scholarly journals Machine translation literacy: a panorama of practices at Swiss universities and implications for language teaching

2021 ◽  
pp. 80-87
Author(s):  
Alice Delorme Benites ◽  
Sara Cotelli Kureth ◽  
Caroline Lehr ◽  
Elizabeth Steele

This short paper presents the quantitative results of an online survey of Swiss university students and staff on their use of Machine Translation (MT). The analysis of the 3,713 responses throws light on the context, purposes, degree of successive revisions, and ethical considerations surrounding the use of MT. With regards to language teachers and students, the quantitative data allows us to draw three preliminary conclusions: MT is a well-established but unspoken practice in Swiss universities, MT is not seen as an alternative to language learning, and MT is seen and already being used as a tool to improve language skills.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-193
Author(s):  
Lucía Pintado Gutiérrez

AbstractThis article explores the agency of the student in translation in language teaching and learning (or TILT). The purpose of the case study discussed here is to gain an overview of students’ perceptions of translation into the foreign language (FL) (also known as “inverse translation”) following a module on language and translation, and to analyse whether there is any correlation between students’ attitude to translation, its impact on their language learning through effort invested, and the improvement of language skills. The results of the case study reveal translation to be a potentially exciting skill that can be central to FL learning and the analysis gives indications of how and why language teachers may optimise the implementation of translation in the classroom. The outcome of the study suggests that further research is needed on the impact of translation in the language classroom focussing on both teachers’ expectations and students’ achievements.


Author(s):  
Revathi Viswanathan

With the advancement in technological tools and devices, language teachers can foster learning of communication skills through mobile devices. There is a growing interest among students to use the latest gadgets for getting connected with their peers. It must be admitted that the usage of these devices would bring in a real revolution in the teaching and learning process. It has been widely accepted that mobile learning promotes students' active participation. Teachers also now understand that one of their responsibilities is to create more opportunities to make their students practice language skills. Although numerous researches has been done in the field of English Language Teaching in India, research on mobile assisted language learning is still in an infancy stage. In this chapter, the author discusses the possibility of offering training through mobile apps, based on research she conducted recently.


Author(s):  
Rastislav Metruk

Mobile technologies appear to be gaining in popularity regarding foreign language instruction they have recently proliferated in academic environments. M-learning opens up new possibilities and opportunities for both teachers and students, and it is inevitable that methodological approaches to pedagogy and ways of teaching foreign languages are accordingly adjusted and reevaluated. Despite the numerous significant advantages mobile technologies offer, scholars and educators have to take into consideration some barriers and limitations in this respect, and respond to both existing and future challenges. Moreover, the studies on MALL (mobile-assisted language learning) seem to be predominantly focused on benefits of specific technological advances when the advantages of MALL are discussed. This article attempts to present a critical review of the literature which deals with MALL as further research and exploration in this area is necessary, especially with regard to challenges and barriers language teachers face when m-technologies are employed. Three major drawbacks related to using mobile technologies in teaching are predominantly discussed, namely learner distraction, cheating, and teacher perception and readiness. Moreover, proposing feasible solutions to the challenges and barriers is also discussed in the article.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Bushra Alamri ◽  
Hala Hassan Fawzi

<p>Error correction has been one of the core areas in the field of English language teaching. It is “seen as a form of feedback given to learners on their language use” (Amara, 2015). Many studies investigated the use of different techniques to correct students’ oral errors. However, only a few focused on students’ preferences and attitude toward oral error correction techniques, which determine students’ success in language learning. This quantitative research explored teachers’ and students’ preferences as well as students’ attitude toward the use of oral error correction techniques in the language classroom. The participants of the study were English language students and English language teachers at Yanbu University College (YUC) in Yanbu Industrial City, Saudi Arabia. A classroom observation checklist and questionnaires were used to collect the data. The study findings revealed that recast and explicit correction are the preferred techniques by the majority of the students and teachers. The findings also indicated that students have positive attitude toward oral error correction. As the classroom observation revealed that recast was highly used by teachers, it is recommended that teachers should also use other techniques to correct students’ oral errors. In addition, it is recommended that before correcting students’ oral errors teachers should always take into account the purpose of the activity and the proficiency level of students.</p>


PMLA ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald D. Walsh

Describing a year's activity in a half-hour report is an annual challenge that grows more difficult as the pace and scope of the activity increase. The Foreign Language Program is in some ways the victim of its success. One of our early goals was to become an information center and we have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. Requests for materials, information, opinions, and assistance threaten to overwhelm us daily. Three members of the staff do nothing but answer these requests. The ones that are unanswerable are put in my in-basket. Telephone calls and visitors multiply. All this activity we are tempted to think of as interruptions to our real job, long-range planning, deep thinking, foreign languages in the next century. But in a very real sense the magnitude of the interruptions to our job is the sign that we are succeeding, that more and more foreign-language teachers and students and more and more people in general want to know the answers to questions and the solutions to problems of which they were hardly conscious a few years ago. There has been a revolution in language learning in this country and among recent visitors to our office have been language teachers and administrators from all over the world (France, England, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Africa, Australia), who have come to find out what we are doing.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Benavides

This study determines the effects of the application of multimedia technology -Computer-Assisted language learning (CALL) in the development of five language skills using ‘English Discoveries’. It shows that the effects of multimedia materials for language learning are not necessarily better as a whole, but different from those obtained in traditional classroom work. Only two of the five variables showed significant differences in favor of the use of Multimedia: pronunciation and oral production. However, grammar showed opposite results. The teachers’ and students’ reactions suggest the need to adapt their roles to the new context in the future use of CALL and multimedia. The high level of acceptance of this type of materials by the students shows the need for more research and better adaptation of activities to the new context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 672
Author(s):  
Radiah Alsolami

Corrective feedback is an important element in the language learning process. The issue of corrective feedback in language classrooms has been investigated by numerous scholars who believe that the strategy can effectively be used to improve the language skills of students. Though many forms of feedback approaches are used in learning, oral corrective feedback is the commonly used strategy in teaching languages. This is mainly because it captures the diverse elements of language lessons such as pronunciations and spelling. Oral corrective feedback presents a broad field which assists both teachers and students in error identification and eradication. It mainly focuses on highlighting the common errors and mistakes and addressing them enabling the students to avoid them in the future. This paper mainly explores the impact of oral corrective feedback on the language skills of learners. It generally analyses articles that address the issue of oral corrective feedback and derives information regarding the impact of the strategy in language learning outcomes.


2021 ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Milind M. Ahire

Abstract Music soothes, relaxes, and motivates irrespective of age. We listen to music for pleasure among other reasons. It creates a refreshing effect. Nonetheless, it is rarely exploited as a learning tool by teachers and students. Conversely, it occupies a larger portion of student’s and teacher’s interests. The use of music serves a dual purpose: It motivates and, consequently, helps to enrich learning as an enjoyable affair. Music/songs may be used through three levels. It would mark the gradual development of learning using music. First, using music as an element of entertainment, moving on to use it to state the interface between music and learning and concluding with using music to learn specific language skills and linguistic units. The article elaborates on how using nursery rhymes as an instructional strategy in ELT classroom can be effective in language learning skills and grammatical components. Keywords: Music, Pedagogy, Nursery Rhymes, ELT


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Mazen Ismaeel Ghareb ◽  
Saman Ali Mohammed

Although the benefits of blended learning have been well documented in educational research, relatively few studies have examined blended mobilities in education in Kurdistan region government and in Iraq. This study discusses a blended mobility approach for a teacher training program designed for in-service English language teachers (ELT) and investigates its effectiveness by comparing the latest participation of the University of Human Development for computer science and proposing the same program for training English for lecturers and students. The research involved proposes new mobility program for teaching and learning English language and using their language skills in an ongoing business project using several software for communication and management of their projects. Results will show the framework for new blended learning and blended mobilities of many different English language teaching (ELT) aspects.


Author(s):  
I. N. Kosheleva

Listening is not only one of the most important language skills, which is necessary for everyday communication, but an integral part  of foreign language learning. It is evident that the students need an  effective training in building auditory skills. However, proper  attention is seldom paid to the process of listening to the English  speech, altering phoneme recognition in the stream of speech, which  often causes difficulties in audio-comprehension. The subject  of this research is facilitation of teaching listening comprehension to  the students of non-linguistic universities. The purpose of the article is to identify the core phonological features of coherent  English speech and provide the examples of activities aimed at their  recognition. The methodological framework of the conducted  research is represented by bottom-up approach to teaching listening  and the tenet that speech perception and comprehension by ear is a  process. Therefore, the ability to correctly decode phonemes, words,  phrases and infer meaning plays an utmost role. In thiscontext the students’ wrong answers should be analyzed, it contributes to determining the point of misunderstanding. It is  shown that making students aware of phonological features  of  coherent English speech helps them to overcome difficulties in  audiotext perception and thus enhances teaching listening  comprehension. The results of the research can be of interest to  both foreign language teachers and to the researchers dealing with  English phonetics learning. Finally, the conclusions are drawn that a  successful development of listening skills requires a combination of  the bottom-up and top-down approaches. This enables teaching staff  to create favorable conditions for acquisition of one of the most challenging language skills.


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