Fostering learners’ involvement in the assessment process during the COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives of university language and communication teachers across the globe

With the transition to online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for identifying effective methods of assessment has become paramount. The methods of traditional summative in-person, paperand-pencil exams could not be adapted to the online environment. In case of unsupervised (nonproctored) exams it was impossible to ensure students’ academic honesty. Some universities have offered remotely supervised (proctored) examinations, which has been a rare exception. The pandemic prompted teachers to innovate their assessment practice and apply formative assessment methods as an alternative to traditional summative assessment. They have started using tasks such as e-portfolios, online learning journals, blogs, online presentations, creative writing, and open-book exams, which present golden opportunities to involve students in the assessment process. This study aims to explore assessment-related experiences of language and communication teachers at higher education institutions (HEIs) during the pandemic. Our mixed-method research combines an international survey administered to university language and communication teachers (N=301) with in-depth interviews with a selection of participants (n=18) of the same background. The results provide valuable insights into the perceptions that university language and communication teachers have of effective assessment methods and pedagogical approaches engaging learners in assessment. The implications of the study advocate a growing trend toward a wider use of learner-centered assessment.

Reflective Journal Writing: Writing Processes applied by Skilful and Less Skilful EFL Graduate Students

Journal writing is the process of recording personal insights, reflections, and questions on assigned topics. It is extensively applied in educational setting as an individual activity with diverse terms and these include journal dialogue, learning journals, and reflective writing (RW). Reflective writing (RW) is one of the most common writing activities applied by higher education students. However, some still struggle with this writing technique. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the right processes/ sub-processes used by skilful and less skilful EFL graduate students in conducting Reflective writing. Data were collected from two (2) female graduate students through think-aloud, observation, retrospective, and semi-structured interviews. The result showed the significance of integrating a focus on an effective writing process/sub-process in academic writing and encouraging students to practice Reflective writing in multiple contexts by reading extensively when writing reflection.

Reflection on practice: an exploration of a virtual online collaboration as preparation for the year abroad

This paper describes an exploratory online intercultural exchange that took place between two universities, one in Ireland and the other in Germany. Students worked together virtually – across cultures and disciplines – on a project-based task for assessment. Based on an analysis of the reflective learning journals submitted over the course of the semester, there is evidence that a virtual online learning environment may be considered as an effective way of preparing students for a Year Abroad (YA), triggering a path of reflection and (inter-) cultural learning. From insights gained doing this Virtual Exchange (VE), a type of inventory for virtual online collaboration is suggested, which may serve as a task-checklist for future VEs.

Promoting university students’ well-being and studying with an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)-based intervention

Students’ poor well-being is a serious problem in higher education. In part, this problem is related to the problems in studying as poorer study skills are related to poorer well-being. Both students’ study skills and their well-being should be enhanced in higher education, but effective ways to do this are needed. The aim of this study was to explore students’ experiences of an ACT-based online, 8-week course on university students’ well-being and studying. Data were collected in two ways: a) with qualitative data consisting of learning journals (n = 97) and with b) a pre- and post-questionnaire (n = 143) during the course. The students’ scores on well-being, psychological flexibility, and time and effort management skills improved, and stress levels decreased during the course. Qualitative analyses showed that the students benefited from the course in many ways, both in terms of studying and well-being; their studying and time management skills had improved and they had learnt stress management skills and how to cope with their negative thoughts. We argue that supporting students’ well-being, as well as their study skills with ACT-based course in higher education studies, can lead to more effective studying.

Sentiment analysis of students’ attitudes toward mobile learning activities

In this research, students’ sentiments and emotions embedded in their learning journals are analyzed to understand their attitudes to mobile-based lessons as they progress during an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course. Sentiment Analysis (SA) was utilized to extract emotions and sentiment throughout students’ learning experience, as expressed in their weekly online learner journals. The sentiment scores were generated from four sentiment dictionaries with different scales. The findings suggest that overall, the students had a positive sentiment and emotions toward mobile learning, consisting of anticipation, trust, joy, and surprise. The strongest negative emotion was fear, which may be explained by anxiety surrounding communication in a foreign language.

Fostering Preservice Teachers’ Psychological Literacy by Counseling Pupils on Their Self-Regulated Learning – Didactical Concept of a Theory–Practice Learning Setting and Insights Into Preservice Teachers’ Reflections

This report illustrates the didactical concept and implementation of a theory–practice learning setting where preservice teachers counsel pupils from local schools on their self-regulated learning. The learning setting is part of the preservice teachers’ psychology curriculum embedded in their educational foundation studies and aims at fostering preservice teachers’ psychological literacy; specifically, to reflect their own and other’s behavior and to apply their psychological knowledge of learning and counseling principles into real-life counseling sessions. Besides describing the motivation behind the structure and content of the theory–practice learning setting, the report discusses results of a first qualitative analysis of the preservice teachers’ learning journals, which function as a reflection tool and are part of the overall evaluation design. Results indicate that the practice task (counseling session) is a complex and demanding, yet instructive and rewarding, learning setting that fosters certain attributes of psychological literacy. Practical implications and further research endeavors are discussed.

‘There’s an App for That!’ Writing Technology Reviews for Academic Journals

Technology reviews are becoming an increasingly common genre within English language teaching and learning journals. This is due to the proliferation of technologies and their affordance in language learning. Although journals provide editorial guidelines for how to write technology reviews, they can be quite general. This short article offers some practical considerations and ideas, and includes published technology review as an example in the online appendix, showing the rhetorical moves for writing technology reviews in the field of English language teaching and learning.

Instruction of Nominalization by Applying Enabling of POA

It is noticeable that the academic papers written by Chinese English learners are lacking in academic features largely due to their poor ability to use nominalization. Therefore, the instruction of nominalization in an academic English writing course is badly needed. The author conducted one-semester-long instruction of nominalization to 90 non-English majors under the guidance of the production-oriented approach (POA). This research demonstrated how to apply POA, specifically, the enabling procedure to the teaching of nominalization. By triangulating the data of students’ interviews, learning journals and written output, and the data of 4 teachers’ class observations and interviews, this study found that the accurate application of the three criteria of effective enabling contributed to the improvement of the quantity and quality of nominalization in academic writing.