scholarly journals STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCE OF LEARNING ESP: FINDINGS FROM A CASE STUDY IN LITHUANIA

2019 ◽  
pp. 489
Author(s):  
Nijolė Burkšaitienė ◽  
Jolita Šliogerienė
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Team Work ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Positive Experience ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Personal Engagement

This study explores undergraduate students’ experience of learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and aims to reveal their views regarding university teachers’ and peers’ feedback provided to them during the course of ESP as well as to establish the students’ views regarding their own learning ESP. The present article reports on the results of a case study from a Lithuanian university. The data were collected from feedback questionnaires of 111 students in 11 study programmes. To analyse the data, quantitative methodology was used. The main conclusion of the present study is that most study participants viewed their own learning ESP at the university as a positive experience, i.e. the students were satisfied with their engagement in learning this study subject and considered that learning was aligned with teaching and assessment. The results of the study also demonstrated that the study participants considered that collaboration and team work fostered meaningful learning, as well as that peer feedback helped them to understand how to improve in learning ESP. It was established that students valued their teachers’ patience and personal engagement and that the teachers’ feedback improved the ways of learning ESP, encouraged them to think and analyse the content of the study material, and helped them to clarify things they did not understand learning on their own. 

scholarly journals Lithuanian undergraduate students' approaches to learning English for Specific Purposes

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 469-477
Author(s):  
Nijolė Burkšaitienė ◽  
Jolita Šliogerienė
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Deep Approach ◽  
Approach To Learning ◽  
Deep Approach To Learning ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Learning English

Aim. It has been established by research that the nature of students’ learning is closely related to their approach to learning and to the learning environment in which learning occurs. In higher education environments, students’ approaches to learning have been widely investigated across different fields of study, however, little known research has focused on students’ approaches to learning foreign languages. To contribute to knowledge in this field, the present research aims to establish undergraduate students’ approaches to learning English for Specific purposes (ESP) at a university in Lithuania. Method. The research was conducted with the participation of 111 undergraduate students, majors in 11 different study programmes, who took a mandatory course in ESP. The data were collected from the structured questionnaires; to carry out the research, quantitative methodology was used. Results.  The analysis of students’ engagement in the study activities, their willingness to go beyond the task and their ability to self-regulate their learning revealed that the study participants demonstrated both surface approach and deep approach to learning ESP. Conclusion. The results indicate that to guide the students towards deep approach to learning ESP at the university, their engagement in study activities should be fostered. 

scholarly journals Investigating University Characteristics on Personality Traits

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-64
Author(s):  
Kullanun Sripongpun ◽  
Nattanan Saksamrit ◽  
Watcharapong Intarawong ◽  
Pattama Suriyakul Na Ayudhya
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Exploratory Factor Analysis ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Brand Personality ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Student Perspective ◽  
Personality Factor ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants

Objective - This study aims to extend the brand personality concept by applying this concept to the organization, i.e., the university. Methodology/Technique – A questionnaire was designed based on Aaker (1997)’s 5 dimensions of brand personality scale to collect the data. 400 Thai undergraduate students of Kasetsart University Chalermphrakiat Sakon Nakhon Province Campus participated in this study. Participants were first informed of the study description and instructed to think of a university as if it were a person and to rate on a five-point scale (1 = not at all descriptive, 5 = extremely descriptive). In the data analysis, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used. Finding – The results from the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with a varimax rotation showed 5 factors of university personality. Factor 1 represents competence dimension having 10 items (successful, leader, technical, corporate, cool, hardworking, secure, spirited, confident and reliable). Factor 2 represents sophistication dimension which had 4 items (glamorous, good looking, smooth and upper class). Factor 3 represents ruggedness dimension which had 5 items (western, tough, masculine, rugged and outdoorsy). Factor 4 represents sincerity dimension which had 2 items (honest and sincere). The last factor was excitement dimension which had only 1 item, imaginative. Furthermore, according to student perspective, the majority of university personality dimensions of Kasetsart University Chalermphrakiat Sakon Nakhon Province Campus was ruggedness dimension. Novelty – Research examining the dimensions of organization personality is still scant. To fill the gap, the current study was conducted to demonstrate how the brand personality concept was applicable when the organization was viewed as a brand. Therefore, it is a preliminary step toward such direction to extend and apply the brand personality concept to a new different area. Type of Paper: Empirical. JEL Classification: M10, M19. Keywords: University Personality; University Characteristics; Personality Traits; Brand Personality Concept. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Sripongpun, K; Saksamrit, N; Intarawong, W; Ayudhya, P.S.N. (2021). Investigating University Characteristics on Personality Traits, GATR Global J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Review, 9(1): 58 – 64. https://doi.org/10.35609/gjbssr.2021.9.1(7)

Blended Learning Support for Undergraduate Students’ Research and Writing Skills Development

2014 ◽  
pp. 341-368
Author(s):  
Asako Yoshida
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Support ◽  
Learning Practices ◽  
University Of Manitoba ◽  
Main Barrier ◽  
The University

In this exploratory study, a subject librarian and a writing instructor investigated the potential of designing blended learning around research paper assignments in the context of two foundational courses in the Faculty of Human Ecology at the University of Manitoba, Canada. The objective was to explore alternative, more embedded learning support for undergraduate students. The significance of blended learning support was situated in the broader literature of the teaching and learning practices in higher education. In this case study, descriptions of blended learning support for facilitating student learning, and of the main barrier to its implementation are provided. Based on what was learned in the exploratory study, the chapter provides working guidelines for designing and developing blended learning support, mainly drawing from Butler and Cartier’s (2004) research on academic engagement.

scholarly journals Testing an Academic Library Website for Usability with Faculty and Graduate Students

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Z. Emde ◽  
Sara E. Morris ◽  
Monica Claassen-Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Front Page ◽  
Federated Search ◽  
Library Resources ◽  
Search Tool ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
New Discovery

Objectives - This usability study was developed to observe faculty and graduate students’ reactions to a recent redesign of the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries’ website. The redesign included new navigational features, introduction of a federated search tool, a quick search box on the front page, and research subject pages. The study also provided the opportunity to observe the practices of faculty and graduate students in locating and retrieving information on the Libraries’ website. Methods - Ten participants (five faculty and five graduate students) representing diverse disciplines were solicited for the study. Participants were required to access the Libraries’ website to answer a series of questions regarding new and updated features of the website. Observational analysis using Morae™ software was conducted and interviews with each participant provided details of their opinions on how these new features would influence their research and teaching activities. Results - Most of the participants either did not notice or ignored the major website changes. Links to and locations of commonly used resources (e.g. catalogue; databases; e-journals) had been changed minimally, and the faculty and graduate student participants gravitated to those familiar features to complete tasks. Prior to the study, participants had not accessed the new discovery tools; however, once previewed, responses to the tools’ utility were generally favourable. After using the federated search tool on a familiar topic, several participants noted that, when directed to databases they had not previously considered, they were able to locate citations they had missed in the past. Observers noted pitfalls in navigating the site such as inconsistent underscoring of links, ambiguous terminology, and unclear icons meant to expand subject heading lists. Unexpected searching behaviours were observed, including inconsistent and lack of conceptual understanding in searching for e-journal content. Conclusions - This study provides evidence regarding the usability of a library website with a population already familiar with library resources. It demonstrated that faculty and graduate students are not interested in experimenting with new discovery tools but are amenable to their potential value to undergraduate students. The recent trend toward minimizing content and links on websites satisfies this population, one which is already comfortable with the basic attributes of a library’s website.

scholarly journals Challenges in the Implementation of CLIL in Higher Education: From ESP to CLIL in the Tourism Classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melita Vega ◽  
Maria Moscoso
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Cognitive Demand ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Integrated Learning ◽  
Language Level ◽  
Group Control ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has often been touted as an effective means of enhancing the language proficiency gains among its learners due to its focus on content over form and higher cognitive demand. However, cautions have been raised regarding the varying conditions and contexts that need to be taken into consideration in order to ensure its effectiveness. This study aimed to analyze the outcome of switching from an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program to a CLIL program in the fourth and fifth semesters of the School of Tourism at the University of Azuay. Study participants were randomly divided into two groups: a CLIL (experimental) and a non-CLIL group (control), where the former received CLIL instruction and the latter received ESP instruction for an average of five hours per week over a period of two consecutive semesters. The findings revealed no significant increases in language proficiency or differences in achievement between the two groups, thus suggesting that the starting language level of learners influenced the results of the CLIL program.

scholarly journals CHALLENGES IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES IN ESTONIAN UNIVERSITIES

2021 ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Merilyn Meristo ◽  
Francisco Javier López Arias
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Educational Level ◽  
English Language ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
English Teaching ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Insight Into

Due to the growing importance of globalization, the English language has acquired an even more influential role, and at the tertiary educational level it has provoked the necessity of teaching not just general English, but also English for Specific Purposes (ESP), which meets the demands of students' field of study. Moreover, the preparation of undergraduate students for both entering the labour market or continuing their academic path has prioritized the significance of ESP. This paper aims to investigate how ESP teachers working in Estonian state-funded HEI with General English teaching background perceive their work in the field of ESP. Specifically, this abductive qualitative research seeks to obtain a deeper insight into the challenges posed by teaching ESP and to detect problematic issues to better support university teachers to improve their work. The results highlight three major challenges: coping with changes through the lenses of professionalism; insufficient collaboration, and instability in conducting ESP courses.

scholarly journals Influence of Facebook on Educational, Political and Cultural life of Students: A Case Study of University of Swat

2020 ◽  
Vol V (I) ◽  
pp. 83-101
Author(s):  
Spogmai ◽  
Sajjad Ali
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
University Students ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Cultural Information ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Survey Technique ◽  
The University ◽  
Educational Information

This study was conducted to analyze the influence and exposure of university students on Facebook. The researcher conducted to examine the educational, political, cultural and fashion influence of Facebook on university students. A quantitative methodology was used by the researcher, and survey technique was used for the collection of data. A questionnaire was designed to contained close-ended questions to collect data randomly from the students of the University of Swat. The data was analyzed through the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS, version.19) to ensure impartiality in the results of the study. The results revealed that most of the students are using Facebook. The study also disclosed that students in the university of Swat are using Facebook for educational purposes. The researcher found that Most of the students also use Facebook for fashion and cultural information. The study proved that most of the students using Facebook for online educational information as compare to political information. It is also found that Students exposed to fashion information than cultural information through Facebook.

scholarly journals The thinking styles of the university teacher

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-148
Author(s):  
Linoel De Jesús Leal Ordóñez ◽  
Antonio Carlos Do Nascimento Osorio
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
University Education ◽  
Thinking Styles ◽  
Teaching Performance ◽  
Classroom Performance ◽  
Classroom Organization ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Pedagogical Training ◽  
The University

This research is framed in the teachers’ thinking paradigm, oriented to understand the thinking styles of the university teacher from two out of the five cognitive and behavioral expressions in Sternberg’s thinking styles theory: the function inside the classroom and the level of classroom performance. The epistemological approach was the empirical-inductive, framed in the logic positivism tradition, with the case study as methodology. A 24-reactives likert-based scale was applied to 40 teachers of the Education career from Francisco de Miranda University (UNEFM). The results evidenced a mediational thinking style, based on cognitive and constructivism-based teaching procedures, democratic patterns for classroom organization, as well as a permanent process of reflection that informs teachers about what and how to improve while teaching. These results can help to optimize teaching performance, as well as to design pedagogical training processes more focused and based on mediational pedagogies that lead to better learning. KEY WORDS: Thinking styles, university teachers, pedagogy, mediational pedagogies, university education.

scholarly journals Proof of Concept: Game-Based Mobile Learning—The First Experience With the App Actionbound as Case-Based Geocaching in Education of Veterinary Neurology

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmin Nessler ◽  
Elisabeth Schaper ◽  
Andrea Tipold
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Veterinary Education ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Case Based Learning ◽  
The University ◽  
Real Patients ◽  
Case Based

Case-based learning is a valuable tool to impart various problem-solving skills in veterinary education and stimulate active learning. Students can solve imaginary cases without the need for contact with real patients. Case-based teaching can be well performed as asynchronous remote-online class. In time of the COVID-19-pandemic, many courses in veterinary education are provided online. Therefore, students report certain fatigue when it comes to desk-based online learning. The app “Actionbound” provides a platform to design digitally interactive scavenger hunts based on global positioning system (GPS)—called “bounds” —in which the teacher can create a case study with an authentic patient via narrative elements. This app was designed for multimedia-guided museum or city tours initially. The app offers the opportunity to send the students to different geographic localizations for example in a park or locations on the University campus, like geocaching. In this way, students can walk outdoors while solving the case study. The present article describes the first experience with Actionbound as a tool for mobile game-based and case-orientated learning in veterinary education. Three veterinary neurology cases were designed as bounds for undergraduate students. In the summer term 2020, 42 students from the second to the fourth year of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover worked on these three cases, which were solved 88 times in total: Cases 1 and 2 were each played 30 times, and case 3 was played 28 times. Forty-seven bounds were solved from students walking through the forest with GPS, and 41 were managed indoors. After each bound, students evaluated the app and the course via a 6-point numerical Likert rating scale (1 = excellent to 6 = unsatisfactory). Students playing the bounds outdoors performed significantly better than students solving the corresponding bound at home in two of the three cases (p = 0.01). The large majority of the students rated the course as excellent to good (median 1.35, range 1–4) and would recommend the course to friends (median 1.26, range 1–3). Summarizing, in teaching veterinary neurology Actionbound's game-based character in the context of outdoor activity motivates students, might improve learning, and is highly suitable for case-based learning.

Blended Learning Support for Undergraduate Students' Research and Writing Skills Development

2015 ◽  
pp. 537-564
Author(s):  
Asako Yoshida
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Support ◽  
Learning Practices ◽  
University Of Manitoba ◽  
Main Barrier ◽  
The University

In this exploratory study, a subject librarian and a writing instructor investigated the potential of designing blended learning around research paper assignments in the context of two foundational courses in the Faculty of Human Ecology at the University of Manitoba, Canada. The objective was to explore alternative, more embedded learning support for undergraduate students. The significance of blended learning support was situated in the broader literature of the teaching and learning practices in higher education. In this case study, descriptions of blended learning support for facilitating student learning, and of the main barrier to its implementation are provided. Based on what was learned in the exploratory study, the chapter provides working guidelines for designing and developing blended learning support, mainly drawing from Butler and Cartier's (2004) research on academic engagement.

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