, thus helping us determine the suitable condition under which word learning takes place. Towards these two aims, four sets of English target words matched in length were created (i.e.,words of high/low L1 familiarity placed in semantic related/unrelated set). For each set, after the timed learning session, an immediate posttest and an unannounced one-week delayed posttest, both of which measured the receptive knowledge of the target words, were administered to forty-one English as foreign language (EFL) learners. The results showed that (a) semantic relatedness negatively affected L2 word learning on the delayed posttest only, regardless of L1 familiarity status, suggesting a robust hindrance effect; (b) L1 familiarity persistently served as a facilitative force, as it aided the acquisition of both semantically related and unrelated word sets on both posttests; (c) similar L1 familiarity levels might result in additional interference. Our findings highlight the complex interplay between these two input-related variables
The development and validation of an intercultural competence evaluation instrument for upper secondary foreign language teaching
No full textIntercultural competence is a crucial element of foreign language education. It is argued that the multi-faceted nature of intercultural competence implies that assessment of its construct is a complex process; as a consequence, its progress is difficult to measure. Although several tools for evaluating intercultural competence currently exist, research on their use in secondary school settings is scarce. This study reports on the development and validation of an instrument intended specifically for use in foreign language literature education. To this end, tangible learning objectives for intercultural literary competence were developed based on five dimensions of intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997) and six categories of literary competence (Witte, 2008). These objectives were re-formulated for implementation in a student questionnaire. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the construct validity of the instrument was investigated among a sample of 164 secondary school students in the upper forms of pre-university education in the Netherlands. Although the results supported the hypothesized wo second-order factor structure, the model fit indices were less favourable compared to the fit indices of an alternative five first-order factor model. Subsequently, correlation and summability analyses were performed to test the reliability of the instrument. Future research and implications are discussed
Review of Teaching Language and Content in Multicultural and Multilingual Classrooms: CLIL and EMI Approaches
No full textTeaching Language and Content in Multicultural and Multilingual Classrooms: CLIL and EMI Approaches edited by María Luisa Carrió-Pastor and Begoña Bellés-Fortuño, Palgrave, 2021, 386pp., €124.79 (Hardcover) €96.29 (eBook). ISBN 9783030566142
The construction of an English composition MOOC using Google Classroom
No full textWith the rapid development of technology, online writing instruction (OWI) has become an integral part of all writing instruction. However, one of the challenges encountered by OWI instructors has been to select an appropriate online learning platform or learning management system (LMS) aligning with writing pedagogies. This study developed a small-scale fully online writing course – a college-level English composition MOOC using Google Classroom, a free and easy-to-use online learning platform, to (a) explore the potential of using Google Classroom in teaching composition MOOCs and (b) examine students’ learning effectiveness in the composition MOOC. Participants were 33 EFL students who learnt knowledge and skills needed to write a literature review assignment in this 6-week, theme-based composition MOOC. Results demonstrated that the composition MOOC was well received by the participants and was effective in teaching writing given that students made improvement on both knowledge of citation practices and final written product. Specifically, features of Google Classroom allowed teachers to create different types of learning materials, assignments, and assessment that make online writing courses engaging and interactive. Most importantly, its collaborative features, such as file sharing and the real-time communication technology, empowered teachers to give timely feedback and create communicative activities that writing pedagogies value, making Google Classroom a good platform for OWI
Intercultural communicative competence and mobility: Perspectives on virtual, physical, and critical dimensions
No full textMultiracial Chinese American women studying abroad in China: The intersectionality of gender, race, and language learning
No full textThis case study addresses the theme of mobility and intercultural education by focusing on the study abroad experience of three multiracial Chinese Americans in China. Research on study abroad and language learning has shown the salience of gender in intercultural learning, but women from minoritized groups have rarely been the focus in the literature. Meanwhile, heritage language speakers may encounter complex negotiations of identity and belonging while studying abroad in their “ancestral homeland” (e.g., Jing-Schmidt et al., 2016). Multiracial women, who may linguistically be categorized as heritage speakers, have to respond to the challenges to which study abroad women are subjected and also make sense of their gendered ethnoracial identity. In this study, we focus on the experience of three multiracial Chinese American women. In our findings, gender emerged as a frequent theme across all focal participants, and their responses to their gendered experience aligned with their various interpretations of their multiracial Chinese identity. The results highlight the intersectionality of gender and race for women from minoritized backgrounds. We conclude that intercultural education should recognize the multiplicities of identity among our students and adopt a descriptive approach that acknowledges cultural identity to be fluid and evolving
At the crossroads: Rethinking study abroad students' social networking and intercultural communication in the age of globalization
No full textThe literature exploring study abroad students’ social networks and intercultural communication traditionally considers three categories of social ties: the co-national network, the multi-national network and the host national network. However, the data collected from a yearlong digital ethnography and the narratives on the social media posts of seven Australian university students of French highlight the need to reconceptualize these traditional divisions. Findings point to three insights that contribute to the discussion on social network development and intercultural communication in study abroad context. First, quasi-permanent communication with home through social media induces the emergence of an additional social network that has not, until now, been addressed in the literature: the online co-national network. Indeed, participants’ interactions with home directly influence the way in which they adjust to their host environment and socialize during their sojourn. Second, the social tie composed of multi-national students who are proficient or native speakers of the target language should also be considered as an extra category owing to their buffer position between second language learners and the host community. Third, the multi-national and the co-national networks were largely compartmentalized from the host national network shedding light on the issues that study abroad students face in socializing with local people