scholarly journals Learning foreign languages in teletandem: Resources and strategies

Author(s):  
João A. TELLES

ABSTRACT Teletandem is a virtual, collaborative, and autonomous context in which two speakers of different languages use the text, voice, and webcam image resources of VOIP technology (Skype) to help each other learn their native language (or language of proficiency). This paper focuses on learners' studying processes and their responses to teletandem. We collected quantitative and qualitative data from 134 university students through an online questionnaire. Results show the content of students' learning processes, resources, activities, and strategies. We conclude with a critical discussion of the results and raise pedagogical implications for the use o-f teletandem as a mode of online intercultural contact to learn foreign languages.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurelija Daukšaitė-Kolpakovienė ◽  

Lithuanian university students’ motivation to study English as an obligatory study subject seems to be not researched. This is the reason why this study attempts to fill in the existing gap by aiming to learn how motivated Lithuanian students are to learn English at a liberal arts university in which English (as a foreign language) is obligatory to study. 61 upper-intermediate level students at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in Kaunas (Lithuania) were involved in the study and filled in an anonymous online questionnaire to reflect on their motivation to study English. The questionnaire involved statements on demographic information and 21 statements on different types of motivation. In addition, the research participants needed to explain in writing why they chose specific statements (all of which started with I study English because…). Thus, it was a quantitative and qualitative study, since qualitative data is lacking in various previous research on student motivation. The findings show that the Lithuanian university students are mostly instrumentally oriented. They hardly see English as an obligatory subject, even though it is, and intend to use it mainly as a tool to achieve various goals in the future, for instance, while travelling, communicating and working. Therefore, English teachers should place the learning content in these contexts to increase student motivation to study. This research may also have implications for the teaching of other obligatory non-speciality subjects at a liberal arts university, such as VMU.


Author(s):  
Yolanda Marcén-Román ◽  
Angel Gasch-Gallen ◽  
Irene Isabel Vela Martín de la Mota ◽  
Estela Calatayud ◽  
Isabel Gómez-Soria ◽  
...  

Today’s COVID-19 situation can affect university Health Sciences students’ psychological health. This study aimed to analyze the stress caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Health Sciences students from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) almost 1 year after the pandemic began. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with a sample of 252 university students who completed a self-administered online questionnaire. It evaluated the impact of perceived stress with a modified scale (PSS-10-C), and assessed anxiety and depression on the Goldberg scale. Students presented stress (13.1%), anxiety (71.4%) and depression (81%). Females (81.7%) and the third-year Occupational Therapy students (p = 0.010) reported perceived stress. Nursing students perceived less stress (OR: 0.148; 95% CI: 0.026 to 0.842). University students developed stress and anxiety due to COVID-19 almost 1 year after the pandemic began. Psychological support measures for these groups should be prioritized.


Author(s):  
Kevin Filo ◽  
Millicent Kennelly ◽  
Richard J. Buning ◽  
Rana Sobh

Research into participatory sport event experiences and wellbeing outcomes has increased, however, much of this work explores Western contexts. The purpose of the current research is to examine the wellbeing outcomes related to sport event participation in Qatar, as well as how these outcomes differ across nationalities and by gender. An online questionnaire was administered to participants of the 2017 Ooredoo Doha Marathon (ODM) (N = 239). Inductive coding of responses to the open-ended items uncovered activation of relationships, meaning and accomplishment. The qualitative data revealed that event participation allowed participants to strengthen personal connections with others, fostered a sense of direction and allowed for goal setting among participants, and enabled participants to experience achievement. Meanwhile, generalized linear modelling revealed Qatari nationals and expats as well as males and females differentially reported wellbeing based on PERMA domains.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 275-286
Author(s):  
Nor Adila Kedin ◽  
Izni Syamsina Saari ◽  
Hamidah Muhd Irpan ◽  
Ainon Syazana Ab Hamid ◽  
Noor Ibtisam Abdul Karim

The rapid growth of higher education institutions in Malaysia is parallel with the growing demand of its population pursuing tertiary education. For such reason, universities and other tertiary education providers are constantly challenged in providing sufficient in-campus accommodation to help students living comfortably. Regardless of their continuous effort in improving their facilities, the issue of shortage of students’ accommodation persists; thus, boosting the demand for rental properties surrounding campus location. This opens the opportunity for homeowners who own rental units within proximity to a campus location to target students as their potential tenants. Therefore, it is worth the effort for homeowners to understand students’ preferences when searching for a rental unit. In line with the stipulated issue, this study aims to investigate university students’ perceived perception of five relevant criteria when searching for a rental house. This study employed a quantitative research design with a total of 150 respondents were successfully gathered via an online questionnaire. These respondents are off-campus students studying at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Melaka campus. The result of the descriptive analysis revealed that many of the respondentsplaced rental agreement as to the utmost important criterion when deciding to rent a property. It was followed by the location of the property, the surrounding security, rental price, and finally utilities and amenities. From this study, it was suggested that the homeowner should emphasize all the mentioned criteria as it was relatively perceived as significant by potential tenants. It is recommended for future researchers to expand this study at other geographic locations in addition to examine other criteria focused on by tenants when searching for a rental house.


2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Cari Merkley

A Review of: Shenton, Andrew K. “The Information-Seeking Problems of English High Schoolers Responding to Academic Information Need.” Library Review 57.4 (2008): 276-88. Objective – To investigate the information-seeking behaviour of high school students looking to meet school-related information needs. Design – Online questionnaire. Setting – A comprehensive, publically-funded high school in north-east England. Subjects – Seventy-seven high school students between the ages of 13 and 18 who responded to an online questionnaire that was distributed to the 900-1000 students enrolled at the institution. Methods – An invitation to participate in an online questionnaire was sent to all students at the high school in October, 2006, via e-mail. The total number of invitations sent was not indicated, although it is noted that current enrolment at the school is approximately 900-1000 students across years 9 to 13. In the e-mail, students were provided with a link to a questionnaire posted on the school’s intranet. The questionnaire consisted of six multiple-choice and three open-ended questions. Qualitative data gathered through an open-ended question about problems encountered when seeking information for school was manually coded, and forms the focus of this article. Main Results – Seventy-seven online questionnaires were completed by students between 31 October and 27 November 2006, when analysis of the data began. Of the 77 respondents, only 35 provided data on problems encountered when seeking information for their assignments. Most of the respondents in this group were in years nine, ten and eleven (ages 13-16), with only two in year 12 (16-17) and four in year 13 (17-18). Over half (19/35) of respondents were female. Forty remaining respondents either stated that they experienced no problems in finding the information they needed for school or did not answer the relevant question on the questionnaire. Two participants indicated that they did not have the information they needed to complete their schoolwork because they did not look for it. Over 20 distinct information-seeking problems were identified through inductive analysis of the qualitative data provided by 35 participants. Difficulties encountered in the search for information largely fell into four major categories: problems determining an appropriate search strategy; barriers posed by limited school resources or Internet filtering software; “process frustrations” (280) stemming from the perceived inadequacies of search engines, poorly designed Web sites, and missing or broken Web links; and, “shortcomings in the retrieved information” (281) in terms of relevance and accuracy. In addition, a small number of students either indicated that they had difficulty applying the information they found to the problem that prompted the search, or were concerned about copyright restrictions on how they could use the information. All but two of the problems reported by students related to information-seeking on the Web. The Web was the most popular source of information for students, with 71 out of 77 respondents listing it as one of the sources or the only source they consulted for school. Conclusion – The results suggest a need for information literacy instruction among high school students, with a particular focus on effective use of the Web. The author suggests that some of the students’ frustrations may have been due to an “over-reliance” on Web resources, and could have been avoided if they were educated in the use of additional types of tools (286). This reliance on Web search engines proved problematic when Web filters impeded the students’ academic research. Some of the problems reported by students in 2006 in the search for academic information were similar to those recounted by students in 1999-2000 for the author’s earlier fieldwork in the same geographic area, including concerns about the accuracy or lack of detail of some Web sources, difficulties identifying effective search terms, and barriers posed by Internet filters. Additional research is needed to determine whether students experience the same difficulties when searching for information to meet personal needs and interests as they do when they are searching for information at the behest of a teacher.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-72
Author(s):  
Darío Luis Banegas

This paper investigates the conceptions of research held by English as a foreign language teachers in Argentina. Quantitative data from 622 participants from an online questionnaire were followed by qualitative data from online interviews with 40 of those participants. Results show that the teachers conceptualised research through conventional notions closer to a quantitative paradigm. They felt research was not part of their job, and a lack of time was the main reason for not engaging in/with research. Teacher development, agency, empowerment, and autonomy could be sought by engaging teachers with forms of research which are meaningful to them, such as action research.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanne Jean-Pierre ◽  
Sabrin Hassan ◽  
Asha Sturge ◽  
Kiaras Gharabaghi ◽  
Megan Lewis ◽  
...  

<div> <div> <div> <p>Advocacy is an integral part of child and youth care workers’ roles and a significant component of child and youth care politicized praxis and radical youth work. Drawing from the qualitative data of a mixed-methods study conducted in 2019 at a Canadian metropolitan university, this study seeks to unpack how the pedagogy of the lightning talk can foster advocacy skills to effectively and spontaneously speak out with and on behalf of children, youth, and families in everyday practice when an unforeseen systemic challenge or barrier arises. A purposive sample of 70 undergraduate students was recruited in two child and youth care courses, both of which required students to present a lightning talk. Participants completed an online questionnaire with closed-ended and open-ended questions in order to share their perspectives of the pedagogy of the lightning talk. The findings show that the lightning talk fosters twenty-first century and metacognitive skills and, most importantly, advocacy skills. </p> </div> </div> </div>


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 177-182
Author(s):  
Elena Dubrovskaya

The article considers the phenomenon of gamification in education, studies various electronic resources creating educational quizzes, presents a comparative analysis of their advantages and disadvantages in order to teach foreign languages to University students. To prove the efficiency, the results of a comparative experiment of the use of electronic resources for creating quizzes are given.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alper Çuhadaroğlu

In this study, the relationships between university students and their perceptions of gender roles and epistemological beliefs were investigated. Gender roles are a phenomenon that are determined by culture, and begin to emerge at an early age, which may include some stereotypical behaviors along with a number of attitudes, duties and obligations that the individual is expected to perform as a woman or a man. Epistemological belief is seen as an individual feature of how knowing and learning take place. In this study, a mixed method was used. The quantitative study group consists of 517 students from both universities, while the qualitative study group consists of 85 people. Gender Role Attitudes Scale and Epistemological Beliefs Scale were used to collect quantitative data. In order to obtain qualitative data, participants were given a form consisting of open-ended questions. According to the analyses, it was determined that there was a significant relationship between the participants' epistemological beliefs and gender roles attitudes and, epistemological beliefs were a significant predictor of gender roles attitudes. The results obtained are discussed in line with the existing literature. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0798/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>


Author(s):  
Gürhan Durak ◽  
Serkan Çankaya

With the Covid-19 pandemic, which was effective all over the world in early 2020, emergency distance education applications started. Universities in Turkey also suffered from this situation and quickly started their own distance education applications using their own facilities. Different applications carried out by universities have had different reflections upon education. For example, while some universities provided compulsory live classes, some universities did not. Students are the most important component of this process. In this respect, the purpose of this study was to examine university students' views about emergency distance education during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this qualitatively designed study, 32 students from 4 different universities were asked for their views. An online questionnaire form made up of open-ended questions was used as the data collection tool. The data were analyzed using the content analysis method, and the themes were created. As a result, two of the four universities used the software of Microsoft Teams as a distance education system, while others preferred the software of Moodle and ALMS. It could be said that the students who used Microsoft Teams, which is an integrated system where live lessons can be held, were more satisfied in this process. In addition, the students' views about the distance education system, the positive and negative aspects of the system, live course practices, communication with the instructor, getting feedback, socialization, motivation, academic performance, comparison with traditional teaching, etc. were reported and interpreted within the scope of the theories of Uses and Gratifications and Diffusion of Innovations. It was seen that among the university students almost all of whom were anxious before the distance education, the worries of those who took live lessons and used an integrated system were completely removed. In this respect, within the scope of the distance education system, it could be stated that the elements of live lessons and interaction have great importance for students. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0720/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>


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