Search results for: Korean language major curriculum

Authors: Abigaba Sophia

Abstract:

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed the education sector by revolutionizing educational frameworks by providing new opportunities and innovative advanced platforms for language translation during the teaching and learning process. In today's education sector, the primary key to scholarly communication is language; therefore, translation between different languages becomes vital in the process of communication. KIU-T being an International University, admits students from different nations speaking different languages, and English is the official language; some students find it hard to grasp a word during teaching and learning. This paper explores the practical aspect of using artificial intelligence technologies in an advanced language translation manner during teaching and learning. The impact of this technology is reflected in the education strategies to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills for professional activity in the best way they understand. The researcher evaluated the demand for this practice since students have to apply the knowledge they acquire in their native language to their countries in the best way they understand. The main objective is to improve student's language competence and lay a solid foundation for their future professional development. A descriptive-analytic approach was deemed best for the study to investigate the phenomena of language translation intelligence alongside Microsoft Office during the teaching and learning process. The study analysed the responses of 345 students from different academic programs. Based on the findings, the researcher recommends using the artificial intelligence language translation technique during teaching, and this requires the wisdom of human content designers and educational experts. Lecturers and students will be trained in the basic knowledge of this technique to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning to meet the student’s needs.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, language translation technique, teaching and learning process, Microsoft Office

Procedia PDF Downloads 84

Authors: Samhita Bharadwaj

Abstract:

This is an empirical study of classifiers in Assamese and Bodo, two genetically unrelated languages of India. The objective of the paper is to address the language contact between Assamese and Bodo as reflected in classifiers. The data has been collected through fieldwork in Bodo recording narratives and folk tales and eliciting specific data from the speakers. The data for Assamese is self-produced as native speaker of the language. Assamese is the easternmost New-Indo-Aryan (henceforth NIA) language mainly spoken in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam and some other north-eastern states of India. It is the lingua franca of Assam and is creolised in the neighbouring state of Nagaland. Bodo, on the other hand, is a Tibeto-Burman (henceforth TB) language of the Bodo-Garo group. It has the highest number of speakers among the TB languages of Assam. However, compared to Assamese, it is still a lesser documented language and due to the prestige of Assamese, all the Bodo speakers are fluent bi-lingual in Assamese, though the opposite isn’t the case. With this context, classifiers, a characteristic phenomenon of TB languages, but not so much of NIA languages, presents an interesting case study on language contact caused by bilingualism. Assamese, as a result of its language contact with the TB languages which are rich in classifiers; has developed the richest classifier system among the IA languages in India. Yet, as a part of rampant borrowing of Assamese words and patterns into Bodo; Bodo is seen to borrow even Assamese classifiers into its system. This paper analyses the borrowed classifiers of Bodo and finds the route of this borrowing phenomenon in the number system of the languages. As the Bodo speakers start replacing the higher numbers from five with Assamese ones, they also choose the Assamese classifiers to attach to these numbers. Thus, the partial loss of number in Bodo as a result of language contact and bilingualism in Assamese is found to be the reason behind the borrowing of classifiers in Bodo. The significance of the study lies in exploring an interesting aspect of language contact in Assam. It is hoped that this will attract further research on bilingualism and classifiers in Assam.

Keywords: Assamese, bi-lingual, Bodo, borrowing, classifier, language contact

Procedia PDF Downloads 228

Authors: Ibraheem Alzahrani

Abstract:

The Saudi Arabia ministry of higher education has established 24 universities across various cities in the kingdom. The universities have the mandate of sustaining technological progress in both teaching and learning. The present study explores the statues of teaching in Saudi universities, focusing on biology, a critical curriculum. The paper explores biology teachers’ points of view is several Saudi higher education institutions through questionnaires disseminated via emails. According to the findings, the current teaching methods are traditional and the teachers believe that it is critical to change it. This study also, reviews how biology has been taught in the kingdom over the past, as well as how it is undertaken presently. In addition, some aspects of biology teaching are considered, including the biology curriculum and learning objectives in higher education biology.

Keywords: higher education, teaching style, traditional learning, electronic learning, web 2.0 applications, blended learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 388

Authors: Headman Hebe, Arnold Taringa

Abstract:

Background of the study: The benefits derived from Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) go beyond obtaining knowledge about the environment and the impact of human beings on the environment. Hence, it is sensible to expose learners to various resources that could enable meaningful environment-inclined pedagogy. The schoolgrounds, where they are utilised to promote ESE, benefit holistic learner development. However, empirical evidence, globally, suggests that young children’s contact with nature is declining due to urbanization, safety concerns by parents/guardians, and greater dependency on technology. Modern children spend much time on videogames and social media with very little time in the natural environment. Furthermore, national education departments in numerous countries have made tangible efforts to embed environmental and place-based learning to their school curricula. South Africa is one of those countries whose national school education curriculum advocates for ESE in pedagogy. Nevertheless, there is paucity of research conducted in South Africa on schoolgrounds as potential enablers of ESE and tools to foster a connection between youngsters and the natural environment. Accordingly, this study was essential as it seeks to determine the extent to which environmental learning is accommodated in pedagogy. Significantly, it investigates efforts made to use schoolgrounds for pedagogical purposes to connect children with the natural environment. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the accessibility and use of schoolgrounds for environment-inclined pedagogy in Natural and Social Sciences in two schools located in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. It tries to answer the question: To what extent are schoolgrounds used to promote environmental and sustainability education in the selected schools?The sub-questions: How do teachers and learners perceive the use of schoolgrounds for environmental and sustainability education activities? How does the organization of schoolgrounds offer opportunities for environmental education activities and accessibility for learners? Research method: This qualitative–interpretive case study used purposive and convenient sampling for participant selection. Forty-six respondents: 40 learners (twenty grade 7 learners per school), 2 school principals and 4 grade 7 participated in this study. Data collection tools were observations, interviews, audio-visual recordings and questionnaires while data analysis was done thematically. Major findings: The findings of the study point to: The lack of teacher training and infrastructure in the schoolgrounds and, no administrative support. Unclear curriculum guidelines on the use of schoolgrounds for ESE. The availability various elements in the schoolgrounds that could aid ESE activities. Learners denied access to certain parts of the schoolgrounds. Lack of time and curriculum demands constrain teachers from using schoolgrounds.

Keywords: affordances, environment and sustainability education, experiential learning, schoolgrounds

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: David S. Rosenstein

Abstract:

The author believes that modern spoken languages should be equally difficult (or easy) to learn, since all normal children learning their native languages do so at approximately the same rate and with the same competence, progressing from easy to more complex grammar and syntax in the same way. Why then, do some languages seem more difficult than others? Perhaps people are referring to the written language, where it may be true that mastering Chinese requires more time than French, which in turn requires more time than Spanish. But this may be marginal, since Chinese and French children quickly catch up to their Spanish peers in reading comprehension. Rather, the real differences in difficulty derive from two sources: hardened L1 language habits trying to cope with contrasting L2 habits; and unfamiliarity with unique L2 characteristics causing faulty expectations. It would seem that effective L2 teaching and learning must take these two sources of difficulty into consideration. The author feels that the latter (faulty expectations) causes the greatest difficulty, making effective teaching and learning somewhat different for each given foreign language. Examples from Chinese and other languages are presented.

Keywords: learning different languages, language learning difficulties, faulty language expectations

Procedia PDF Downloads 537

Authors: Imoh Philip

Abstract:

Basà language is classified as belonging to Kainji family, under the sub-phylum Western-Kainji known as Rubasa (Basa Benue) (Croizier & Blench, 1992:32). Basà is an under-described language spoken in the North-Central Nigeria. The language is characterized by subject-verb-object (henceforth SVO) as its canonical word order. Data for this work is sourced from the researcher’s native intuition of the language corroborated with a careful observation of native speakers. This paper investigates the syntactic derivational strategy of information-structure encoding in Basà language. It emphasizes on a negative operator, as a strategy for focusing a constituent or clause that follows it and negativizes a whole proposition. For items that are not nouns, they have to undergo an obligatory nominalization process, either by affixation, modification or conversion before they are moved to the pre verbal position for these operations. The study discovers and provides evidence of the fact showing that deferent constituents in the sentence such as the subject, direct, indirect object, genitive, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, clause and idiophone, etc. can be focused with the same negativizing operator. The process is characterized by focusing the pre verbal NP constituent alone, whereas the whole proposition is negated. The study can stimulate similar study or be replicated in other languages.

Keywords: negation, focus, Basà, nominalization

Procedia PDF Downloads 599

Authors: Alexander Wachtel, Michael T. Franzen, Walter F. Tichy

Abstract:

Programming requires years of training. With natural language and end user development methods, programming could become available to everyone. It enables end users to program their own devices and extend the functionality of the existing system without any knowledge of programming languages. In this paper, we describe an Interactive Spreadsheet Processing Module (ISPM), a natural language interface to spreadsheets that allows users to address ranges within the spreadsheet based on inferred table schema. Using the ISPM, end users are able to search for values in the schema of the table and to address the data in spreadsheets implicitly. Furthermore, it enables them to select and sort the spreadsheet data by using natural language. ISPM uses a machine learning technique to automatically infer areas within a spreadsheet, including different kinds of headers and data ranges. Since ranges can be identified from natural language queries, the end users can query the data using natural language. During the evaluation 12 undergraduate students were asked to perform operations (sum, sort, group and select) using the system and also Excel without ISPM interface, and the time taken for task completion was compared across the two systems. Only for the selection task did users take less time in Excel (since they directly selected the cells using the mouse) than in ISPM, by using natural language for end user software engineering, to overcome the present bottleneck of professional developers.

Keywords: natural language processing, natural language interfaces, human computer interaction, end user development, dialog systems, data recognition, spreadsheet

Procedia PDF Downloads 315

Authors: Amira Benabdelkader

Abstract:

Communication presents the channel by which humankind create and maintain their relationship with others, express themselves, exchange information, learn and teach etc. The context of communication plays a distinctive role in deciding about the language to be used. The term context is mainly used to refer to the interlocutors, their cultures, languages, relationship, physical surrounding that is the communication setting, type of the information to be transmitted, the topic etc. Cultures, on one hand, impose on humans certain behaviours, attitudes, gestures and beliefs. On the other hand, the focus on language is inevitable as it is with its verbal and non-verbal components, a key tool in and for communication. Moreover, each language has its particularity in how people voice, address and express their thoughts, feelings and beliefs. Being in the same setting with people from different cultures and languages and having conversations with them would call upon the intercultural communicative competence. This latter would promote the success of their conversations. Additionally, this competence could manifest in several ways during their interactions, to the extent that no one can predict when and how the interlocutors would use it. The only thing probably that could be confirmed is that the setting and culture would in a way or another intervene and often shape the flow of their communication, if not the whole communication. Therefore, this paper will look at the intercultural communicative competence of language learners when introducing their cultures to each other in an online language tandem (henceforth OLT) using their second and/or foreign language with the L1 language speakers. The participants of this study are Algerian (use L2: French, FL: English), British (L1: English, L2/FL: French). In other words, this current paper will provide a qualitative analysis of the OLT experiment by emphasising how language learners can overcome the cultural differences in an intercultural setting while communicating online using Skype (video conversations) with people from different countries, cultures and L1. The non-verbal cues will have the lion share in the analysis by focusing on how they have been used to maintain this intercultural communication or hinder it through the misinterpretation of gestures, head movements, grimaces etc.

Keywords: intercultural communicative competence, non-verbal cues, online language tandem, Skype

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: Sakshi Ghai

Abstract:

The word ‘emotion’ has been microscopically studied through psychological, anthropological and biological lenses and have indubitably been one of the most researched concepts as, in all situations and reactions that constitute human life, emotions form the very niche of our mutual existence. While understanding the social aspects of cognition, one can realize that emotions are deeply interwoven with language and thereby are pivotal in inducing human actions and behavior. The society or the outward social structure is the result of the inward psychological structure of our human relationships, for the individual is the result of the total experience, knowledge and conduct of man. The aim of this paper is threefold: first, to establish the relation between mental representations of emotions and its neuropsychological connection with language on a conscious and sub-conscious level; secondly, to describe how innate, basic and higher cognitive emotions affect the constantly changing state of an agent and peruse its assistance in determining the moral compass within all beings. Lastly, in the course of this paper, the concept of the architecture of mind is explored considering how it has developed an ability to display adaptive emotional states and responses, which are in sync with the language of thought. For every response to the social environment is so deeply determined by the very social milieu in which one is situated, language has a fundamental role in constructing emotions and articulating behavior. Being linguistic beings, we tend to associate emotion, feelings and other aspects of inwards mental states intrinsically with the language we use. This paper aims to devise a discursive approach to understand how emotions are fabricated, intertwined with the mental constructs further expressed and communicated through the various units of language.

Keywords: mental representation, emotion, language, psychology

Procedia PDF Downloads 294

Authors: Catherine Peyrols Wu

Abstract:

Intercultural interactions are becoming increasingly common in organizations and life. These interactions are often the stage of miscommunication and conflict. In management research, these problems are commonly attributed to cultural differences in values and interactional norms. As a result, the notion that intercultural competence can minimize these challenges is widely accepted. Cultural differences, however, are not the only source of a challenge during intercultural interactions. The need to rely on a lingua franca – or common language between people who have different mother tongues – is another important one. In theory, a lingua franca can improve communication and ease coordination. In practice however, disparities in people’s ability and confidence to communicate in the language can exacerbate tensions and generate inefficiencies. In this study, we draw on power theory to develop a model of disparities in language competence and conflict in a multicultural work context. Specifically, we hypothesized that differences in language competence between interaction partners would be positively related to conflict such that people would report greater conflict with partners who have more dissimilar levels of language competence and lesser conflict with partners with more similar levels of language competence. Furthermore, we proposed that cultural intelligence (CQ) an intercultural competence that denotes an individual’s capability to be effective in intercultural situations, would weaken the relationship between disparities in language competence and conflict such that people would report less conflict with partners who have more dissimilar levels of language competence when the interaction partner has high CQ and more conflict when the partner has low CQ. We tested this model with a sample of 135 undergraduate students working in multicultural teams for 13 weeks. We used a round-robin design to examine conflict in 646 dyads nested within 21 teams. Results of analyses using social relations modeling provided support for our hypotheses. Specifically, we found that in intercultural dyads with large disparities in language competence, partners with the lowest level of language competence would report higher levels of interpersonal conflict. However, this relationship disappeared when the partner with higher language competence was also high in CQ. These findings suggest that communication in a lingua franca can be a source of conflict in intercultural collaboration when partners differ in their level of language competence and that CQ can alleviate these effects during collaboration with partners who have relatively lower levels of language competence. Theoretically, this study underscores the benefits of CQ as a complement to language competence for intercultural effectiveness. Practically, these results further attest to the benefits of investing resources to develop language competence and CQ in employees engaged in multicultural work.

Keywords: cultural intelligence, intercultural interactions, language competence, multicultural teamwork

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Thapasya J., Rajesh Kumar

Abstract:

Language plays complex roles in society. The previous studies on language and society explain their interconnected, complementary and complex interactions and, those studies were primarily focused on the variations in the language. Variation being the fundamental nature of languages, the question of personal and social identity navigated through language variation and established that there is an interconnection between language variation and identity. This paper analyses the sociolinguistic variation in language at the lexical level and how the lexical choice of the speaker(s) affects in shaping their identity. It obtains primary data from the lexicon of the Mappila dialect of Malayalam spoken by the members of Mappila (Muslim) community of Kerala. The variation in the lexical choice is analysed by collecting data from the speech samples of 15 minutes from four different age groups of Mappila dialect speakers. Various contexts were analysed and the frequency of borrowed words in each instance is calculated to reach a conclusion on how the variation is happening in the speech community. The paper shows how the lexical choice of the speakers could be socially motivated and involve in shaping and changing identities. Lexical items or vocabulary clearly signal the group identity and personal identity. Mappila dialect of Malayalam was rich in frequent use of borrowed words from Arabic, Persian and Urdu. There was a deliberate attempt to show their identity as a Mappila community member, which was derived from the socio-political situation during those days. This made a clear variation between the Mappila dialect and other dialects of Malayalam at the surface level, which was motivated to create and establish the identity of a person as the member of Mappila community. Historically, these kinds of linguistic variation were highly motivated because of the socio-political factors and, intertwined with the historical facts about the origin and spread of Islamism in the region; people from the Mappila community highly motivated to project their identity as a Mappila because of the social insecurities they had to face before accepting that religion. Thus the deliberate inclusion of Arabic, Persian and Urdu words in their speech helped in showing their identity. However, the socio-political situations and factors at the origin of Mappila community have been changed over a period of time. The social motivation for indicating their identity as a Mappila no longer exist and thus the frequency of borrowed words from Arabic, Persian and Urdu have been reduced from their speech. Apart from the religious terms, the borrowed words from these languages are very few at present. The analysis is carried out by the changes in the language of the people according to their age and found to have significant variations between generations and literacy plays a major role in this variation process. The need of projecting a specific identity of an individual would vary according to the change in the socio-political scenario and a variation in language can shape the identity in order to go with the varying socio-political situation in any language.

Keywords: borrowings, dialect, identity, lexical choice, literacy, variation

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Michael W. Markowitz

Abstract:

A central element of higher education today is the “core” or “general education” curriculum: that configuration of courses that often encompasses the essence of liberal arts education. Ensuring that such offerings reflect the mission and values of the institution is a challenge faced by most college and universities, often more than once. This paper presents an action model of program planning designed to structure the processes of developing, implementing and revising core curricula in a manner consistent with key institutional goals and objectives. Through presentation of a case study from a university in the United States, the elements of needs assessment, stakeholder investment and collaborative compromise are shown as key components of a planning strategy that can produce a general education program that is comprehensive, academically rigorous, assessable and mission consistent. The paper concludes with recommendations for both the implementation and evaluation of such programs in practice.

Keywords: academic assessment, academic program planning, curriculum development, general education reform

Procedia PDF Downloads 323

Authors: M. Hadavi, Z. Hashemi

Abstract:

Learning strategies play an important role in the development of language skills. Vocabulary learning strategies as the backbone of these strategies have become a major part of English language teaching. This study is a comparative analysis of Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLS) use and preference among freshmen and senior EFL medical sciences students with different fields of study. 449 students (236 freshman and 213 seniors) participated in the study. 64.6% were female and 35.4% were male. The instrument utilized in this research was a questionnaire consisting of 41 items related to the students’ approach to vocabulary learning. The items were classified under eight sections as dictionary strategies, guessing strategies, study preferences, memory strategies, autonomy, note- taking strategies, selective attention, and social strategies. The participants were asked to answer each item with a 5-point Likert-style frequency scale as follows:1) I never or almost never do this, 2) I don’t usually do this, 3) I sometimes do this, 4) I usually do this, and 5)I always or almost always do this. The results indicated that freshmen students and particularly surgical technology students used more strategies compared to the seniors. Overall guessing and dictionary strategies were the most frequently used strategies among all the learners (p=0/000). The mean and standard deviation of using VLS in the students who had no previous history of participating in the private English language classes was less than the students who had attended these type of classes (p=0/000). Female students tended to use social and study preference strategies whereas male students used mostly guessing and dictionary strategies. It can be concluded that the senior students under instruction from the university have learned to rely on themselves and choose the autonomous strategies more, while freshmen students use more strategies that are related to the study preferences.

Keywords: vocabulary leaning strategies, medical sciences, students, linguistics

Procedia PDF Downloads 455

Authors: Edward Sarich, Jack Ryan

Abstract:

In contrast to learning new vocabulary incidentally in one’s first language, foreign language vocabulary is often acquired purposefully, because a lack of natural exposure requires it to be studied in an artificial environment. It follows then that foreign language vocabulary may be more efficiently acquired if it is purpose-driven, or linked to a clear and desirable outcome. The research described in this paper relates to the early stages of what is seen as a long-term effort to measure the effectiveness of a methodology for purpose-driven foreign language vocabulary instruction, specifically by analyzing whether directed studying from high-frequency vocabulary lists leads to an improvement in Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) scores. The research was carried out in two sections of a first-year university English composition class at a small university in Japan. The results seem to indicate that purposeful study from relevant high-frequency vocabulary lists can contribute to raising TOEIC scores and that the test preparation methodology used in this study was thought by students to be beneficial in helping them to prepare to take this high-stakes test.

Keywords: corpus vocabulary, language asssessment, second language vocabulary acquisition, TOEIC test preparation

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Irene Yi

Abstract:

Machine learning, natural language processing, and neural network models of language are becoming more and more prevalent in the fields of technology and linguistics today. Training data for machines are at best, large corpora of human literature and at worst, a reflection of the ugliness in society. Machines have been trained on millions of human books, only to find that in the course of human history, derogatory and sexist adjectives are used significantly more frequently when describing females in history and literature than when describing males. This is extremely problematic, both as training data, and as the outcome of natural language processing. As machines start to handle more responsibilities, it is crucial to ensure that they do not take with them historical sexist and misogynistic notions. This paper gathers data and algorithms from neural network models of language having to deal with syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and text classification. Results are significant in showing the existing intentional and unintentional misogynistic notions used to train machines, as well as in developing better technologies that take into account the semantics and syntax of text to be more mindful and reflect gender equality. Further, this paper deals with the idea of non-binary gender pronouns and how machines can process these pronouns correctly, given its semantic and syntactic context. This paper also delves into the implications of gendered grammar and its effect, cross-linguistically, on natural language processing. Languages such as French or Spanish not only have rigid gendered grammar rules, but also historically patriarchal societies. The progression of society comes hand in hand with not only its language, but how machines process those natural languages. These ideas are all extremely vital to the development of natural language models in technology, and they must be taken into account immediately.

Keywords: gendered grammar, misogynistic language, natural language processing, neural networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Auwal Ibrahim Amba

Abstract:

Bilingualism is the use/existence of two languages in the repertoire of an individual or a community. This linguistic phenomenon may encourage the use of Bilingual Education/Instruction for the teaching of English as a Second Language. Bilingual Education is the teaching of academic content in two languages in most cases simultaneously in multilingual/bilingual communities. This study is an attempt at investigating the impact of Bilingual Education for the teaching of English as a Second Language. The study examines the performance of students in English language examinations in two selected secondary schools that employ Monolingual and Bilingual Education respectively. The schools: Demonstration Secondary School and Higher Islamic Studies Secondary School are public schools that exist side by side at A.D.Rufa’i College of Education, Legal and General Studies Misau, Bauchi State, Nigeria. The choice of the two schools is deliberate because of their existence in the same learning environment, the same public status and bein managed by the same administration. The only difference lies in the use of Bilingual Education for classroom instruction by the former and Monolingual Education by the latter. While Demonstration Secondary School uses English Language as the only Language of instruction, Higher Islamic Studies Secondary School employs English and Arabic for classroom instruction. The study employs qualitative research methods for the collection, presentation and analysis of data. Purposive sampling is employed in selecting students of Senior Secondary School 3 (SS3) from each school as the only participants in the research and a questionnaire was administered on fifty students each in addition to analyzing and comparing the students’ performance based on the Final Certificate Examinations Results. The findings of this study reveal that Bilingual Education slows the rate of learning English as a Second Language and affects learning proficiency. The study recommends the intensive use of the Target Language (English) for the teaching of English as a Second Language. It suggests the adequate use of Language Laboratory, constant listening of international English media organizations like British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), practical communicative engagement of learners in the Target Language in classroom and outside among other strategies for effective learning.

Keywords: bilingualism, bilingual education, target language, second language

Procedia PDF Downloads 13

Authors: Duisenova Marzhan

Abstract:

This paper considers the looking from a philosophical point of view the interactive technology and tiered developing Kazakh language teaching primary school pupils through the method of linguistic communication, content and teaching methods formed in the education system. The values determined by the formation of new practical ways that could lead to a novel qualitative level and solving the problem. In the formation of the communicative competence of elementary school students would be to pay attention to other competencies. It helps to understand the motives and needs socialization of students, the development of their cognitive abilities and participate in language relations arising from different situations. Communicative competence is the potential of its own in pupils creative language activity. In this article, the Kazakh language teaching in primary school communicative method is presented. The purpose of learning communicative method, personal development, effective psychological development of the child, himself-education, expansion and growth of language skills and vocabulary, socialization of children, the adoption of the laws of life in the social environment, analyzed the development of vocabulary richness of the language that forms the erudition to ensure continued improvement of education of the child.

Keywords: communicative, culture, training, process, method, primary, competence

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Oris Tom-Lawyer, Michael Thomas

Abstract:

This paper seeks to analyse the hegemony of the English language in Western Africa through the lens of educational policies and the socio-economic functions of the language. It is based on the premise that there is a positive link between the English language and development contexts. The study aims to fill a gap in the research literature by examining the usefulness of hegemony as a concept to explain the role of English language in the region, thus countering the negative connotations that often accompany it. The study identified four main research questions: i. What are the socio-economic functions of English in Francophone/lusophone countries? ii. What factors promote the hegemony of English in anglophone countries? iii. To what extent is the hegemony of English in West Africa? iv. What are the implications of the non-hegemony of English in Western Africa? Based on a meta-analysis of the research literature between 2003 and 2018, the findings of the study revealed that in francophone/lusophone countries, English functions in the following socio-economic domains; they are peace keeping missions, regional organisations, commercial and industrial sectors, as an unofficial international language and as a foreign language. The factors that promote linguistic hegemony of English in anglophone countries are English as an official language, a medium of instruction, lingua franca, cultural language, language of politics, language of commerce, channel of development and English for media and entertainment. In addition, the extent of the hegemony of English in West Africa can be viewed from the factors that contribute to the non-hegemony of English in the region; they are French language, Portuguese language, the French culture, neo-colonialism, level of poverty, and economic ties of French to its former colonies. Finally, the implications of the non-hegemony of English language in West Africa are industrial backwardness, poverty rate, lack of social mobility, drop out of school rate, growing interest in English, access to limited internet information and lack of extensive career opportunities. The paper concludes that the hegemony of English has resulted in the development of anglophone countries in Western Africa, while in the francophone/lusophone regions of the continent, industrial backwardness and low literacy rates have been consequences of English language marginalisation. In conclusion, the paper makes several recommendations, including the need for the early introduction of English into French curricula as part of a potential solution.

Keywords: developmental tool, English language, linguistic hegemony, West Africa

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Satoshi Kusaka

Abstract:

The term ‘competency’ is attracting considerable scholarly attention worldwide with the advance of globalization in the 21st century and with the arrival of a knowledge-based society. In the current world environment, familiarity with varied disciplines is regarded to be vital for personal success. The idea of a competency-based educational system was mooted by the ‘Definition and Selection of Competencies (DeSeCo)’ project that was conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Further, attention to this topic is not limited to developed countries; it can also be observed in developing countries. For instance, the importance of a competency-based curriculum was mentioned in the ‘2013 Harmonized Curriculum Framework for the East African Community’, which recommends key competencies that should be developed in primary schools. The introduction of such curricula and the reviews of programs are actively being executed, primarily in the East African Community but also in neighboring nations. Taking Mozambique as a case in point, the present paper examines the conception of ‘competency’ as a target of frontline education in developing countries. It also aims to discover the manner in which the syllabus, textbooks and lessons, among other things, in primary-level math education are developed and to determine the challenges faced in the process. This study employs the perspective of competency-based education design to analyze how the term ‘competency’ is defined in the primary-level math syllabus, how it is reflected in the textbooks, and how the lessons are actually developed. ‘Practical competency’ is mentioned in the syllabus, and the description of the term lays emphasis on learners' ability to interactively apply socio-cultural and technical tools, which is one of the key competencies that are advocated in OECD's ‘Definition and Selection of Competencies’ project. However, most of the content of the textbooks pertains to ‘basic academic ability’, and in actual classroom practice, teachers often impart lessons straight from the textbooks. It is clear that the aptitude of teachers and their classroom routines are greatly dependent on the cultivation of their own ‘practical competency’ as it is defined in the syllabus. In other words, there is great divergence between the ‘syllabus’, which is the intended curriculum, and the content of the ‘textbooks’. In fact, the material in the textbooks should serve as the bridge between the syllabus, which forms the guideline, and the lessons, which represent the ‘implemented curriculum’. Moreover, the results obtained from this investigation reveal that the problem can only be resolved through the cultivation of ‘practical competency’ in teachers, which is currently not sufficient.

Keywords: competency, curriculum, mathematics education, Mozambique

Procedia PDF Downloads 203

Authors: Karen Butler

Abstract:

Johnson C. Smith University, one of the nation’s oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities, has a strong history of service learning and community service. We first integrated service learning and peer education into health education courses in the spring of 2000. Students enrolled in the classes served as peer educators for the semester. Since then, the program has evolved and expanded but remains an integral part of several courses. The purpose of this session is to describe our program in terms of development, successes, and obstacles, and feedback received. A detailed description of the service learning component in HED 235: Drugs and Drug Education and HED 337: Environmental Health will be provided. These classes are required of our Community Health majors but are also popular electives for students in other disciplines. Three sources of student feedback were used to evaluate and continually modify the component: the SIR II course evaluation, service learning reflection papers, and focus group interviews. Student feedback has been largely positive. When criticism was given, it was thoughtful and constructive – given in the spirit of making it better for the next group. Students consistently agreed that the service learning program increased their awareness of pertinent health issues; that both the service providers and service recipients benefited from the project; and that the goals/issues targeted by the service learning component fit the objectives of the course. Also, evidence of curriculum and learning enhancement was found in the reflection papers and focus group sessions. Service learning sets up a win-win situation. It provides a way to respond to campus and community health needs while enhancing the curriculum, as students learn more by doing things that benefit the health and wellness of others. Service learning is suitable for any health education course and any target audience would welcome the effort.

Keywords: black colleges, community health, health education, service learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: Kensho Takahashi, Ko Watanabe, Takashi Kaburagi, Hiroshi Tanaka, Kajiro Watanabe, Yosuke Kurihara

Abstract:

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been widely used as a non-invasive method to measure brain activity, but it is corrupted by baseline drift noise. Here we present a method to measure regional cerebral blood flow as a derivative of NIRS output. We investigate whether, when listening to languages, blood flow can reasonably localize and represent regional brain activity or not. The prefrontal blood flow distribution pattern when advanced second-language listeners listened to a second language (L2) was most similar to that when listening to their first language (L1) among the patterns of mean and standard deviation. In experiments with 25 healthy subjects, the maximum blood flow was localized to the left BA46 of advanced listeners. The blood flow presented is robust to baseline drift and stably localizes regional brain activity.

Keywords: NIRS, oxy-hemoglobin, baseline drift, blood flow, working memory, BA46, first language, second language

Procedia PDF Downloads 566

Authors: Stephany Inalegwu

Abstract:

Museums play a very critical role in understanding the cultural values and the history of any given society in Nigeria and the world at large. The role of Museums as an avenue through which artefacts are collected, preserved and exhibited cannot be over emphasized as they are now seen as not only with the above stated aims but also as a creator of employment and revenue generation if properly harnessed. Interestingly, despite its importance, museum studies have been limited to University curriculum alone causing a dearth of information for the younger generation up until they attain the University age. It is against this background that this paper carefully analyses the definitions of museums, the state of museums and museum studies in Nigeria today and the need to include its studies at all the levels of Education in Nigeria from the primary, to secondary and tertiary levels. It should reflect a study of all ages, as this is vital in the development of individuals. It concludes by harping on the need for a better appreciation of the Nigerian culture ranging from the famous Nok Terracotta, Benin Bronze works etc and its importance of museums as an avenue to display the rich Nigerian cultural heritage.

Keywords: culture, curriculum, education, museum

Procedia PDF Downloads 210

Authors: Wang Zhanquan, Yang Zeping, Gu Chunhua, Zhu Fazhi, Guo Weibin

Abstract:

Recently, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are becoming the new trend of education. There are many problems under the environment of Database Principle curriculum teaching process in MOOCs, such as teaching ideas and theories which are out of touch with the reality, how to carry out the technical teaching and interactive practice in the MOOCs environment, thus the methods of database course under the environment of MOOCs are proposed. There are three processes to deal with problem solving in the research, which are problems proposed, problems solved, and inductive analysis. The present research includes the design of teaching contents, teaching methods in classroom, flipped classroom teaching mode under the environment of MOOCs, learning flow method and large practice homework. The database designing ability is systematically improved based on the researching methods.

Keywords: problem solving-driven, MOOCs, teaching art, learning flow;

Procedia PDF Downloads 366

Authors: T. Ito, K. Kawaguchi, R. Ohta

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to provide a guideline to assist globally-minded companies in developing task-based English-language programs for their employees. After conducting an online self-assessment questionnaire comprised of 45 job-related tasks, we analyzed responses received from 3,000 Japanese company employees and developed a checklist that considered three areas: (i) the percentage of those who need to accomplish English-language tasks in their workplace (need for English), (ii) a five-point self-assessment score (task performance level), and (iii) the impact of previous task experience on perceived performance (experience factor). The 45 tasks were graded according to five proficiency levels. Our results helped us to create a core guideline that may assist companies in two ways: first, in helping determine which tasks employees with a certain English proficiency should be able to satisfactorily carry out, and secondly, to quickly prioritize which business-related English skills they would need in future English language programs.

Keywords: business settings, can-do statements, English language training programs, self-assessment, task experience

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Kyria Rebeca Finardi

Abstract:

The study discusses the role of foreign languages in general and of English in particular in the process of internationalization of higher education (IHE), defined as the intentional integration of an international, intercultural or global dimension in the purpose, function or offer of higher education. The study is bibliographical and offers a brief outline of the current political, economic and educational scenarios in Brazil, before discussing some possibilities and challenges for the development of multilingualism and IHE there. The theoretical background includes a review of Brazilian language and internationalization policies. The review and discussion concludes that the use of the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach and the Intercomprehension approach to foreign language teaching/learning are relevant alternatives to foster multilingualism in that context.

Keywords: Brazil, higher education, internationalization, multilingualism

Procedia PDF Downloads 158

Authors: Ahmed Chouari

Abstract:

Although research methods has been an integral part of the curriculum in Moroccan higher education for decades, it seems that the research methods teaching pedagogy that teachers use suffers from a serious absence of a body of literature in the field. Also, the various challenges that both teachers and students of research methods face have received little interest by researchers in comparison to other fields such as applied linguistics. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to remedy to this situation by exploring one of the major issues in teaching research methods – that is, the phenomenon of students’ dissatisfaction with the research methods course in higher education in Morocco. The aim is also to understand students’ attitudes and perceptions on how to make the research methods course more effective in the future. Three qualitative research questions were used: (1) To what extent are graduate students satisfied with the pedagogies used by the teachers of the research methods course in Moroccan higher education? (2) To what extent are graduate students satisfied with the approach used in assessing research methods in Moroccan higher education? (3) What are students’ perceptions on how to make the research methods course more effective in Moroccan higher education? In this study, a qualitative content analysis was adopted to analyze students’ views and perspectives about the major factors behind their dissatisfaction with the course at the School of Arts and Humanities – University of Moulay Ismail. A semi-structured interview was used to collect data from 14 respondents from two different Master programs. The results show that there is a general consensus among the respondents about the major factors behind the ineffectiveness of the course. These factors include theory-practice gap, heavy reliance on theoretical knowledge at the expense of procedural knowledge, and ineffectiveness of some teachers. The findings also reveal that teaching research methods in Morocco requires more time, better equipment, and more competent teachers. Above all, the findings indicate that today there is an urgent need in Morocco to shift from teacher-centered approaches to learner-centered approaches in teaching the research methods course. These findings, thus, contribute to the existing literature by unraveling the factors that impede the learning process, and by suggesting a set of strategies that can make course more effective.

Keywords: competencies, learner-centered teaching, research methods, student autonomy, pedagogy

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Nada Alghali

Abstract:

Translanguaging pedagogy suggests a new perspective in language education relating to multilingualism; multilingual learners have one linguistic repertoire and not two or more separate language systems (García and Wei, 2014). When learners translanguage, they are able to draw on all their language features in a flexible and integrated way (Otheguy, García, & Reid, 2015). In the Foreign Language Classroom, however, the tendency to use the target language only is still advocated as a pedagogy. This study attempts to enable learners in the English as a foreign language classroom to draw on their full linguistic repertoire through collaborative reading lessons. In observations prior to this study, in a classroom where English only policy prevails, learners still used their first language in group discussions yet were constrained at times by the teacher’s language policies. Through strategically enabling translanguaging in reading lessons (Celic and Seltzer, 2011), this study has revealed that learners showed creative ways of language use for learning and reflected positively on thisexperience. This case study enabled two groups in two different proficiency level classrooms who are learning English as a foreign language in their first year at University in Saudi Arabia. Learners in the two groups wereobserved over six weeks and wereasked to reflect their learning every week. The same learners were also interviewed at the end of translanguaging weeks after completing a modified model of the learning reflection (Ash and Clayton, 2009). This study positions translanguaging as collaborative and agentive within a sociocultural framework of learning, positioning translanguaging as a resource for learning as well as a process of learning. Translanguaging learning episodes are elicited from classroom observations, artefacts, interviews, reflections, and focus groups, where they are analysed qualitatively following the sociocultural discourse analysis (Fairclough &Wodak, 1997; Mercer, 2004). Initial outcomes suggest functions of translanguaging in collaborative reading tasks and recommendations for a collaborative translanguaging pedagogy approach in the EFL classroom.

Keywords: translanguaging, EFL, sociocultural theory, discourse analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Asem Bani Amer

Abstract:

This study handles the linguistic fingerprint in judicial applications described in a law technicality that is recent and developing. It can be adopted to discover criminals by identifying their way of speaking and their special linguistic expressions. This is achieved by understanding the expression "linguistic fingerprint," its concept, and its extended domain, then revealing some of the linguistic fingerprint tools in Western judicial applications and deducing a technical imagination for a linguistic fingerprint in the Arabic language, which is needy for such judicial applications regarding this field, through dictionaries, language rhythm, and language structure.

Keywords: linguistic fingerprint, judicial, application, dictionary, picture, rhythm, structure

Procedia PDF Downloads 86

Authors: Joseph Bentil

Abstract:

Successful acquisition of 21st-century competencies needed by students to navigate through the ever-changing world requires that they are taught and molded by 21st-century teachers with the needed professional competencies. Accordingly, this study sought to understand the readiness and how efficacious pre-service Social Studies specialism students are towards the implementation of the Common Core Social Studies Curriculum in the Junior High Schools in Ghana. Theory of Experience served as the theoretical lens for the study. Working within the pragmatist paradigm, this study utilized the cross-sectional descriptive survey design with a mixed method approach where, through census sampling technique, all the 120 pre-service Social Studies specialism students were sampled for the study. A structured questionnaire and an interview guide were the instruments employed for data collection. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics like independent samples t-test, one-way between groups ANOVA and Pearson Product Moment Correlation) were employed in the analysis the research questions and hypotheses with the aid of version 28 of SPSS while the qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings discovered that pre-service Social Studies teachers were highly ready and efficacious towards implementing the Common Core Junior High School Social Studies curriculum. However, male pre-service teachers were highly efficacious and ready than their female counterparts. Besides, it was disclosed that pre-service teachers within the 31-40 years age bracket were found to be highly efficacious and ready than their colleagues with 20-30 and below 20 years age bracket respectively. The findings further revealed that there was a moderate and statistically significant positive relationship between pre-service teachers’ readiness and efficacy in implementing the Common Core Social Studies curriculum. Therefore, the study recommended that interventional programmes aimed at raising the readiness and efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers should be targeted towards female preservice teachers and those below 20 years age bracket for successful implementation and realization of the competencies enshrined in the common core social Studies curriculum.

Keywords: pre-service, readiness, social studies, teachers

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Wala A. Bagunaid, Maram Meccawy, Arwa Allinjawi, Zilal Meccawy

Abstract:

Continuous self-assessment becomes crucial in self-paced online learning environments. Students often depend on themselves to assess their progress; which is considered an essential requirement for any successful learning process. Today’s education institutions face major problems around student motivation and engagement. Thus, personalized e-learning systems aim to help and guide the students. Gamification provides an opportunity to help students for self-assessment and social comparison with other students through attempting to harness the motivational power of games and apply it to the learning environment. Furthermore, Open Social Student Modeling (OSSM) as considered as the latest user modeling technologies is believed to improve students’ self-assessment and to allow them to social comparison with other students. This research integrates OSSM approach and gamification concepts in order to provide self-assessment for English language learners at King Abdulaziz University (KAU). This is achieved through an interactive visual representation of their learning progress.

Keywords: e-learning system, gamification, motivation, social comparison, visualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 156