scholarly journals USING CONVERSATION WEBSITES FOR IMPROVING INTERCULTURAL EXCHANGE AND MAINTAIN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN EDUCATION 4.0

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Dita Septiana ◽  
Nurhadianti Nurhadianti ◽  
Dinar Purwati ◽  
Didik Murwantono

The reality of education 4.0 is undeniably true of contemporary higher education systems. This is demonstrated by technological developments and online-based developments. This phenomenon is a challenge of any kind, particularly for students to adapt to the creation of learning processes. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the students ' improvements in their communication exchange skills and establish interpersonal relationship skills through the use of conversation exchange websites. There were six females and four males of students that has been using conversation exchange from some countries taken as participants. This survey was carried out using the video call feature in the Application tool. The semi-structured interview was used to obtain information from students on the specific theme of fun and easy conversation exchange in foreign language communication as a part of the educational challenge 4.0. By using the structural analysis, ten students have fully agreed to the use of a conversation exchange website to improve foreign language communication skills. All males and females were 90% willing to use the conversation exchange website as a measure of the effects of the use of conversation exchange through semi-structured interviews with three questions. The results show that the students ' attitudes have been welcomed by the conversation exchange website to enhance their communication skills in foreign languages. Therefore, the use of conversation exchange should be widely introduced to increase the ability to communicate in a foreign language.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lubna Alnaeem

This study attempted to examine the relationship between participation in extracurricular activities and levels of Communication Apprehension (CA) among English as a foreign language (EFL) students and explore the students’ perspectives of how extracurricular activities affect their communication skills. The study addressed the following two questions: a) what is the relationship between EFL students’ involvement in extracurricular activities and their level of Communication Apprehension?, b) What are the EFL students’ perspectives regarding the effect of extracurricular activities on their communication skills?. The participants were 40 EFL students among 80 who participated in extracurricular activities at the College of Languages and Translation at Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. The participants were asked to complete a Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) to examine their levels of CA as well as a questionnaire about their attitudes toward extracurricular activities. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 participants to explore their perspectives in depth. The findings showed that most participants had moderate levels of CA and that 100% of the participants agreed that participation in extracurricular activities helped them reduce CA and improve their communication skills. The study also showed that extracurricular activities were more helpful than classroom activities in improving communication skills. This study is significant in that it shed the light on the importance of involvement in extracurricular activities and their role in improving EFL students’ communication skills and lowering CA levels. Thus, it is recommended to encourage EFL students to participate in extracurricular activities and consider including such activities in course requirements and teaching materials.


2021 ◽  
pp. 4-11
Author(s):  
Nataliia Sorokina ◽  
Veronika Diachenko

This paper focuses on the problem of overcoming communication barriers with 6th grade secondary school learners studying a foreign language and searching ways of its solution. The authors analyze the concept of communication barrier and offer their own interpretation of the phenomenon under investigation. The paper also highlights the psychological and pedagogical conditions that affect the process of overcoming an FL language communication barrier by younger adolescents. The article claims that the enhancement of learners’ interaction activity and diminishing the fear of communication can be achieved by implementing a gaming technique in an FL classroom. The authors provide a set of games for 6th graders aimed to overcome communication barriers in the process of oral interaction in a foreign language. The effectiveness of the proposed technique was experimentally proved. The research results demonstrate positive influence of using communication games on students’ emotional state, communicative involvement during foreign language classes, motivates the learning process and enriches their social and communication experience. The survey, conducted among the learners, showed that most of them (90%) experience anxiety and difficulties during communication, which confirmed the prevalence of communication barriers among students at this school age. At the same time, 83.3% of students like games as a type of activity in foreign language lessons, and 76.6% of the respondents admit that the atmosphere in the classroom improves significantly during the game. Observations have also shown that regular use of games in foreign language lessons has had a positive effect on students’ interpersonal relationships. Most students (86.6%) confirmed that in the process of a game they become more active in communication, do not focus on the fear of making a mistake and are more prone to spontaneous speech. 83.3% of respondents noted that during the game, they significantly reduce the level of anxiety in the process of FL communication.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 253-266
Author(s):  
Simon Pierre DABOU ◽  
Abdelhak HAMMOUDI ◽  
Romaissa CHIBANI

Language and culture are like two sides of the same coin, the music on a radio or the soul in a body. The two are so interrelated that separating them is almost impossible. Therefore, teaching a foreign language implies integrating the target culture. In this context, this study aimed to investigate teachers and students’ attitudes towards the integration of the English culture in the EFL curriculum at the University of Sétif 2.  A Semi-structured interview with six English language teachers and a questionnaire to 53 third-year English students were the tools used to collect the necessary data. The analysis of the data showed that all the teachers were for the integration of the target culture in the EFL classes. The study also revealed that students who had positive attitudes towards the target culture represented only 28% of the sample. Therefore, the researchers suggested that the concept of target culture be properly defined within the EFL class and appropriately approached to sustain interest. Moreover, teachers are encouraged to integrate certain aspects of the target culture, such as language, norms, and values, to avoid misunderstanding, and respect each other’s cultural rights.


Author(s):  
Tetiana Yefymenko ◽  
◽  
Viktoria Maistrenko ◽  

The purpose of the paper is to identify linguistic abilities to master foreign languages in students-translators. This research was conducted based on the methods and methodology of observation, comparison, analysis, functional and descriptive methods. In order to solve this problem, the achievements of linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychology, psycholinguistics, methods of teaching foreign languages were analyzed, as the study of the phenomenon of linguistics ability is based on them. Linguistic ability includes some specific abilities such as foreign language ability, language guessing, language intuition and communication skills. The result is the formation of a linguistic personality, in particular, the bilingual personality of the translator in a dialogue that has the ability and skills to use the language in all its manifestations in different situations of intercultural communication; the ability to understand and assimilate someone else's way of life and behavior in order to break ingrained stereotypes; skills to expand the individual picture of the world by involving in the "language picture of the world" speakers of the studied language. Value/originality. The development of language abilities is possible on the basis of individualization, differentiation of the learning process and increasing motivation for learning a language. It is necessary to clarify that the presence of communication skills, linguistic intuition and ability to languages is absolutely not enough for a full-fledged foreign language communication, and even more so for characterizing a secondary linguistic personality, in fact, its development is the leading goal of teaching a foreign language for translation students. Linguistic giftedness and ability for languages are only a prerequisite for the formation of intercultural competence and the development of a secondary linguistic personality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-338
Author(s):  
Sercan Alabay ◽  

Technological developments have made online learning tools become a part of educational process. The Covid-19 pandemic has made them a necessity. Learning a foreign language with the help of e-learning software is a debatable subject of 21st century. Microsoft Teams® is one of this software and understanding its effect on learning a foreign language is worth studying. Thus, this study aims to understand students’ views on learning French online with Microsoft Teams. The design of this study is the case study. The participants were 23 students learning French as a foreign language. The data were gathered through semi-structured interview form and the data were analyzed through content analysis. The results of the study reveal three themes on this subject. These themes are the reality of distance learning, the user friendliness of Microsoft Teams, and learning a foreign language online. With these themes, this study tries to compose a deeper understanding about learning a foreign language with a popular software.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salem Saleh Ibnian

This study aimed at exploring attitudes of public and private schools' students towards learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and investigating factors affecting the students' attitudes towards learning EFL.The study attempted to answer the following questions:1-What are the overall attitudes of public and private schools’ students towards learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL)?2- Is there a statistically significant difference between the overall mean of attitudes of public and private schools' students towards learning EFL according to the type of school (public or private)?3- What are the main factors affecting students' attitudes towards learning EFL?The sample of the study consisted of 144 ninth grade students chosen randomly from Amman public and private schools. The students were distributed into four sections, each section comprised 36 students.To conduct the study, the researcher used a 20-item questionnaire to reveal attitudes of the students towards learning EFL. In addition, the researcher also carried out semi-structured interviews so as to explore factors affecting students' attitudes towards learning EFL.Findings of the study showed that the overall mean of attitudes of public and private schools' students towards learning in EFL is positive; however, the results indicated that students of private schools have more positive attitudes towards learning EFL than students of public schools.The findings showed that methods of teaching, the physical environment and the educational setting of schools were the main factors that affected students’ attitudes towards learning EFL.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-208
Author(s):  
Lubna Alnaeem

This study attempted to examine the relationship between participation in extracurricular activities and levels of Communication Apprehension (CA) among English as a foreign language (EFL) students and explore the students’ perspectives of how extracurricular activities affect their communication skills. The study addressed the following two questions: a) what is the relationship between EFL students’ involvement in extracurricular activities and their level of Communication Apprehension?, b) What are the EFL students’ perspectives regarding the effect of extracurricular activities on their communication skills?. The participants were 40 EFL students among 80 who participated in extracurricular activities at the College of Languages and Translation at Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. The participants were asked to complete a Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) to examine their levels of CA as well as a questionnaire about their attitudes toward extracurricular activities. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 participants to explore their perspectives in depth. The findings showed that most participants had moderate levels of CA and that 100% of the participants agreed that participation in extracurricular activities helped them reduce CA and improve their communication skills. The study also showed that extracurricular activities were more helpful than classroom activities in improving communication skills. This study is significant in that it shed the light on the importance of involvement in extracurricular activities and their role in improving EFL students’ communication skills and lowering CA levels. Thus, it is recommended to encourage EFL students to participate in extracurricular activities and consider including such activities in course requirements and teaching materials.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arno Meyer ◽  
Wesley Niemann ◽  
Theuns Kotzé

Background: Individuals share information and form relationships to improve collaboration and joint organisational performance. However, managing these interpersonal relationships within a supply chain management perspective is one of the lesser understood and researched areas within this discipline.Objectives: The research was aimed to investigate the negative effects of interpersonal relationships between those individuals who represent organisations that buy and supply logistics services.Method: The research was carried out by the use of a descriptive qualitative research design. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 suppliers and 8 buyers of logistic services within the South African third party logistics industry.Findings: Firstly, the results indicate that the primary reason for interpersonal relationships is firstly for improved professional interest and secondly for genuine friendships. Without continuing commitment or intention to maintain the interpersonal relationship between these individuals, it is not possible to sustain the associated benefits of forming interpersonal relationships. Secondly, the findings indicate that enhanced trust, within interpersonal relationships, is similar to business-to-business partnerships which evolve through stages of exploration, formalisation and maturity. Organisations should rather focus to improve competence-based trust than individual interpersonal trust. Thirdly, relationship asymmetry, gender differences and the aptitude to adjust to disparate personalities may steer the interpersonal relationship towards the dark side. Lastly, the benefits of interpersonal relationships have been proven; however, these interpersonal relationships may be difficult to manage over time and can also be the foundation of suboptimal decisions if the relationship takes precedence over business interest.Conclusion: Managers should not underestimate the potential hegemony between individuals who have interpersonal relationships. Relationships require upkeep, personal involvement, attention and trust. Interpersonal relationship intentions without formal safety measures, such as organisational governance and policies, can expose and even diminish the strongest organisational alliances to suboptimal performance and reduced profitability.


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