Advanced-level Students Research Articles

What Motivates Students to Study Intermediate and Advanced Level Japanese at Australian Universities?

ABSTRACT This article discusses the results of a survey (N = 148) distributed in August 2021 to Australia-based Universities offering Intermediate and Advanced level Japanese. The survey was designed to understand what motivates students to continue their Japanese language studies to the upper levels and the impact of the COVID-19 associated switch to online learning on their motivation. The content of 23 online interviews is also addressed. The discussion includes details of the metadata which shows that most survey participants are domestic students and more than half speak a language in addition to English. Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) framework was used to analyse the motivational data and the results show that most students are self-motivated and committed to their Japanese language studies. They derive motivation from various sources, such as their positive learning experience, ‘Ideal Japanese self-image’, and interest in Japanese culture including J-Pop products. Less than half of participants perceived the COVID-19 associated switch to online to have affected their motivation and this includes two who experienced increased motivation. The findings show that Intermediate and Advanced level students have a strong sense of a future self who will use the language in their careers, for leisure, and with others.

Impacting factors and degree of influence on the selection of ICT subject in GCE Advanced Level

Education in Sri Lankan education focuses on accelerating the country’s knowledge economy by producing skilled and knowledgeable people who suit present-day needs. Moreover, society wants universities to produce graduates, and of course, those graduates must be employable. Meanwhile, job opportunity is guaranteed for job seekers skilled in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) nowadays. Thus, the Sri Lankan government introduced a new stream “Technology” in the year 2015 as an educational reform. The success level of this government initiative should be measured in an acceptable form for further improvements. The most productive way to measure success measuring the interest of students in ICT on GCE A/L, and the factors that influence it. This study was conducted to examine the factors fluencing ICT subject selection by GCE Advanced Level students and to find out the degree of influence of each factor. The coastal region area of Ampara district of Sri Lanka was covered as a sample population for our study. Data to find out the influencing factors were collected by having One on-One interviews with four categories of stakeholder groups, namely principals or deputy principals, teachers, students, and parents, and prepared a questionnaire with these factors and distributed among the A/L students from different schools to gather their opinions from 266 respondents to find out the degree of influence of factors using the convenience sampling technique. Later, the answers to the questionnaire were analyzed by a statistical data analysis tool which shows that the family income, awareness programme, other main subjects in A/L, and the results of mathematics, English, and ICT subjects in O/L are affecting the ICT subject selection in A/L, meanwhile the results says that gender, parents’ education, and previously followed ICT related courses are not having relations in A/L ICT subject selection, and it revealed the degree of top encouraging factors such job market, opportunities in higher education, and getting high z-score and discouraging factors such lack of resources available in the medium, having no relevancy with other main subjects, and lack of interest in IT.

University EFL students’ perceptions of using second-generation web 2.0 tools in developing English language skills

In 2020, conducting education at a distance was obligatory while the world was fighting the coronavirus disruption. Technology utilization in distance education has demonstrated its significance in teaching English to instructors and learners. This quantitative study aims to examine university EFL learners’ perceptions regarding using second-generation Web 2.0 tools (Quizizz, Socrative, Edmodo, and Quizlet) in developing their English skills. This study is conducted with 150 students of the general English language requirement course at the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza. The results of this study indicate that the participants appeared to have positive attitudes towards using Web 2.0 tools in general. The study results further indicate that both intermediate and low-level students reported more positive opinions about implementing the digital tools individually or all together when compared to other advanced-level students. The participants differed significantly in terms of their perceptions of the awareness and actual usage of the Web 2.0 tools. The implications of this study indicate that these repeatedly used Web 2.0 tools as curricular tasks could be substituted or replaced with other digital tools to alleviate the oversaturation and reluctance to use digital tools by EFL learners.

The scaffolding role of native speaker mentors in an online community of foreign language learners

ABSTRACT Providing foreign language students with opportunities to engage in meaningful and purposeful communication and culturally authentic interaction with peers and native speakers is critical to successful second language acquisition and the development of intercultural competence . This paper describes research that investigated how selected native speaker mentors supported foreign language university students as they completed authentic collaborative tasks in an online community of learners. Intermediate and advanced level students of Italian at an Australian university collaborated with each other and with their assigned mentors through online resources provided in the course website. Data were collected and analysed through multi-data sources including online interactions, forum posts and individual and focus group interviews with mentors and students. Findings suggest that native speaker mentors actively supported students’ learning and provided effective scaffolding across a number of domains. The paper concludes with specific recommendations to guide mentors and language educators in the process of assisting student collaborative learning.

The Association Between Personality Traits and Substance Use Among Advanced Level Students in Western Province, Sri Lanka: A Cross-sectional Study.

While personality predominantly influences human cognition, emotion, and behavior, there is still an unresolved research gap concerning the association between personality and substance use within the Sri Lankan context. This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the association between personality traits and substance use among advanced-level students aged over 18 in Western province, Sri Lanka, in 2023. Data collection was carried out using self-administered paper-pencil questionnaires. The study variables were measured using the brief version of the Big Five Personality Inventory and the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Questionnaire. Data analysis involved the use of the chi-square test and Spearman correlation. Of the 441 enrolled participants, 422 provided correct responses to the questionnaire. Among them, 154 (36.5%) reported substance use. The majority of students initiated substance use at the age of 17. The results reveal a significant association between the openness personality trait and substance use among advanced-level students in Western province. Additionally, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the extroversion personality trait and amphetamine use among advanced-level students. The findings highlight a significant association between specific personality traits, particularly openness and extroversion, and substance use among advanced-level students in Western province, Sri Lanka. These results emphasize the significance of considering personality factors in understanding and addressing substance use behaviors among youth populations. Further research and targeted interventions are necessary to delve deeper into these associations and develop effective prevention and intervention strategies.

PECULIARITIES OF TEACHING COLORONYMS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF STUDYING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of teaching coloronyms at different levels of foreign language learning in institutions of higher education. The article notes that color is an important element of nature that affects the result of a person’s perception of the external world. An interpretation of the color terms at the modern stage is provided. The definition of the term “coloronym” is given separately and it is stated that this definition is the most appropriate for conveying the emotional and mental state of a person, his character traits, social and cultural aspects of life. Three groups of coloronyms are studied by meaning: initial, extended and abstract meaning. The article indicates that most color adjectives are represented by nouns that mean food, materials, plants, animals, birds, and natural phenomena. It is noted that learning color vocabulary is not only about recognition; it’s a fun way to learn a language that offers opportunities to practice grammar, expand vocabulary and have meaningful conversations. Particular attention is paid to the peculiarities of learning coloronyms for students with different levels of knowledge of a foreign language. It suggests that students should be introduced to the pronunciation and spelling of the primary colors at an early stage and use visual materials such as color cards, real objects or even presentations to effectively associate the colors with their names. When working with intermediate students, it is necessary to expand their language skills while delving into the subtleties of color perception. At this stage of learning, it necessary to develop roleplaying scenarios that require students to solve problems related to color. At the advanced level students already have a good understanding of color vocabulary and can explore complex concepts related to color. At this stage, thought-provoking activities and discussions are needed that promote students’ critical thinking. The article indicates that when teaching the vocabulary of colors, the teacher must choose the most effective method according to the goals and take into account the level of language proficiency of the students and the tasks set before the students, especially if they are learning a foreign language for special purposes.

Perceptions of learning from audiovisual input and changes in L2 viewing preferences: The roles of on-screen text and proficiency

AbstractPrevious research on audiovisual input attests to a significant effect of on-screen text and proficiency on learning gains. However, there is scarce research on whether these factors affect viewers’ feeling of learning, a variable that can affect overall second language (L2) learning outcomes (Ellis, 2008). Moreover, there is a lack of research exploring whether viewing experience prompts viewers to switch from one viewing mode (subtitles, captions, no on-screen text) to another and what factors affect those choices. This study explores learners’ perspectives on learning from audiovisual input and their preferred viewing mode before and after participating in a prolonged viewing intervention. A total of 136 participants of varying L2 English proficiency levels (from A1 to C2) completed pre-viewing and post-viewing questionnaires. The results show that vocabulary and expressions were perceived to be learnt the most. The elementary proficiency group were more likely to be positive about learning from the intervention than higher proficiency students. Concerning the preferred viewing mode outside of the classroom, the participants favoured no on-screen text or first language (L1) subtitles over L2 captions. At the end of the intervention, the elementary-level participants found that viewing without any L1 support was too challenging for leisure viewing, while the intermediate- and advanced-level students gained confidence in watching without any textual support.

Does language teachers’ intercultural competence influence oral participation in EFL classrooms?: unveiling learner perspectives through a mixed methods inquiry

ABSTRACT The present two-phased sequential explanatory mixed methods study investigates the potential association between foreign language teachers’ (FLTs) intercultural competence and Japanese students’ oral participation through the perspectives of students. In Study 1, a survey questionnaire was administered to second-year advanced-level students at two Japanese universities (N = 115). The participants were asked about their learning styles and FLTs’ teaching practices that promoted and hindered their oral participation based on their prior language learning experiences. The results confirmed the associations between FLTs’ host language proficiency, host cultural understanding, and students’ oral participation. In Study 2, qualitative data were obtained from 21 students to explain and build upon the quantitative results. The findings showed that demonstrating intercultural competence by emphasizing group work, showing tolerance for silence, and using Japanese gestures, personal anecdotes, and stories from Japanese culture could create avenues to students’ own worlds and give them psychological safety to express themselves. The study concludes that FLTs’ intercultural competence needs to be further emphasized in teacher training manuals and school curricula in Japanese EFL settings.

Classroom Activities of Cooperative Learning in Chinese as a Foreign Language

<p>Chinese language as a foreign language class, teachers often use a collaborative learning model, one of the main characteristics is interpersonal interaction, when interacting with other people, students are required to use the Chinese language as the target language to communicate. The purpose of this research is to identify suitable classroom activities for cooperative learning in Chinese language classes. This research is a qualitative descriptive research. The data source is students from the Chinese Education Program of the State University of Surabaya basic level to advanced level students, data collection was carried out in a natural setting. Data collection techniques used are complete participant observation and interviews. Four cooperative learning activities are suitable for Chinese as a foreign language class, including 1) conversation cards, 2) role-play, 3) story-telling, and 4) debate. It is not only to improve communication and cooperation or collaborative skills between students, but another purpose is to grow students’ foreign language expression skills. Teachers should give students feedback by correcting pronunciation in each class activity.</p>

Learning Difficulties in acquiring German as Foreign language by Advanced Level Students in Sri Lanka

Learning Difficulties in acquiring German as Foreign language by Advanced Level Students in Sri Lanka

Perceptions of Advanced Level Students and Teachers Towards the Learning of Poetry in Literature in English in the Zimbabwean Classroom

Perceptions of Advanced Level Students and Teachers Towards the Learning of Poetry in Literature in English in the Zimbabwean Classroom

CHINESE EUPHEMISM ACQUISITION BY L2 LEARNERS IN INDONESIA

As one of the most widely used communication strategies, euphemism is an important language behaviour in human society. Chinese euphemism has its unique characteristics reflecting the Chinese nation’s moderate and harmonious cultural psychology. This feature is particularly prominent in the daily communication applications of Chinese, so that it is often difficult for L2 learners to understand it. This article focuses on the acquisition of Chinese euphemism as the research object, and takes the inter-language pragmatics as the theoretical background, using the questionnaire as the main research method combining with the interview method to investigate the Chinese euphemism acquisition by the intermediate and advanced level students from the Chinese Department in a Jakarta private university. The results show that, in general, students have the awareness of using Chinese euphemism. The language level has positive correlation with euphemism acquisition. The error frequency in conventional euphemism is supreme to that in non-conventional euphemism. The euphemism used by the students has obvious inter-language characteristics in structure and speech strategies. Negative pragmatic transfer constraints students in euphemism acquisition. Insufficient language ability and cultural differences are the crucial obstacles. Some relevant suggestions from the perspectives of teacher-student interaction and textbook design are proposed to improve the euphemism acquisition for L2 learners.

Usage patterns of electronic devices for communication and prevalence of nomophobia among General Certificate of Education Advanced Level students in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Introduction: Nomophobia is becoming an increasing concern as a result of inappropriate use of electronic communication devices.Objectives: To describe the pattern of use of electronic communication devices and the prevalence of nomophobia among General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level (A/L) students in Colombo Educational Zone.Method: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out from January to March 2020 in six of the randomly selected government and government approved private schools within the Colombo Education Zone. A self-administered questionnaire including a culturally adapted nomophobia-questionnaire was used. Data were analysed using SPSS-20.Results: Of 337 students, 336 (99.7%) were regularly using a device for communication, the most preferred (n=319) being mobile phone; 213 owned a mobile phone; 60.4% were spending ≥2 hours/day with these devices, 10.1% spending >5 hours/day. Common uses of devices were listening to music (96.7%), taking photos (85.4%), sending text messages (84.8%) and academic activities (84.5%). Prevalence of moderate and severe nomophobia was 49.8% and 34.2% respectively. Prevalence of severe nomophobia was significantly higher in females (p<0.001) and those studying in grade 13 (p=0.036), government schools (p=0.002), Sinhala-medium (p=0.017) and Science stream (p=0.024).Conclusions: Among GCE A/L students in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 99.7% were regularly using a device for communication. Prevalence of moderate and severe nomophobia was 49.8% and 34.2% respectively.

The Empirical Study of Graduate Students' English Language Requirements: The Case of Mongolia

The primary objective this study is to assess English language proficiency for academic and professional requirements of advanced law enforcement graduate students. This study has received attention because advanced level students' professional English language skills in their courses continue to meet their needs for a professional job. There are implement lots of curriculum such as law enforcement, police studies, criminal, forensic on the Graduate School at University of Internal affairs, Mongolia (UIAM). In the field of graduate school, a dual degree program is run by the UIAM and Mongolian University of Life Science (MULS). We gathered information from 98 graduate students who took the Executive Leadership Academy at UIAM and the dual degree program in security and economics offered by UIAM and MULS. Unique characteristic of our study was its attempt to demonstrate the analysis of metrological, correlational, multi-factor, and path analysis by using Smart PLS-3.0 programs.

Meningkatkan Hasil Belajar Pak Menggunakan Metode PBL Materi Aku Tumbuh Dan Berkembang Kelas III SDN 16 Sungai Jelawai

. The background to this research emerged because of problems in increasing students' interest and understanding of learning material. Students tend to feel bored and sleepy during the learning process, which leads to low learning outcomes. To overcome this challenge, interesting learning methods are needed to improve learning outcomes and student interest in class. One method that has been proven effective is Problem Based Learning (PBL). The aim of this research is to improve student learning outcomes and achieve learning achievement targets in class. The research method used is quantitative. The results of the first cycle showed that 4 students were at the advanced level, 4 students were at the proficient level, and 2 students were at the appropriate level, with an average observation learning result of 78%. In the second cycle, there was a significant increase with 6 advanced level students, 3 proficient level students, and 1 decent level student, and the average observation learning result reached 86.5%. The implications of these findings confirm that the PBL method is able to improve learning outcomes and student achievement targets in learning.

Improving Students’ Listening Comprehension in Foreign Language Classes through Subtitled Videos

This research sets out to investigate the importance of video subtitling in improving foreign language students’ listening comprehension. The researchers employed a pre-post test to measure the impact of video subtitling on foreign language learners' listening comprehension achievement at the end of each six units used in the experiment. The study was carried out on five groups representing the five Unlock Cambridge levels taught at Birzeit University in Palestine. These levels include A1, A2, B1, B2 and C. Students are placed in these levels in accordance with their results in the English Placement test. Results of the study clearly show that the remedial (A1) and the intermediate level (A2 and B1) students have significantly improved their listening comprehension after watching the subtitled video. On the other hand, the advanced level (B2) students showed modest progress in their listening comprehension. The last group (C level ) students showed almost no enhancement in their listening comprehension skills.

Student guides: supporting learning from laboratory experiments through across-course collaboration

We have observed that students often struggle with laboratory experiments. There is a high threshold to getting involved hands-on for fear of ruining an experiment, losing time, or breaking the equipment. More importantly, students have difficulty connecting the theory they learn in lectures and exercises with observations they make in the laboratory. As a result, it is challenging to formulate hypotheses, figure out what observations are needed, and make and interpret observations. We address this challenge by creating across-course collaboration between a basic- and an advanced-level Ocean and Atmosphere Dynamics course, which run during the same study periods and are typically taken in subsequent years. We train students from the advanced-level course to act as "guides" and to support groups of basic-level students doing laboratory experiments with the practicalities of running the experiments, making observations, and facilitating discussions about interpretations by asking open-ended questions. This benefits students from both levels: Basic-level students appreciate the help with new lab equipment and the supporting questions that help them make sense of observations. Advanced-level students understand the importance of questions in the learning process and realize how far they have come in understanding the topic in just one year. They report they would like to act as a guide again. We reflect on which design criteria help make this across-course collaboration successful and where we still see room for improvement. Based on our experience and evaluation, we present recommendations for other teachers that might want to try a similar approach.

A Study of Academic Vocabulary Use by Advanced EFL University Students

Academic writing is one of the most essential skills for university students’ success during and beyond their study. Successful academic writing requires having peculiar grammatical and lexical features. One of the best-known features of academic writing style is the use of academic words. In light of these facts, the current study has been conducted to explore different aspects of academic words use by EFL students. The main aim of the study is to discover how proficient the students are in using academic words in general. In addition, the study aims to know the size and frequency of academic words that students demonstrate in their writing. It is also expected from the study to gain insight into students’ vocabulary knowledge through using academic words. Making students’ academic word list (hereafter AWL) and classifying them based on the Coxhead’s sub-lists is the ultimate goal of the study. For this purpose, a specialized corpus of 34 argumentative essays was collected from advanced EFL students. The essays were analyzed and interpreted by a well-established web-based corpus tool, ‘Text Inspector’. An outstanding conclusion drawn from the study is that the Kurdish EFL students of advanced level have a satisfactory proficiency in using academic words in general. Although the size of academic vocabulary observed in the essays is relatively small, students have proved their determined vocabulary knowledge as most of the used words are among the high frequency ones and contain various derivational forms.

Advanced-Level Students’ Understanding of Exponential Equations:

This paper reports on a study which explored high school students’ conceptual understanding of the techniques of exponential functions. Thirty-one advanced-level students participated in the study. The study used APOS (Action-Process-Object-Schema) theory, a constructivist theory framework, to investigate participants’ conceptual understanding of exponential functions. Activity sheets constructed with tasks based on exponential equations were administered to the participants. The written responses were used to identify participants’ mental constructions of these concepts. Furthermore, interviews were carried out to clarify participants’ written responses. The written responses and interview discussions pointed out that participants exhibited procedural tendencies in exponential functions. Most of the participants could not solve exponential equations, especially the radioactive‑decay functions. In addition, many participants did not have appropriate mental constructions at the process, object and schema levels, since most of them could not coordinate processes and encapsulate them into an object. This paper raises some important implications for mathematics education and further provides applications of genetic decomposition design and modification.

Using the second generation Web 2.0 tools in developing university EFL students’ english language skills

In 2020, conducting education at a distance was obligatory while the world fought the coronavirus disruption. Technology utilization in distance education has demonstrated its significance in teaching English to instructors and learners. This quantitative study examines university EFL learners’ perceptions regarding using second-generation Web 2.0 tools (Quizizz, Socrative, Edmodo, and Quizlet) to develop their English skills. This study was conducted with 150 students of the general English language requirement course at the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza. The results of this study indicate that the participants appeared to have positive attitudes towards using Web 2.0 tools in general. The study results further indicate that both intermediate and low-level students reported more positive opinions about implementing the digital tools individually or all together when compared to other advanced-level students. The participants differed significantly in their perceptions of the awareness and actual usage of the Web 2.0 tools. The implications of this study indicate that these repeatedly used Web 2.0 tools as curricular tasks could be substituted or replaced with other digital tools to alleviate the oversaturation and reluctance to use digital tools by EFL learners.