scholarly journals Navigating complexities, exploiting shortcuts: Talking about culture as researchers and university educators

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-103
Author(s):  
Daniel Rellstab
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
West Africa ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Language Identity ◽  
Critical Awareness

Simplistic understandings of culture as ‘national culture’ and of the relation between language, identity, and culture, have been criticized for quite some time. Today, many teachers in higher education have developed a critical awareness of the complexities of culture and interculturality, and many would no longer subscribe to a simplistic understanding of culture as ‘national culture’. Yet despite this awareness, ‘national cultural’ parlance has not disappeared. Drawing on videotaped interactions among researchers and university educators of German as a Foreign Language during a workshop in West Africa, I demonstrate how we as researchers and university educators navigate complexities when discussing ‘culture’ and when, how, and why we, then and again, revert to simplistic concepts of culture in our talk. Analyzing the practices and ‘common sense resources’ we deploy and the discourses we thereby mediate provides insights into how we configure understandings of culture in action and points at problems in the ways we talk.

Can-Do descriptors – Realigning English Language Curriculum at Higher Education Institution to CEFR

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Erda Wati Bakar
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
English Curriculum ◽  
The Common ◽  
The University

The Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR) has become the standard used to describe and evaluate students’ command of a second or foreign language. It is an internationally acknowledged standard language proficiency framework which many countries have adopted such as China, Thailand, Japan and Taiwan. Malaysia Ministry of Education is aware and realise the need for the current English language curriculum to be validated as to reach the international standard as prescribed by the CEFR. The implementation of CEFR has begun at primary and secondary level since 2017 and now higher education institutions are urged to align their English Language Curriculum to CEFR as part of preparation in receiving students who have been taught using CEFR-aligned curriculum at schools by year 2022. This critical reflection article elucidates the meticulous processes that we have embarked on in re-aligning our English Language Curriculum to the standard and requirements of CEFR. The paper concludes with a remark that the alignment of the English curriculum at the university needs full support from the management in ensuring that all the stakeholders are fully prepared, informed and familiar with the framework.

Challenges of Foreign Language Teaching and Sustainable Development Competence Implementation in Higher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balčiūnaitienė Asta ◽  
Teresevičienė Margarita
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Competence Development ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
Empirical Level ◽  
Language Classes

Abstract The article aims to emphasize the role of foreign language teaching in fostering sustainable development competence in higher education. Foreign language classes enable students to analyze actual topics about sustainable development, to discuss problems, to share personal emotions and experiences. English as a foreign language curriculum aims to build students’ basic language communicative skills with the focus on sustainability, communication for the enhancement of sustainable development competence. The present paper aims to analyze the correlation of sustainable development competence between English as a foreign language studies in the system of higher education. The article overviews the importance of the sustainable development competence development on the theoretical level as well as introduces the practices of the importance of sustainable development competence elements in foreign language classes on the empirical level. The research was planned and performed in 5 universities of Lithuania, in which the respondents studying English (average age of participants was 22 years old) expressed their opinions on the sustainable development topics and usefulness of sustainable development competence. The results of the research demonstrate that students are more engaged in topics and materials on sustainable development and it is challenging for pedagogues to constantly update their materials, to apply innovative English as a foreign language teaching strategies related to sustainable development in foreign language classroom. Therefore, the research findings with the embedded elements for sustainable development competence development encourage educators to search for innovative ways of English as a foreign language teaching in higher education.

PROBLEM-BASED SITUATIONS USE IN THE PROCESS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING AT LAW HIGHER EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENTS

2018 ◽  
pp. 18-22
Author(s):  
Galina Grigor’evna Korsakova ◽  
◽  
Natal’ya Vyacheslavovna Zinevich ◽  
Zhanna Petrovna Popadina ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching

A COMPARISON OF ONOMATOPOEIA IN FOREIGN, INDONESIAN, AND LOCAL LANGUAGES

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 184
Author(s):  
Imron Hadi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Local Language ◽  
Language Identity ◽  
Local Languages

Pembelajaran bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing yang merupakan representasi kebudayaan memiliki sejumlah kesulitan. Salah satu kesulitan itu berasal dari pengenalan bunyi. Sebuah cara alternatif untuk mengakomodasi masalah tersebut adalah dengan pengenalan bentuk onomatope. Onomatope menyediakan bermacam bunyi tiruan yang berbeda sebagai ikon lintas bahasa dan budaya untuk mengartikulasikan hal yang sama. Onomatope dapat berasal dari berbagai sumber, seperti komik, karikatur, novel, koran dan lain sebagainya. Onomatope dapat memberikan berbagai sudut pandang mengenai identitas kebahasaan dan kebudayaannya, setidaknya dalam bahasa Inggris, Indonesia, dan daerah.AbstrakTeaching English as a foreign language that is a representation of culture has some difficulties. One of the them comes from sounds recognition. An alternative way to accomodate the problem is by acknowledging an onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia provides several different kinds of imitative sound as a cross cultures and language icon to articulate the same thing. Its sources can be taken from comics, caricatures, novels, newspapers, and others. Onomatopoeia could give various perspective of its cultural and language identity in English, Indonesia, and local language.

Institutional Plagiarism Policy (Georgian higher education institutions’ case)

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natela DOGHONADZE ◽  
Ekaterine PIPIA ◽  
Nikoloz PARJANADZE
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Survey Questionnaire ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Copyright Violation ◽  
University Policies

The article deals with various aspects of plagiarism: definition (discriminating it from cheating and copyright violation), types (intended / unintended), involved people, causes, prevention, detection and punishment of plagiarism. A survey (questionnaire containing 42 items to be assessed in a 5-point Likert scale and one open- ended item) was conducted in Georgia. The questionnaire developed based on the literature review was uploaded on social media in three variants (to analyze the results separately and compare them): for students, for researchers and for assessors. The obtained results revealed that the opinions of the three groups of respondents differed to a certain degree, but were quite similar, eventually. The survey disclosed the existing problems, such as: lack of academic writing (in the native and especially foreign language) and research skills, lack of training in avoiding plagiarism, insufficiently clear university policies in the area, the emphasis on punishment instead of prevention, etc. Based on the obtained results recommendations for universities are given concerning plagiarism policies. 

Assessment : Basic Concepts, Thoughtful Decisions

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-21
Author(s):  
Milton Raul Licona Luna ◽  
Elizabeth Alvarado Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Assessment For Learning ◽  
Continuous Assessment ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Education In Mexico

Institutions from basic to higher education in Mexico that offer courses of English as a Foreign Language rely heavily on the administering of assessment, usually a formal type of assessment. However, the literature shows how important it is the involvement of other types of assessment in the classroom for effective language learning to take place. For instance, assessment for learning, which consist of a continuous assessment where learners receive feedback so greater learning occurs, what is more, it enables teachers to modify their teaching ways as they reflect on the learners’ progress. To show how assessment is carried out in our context, this research project focuses on a case study within the CAADI from FOD in the UANL.

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