Search results for: French as an additional language education

Authors: Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa

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Vietnam currently has about two million five hundred deaf/hard of hearing people. Although the issue of Vietnamese Sign Language (VSL) education has received attention from the State, there are still many issues that need to be resolved, such as policies, teacher training in both knowledge and teaching methods, education programs, and textbook compilation. Furthermore, the issue of research on VSL has not yet attracted the attention of linguists. Using the quantitative description method, the article will analyze, synthesize, and compare to find methods to create signed words in VSL, such as based on external shape characteristics, operational characteristics, operating methods, and basic meanings, from which we can see the special nature of signed words, the division of word types and the morphological meaning of creating new words through sign methods. From the results of this research, the aspect of ‘visual culture’ will be clarified in Vietnamese Deaf Culture. Through that, we also develop a number of vocabulary teaching methods (such as teaching vocabulary through a group of methods of forming signed words, teaching vocabulary using mind maps, and teaching vocabulary through culture...), with the aim of further improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning VSL in Vietnam. The research results also provide deaf people in Vietnam with a scientific and effective method of learning vocabulary, helping them quickly integrate into the community. The article will be a useful reference for linguists who want to research VSL.

Keywords: Vietnamese sign language (VSL), signed word, teaching, method

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Authors: Peter Mayeso Jiyajiya

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The question of language and identity in the post-colonial Africa has resulted in the policy inconsistencies and perceived wayward practices regarding language use. The need to reside and situate oneself in the global village has alienated local identities, with most countries, Malawi in particular promoting exogenous colonial language(s) at the expense of local languages that mirror people’s identities. This has brought a mismatch between language policy and implementation. The resultant effect has been alienation of the ‘Self’ from one’s indigenous identity and creation of the ‘other’ in the foreign identity, and the undermining of the linguistic rights of the minority language speakers. The need to negotiate the identity and modernity in the global village is thus imperative. The paper attempts to review the language situation in Malawi in light of the growing desire for international integration vis-à-vis the cultivation and maintenance of national ethnolinguistic identity. It further highlights the dilemma that the promotion of vernacular languages is facing in the modern Malawi. It also examines the Malawi language policy and its implementation. The failures, challenges, and inconsistencies are discussed in order to negotiate the position of minority languages in the modern Malawi. The paper notes that identity construction and maintenance within the framework of language policy in Malawi is undermined by attitudinal factors towards one’s culture and language. The paper then provides suggestions of negotiating identity in Malawi within the framework of globalisation through the placement of premiums on the minority languages.

Keywords: identity, language policy, minority languages, vernacular language

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Authors: Madrine King'endo

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This study dealt with the influence of spelling errors on English language performance among learners with dysgraphia in public primary schools in West Embu, Embu County, Kenya. The study purposed to investigate the influence of spelling errors on the English language performance among the class three pupils with dysgraphia in public primary schools. The objectives of the study were to identify the spelling errors that learners with dysgraphia make when writing English words and classify the spelling errors they make. Further, the study will establish how the spelling errors affect the performance of the language among the study participants, and suggest the remediation strategies that teachers could use to address the errors. The study could provide the stakeholders with relevant information in writing skills that could help in developing a responsive curriculum to accommodate the teaching and learning needs of learners with dysgraphia, and probably ensure training of teachers in teacher training colleges is tailored within the writing needs of the pupils with dysgraphia. The study was carried out in Embu county because the researcher did not find any study in related literature review concerning the influence of spelling errors on English language performance among learners with dysgraphia in public primary schools done in the area. Moreover, besides being relatively populated enough for a sample population of the study, the area was fairly cosmopolitan to allow a generalization of the study findings. The study assumed the sampled schools will had class three pupils with dysgraphia who exhibited written spelling errors. The study was guided by two spelling approaches: the connectionist stimulation of spelling process and orthographic autonomy hypothesis with a view to explain how participants with learning disabilities spell written words. Data were collected through interviews, pupils’ exercise books, and progress records, and a spelling test made by the researcher based on the spelling scope set for class three pupils by the ministry of education in the primary education syllabus. The study relied on random sampling techniques in identifying general and specific participants. Since the study used children in schools as participants, voluntary consent was sought from themselves, their teachers and the school head teachers who were their caretakers in a school setting.

Keywords: dysgraphia, writing, language, performance

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Authors: Gurukiran Veerapur, Nytik Birudavolu, Seetharam U. N., Chandravva Hebbi, R. Praneeth Reddy

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This work presents a robust approach for the recognition of characters in Telugu and Kannada, two South Indian scripts with structural similarities in characters. To recognize the characters exhaustive datasets are required, but there are only a few publicly available datasets. As a result, we decided to create a dataset for one language (source language),train the model with it, and then test it with the target language.Telugu is the target language in this work, whereas Kannada is the source language. The suggested method makes use of Canny edge features to increase character identification accuracy on pictures with noise and different lighting. A dataset of 45,150 images containing printed Kannada characters was created. The Nudi software was used to automatically generate printed Kannada characters with different writing styles and variations. Manual labelling was employed to ensure the accuracy of the character labels. The deep learning models like CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) and Visual Attention neural network (VAN) are used to experiment with the dataset. A Visual Attention neural network (VAN) architecture was adopted, incorporating additional channels for Canny edge features as the results obtained were good with this approach. The model's accuracy on the combined Telugu and Kannada test dataset was an outstanding 97.3%. Performance was better with Canny edge characteristics applied than with a model that solely used the original grayscale images. The accuracy of the model was found to be 80.11% for Telugu characters and 98.01% for Kannada words when it was tested with these languages. This model, which makes use of cutting-edge machine learning techniques, shows excellent accuracy when identifying and categorizing characters from these scripts.

Keywords: base characters, modifiers, guninthalu, aksharas, vattakshara, VAN

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Authors: Bahia Braktia, Ana Marcela Montenegro Sanchez

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Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, has been used for teaching and learning for quite some time. These platforms have been proven to be a good tool to improve various language skills, students’ performance of the English language, motivation as well as trigger the authentic language interaction. However, little is known about the potential effects of social media usage on the learning performance of Arabic language learners. The present study explores the potential role that the social media technologies play in learning Arabic as a foreign language at a university in Southeast of United States. In order to investigate this issue, an online survey was administered to examine the perceptions and attitudes of American students learning Arabic. The research questions were: How does social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter, impact the students' Arabic language skills, and what is their attitude toward it? The preliminary findings of the study showed that students had a positive attitude toward the use of social media to enhance their Arabic language skills, and that they used a range of social media features to expose themselves to the Arabic language and communicate in Arabic with native Arabic speaking friends. More detailed findings will be shared in the light data analysis with the audience during the presentation.

Keywords: foreign language learning, social media, students’ perceptions, survey

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Authors: Nhung T. Bui

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Part of the dilemma facing educational reforms in Vietnam as in other Asian contexts is how to encourage more independence in students’ learning approaches. Since 2005, the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam has included the students’ ability to learn independently in its national education objectives. While learner autonomy has been viewed as a goal in the teaching and learning English as a foreign language (EFL) and there has been a considerable literature on strategies to stimulate autonomy in learners, teachers’ voices have rarely been heard. Given that teachers play a central role in helping their students to be more autonomous, especially in an inherent Confucian heritage culture like Vietnam, their attitudes towards learner autonomy should be investigated before any practical implementations could be undertaken. This paper reports significant findings of a survey questionnaire with 262 lecturers of English from 5 universities in Hanoi, Vietnam giving opinions regarding the practices and prospects of learner autonomy in their classrooms. The study reveals that lecturers perceive they should be more responsible than their students in all class-related activities; they most appreciate their students’ ability to learn cooperatively and that they consider stimulating students’ interest as the most important teaching strategy to promote learner autonomy. Lecturers, then, are strongly suggested to gradually ‘empower’ their students through the application of out-of-classroom activities; of learning activities which requires collaboration and team spirit; and of activities which could boost students’ interest in learning English.

Keywords: English as a foreign language, higher education, learner autonomy, Vietnam

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Authors: Elza Salakhova

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The purpose of this article is to consider some common difficulties encountered in teaching vocabulary in technical higher educational institutions. It deals with the problem of teaching special vocabulary in the process of teaching a foreign language. There have been analyzed some problems in teaching a foreign language to learners of a technical higher establishment. There are some recommendations for teachers to motivate their students to learn and master a foreign language through learning terminology.

Keywords: professionally-oriented study, motivation, technical university, foreign language

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Authors: Yumeng He

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The purpose of this paper is to establish the “extenics” of children music education, the “extenics” thought and methods are introduced into the children music education field. Discussions are made from the perspective of children music education on how to generate new music cognitive from music cognitive, how to generate new music education from music education and how to generate music learning from music learning. The research methods including the extensibility of music art, extensibility of music education, extensibility of music capability and extensibility of music learning. Results of this study indicate that the thought and research methods of children’s extended music education not only have developed the “extenics” concept and ideological methods, meanwhile, the brand-new thought and innovative research perspective have been employed in discussing the children music education. As indicated in research, the children’s extended music education has extended the horizon of children music education, and has endowed the children music education field with a new thought and research method.

Keywords: comprehensive evaluations, extension thought, extension cognition music education, extensibility

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Authors: Eda Üstünel, Seval Karacabey

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The students, who are enrolled in German Preparatory Language Programme at the School of Foreign Languages, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Turkey, learn German as a foreign language for two semesters in an academic year. Although the language programme is a skills-based one, the students lack German speaking skills due to their fear of making language mistakes while speaking in German. This problem of incompetency in German speaking skills exists also in their four-year departmental study at the Faculty of Education. In order to address this problem we design German speaking activities, which are extra-curricular activities. With the help of these activities, we aim to lead Turkish students of German language to speak in the target language, to improve their speaking skills in the target language and to create a stress-free atmosphere and a meaningful learning environment to communicate in the target language. In order to achieve these aims, an ERASMUS+ exchange staff (a German trainee teacher of German as a foreign language), who is from Schwabisch Gmünd University, Germany, conducted out-of-class German speaking activities once a week for three weeks in total. Each speaking activity is lasted for one and a half hour per week. 7 volunteered students of German preparatory language programme attended the speaking activity for three weeks. The activity took place at a cafe in the university campus, that’s the reason, we call it as an out-of-class activity. The content of speaking activity is not related to the topics studied at the units of coursebook, that’s the reason, we call this activity as extra-curricular one. For data collection, three tools are used. A questionnaire, which is an adapted version of Sabo’s questionnaire, is applied to seven volunteers. An interview session is then held with each student on individual basis. The interview questions are developed so as to ask students to expand their answers that are given at the questionnaires. The German trainee teacher wrote fieldnotes, in which the teacher described the activity in the light of her thoughts about what went well and which areas were needed to be improved. The results of questionnaires show that six out of seven students note that such an acitivity must be conducted by a native speaker of German. Four out of seven students emphasize that they like the way that the activities are designed in a learner-centred fashion. All of the students point out that they feel motivated to talk to the trainee teacher in German. Six out of seven students note that the opportunity to communicate in German with the teacher and the peers enable them to improve their speaking skills, the use of grammatical rules and the use of vocabulary.

Keywords: Learning a Foreign Language, Speaking Skills, Teaching German as a Foreign Language, Turkish Learners of German Language

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Authors: Kurt Willems

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The right to education is a fundamental human right, which has been entrenched in many international and regional treaties and national constitutions. Nevertheless, practice shows that many obstacles impede easy access to quality education for refugees. Overall, the material effects of international human rights legislation on improving (irregular) migrants’ access to social rights in the European countries have remained limited due to the lack of guarantees on effective incorporation in the municipal legal order and due to the lack of effective enforcement mechanisms. After the recent refugee crisis in Europe, this issue has grown in importance. The presentation aims to give a brief overview of the most important issues impeding the effective enforceability of the right to education for refugees. I. Do refugees fall within the scope of application of the relevant human rights treaties and to which extent can they invoke human rights treaties in domestic courts to set aside domestic legislation? II. How is the justiciability of the right to education organized in those treaties? III. What is the legal answer to questions raised in practice when dealing with the influx of refugees in Europe: (i) can refugees be placed in separate schools or classes until they can follow the regular curriculum?; (ii) can higher school fees be asked from pupils without legal documents?; (iii) do refugees have a right to be taught in their own native language until they learn to speak the national language? To answer the above questions, the doctrinal and comparative legal method will be used. The normative framework, as interpreted within Europe, will be distilled from the recent and relevant international treaties and European law instruments (in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on human rights, the European Social Charter and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) and their underlying policy documents, the legal literature, the (limited) European jurisprudence, and the general comments to those treaties. The article is mainly descriptive in nature. Its aim is to serve as a summary of the legal provisions, case law and legal literature on the topic of the right to education for refugees. The research shows that the reasons for the delicate enforceability of the rights to and the rights in education are multifold. The research will categorize the different contributing factors under the following headings: (i) problems related to the justiciability of international law as such; (ii) problems specifically related to the educational field; (iii) problems related to policy issues in the refugee debate. By categorizing the reasons contributing to the difficult enforceability of the right to education and the rights in education for refugees, this research hopes to facilitate the search for solutions to this delicate problem.

Keywords: right to education, refugees, discrimination, enforceability of human rights

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Authors: A. van Staden, M. M. Coetzee

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Despite numerous efforts to increase the literacy level of South African learners, for example, through the implementation of educational policies such as the Revised National Curriculum statement, advocating mother-tongue instruction (during a child's formative years), in reality, the majority of South African children are still being educated in a second language (in most cases English). Moreover, despite the fact that a significant percentage of our country's budget is spent on the education sector and that both policy makers and educationalists have emphasized the importance of learning English in this globalized world, the poor overall academic performance and English literacy level of a large number of school leavers are still a major concern. As we move forward in an attempt to comprehend the nuances of English language and literacy development in our country, it is imperative to explore both extrinsic and intrinsic factors that contribute or impede the effective development of English as a second language. In the present study, the researchers set out to investigate how intrinsic factors such as motivation and self-concept contribute to or affect English language learning amongst high school learners in South Africa. Emanating from the above the main research question that guided this research is the following: Is there a significant relationship between high school learners' self-concept, motivation, and English second language performances? In order to investigate this hypothesis, this study utilized quantitative research methodology to investigate the interplay of self-concept and motivation in English language learning. For this purpose, we sampled 201 high school learners from various schools in South Africa. Methods of data gathering inter alia included the following: A biographical questionnaire; the Academic Motivational Scale and the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analyses yielded significant correlations between L2 learners' motivation and their English language proficiency, including demonstrating positive correlations between L2 learners' self-concept and their achievements in English. Accordingly, researchers have argued that the learning context, in which students learn English as a second language, has a crucial influence on students' motivational levels. This emphasizes the important role the teacher has to play in creating learning environments that will enhance L2 learners' motivation and improve their self-concepts.

Keywords: motivation, self-concept, language learning, English second language learners (L2)

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Authors: Yuqing Sun

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Nowadays, English has been taught in many countries as a second language. One of the major ways to learn this language is through the class teaching. As in the field of second language acquisition, there are many factors to affect its acquisition processes, such as the target language itself, a learner’s personality, cognitive factor, language transfer, and the outward factors (teaching method, classroom, environmental factor, teaching policy, social environment and so on). Flipped Classroom as a newly developed classroom model has been widely used in language teaching classroom, which was, to some extent, accepted by teachers and students for its effect. It distinguishes itself from the traditional classroom for its focus on the learner and its great importance attaching to the personal learning process and the application of technology. The class becomes discussion-targeted, and the class order is somewhat inverted since the teaching process is carried out outside the class, while the class is only for knowledge-internalization. This paper will concentrate on the influences of the flipped classroom, as a classroom affecting factor, on the the process of English acquisition by the way of case studies (English teaching class in China), and the analysis of the mechanism of the flipped classroom itself to propose some feasible advice of promoting the the effectiveness of English acquisition.

Keywords: second language acquisition, English, flipped classroom, case

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Authors: A. Ishag, E. Witruk, C. Altmayer

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Motivation and attitudes are considered as hypothetical psychological constructs in explaining the process of second language learning. Gardner (1985) – who first systematically investigated the motivational factors in second language acquisition – found that L2 achievement is related not only to the individual learner’s linguistic aptitude or general intelligence but also to the learner’s motivation and interest in learning the target language. Traditionally language learning motivation can be divided into two types: integrative motivation – the desire to integrate oneself with the target culture; and instrumental motivation – the desire to learn a language in order to meet a specific language requirement such as for employment. One of the Gardner’s main ideas is that the integrative motivation plays an important role in second language acquisition. It is directly and positively related to second language achievement more than instrumental motivation. However, the significance of integrative motivation reflects a rather controversial set of findings. On the other hand, Students’ attitudes towards the target language, its speakers and the learning context may all play some part in explaining their success in learning a language. Accordingly, the present study aims at exploring the significance of motivational and attitudinal factors in learning foreign languages, namely English and German among Sudanese undergraduate students from a psycholinguistic and interdisciplinary perspective. The sample composed of 221 students from the English and German language departments respectively at the University of Khartoum in Sudan. The results indicate that English language’s learners are instrumentally motivated and that German language’s learners have positive attitudes towards the German language community and culture. Furthermore, there are statistical significant differences in the attitudes toward the two languages due to gender; where female students have more positive attitudes than their male counterparts. However, there are no differences along the variables of academic grade and study level. Finally, the reasons of studying the English or German language have also been indicated.

Keywords: motivation and attitudes, foreign language learning, english language, german language

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Authors: Sazzad Hossain Talukder

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Survival in the competitive international market with unforeseen environmental contingencies has always been a concern of the firms that led to adopting different strategies to deal with different situations. Language strategy is considered to enhance the international performance of a firm by organizing language diversity and fostering communications within and outside the firm. Yet there is a lack of theoretical attention or model development on the role of language strategy on firm international survival. From resource dependence perspective, the adoption of language strategy and its relationship with firm survival are determined by the firm´s capability to prevent dependency concentration and/or increase relative power on the external environment. However, the impact of language strategy on firm survival is complex and multifaceted as the strategy influence firm performance indirectly through communication, coordination, learning and value creation. The evidence of various types of language strategies and different forms of firm survival also bring in complexities to understand the effects of a language strategy on the international survival of a firm. Based on language literatures and resource dependence logic, certain propositions are developed to conceptualize the relationship between language strategy and firm international survival in this conceptual paper. For the purpose of this paper, a conceptual model is proposed to examine how different kinds of language strategy foster reduction of resource dependency that lead to firm international survival in respond to local responsiveness and global integration. In this proposed model, it is theorized that language strategy has a positive relationship with the international survival of the firm, as the strategy is likely to reduce external resource dependency and increase the ability to continue independent operations both in short and long term.

Keywords: language strategy, language diversity, firm international survival, resource dependence logic

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Authors: Neha Kulshreshtha

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This paper examines the patterns of 'Mouthing', a non-manual marker, and its distribution in Indian Sign Language (ISL). Linguistic research in Indian Sign Language is an emerging field where much is needed to be done. The little research which has happened focuses on the structure of ISL in terms of physical or manual markers, therefore a study of mouthing patterns would give an insight into the distribution of this particular non-manual marker. Data has been collected with the help of native ISL users through various techniques in which natural signs can be captured, for example, storytelling, informal conversations etc. The aim of the study is to find out the various situations where mouthing is used. Sometimes, the mouthing is not actually the articulation of the word as spoken in the local languages. The paper aims to find out whether the mouthing patterns in ISL are influenced by any local language or they are independent of any influence from the local language or both. Mouthing patterns have been studied in many sign languages and an investigation into ISL will reveal whether it falls in pattern with the other sign languages.

Keywords: Indian sign language, mouthing, non-manual marker, spoken language influence

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Authors: Sirirat Choophan Atthaphonphiphat

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The objective of the study is to analyze errors in English essay writing of Thai (Suratthani Rajabhat University)’s students with different English language experiences. 16 subjects were divided into 2 groups depending on their English language experience. The data were collected from English essay writing about 'My daily life'. The finding shows that 275 tokens of errors were found from 240 English sentences. The errors were categorized into 4 types based on frequency counts: grammatical errors, mechanical errors, lexical errors, and structural errors, respectively. The findings support all of the researcher’s hypothesizes, i.e. 1) the students with low English language experience made more errors than those with high English language experience; 2) all errors in English essay writing of Suratthani Rajabhat University’s students, the interlingual errors are more than the intralingual ones; 3) systemic and structural differences between English (target language) and Thai (mother-tongue language) lead to the errors in English essays writing of Suratthani Rajabhat University’s students.

Keywords: applied linguistics, error analysis, interference, language transfer

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Authors: Ahmad Al-Issa

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Our world is now operating under the auspices of globalization with its attendant language of ‘global English.' In many parts of the world, the need for English is often accepted without much thought given to native languages. Indeed, this is the current situation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with English encroaching into all areas of society, and especially forcefully into the education sector, where English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is on the rise. At the same time, Arabic literacy (i.e., the ability to read and write in Arabic) is declining among the UAE youth. Using a mixed-methods design, a study was conducted to gain insights into the use of Arabic by Emirati University students. The study examines how often Emiratis, males and females, use their native language (Arabic) in their daily lives, how they view their reading and writing skills in Arabic vis-à-vis their English literacy skills, and the extent to which they can demonstrate their literacy skills in Arabic. Clear evidence emerged showing that while Arabic as a dialect continues to be spoken on a daily basis, Arabic literacy is unquestionably losing ground. This was found to be motivated by educational, political, societal, and personal forces. These findings and their implications to language policy and existing bilingualism programs will be discussed. Suggestions for further research will also be made.

Keywords: Arabic, globalization, global English, literacy attrition, United Arab Emirates

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Authors: Thapanee Musiget

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Ethnic minority children’s language learning is believed that it can be developed through school system. However, many cases prove that these kids are left to challenge with multicultural context at school and sometimes decreased the ability to acquire new learning. Consequently, it is significant for ethnicity parents to consider that prompting their children at home before their actual school age can eliminate negative outcome of children's language acquisition. This paper discusses the approach of instructional use of parents and children language learning in the context of minority language group in Thailand. By conducting this investigation, secondary source of data was gathered with the purpose to point out some primary methods for parents and children in ethnicity. The process of language learning is based on the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky, which highlights expressive communication among individuals as the best motivating force in human development and learning. The article also highlights the role of parents as they lead the instruction approach. In the discussion part, the role of ethnic minority parents as a language instructor is offered as mediator.

Keywords: ethnic minority, language learning, multicultural context, sociocultural theory

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Authors: Cheang Wai Fong

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This paper takes language and its interconnection with power as a point of departure to analyze some linguistic scenes played up by William Shakespeare. By placing language into the big picture of literature and culture, and by reexamining the etymological relations between the three terms, language, literature and culture, the paper attempts to formulate an understanding of their more expansive meanings. It compares their respective traditional notions with their modern concepts brought up by literary critics, anthropologists and sociolinguists. Then it uses these expansive meanings to reinterpret Shakespeare’s linguistic scenes featuring language contentions, and to discuss Shakespeare’s success as a signification of literature’s role within the linguistic and cultural context of Elizabethan England.

Keywords: culture, language, literature, shakespeare

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Authors: Jamie David Hopkin

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This study aims to contribute uniquely to help colleges and community learning and development institutes to help aid progression within ESOL learning. The study investigates the barriers that migrant and displaced learners face accessing further education in Scotland. The study also includes a set of recommendations both for colleges and CLD institutes to help ESOL learners in their journey to further education. The research found that integration into Scottish society is one of the biggest motivators for ESOL students to learn English. It also found that the place of gender and “gender roles” contribute to the barriers that learners face in terms of progression and learning. The study also reviews all literature related to ESOL learning in Scotland and found that there are only two main policies that support ESOL learning, and both are slightly outdated in terms of supporting progression. This study aims to help bridge the gap in knowledge around the progression from informal learning to formal education. The recommendations that are made in this study are aimed to help institutes and learners on their journey to a positive destination. The main beneficiaries of this research are current and future ESOL learners in Scotland, ESOL institutes, and TESOL professionals.

Keywords: community learning and development, English for speakers of other languages, further education, higher education TESOL, teaching English as a second language

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Authors: Mehmet Eren Çelik

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Values are notions that help people to decide what is good or not and to direct their attitude. Teaching values has always been very important throughout the history. Values should be thought in younger ages to get more efficiency. Therefore military schools are the last stop to learn values effectively. That’s why values education in military schools has vital importance. In this study the military side of values education is examined. The purpose of the study is to show how important values education is and why military students need values education. First of all what value is and what values education means is clearly explained and values education in schools and specifically in military schools is stated. Then values education in Işıklar Air Force High School exemplifies the given information.

Keywords: Işıklar Air Force High School, military school, values, values education

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Authors: Yiwen Jin, Jing Xiao, Pinfang Su

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The idea of adapting authentic materials in language teaching is from the communicative method in the 1970s. Different from the language in language textbooks, authentic materials is not deliberately written, it is from the native speaker’s real life and contains real information, which can meet social needs. It could improve learners ' interest, create authentic context and improve learners ' communicative competence. Authentic materials play an important role in CFL（Chinese as a foreign language） classroom. Different types of authentic materials can be used in different ways during learning and teaching. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic，a lot of Chinese learners are learning Chinese without the real language environment. Although there are some well-written textbooks, there is a certain distance between textbook language materials and daily life. Learners cannot automatically fill this gap. That is why it is necessary to apply authentic materials as a supplement to the language textbook to create the real context. Chinese teachers around the world are working together, trying to integrate the resources and apply authentic materials through different approach. They apply authentic materials in the form of new textbooks, manuals, apps and short videos they collect and create to help Chinese learning and teaching. A review of previous research on authentic materials and the Chinese teachers’ attempt to adapt it in the classroom are offered in this manuscript.

Keywords: authentic materials, Chinese as a second language, developmental use of digital resources, materials development for language teaching

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Authors: Natalia Wojarnik

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The paper aims to present the analysis of a Reddit confessions corpus. The interpretation focuses on the use of emotional language, in particular emotive verbs, in the context of personal pronouns. The analysis of the linguistic properties answers the question of what the Reddit users confess about and who is the subject of confessions. The study reveals that the specific language patterns used in Reddit confessions reflect the language of depression and the language used by patients during different stages of their psychotherapy sessions. The paper concludes that Reddit users are more willing to confess about their own experiences, not rarely very private and intimate, extensively using the first person singular pronoun I. It indicates that the Reddit users use the language of depression and the language used by psychotherapy patients. The language they use is very emotionally impacted and includes many emotive verbs such as want, feel, need, hate, love. This finding in Reddit confessions correlates with the extensive use of stative affective verbs in the first stages of the psychotherapy sessions. Lastly, the paper refers to the positive and negative lexicon and helps determine how online posts can serve as a depression detector and “talking cure” for the users.

Keywords: confessions, emotional language, emotive verbs, pronouns, first person pronoun, language of depression, depression detection, psychotherapy language

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Authors: Oloniyo Kemisola Eunice, Odere Oladunni Oluwafeyikemi

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Technological change and globalization have created a new global economy with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) occupying a complex position in relation to globalization. The emergence of this new global economy has serious implications on the nature and purpose of educational institutions. The paper is basically a theoretical discourse. Data for analysis were obtained from secondary sources. The paper found that significant challenges confront the integration of ICTs in education in the areas of educational policy and planning, infrastructure, language and content, capacity building and financing in Nigeria. The paper concluded that business education needs to be well equipped to anticipate and respond to opportunities created by ICTs in order to participate productively and equitably in an increasingly technology-rich and knowledge-driven world. The paper recommended, among others, that the investments in ICTs should be used to promote the development of basic skills, problem-solving and communication skills and the professional development of teachers.

Keywords: information, communication, technology, business, education

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Authors: Archana Vadeyar, Smita Phatak

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Nurturing flora and fauna is the crux of Environment Education yet one tends to forget to nurture the human minds. Youth education presently is too academic, exam oriented and lacks all-round development. A project is whole-hearted purposeful activity proceeding in a social environment. Projects at +2 stages have become, just an easier way of securing marks. The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of an experiential environment education (EE) project for youth involving community interaction. Youth were encouraged to plan activities for children-based on EE through General knowledge (GK), language, math, science, fun games, quiz, sports, art and craft, stories. A purposive sample of 73 students was administered a self-prepared and validated questionnaire; supported by content analysis of reports from EE Journals of 21 students and some photos. Responses of students revealed that project was a joyful and motivating experience, with learnings and realizations, developed concern for others, made them feel responsible, happy and contented. Community interaction programs need to be included in the regular schedule to add more meaning to EE projects and cater to the needs of adolescents for diverting youth energy towards positive action.

Keywords: experiential, project, environment education, youth, community interaction

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Authors: April Love Palad, Charita B. Lasala

Abstract:

Mastery on English language is one of the important goals of all English language teachers. This goal can be seen based from the students’ actual performance using the target language which is English. Learning the English language includes hard work where efforts need to be exerted and this can be attained gradually over a long period of time. It is extremely important for all English language teachers to know the effects of incorporating games in teaching. Whether this strategy can have positive or negative effects in students learning, teachers should always consider what is best for their learners. Games may help and provide confidents language learners. These games help teachers to create context in which the language is suitable and significant. Focusing in accuracy and fluency is the heart of this study and this will be obtain in either teaching English using the traditional method or teaching English using language games. It is very important for all English teachers to know which strategy is effective in teaching English to be able to cope with students’ underachievement in this subject. This study made use of the comparative-experimental method. It made use of the pre-post test design with the aim to explore the effectiveness of the language games as strategy used in language teaching for high school students. There were two groups of students being observed, the controlled and the experimental, employing the two strategies in teaching English –traditional and with the use of language games. The scores obtained by two samples were compared to know the effectiveness of the two strategies in teaching English. In this study, it found out that language games help improve students’ fluency and accuracy in the use of target language and this is very evident in the results obtained in the pre-test and post –test result as well the mean gain scores by the two groups of students. In addition, this study also gives us a clear view on the positive effects on the use of language games in teaching which also supported by the related studies based from this research. The findings of the study served as the bases for the creation of the proposed learning plan that integrated language games that teachers may use in their own teaching. This study further concluded that language games are effective in developing students’ fluency in using the English language. This justifies that games help encourage students to learn and be entertained at the same time. Aside from that, games also promote developing language competency. This study will be very useful to teachers who are in doubt in the use of this strategy in their teaching.

Keywords: language games, experimental, comparative, strategy, language teaching, methodology

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Authors: Yunus Emre Karakaya, Sebahattin Devecioglu, Bilal Coban

Abstract:

Today, information technology’s presence is felt in every field of life. Fields of education and sports sciences have their own share too. Especially developments in informatics technologies changed the perspectives of these fields. The altered technological conditions made distance education argumentative in these fields. Due to advantages distance education provides to students, they can access the desired education without concerns about time and place. Education facilities are seen to head for distance education in this manner and expedite the process. Distance education applications, which was first started to be applied in the mid-1800s, have been implemented in Turkey since 1970s and still continues today. In this study, the historical development of distance education in the world and Turkey and the problems athletes face in education were discussed. Accordingly, suggestions were made evaluating the importance and requirements of distance education in sports education facilities at higher education level. Additionally, Questions of “Is distance education important in sports education in Turkey?”, “What are the problems of athletes in the education field in Turkey?” and similar questions were attempted to be answered. Finally, in Turkey, distance sports education applications in universities should be launched to ensure that athletes’ educations are not deficit and unfinished. Within this framework, legal regulations should be implemented by “Council of Higher Education” to develop the distance sports education in Turkey and utilize distance education efficiently in solving the sports education problems. By ensuring the advancement of athletes with this method, it is expected for athletes to contribute to sports in the country in both government and the private sector in the medium and long terms. Individuals who participated in the distance sports education will set an example in extending the country’s youth to national and international fields.

Keywords: athletes, distance education, higher education, sports education, Turkey

Procedia PDF Downloads 352

Authors: Moshe Leiba, Doron Zohar

Abstract:

Computer Science (CS) and programming is still considered a boy’s club and is a male-dominated profession. This is also the case in high schools and higher education. In Israel, not different from the rest of the world, there are less than 35% of female students in CS studies that take the matriculation exams. The Israeli matriculation exams are written in a masculine form language. Gender-fair language (GFL) aims at reducing gender stereotyping and discrimination. There are several strategies that can be employed to make languages gender-fair and to treat women and men symmetrically (especially in languages with grammatical gender, among them neutralization and using the plural form. This research aims at exploring computer science teachers’ beliefs regarding the use of gender-fair language in exams. An exploratory quantitative research methodology was employed to collect the data. A questionnaire was administered to 353 computer science teachers. 58% female and 42% male. 86% are teaching for at least 3 years, with 59% of them have a teaching experience of 7 years. 71% of the teachers teach in high school, and 82% of them are preparing students for the matriculation exam in computer science. The questionnaire contained 2 matriculation exam questions from previous years and open-ended questions. Teachers were asked which form they think is more suited: (a) the existing form (mescaline), (b) using both gender full forms (e.g., he/she), (c) using both gender short forms, (d) plural form, (e) natural form, and (f) female form. 84% of the teachers recognized the need to change the existing mescaline form in the matriculation exams. About 50% of them thought that using the plural form was the best-suited option. When examining the teachers who are pro-change and those who are against, no gender differences or teaching experience were found. The teachers who are pro gender-fair language justified it as making it more personal and motivating for the female students. Those who thought that the mescaline form should remain argued that the female students do not complain and the change in form will not influence or affect the female students to choose to study computer science. Some even argued that the change will not affect the students but can only improve their sense of identity or feeling toward the profession (which seems like a misconception). This research suggests that the teachers are pro-change and believe that re-formulating the matriculation exams is the right step towards encouraging more female students to choose to study computer science as their major study track and to bridge the gap for gender equality. This should indicate a bottom-up approach, as not long after this research was conducted, the Israeli ministry of education decided to change the matriculation exams to gender-fair language using the plural form. In the coming years, with the transition to web-based examination, it is suggested to use personalization and adjust the language form in accordance with the student's gender.

Keywords: compter science, gender-fair language, teachers, national exams

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Authors: Gina Aurora Necula

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From its transformation into a taboo and its hiding under the so-called “Moldovan language” or under the euphemistic expression “state language” to its regained status recognition as an official language, the Romanian language spoken in the Republic of Moldova has undergone impressive reforms in the last 60 years. Meant to erase the awareness of citizens’ ethnic identity and turn a majority language into a minority one, all the laws and regulations issued on the field succeeded into setting numerous barriers for speakers of Romanian. Either manifested as social constraints or materialized into assumed rejection of mother tongue usage, all these laws have demonstrated their usefulness and major impact on the Romanian-speaking population. This article is the result of our research carried out over 10 years with the support of students, and Moldovan citizens, from the master's degree program "Romanian language - identity and cultural awareness." We present here a retrospective insight of the reforms, laws, and regulations that contributed to the shifted status of the Romanian language from the official language, seen as the language of common use both in the public and private spheres, in the minority language that surrendered its privileged place to the Russian language, firstly in the public sphere, and then, slowly but surely, in the private sphere. Our main goal here is to identify and make speakers understand what the barriers to learning Romanian language are nowadays when the social pressure on using Russian no longer exists.

Keywords: linguistic barriers, lingua franca, private sphere, public sphere, reformation

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Authors: Junia Braga, Antonio carlos Martins, Marcos Racilan

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Drawing on the ecological approach, this paper reports a qualitative study that aims to understand how mobile technologies were integrated during the pandemic in the context of language teaching and the use of these technologies in post-pandemic times. Seventy-six teachers answered a questionnaire about their experiences. The findings show how the network with peers scaffolded this experience and played a crucial role in their appropriation of those technologies. They also suggest that this network may have contributed to the normalisation of digital technology use.

Keywords: ecological perspective, language teaching, mobile technologies, teacher education

Procedia PDF Downloads 110