Investigating the Benefits and Challenges of Workplace Volunteering Experiences for International Students’ Employability Literacies

For many international students the prospect of employment in overseas locations post-study is a strong desire. The concept of employability has infiltrated the literature but little is known about how volunteering experiences might impact international students’ preparedness for work placement during their programs of study. Using theoretical framing related to types of employability literacies, this paper shares data from interviews with international students who volunteered. Findings revealed several themes aligning with linguistic proficiency, cultural awareness, attitudes and mindset, and vocational literacies. Additional themes such as hospitable relationships and building trust were also revealed which could relate to sustainable citizenship. Many benefits result from volunteering experiences for both international students and their hosts, but more work is needed to support hosts through cultural awareness programs and international students due to their study commitments and limited time.

Teachers’ Perceptions on Code-Switching in EFL Classroom Discourse

Feasibility of maintaining an educational sustainable development (ESD) depends on exploring teachers’ concepts on their common practices in classroom settings. Speakers in multilingual contexts commonly switch their codes, languages, during their numerous social interactions. Nowadays, the phenomena, code switching, has expanded to cover any situation in which speakers switch from one accepted code into another. Through this perspective, various studies have been conducted to investigate different aspects of code-switching in EFL classrooms. The present study qualitatively investigated teachers’ perceptions on code-switching in their classrooms addressing two research questions, namely what types of code-switching EFL teachers were practicing in EFL classrooms and what were their perceptions on their code-switching. Four EFL teachers participated in the study. The analysis of the data collected through manual and electronic observations as well as structured interviews, indicated that intra-sentential and inter-sentential types of code-switching were practised throughout the classroom teaching processes. The main motives for resorting to code-switching were found to be EFL students’ lack of linguistic proficiency, keeping solidarity with the students and managing the classrooms.

INFORMAL ENGLISH: A THEORETICAL-METHODOLOGICAL DISCUSSION

Drawing upon sociolinguistic issues inherent to language variation and registers (BIBER at al., 1999), this paper, fundamentally theoretical, sought to discuss theoretical and methodological issues related to informal (colloquial) English. Besides the fact that this type of register is fundamental to one’s linguistic proficiency, the literature on the topic is substantially scarce both in theoretical and didactic-pedagogical terms (SENEFONTE, 2018). Thus, this article can contribute to the literature by possibly promoting critical thinking about the conscious use and approach to such type of language in the classroom, aiming at understanding language as a social practice and at critical language awareness.

The multivoiced English-for-young-learners subject in Sweden: Spaces for plurilingualism?

Already in primary school in Sweden, English is one of several language subjects within a larger curriculum. Despite this, the curricular space for the English subject to leverage and contribute to plurilingual competence has hitherto received little attention. This study centres on the construction of the primary English subject in the 2011 (revised 2018) curriculum, also in relation to other language syllabi, using the concept of ‘voice as perspective on topic’ (Linell, 2009) to analyse ideologies that are salient, backgrounded, and absent in the English syllabus and those transcending language syllabi boundaries. Findings show that different voices are salient in the English subject in years 1–3 and 4–6, constructing an oral-based and fun subject contra an increasingly academic and communicatively-focused subject respectively. Monoglossic ideologies in English language teaching are challenged insofar as English is not positioned as a language belonging to specific nations or speakers. However, there exists no explicit space for plurilingual competence in assessment, where instead pupils’ monolingual performances are assessed. In addition, unlike other language syllabi, the English syllabus contains no explicit mention of multilingual awareness-raising of languages in the learners’ repertoire, thereby limiting explicit space for plurilingualism. Nevertheless, across the language syllabi, a functional view of language is salient, where communicative strategies, language form for functionally justified ends, and text genres form part of the core content of the education. This creates implicit spaces for teaching and learning in the English subject to leverage and contribute to developing underlying functional linguistic proficiency (see Cummins, 2000, 2007).

Representational and Computational Changes in Heritage Language Grammars

The notion of complexity has been applied to descriptions and comparisons of languages and to explanations related to ease and difficulty of various linguistic phenomena in first and second language acquisition. It has been noted that compared to baseline grammars, heritage language grammars are less complex, displaying morphological simplification and structural shrinking, especially among heritage speakers with lower proficiency in the language. On some recent proposals of gender agreement in Spanish and Norwegian (Fuchs et al., 2015; Lohndal & Putnam, 2020), these differences are representational, affecting the projection of functional categories and feature specifications in the syntax. An alternative possibility is that differences between baseline and heritage grammars arise from computational considerations related to bilingualism, affecting speed of lexical access and feature reassembly online in the minority language. We illustrate this proposal with empirical data from gender agreement and differential object marking. Although presented as alternatives, the representational and computational explanations are not incompatible, and may both be adequate to capture varying levels of variability modulated by linguistic proficiency. These proposals formalize bilingual acquisition models of grammar competition and directly relate the availability and type of input (the acquisition evidence) to the locus and nature of the grammatical differences between heritage and baseline grammars.

Palestinian EFL University Students’ Problems with the Reading Sections of the TOEFL Internet-based Test and the Revised TOEFL paper-delivered Test

Despite Palestinian university students’ problems with the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-based Test, no researchers approached this research area in the Palestinian English as a Foreign Language context. The present study attempted to answer a question focusing on Palestinian university students’ problems with the reading sections of the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-based Test and the revised Test of English as a Foreign Language paper-delivered test. The participants were 65 fourth-year students studying English at Al-Aqsa University. The researcher employed four instruments: a test, a group semi-structured interview, and two individual semi-structured interviews. Results showed the students’ problems with the reading sections of the two types of tests, such as the irrelevance of the topics of the tests to the students’ content background knowledge, students’ lack of exposure to lengthy passages, students’ slow reading speed, and the students’ lack of linguistic proficiency. Additionally, the study offered many recommendations for Educational Testing Service experts and Al-Aqsa university students and instructors.

Palestinian EFL University Students’ Problems with the Reading Sections of the TOEFL Internet-based Test and the Revised TOEFL paper-delivered Test

Despite Palestinian university students’ problems with the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-based Test, no researchers approached this research area in the Palestinian English as a Foreign Language context. The present study attempted to answer a question focusing on Palestinian university students’ problems with the reading sections of the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-based Test and the revised Test of English as a Foreign Language paper-delivered test. The participants were 65 fourth-year students studying English at Al-Aqsa University. The researcher employed four instruments: a test, a group semi-structured interview, and two individual semi-structured interviews. Results showed the students’ problems with the reading sections of the two types of tests, such as the irrelevance of the topics of the tests to the students’ content background knowledge, students’ lack of exposure to lengthy passages, students’ slow reading speed, and the students’ lack of linguistic proficiency. Additionally, the study offered many recommendations for Educational Testing Service experts and Al-Aqsa university students and instructors.

A Survey on Difficulties in Giving English Presentations Experienced by Students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry (HUFI)

Nowadays, oral presentation plays an important role in the university environment. Nevertheless, most students still do not have enough experiences and skills in presenting, which leads them to deal with various problems. In an effort to investigate their presenting difficulties, this research aimed to point out: (1) the students’ attitudes towards the importance of oral presenting skills, (2) the difficulties when presenting they would encounter, and (3) the factors causing the challenges and some suggested solutions. Specifically, the investigation has been carried out in the form of survey research, with a hundred and forty students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry participating as informants. The main data collection instrument was the online survey questionnaire done by those students. The research has indicated that the students’ poor linguistic proficiency, including their pronunciation, nonverbal communication, lack of interaction, all found it hard for them to be comprehended. Furthermore, the data collection has confirmed that the assessments and comments from the institution’s lack of high-quality equipment and facilities also related to these students' poor presenting performances. For those reasons, the investigation recommends that teachers and institutions should make greater efforts in educating oral presenting skills to better their students’ presentation skills. On the students’ part, it is essential to be more aware of the preparations and to have suitable strategies for enhancing presentation abilities to meet the expectations of future work.

A Survey on Difficulties in Giving English Presentations Experienced by Students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry (HUFI)

Nowadays, oral presentation plays an important role in the university environment. Nevertheless, most students still do not have enough experiences and skills in presenting, which leads them to deal with various problems. In an effort to investigate their presenting difficulties, this research aimed to point out: (1) the students’ attitudes towards the importance of oral presenting skills, (2) the difficulties when presenting they would encounter, and (3) the factors causing the challenges and some suggested solutions. Specifically, the investigation has been carried out in the form of survey research, with a hundred and forty students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry participating as informants. The main data collection instrument was the online survey questionnaire done by those students. The research has indicated that the students’ poor linguistic proficiency, including their pronunciation, nonverbal communication, lack of interaction, all found it hard for them to be comprehended. Furthermore, the data collection has confirmed that the assessments and comments from the institution’s lack of high-quality equipment and facilities also related to these students' poor presenting performances. For those reasons, the investigation recommends that teachers and institutions should make greater efforts in educating oral presenting skills to better their students’ presentation skills. On the students’ part, it is essential to be more aware of the preparations and to have suitable strategies for enhancing presentation abilities to meet the expectations of future work.