scholarly journals Motivational Factors in the Acquisition of Welsh in Poland

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Rosiak ◽  
Michael Hornsby
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Catholic University ◽  
Welsh Language ◽  
Group Interviews

Abstract For some years now, Welsh has been taught as a foreign language outside Wales, most especially in other Celtic countries, central Europe – and Poland. The first courses were established in the Catholic University of Lublin in the 1980s, and this provision has expanded over the years to include a Celtic language specialisation within the Faculty of English at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Relying at first on teachers from Wales to provide instruction in Welsh, the Centre for Celtic Studies is increasingly producing new, competent speakers/users of Welsh among the Poles. An obvious question to be asked concerns motivational issues – why, on the eastern edges of the European Union, are there people willing to put the effort into learning a language from the far west of Europe, when they have, in some cases, little contact with regular users of Welsh? Through the use of focus group interviews, the present study attempts to discover what motivates Polish students to study Welsh in a context of limited direct contact with the speakers of the language and limited, indirect access to Welsh language and culture.

scholarly journals An Empirical Investigation of Foreign Language Anxiety in Pakistani University

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Illahi Bux Gopang ◽  
Sanaullah Ansari ◽  
Ume Kulsoom ◽  
Abdullah Laghari
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Pedagogical Strategies ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Group Interviews

This study aimed to investigate foreign language anxiety at tertiary level in Pakistan. It adopted a mixed methods approach. Firstly, foreign language anxiety scale was employed as a research tool for data collection. In addition, the focus group interviews were also conducted to have in depth understanding of anxiety under investigation. Data were randomly collected from 100 participants (Male= 94; Female= 6) from different disciplines who were enrolled to learn English at Lasbela University, Baluchistan. The findings of this study indicate anxiety of participants in learning English language. Specifically, participants were reported more anxious in test anxiety which was rated high by students with total (Mean= 40.5; SD= 7.00), second, communication apprehension is rated with (Mean= 28.8; SD= 5.22) and last but not least is fear of negative evaluation with (Mean= 23.7; SD= 5.93). In focus group interviews, this study frequently recorded some factors such as poor academic background, fear of taking tests in English, fear of making mistakes and fear of evaluation from teachers which maximize the level of anxiety among the participants. This study suggests some pedagogical strategies which may be considered learning and teaching practices at university level education. Among the strategies, most frequently discussed in interviews were teachers should create rapport among students especially with those who are inactive and passive in learning classroom and they should respect students’ feelings and emotions in front of other peers in class These strategies tend to help teachers to minimize anxiety level of participants in classroom. 

Management Strategy for Distributing Questionnaires and Interview Guidelines in the Research Data Collection Process

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-111
Author(s):  
Po. Abas Sunarya ◽  
George Iwan Marantika ◽  
Adam Faturahman
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Management Strategy ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Good Management ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Data Collection Process ◽  
Group Interviews

Writing can mean lowering or describing graphic symbols that describe a languageunderstood by someone. For a researcher, management of research preparation is a veryimportant step because this step greatly determines the success or failure of all researchactivities. Before a person starts with research activities, he must make a written plan commonlyreferred to as the management of research data collection. In the process of collecting researchdata, of course we can do the management of questionnaires as well as the preparation ofinterview guidelines to disseminate and obtain accurate information. With the arrangement ofplanning and conducting interviews: the ethics of conducting interviews, the advantages anddisadvantages of interviews, the formulation of interview questions, the schedule of interviews,group and focus group interviews, interviews using recording devices, and interview bias.making a questionnaire must be designed with very good management by giving to theinformation needed, in accordance with the problem and all that does not cause problems at thestage of analysis and interpretation.

scholarly journals Counter-talk as symbolic boundary drawing: Challenging legitimate cultural practices in individual and focus group interviews in the lower regions of social space

2021 ◽  
pp. 003802612110144
Author(s):  
Riie Heikkilä ◽  
Anu Katainen
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Moral Boundaries ◽  
Popular Classes ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Symbolic Boundary

In qualitative interviews, challenges such as deviations from the topic, interruptions, silences or counter-questions are inevitable. It is debatable whether the researcher should try to alleviate them or consider them as important indicators of power relations. In this methodological article, we adopt the latter view and examine the episodes of counter-talk that emerge in qualitative interviews on cultural practices among underprivileged popular classes by drawing on 49 individual and focus group interviews conducted in the highly egalitarian context of Finland. Our main aim is to demonstrate how counter-talk emerging in interview situations could be fruitfully analysed as moral boundary drawing. We identify three types of counter-talk: resisting the situation, resisting the topic, and resisting the interviewer. While the first type unites many of the typical challenges inherent to qualitative interviewing in general (silences, deviations from the topic and so forth), the second one shows that explicit taste distinctions are an important feature of counter-talk, yet the interviewees mostly discuss them as something belonging to the personal sphere. Finally, the third type reveals how the strongest counter-talk and clearest moral boundary stemmed from the interviewees’ attitudes towards the interviewer herself. We argue that counter-talk in general should be given more importance as a key element of the qualitative interview. We demonstrate that all three types of counter-talk are crucial to properly understanding the power relations and moral boundaries present in qualitative interviews and that cultural practices are a particularly good topic to tease them out.

scholarly journals We Want More Than Life-Sustaining Treatment during End-of-Life Care: Focus-Group Interviews

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4415
Author(s):  
Mirinae Kim ◽  
Minju Kim
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Treatment Needs ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Basic Care ◽  
Life Sustaining Treatment ◽  
Group Interviews

We qualitatively investigated end-of-life care needs. Data were collected via focus-group interviews with three groups: young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. The key question was, “What kind of care would you like to receive at the end of life?” Interview data were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. End-of-life care needs were classified into six categories: life-sustaining treatment needs, physical care needs, emotional care needs, environmental needs, needs for respect, and needs for preparation for death. Because the Korean culture is family-oriented and talking about death is taboo, Korean patients at the end of their life do not make decisions about life-sustaining treatment or actively prepare for death. Therefore, to provide proper end-of-life care, conversations and shared decision-making among patients and their families are crucial. Further, we must respect patients’ dignity and help them achieve a good death by understanding patients’ basic care preferences. Future research should continue examining end-of-life care needs that reflect the social and cultural context of Korea to inform instrument development.

scholarly journals A Qualitative Study on Employees’ Experiences of a Support model for Systematic Work Environment Management

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (19) ◽  
pp. 3551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Hellman ◽  
Fredrik Molin ◽  
Magnus Svartengren
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Work Groups ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Environment Management ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Support Model

Background: The aim is to explore how an organisational work environment support model, the Stamina model, influences employees’ work situations and the development of sustainable work systems. Methods: It was a qualitative study with semi-structured, focus-group interviews, including 45 employees from six work groups. Eighteen focus group interviews were conducted over a period of two years. Data were analysed with constant comparative method. Results: The core category, shifting focus from an individual to an organisational perspective of work, illustrated how communication and increased understanding of one’s work tasks changed over time and contributed to deeper focus on the actual operation. These insights were implemented at different time points among the work groups during the two-year process. Conclusions: Our results indicate that working with the model engages employees in the work environment management, puts emphasis on reflections and discussions about the meaning and purpose of the operations and enables a shared platform for communication. These are important features that need to continue over time in order to create a sustainable work system. The Stamina model, thus seems to have the potential to promote productive and healthy work places.

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