scholarly journals Conceptions of Assessment as an Integral Part of Language Learning: A Case Study of Finnish and Chinese University Students

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Magdalini Liontou
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Future Aspirations ◽  
Chinese University ◽  
Conceptions Of Assessment ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Language Classroom

Assessment is viewed as an internal and pivotal part of learning, where cultural factors, previous experiences, and future aspirations affect learners’ perceptions. In recent years, an increasing number of western universities have established their campuses or “dual” programmes in China. In the first Sino–Finnish programme, 293 Finnish and Chinese students participated in the same English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. This study investigated students’ perceptions of assessment through an adapted version of the “Students’ Conceptions of Assessment” inventory, and it explored if the responses on each conception differ between the groups. The self-report inventory included statements based on four main conceptions of assessment: improvement, external factors, affect/benefit, and irrelevance, while open-ended questions were also included. The analysis of the open-ended questions raised the issues of teacher fairness, learner autonomy, and feedback. Additionally, differences appeared between the role of assessment and its relation to future aspirations, as well as the role of the parents. This study is a starting point for exploring the conceptions for distinct groups of students regarding assessment, providing a better understanding of students’ perceptions and discussing the implications for the language classroom.

scholarly journals “This Is the End.” A Case Study of a Japanese Learner’s Experience and Regulation of Anxiety

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Naoko Sano Nakao ◽  
Hayo Reinders
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Positive Contribution ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Depth Interviews

This study investigates the role of emotions in second language learning, in particular, that of anxiety. Research has shown that positive and negative emotions are interrelated and that negative emotions are negatively correlated with motivation. It is, therefore, important to investigate how learners regulate their emotions. In this case study, one learner was closely observed over a period of 13 years. This learner claims that he has been feeling strong anxiety while learning English, but also that his negative emotion was the source of motivation to proactively study the language. The research used three types of data: (a) language learning historical records, (b) in-depth interviews, and (c) two questionnaires: the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning questionnaire. The results reveal the intense experience of the learner’s emotions, as well as the significant shifts therein. It also unearths some of the sources of his emotional experiences and how he regulated these experiences. An important observation was the positive contribution that negative emotions had on some aspects of the participant’s learning.

scholarly journals Inverse translation and the language student: A case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-193
Author(s):  
Lucía Pintado Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Inverse Translation ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article explores the agency of the student in translation in language teaching and learning (or TILT). The purpose of the case study discussed here is to gain an overview of students’ perceptions of translation into the foreign language (FL) (also known as “inverse translation”) following a module on language and translation, and to analyse whether there is any correlation between students’ attitude to translation, its impact on their language learning through effort invested, and the improvement of language skills. The results of the case study reveal translation to be a potentially exciting skill that can be central to FL learning and the analysis gives indications of how and why language teachers may optimise the implementation of translation in the classroom. The outcome of the study suggests that further research is needed on the impact of translation in the language classroom focussing on both teachers’ expectations and students’ achievements.

Deepfaking Keanu: YouTube deepfakes, platform visual effects, and the complexity of reception

2021 ◽  
pp. 135485652110304
Author(s):  
Lisa Bode
Keyword(s):  
Film Studies ◽  
Media Theory ◽  
Digital Rhetoric ◽  
Visual Effects ◽  
After Effects ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Media Creation ◽  
Media Practices

On July 14, 2019, a 3-minute 36-second video titled “Keanu Reeves Stops A ROBBERY!” was released on YouTube visual effects (VFX) channel, Corridor. The video’s click-bait title ensured it was quickly shared by users across platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. Comments on the video suggest that the vast majority of viewers categorised it as fiction. What seemed less universally recognised, though, was that the performer in the clip was not Keanu Reeves himself. It was voice actor and stuntman Reuben Langdon, and his face was digitally replaced with that of Reeves, through the use of an AI generated deepfake, an open access application, Faceswap, and compositing in Adobe After Effects. This article uses Corridor’s deepfake Keanu video (hereafter shorted to CDFK) as a case study which allows the fleshing out of an, as yet, under-researched area of deepfakes: the role of framing contexts in shaping how viewers evaluate, categorise, make sense of and discuss these images. This research draws on visual effects scholarship, celebrity studies, cognitive film studies, social media theory, digital rhetoric, and discourse analysis. It is intended to serve as a starting point of a larger study that will eventually map types of online manipulated media creation on a continuum from the professional to the vernacular, across different platforms, and attending to their aesthetic, ethical, cultural and reception dimensions. The focus on context (platform, creator channel, and comments) also reveals the emergence of an industrial and aesthetic category of visual effects, which I call here “platform VFX,” a key term that provides us with more nuanced frames for illuminating and analysing a range of manipulated media practices as VFX software becomes ever more accessible and lends itself to more vernacular uses, such as we see with various face swap apps

scholarly journals Strategy Instruction and Transfer in the EFL Classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn L. Najar
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Mixed Design ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Learning Instruction ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Task

This study examines the generalizability of research in the areas of instruction; learning; and transfer of learning to the role these play in the area of the use of strategic competencies in foreign language contexts (FLC). While previous studies have tended towards a focus on learner variables, this study includes the conditions of applicability with a task that can impact learning and transfer as well. The contributions of both variables, learner and task, were investigated through note-taking strategy instruction and transfer, to ascertain the effect on reading comprehension of textual materials in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. Learning was measured as a precursor to transfer. In order to investigate the role of instruction and transfer in the transfer of strategy use, a mixed design using both qualitative and quantitative approaches for design and analysis was used. Findings suggest that the relationship between instruction and transfer as represented by strategy use and task performance is a multidimensional one, and that there are implications for language learning instruction in the foreign language classroom.

scholarly journals Motivational Dynamics in Language Advising Sessions: A Case Study

2019 ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Eduardo Castro
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Sense Of Competence ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Situated Perspective

Researchers have increasingly been interested in the complex and dynamic character of motivation. Recent studies point out the complex fluctuation of motivation in a situated perspective, as in a language classroom. However, little is known on how motivation evolves in out-of-class contexts, as in advising in language learning context. The present paper aims to explore the dynamics of motivation to learn English of an advisee. Data of this longitudinal case study were collected through a motivational grid combined with advisor’s diaries and an in-depth interview, which were analyzed following the interpretative phenomenological analysis procedures. Results revealed that task complexity, tiredness, sense of competence, teachers and peers contributed to the fluctuation of the participant’s motivation.

scholarly journals Women, Water & Well-Being: A Case Study of ‘Kuttadampadam’ in Palakkad, Kerala

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-49
Author(s):  
V Shinju ◽  
Aswathi Prasad
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Role Of Women

The natural resources are repository for the survival of all of us, so they must be used efficiently to meet the present needs while conserving them for future generations. An action to develop capacities from global to household levels for their sustainable management and regulation is required henceforth. Of these natural resources, water resources are most precious. If there is no water; there would be no life on earth. Since ‘water is the elixir of life’, water resource management has been considered as one of the most relevant areas of intervention. Understanding the gender dimensions of water resource management is a starting point for reversing the degradation of water resources. Women play an important role here since they have to access the water resources for almost all the activities on a daily basis. As the women are the strong social agents, effective and improved water preservation techniques could be achieved through their empowerment that may eventually lead to the well-being of the households in particular and of the community in general. Therefore, the major research question posed in this study is to analyze the role of women in the preservation and management of water, an inevitable, precious but diminishing natural resource. The study also intends to describe the relationship between the three ‘W's-Women, Water & Well-being. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are essential here as it is a contingent issue in the present scenario. Psychological dimensions were also explored since the issue is affecting the routine life of the community. The case study of women belonging to the Kuttadampadam region was done to explain the role of women in preserving water resources in the areas affecting severe water scarcity.

scholarly journals Distinctive Design Perception: Toy packaging design

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Wichanat Tiwasing ◽  
Nopadon Sahachaisaeree
Keyword(s):  
Publishing House ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Keywords Children ◽  
Package Design ◽  
Packaging Design ◽  
Children And Parents ◽  
International Publishing ◽  
Open Access Article

The present research uses toy packaging as an exploratory case study to test the research design. The case study is so selected since it involves merchandizes in conflict between the needs of children and the trust of guardians. It also engages the role of playing as a learning process promoting children’s imaginary and creativity thinking. Visual stimuli along with self-report questionnaires are used to test the perceptual response of both children and guardians on the aspects of attractiveness, safety, value and taste. The study found a number of contradictions on preferences between children and parents which demands design rethinking. Keywords: children’ visual perception, package design © 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

scholarly journals Inductive/Deductive Learning by Considering the Role of Gender—A Case Study of Iranian French-Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rouhollah Rahmatian ◽  
Fatemeh Zarekar
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Inductive Approach ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Gender Based

<p class="apa">This article defines the objective of discovering the first preferred styles of Iranian learners of French as a Foreign Language (FFL) as regards inductive or deductive learning; and secondly, the difference between gender-based learning tendencies. Considering these points as target variables, the questionnaire developed by Felder and Silverman in 1988 was applied to form the learning styles and consequently to associate them with inductive and deductive approaches. The results led the team to set the idea which is based on the choice of induction or deduction in language learning and the gender variable that follows different directions. Consequently, in terms of the inductive approach, we find ourselves facing a rather male solicitation. A proportion of the use of this approach is also associated with women whose motivation is seen rather noticeably. Moreover, the significance is relative rather than significant in all the relationships studied in this research: males and inductive (1)/deductive learning (2); females and inductive (3)/deductive learning (4); inductive (5)/deductive (6) among Iranians.</p>

Localising Global Norms: The Case of Family-Friendly Parliaments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Palmieri ◽  
Kerryn Baker
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Norm Diffusion ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
Global Norms

Abstract In this article, we extend empirical understandings of feminist institutionalism by outlining a new methodological approach to the study of parliament as a gendered workplace. We argue that while a localised approach to studying institutional change allows a more nuanced appreciation of the role of local cultural context, internationalised norms can be an interesting starting point to work back from. A case study of the New Zealand parliament’s ‘family-friendly’ workplace practices illustrates this methodological approach. By tracing the establishment of family-friendly practices in this parliament, our study shines a light on the intractable nature of local institutional context in global norm diffusion and hints at the next phase of work required to further the agenda of transformational gender-sensitive parliaments.

How belief in a just world might shape responses to discrimination: A case study of left-behind children in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tian Lan ◽  
Xuji Jia ◽  
Xia Liu
Keyword(s):  
Problem Behaviors ◽  
Perceived Discrimination ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Just World ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Children's Behaviors

Background: Previous study has indicated that perceived discrimination affected the children’s behaviors, but whether belief in a just world moderates the relationship between perceived discrimination and problem behaviors among left-behind children and whether there are differences between boys and girls are still unknown. Aims: This study aims at exploring whether perceived discrimination influences the left-behind children’s behaviors and the moderating role of belief in a just world among both boys and girls. Methods: Using cross-sectional data on rural left-behind children in Henan Province of China, this study examined the relationships among perceived discrimination (personal and group), belief in a just world and problem behaviors for both boys and girls. The participants included 336 boys and 310 girls. Self-report questionnaires captured perceived discrimination, belief in a just world and problem behaviors. Results: The results demonstrated that Chinese left-behind boys who perceived a high amount of personal discrimination were prone to exhibit problem behaviors. Yet, neither perceived personal nor group discrimination was associated with problem behaviors among the left-behind girls. Moreover, the children’s belief in a just world moderated the association between perceived discrimination and problem behaviors among the boys; in those who reported higher levels of belief in a just world, the negative effect of perceived personal discrimination on problem behaviors appeared weaker, comparing to those who reported lower levels of belief in a just world. In addition, the negative effect of perceived group discrimination on problem behaviors appeared stronger among the left-behind boys who reported higher levels of belief in a just world. Conclusion: Belief in a just world provided a protect function for the left-behind children when facing perceived personal discrimination. More attention should be paid on belief in a just world, perceived discrimination and problem behaviors among left-behind children.

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