scholarly journals Building Cross-Cultural Competence in a Foreign Language through Technology-Enhanced Project-Based Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (27) ◽  
pp. 411-418
Author(s):  
Anastasiia Syzenko ◽  
Yana Diachkova

In contemporary changing and innovative academic and working environment, tertiary schools need to rethink their approach to teaching and learning by gearing it towards the skills in most demand. Innovation in any sphere becomes more and more dependent on the collaboration between actors from very different backgrounds who combine their own expertise to create something new. This happens both on an individual- as well as on an institutional level. The organizations of the future will be forced to work more and more closely with people and institutional partners from all over the world in order to bring as many different perspectives and areas of expertise together as possible. This means that cross-cultural competence becomes one of the crucial factors in building a competitive profile of a prospective specialist. Therefore, this paper explores approaches to building cross-cultural competence using the English language as a tool and presents the findings of a pilot training on experimental collaborative cross-cultural project implemented with Master level Economics students in Ukraine. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect the data and examine participants' language proficiency. The findings suggest that participation in collaborative technology-enhanced cross-cultural projects has a significant positive effect on learners’ language proficiency and develops their cross-cultural competence facilitating development of productive skills on the basis of receptive ones.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-19
Author(s):  
Ulrich Orlando Sèna Hindeme ◽  
Katchédé Etienne Iwikotan ◽  
Arlette Joséline Arlette Hounhanou

This paper presents a study on assessing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ language proficiency in Benin secondary schools. Assessment and evaluation are indispensable components of English language teaching. Assessing students is crucial to both learners and teachers themselves in the sense that its basic function is to improve learning. However, much awareness has not been raised on the key roles of assessment in Benin secondary schools. This study aims at investigating how effective teachers’ assessment of their learners’ language abilities is in EFL classroom and to explore EFL learners’ attitude towards assessment. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, 56 EFL teachers and 458 lower intermediate and upper EFL learners in the Atlantic region in Benin participated in this study. The field study revealed that many teachers wrongly mistake assessment for test and thus use both terms to mean the same thing. Teachers have not been able to see tests as a way of assessing their teaching methods and upgrading their students’ language skills. Besides, most teachers stated that testing is the only tool they use in assessing their learners’ language proficiency and it is mostly for the purpose of assigning grades at the end of the terms. Students declared that most tests consist of grammar questions. As this study draws attention to the close relationship between assessment and teaching, training workshops have been recommended to guide and train teachers on how to effectively assess their students so that teaching and learning in the EFL classroom meet expected objectives and goals.


HOW ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-158
Author(s):  
María Victoria Fernández-Carballo

Noticing the generally lower-than-desirable English language proficiency level with which Spanish students start university, I considered trying a different approach in which the use of a familiar application would be introduced in the classroom. The main objective of this work is to explore Primary Education degree programme students’ attitudes towards the integration of YouTube in the English language classroom. To this end, 46 third-year intermediate-level students participated in the study. It adopted a mixed-method approach, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The results show that, although participants mentioned some drawbacks, they reacted positively to the use of the platform. Given these results and the benefits offered, the integration of YouTube in the foreign language classroom is highly recommended.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1280-1288
Author(s):  
Abdel Hameed Al Awabdeh

To support the significance of instructor readiness for the adoption of E-learning, it is necessary to examine the factors affecting instructors’ integration of Moodle into their English classrooms, as well as the students' perceptions of those who are learning English by using Moodle. This study had chosen to implement both qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis. The study's subjects comprised 25 lecturers and 150 students. The findings revealed that the lecturers from the University of Amman's School of English used Moodle as part of the English language teaching method. The majority of them used the option of document uploading and sharing function to give assignments to students and encouraged them to access and download the course materials outside of learning sessions to better enhance their competencies in English learning skills. Additionally, it was later discovered that the positive impacts of adopting Moodle during English lessons are as follows: Moodle promotes student-centered learning engagement, anytime-anywhere learning, simplifies course management, and mitigates the expense and time constraint of delivering lessons. The drawbacks of using Moodle in English classes are linked to technological problems, mainly regarding access to the Internet, inadequate professional development given to instructors, and Moodle's efficacy. Students exhibited favorable views regarding English learning by using Moodle as a platform. This is shown through their great computer self-efficacy, system engagement, and user satisfaction.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Supanit Kulsiri

The research was conducted to study students’ perceptions of a student-produced video project (SPV project) in the context of the General English Language Course at Srinakharinwirot University in Thailand. First year students with a pre-intermediate level of English language proficiency, who were enrolled in the General English Language course, were assigned to work on a SPV project that required them to make a short video related to content learnt in class. There were four main objectives of the SPV project which were: (1) to provide an environment that allows students to grasp a deeper understanding of the topic learnt in class; (2) to enhance English language proficiency as well as creativity and problem-solving skills; (3) to promote the use of Information and communication technology (ICT) in language teaching and learning and (4) to provide a collaborative working environment among students. There were 450 students who participated in this project. A questionnaire on the perceptions of the SPV project was administered to 107 students. It covered three aspects (1) the improvement of students’ English language proficiency and life skills, (2) the use of technological tools and (3) collaboration among peers. Questionnaires results were statistically analyzed and reported in descriptive statistics. Findings indicated that students had positive perceptions toward the SPV projects in all three aspects. The aspect that received the highest mean value was that of collaboration among peers. This paper advocates the use of SPV projects as feasible and adaptable language projects suitable for the language learning in the 21st century.


Author(s):  
Meryem Aherrahrou

Neuro-Linguistic Programming has attracted considerable attention in many different areas of life mainly in education. In this context, the major aim of this paper was to explore the implications and effect of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques in English language Teaching and Learning in the Moroccan context. Qualitative and Quantitative methods are used. In this study, we included 2 teachers with and without NLP experience as well as 2 groups including 43 students. Our results stated that after implementing NLP techniques in the classroom, teacher and learners participate together to create a positive atmosphere, increase productivity, motivate themselves to achieve excellence and reach their desired outcome not only inside the classroom but also in their personal life.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Amjad ◽  
Adnan Tahir ◽  
Ayyaz Qadeer

English language has been a pressing need of people all over the world; so, the experts are making efforts for effective and successful teaching and learning of different language skills through innovations in teaching approaches and methods. As a new teaching approach, Dogme ELT was introduced in 2000, which claimed success and better outcomes in different language teaching areas. Focusing on the claim of this new teaching approach, this study was conducted to explore the effectiveness of Dogme ELT to enhance English language competence in academic writing skills. For this purpose, a Classroom Action Research (CAR) was conducted, and the data was collected through a diagnostic assessment test on the very first day and a final test after Dogme ELT treatment. The collected data was analyzed through qualitative and quantitative methods to record the results of the study. The research participants’ performance in the diagnostics test and in the final test after Dogme ELT treatment shows that this new teaching approach is very effective and successful to enhance English language competence in academic writing skills.


Author(s):  
Л. Е. Бєловецька

The problem of external independent evaluation in English for admission Master`s degree programs in Ukraine is considered in the article. The perspective for further improvement of English teaching and learning standards at Ukrainian universities has been found. The correspondence to the CEFR basic levels and English proficiency has been identified. Conceptual Principles of State Policy on the Development of English in the Field of Higher Education are considered. The study included 1546 participants. The age of students, who studied to gain the first higher education, was between 17 and 20. The students were not familiar with the structure of External Independent Evaluation and they have never passed it. The research was carried out during the period 2018–2019. The relevance of English language competence in the professional context is noted emphasized as a key point of the presented research. The necessity to provide a sufficient competitive level for Ukrainian graduates through improving correspondent English language training has been considered. The study is based on a study of reports by British experts and contemporary scientific publications presented international researchers have focused on the problems of internationalization and perspectives for Ukrainian universities in the English language dimension. The relevance of studying and adaptation of the UK higher education successful practice has been highlighted. The problems and potential ways of improving students` English language proficiency in the given context are identified. In particular, the study contains important recommendations regarding the number of contact hours and the required levels of English proficiency for the main groups of participants in the educational process in higher education according to international standards.


Author(s):  
Faskal Faranso Faltamo

Assessment is an integral part of measuring effectiveness of teaching and learning processes. It basically focused on measuring the students’ progress in what they learned. Current study examined the relation between the students’ perceptions towards EFL teachers Classroom Assessment methods and their academic achievements. To this end, descriptive research design with qualitative and quantitative methods of data collections was employed. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources via questionnaire, interview and observations. Target populations of current study were randomly selected 281students and purposely selected four teachers of secondary schools at Wolaita zone, Ethiopia. The data were analyzed using mixed methods of data analysis. Based on results obtained from qualitative and quantitative data, it was found out that the students’ perceptions towards teachers’ assessment was proportional to their achievement. Most dominantly, low achievers were not satisfied with their teachers’ methods of assessment as their students were low and the vice versa it true.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Huyi Intan Sari ◽  
Choiril Anwar

Anxiety is a topic mostly investigated in the field of foreign language education. Unfortunately, the main focus of the studies on the aforementioned topic has primarily been provided in relation to anxiety suffered by students not teachers. Anxiety in speaking English while teaching has been proven to be a separate obstacle to the success of the language teaching and learning. This still happens to teachers who even have years of teaching experience. This study aims to investigate the English language teaching anxiety as experienced by the pre-service teacher at the department. The FLTA questionnaire consisting of 27 out of 45 items was adopted to collect data. Since this study was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, the questionnaire was distributed to the participants via email. The analysis was then made by implementing the qualitative descriptive approach and simple quantification to support the description. The results show that there were five factors of anxiety occur during the program. They were teaching inexperience, self-perception of language proficiency, fear of negative evaluation, lack of student�s interest, and difficulty with time management. These findings are expected to become a reference for the efforts of developing an internship preparation program.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document