scholarly journals Peer-led Discussion Groups in Foreign Languages: Training International Students to Become Peer-Facilitators

2015 ◽  
pp. 433-443
Author(s):  
Catherine Jeanneau ◽  
Stéphanie O’Riordan
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Constructive Feedback ◽  
The Past ◽  
Training Package ◽  
The University ◽  
Peer Facilitators

While practice is paramount to achieve fluency and accuracy in a foreign language, Higher Education is understandably limited in the amount of language practice it can offer to its students. The initiative discussed here aims to address this issue by providing peer-led discussion groups in languages in a systematic manner. For the past three years, a team of language practitioners at the University of Limerick, Ireland have developed a programme whereby groups of native speakers receive training before facilitating discussion groups and/or one-to-one sessions. In this study, we will first present an overview of the initiative. We will then focus on the training offered to the peer-facilitators. The main principles of the training package will be explained: it seeks to prepare the facilitators to select relevant topics, to focus on language fluency and to provide constructive feedback to participating students. Finally, we will draw some conclusions from our experience, provide some recommendations and discuss the value of peer-supported activities to integrate International students in their host university.

Implementing English-Taught Programmes in Higher Education in Spain

2020 ◽  
pp. 138-150
Author(s):  
Victor Pavón-Vázquez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Students ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Bilingual Programs ◽  
University Policy ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Institutional Profile ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The University

The acceptance of English as the lingua franca of the academic world has triggered the flourishing of different approaches to promote the learning of English as a foreign language in higher education. Under the umbrella of supranational regulations (as in the case of Europe), the promise of linguistic gains runs parallel with the necessity to attract international students, to promote the international and institutional profile for the universities, and to enhance employability for graduates. At the university of Córdoba, studies or courses taught through a foreign language are part of a larger university policy, and the decisions were based on clear definition of content and language learning outcomes and human and material resources available. This chapter describes the implementation of bilingual programs at this university, offering a picture of the challenges and problems that emerged and of the initiatives that were adopted.

scholarly journals Der Erwerb von Verbzweitsätzen mit Subjekt im Mittelfeld bei italophonen DaF-Studierenden. Erwerbsphasen, Lernschwierigkeiten und didaktische Implikationen

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Ballestracci
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University ◽  
Further Development

This paper focuses on the acquisition of German sentences by Italian native speakers in Foreign Language Teaching, with the verb located in second position, and the subject found in the middle field. The study is based upon a corpus of texts written by Italian students during their first six semesters at the University of Pisa. The first part of the study describes the main grammatical structural differences between Italian and German declarative sentences, referring to position of verb, subject and clause constituents. In the second part, I summarize the research results of the main German-Italian linguistic contrastive studies on the acquisition of word order in German, by focusing on declarative sentences with the subject in the middle field. The final part of this paper focuses on the linguistic and contextual factors influencing the acquisition process for further development in this field of study, in order to offer suggestions for foreign language teaching of German.

scholarly journals The Comparison between Native Speakers of Indonesian and BIPA Learners in Producing Email Requests

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-90
Author(s):  
ANDIKA EKO PRASETIYO
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Master's Level ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University ◽  
Bahasa Indonesia

This study examined a comparison between Native Speakers (NS) of Indonesian and Indonesian language as a foreign language (Bahasa Indonesia untuk Penutur Asing - BIPA) learners in making email requests. In particular, this study analysed the different aspects of pragmatics of variations in structure and politeness in emails. This study involved nine NS of Indonesian who were studying master’s level programs at the University of Melbourne, and eighteen BIPA learners who took the subject Indonesian 4 in Semester 2, 2018 at the University of Melbourne. Participants wrote an email request based on a given scenario, which was requesting leave in the context of a workplace in Indonesia. The data were obtained by providing participants a description of the scenario, which prompted them to write an email request asking permission to take time off work. However, participants had freedom in terms of the style and structure of the email. In general, this study aimed to examine how their pragmatics varies, especially in terms of structure and politeness.

Assessing the Efficacy of the Test of English as a Foreign Language

1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron W. Hughey ◽  
Danny Hinson
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
International Students ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Major Area ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Academic Records ◽  
The University ◽  
Time Of Admission ◽  
Academic Potential

American colleges and universities routinely use the Test of English as a Foreign Language to assess international students' potential for academic success. This is unfortunate given current disagreement regarding its validity as a predictive measure. The present study examined the academic records of 168 international students enrolled at a private, four-year institution in the southeastern United States. Each student was profiled by gender, general language background, major area of study, score on the test at the time of admission to the university, and GPA at the time of departure from the university. Analysis indicated that the test's value as a vehicle for assessing academic potential is problematic. Recommendations are presented for use within current limitations, and possible lines of enquiry are suggested.

scholarly journals Using Nigerian English in an International Academic Setting

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-158
Author(s):  
Una Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Nonnative Speakers Of English ◽  
The University ◽  
Nigerian Students ◽  
Gain Access ◽  
Better Than

This study examines the English pronunciation of a group of Nigerian students at a university in Sweden from the point of view of their intelligibility to two groups of listeners: 1) native speakers of English who are teachers at the university; 2) nonnative speakers of English who are teachers at the university. It is found that listeners who are accustomed to interacting with international students do better than those who are not, and that native speakers of English do no better or worse than non-native listeners. The conclusion is drawn that locally useful varieties of Nigerian English may not easily be used as for wider communication and that students preparing to study abroad would find it useful to gain access to a more widely intelligible variety.

scholarly journals Beyond the classroom: WebCT and learning Modern Hebrew

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yona Gilead
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Discourse Communities ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Modern Hebrew ◽  
Face To Face Learning ◽  
The University

<blockquote>The developments of new technologies over the last decades provide some answers to the limited exposure imposed on second/foreign language (L2) learners, who study a target language in an academic setting in countries where that language is not actively used. Not only are such learners restricted in their exposure to the L2 in the formal academic framework, due to the limited face to face learning time, but, more significantly, they lack the exposure to the language's 'real world' as it exists outside the language classroom. They are isolated from the target language's authentic discourse communities and its native speakers. Instead, learners mainly experience the language in its 'modified format' as manifested within the classroom itself.<p>This paper analyses the rationale for, and the process of, the development of the Modern Hebrew Beginners <em>WebCT</em>site at the University of Sydney as a means of increasing students' exposure to the language and especially enhancing their communication in Hebrew through the use of technologies.</p></blockquote><p> </p>

scholarly journals The current use of the past imperfect tense in Albanian and Serbian – a case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindita Sejdiu-Rugova ◽  
Merima Krijezi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Formal Grammar ◽  
The Past ◽  
Indirect Influence

The current use of the past imperfect tense in Albanian and Serbian – a case studyThe article deals with the indirect influence of Albanian grammar among the native speakers of Serbian who study Albanian as a foreign language as an awareness and transformation process when translating the past imperfect forms from Albanian as a foreign language into their mother tongue Serbian, more specifically the past imperfect of Albanian into Serbian as their mother tongue. The emphasize that while translating, the students are guided not by knowledge of formal grammar but by actual by real usage of this tense in Albanian and Serbian. Współczesne użycie imperfectum w języku serbskim i albańskim Artykuł dotyczy bezpośredniego wpływu gramatyki albańskiej na język serbski wśród Serbów uczących się języka albańskiego jako obcego. Przedmiotem opisu jest przekład albańskich form imperfektywnych w tłumaczeniu z albańskiego na serbski, w którym ta forma werbalna nie jest już używana. Autorki podkreślają, że studenci, tłumacząc, nie kierują się formalną wiedzą gramatyczną na temat funkcjonowania imperfectum w obu językach, ale realnymi zastosowaniami tej formy temporalnej.

scholarly journals Treading Other Paths within Afro-Diasporic Contexts: Unilab Students’ Experiences, Challenges, and Perspectives

Humanities ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Cristiane Santos Souza
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Students ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
International Integration ◽  
The Past ◽  
Higher Education Expansion ◽  
Education Expansion ◽  
The University ◽  
Education In Brazil

In this paper, I discuss some of the processes that characterized the creation and consolidation of the University of International Integration of Afro-Brazilian Lusophony (Unilab) in Bahia, as part of the expansion project of public higher education in Brazil that was implemented during the Lula presidency (2003–2010) and defined in the government’s internationalization and regionalization project. To this end, I reviewed the literature and institutional documents from the past four years and analyzed observations of daily campus life. I highlight some challenges as well as possibilities for young international students, particularly young Africans from the five Portuguese-speaking countries, and for Brazilian nationals, too, which arise from the implementation of this public higher education expansion program in the Recôncavo Baiano region. Finally, I conclude with observations about the cultural diversity and social reality inherent to the context and discuss the conceptual and practical challenges and possibilities arising from that intercultural reality.

scholarly journals Corpus-based approach to forming communication skills in the use of idioms

2021 ◽  
pp. e021044
Author(s):  
Liya F. Shangaraeva ◽  
Luiza R. Zakirova ◽  
Natalya A. Deputatova ◽  
Elina K. Kuznetsova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
Teaching Techniques ◽  
The Past ◽  
Promising Tool ◽  
National Corpus

The paper presents a corpus-based approach to forming communication skills which has been widely accepted nowadays. The methodological apparatus of corpus linguistics is a promising tool for language learning. The purpose of the present research is to study the potential of the Tatar National Corpus in forming communication skills in the use of Tatar idioms. Corpus-based approach has many applications in language learning from extending teaching techniques to arousing learners’ curiosity and improving communication skills. Traditionally, idioms are considered to be fixed expressions, which have a meaning that is not immediately obvious from looking at the meanings of the parts. It has become evident over the past decades that all sorts of creative modifications of idioms are quite frequent and can be varied. Most idioms are not totally opaque. Thus, they are open to the corpus-based approach. Moreover, idioms are typically based on metaphors, and metaphors as mental images are easily modifiable. The native speakers adapt them, combine them and can change parts of them. Undoubtedly, a corpus presents an opportunity to learn the authenticity of the idioms, used in reality without somebody’s selection or previous interpretation. Learning a foreign language on the basis of corpus data allows students to analyze lexical, grammatical and syntactical variations of idioms, to comprehend their semantics, and explore new variants of idioms, unrecorded in dictionaries yet.

scholarly journals Foreign Languages and Internationalisation at a University of Education in Germany

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Dines
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
The State ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
The Past ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
The Government ◽  
The University ◽  
And Training ◽  
Insight Into

As my title suggests, the aim of this article is to give interested readers an insight into the ways in which advanced foreign language studies are taught at Ludwigsburg University of Education (LUE), Baden-Württemberg, Germany and how this links up with the policy of internationalisation which has been developed by the university over the past 15 years or so. It is my hope that our attempts to address the challenges of teacher education and training maybe of some use to readers of this journal and possibly lead to a discussion of the issues at hand with interested parties – a discussion to which we at Ludwigsburg are more than willing to engage in, especially in view of the changes to the system of teacher education currently being prepared by the government of the state of Baden-Württemberg

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