scholarly journals Internationalization and English as a Medium of Instruction in Mongolian Higher Education: A New Concept

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-66
Author(s):  
Sainbayar Gundsambuu
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Current Process ◽  
Global Trend ◽  
International Profile ◽  
The Impact

The impact of globalization leaves no choice to universities but to go toward internationalization in order to survive in the growing competition in higher education. Following the global trend of internationalization, Mongolian universities plan to increase courses and programs in English in order to improve their competitiveness and ultimately to become internationally visible, at least in Asia. Based on two types of data, documents and an online survey, this study discusses the current process of internationalization at Mongolian universities and explores how faculty members perceive the rationales of implementing English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI). The findings revealed that the Mongolian government is the key player in internationalization through policies, taking initiatives, and encouraging national universities. The faculty members of the two leading private universities in Mongolia perceived that the introduction of EMI at their universities intends to improve their graduates’ English language skills to operate globally and as well as to promote their university’s international profile.

scholarly journals Language Policy and Power in Out-of-Classroom EFL Contexts: The Case of English Departments in Saudi Arabian Higher Education Institutions

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
Mohammad Almoaily
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
English Language ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
The Impact

Most of the research on language policies in educational institutions has hitherto focused on the creation, interpretation, or appropriation of language policies that govern language use in the classroom. Language policies, however, can be instantiated or implemented in out-of-classroom settings. Hence, the current study examines the impact of language policies, in terms of both beliefs and practices, as mechanisms of power in communication between staff members in official meetings taking place at higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia. An online survey taken by 208 members, in addition to semi-structured interviews with eight department chairpersons, revealed that the implementation of monolingual English language policies can minimize the proportion of engagement of staff members, who are less competent in English, in department council meetings, committee meetings, and other official meetings. The data also suggested that the majority of participants in the study believe that multilingual language policies (allowing the use of both Arabic and English) should be avoided in order to not exclude non-Arabic speaking staff members from participation in official dialogue. The study concludes with implications for language policy creation and implementation for out-of-classroom English use in EFL educational institutions.

Improving English L2 Writing in Web Communication: Can Peer Feedback Help?

Fachsprache ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 94-121
Author(s):  
Marian Flanagan ◽  
Carmen Heine
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Peer Feedback ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Teacher Feedback ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Feedback Process ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Web Communication

As teachers of English as a second language (L2) in web communication, our aim is to help L2 students improve their spoken and written English language skills. Teacher feedback has been shown to do this in some cases. However, only using teacher feedback can put huge pressure on the teacher, both in terms of time and resources. This paper describes and discusses our attempt at introducing peer feedback as an additional way of providing students with feedback on their English writing. Before conducting this study, we did not know if peer feedback would be feasible in our teaching environment or whether it would benefit the students and teachers. Our aim was to establish a status quo of our students’ abilities in providing and implementing peer feedback. We introduced peer-feedback tasks and focused on the types of feedback provided by the students, the phrasing of the feedback, both when implemented and not implemented by the students, and the types of revisions made by the students. Our findings allowed us to develop peer-feedback process guidelines for web communication as a way towards improving written feedback processes in higher education, and hopefully for others to adapt and implement in their own communication classrooms.

scholarly journals Challenges of the Sudden Switch from Mother Tongue Instruction to English as a Medium of Instruction

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Shahinaz Abdullah Bukhari
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
English Language ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Classroom Communication ◽  
Mother Tongue Instruction

The present study explored the challenges encountered through the transition from using the mother tongue as a medium of instruction at schools to using English as a medium of instruction at universities. Two focus groups were conducted with Saudi undergraduates and faculty members from different Saudi universities. The focus groups investigated how participants perceive this experience, what difficulties they face and how they cope. Participants expressed their preference for using English as a medium of instruction in higher education to maximise students’ future and international opportunities. Participant students reported difficulties in lecture comprehension, taking notes while listening and classroom communication. Participant content lecturers reported difficulties related to students’ reluctance to speak in English, lack of English terminology and insufficient lecture comprehension. Some suggestions that have been offered to overcome these challenges include the following: designing adequate trainings for content lecturers on teaching their content in English; using Arabic-English bilingualism as medium of instruction; giving emphasis to academic literacy and communication skills over the use of standard English models and enhancing the collaborative work between English language teaching practitioners and content lecturers.

scholarly journals Investigating the impact of status and context on workplace incivility.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Irwin ◽  
Charlotte Patricia Irvine ◽  
Barbara Bekes ◽  
Emily Nordmann
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Behavior ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
Staff Retention ◽  
Teaching Context ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Incivility has been reported as having an adverse impact on student learning, faculty staff retention and student commitment within Higher Education. As such this behaviour has the potential to reduce student achievement and could have a financial impact on institutions. The aim of this two-stage study was to examine the impact of teaching context (lecture versus tutorial) and instigator status (staff versus student) on the perception and impact of incivility in academia. Study 1 recruited participants from Scotland and utilised a vignette-based approach to evaluate status and context effects across four fictional teaching scenarios, each illustrating the uncivil behaviour of ignoring someone. Study 2 recruited participants from the UK and Ireland and used an online survey to gather quantitative and qualitative data investigating uncivil behaviours within lectures and tutorials. The combined results indicate that the uncivil behaviours absenteeism, non-participation, ignoring and unrelated behaviours were all more frequent during a lecture in comparison to a tutorial. Uncivil behaviours were associated with a higher emotional impact within tutorials as opposed to lectures and an assertive response to incivility was more likely in a tutorial than a lecture. In terms of status student behavior was perceived as more uncivil than the equivalent staff behavior, yet a higher emotional response was reported for staff as opposed to student incivility, regardless of context. These results indicate the need for a tailored context-specific approach to addressing incivility within Higher Education, with practical implications discussed.

scholarly journals What happens to international students’ english after one semester at university?

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 4.1-4.17
Author(s):  
Neomy Storch ◽  
Kathryn Hill
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Language Test ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
The Impact

There is a common expectation, particularly amongst international students, that studying in an English-medium university should automatically produce a significant improvement in their English language skills. However, there is growing evidence to suggest that this is not necessarily the case.This paper reports on a study which investigated the impact of one semester of study at a university on the English language proficiency of a sample of 40 international students. This was measured by comparing the students’ scores on a diagnostic English language test at the beginning and end of their first semester. A comparison of discourse measures of writing in terms of fluency, complexity and accuracy was also undertaken. Background information, including details of ESL support, if any, was collected for all participants via questionnaires, and interviews were conducted with a subset of the participants.It was found that studying in an English-medium university generally led to an improvement in English language proficiency. The paper identifies a number of factors which appear to support language development, as well as factors that may inhibit it.

scholarly journals Validating the technology-assisted supplemental work scale (TASW)

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 475-481
Author(s):  
Kajal Kotecha ◽  
Wilfred Isioma Ukpere ◽  
Madelyn Geldenhuys
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
The Impact

The traditional advantage of using Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) to enhance work flexibility also has a drawback of enabling academics to continue working even after regular working hours. This phenomenon has been referred to as technology-assisted supplemental work (TASW). Although TASW enhances academics’ work productively, they also have a negative impact on their family-life. The impact TASW has on academics and on higher education institutions can be understood by measuring the phenomenon properly by using a reliable and valid scale. The aim of this study is too validate a newly developed TASW scale by Fenner and Renn (2010). This study adopted a quantitative research approach and used an online survey to gather data. The sample included academic from a higher education in South Africa (n = 216). The results indicate that the TASW is a valid and reliable measure of technology among the sample of South African academics.

Postgraduate Internationalisation in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (07) ◽  
pp. 1791-1805
Author(s):  
Concepta McManus ◽  
Abilio Afonso Baeta Neves ◽  
Cyntia Oliveira ◽  
Henrique De Oliveira Castro
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Strategic Planning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Funding Agency ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Current State ◽  
Funding Agencies ◽  
Almost All

Understanding the current state of the Internationalisation of postgraduate courses in Brazil was essential to serve as a basis for constructing effective policies in funding agencies. It also helps to understand the capacity of the higher education institution to carry out more effective strategic planning and internationalisation plans. This study looks at replies to a Brazilian national funding agency (CAPES) questionnaire on Internationalisation within Higher Education Institutes in Brazil, based on the postgraduate experience. Results showed that Internationalisation is based on mobility with little comprehensive thinking on its role towards academic achievement within the Postgraduate Programs realities, beyond the mobile individual.  English language skills need to be improved. While most institutions have offices that treat this theme, they lack an active engagement with the postgraduate programs and strategic planning, seen as vital for almost all institutions.  Resources are necessary to build infrastructure and capacitate lecturers and staff to this end.

Entry Barriers for Academically-Underprepared African American Students at American Institutions

2022 ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
John Robert Harrell II
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
College Students ◽  
African American ◽  
Education System ◽  
English Language ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Program Completion ◽  
African American College Students ◽  
Racial Oppression ◽  
The Impact

The impact of systematic racism within the education system has been a web that researchers have aimed at detangling for many years. The myriad effects that racial oppression have had on the education system are numerous; one area of overwhelming concern is the impact on incoming students' readiness to do college-level work in math and English language arts. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the historical implications that race has had on systems of higher education and to describe the perceptions of a subset of African American college students in Texas regarding barriers to college access and program completion during times of crisis. The researcher will use the historical context of racial oppression and the establishment of higher education systems. The demographics shifts to provide a lens through which the perceptions of a sample of African American college students' experiences can be viewed. Ultimately, this chapter aims to share the lived experiences of these students and give voice to college success data.

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