Academic mobility development in Turkey via English for specific purposes

Author(s):  
Irina Shelenkova ◽  
Laula Zherebayeva

Special skills, abilities and knowledge, necessary for professional growth and/or education in a foreign academic environment can be developed by means of foreign language learning. English language training in the context of academic mobility development should be based on high educational quality; advanced level of English demonstrated by students and academics; their informational, social and cultural preadaptation. The aim of the research is to apply this concept in practice and make Turkey more attractive for academics and students from other countries. The main result of the research will be the creation of the coursebook ‘Study, Teach and Research in Turkey. English for Academic Mobility’ for Intermediate/Upper-Intermediate learners, including Students’ Book, Teachers’ Book, DVD with audio and video material. The course development involves several stages. The course can be useful for university students and academics and language courses in Turkey and abroad. Keywords: Academic mobility; cultural preadaptation; higher education; teaching English.

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Enkin

Hybrid and online foreign language courses are becoming increasingly more important for students. However, several gaps in the literature point to needing studies investigating courses taught online, at the advanced level, and during intensive summer timeframes, since these classes can be advantageous for learners. This paper discusses an advanced-level online Spanish grammar course that was taught during the summer, and examines: (1) learning gains from a beginning-ofcourse test to end-of-course test (i.e., a pretest-posttest covering course content), and (2) students’ perceptions of the course gleaned from an end-of-course survey, which collected both quantitative and qualitative data. The pretest-posttest results showed a significant improvement in learners’ scores, and the survey results indicated mixed opinions. Specifically, positive course attributes included the course’s self-paced nature and practical benefits, however the course’s fast-paced nature may have led to several drawbacks. These findings offer insight into these types of courses, and may prove helpful for instructors who want to plan similar classes.


Relay Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 228-235
Author(s):  
Paul J. Moore ◽  
Phil Murphy ◽  
Luann Pascucci ◽  
Scott Sustenance

This paper reports on an ongoing study into the affordances of free online machine translation for students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) at the tertiary level in Japan. The researchers are currently collecting data from a questionnaire, task performance, and interviews with 10-15 EFL learners in an English Language Institute in a university in Japan. The paper provides some background on the changing role of translation in language learning theory and pedagogy, before focusing literature related to technical developments in machine translation technology, and its application to foreign language learning. An overview of the research methodology is provided, along with some insights into potential findings. Findings will be presented in subsequent publications.


English Today ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Nasir A. Syed ◽  
Shah Bibi

English is used as a lingua franca in most parts of the world (Ozaki, 2011). However, problems and issues related to learning English are country specific (Nagamine, 2011), because most of the difficulties in foreign language learning arise from L1 interference (Flege, 1995). Since this study focuses on acoustic analysis of a phonological feature of Pakistan English (PakE), we outline the historical background of the issue very briefly. Pakistan is a linguistically rich country. More than 70 languages are spoken in Pakistan (Rahman, 1996). Saraiki, Balochi, Sindhi, Punjabi and Pashto are the major indigenous languages of the country. More than 90% of the total population speaks these languages. Pakistan came into being in 1947. It inherited English as a language of education, law, the judiciary and media from the British colonial masters. The British rulers also used the English language in India for official correspondence. Therefore, English became a very effective tool and symbol of power in the subcontinent. As a result, people of the subcontinent feel pride in learning English. Although the colonial period has ended and the English rulers have departed to their homeland, English still remains the language of ruling elite in Pakistan and India.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 326
Author(s):  
Luis M. Dos Santos

Nursing curriculum usually focuses on vocational development to train students to become nursing professionals after graduation. However, due to the packed major schedule and curriculum, many students are not required to take additional foreign language courses for their associate degree. Based on the lens of social cognitive career theory, the researcher sought to understand the motivations and reasons behind the learning behaviours. One research question was guided in this study, which was, what are the motivations and reasons for taking foreign language courses beyond their (i.e., nursing students) major curriculum and coursework plan? A qualitative research method was employed to collect interview data from 60 nursing students. The finding of this study indicated that the interest in career development and personal consideration were two of the most important factors for foreign language learning for these groups of nursing students. The results of this study provided recommendations for college leaders, government agencies, and policymakers to reform and polish foreign language courses and offer directions to contemporary students of the nursing curriculum. Students may also be benefitted as the study outlined the motivations and reasons for foreign language learning. Therefore, all parties may take this study as a blueprint to exercise their future developments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Rafael Darque Pinto ◽  
Bruno Peixoto ◽  
Miguel Melo ◽  
Luciana Cabral ◽  
Maximino Bessa

Virtual reality has shown to have great potential as an educational tool when it comes to new learning methods. With the growth and dissemination of this technology, there is a massive opportunity for teachers to add this technology to their methods of teaching a second/foreign language, since students keep showing a growing interest in new technologies. This systematic review of empirical research aims at understanding whether the use of gaming strategies in virtual reality is beneficial for the learning of a second/foreign language or not. Results show that more than half of the articles proved that virtual reality technologies with gaming strategies can be used to learn a foreign language. It was also found that “learning” was the most evaluated dependent variable among the chosen records, augmented reality was the leading technology used, primary education and lower secondary was the most researched school stages, and the most used language to evaluate the use of gamified technology was by far the English language. Given the lack of directed investigation, it is recommended to use these technologies to support second language learning and not entirely replace traditional approaches. A research agenda is also proposed by the authors.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Bozorgian

Current English-as-a-second and foreign-language (ESL/EFL) research has encouraged to treat each communicative macroskill separately due to space constraint, but the interrelationship among these skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) is not paid due attention. This study attempts to examine first the existing relationship among the four dominant skills, second the potential impact of reading background on the overall language proficiency, and finally the relationship between listening and overall language proficiency as listening is considered an overlooked/passive skill in the pedagogy of the second/foreign language classroom. However, the literature in language learning has revealed that listening skill has salient importance in both first and second language learning. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of each of four skills in EFL learning and their existing interrelationships in an EFL setting. The outcome of 701 Iranian applicants undertaking International English Language Testing System (IELTS) in Tehran demonstrates that all communicative macroskills have varied correlations from moderate (reading and writing) to high (listening and reading). The findings also show that the applicants’ reading history assisted them in better performing at high stakes tests, and what is more, listening skill was strongly correlated with the overall language proficiency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-331
Author(s):  
Hélder Fanha Martins ◽  
Maria João Ferro

Among the essential challenges faced by students in foreign language learning processes is vocabulary learning. Lexical competence has been acknowledged as critical to the use of language in which the students’ inadequate knowledge of the vocabulary causes problems in learning a second language. Therefore, learners require being educated with vocabulary in learning strategies when learning a second language. Contemporary research has not scrutinised to the fullest the categories of strategies of vocabulary learning used by learners who are majoring in Accounting.  The main objective of this research was to understand how students use vocabulary learning strategies. For that, we adopted a qualitative approach, based on open-ended individual interviews with fifteen learners. The strategies that were concluded include the monolingual and bilingual dictionary use, usage of several media of English language, learning a word by specific texts, and application of new words in everyday conversation, interrelated to memory, strategies of metacognitive, and determination. These are common strategies and have keenly been used by students.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Ashfaque Hussain Soomro ◽  
Zaheer Ahmed Bango ◽  
Imran Khan Mahesar

<p><em>Foreign language learning is a complex process and is influenced by various factors. The attitude of students towards language learning is a major decisive factor in this process; therefore, the current study was carried out to explore this phenomenon. The students of English Works Program Sukkur, Sindh, Pakistan were the target population for the current study. The said program was initiated by a Karachi based organization which enrolled fifty students for a 240 hours certificate course in English language. The students already had some formal education ranging from Intermediate to Masters level and belonged to different age groups. The aim of this quantitative study was to investigate their language learning attitudes from three aspects: behavioral, cognitive and emotional. For data collection purposes, a questionnaire comprising 30 closed-ended items was adapted from Eshghinejad, (2016), Boonrangsri, Chuaymankhong, Rermyindee, &amp; Vongchittpinyo, (2004) and Gardner (1985). This was followed by descriptive and inferential statistical analysis by using independent sample t-test (SPSS-22). The results show that the students have positive attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language.</em></p><p> </p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-84
Author(s):  
Sevim Maviş ◽  
Fevzi Dursun

The purpose of this study is to discover the issues in teaching English from the perspective of teachers. The qualitative method was employed in the study by using semi-structured interview forms to 19 teachers from a central Black Sea region province of Turkey. The teachers highlighted the impact of learning-teaching process, teacher training, teacher-stakeholder relationship and students during the study. According to the teachers, students' prejudices against foreign language learning, interest in the subject, awareness of the importance of language learning, speaking skills, participation in the lesson and the environment they take the courses affect the language learning process. Nevertheless, the reasons for the problems are a lot more complex than this. The students are also need to be supported by the education system, by the parents and by teachers in this process. For instance, the results shows that there is a need for activities that will make students more active, and more suitable environments and materials (i.e. books) are needed for English language teaching. Also, the teachers need to the support of parents, administrators, and the other teachers to become more efficient. This research once again reveals the importance of interrelation of all factors and stakeholders as well as students' willingness and thoughts in teaching English.


Author(s):  
Anastasia Atabekova ◽  
Alexander Belousov ◽  
Oleg Yastrebov

The chapter explores language and non-language university students’ practices of foreign language learning within the unscheduled shift to remote studies in Russia due to the COVID-19 emergency. The RUDN University Law Institute experience is considered as an example. The paper explores common and specific features of foreign language, translation, and interpreting skills training within the Law Institute language and non-language programmes. The research rests on the case study methodology, considered from the policy-making and managerial point of view. The findings reveal both common features and specificities of multilingual university education of non-language and language students. The study also confirms the need for the educational institutions to draft specific guidelines on language courses implementation for different target audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.


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