Can We Use an Outside-Expert, Conversational ESP Stimulus with Adjustable Oral Communication Anxiety to Motivate Chinese ELL, First Year, Undergraduate Students During the Final Semester Quarter?

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Christine V. Wasko
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
First Year ◽  
Communication Anxiety

scholarly journals Developing Communication Skills during Undergraduate Studies: a Personalized Approach

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Hertrich ◽  
Dominique Chassé
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
First Year ◽  
Educational Strategy ◽  
Written Communication ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Undergraduate Studies ◽  
Realistic Communication ◽  
Personalized Approach

It is no wonder that communication skills areamong the twelve attributes required by the CanadianEngineering Accreditation Board, since engineers mustpossess strong oral and written communication skills. AtPolytechnique Montréal, all undergraduate students havebeen required to take a mandatory credit for this specific“soft-skill” since 2006.As an alternative to the classical one-term class, thisthree-year long innovative educational strategy is basedon a personalized approach. The first year, after takingdiagnostic tests in written and oral communication,students attend communication workshops. They thenperform realistic communication tasks in engineeringrelatedsituations, both at school and during aninternship. Each year, they complete an e-portfolio andreflect on the development of their communication skills.This method demonstrates the academic andprofessional transversality of a program-based approach.It also allows for practical assessment of complexengineering concepts reflecting the underlying philosophyof the twelve attributes.

Using Mnemonics to Facilitate Learning of Japanese Script Characters

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Manalo ◽  
Julie Trafford ◽  
Satomi Mizutani
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Pass Rate ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
First Year ◽  
Educational Setting ◽  
Alphabetic Language

Extra tutorial sessions on the use of pictorial mnemonics to facilitate memorization of Japanese hiragana and katakana script characters, as well as vocabulary words and kanji characters, were offered to university first year undergraduate students taking a beginners’ Japanese language course. 27 students, most of whom were experiencing some difficulties with the course, volunteered to attend. Although the improvement in actual marks that the students evidenced subsequent to attending the sessions did not prove to be statistically significant, a significant improvement in pass rate was found. Furthermore, the students rated the sessions highly in terms of their helpfulness, and the majority indicated that they believed the sessions helped their performance in the course assessments. It is concluded that mnemonic strategies can effectively be employed in facilitating retention of the script of a foreign, non-alphabetic language within a real educational setting. 初心者対象の日本語コースを取っている大学１年生に、日本語のひらがなとカタカナ、及び語彙と漢字の記憶を促進するため、絵を用いた連想法を使った追加授業が提出された。２７名（そのうちのほとんどは、コースにおいて何らかの困難に直面している）が自主的に追加授業に出席した。追加授業出席後、学生の実際の小テストの点の向上には有意差は認められなかったものの、合格率の向上においては有意差は確認された。さらに、追加授業に出席した学生は授業が役立ったと高く評価し、大多数が追加授業がコースの成績の成果に貢献したと思うと述べた。本論は、実際の教育現場で英語のアルファベットを用いない外国語の文字を教える際、連想法を効果的に使用することができると結論づけた。

Correlating entrance data and first year academic performance of students enrolled in the Integrated Master in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Porto

2021 ◽  
pp. 030641902110156
Author(s):  
TMGP Duarte ◽  
AM Lopes ◽  
LFM da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
First Year ◽  
Female Type ◽  
The University ◽  
First Year University ◽  
Over Time

Understanding how the academic performance of first year undergraduate students is influenced by home, personal and institutional factors is fundamental to delineate policies able to mitigate failure. This paper investigates possible correlations between the academic performance of students at the end of high school with their achievements at the end of first year university. Data for students in the Integrated Master in Mechanical Engineering (MIEM) program within the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto are analysed for the period 2016/2017 to 2019/2020. The students’ performance is measured by two metrics and the students are structured as a whole and by groups, according to their gender (Male/Female), type of secondary school (Public/Private), living place (Away/Home) and the rank of MIEM in their application list of options (Option 1/Option 2–6). The information is organized statistically and possible correlations between the data are investigated. The analysis reveals limited correlation between the two metrics, meaning that all students may exhibit good or poor results at the end of first year in MIEM, independent of their status at entrance. An unanticipated pattern is exhibited for the group Option 2–6, since it shows that, despite entering into MIEM without top application marks, the students in this group can perform as well as the others. This behavior is consistent over time.

scholarly journals A virtual alternative to molecular model sets: a beginners’ guide to constructing and visualizing molecules in open-source molecular graphics software

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siripreeya Phankingthongkum ◽  
Taweetham Limpanuparb
Keyword(s):  
General Chemistry ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Molecular Model ◽  
Bond Line ◽  
First Year ◽  
Molecular Graphics ◽  
Model Sets ◽  
Graphics Software

Abstract Objective The application of molecular graphics software as a simple and free alternative to molecular model sets for introductory-level chemistry learners is presented. Results Based on either Avogadro or IQmol, we proposed four sets of tasks for students, building basic molecular geometries, visualizing orbitals and densities, predicting polarity of molecules and matching 3D structures with bond-line structures. These topics are typically covered in general chemistry for first-year undergraduate students. Detailed step-by-step procedures are provided for all tasks for both programs so that instructors and students can adopt one of the two programs in their teaching and learning as an alternative to molecular model sets.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Study of EFL Students Using the Systemic Functional Linguistics Method

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akiko Nagao
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
First Year ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Genre Awareness ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Study Participants

This study examined the progress of English as a foreign language (EFL) writers using the instructional framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and the communities of practice (CoPs) model. The study participants comprised 11 first-year undergraduate students in Japan with intermediate-level English proficiency who were exposed to SFL in a single EFL classroom (CoP). The participants’ genre understanding and meaning-making decisions when writing discussion essays were studied over two semester-long courses. To do so, their developmental changes were analyzed using pre- and post-instructional writing tasks. In particular, their ability to convey interpersonal meaning, such as through the use of modal verbs, was examined and compared between the pre- and post-tasks. To triangulate the findings, participants’ genre awareness in relation to discussion essays was also examined using in-depth qualitative analysis of their self-reflective texts and peer assessments, based on a grounded theory approach. In the pre-writing task, it was apparent that the learners lacked understanding of the components of discussion essay writing. However, analysis of their post-instructional tasks revealed that most had begun to apply the language components required to convey interpersonal meaning in their discussion genre texts. These results suggest that the changes in learner’s genre awareness and knowledge affected the lexicogrammatical features they used when writing discussion essays. Thus, this study concludes that applying the SFL framework to writing instruction enhanced EFL learners’ awareness of textual meaning and their understanding of the function of discussion essay texts.

scholarly journals Bridging the Gap: Understanding the Differing Research Expectations of First-Year Students and Professor

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Raven
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Instruction Strategies ◽  
Research Instruction ◽  
The University

Objective: This study sought to better understand the research expectations of first-year students upon beginning university study, and how these expectations differed from those of their professors. Most academic librarians observe that the research expectations of these two groups differ considerably and being able to articulate where these differences are greatest may help us provided more focused instruction, and allow us to work more effectively with professors and student support services. Methods: 317 first-year undergraduate students and 75 professors at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, NS were surveyed to determine what they each expected of first-year student research. Students were surveyed on the first day of term so as to best understand their research expectations as they transitioned from high school to university. Results: The gulf between student and professor research expectations was found to be considerable, especially in areas such as time required for reading and research, and the resources necessary to do research. While students rated their preparedness for university as high, they also had high expectations related to their ability to use non-academic sources. Not unexpectedly, the majority of professors believed that students are not prepared to do university-level research, they do not take enough responsibility for their own learning, they should use more academic research sources, and read twice as much as students believe they should. Conclusions: By better understanding differing research expectations, students can be guided very early in their studies about appropriate academic research practices, and librarians and professors can provide students with improved research instruction. Strategies for working with students, professors and the university community are discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document