Search results for: application of psychology to language teaching
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 14088

Search results for: application of psychology to language teaching

12768 Implementation of a Serializer to Represent PHP Objects in the Extensible Markup Language

Authors: Lidia N. Hernández-Piña, Carlos R. Jaimez-González

Abstract:

Interoperability in distributed systems is an important feature that refers to the communication of two applications written in different programming languages. This paper presents a serializer and a de-serializer of PHP objects to and from XML, which is an independent library written in the PHP programming language. The XML generated by this serializer is independent of the programming language, and can be used by other existing Web Objects in XML (WOX) serializers and de-serializers, which allow interoperability with other object-oriented programming languages.

Keywords: interoperability, PHP object serialization, PHP to XML, web objects in XML, WOX

Procedia PDF Downloads 221
12767 Teaching English for Specific Purposes to Business Students through Social Media

Authors: Candela Contero Urgal

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Using realia to teach English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a must, as it is thought to be designed to meet the students’ real needs in their professional life. Teachers are then expected to offer authentic materials and set students in authentic contexts where their learning outcomes can be highly meaningful. One way of engaging students is using social networks as a way to bridge the gap between their everyday life and their ESP learning outcomes. It is in ESP, particularly in Business English teaching, that our study focuses, as the ongoing process of digitalization is leading firms to use social media to communicate with potential clients. The present paper is aimed at carrying out a case study in which different digital tools are employed as a way to offer a collection of formats businesses are currently using so as to internationalize and advertise their products and services. A secondary objective of our study will then be to progress on the development of multidisciplinary competencies students are to acquire during their degree. A two-phased study will be presented. The first phase will cover the analysis of course tasks accomplished by undergraduate students at the University of Cadiz (Spain) in their third year of the Degree in Business Management and Administration by comparing the results obtained during the years 2019 to 2021. The second part of our study will present a survey conducted to these students in 2021 and 2022 so as to verify their interest in learning new ways to digitalize as well as internationalize their future businesses. Findings will confirm students’ interest in working with updated realia in their Business English lessons, as a consequence of their strong belief in the necessity to have authentic contexts and didactic resources. Despite the limitations social media can have as a means to teach business English, students will still find it highly beneficial since it will foster their familiarisation with the digital tools they will need to use when they get to the labour market.

Keywords: English for specific purposes, business English, internationalization of higher education, foreign language teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 99
12766 Bangladeshi English Teachers’ Understanding of Teacher Autonomy

Authors: Rubaiyat Jahan

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This paper reports some findings of a study on the issues related to teacher autonomy in the Bangladeshi school contexts, and data of this research was collected from fourteen practicing English teachers of Bangladesh through semi structured interviews. The theoretical underpinning of teacher autonomy, on an apparent note, focuses on the behavioral aspects of teacher autonomy hence emphasizing mostly on the teachers’ capacity for self-directed acts of teaching and self-directed acts of professional development. Yet, a contemporary literature survey of teacher autonomy seems to be concerned more on the political interpretations of teacher autonomy. Thus, autonomous teachers are expected to generate their personal theories of teaching from their practices. The idea of personal theories of practice upholds the view that along with the teaching, teachers need to engage themselves in various classroom based research with a view to theorising from their practices. The findings of this research indicate enormous evidence of behavioral aspects of teacher autonomy. As the data of this research suggests, the participant teachers’ understanding of classroom situations, their reflections on the situational realities and opting for classroom decisions on the basis of those realizations are some good examples of teacher autonomy. Also, a few teachers’ stated teaching practices seem to reflect, though in a subtle way, their effort of outlining context embedded personal theories of teaching. This paper has got one significant pedagogical implication for the teacher education. Any teacher education must promote the conditions and capabilities for the present and prospective teachers for the role of theorisers in addition to develop their professional, procedural, and personal knowledge base.

Keywords: personal theories of practice, self-directed acts of professional development, self-directed acts of teaching, teacher autonomy

Procedia PDF Downloads 327
12765 The Place of Instructional Materials in Quality Education at Primary School Level in Katsina State, Nigeria

Authors: Murtala Sale

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The use of instructional materials is an indispensable tool that enhances qualitative teaching and learning especially at the primary level. Instructional materials are used to facilitate comprehension of ideas in the learners as well as ensure long term retention of ideas and topics taught to pupils. This study examined the relevance of using instructional materials in primary schools in Katsina State, Nigeria. It employed survey design using cluster sampling technique. The questionnaire was used to gather data for analysis, and statistical and frequency tables were used to analyze the data gathered. The results show that teachers and students alike have realized the effectiveness of modern instructional materials in teaching and learning for the attainment of set objectives in the basic primary education policy. It also discovered that reluctance in the use of instructional materials will hamper the achievement of qualitative primary education. The study therefore suggests that there should be the provision of adequate and up-to-date instructional materials to all primary schools in Katsina State for effective teaching and learning process.

Keywords: instructional materials, effective teaching, learning quality, indispensable aspect

Procedia PDF Downloads 239
12764 Model-Viewer for Setting Interactive 3D Objects of Electronic Devices and Systems

Authors: Julio Brégains, Ángel Carro, José-Manuel Andión

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Virtual 3D objects constitute invaluable tools for teaching practical engineering subjects at all -from basic to advanced- educational levels. For instance, they can be equipped with animation or informative labels, manipulated by mouse movements, and even be immersed in a real environment through augmented reality. In this paper, we present the investigation and description of a set of applications prepared for creating, editing, and making use of interactive 3D models to represent electric and electronic devices and systems. Several examples designed with the described tools are exhibited, mainly to show their capabilities as educational technological aids, applicable not only to the field of electricity and electronics but also to a much wider range of technical areas.

Keywords: educational technology, Google model viewer, ICT educational tools, interactive teaching, new tools for teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 60
12763 A Scalable Model of Fair Socioeconomic Relations Based on Blockchain and Machine Learning Algorithms-1: On Hyperinteraction and Intuition

Authors: Merey M. Sarsengeldin, Alexandr S. Kolokhmatov, Galiya Seidaliyeva, Alexandr Ozerov, Sanim T. Imatayeva

Abstract:

This series of interdisciplinary studies is an attempt to investigate and develop a scalable model of fair socioeconomic relations on the base of blockchain using positive psychology techniques and Machine Learning algorithms for data analytics. In this particular study, we use hyperinteraction approach and intuition to investigate their influence on 'wisdom of crowds' via created mobile application which was created for the purpose of this research. Along with the public blockchain and private Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) which were elaborated by us on the base of Ethereum blockchain, a model of fair financial relations of members of DAO was developed. We developed a smart contract, so-called, Fair Price Protocol and use it for implementation of model. The data obtained from mobile application was analyzed by ML algorithms. A model was tested on football matches.

Keywords: blockchain, Naïve Bayes algorithm, hyperinteraction, intuition, wisdom of crowd, decentralized autonomous organization

Procedia PDF Downloads 159
12762 Barriers and Opportunities in Apprenticeship Training: How to Complete a Vocational Upper Secondary Qualification with Intermediate Finnish Language Skills

Authors: Inkeri Jaaskelainen

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The aim of this study is to shed light on what is it like to study in apprenticeship training using intermediate (or even lower level) Finnish. The aim is to find out and describe these students' experiences and feelings while acquiring a profession in Finnish as it is important to understand how immigrant background adult learners learn and how their needs could be better taken into account. Many students choose apprenticeships and start vocational training while their language skills in Finnish are still very weak. At work, students should be able to simultaneously learn Finnish and do vocational studies in a noisy, demanding, and stressful environment. Learning and understanding new things is very challenging under these circumstances, and sometimes students get exhausted and experience a lot of stress - which makes learning even more difficult. Students are different from each other, and so are their ways to learn. Both duties at work and school assignments require reasonably good general language skills, and, especially at work, language skills are also a safety issue. The empirical target of this study is a group of students with an immigrant background who studied in various fields with intensive L2 support in 2016–2018 and who by now have completed a vocational upper secondary qualification. The interview material for this narrative study was collected from those who completed apprenticeship training in 2019–2020. The data collection methods used are a structured thematic interview, a questionnaire, and observational data. Interviewees with an immigrant background have an inconsistent cultural and educational background - some have completed an academic degree in their country of origin while others have learned to read and write only in Finland. The analysis of the material utilizes thematic analysis, which is used to examine learning and related experiences. Learning a language at work is very different from traditional classroom teaching. With evolving language skills, at an intermediate level at best, rushing and stressing makes it even more difficult to understand and increases the fear of failure. Constant noise, rapidly changing situations, and uncertainty undermine the learning and well-being of apprentices. According to preliminary results, apprenticeship training is well suited to the needs of an adult immigrant student. In apprenticeship training, students need a lot of support for learning and understanding a new communication and working culture. Stress can result in, e.g., fatigue, frustration, and difficulties in remembering and understanding. Apprenticeship training can be seen as a good path to working life. However, L2 support is a very important part of apprenticeship training, and it indeed helps students to believe that one day they will graduate and even get employed in their new country.

Keywords: apprenticeship training, vocational basic degree, Finnish learning, wee-being

Procedia PDF Downloads 124
12761 The Teaching and Learning Process and Information and Communication Technologies from the Remote Perspective

Authors: Rosiris Maturo Domingues, Patricia Luissa Masmo, Cibele Cavalheiro Neves, Juliana Dalla Martha Rodriguez

Abstract:

This article reports the experience of the pedagogical consultants responsible for the curriculum development of Senac São Paulo courses when facing the emergency need to maintain the pedagogical process in their schools in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The urgent adjustment to distance education resulted in the improvement of the process and the adoption of new teaching and learning strategies mediated by technologies. The processes for preparing and providing guidelines for professional education courses were also readjusted. Thus, a bank of teaching-learning strategies linked to digital resources was developed, categorized, and identified by their didactic-pedagogical potential, having as an intersection didactic planning based on learning objectives based on Bloom's taxonomy (revised), given its convergence with the competency approach adopted by Senac. Methodologically, a relationship was established between connectivity and digital networks and digital evolution in school environments, culminating in new paradigms and processes of educational communication and new trends in teaching and learning. As a result, teachers adhered to the use of digital tools in their practices, transposing face-to-face classroom methodologies and practices to online media, whose criticism was the use of ICTs in an instrumental way, reducing methodologies and practices to teaching only transmissive. There was recognition of the insertion of technology as a facilitator of the educational process in a non-palliative way and the development of a web curriculum, now and fully, carried out in contexts of ubiquity.

Keywords: technologies, education, teaching-learning strategies, Bloom taxonomy

Procedia PDF Downloads 70
12760 E Learning/Teaching and the Impact on Student Performance at the Postgraduate Level

Authors: Charles Lemckert

Abstract:

E-Learning and E-Teaching can mean many things to different people. For some, the implication is that all material must be delivered in an E way, while for others it only forms part of the learning/teaching process, and (unfortunately) for some it is considered too much work. However, just look around and you will see all generations learning using E devices. In this study we used different forms of teaching, including E, to look at how students responded to set activities and how they performed academically. The particular context was set around a postgraduate university course where students were either present at a face-to-face intensive workshop (on water treatment plant design) or where they were not. For the latter, students needed to make sole use of E media. It is relevant to note that even though some were at the face-to-face class, they were still exposed to E material as the lecturer did use PC projections. Additionally, some also accessed the associate E material (pdf slides and video recordings) to assist their required activities. Analysis of the student performance, in their set assignment, showed that the actual form of delivery did not affect the student performance. This is because, in the end, all the students had access to the recorded/presented E material. The study also showed (somewhat expectedly) that when the material they required for the assignment was clear, the student performance did drop. Therefore, it is possible to enhance future delivery of courses through careful reflection and appropriate support. In the end, we must remember innovation is not just restricted to E.

Keywords: postgraduate, engineering, assignment, perforamance

Procedia PDF Downloads 320
12759 Strategies for Incorporating Intercultural Intelligence into Higher Education

Authors: Hyoshin Kim

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Most post-secondary educational institutions have offered a wide variety of professional development programs and resources in order to advance the quality of education. Such programs are designed to support faculty members by focusing on topics such as course design, behavioral learning objectives, class discussion, and evaluation methods. These are based on good intentions and might help both new and experienced educators. However, the fundamental flaw is that these ‘effective methods’ are assumed to work regardless of what we teach and whom we teach. This paper is focused on intercultural intelligence and its application to education. It presents a comprehensive literature review on context and cultural diversity in terms of beliefs, values and worldviews. What has worked well with a group of homogeneous local students may not work well with more diverse and international students. It is because students hold different notions of what is means to learn or know something. It is necessary for educators to move away from certain sets of generic teaching skills, which are based on a limited, particular view of teaching and learning. The main objective of the research is to expand our teaching strategies by incorporating what students bring to the course. There have been a growing number of resources and texts on teaching international students. Unfortunately, they tend to be based on the deficiency model, which treats diversity not as strengths, but as problems to be solved. This view is evidenced by the heavy emphasis on assimilationist approaches. For example, cultural difference is negatively evaluated, either implicitly or explicitly. Therefore the pressure is on culturally diverse students. The following questions reflect the underlying assumption of deficiencies: - How can we make them learn better? - How can we bring them into the mainstream academic culture?; and - How can they adapt to Western educational systems? Even though these questions may be well-intended, there seems to be something fundamentally wrong as the assumption of cultural superiority is embedded in this kind of thinking. This paper examines how educators can incorporate intercultural intelligence into the course design by utilizing a variety of tools such as pre-course activities, peer learning and reflective learning journals. The main goal is to explore ways to engage diverse learners in all aspects of learning. This can be achieved by activities designed to understand their prior knowledge, life experiences, and relevant cultural identities. It is crucial to link course material to students’ diverse interests thereby enhancing the relevance of course content and making learning more inclusive. Internationalization of higher education can be successful only when cultural differences are respected and celebrated as essential and positive aspects of teaching and learning.

Keywords: intercultural competence, intercultural intelligence, teaching and learning, post-secondary education

Procedia PDF Downloads 203
12758 Mobile Phones and Language Learning: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis of Studies Published between 2008 and 2012 in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Mobile Learning

Authors: Lucia Silveira Alda

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This research aims to analyze critically a set of studies published in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Mobile Learning of IADIS, from 2008 until 2012, which addresses the issue of foreign language learning mediated by mobile phones. The theoretical review of this study is based on the Vygotskian assumptions about tools and mediated learning and the concepts of mobile learning, CALL and MALL. In addition, the diffusion rates of the mobile phone and especially its potential are considered. Through systematic review and meta-analysis, this research intended to identify similarities and differences between the identified characteristics in the studies on the subject of language learning and mobile phone. From the analysis of the results, this study verifies that the mobile phone stands out for its mobility and portability. Furthermore, this device presented positive aspects towards student motivation in language learning. The studies were favorable to mobile phone use for learning. It was also found that the challenges in using this tool are not technical, but didactic and methodological, including the need to reflect on practical proposals. The findings of this study may direct further research in the area of language learning mediated by mobile phones.

Keywords: language learning, mobile learning, mobile phones, technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 276
12757 Utilization of Secure Wireless Networks as Environment for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

Authors: Mohammed A. M. Ibrahim

Abstract:

This paper investigate the utilization of wire and wireless networks to be platform for distributed educational monitoring system. Universities in developing countries suffer from a lot of shortages(staff, equipment, and finical budget) and optimal utilization of the wire and wireless network, so universities can mitigate some of the mentioned problems and avoid the problems that maybe humble the education processes in many universities by using our implementation of the examinations system as a test-bed to utilize the network as a solution to the shortages for academic staff in Taiz University. This paper selects a two areas first one quizzes activities is only a test bed application for wireless network learning environment system to be distributed among students. Second area is the features and the security of wireless, our tested application implemented in a promising area which is the use of WLAN in higher education for leering environment.

Keywords: networking wire and wireless technology, wireless network security, distributed computing, algorithm, encryption and decryption

Procedia PDF Downloads 327
12756 Hybrid Incentives for Excellent Abroad Students Study for High Education Degrees

Authors: L. Sun, C. Hardacre, A. Garforth, N. Zhang

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Higher Education (HE) degrees in the UK are attractive for international students. The recognized reputation of the HE and the world-leading researchers in some areas in the UK imply that the HE degree from the UK might be a passport to a successful career for abroad students. However, it is a challenge to inspire outstanding students applying for the universities in the UK. The incentives should be country-specific for undergraduates and postgraduates. The potential obstacles to stop students applying for the study in the UK mainly lie in these aspects: different HE systems between the UK and other countries, such as China; less information for the application procedures; worries for the study in English for those non-native speakers; and expensive international tuition fees. The hybrid incentives have been proposed by the efforts from the institutions, stuffs, and students themselves. For example, excellent students from top universities would join us based on the abroad exchange programs or ‘2+2 programme’ with discount tuition. They are potential PhD candidates in the further study in the UK. Diversity promotions are implemented to share information and answer queries for potential students and their guardians. Face to face presentations, workshops, and seminars deliver chances for students to admire teaching and learning in the UK, and give students direct answers for their confusions. WeChat official account and Twitter as the online information platform are set up to post messages of recruitment, the guidance for the application procedures, and international collaboration in teaching and research as well. Students who are studying in the UK and the alumni would share their experiences in the study and lives in the UK and their careers after obtaining the HE degree would play as a positive stimulus to our potential students. Short term modules in the UK with exchangeable credits in summer holidays would give abroad students firsthand experiences of the study in the reputable schools with excellent academics, different cultures and the network with international students. Successful cases at the University of Manchester illustrated the effectiveness of these presented methodologies.

Keywords: abroad students, degree study, high education, hybrid incentives

Procedia PDF Downloads 157
12755 Benchmarking Bert-Based Low-Resource Language: Case Uzbek NLP Models

Authors: Jamshid Qodirov, Sirojiddin Komolov, Ravilov Mirahmad, Olimjon Mirzayev

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Nowadays, natural language processing tools play a crucial role in our daily lives, including various techniques with text processing. There are very advanced models in modern languages, such as English, Russian etc. But, in some languages, such as Uzbek, the NLP models have been developed recently. Thus, there are only a few NLP models in Uzbek language. Moreover, there is no such work that could show which Uzbek NLP model behaves in different situations and when to use them. This work tries to close this gap and compares the Uzbek NLP models existing as of the time this article was written. The authors try to compare the NLP models in two different scenarios: sentiment analysis and sentence similarity, which are the implementations of the two most common problems in the industry: classification and similarity. Another outcome from this work is two datasets for classification and sentence similarity in Uzbek language that we generated ourselves and can be useful in both industry and academia as well.

Keywords: NLP, benchmak, bert, vectorization

Procedia PDF Downloads 41
12754 Introducing Standardized Nursing Language in Reporting Nursing Care in Resource-Limited Care Environments: An Exploratory Study

Authors: Naomi Mutea, Jossete Jones

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The project aimed at exploring the views and perceptions of nurse leaders and educators regarding use of International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) in an informal approach which involved face to face discussions, after which a decision would be made on whether to proceed and propose introduction of ICNP project in Kenya as a pilot project which would mean all nurses would use a standard approach to reporting and documenting nursing care. In addition the project was to determine the best approaches/methods that can be used to introduce ICNP in the Kenyan nursing education and practice environment using the findings of the pilot project. Further four cardex reports were reviewed to establish if nurses on the bedside used a standardized language in documenting and reporting care processes. The cardex reports showed that nurses do not use ICNP or any other standardized language. The results of the discussions revealed that this would be a challenge due to several challenges experienced in conducting nursing research in resource-limited environments. The following questions were asked during the informal discussions with the educators/leaders: •What is currently being taught in terms of standardized nursing language? •Are you familiar with ICNP? •Do you view it advantageous to have a standardized language? •What is the greatest need at the moment in terms of curriculum development for BSN regarding use of standardized nursing language? •If you had a wish to change something in your curriculum, what would that be?

Keywords: nursing, standardized language, ICNP, resource-limited care environments

Procedia PDF Downloads 409
12753 The Impact of Professional Development in the Area of Technology Enhanced Learning on Higher Education Teaching Practices Across Atlantic Technological University – Research Methodology and Preliminary Findings

Authors: Annette Cosgrove

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The objectives of this research study is to examine the impact of professional development in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and the digitisation of learning in teaching communities across multiple higher education sites in the ATU (Atlantic Technological University *) ( 2020-2025), including the proposal of an evidence based digital teaching model for use in a future pandemic. The research strategy undertaken for this PhD Study is a multi-site study using mixed methods. Qualitative & quantitative methods are being used in the study to collect data. A pilot study was carried out initially , feedback collected and the research instrument was edited to reflect this feedback, before being administered. The purpose of the staff questionnaire is to evaluate the impact of professional development in the area of TEL, and to capture the practitioners views on the perceived impact on their teaching practice in the higher education sector across ATU (West of Ireland – 5 Higher education locations ). The phenomenon being explored is ‘ the impact of professional development in the area of technology enhanced learning and on teaching practice in a higher education institution.’ The research methodology chosen for this study is an Action based Research Study. The researcher has chosen this approach as it is a prime strategy for developing educational theory and enhancing educational practice . This study includes quantitative and qualitative methods to elicit data which will quantify the impact that continuous professional development in the area of digital teaching practice and technologies has on the practitioner’s teaching practice in higher education. The research instruments / data collection tools for this study include a lecturer survey with a targeted TEL Practice group ( Pre and post covid experience) and semi-structured interviews with lecturers.. This research is currently being conducted across the ATU multisite campus and targeting Higher education lecturers that have completed formal CPD in the area of digital teaching. ATU, a west of Ireland university is the focus of the study , The research questionnaire has been deployed, with 75 respondents to date across the ATU - the primary questionnaire and semi- formal interviews are ongoing currently – the purpose being to evaluate the impact of formal professional development in the area of TEL and its perceived impact on the practitioners teaching practice in the area of digital teaching and learning . This paper will present initial findings, reflections and data from this ongoing research study.

Keywords: TEL, DTL, digital teaching, digital assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 53
12752 Analogical Reasoning on Preschoolers’ Linguistic Performance

Authors: Yenie Norambuena

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Analogical reasoning is a cognitive process that consists of structured comparisons of mental representations and scheme construction. Because of its heuristic function, it is ubiquitous in cognition and could play an important role in language development. The use of analogies is expressed early in children and this behavior is also reflected in language, suggesting a possible way to understand the complex links between thought and language. The current research examines factors of verbal and non-verbal reasoning that should be taken into consideration in the study of language development for their relations and predictive value. The study was conducted with 48 Chilean preschoolers (Spanish speakers) from 4 to 6-year-old. We assessed children’s verbal analogical reasoning, non-verbal analogical reasoning and linguistics skills (Listening Comprehension, Phonemic awareness, Alphabetic principle, Syllabification, Lexical repetition and Lexical decision). The results evidenced significant correlations between analogical reasoning factors and linguistic skills and they can predict linguistic performance mainly on oral comprehension, lexical decision and phonological skills. These findings suggest a fundamental interrelationship between analogical reasoning and linguistic performance on children’s and points to the need to consider this cognitive process in comprehensive theories of children's language development.

Keywords: verbal analogical reasoning, non-verbal analogical reasoning, linguistic skills, language development

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12751 Porul: Option Generation and Selection and Scoring Algorithms for a Tamil Flash Card Game

Authors: Anitha Narasimhan, Aarthy Anandan, Madhan Karky, C. N. Subalalitha

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Games can be the excellent tools for teaching a language. There are few e-learning games in Indian languages like word scrabble, cross word, quiz games etc., which were developed mainly for educational purposes. This paper proposes a Tamil word game called, “Porul”, which focuses on education as well as on players’ thinking and decision-making skills. Porul is a multiple choice based quiz game, in which the players attempt to answer questions correctly from the given multiple options that are generated using a unique algorithm called the Option Selection algorithm which explores the semantics of the question in various dimensions namely, synonym, rhyme and Universal Networking Language semantic category. This kind of semantic exploration of the question not only increases the complexity of the game but also makes it more interesting. The paper also proposes a Scoring Algorithm which allots a score based on the popularity score of the question word. The proposed game has been tested using 20,000 Tamil words.

Keywords: Porul game, Tamil word game, option selection, flash card, scoring, algorithm

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12750 Examining the Usefulness of an ESP Textbook for Information Technology: Learner Perspectives

Authors: Yun-Husan Huang

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Many English for Specific Purposes (ESP) textbooks are distributed globally as the content development is often obliged to compromises between commercial and pedagogical demands. Therefore, the issue of regional application and usefulness of globally published ESP textbooks has received much debate. For ESP instructors, textbook selection is definitely a priority consideration for curriculum design. An appropriate ESP textbook can facilitate teaching and learning, while an inappropriate one may cause a disaster for both teachers and students. This study aims to investigate the regional application and usefulness of an ESP textbook for information technology (IT). Participants were 51 sophomores majoring in Applied Informatics and Multimedia at a university in Taiwan. As they were non-English majors, their English proficiency was mostly at elementary and elementary-to-intermediate levels. This course was offered for two semesters. The textbook selected was Oxford English for Information Technology. At class end, the students were required to complete a survey comprising five choices of Very Easy, Easy, Neutral, Difficult, and Very Difficult for each item. Based on the content design of the textbook, the survey investigated how the students viewed the difficulty of grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials of the textbook. In terms of difficulty, results reveal that only 22% of them found the grammar section difficult and very difficult. For listening, 71% responded difficult and very difficult. For general reading, 55% responded difficult and very difficult. For speaking, 56% responded difficult and very difficult. For writing, 78% responded difficult and very difficult. For advanced reading, 90% reported difficult and very difficult. These results indicate that, except the grammar section, more than half of the students found the textbook contents difficult in terms of listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials. Such contradictory results between the easy grammar section and the difficult four language skills sections imply that the textbook designers do not well understand the English learning background of regional ESP learners. For the participants, the learning contents of the grammar section were the general grammar level of junior high school, while the learning contents of the four language skills sections were more of the levels of college English majors. Implications from the findings are obtained for instructors and textbook designers. First of all, existing ESP textbooks for IT are few and thus textbook selections for instructors are insufficient. Second, existing globally published textbooks for IT cannot be applied to learners of all English proficiency levels, especially the low level. With limited textbook selections, third, instructors should modify the selected textbook contents or supplement extra ESP materials to meet the proficiency level of target learners. Fourth, local ESP publishers should collaborate with local ESP instructors who understand best the learning background of their students in order to develop appropriate ESP textbooks for local learners. Even though the instructor reduced learning contents and simplified tests in curriculum design, in conclusion, the students still found difficult. This implies that in addition to the instructor’s professional experience, there is a need to understand the usefulness of the textbook from learner perspectives.

Keywords: ESP textbooks, ESP materials, ESP textbook design, learner perspectives on ESP textbooks

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12749 Developing an Instrument to Measure Teachers’ Self-Efficacy of Teaching Innovation Skills

Authors: Huda S. Al-Azmi

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There is a growing consensus that adoption of teachers’ self-efficacy measurement tools help to assess teachers’ abilities in specific areas in order to improve their skills. As a result, different instruments to assess teachers’ ability were developed by academics and practitioners. However, many of these instruments focused either on general teaching skills, or on the other hand, were very specific to one subject. As such, these instruments do not offer a tool to measure the ability of teachers in teaching 21st century skills such as innovation skills. Teaching innovation skills helps to prepare students for lives and careers in the 21st century. The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument measuring teachers’ self-efficacy of teaching innovation skills related to the classroom context and evaluating the teachers’ beliefs regarding their ability in teaching innovation skills. To reach this goal, the 16-item instrument measures four dimensions of innovation skills: creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. 211 secondary-school teachers filled out the survey to quantitatively analyze the quality of the instrument. The instrument’s reliability and item analysis were measured by using jMetrik. The results concluded that the mean of self-efficacy ranged from 3 to 3.6 without extreme high or low self-efficacy scores. The discrimination analysis revealed that one item recorded a negative correlation with the total, and three items recorded low correlation with the total. The reliabilities of items ranged from 0.64 to 0.69 and the instrument needed a couple of revisions before practical use. The study concluded the need to discard one item and revise five items to increase the quality of the instrument for future work.

Keywords: critical thinking, collaboration, innovation skills, self-efficacy

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12748 Survey-Based Pilot Investigation to Establish Meaningful Education Links in the Gambia

Authors: Miriam Fahmy, Shalini Fernando

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Educational links between teaching hospitals and universities can provide visits with great impact for both sides. As a visitor, one is responsible for the content, respecting current practice while offering guidance from a completely different perspective. There is little documented guidance for establishing links with universities in developing countries and providing meaningful teaching and exchange programmes. An initial contact retrieved one response with regards to written curriculum. The otolaryngology department from a Swansea teaching hospital visited a university in the Gambia. A consultant and clinical fellow visited with medical students to deliver lectures, clinical skills and informal teaching such as bedside and small group teaching. Students who had participated in teaching provided by the visiting university were asked to give feedback. This information was collated and used to evaluate the impact, and to guide future visits, including thinking of establishing a curriculum tailored to the West Africa region. The students felt they gained the most from informal sessions such as bedside teaching and felt that more practical experience on real patients and pathology would be most beneficial to them. Given that internet is poor, they also suggested a video library for their reference. Many of them look forward to visiting Swansea and are interested in the differences in practice and technologies. The findings are limited to little previous literature and student feedback. Student feedback sparked further questions and careful contemplation. There is great scope for introducing a range of teaching resources but it is important to avoid assumptions and imposition of a western curriculum and education system, a larger sample is needed with input from lecturers and curriculum writers in leading universities. In conclusion, more literature and guidance needs to be established for future visitors contemplating an educational link.

Keywords: education, impact, West Africa, university links

Procedia PDF Downloads 143
12747 Applying the CA Systems in Education Process

Authors: A. Javorova, M. Matusova, K. Velisek

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The article summarizes the experience of laboratory technical subjects teaching methodologies using a number of software products. The main aim is to modernize the teaching process in accordance with the requirements of today - based on information technology. Increasing of the study attractiveness and effectiveness is due to the introduction of CA technologies in the learning process. This paper discussed the areas where individual CA system used. Environment using CA systems are briefly presented in each chapter.

Keywords: education, CA systems, simulation, technology

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12746 (Re)connecting to the Spirit of the Language: Decolonizing from Eurocentric Indigenous Language Revitalization Methodologies

Authors: Lana Whiskeyjack, Kyle Napier

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The Spirit of the language embodies the motivation for indigenous people to connect with the indigenous language of their lineage. While the concept of the spirit of the language is often woven into the discussion by indigenous language revitalizationists, particularly those who are indigenous, there are few tangible terms in academic research conceptually actualizing the term. Through collaborative work with indigenous language speakers, elders, and learners, this research sets out to identify the spirit of the language, the catalysts of disconnection from the spirit of the language, and the sources of reconnection to the spirit of the language. This work fundamentally addresses the terms of engagement around collaboration with indigenous communities, itself inviting a decolonial approach to community outreach and individual relationships. As indigenous researchers, this means beginning, maintain, and closing this work in the ceremony while being transparent with community members in this work and related publishing throughout the project’s duration. Decolonizing this approach also requires maintaining explicit ongoing consent by the elders, knowledge keepers, and community members when handling their ancestral and indigenous knowledge. The handling of this knowledge is regarded in this work as stewardship, both in the handling of digital materials and the handling of ancestral Indigenous knowledge. This work observes recorded conversations in both nêhiyawêwin and English, resulting from 10 semi-structured interviews with fluent nêhiyawêwin speakers as well as three structured dialogue circles with fluent and emerging speakers. The words were transcribed by a speaker fluent in both nêhiyawêwin and English. The results of those interviews were categorized thematically to conceptually actualize the spirit of the language, catalysts of disconnection to thespirit of the language, and community voices methods of reconnection to the spirit of the language. Results of these interviews vastly determine that the spirit of the language is drawn from the land. Although nêhiyawêwin is the focus of this work, Indigenous languages are by nature inherently related to the land. This is further reaffirmed by the Indigenous language learners and speakers who expressed having ancestries and lineages from multiple Indigenous communities. Several other key differences embody this spirit of the language, which include ceremony and spirituality, as well as the semantic worldviews tied to polysynthetic verb-oriented morphophonemics most often found in indigenous languages — and of focus, nêhiyawêwin. The catalysts of disconnection to the spirit of the language are those whose histories have severed connections between Indigenous Peoples and the spirit of their languages or those that have affected relationships with the land, ceremony, and ways of thinking. Results of this research and its literature review have determined the three most ubiquitously damaging interdependent factors, which are catalysts of disconnection from the spirit of the language as colonization, capitalism, and Christianity. As voiced by the Indigenous language learners, this work necessitates addressing means to reconnect to the spirit of the language. Interviewees mentioned that the process of reconnection involves a whole relationship with the land, the practice of reciprocal-relational methodologies for language learning, and indigenous-protected and -governed learning. This work concludes in support of those reconnection methodologies.

Keywords: indigenous language acquisition, indigenous language reclamation, indigenous language revitalization, nêhiyawêwin, spirit of the language

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12745 Intervention of Self-Limiting L1 Inner Speech during L2 Presentations: A Study of Bangla-English Bilinguals

Authors: Abdul Wahid

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Inner speech, also known as verbal thinking, self-talk or private speech, is characterized by the subjective language experience in the absence of overt or audible speech. It is a psychological form of verbal activity which is being rehearsed without the articulation of any sound wave. In Psychology, self-limiting speech means the type of speech which contains information that inhibits the development of the self. People, in most cases, experience inner speech in their first language. It is very frequent in Bangladesh where the Bangla (L1) speaking students lose track of speech during their presentations in English (L2). This paper investigates into the long pauses (more than 0.4 seconds long) in English (L2) presentations by Bangla speaking students (18-21 year old) and finds the intervention of Bangla (L1) inner speech as one of its causes. The overt speeches of the presenters are placed on Audacity Audio Editing software where the length of pauses are measured in milliseconds. Varieties of inner speech questionnaire (VISQ) have been conducted randomly amongst the participants out of whom 20 were selected who have similar phenomenology of inner speech. They have been interviewed to describe the type and content of the voices that went on in their head during the long pauses. The qualitative interview data are then codified and converted into quantitative data. It was observed that in more than 80% cases students experience self-limiting inner speech/self-talk during their unwanted pauses in L2 presentations.

Keywords: Bangla-English Bilinguals, inner speech, L1 intervention in bilingualism, motor schema, pauses, phonological loop, phonological store, working memory

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12744 The Application of Green Technology to Residential Architecture in Hangzhou

Authors: Huiru Chen, Xuran Zhang

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At present, the residential architecture in China are still causing high energy consumption and high pollution during their whole life cycle, which can be backward compared with the developed countries. The aim of this paper is to discuss the application of green technology to residential architecture in Hangzhou. This article will start with the development of green buildings, then analyzes the use status of green technology in Hangzhou from several specific measures. Analysis of the typical existing green residential buildings in Hangzhou is an attempt to form a preliminary Hangzhou’s green technology application strategy system. Through research, it has been found that the application of green technology in Hangzhou has changed from putting green to the facade, to the combination of the preservation of the traditional green concept and the modern green technology.

Keywords: application, green technology, Hangzhou, residential architecture

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12743 The Design Method of Artificial Intelligence Learning Picture: A Case Study of DCAI's New Teaching

Authors: Weichen Chang

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To create a guided teaching method for AI generative drawing design, this paper develops a set of teaching models for AI generative drawing (DCAI), which combines learning modes such as problem-solving, thematic inquiry, phenomenon-based, task-oriented, and DFC . Through the information security AI picture book learning guided programs and content, the application of participatory action research (PAR) and interview methods to explore the dual knowledge of Context and ChatGPT (DCAI) for AI to guide the development of students' AI learning skills. In the interviews, the students highlighted five main learning outcomes (self-study, critical thinking, knowledge generation, cognitive development, and presentation of work) as well as the challenges of implementing the model. Through the use of DCAI, students will enhance their consensus awareness of generative mapping analysis and group cooperation, and they will have knowledge that can enhance AI capabilities in DCAI inquiry and future life. From this paper, it is found that the conclusions are (1) The good use of DCAI can assist students in exploring the value of their knowledge through the power of stories and finding the meaning of knowledge communication; (2) Analyze the transformation power of the integrity and coherence of the story through the context so as to achieve the tension of ‘starting and ending’; (3) Use ChatGPT to extract inspiration, arrange story compositions, and make prompts that can communicate with people and convey emotions. Therefore, new knowledge construction methods will be one of the effective methods for AI learning in the face of artificial intelligence, providing new thinking and new expressions for interdisciplinary design and design education practice.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, task-oriented, contextualization, design education

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12742 Effectiveness of Active Learning in Social Science Courses at Japanese Universities

Authors: Kumiko Inagaki

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In recent, years, Japanese universities have begun to face a dilemma: more than half of all high school graduates go on to attend an institution of higher learning, overwhelming Japanese universities accustomed to small student bodies. These universities have been forced to embrace qualitative changes to accommodate the increased number and diversity of students who enter their establishments, students who differ in their motivations for learning, their levels of eagerness to learn, and their perspectives on the future. One of these changes is an increase in awareness among Japanese educators of the importance of active learning, which deepens students’ understanding of course material through a range of activities, including writing, speaking, thinking, and presenting, in addition to conventional “passive learning” methods such as listening to a one-way lecture.  The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the teaching method adapted to improve active learning. A teaching method designed to promote active learning was implemented in a social science course at one of the most popular universities in Japan. A questionnaire using a five-point response format was given to students in 2,305 courses throughout the university to evaluate the effectiveness of the method based on the following measures: ① the ratio of students who were motivated to attend the classes, ② the rate at which students learned new information, and ③ the teaching method adopted in the classes. The results of this study show that the percentage of students who attended the active learning course eagerly, and the rate of new knowledge acquired through the course, both exceeded the average for the university, the department, and the subject area of social science. In addition, there are strong correlations between teaching method and student motivation and between teaching method and knowledge acquisition rate. These results indicate that the active learning teaching method was effectively implemented and that it may improve student eagerness to attend class and motivation to learn.

Keywords: active learning, Japanese university, teaching method, university education

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12741 Learning Physics Concepts through Language Syntagmatic Paradigmatic Relations

Authors: C. E. Laburu, M. A. Barros, A. F. Zompero, O. H. M. Silva

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The work presents a teaching strategy that employs syntagmatic and paradigmatic linguistic relations in order to monitor the understanding of physics students’ concepts. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations are theoretical elements of semiotics studies and our research circumstances and justified them within the research program of multi-modal representations. Among the multi-modal representations to learning scientific knowledge, the scope of action of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations belongs to the discursive writing form. The use of such relations has the purpose to seek innovate didactic work with discourse representation in the write form before translate to another different representational form. The research was conducted with a sample of first year high school students. The students were asked to produce syntagmatic and paradigmatic of Newton’ first law statement. This statement was delivered in paper for each student that should individually write the relations. The student’s records were collected for analysis. It was possible observed in one student used here as example that their monemes replaced and rearrangements produced by, respectively, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, kept the original meaning of the law. In paradigmatic production he specified relevant significant units of the linguistic signs, the monemas, which constitute the first articulation and each word substituted kept equivalence to the original meaning of original monema. Also, it was noted a number of diverse and many monemas were chosen, with balanced combination of grammatical (grammatical monema is what changes the meaning of a word, in certain positions of the syntagma, along with a relatively small number of other monemes. It is the smallest linguistic unit that has grammatical meaning) and lexical (lexical monema is what belongs to unlimited inventories; is the monema endowed with lexical meaning) monemas. In syntagmatic production, monemas ordinations were syntactically coherent, being linked with semantic conservation and preserved number. In general, the results showed that the written representation mode based on linguistic relations paradigmatic and syntagmatic qualifies itself to be used in the classroom as a potential identifier and accompanist of meanings acquired from students in the process of scientific inquiry.

Keywords: semiotics, language, high school, physics teaching

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12740 Mobile Technology as a Catalyst for Creative Teaching: A Developmental Based Research Study in a Large Public School in Mozambique

Authors: L. O'Sullivan, C. Murphy

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This study examined the impact, if any, of mobile technology on the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education for All. It focused specifically on teachers and their practice, in a school with large class sizes and limited teaching resources. Teachers in third grade in a large public school in Mozambique were provided with an iPad connected to a projector, powered by a mobile solar-panel. Teachers also participated in ten days of professional development workshops over thirteen months. Teacher discussions, micro-teaching sessions and classes in the school were video-recorded, and data was triangulated using surveys and additional documents including class plans, digital artifacts created by teachers, workshop notes and researcher field notes. The catalyst for teachers’ creativity development was to use the photographic capabilities of the iPad to capture the local context and make lessons relevant to the lived experience of the students. In the transition stage, teachers worked with lesson plans and support from the professional development workshops to make small incremental changes to their practice, which scaffolded their growing competence in the creative use of the technology as a tool for teaching and developing new teaching resources. Over the full period of the study, these small changes in practice resulted in a cultural shift in how teachers approached all lessons, even those in which they were not using the technology. They developed into working as a community of practice. The digital lessons created were re-used and further developed by other teachers, providing a relevant and valuable bank of content in a context lacking in books and other teaching resources. This study demonstrated that mobile technology proved to be a successful catalyst for impacting creative teaching practice in this context, and supports the Quality Education for All Sustainable Development Goal.

Keywords: mobile technology, creative teaching, sub-Saharan Africa, quality education for all

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12739 English Language Proficiency and Use as Determinants of Transactional Success in Gbagi Market, Ibadan, Nigeria

Authors: A. Robbin

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Language selection can be an efficient negotiation strategy employed by both service or product providers and their customers to achieve transactional success. The transactional scenario in Gbagi Market, Ibadan, Nigeria provides an appropriate setting for the exploration of the Nigerian multilingual situation with its own interesting linguistic peculiarities which questions the functionality of the ‘Lingua Franca’ in trade situations. This study examined English Language proficiency among Yoruba Traders in Gbagi Market, Ibadan and its use as determinants of transactional success during service encounters. Randomly selected Yoruba-English bilingual traders and customers were administered questionnaires and the data subjected to statistical and descriptive analysis using Giles Communication Accommodation Theory. Findings reveal that only fifty percent of the traders used for the study were proficient in speaking English language. Traders with minimal proficiency in Standard English, however, resulted in the use of the Nigerian Pidgin English. Both traders and customers select the Mother Tongue, which is the Yoruba Language during service encounters but are quick to converge to the other’s preferred language as the transactional exchange demands. The English language selection is not so much for the prestige or lingua franca status of the language as it is for its functions, which include ease of communication, negotiation, and increased sales. The use of English during service encounters is mostly determined by customer’s linguistic preference which the trader accommodates to for better negotiation and never as a first choice. This convergence is found to be beneficial as it ensures sales and return patronage. Although the English language is not a preferred code choice in Gbagi Market, it serves a functional trade strategy for transactional success during service encounters in the market.

Keywords: communication accommodation theory, language selection, proficiency, service encounter, transaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 145