scholarly journals An Analysis of EFL Learners’ Needs for Student-Centered Translation Course Design

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Hui-chuan Wang

<p><em>In recent years, translation learning has been a main focus of university language learners, but no studies in students’ needs have been explored for translation course design. Thus, the current research aimed to analyze EFL learners’ needs for student-centered translation course design. The subjects were 90 juniors from the Department of Applied Foreign Languages at a technological university in central Taiwan. The instrument was a 45-item questionnaire on learning goals, course planning, instructional materials, teaching and learning, and evaluation. Descriptive analysis was conducted on the Likert-scale questionnaire items to calculate frequencies, percentages, means, ranks, and standard deviations. The results showed that English-major students believed translation courses are required for both language and working skill training. The findings also implied that translation curriculum should involve more authentic materials, learning activities, and evaluation. The genres and topics selection need to take learners’ interests and small ‘c’ cultural knowledge into account. It is also suggested that classes be smaller to increase interactions between teachers and students. With explicit guidelines, group work in a translation course can lead to success in translation learning. The practical implications of the current study were also discussed. </em></p>

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 139-144
Author(s):  
Muhammad Badrus Sholeh ◽  
Sahril Nur ◽  
Kisman Salija

Task-Based Learning (TBL) is one of the contemporary approaches, which has attracted a great deal of study in recent decades. It is a language education approach that offers students the opportunity to use authentic target language use by tasks. Task-Based Learning drives skill-based teaching and learning, engages students in the learning process, motivates and enhances student imagination. This paper focuses on some fundamental aspects of TBL in literature: (1) the task-based learning definition, (2) the task-based learning characteristics, (3) the task-based learning framework, (4) the task-based learning benefits, and (5) a proposed task-based learning practice for EFL learners. The paper gives useful suggestions to EFL teachers who have similar teaching strategies to help students meet such learning goals in their classrooms and continue positive TBL patterns in teaching and learning.


Author(s):  
Krassie Petrova ◽  
Chun Li

Mobile learning (mLearning) is a form of technology supported learning that may meet the needs of learners who frequently change their physical location (‘mobile learners’). Ubiquitous mobile data technologies like SMS (Short Text messaging Service) allow designing learning and communications services that support student-centered teaching and learning. This paper presents the results of an action research (AR) project in which an SMS based mLearning service was integrated with classroom teaching in the context of international students studying English before enrolling in regular academic courses with English as the language of instruction. The findings of the two AR cycles suggest that the mLearning approach has added flexibility to the course design and has motivated students to improve academically. The concept and the methodology can be extended to other contexts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-53
Author(s):  
Kimberly B. Rogers ◽  
Adam Nemeroff ◽  
Kelly Caputo

Scholars of teaching and learning in sociology have argued that introductory courses should teach toward foundational learning goals instead of providing an exhaustive review of the discipline. Nevertheless, prior research has provided far more guidance on what instructors ought to teach than how they can cohesively support learning across the goals advocated. Additionally, few studies have considered whether introductory course designs adequately address students’ diverse reasons for enrolling. To address this gap in the literature, we offer insights from our experiences with a redesigned introductory course tailored to support student learning in the areas recommended by earlier work. After describing our learning goals and the elements of our course design, which are grounded in empirical findings from the literature, we present evidence for the efficacy of this design in achieving key disciplinary learning goals, serving students’ personal learning goals, and attracting new and existing majors and minors.


Author(s):  
Hong Lin

Given the upsurge of textbook costs, college students increasingly expect universities and instructors to offer alternatives to traditional textbooks. One textbook alternative is using open educational resources (OER). While OER unquestionably save students money, the question remains whether the adoption of OER (instructional materials) is aligned with open pedagogy (methods). This study investigated 46 undergraduate students’ perceptions of using only OER in an introductory course in a large American public university. As reported by study participants, advantages of using OER include textbook cost savings, access to dynamic and plentiful OER materials, that OER enabling mobile learning, and that OER foster the development of self-directed skills and copyright guidelines. Challenges reported include lacking a tactile sense with OER, slow Internet connections, unclear instruction and guidance, and insufficient self-regulation skills. Course design and implementation considerations were discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Krause ◽  
Jacquelyn Kelly

ABSTRACTIn order to make innovative curriculum materials more accessible to instructors, a set of teaching, learning, and assessment resources have been created to implement more student-centered pedagogy for many topics in an introductory materials course. The resource development has been based on major principles for effective learning described in the book, How People Learn. The book states that, for more effective teaching and learning, instructors need pay attention to three major principles. One is that they should be aware of students’ prior knowledge and experience and misconceptions in order to inform classroom instruction and materials. As such, we have created tools to assess prior knowledge including the Materials Concept Inventory and Pre-Post Topical Concept Question Sets. Eliciting such information is critical in informing creation of innovative and misconception-informed teaching materials. A second principle is that instructors should create opportunities for student engagement with one another in order to promote conceptual change with deeper content understanding. This will help students build a conceptual framework that facilitates recall and transfer of concepts to new applications. As such, we have created visually-rich, contextualized content to promote student interest and link abstract concepts to concrete applications. The constructivist materials and activities that have been created include: Misconception-Informed Mini-Lecture Slide Sets, topical concept-context maps, a variety of classroom engagement activities, and homework that includes just-in-time preview problems to prepare students for the next class. A third principle is that instructors should promote student reflection so they become more metacognitive learners who can develop their own expertise by defining learning goals and monitoring their own progress. This need was addressed with a Daily Reflection Points sheet that requested students to write down their own class Points of Interest, Muddiness, and Learning. Most of these resources are available on the web at http://concept.asu.edu/. Assessment results showed significant gains on specific course topics using the innovative materials and an increase in persistence of students completing the class that rose from 85% to 95% compared with earlier lecture-based classes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Ming Cao

The method of multidimensional interaction in online teaching and learning requires teachers to harness the techniques of omnimedia and have an overall course design to achieve similar results as offline learning. Supported by QQ, Lanmo Cloud Class, and WeChat platforms, online English courses implement multidimensional interaction method to enhance language communication. This method compensates for the inefficacy of online teaching and learning which falls short of face-to-face interaction and considers the needs of students. The quasiexperimental study sampled 66 freshmen English major students in an ordinary college via Integrated English Online Course for three months. By using T-test of SPSS 26.0, statistics showed that there were significant differences between the experimental class (Number 35) and the control class (Number 31) in students’ feedback ( p = 0.044 , < 0.05 ) and the results of their final examinations ( p = 0.049 , < 0.05 ). The results indicated that multidimensional interaction in online English course under the assistance of omnimedia appeared effective. It also reflected that both teachers and students should grasp the skills of using new technology and make good use of omnimedia network platform. Teachers need to change traditional teaching concept to student-centered and create effective teaching design while students need to overcome the discomfort and actively engage in online learning to achieve the goals.


Author(s):  
Krassie Petrova ◽  
Chun Li

Mobile learning (mLearning) is a form of technology supported learning that may meet the needs of learners who frequently change their physical location (‘mobile learners’). Ubiquitous mobile data technologies like SMS (Short Text messaging Service) allow designing learning and communications services that support student-centered teaching and learning. This paper presents the results of an action research (AR) project in which an SMS based mLearning service was integrated with classroom teaching in the context of international students studying English before enrolling in regular academic courses with English as the language of instruction. The findings of the two AR cycles suggest that the mLearning approach has added flexibility to the course design and has motivated students to improve academically. The concept and the methodology can be extended to other contexts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
Seyed Ehsan Afsahi ◽  
Azizeh Chalak

<p>Speaking is the most important skill of language. Speaking a language is especially difficult for foreign language learners because effective oral communication requires the ability to use the language appropriately in social interactions, and in suitable context and situation. Purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Iranian intermediate EFL learners who learn speaking based on content approach in student-centered environment and their learning in the traditional teacher-centered environment. To this end, there are two classes, one as the experimental and the other as the control one. The same teacher taught them both. The subjects were all homogenous regarding their age, gender, and first language. During the experiment, the experimental group, who were in the environment of content-based approach in student-centered, was received quizzes. The results indicated that a statistically significant positive relationship existed between giving the students the central role in content-based approach class and yielding in better performance of speaking ability. The results revealed the positive relationship between content-based approach in student-centered class and the improvement of EFL Iranian students’ speaking ability. Preparation of such a system for teaching speaking to learners, learning English as a foreign language will facilitate the teaching and learning process for both teachers and learners.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Wahyuni

This study aims at developing writing materials based on Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) approach for Indonesian EFL learners. It adapted R and D development model proposed by Borg and Gall consisting of seven steps: research and information collection, developing a preliminary product, expert validation, product revision, field-testing/try-out, revision, and final product. On the basis of preliminary research and information collections result, the preliminary product was produced by considering the seven principles of CTL approach. From the expert validation, it shows that the developed material was on good criteria and eligible to be used as the handbook or instructional materials for Writing II. However, the expert suggested revising some points on making clearer instruction, reflecting the activities to the topic/subtopic, revising the typing errors, and arranging the spacing among the sections. After revising, it is tried out to the students. The result of the try-out shows that the product was categorized on good criteria. Based on the students’ comments, the content of the product had been already complete and interesting. The provision of more than one model texts made students understand the topic more easily. Next, the various activities provided (individual, peer, and group) made the materials more interesting.


2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lavoie ◽  
Andrew J. Rosman

This paper describes how the Resource-Enriched Learning Model (RELM), an active student-centered approach to faculty development and course design, delivery, and evaluation (Lavoie 2001), has been applied to develop an online Master of Science in Accounting Program. With its focus on the processes underlying quality teaching and learning, RELM provides faculty with a skill set learned in the same environment that they ultimately will create for their students. Having experienced active learning firsthand in the online environment, faculty are better prepared to create a similar learning environment for their students.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document