Foreign Language Courses Research Articles

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING ESP (ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES) ONLINE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The aim of this paper is to show how we managed to make a rapid switch from the on-site classes to the online ones because of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP – Medical English) at the “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iasi, Romania. The major issues were to keep our students’ interest in our classes, making our courses and seminars as engaging as possible. The most important ideas that guided us throughout the process were not to forget that, while dealing with a foreign language course, we would have to try to improve the traditional skills (reading, speaking, writing and listening), while trying to find the best fitted activities to carry out such activities in the online medium.

Evaluation of Bloom’s taxonomy and digitalization of English Foreign Language course content

The present research is action research that aims at unveiling the impetus behind Bloom’s taxonomy when designing the online courses’ educational objectives in the digitized courses and checking its benefits on learners’ academic achievement. To gain empirical data, a survey was addressed to a sample of 62 teachers at the Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages. The survey consisted of an online questionnaire that attempts to collect teachers` viewpoints, perceptions, and experiences about the use of Bloom’s taxonomy when formulating courses’ objectives during online learning and its impact on learners’ achievement. The obtained results were coded, treated, and analyzed through the Statistical Package of Social Sciences SPSS. The findings of this paper revealed that the creation of effective objectives depending on Bloom’s taxonomy facilitates and highly improves learners’ academic achievement and serves as a guide in their new online learning setting. Keywords: Academic achievement; Bloom taxonomy; courses’ content; COVID-19 pandemic; Online teaching.

Foreign Language Learning and Learning Disabilities: An Historical, Empirical, and Cultural Perspective for Policies and Procedures

Twenty-five years ago, the author contributed a historical review of evidence on the foreign language (FL) learning problems of low-achieving and learning disabled (LD) students. Educators had proposed a new disability, FL learning disability, and developed policies permitting LD students to substitute courses or waive the FL requirement. The introduction of this new disability was premature because empirical evidence found no relationship between FL learning problems and LDs. Even so, several misguided assumptions about a unique disability for FL learning and a special relationship between FL learning problems and LDs persisted, and an LD diagnosis became the de facto criterion for FL course substitution/waiver policies. In this updated review, these assumptions and evidence falsifying them are examined. Cultural reasons for the assumptions about FL learning and LDs and the adoption of course substitution policies are proposed. The author concludes with recommendations for policymakers.

SEHARI BERBAHASA ASING SEBAGAI STRATEGI BELAJAR MEMAHAMI POTENSI PARIWISATA LOKAL

Language Studies Centre (called as PSB) of Pattimura University (Unpatti) organized community service activities (PkM), with the theme "A Day in Foreign Languages as a Learning Strategy to Understand the Potential of Local Tourism". This PkM activity has two goals: (a) students' motivation to learn English in the field of local tourism potential, based on understanding and practicing learning to become a tour guide in Nuniali congregation (Jemaat GPM Nuniali), and (b) try out of online foreign language courses (Dutch and English) through ZOOM. With a descriptive analysis approach through a questionnaire instrument, it was found that all participants liked English (a total of 36 participants or 100%), while the themes most liked by participants were: (1) waterfall tourism with 33 responses yes or like; (2) the history of the origin of the village (24 responses); (3) travelling in West Seram (SBB) with a total response yes of 23 people. Meanwhile, the most preferred learning activity by participants was direct practice in tourist spot as 25 responses (69.4%) and if it is interpreted according to the professional experience of the PkM Team in relation to tourist guiding, shown that there was already a potential of almost 70% of the number of responses liked the tourist guide profession. Meanwhile, the trial of an online foreign language course via Zoom at the Nuniali congregation showed that the church (the priest of congregational) could play an active role in finding solutions for the absence of an English teacher at the Christian Schools (called as YPPK) by means of providing an English language course/solution via ZOOM

Perceptions of plagiarism by students at the University of Economics in Bratislava

Plagiarism undermines the very purpose of obtaining education, and plagiarising final theses diminishes the value of university education in society. Therefore, it is necessary to tackle this issue in all university courses, including foreign language courses. Stemming from the definition of plagiarism and its classification the paper aims to analyse how students perceive plagiarism. The analysis of students’ perception of plagiarism is based on a questionnaire distributed among students at the University of Economics in Bratislava. A Likert scale was used to measure students’ attitudes. The goal of the study is to provide the ground for a better understanding of plagiarism from students’ viewpoints and thus help find effective ways how to eliminate this phenomenon.

Comparative Research of Foreign Language Teaching of Primary and Secondary Schools in China and Russia

The world today is undergoing a period of fast development and big changes, with the emergence of a more and more multi-polarization world and the in-depth development of economic globalization, the rapid advancement of science and technology, and the increasingly fierce competition for talents. Therefore, all countries in the world regard creating a world-first-class education system and enhancing their competitiveness in education as their strategic goals. Among that, foreign language education is especially important as the basis for building a bridge of communication between countries in the era of globalization. China and Russia have always maintained close cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, culture, and education. The two countries are always communicating and learning from each other. This article focuses on foreign language teaching in primary and secondary schools in China and Russia. By analyzing important documents, teaching materials, and teaching methods in the field of foreign language education in China and Russia since the beginning of the 21st century, it compares and summarizes the similarities and differences, advantages and disadvantages of foreign language teaching in the two countries. The results show that the fertility of foreign language course settings and the literature-oriented learning material promote foreign language teaching in Russia. This helps provide some experiences for future policy designers, textbook writers, and teachers in primary and secondary schools' foreign language teaching fields in other countries.

Cultural Learning in Foreign Language Courses: An investigation into how college students make meaning of cultural information in the classroom

For years researchers have shown the positive role that foreign language courses play in increasing the cultural knowledge and understanding of university students. However, at a time where internationalization is now at the forefront of nearly every major US university, foreign language courses are being cut and defunded at unprecedented levels. Clearly, the cultural benefits that foreign language courses provide are not meeting the standards necessary to be seen as key contributors to the goals of internationalization. Thus, the research presented in this paper is an initial student-centered investigation into the process of cultural learning within foreign language courses. By focusing on how students perceive of and understand the cultural information they are exposed to in the classroom. As a result, the research suggests important areas in which foreign language courses can improve the role they play in facilitating cultural learning, and hopefully, begin to receive the recognition they deserve in improving cultural understanding and awareness.

Foreign Language Teaching in Secondary Schools in Germany and Turkey: A Comparative Study

It is known that foreign language teaching has become an increasingly important element with the globalizing world. While some countries have reached a higher level in foreign language teaching, some cannot reach the level of success they want. Understanding the foreign language teaching quality of countries is possible by knowing how they shape their education systems. In this study, the secondary school foreign language education systems of Germany and Turkey were examined comparatively. In doing so, education policy, foreign languages taught, curriculum, weekly foreign language course hours, teaching methods and teaching materials were discussed. In this study, the secondary school foreign language education systems of Germany and Turkey were examined comparatively. While doing this, education policy, foreign languages taught, curriculum, weekly foreign language course hours, teaching methods and teaching materials were discussed. The aim is to reveal differences and similarities by comparing education systems and to determine which factors make these schools successful in foreign language education. The aim is to reveal differences and similarities by comparing education systems and to determine which factors make these schools successful in foreign language education. Document analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. Literature review, documentation and text analysis were used to collect data. According to the findings of the study, both Germany and Turkey have adopted the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, English as the first foreign language has an important place in the curriculum and the lessons consist of current issues about life. When it comes to differences, it was determined that the curriculum in Germany changed from state to state, more time was allocated to foreign language course hours than in Turkey, and it is richer than the curriculum in Turkey in terms of teaching materials. In addition, with both countries emphasis on communicative approach and communicative skills, it has been determined that the grammar translation method is still applied in schools in Turkey, while Germany has made more progress in foreign language teaching by adopting an action-oriented approach and communicative skills.

Inspiration of Moral Judgment Evaluation Methods on Assessing Curriculum Ideological and Political Education for Foreign Language Courses

Inspiration of Moral Judgment Evaluation Methods on Assessing Curriculum Ideological and Political Education for Foreign Language Courses

EFL SPEAKING STUDENT READINESS TO USE MOBILE-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING

In recent years, mobile-assisted language learning has been on the rise as an instructional approach. While some innovative media platforms have been highly studied, Thus, this study focused on how students' readiness and learning outcomes the use of mobile phones to facilitate individualized instruction in public speaking as part of an English as a Foreign Language course. Data were collected from (n=42) students in non-English department classes who participated in this study. They were asked to answer an online questionnaire that surveyed their readiness and outcomes using Google Foam in their speaking skills. All participants performed two class projects aimed at aiding them in exploring mobile-assisted language learning using their own mobile devices. However, the students self-reported some opportunities and benefits for English Foreign Language Learners (EFLL) among these MALL users. The results of this study suggest that EFL-speaking students' readiness affects mobile-assisted language learning. Teachers should consider students' motivation, attitudes, and technology skills when creating mobile-assisted language learning programs. Instructors should also train and motivate pupils to use mobile-assisted language learning resources by improving their technology skills. Furthermore, need for further technical support and facilitating students' mastery of speaking performance.

Academic and career motivation of future engineers through foreign language teaching and learning

The paper discusses the issues of academic and career motivation of engineering university students. This motivation deals with the development of cognitive motives and interest in the future profession. Although there are many publications focusing on this topic, most of them consider academic and career motivation of students in relation to the future profession through professional courses, practice in the workplace, or project-based learning. Only few publications consider humanities as the tool to develop this motivation. This paper aims at analyzing academic and career motivation of engineering students through foreign language teaching and learning based on literature review and a poll of the faculty members. The results show that academic and career motivation of engineering students througha foreign language integrates language specific and profession specific issues, as the foreign language course implies the development of intercultural and professional competencies to train students for their future professional communication. The authors define the following prerequisites necessary to enhance the students motivation including problem-based teaching and learning combined with active methods in class as well as specific teaching and learning materials related to the future engineering profession. The authors conclude that the process and results of academic and career motivation influence social and professional self-directed development of students, a foreign language course is a good tool, and further research into topic is relevant.

Design of Ideological and Political Education for High School English Reading Teaching Curriculum Based on POA Theory

Since the introduction of curriculum ideology and politics, it has become the daily practice of many first-line English teachers in colleges and universities. However, teachers often face the challenges of difficult integration of ideological and political teaching objectives with English teaching objectives and lack of systematic guarantee for the achievement of curriculum ideological and political goals in practical operation. As an important part of middle school education, it is particularly important to carry out ideological and political education in high school English teaching. This paper takes Unit 4 Space Exploration (Read and Thinking), compulsory Volume 3 of Senior High School English for example, and uses the "production-oriented approach" (POA) created by Professor Wen Qiufang's team as the theoretical basis. It is designed from the four aspects of teaching content, teaching objectives, teaching steps and specific implementation, digging deeply into the ideological and political education elements behind the text, so as to realize the shaping of values in knowledge imparts and skills training, and implement the fundamental task of cultivating morality and cultivating people that foreign language courses undertake.

THE CORRELATION LAW BETWEEN LECTURERS’ MOTIVATION AND ATTITUDE, AND THE PERFORMANCE OF UNDERGRADUATES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Motivation has remained a significant factor in foreign language learning; however, attention of researchers has consistently been focused on how motivated students perform exceptionally in foreign language learning. Lecturers also need motivation to effectively teach the students and communication efficiently with them, which is also a significant predictor of lecturers’ attitude towards the undergraduates. This article pursues an understanding of how motivation of lecturers correlates with undergraduates’ performance in foreign language learning. The article further gains insight on how lecturers’ positive or negative attitudes affects performance of learning in foreign language lecture halls. The study community include 250 lecturers in the department of foreign languages drawn across different universities globally, and 300 undergraduate students in foreign languages across different universities. Questionnaire was distributed electronically to the study respondents, and the responses were analysed using various statistical measures such as the calculation of the frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviations and test of hypotheses with linear regressions. The findings indicate that over 74% of the study sample acknowledged that exceptional performance by undergraduates in their foreign language courses is indicative of a highly motivated lecturer. The result further revealed that 73% of respondents acknowledge that lecturers who exhibit strong motivation have a positive impact on fostering an interactive foreign language learning environment, ultimately resulting in improved academic outcomes. The findings of the study further revealed that more than 55% respondents acknowledged that the motivation level of lecturers is a robust determinant of their positive or negative attitudes in foreign language educational environments. It is thus recommended that university administrators must prioritize the motivation of lecturers in foreign language, if they must produce highly performing undergraduates.

EFL learners’ perception and attitude in synchronous meetings through Zoom videoconferencing

Recently, incorporating technology in English as a foreign language (EFL) courses has been the topic of much debate. Technology can facilitate student interaction in the learning process and create an interactive and communicative classroom environment. Zoom is a solution for faculty members to engage and motivate students in virtual courses as it provides real interaction and direct feedback. This present study aimed to explore EFL students' perceptions as well as attitudes toward synchronous learning through Zoom Videoconferencing. The participants were 72 undergraduate students in the Intensive Reading course. The data was collected through questionnaires, observations, and interviews. The contents of the instrument were validated using expert judgment. The quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics while qualitative data were analyzed using thematic coding. The findings demonstrated that students had positive perceptions of Zoom videoconferencing in terms of actual use, perceived ease of use, intrinsic motivation, behavioral intention, and attitude. Further research into using Zoom videoconferencing to develop innovations in an online course is strongly recommended.

Скаффолдинг как особый вид педагогической поддержки обучающихся при изучении иностранного языка в электронной образовательной среде вуза

The aim of the study is to reason the usage of scaffolding as a specific kind of pedagogical support in university e-learning environment. The research paper describes the essence, functions, strategies and forms of pedagogical support of students learning a foreign language. The special features of foreign language training e-course based on scaffolding principles of e-learning environment are considered. The efficiency of teaching students according to scaffolding principles to develop foreign language communicative competence is examined by the example of using the e-learning course ‘Empower A2-B2’ in university e-learning environment ‘do.sevsu.ru’. The novelty of this study consists in the definition of the three main forms of scaffolding – individual scaffolding, affiliate scaffolding and computer-based scaffolding. As a result, the e-learning foreign language course ‘Empower A2-B2’ was worked out on scaffolding principles and introduced into the educational process of Sevastopol State University.

Specifics of Assessing Students’ Achievements in Foreign Language Learning in a Mixed-Level Groups

The study presented in the article focuses on the typical problems arising from the unified approach to the assessment of students’ knowledge of a foreign language disregarding their initial level of foreign language proficiency. The aim of the study is to develop an optimal approach to assessing knowledge considering the starting level, intermediate and final goal of mastering the program of the whole foreign language course. It is suggested that at the initial stage of learning in a mixed group the emphasis should be placed on the individual progress of the student, then the practical implementation of the differentiated approach at the stages of current and final control is described, the key principles in the assessment are investigated and implemented. The article presents a step-by-step description of the testing of the proposed approach. The research methods include the study of methodological and psychological literature, the system of identifying the language level of students, the method of analysis and synthesis of experience and practices of teaching a foreign language in groups with different levels of language competence formation, the empirical method of observation of the learning process, conducting a survey among students, the method of analysis and description for fixing the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The practical significance of the work implies the possibility of implementing the proposed approach to assessment as an effective mechanism for motivating students to learn a foreign language, creating a psychologically comfortable learning environment, a means of objective control and setting learning objectives, contributing to the training of specialists in international relations who speak a foreign language at the required high level.

ENGLISH INTEREST AND ANXIETY OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Interest and anxiety towards a lesson directly affects the student's success in that course. This study examines secondary school students' interest and anxiety levels in English. The research was conducted in the survey type. 253 secondary school students from a randomly selected public school participated in the study. The research data collection tools are personal information form, English Lesson Interest Scale, and Foreign Language Course Anxiety Scale. Descriptive statistics, student t-test, and ANOVA were used in the data analysis. The analysis revealed that the students' English interest level was high, and their anxiety level was moderate. When the interest and anxiety levels of the students were examined according to their gender, it was found that there was no significant difference between female and male students. However, the total scores differed significantly in both score types according to the grade level. It was found that the English interest level of 5th-grade students is significantly higher than other grade levels, and their anxiety levels were lower than other grade levels. The results were discussed in light of related studies.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0025/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Assessment of Formation of Intercultural and Communicative Competence of Students

The article discusses methods for assessing the formation of students’ multicultural and communicative competence when learning a language: a foreign language as a second one. The terminological characteristics of formative or summative assessment are used, which make up the structure of criteria-based assessment and, according to the author of this article, they differ from each other in the content of the subject and the type of assessment. The materials of the article will allow university teachers to assess the formation of the multicultural and communicative competence of their students at the end of a foreign language course.

Factors to increase the effectiveness of an online foreign language course for young scientists

Introduction. The rapid development of digital technologies, online format of the educational process due to the spread of Covid-19 have actualized online learning in universities. The combination of work and postgraduate studies by young scientists, limited time frames, low motivation make it necessary to find the optimal ways to organize the educational process in a foreign language. The considered online course provides young scientists with the opportunity to improve the level of foreign language communicative competence in academic and research fields. Purpose of the article: to improve the effectiveness of the online foreign language course for young scientists. Research methods. The experiment involved 445 first- and second-year graduate students of South Ural State University. To determine the effectiveness of the online course in the program of foreign language study in graduate school and increase the level of foreign language communicative competence the following methods were used: method of pedagogical experiment, method of observation, econometric method of mathematical statistics Difference in Differences (DID). The method of questionnaires was used to identify the educational needs of graduate students. The B.D. Jones's MUSIC® Model of Motivation was chosen as the methodological basis for the redesign of the online course. The relevance and completeness of the strategies of the B.D. Jones's MUSIC® Model of Motivation according to graduate students’ opinions were tested using a parametric Student's t-test with dependent sampling. Results. As a result of the experiment aimed at improving the effectiveness of the online foreign language course for graduate students, positive dynamics in the level of foreign language communication competence of graduate students in the experimental group compared with students in the control group was verified by the Change criterion, which reflects the difference in the results of the PhD Foreign Language Exam of graduate students, recorded by DID: "excellent" – (Change > 12%), "good" – (Change < 9.5%), "satisfactory" – (Change < 2.5%). Discussion and conclusion. It was proved that the identified factors to improve the effectiveness of the online course for young scientists (redesign of the online course, taking into account the educational needs of graduate students) determined the positive dynamics of the level of foreign language communication competence of graduate students.

Research-based approaches to the development and assessment of the creative abilities of future international specialists by means of teaching a foreign language

Introduction. Updated requirements for specialists in foreign relations in line with currently changing practice of foreign relations call for developing in undergraduates such professionally relevant creative skills as finding creative solutions to professional challenges and introducing innovative approaches in the conservative paradigm. Conventional approaches prevalent in teaching a foreign language cannot reveal the full potential of fostering creative skills in future professionals in foreign relations, thus calling for developing and substantiating new effective tools of comprehensive development of creativity through teaching a foreign language in undergraduates majoring in foreign relations. Materials and Methods. The study was conducted at MGIMO University, in 2017-2021. The total number of participants was 151 undergraduates, School of International Business and Business Administration, and International Institute of Energy Policy and Diplomacy, with 74 participants in the educational experiment. The analysis was based on the data obtained through administration of the psychometric instruments the Rokeach Value Survey, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, and additional instruments designed on the basis of relevant projective techniques. Results. The analysis of data obtained for the experimental and control groups shows more noticeable changes in the parameters under study in the experimental group. For high developmental level of creativity, 22.16% increased to 51.88% in the experimental group, compared to increase from 13.3% to 14.2% in the control group. For basic developmental level, 36.2% reduced to 15.14% in the experimental group, compared to decrease from 44.78% to 40.8% in the control group (tEXP=6; p<0,05). The findings from the psychometric measurements are consistent with the findings from the projective techniques, where improvement in performance correlates positively with higher scores for the relevant parameters. The analysis additionally looked into the changes in the profile of scores and in separate scores in the experimental group. Discussion and Conclusion. The findings of the study support the expected increase in the parameters under study in the experimental group, and substantiate effectiveness of the set of instruments designed to develop and measure professionally relevant creative skills through teaching a foreign language in undergraduates majoring in foreign relations. The approaches verified in the study were used to develop the authors’ foreign-language course, which offers practical application of the instruments described here. Further research should explore the correlation of higher creativity scores with higher academic performance as well as the quality of knowledge