Search results for: learners with disabilities

Authors: Surasak Khamkhong

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This study aimed to investigate the use of the PISA reading literacy assessment framework (PRF) to improve EFL learners’ critical reading and thinking skills. The sample group, selected by the purposive sampling technique, included 36 EFL learners from a university in Northeastern Thailand. The instruments consisted of 8 PRF-based reading lessons, a 27-item-PRF-based reading test which was used as a pre-test and a post-test, and an attitude questionnaire toward the designed lessons. The statistics used for data analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The results revealed that before the intervention, the students’ English reading proficiency were low as is evident from their low pre-test scores (M=14.00). They did fairly well for the access-and-retrieve questions (M=6.11), but poorly for the integrate-and-interpret questions (M=4.89) and the reflect-and-evaluate questions (M=3.00), respectively. This means that the students could comprehend the texts but they could hardly interpret or evaluate them. However, after the intervention, they could do better as their post-test scores were higher (M=18.01). They could comprehend (M=6.78), interpret (M=6.00) and evaluate (M=5.25) well. This means that after the intervention, their critical reading skills had improved. In terms of their attitude towards the designed lessons and instruction, most students were satisfied with the lessons and the instruction. It may thus be concluded that the designed lessons can help improve students’ English critical reading proficiency and may be used as a teaching model for improving EFL learners’ critical reading skills.

Keywords: second language reading, critical reading and thinking skills, PISA reading literacy framework, English L2 reading development

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Authors: Afshin Gharib

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Often, instructors prefer to bring into class a guest lecturer who can provide an “experiential” perspective on a particular topic. The assumption is that the personal experience brought into the classroom makes the material resonate more with students and that students would have a preference for material being taught from an experiential perspective. The question we asked in the present study was whether a guest lecture from an “experiential” expert with a disability (e.g. a guest suffering from cone-rod dystrophy lecturing on vision, or a dyslexic lecturing on the psychology of reading) would be more effective than the course instructor in capturing students attention and conveying information in an Introduction to Psychology class. Students in two sections of Introduction to Psychology (N = 25 in each section) listened to guest lecturers with disabilities lecturing on a topic related to their disability, one in the area of Sensation and Perception (the guest lecturer is vision impaired) and one in the area of Language Development (the guest lecturer is dyslexic). The Guest lecturers lectured on the same topic in both sections, however, each lecturer used their own experiences to highlight the topics they cover in one section but not the other (counterbalanced between sections), providing students in one section with experiential testimony. Following each of the 4 lectures (two experiential, two non-experiential) students rated the lecture on several dimensions including overall quality, level of engagement, and performance. In addition, students in both sections were tested on the same test items from the lecture material to ascertain degree of learning, and given identical “pop” quizzes two weeks after the exam to measure retention. It was hypothesized that students would find the experiential lectures from lecturers talking about their disabilities more engaging, learn more from them, and retain the material for longer. We found that students in fact preferred the course instructor to the guests, regardless of whether the guests included a discussion of their own disability in their lectures. Performance on the exam questions and the pop quiz items were not different between “experiential” and “non-experiential” lectures, suggesting that guest lecturers who discuss their own disabilities in lecture are not more effective in conveying material and students are not more likely to retain material delivered by “experiential” guests. In future research we hope to explore the reasons for students preference for their regular instructor over guest lecturers.

Keywords: guest lecturer, student perception, retention, experiential

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Authors: Dakeyi Athanase

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The ratification of an international human rights legal instrument provides signatory States with an opportunity to assume a set of obligations and rights for the benefit of their citizens, offering increased possibilities, opportunities, and means to access an improved quality of life – to be, to appear, and to become. Developed nations typically experience cultural, political, social, economic, legal, and regulatory transformations in response to this transition. In a methodologically proactive approach, mechanisms undergo a visible and comprehensible process of qualitative and quantitative change. Conversely, in nations undergoing development, the response to such ratification varies. Some demonstrate positive policy changes, while others remain stagnant or regress. Cameroon falls into the second category, despite efforts, as it legally prohibits 50% of its population with disabilities from acquiring the status of a person with a disability. The overarching goal of this communication is to highlight these deficiencies and their detrimental effects on various aspects of life, fostering awareness among beneficiaries and advocating for more inclusive transformations in the country. Our project employs a popular and participatory methodological approach by involving beneficiaries and their organizations in its preparation. It is also inclusive, representing the diversity of disabilities and engaging natural and legal persons from various backgrounds. Active consultations occur at all levels of the activities. Anticipated outcomes include raising awareness globally among nations, international cooperation organizations, NGOs, and other inclusive development actors. We seek their support for local advocacy efforts to fully implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Concurrently, we hope they express solidarity with the victims in Cameroon who have been left behind and recommend legal reforms to align domestic and international legislation with the promotion and protection of disability rights.

Keywords: droit, convention, handicap, discrimination, participation, inclusion

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Authors: Jiexuan Lin, Huiyi Chen

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The development of L2 pronunciation competence remains understudied in the literature and it is not clear what may influence learners’ development of L2 pronunciation. The present study was an attempt to find out which of the two common factors in L2 acquisition, i.e., foreign language anxiety or self-perceived L2 proficiency, can better predict Chinese EFL learners’ pronunciation performance. 78 first-year English majors, who had received a three-month pronunciation training course, were asked to 1) fill out a questionnaire on foreign language classroom anxiety, 2) self-report their L2 proficiency in general, in speaking and in pronunciation, and 3) complete an oral and a written test on their L2 pronunciation (the score of the oral part indicates participants’ pronunciation proficiency in oral production, and the score of the written part indexes participants’ ability in applying pronunciation knowledge in comprehension.) Results showed that the pronunciation scores were negatively correlated with the anxiety scores, and were positively correlated with the self-perceived pronunciation proficiency. But only the written scores in the L2 pronunciation test, not the oral scores, were positively correlated with the L2 self-perceived general proficiency. Neither the oral nor the written scores in the L2 pronunciation test had a significant correlation with the self-perceived speaking proficiency. Given the fairly strong correlations, the anxiety scores and the self-perceived pronunciation proficiency were put in regression models to predict L2 pronunciation performance. The anxiety factor alone accounted for 13.9% of the variance and the self-perceived pronunciation proficiency alone explained 12.1% of the variance. But when both anxiety scores and self-perceived pronunciation proficiency were put in a stepwise regression model, only the anxiety scores had a significant and unique contribution to the L2 pronunciation performance (4.8%). Taken together, the results suggested that the learners’ anxiety level could better predict their L2 pronunciation performance, compared with the self-perceived proficiency levels. The obtained data have the following pedagogical implications. 1) Given the fairly strong correlation between anxiety and L2 pronunciation performance, the instructors who are interested in predicting learners’ L2 pronunciation proficiency may measure their anxiety level, instead of their proficiency, as the predicting variable. 2) The correlation of oral scores (in the pronunciation test) with pronunciation proficiency, rather than with speaking proficiency, indicates that a) learners after receiving some amounts of training are to some extent able to evaluate their own pronunciation ability, implying the feasibility of incorporating self-evaluation and peer comments in course instruction; b) the ‘proficiency’ measure used to predict pronunciation performance should be used with caution. The proficiency of specific skills seemingly highly related to pronunciation (i.e., speaking in this case) may not be taken for granted as an effective predictor for pronunciation performance. 3) The correlation between the written scores with general L2 proficiency is interesting.

Keywords: anxiety, Chinese EFL learners, L2 pronunciation, self-perceived L2 proficiency

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Authors: Ebele V. Okoli, Emmanuel Nwobi, Dozie Ezechukwu, Ijeoma Itanyi

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One in seven people worldwide suffer from a disability. 80% of people with disabilities live in developing countries. Negative attitudes and misconceptions among health-care providers constitute barri¬ers to optimal health care for people with disabilities. This underscores the relevance of a study of the attitude of Nigerian medical students towards disability and their willingness to work in the disability sector. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among 254 penultimate and final year medical students of a university in southeastern Nigeria. The mean age of the students was 24.8 ± 3.12 years. Majority of the students were male (75.2%), single (96.9%), of the Igbo tribe (86.6%), Christian (97.6%) and grew up in urban areas (68.1%). Results indicated that the medical students had a predominantly positive attitude towards people with disability as 73.8% had a positive attitude and mean attitude score was 67.03 ± 0.14 (positive attitude = 61 – 120, negative attitude = 0 - 60). Chi-square analysis did not show any significant effect of demographic and social factors on the students’ attitude towards People with Disabilities. The students were mostly willing to work in areas that address the challenges of people with disability (70.4%) but a greater proportion had never heard about Disability Studies (67.5%). About a third of the students (33.2%) would like to travel abroad to practice in the disability sector. Conclusions: The students generally had a positive attitude towards people with disability and a greater percentage were willing to work in the disability sector in their future career. About two-thirds had however, never heard about disability studies. There was some potential for brain drain among the students as a third of the population intended to practice abroad on graduation.

Keywords: attitudes, career interest, disability, medical students

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Authors: Pankaj Pradhananga

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Inclusive Tourism is a relatively new topic in Nepal. Though the effort of creating accessible and inclusive tourism has already begun, it is still in its infancy. A major concern for Destination Nepal is the lack of awareness and absence of mandatory law in place to encourage Tourism operating sectors for coming up with accessible Tourism products. Given the number economic and social benefits to may be derived from inclusive tourism, it is a critical time for the tourism industry to understand and develop measures towards inclusivity in the gateway to Himalaya. Nepal was struck with a devastating earthquake on April 25th, 2015 which concurrently left more than 4,000 Nepalese with physical disabilities. Nepal has had to rebuild and is continuing to rebuild a lot of infrastructure and the process of rebuilding should be barrier free and use universal design measures. With universal design in place, this would allow access for minority groups such as people with disabilities and the elderly to the historic monuments in Kathmandu valley. Four Seasons Travel ( 4ST) has been a key player in not only creating accessible tourism experiences in Nepal, but also promoting accessible tourism to other tourism operators. Dr. Scott Rains had worked closely with 4ST on accessible tourism. Additionally, it organised an accessible trek which was field tested with a traveler with vision impairment in August 2015. Another accessible trekking experience, in partnership with Washington DC based International Development Institute, was coined as ‘Wounded Heroes Trek to Nepal’, where a group of Veterans that are amputees went trekking in the Annapurna Region. The event made it to the list of UNWTO World Tourism Day celebrations. Such initiatives led by private sector in partnership with various organizations have worked to create a ‘Destination Nepal for all’. However, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to make Nepal a truly inclusive destination. Partnerships between the private sector and DPOs ( Disabled People’s Organizations) as well as the government are also a sound opportunity for employment creation for people with disabilities. Further, partnerships between the state, tourism service providers and DPOs need to be fostered to create job opportunities for people with disabilities. This can be exemplified through the social Entrepreneurship model with the help of accessible Tourism.

Keywords: accessible tourism, disability, earthquake, inclusion

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Authors: Simon Ibor Akpama

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The study investigated the extent to which innovative teaching-learning techniques can influence and attenuate learning difficulties among adult learners participating in different literacy education programmes in Calabar Metropolis, Cross River State, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental design was adopted to collect data from a sample size of 150 participants of the programme. The sample was drawn using the simple random sampling method. As an experimental study, the 150 participants were divided into two equal groups –the first was the experimental group while the second was the control. A pre-test was administered to the two groups which were later exposed to a post-test after treatment. Two instruments were used for data collection. The first was the guide for the Literacy Learning Difficulties Inventory (LLDI). Three hypotheses were postulated and tested as .05 level of significance using Analysis of Covariance (ANOVA) test statistics. Results of the analysis firstly showed that the two groups (treatment and control) did not differ in the pre-test regarding their literacy learning difficulties. Secondly, the result showed that for each hypothesis, innovative teaching-learning techniques significantly influenced adult learners’ (participants) literacy learning difficulties. Based on these findings, the study recommends the use of innovative teaching-learning techniques in adult literacy education centres to mitigate the learning difficulties of adult learners in literacy education programmes in Calabar Metropolis.

Keywords: teaching, learning, techniques, innovative, difficulties, programme

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Authors: Claire Sciberras

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Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has become recognized as being the most common childhood neurological condition. Indeed, numerous studies demonstrate an increase in the prevalence rate of children diagnosed with ASD. Concurrent with these findings, the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education reported a similar escalating tendency in prevalence also in Malta. Such an increase within the educational context in Malta has led the European Agency to call for increased support within educational settings in Malta. However, although research has addressed the positive impact of mainstream education on learners with ASD, empirical studies vis-à-vis the internal and external strengths and weaknesses present within the support provided in mainstream settings in Malta is distinctly limited. In light of the aforementioned argument, Malta would benefit from research which focuses on analysing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOTs) which are present within the support provision of learners with ASD in mainstream primary schools. Such SWOT analysis is crucial as lack of appropriate opportunities might jeopardize the educational and social experiences of persons with ASD throughout their schooling. Methodology: A mixed methodological approach would be well suited to examine the provision of support of learners with ASD as the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches allows researchers to collect a comprehensive range of data and validate their results. Hence, it is intended that questionnaires will be distributed to all the stakeholders involved so as to acquire a broader perspective to be collected from a wider group who provide support to students with ASD across schools in Malta. Moreover, the use of a qualitative approach in the form of interviews with a sample group will be implemented. Such an approach will be considered as it would potentially allow the researcher to gather an in-depth perspective vis-à-vis to the nature of the services which are currently provided to learners with ASD. The intentions of the study: Through the analysis of the data collected vis-à-vis to the SWOTs within the provision of support of learners with ASD it is intended that; i) a description in regards to the educational provision for learners with ASD within mainstream primary schools in Malta in light of the experiences and perceptions of the stakeholders involved will be acquired; ii) an analysis of the SWOTs which exist within the services for learners with ASD in primary state schools in Malta is carried out and iii) based on the SWOT analysis, recommendations that can lead to improvements in practice in the field of ASD in Malta and beyond will be provided. Conclusion: Due to the heterogeneity of individuals with ASD which spans across several deficits related to the social communication and interaction domain and also across areas linked to restricted, repetitive behavioural patterns, educational settings need to alter their standards according to the needs of their students. Thus, the standards established by schools throughout prior phases do not remain applicable forever, and therefore these need to be reviewed periodically in accordance with the diversities and the necessities of their learners.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorders, mainstream educational settings, provision of support, SWOT analysis

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Authors: H. Jalahi, A. Yazdanpanah Nozari

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Background and Purpose: Assessment of learners’ performance is an important factors in teaching-learning process. When a factor is sensitive and has high influence on life, their assessment should be done precisely. Thinking dispositions are very important factors in medical education because of its specific condition. In this study a model is designed for fostering thinking dispositions of learners in which authentic assessment is an important element. Materials and Methods: Objective based research is developmental, and such a model was not designed for curricula. Data collection and comparing approaches about assessment and analyzing current assessments offered applied proposals. Results: Based on research findings, the current assessments are response-based, that is students instead of product of response, only offers the specific response which the teachers expects; but authentic assessment is a form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-word tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills. Conclusion: Because of the difficulties and unexpected problems in life and individuals needs to lifelong learning and conditions in medical course that require decision making in specific times, we must pay attention to reach thinking dispositions and it should be included in curriculum. Authentic assessment as an important aspect of curriculum can help fostering thinking dispositions of learners. Using this kind of assessments which focus on application of information and skills to solve real-word tasks have more important role in medical courses.

Keywords: assessment, authentic, medical courses, developmental

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Authors: Afeez Kolawole Shittu

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Democracy as practiced across the globe is sustained with the increase participation of all eligible voters irrespective of class, race, colour, and disabilities. However, there is a perception within the contemporary African society that people with disability (PWDs) belongs to charity and welfare. This is exacerbated with little understanding among African counties including Nigeria that persons with disability have fundamental rights inevitably rooted in the constitution. This significant viewpoint has continued to militate against the social inclusion of persons with disabilities in various aspects of societal lives including their political participation It is instructive to note that the political right of PWDs has been protected by various international conventions. Article 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights and Dignities for Persons with Disability (CRPD) guaranteed the participation of persons with disability in the political process. Domesticating and ratification of this right has been a challenge for many African countries including Nigeria. Against the backdrop, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections in Nigeria provided forum for the participation of persons with disability in election through implementations of electoral act. Section 56 (1) and (2) of the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) provide for voting participation of persons with disability. This study examines the implementation of the electoral act and how it impacts the voting participation of persons with disability vis-à-vis other challenges affecting the participation of PWDs in electoral process in Nigeria’s 2019 general election. This paper draws on mixed method in sourcing relevant information from the respondents. Interview will be conducted among INEC officials, Civil Society Organisations, Joint National Association of Persons with Disability (JONAPWD). Questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion will be held among different forms of PWDs. The data will be analysed using appropriate descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, as well as thematic content analysis. The study will enlighten understanding on the awareness of the political rights of PWDs as well as improving their electoral participation for sustainable democracy in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.

Keywords: electoral reforms, voting participation, persons with disabilities

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Authors: Heejin Song

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Employing a critical action research approach that rejects essentialist onto-epistemological orientations to research in English language teaching (ELT) and interrogates the hegemonic relations in the knowledge construction and reconstruction processes, this study illuminates how an action research-informed pedagogical practice can transform the English for academic purposes (EAP) teaching to be more culturally and linguistically inclusive and critically oriented for English language learners’ advancement in academic literacies skills. More specifically, this paper aims to showcase the action research-informed pedagogical innovations that emphasize multilingual learners’ multiliteracies engagement and experiential education-oriented learning to facilitate the development of learners’ academic literacies, intercultural communicative competence, and inclusive global citizenship in the context of Canadian university EAP classrooms. The pedagogical innovations through action research embarked in response to growing discussions surrounding pedagogical possibilities of plurilingualism in ELT and synchronous online teaching. The paper is based on two iterations of action research over the pandemic years between 2020 and 2022. The data includes student work samples, focus group interviews, anonymous surveys, teacher feedback and comments on student work and teaching reflections. The first iteration of the action research focused on the affordances of multimodal expressions in individual learners’ academic endeavors for their literacy skills development through individual online activities such as ‘my language autobiography,’ ‘multimodal expression corner’ and public speeches. While these activities help English language learners enhance their knowledge and skills of English-spoken discourses, these tasks did not necessarily require learners’ team-based collaborative endeavors to complete the assigned tasks. Identifying this area for improvement in the instructional design, the second action research cycle/iteration emphasized collaborative performativity through newly added performance/action-based innovative learning tasks, including ‘situational role-playing’, ‘my cooking show & interview’, and group debates in order to provide learners increased opportunities to communicate with peers who joined the class virtually from different parts of the world and enhance learners’ intercultural competence through various strategic and pragmatic communicative skills to collaboratively achieve their shared goals (i.e., successful completion of the given group tasks). The paper exemplifies instances wherein learners’ unique and diverse linguistic and cultural strengths were amplified, and critical literacies were further developed through learners’ performance-oriented multiliteracies engagement. The study suggests that the action research-informed teaching practice that advocates for collaborative multiliteracies engagement serves to facilitate learners’ activation of their existing linguistic and cultural knowledge and contributes to the development of learners’ academic literacy skills. Importantly, the study illuminates that such action research-informed pedagogical initiatives create an inclusive space for learners to build a strong sense of connectedness as global citizens with increased intercultural awareness in their community of language and cultural practices, and further allow learners to actively participate in the construction of ‘collaborative relations of power’ with their peers.

Keywords: action research, EAP, higher education, multiliteracies

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Authors: Bander Mohayya Alotaibi

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The valuable partnerships between parents and teachers may develop positive and effective interactions between home and school. This will help these stakeholders share information and resources regarding student academics during ongoing interactions. Thus, partnerships will build a solid foundation for both families and schools to help children succeed in school. Parental involvement can be seen as an effective tool that can change homes and communities and not just schools’ systems. Seeking parents and stakeholders’ attitudes toward learning and learners can help schools design a curriculum. Subsequently, this information can be used to find ways to help improve the academic performance of students, especially in low performing schools. There may be some conflicts when designing curriculum. In addition, designing curriculum might bring more educational expectations to all the sides. There is a lack of research that targets the specific attitude of parents toward specific concepts on curriculum contents. More research is needed to study the perspective that parents of children with learning disabilities (LD) have regarding early reading curriculum. Parents and stakeholders’ perspectives on early reading intervention implemented as a curriculum for children with LD was studied through an advanced quantitative research. The purpose of this study seeks to understand stakeholders and parents’ perspectives of key concepts and essential early reading skills that impact the design of curriculum that will serve as an intervention for early struggler readers who have LD. Those concepts or stages include phonics, phonological awareness, and reading fluency as well as strategies used in house by parents. A survey instrument was used to gather the data. Participants were recruited through 29 schools and districts of the metropolitan area of the northern part of Saudi Arabia. Participants were stakeholders including parents of children with learning disability. Data were collected using distribution of paper and pen survey to schools. Psychometric properties of the instrument were evaluated for the validity and reliability of the survey; face validity, content validity, and construct validity including an Exploratory Factor Analysis were used to shape and reevaluate the structure of the instrument. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) used to find differences between the variables. The study reported the results of the perspectives of stakeholders toward reading strategies, phonics, phonological awareness, and reading fluency. Also, suggestions and limitations are discussed.

Keywords: stakeholders, learning disability, early reading, perspectives, parents, intervention, curriculum

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Authors: Afroza Akhter Tina

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This paper reports on an investigation into the use of specific types of oral communication strategies, namely ‘topic avoidance’, ‘message abandonment’, ‘code-switching’, ‘paraphrasing’, ‘restructuring’, and ‘stalling’ by Bangladeshi EFL learners at the graduate level. It chiefly considers the frequency of using these strategies as well as the students and teachers attitudes toward such uses. The participants of this study are 66 EFL students and 12 EFL teachers of Jahangirnagar University. Data was collected through questionnaire, oral interview, and classroom observation form. The findings reveal that the EFL students tried to employ all the strategies to various extents due to the language difficulties they encountered in their oral English performance. Among them, the mostly used strategy was ‘stalling’ or the use of fillers, followed by ‘code-switching’. The least used strategies were ‘topic avoidance’, ‘restructuring’, and ‘paraphrasing’. The findings indicate that the use of such strategies was related to the contexts of situation and data-elicitation tasks. It also reveals that the students were not formally trained to use the strategies though the majority of the teachers and students acknowledge them as helpful in communication. Finally the study suggests that an awareness of the nature and functions of these strategies can contribute to the overall improvement of the learners’ communicative competence in spoken English.

Keywords: communicative strategies, competency, attitude, frequency

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Authors: Feiying Wu

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Chatbots are computer programs that attempt to engage a human in a dialogue, which originated in the 1960s with MIT's Eliza. However, they have become widespread more recently as advances in language technology have produced chatbots with increasing linguistic quality and sophistication, leading to their potential to serve as a tool for Computer-Assisted Language Learning(CALL). The aim of this article is to assess the feasibility of using two chatbots, Mitsuku and CleverBot, as pedagogical tools for learning English as a second language by stimulating L2 learners with distinct English proficiencies. Speaking of the input of stimulated learners, they are measured by AntWordProfiler to match the user's expected vocabulary proficiency. Totally, there are four chat sessions as each chatbot will converse with both beginners and advanced learners. For evaluation, it focuses on chatbots' responses from a linguistic standpoint, encompassing vocabulary and sentence levels. The vocabulary level is determined by the vocabulary range and the reaction to misspelled words. Grammatical accuracy and responsiveness to poorly formed sentences are assessed for the sentence level. In addition, the assessment of this essay sets 25% lexical and grammatical incorrect input to determine chatbots' corrective ability towards different linguistic forms. Based on statistical evidence and illustration of examples, despite the small sample size, neither Mitsuku nor CleverBot is ideal as educational tools based on their performance through word range, grammatical accuracy, topic range, and corrective feedback for incorrect words and sentences, but rather as a conversational tool for beginners of L2 English.

Keywords: chatbots, CALL, L2, corrective feedback

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Authors: Fadzayi M.Maruza

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The conversation about diversity in the African academy focuses on the need for an international and ethnically diverse population of scholars and students. Operationalising the concept of cognitive diversity offers us an opportunity to broaden our conception of who can know and who can proclaim knowledge by availing new understandings of what knowledge is and how it is made. Limited attention is paid to the value of diversity generated by cognitive disabilities in the African academy. The inclusion of persons with minds labelled disabled in African academia requires an epistemology of disability to reform the still dominant notion of the expert and scholar as an able-bodied and hyper-rational in African academia. This review wants to explore how cognitive disabilities have been represented in higher education research in Africa or has the African academy reinforced ignorance by promoting an able-bodied academia. The review aims to tackle its exploratory objective by using Malcom Tights framework. The main questions this paper would focus on are: (I)What are the major disability themes and concerns discussed in the disability-related articles? (II)What are the major methods or methodologies used to address the topic in the papers? (III)What are the levels of analysis the papers focus on? (IV)How do higher education researchers define and represent cognitive disabilities in higher education research in Africa? To answer the exploratory questions that are aimed at mapping the disability-related higher education research landscape, Malcolm Tights’ framework is seen as most appropriate. In addition to a thematic categorization, that shall be made after reviewing of published empirical studies on disability in African higher education from the period 2010 – 2017. A synthesis of the findings and implications of African disability studies relating to students with cognitive disabilities in the African Academy will be provided using the categories suggested by Tight as a benchmark. Data for the proposed work shall be taken from well-reputed higher education journals between 2010 and 2017.Using the keyword ‘Disability’ in the titles, abstracts and keywords section of journal articles, a selection of disability-focused higher education articles shall be compiled for analysis regarding cognitive disability. It has to be noted as a limitation that the word Disability might not be sufficient to investigate the topic for there can be many more specific disabilities concerns the researchers would discuss. Therefore, the paper is only intended to give a bird’s eye view of cognitive disability in higher education research and therefore is not comprehensive. The paper is expected to shed some light for me, as a beginning researcher, and other researchers like myself as to what has been the focus of higher education researchers about cognitive disability in the African academy. Keywords: Cognitive diversity, cognitive disability, disability, higher education.

Keywords: cognitive disability, cognitive diversity, disability, higher education

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Authors: Adriane Orenha-Ottaiano

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Collocations are conventionalized, recurrent and arbitrary lexical combinations. Due to the fact that they are highly specific for a particular language and may be contextually restricted, collocations pose a problem to EFL/ESL learners with regard to production or encoding. Taking that into account, the compilation of monolingual and bilingual collocations dictionaries for the referred audience is highly crucial and significant. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of the compilation of an Online Corpus-based Bilingual Collocations Dictionary, in the English-Portuguese and Portuguese-English directions. On a first phase, with the use of WordSmith Tools, the collocations were extracted from a Translation Learner Corpus (TLC), a parallel corpus made up of university students’ translations in the Portuguese-English direction, with approximately 100,000 words. In a second stage, based on the keywords analyzed from the TLC, more collocational patterns were extracted using the Sketch Engine. In order to include more collocations as well as to ensure dictionary users will have access to more frequent and recurrent collocations, we also use the frequency list from The Corpus of Contemporary American English, with the purpose of extracting more patterns. The dictionary focuses on all types of collocations (verbal, noun, adjectival and adverbial collocations), in order to help the referred audience use them more accurately and productively – so far the dictionary has more than 330 entries, and more than 3,500 collocations extracted. The idea of having the proposed dictionary in online format may allow to incorporate more qualitatively and quantitatively collocational information. Besides, more examples may be included, different from conventional printed collocations dictionaries. Being the first bilingual collocations dictionary in the aforementioned directions, it is hoped to achieve the challenge of meeting learners’ collocational needs as the collocations have been selected according to learners’ difficulties regarding the use of collocations.

Keywords: Corpus-Based Collocations Dictionary, Collocations , Bilingual Collocations Dictionary, Collocational Patterns

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Authors: Maho Komura

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The purpose of this study was to determine from a questionnaire survey of teachers the status of implementation of individualized support for the pupils with suspected developmental disabilities in regular elementary school classes in Japan. In inclusive education, the goal is for all pupils to learn in the same place as much as possible by receiving the individualized support they need. However, in the Japanese school culture, strong "homogeneity" sometimes surfaces, and it is pointed out that it is difficult to provide individualized support from the viewpoint of formal equality. Therefore, we decided to conduct this study in order to examine whether there is a difference in the frequency of implementation depending on the content of individualized support and to consider the direction of future individualized support. The subjects of the survey were 196 public elementary school teachers who had been in charge of regular classes within the past five years. In the survey, individualized support was defined as individualized consideration including rational consideration, and did not include support for the entire class or all pupils enrolled in the class (e.g., reducing the amount of homework for pupils who have trouble learning, changing classroom rules, etc.). (e.g., reducing the amount of homework for pupils with learning difficulties, allowing pupils with behavioral concerns to use the library or infirmary when they are unstable). The respondents were asked to choose one answer from four options, ranging from "very much" to "not at all," regarding the degree to which they implemented the nine individual support items that were set up with reference to previous studies. As a result, it became clear that the majority of teachers had pupils with developmental disabilities or pupils who require consideration in terms of learning and behavior, and that the majority of teachers had experience in providing individualized support to these pupils. Investigating the content of the individualized support that had been implemented, it became clear that the frequency with which it was implemented varied depending on the individualized support. Individualized support that allowed pupils to perform the same learning tasks was implemented more frequently, but individualized support that allowed different learning tasks or use of places other than the classroom was implemented less frequently. It was suggested that flexible support methods tailored to each pupil may not have been considered.

Keywords: inclusive education, ndividualized support, regular class, elementary school

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Authors: Romeo A. Botes, Imelda Smit

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The demands of an ever changing and complex higher education environment, along with the profile of modern learners challenge current approaches to assessment and feedback. More learners enter the education system every year. The younger generation expects immediate feedback. At the same time, feedback should be meaningful. The assessment of practical activities in programming poses a particular problem, since both lecturers and learners in the information and computer science discipline acknowledge that paper-based assessment for programming subjects lacks meaningful real-life testing. At the same time, feedback lacks promptness, consistency, comprehensiveness and individualisation. Most of these aspects may be addressed by modern, technology-assisted assessment. The focus of this paper is the continuous development of an artefact that is used to assist the lecturer in the assessment and feedback of practical programming activities in a senior database programming class. The artefact was developed using three Design Science Research cycles. The first implementation allowed one programming activity submission per assessment intervention. This pilot provided valuable insight into the obstacles regarding the implementation of this type of assessment tool. A second implementation improved the initial version to allow multiple programming activity submissions per assessment. The focus of this version is on providing scaffold feedback to the learner – allowing improvement with each subsequent submission. It also has a built-in capability to provide the lecturer with information regarding the key problem areas of each assessment intervention.

Keywords: programming, computer-aided assessment, technology-assisted assessment, programming assessment software, design science research, mixed-method

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Authors: Haneen Alrawashdeh, Naciye Kunt

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Intercultural communicative competence or (ICC), is an extension of communicative competence that takes into account the intercultural aspect of learning a foreign language. Accordingly, this study aimed at investigating the intercultural interaction impact on English as a foreign language learners' academic achievement of language as a scholastic subject and their motivation towards learning it. To achieve the aim of the study, a qualitative research approach was implemented by means of semi-structured interviews. Interview sessions were conducted with eight teachers of English as well as ten English language learners who work in the tourism industry in a variety of career paths, such as selling antiques and traditional costumes. An analysis of learners' grades of English subjects from 2014 to 2019 academic years was performed by using the Open Education Management Information System Database in Jordan to support the findings of the study. The results illustrated that due to the fact that they work in the tourism sector, students gain skills and knowledge that assist them in better academic achievement in the subject of English by practicing intercultural communication with different nationalities on a daily basis; intercultural communication enhances students speaking skills, lexicon, and fluency; however, despite that their grades showed increasing, from teachers perspectives, intercultural communicative competence reduces their linguistic accuracy and ability to perform English academic writing in academic contexts such as exams.

Keywords: intercultural communicative competence, Jordan, language learning motivation, language academic achievement

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Authors: Qiao-Yu Warren Cai

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Due to the rise of big data, building corpora and using them to analyze ChineseL2 learners’ language output has become a trend. Various empirical research has been conducted using Chinese corpora built by different academic institutes. However, most of the research analyzed the data in the Chinese corpora usingcorpus-based qualitative content analysis with descriptive statistics. Descriptive statistics can be used to make summations about the subjects or samples that research has actually measured to describe the numerical data, but the collected data cannot be generalized to the population. Comte, a Frenchpositivist, has argued since the 19th century that human beings’ knowledge, whether the discipline is humanistic and social science or natural science, should be verified in a scientific way to construct a universal theory to explain the truth and human beings behaviors. Inferential statistics, able to make judgments of the probability of a difference observed between groups being dependable or caused by chance (Free Geography Notes, 2015)and to infer from the subjects or examples what the population might think or behave, is just the right method to support Comte’s argument in the field of TCSOL. Also, inferential statistics is a core of quantitative research, but little research has been conducted by combing corpora with inferential statistics. Little research analyzes the differences in Chinese L2 learners’ language corpus output errors by using theOne-way ANOVA so that the findings of previous research are limited to inferring the population's Chinese errors according to the given samples’ Chinese corpora. To fill this knowledge gap in the professional development of Taiwanese TCSOL, the present study aims to utilize the One-way ANOVA to analyze corpus output errors of Chinese L2 learners from America, Myanmar, and Singapore. The results show that no significant difference exists in ‘shì (是) sentence’ and word order errors, but compared with Americans and Singaporeans, it is significantly easier for Myanmar to have ‘sentence blends.’ Based on the above results, the present study provides an instructional approach and contributes to further exploration of how Chinese L2 learners can have (and use) learning strategies to lower errors.

Keywords: Chinese corpus, error analysis, one-way analysis of variance, Chinese L2 learners, Americans, myanmar, Singaporeans

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Authors: Oscar Conrad Pili De Jesus

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In consonance with the UN Convention on Rights for People with Disabilities, countries are mandated to provide a barrier-free environment through adherence to universal design and full participation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in planning and implementation, but there is little action in incorporating universal design in the public environment. Travelling freely and independently is paramount to the needs of the PWDs to participate in daily activities ahead of them, and it contributes to the advancement of their inclusion in society, in which universal design is a catalyst to provide seamless access and mobility. This study aims to determine the barriers to incorporating the concept of universal design in transportation projects in Southeast Asian countries. Based on a literature review and using the accessible journey chain as a framework, barriers are identified and categorized in the components of public transport within the context of utilization of the transport mode, the built environment within the transport infrastructure, and the first and last miles of travel. Some findings in the study which constitute solutions to creating a barrier-free environment were identified as information to guide the future research agenda in efficiently incorporating universal design in transportation projects in Southeast Asian countries. The study reflected that the focus of most literature is on the built environment, noting that there is a need for future studies to investigate universal design in the context of the public transport component in the active journey chain.

Keywords: public transportation, barriers, universal design, persons with disabilities, accessible journey chain

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Authors: Tung-Kuang Wu, Hsing-Pei Hsieh, Ying-Ru Meng

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Special Education in Taiwan has been facing difficulties including shortage of teachers and lack in resources. Some students need to receive special education are thus not identified or admitted. Fortunately, information technologies can be applied to relieve some of the difficulties. For example, on-line multimedia courseware can be used to assist the learning of special education students and take pretty much workload from special education teachers. However, there may exist cognitive variations between students in special or regular educations, which suggests the design of online courseware requires different considerations. This study aims to investigate the difference in focus of attention (FOA) between special and regular education students of primary school in viewing the computer screen. The study is essential as it helps courseware developers in determining where to put learning elements that matter the most on the right position of screen. It may also assist special education specialists to better understand the subtle differences among various subtypes of learning disabilities. This study involves 76 special education students (among them, 39 are students with mental retardation, MR, and 37 are students with learning disabilities, LDs) and 42 regular education students. The participants were asked to view a computer screen showing a picture partitioned into 3 × 3 areas with each area filled with text or icon. The subjects were then instructed to mark on the prior given paper sheets, which are also partitioned into 3 × 3 grids, the areas corresponding to the pictures on the computer screen that they first set their eyes on. The data are then collected and analyzed. Major findings are listed: 1. In both text and icon scenario, significant differences exist in the first preferred FOA between special and regular education students. The first FOA for the former is mainly on area 1 (upper left area, 53.8% / 51.3% for MR / LDs students in text scenario; and 53.8% / 56.8% for MR / LDs students in icons scenario), while the latter on area 5 (middle area, 50.0% and 57.1% in text and icons scenarios). 2. The second most preferred area in text scenario for students with MR and LDs are area 2 (upper-middle, 20.5%) and 5 (middle area, 24.3%). In icons scenario, the results are similar, but lesser in percentage. 3. Students with LDs that show similar preference (either in text or icons scenarios) in FOA to regular education students tend to be of some specific sub-type of learning disabilities. For instance, students with LDs that chose area 5 (middle area, either in text or icon scenario) as their FOA are mostly ones that have reading or writing disability. Also, three (out of 13) subjects in this category, after going through the rediagnosis process, were excluded from being learning disabilities. In summary, the findings suggest when designing multimedia courseware for students with MR and LDs, the essential learning elements should be placed on area 1, 2 and 5. In addition, FOV preference may also potentially be used as an indicator for diagnosing students with LDs.

Keywords: focus of attention, learning disabilities, mental retardation, on-line multimedia courseware, special education

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Authors: Christiane H. Kellner, Sarah Reker

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The UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Germany also ratified, postulates the necessity of user-centred design, especially when it comes to evaluating the individual needs and wishes of all citizens. Therefore, a multidimensional approach is required. Based on this insight, the structure of the town-like centre in Schönbrunn - a large residential complex and service provider for persons with disabilities in the outskirts of Munich - will be remodelled to open up the community to all people as well as transform social space. This strategy should lead to more equal opportunities and open the way for a much more diverse community. The research project “Index for participation development and quality of life for persons with disabilities” (TeLe-Index, 2014-2016), which is anchored at the Technische Universität München in Munich and at the Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn supports this transformation process called “Vision 2030”. In this context, we have provided academic supervision and support for three projects (the construction of a new school, inclusive housing for children and teenagers with disabilities and the professionalization of employees using person-centred planning). Since we cannot present all the issues of the umbrella-project within the conference framework, we will be focusing on one sub-project more in-depth, namely “The Person-Centred Think Tank” [Arbeitskreis Personenzentriertes Denken; PZD]. In the context of person-centred thinking (PCT), persons with disabilities are encouraged to (re)gain or retain control of their lives through the development of new choice options and the validation of individual lifestyles. PCT should thus foster and support both participation and quality of life. The project aims to establish PCT as a fundamental approach for both employees and persons with disabilities in the institution through in-house training for the staff and, subsequently, training for users. Hence, for the academic support and supervision team, the questions arising from this venture can be summed up as follows: (1) has PCT already gained a foothold at the Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn? And (2) how does it affect the interaction with persons with disabilities and how does it influence the latter’s everyday life? According to the holistic approach described above, the target groups for this study are both the staff and the users of the institution. Initially, we planned to implement the group discussion method for both target-groups. However, in the course of a pretest with persons with intellectual disabilities, it became clear that this type of interview, with hardly any external structuring, provided only limited feedback. In contrast, when the discussions were moderated, there was more interaction and dialogue between the interlocutors. Therefore, for this target-group, we introduced structured group interviews. The insights we have obtained until now will enable us to present the intermediary results of our evaluation. We analysed and evaluated the group interviews and discussions with the help of qualitative content analysis according to Mayring in order to obtain information about users’ quality of life. We sorted out the statements relating to quality of life obtained during the group interviews into three dimensions: subjective wellbeing, self-determination and participation. Nevertheless, the majority of statements were related to subjective wellbeing and self-determination. Thus, especially the limited feedback on participation clearly demonstrates that the lives of most users do not take place beyond the confines of the institution. A number of statements highlighted the fact that PCT is anchored in the everyday interactions within the groups. However, the implementation and fostering of PCT on a broader level could not be detected and thus remain further aims of the project. The additional interviews we have planned should validate the results obtained until now and open up new perspectives.

Keywords: person-centered thinking, research with persons with disabilities, residential complex and service provider, participation, self-determination.

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Authors: Darshana Sharma

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Distance Education has emerged as a viable alternative to serve the higher educational needs of the socially and economically disadvantaged people of the remote, rural areas of Jammu region. The University of Jammu is a National Accreditation, and Assessment Council accredited, A+ university and has been accorded graded autonomy by the University Grants Commission. It is a dual mode university offering academic programmes through the regular departments and through the Directorate of Distance Education. The Directorate of Distance Education, University of Jammu still uses printed study material as a mode of instructional delivery. The development of technologies has assured increased interaction and communication for distance learners throughout the distance open learning institutions. Though it is tempting and convenient to adopt technology already being used by others, it may not prove effective for the simple reason that two institutions may be unlike in some respect. The use of technology must be conceived in view of the needs of the learners; geographical socio-economic-cultural and technological contexts and financial, administrative and academic resources of the institution. Mobile learning (m-learning) is a novel approach to knowledge acquisition and dissemination and is gaining global attention. It has evolved as one of the useful channels of distance learning promoting interaction between learners and teachers. It is felt that the Directorate of Distance Education, University of Jammu also needs to adopt new technologies to provide more effective academic and information support to distance learners in order to keep them motivated and also to develop self-learning skills. The chief objective of the research on which this paper is based was to measure the opinion of the distance learners of the DDE, the University of Jammu about the merits of mobile learning. It also explores their preferences for implementing mobile learning. The survey research design of descriptive research has been used. The data was collected from 400 distance learners enrolled with undergraduate and post-graduate programmes using self-constructed questionnaire containing five-point Likert scale items arranging from strongly agree, agree, indifferent, disagree and strongly disagree. Percentages were used to analyze the data. The findings lead to conclude that mobile learning has a great potential for the DDE for reaching out to the rural, remotely located distance learners of the Jammu region and also to improve the teaching-learning environment. The paper also finds out the challenges in the implementation of mobile learning in the region and further makes suggestions for effective implementation of mobile learning in DDE, University of Jammu.

Keywords: directorate of distance education, mobile learning, national accreditation and assessment council, university of Jammu

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Authors: Reem AlKabbi, Hayat Ali, Mariam Yasser

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Nowadays, eGovernment websites are becoming indispensable for public, business, personal efficiency or even improvement of livelihoods. Using these websites, citizens undertake number of tasks that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. However, many of these websites are not accessible to all people' types including People with Disabilities (PWDs). Through Web Accessibility Guidelines, Web developers can develop Web applications that are accessible to PWDs. This research is to investigate the Accessibility of eGovernment websites in Kingdom of Bahrain. The accessibility was measured using Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and section 508. For the evaluation purpose, some automatic tools were used. Samples of 43 eGovernment websites were selected. The accessibility of the websites was analyzed by using several automatic evaluation tools such as Total Validator and Functional Accessibility Evaluator (FAE). The evaluation process revealed several errors according to the accessibility guidelines. This research provides few recommendations for further improvement of accessibility features of eGovernment websites based on the highlighted issues and key findings reported in this research.

Keywords: website accessibility, W3C, PWD, e-government

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Authors: Horng-Ji Lai

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The intuitive design features and friendly interface of smartphone attract older adults. In Taiwan, many senior education institutes offer smartphone training courses for older adult learners who are interested in learning this innovative technology. It is expected that the training courses can help them to enjoy the benefits of using smartphone and increase their life satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to investigate the factors that influence older adults’ behavior of using smartphone. The purpose of the research was to develop and test a research model that investigates the factors (self-efficacy, social connection, the need to seek health information, and the need to seek financial information) affecting older adult learners’ Internet behaviour and their life satisfaction with use of smartphone. Also, this research sought to identify the relationship between the proposed variables. Survey method was used to collect research data. A Structural Equation Modeling was performed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression for data exploration and model estimation. The participants were 394 older adult learners from smartphone training courses in active aging learning centers located in central Taiwan. The research results revealed that self-efficacy significantly affected older adult learner’ social connection, the need to seek health information, and the need to seek financial information. The construct of social connection yielded a positive influence in respondents’ life satisfaction. The implications of these results for practice and future research are also discussed.

Keywords: older adults, smartphone, internet behaviour, life satisfaction

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Authors: Tahmina Huq

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This paper presents the findings of an action research study that aimed to investigate the efficacy of a visual dialogue strategy in assisting autistic students with intellectual disabilities in managing their immediate emotions and improving their academic achievements. The research sought to explore the effectiveness of teaching self-regulation techniques as an alternative to traditional approaches involving segregation. The study identified visual dialogue as a valuable tool for promoting self-regulation in this specific student population. Action research was chosen as the methodology due to its suitability for immediate implementation of the findings in the classroom. Autistic students with intellectual disabilities often face challenges in controlling their emotions, which can disrupt their learning and academic progress. Conventional methods of intervention, such as isolation and psychologist-assisted approaches, may result in missed classes and hindered academic development. This study introduces the utilization of visual dialogue between students and teachers as an effective self-regulation strategy, addressing the limitations of traditional approaches. Action research was employed as the methodology for this study, allowing for the direct application of the findings in the classroom. The study observed two 15-year-old autistic students with intellectual disabilities who exhibited difficulties in emotional regulation and displayed aggressive behaviors. The research question focused on the effectiveness of visual dialogue in managing the emotions of these students and its impact on their learning outcomes. Data collection methods included personal observations, log sheets, personal reflections, and visual documentation. The study revealed that the implementation of visual dialogue as a self-regulation strategy enabled the students to regulate their emotions within a short timeframe (10 to 30 minutes). Through visual dialogue, they were able to express their feelings and needs in socially appropriate ways. This finding underscores the significance of visual dialogue as a tool for promoting emotional regulation and facilitating active participation in classroom activities. As a result, the students' learning outcomes and social interactions were positively impacted. The findings of this study hold significant implications for educators working with autistic students with intellectual disabilities. The use of visual dialogue as a self-regulation strategy can enhance emotional regulation skills and improve overall academic progress. The action research approach outlined in this paper provides practical guidance for educators in effectively implementing self-regulation strategies within classroom settings. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that visual dialogue is an effective strategy for enhancing emotional regulation in autistic students with intellectual disabilities. By employing visual communication, students can successfully regulate their emotions and actively engage in classroom activities, leading to improved learning outcomes and social interactions. This paper underscores the importance of implementing self-regulation strategies in educational settings to cater to the unique needs of autistic students.

Keywords: action research, self-regulation, autism, visual communication

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Authors: Maria Isabel Garcia-Planas, Maria Victoria Garcia-Camba

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The use of brain stem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) is a common way to study the auditory function of people, a way to learn the functionality of a part of the brain neuronal groups that intervene in the learning process by studying the behaviour of wave VI. The latest advances in neuroscience have revealed the existence of different brain activity in the learning process that can be highlighted through the use of innocuous, low-cost, and easy-access techniques such as, among others, the BAEP that can help us to detect early possible neurodevelopmental difficulties for their subsequent assessment and cure. To date and to the authors' best knowledge, only the latency data obtained, observing the first to V waves and mainly in the left ear, were taken into account. This work shows that it is essential to take into account both ears; with these latest data, it has been possible had diagnosed more precise some cases than with the previous data had been diagnosed as 'normal' despite showing signs of some alteration that motivated the new consultation to the specialist.

Keywords: ear, neurodevelopment, auditory evoked potentials, intervals of normality, learning disabilities

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Authors: Pradeep Kumar Sahoo

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Facilitating writing skill among the young techies seems a bit challenging. Various factors may owe to this difficulty. Inappropriate syllabus, inadequate infrastructure, to some extent, untrained faculty members and above all the background of learners may be treated as the components that make the process challenging. In order to convert/create/prepare writing skill friendly, the focused items will have to be different from the classroom the present day traditional classroom situation. This paper focuses on the multiple contemporary strategies for approaching a wide range of typical problems that the writers face in a specific technical university of Odisha.

Keywords: background of learners, classroom friendly approach, inappropriate syllabus, traditional classroom situation

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Authors: Hirokatsu Kawashima

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In an attempt to elucidate relationships between listening to music and pronunciation learning, a classroom-based investigation was conducted with Japanese EFL learners (n=45). The subjects were instructed to listen to English songs they liked on YouTube, especially paying attention to phonologically similar vowel and consonant minimal pair words (e.g., live and leave). This kind of activity, which included taking notes, was regularly carried out in the classroom, and the same kind of task was given to the subjects as homework in order to reinforce the in-class activity. The duration of these activities was eight weeks, after which the program was evaluated on a 9-point scale (1: the lowest and 9: the highest) by learners’ self-evaluation. The main questions for this evaluation included 1) how good the learners had been at pronouncing vowel and consonant minimal pair words originally, 2) how often they had listened to songs good for pronouncing vowel and consonant minimal pair words, 3) how frequently they had moved their mouths to vowel and consonant minimal pair words of English songs, and 4) how much they thought the program would support and enhance their pronunciation learning of phonologically similar vowel and consonant minimal pair words. It has been found, for example, A) that the evaluation of this program is by no means low (Mean: 6.51 and SD: 1.23), suggesting that listening to music may support and enhance pronunciation learning, and B) that listening to consonant minimal pair words in English songs and moving the mouth to them are more related to the program’s evaluation (r =.69, p=.00 and r =.55, p=.00, respectively) than listening to vowel minimal pair words in English songs and moving the mouth to them (r =.45, p=.00 and r =.39, p=.01, respectively).

Keywords: minimal pair, music, pronunciation, song

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