German Students Research Articles

Do writing performance and examination grading correlate in an EMI university setting?

Abstract We studied German students’ academic writing skills in English at a Dutch university. Their performances are typical examples of English as a lingua franca (ELF) as these students are non-native users of English evaluated by subject lecturers who are non-native users as well. Our database is a corpus of written answers to an open examination question in the context of an EMI (English Medium Instruction) bachelor in psychology. We aimed to detect those characteristics in this specific type of discourse that may affect the comprehensibility of the students’ answers, which in turn may have consequences for their grading by the course lecturer. English language experts assigned Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) levels and commented on grammar, use of (academic) vocabulary, and text coherence. First, we correlated the grades assigned by the course lecturer and the CEFR levels. There was no correlation. Second, we analyzed the linguistic comments. We found that academic style was poorly present in this type of text. Importantly, we found no proof of communicative blockings or obstacles related to English proficiency levels between the student writer and the lecturer reader. We conclude that informed content interpretation based on contextual appropriateness of the answers overrules grammatical and lexical non-standard characteristics and outweighs the lack of semantic coherence.

University language students' motivations for their language of study

While there is abundant research on motivation in second-language learning, we know little about what motivations students may have for choosing a specific language of study in the Norwegian university context. The number of students who apply to English study programs every year is high, while the numbers for the traditional foreign languages beyond English, especially German and French, are concerningly low. The present study surveyed students in their first year of university language study, asking key questions about their reasons for choosing their language of study. Overall findings are that students of English are particularly instrumentally motivated, believing that English will be useful for future work. Students of French and Spanish, on the other hand, are more affectively motivated, while German students fall in between the other languages in responses to questions of motivation. While all students generally feel that knowledge of foreign languages beyond English is important, Spanish students were especially consistent in this response. In terms of interest in sub-disciplines of university language study, all student groups were relatively similar in showing a stronger interest in learning about the cultural and social aspects of countries where the language is spoken compared to literature formal aspects of language. The main conclusion is that motivations may be different for studying different foreign languages beyond English, and that in order to recruit more students to academic language programs, focusing on each specific language and its potential motivations is necessary.
 Keywords: foreign language, motivation, language studies, English, French, Spanish, German

Ювілей міжнародної співпраці двох університетів

The results of international cooperation between Lviv Polytechnic National University (Ukraine) and Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), which was effectively conducted for 15 years on the basis of a bilateral agreement, are considered. The programof double diplomas at the master’s level of higher education operated successfully, educational and scientific internships of Ukrainian students at Neubrandenburg University and German students at the Institute of Geodesy of Lviv Polytechnic were organized; semester training for bachelors and masters, internships for teachers, graduate students, doctoral students, joint preparation of scientific publications and participation in international conferences and symposiums of the two universities were carried out etc. The new agreement was signed in May 2022 during the Geo Symposium 2022 at Neubrandenburg University.

Early Career Support for Biomedical Exchange Students with an International Mentor-to-Mentor Concept - The Biomedical Education Program (BMEP).

In medicine, many international exchange opportunities exist, yet often only towards the end of the course of study. Opportunities for students to gain high-level international research experience early during the studies are rare. A good student-mentor relationship during a research stay abroad is a key factor for scientific success. The aims of this paper are to report on an international exchange and education program that has funded more than 700 students and has been carefully developed and advanced over more than 40 years, its mentor-to-mentor concept and potential success factors for building and maintain such programs. A summary of the history, the concept and the experiences of students is provided, along with a discussion of evaluation results and success factors. The Biomedical Education Program (BMEP) team has - within the last seven years of leadership by the authors - selected and funded 83 German students from different biomedical studies who went abroad for research projects. Preliminary evaluation results show a high degree of satisfaction with the program and its mentor-to-mentor concept, which we deem to be the key to success. Further factors include continued funding, determination, self-organization and assertiveness, an excellent alumni network and a meticulous selection process for both, students and hosts. Further, more detailed evaluation of survey results has to follow. Our results may support the build-up of similar exchange programs.

FEEDBACK STRATEGIES: AN EFFORT TO ENHANCE THE CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS OF DAF-LEARNERS IN INDONESIA

Critical thinking has become one of the main education goals in this 21st century as the trend in the global market also requires graduates to be able to apply critical thinking skills to work settings. This study aims to describe the strategy of providing feedback to improve the critical thinking skills of German as a foreign language (GFL) learners in Indonesia. The research data were collected through observations and interviews with German students and lecturers at Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia, and presented descriptively qualitatively with observation and interview instruments. The results showed that asking questions to students, providing comments, encouraging output, and giving praise are the feedback strategies that can improve students' critical thinking skills. Lecturers provide several questions that lead them to think and answer these questions. The questions should be given to all students in the class so that students gradually are encouraged to be more active. Through those feedback strategies, learners are triggered to memorize, understand, apply, analyze, reformulate, and evaluate the learned materials. All those strategies are implemented to lead the students to better critical thinking skills. It is recommended that lecturers apply more types of feedback so that students have more opportunities to improve their language skills.

Challenging to Read, Easy to Comprehend? Effects of Linguistic Demands on Secondary Students’ Text Comprehension in Physics

Students with high reading proficiency typically achieve better results in science assessments, indicating the importance of reading proficiency. Since the process of reading is a complex interaction between properties of a text and a reader, the linguistic demands of a text might affect text comprehension. Certain linguistic features, such as complex syntactic structures and low word frequency, have been found to create higher cognitive load. However, studies investigating the influence of linguistic features on test item difficulty and students’ text comprehension in science have hitherto let to inconclusive results. The present study investigates whether the linguistic demands of expository text affect German students’ text comprehension in the domain of physics. Within an experimental study, we presented three introductory texts on different subtopics of thermodynamics and 27 single-select, multiple-choice items to 812 secondary school students (grades 7–9). Items measured students’ text comprehension (dependent variable); the linguistic demands of each text were systematically varied across three levels (independent variables) while other features of text quality and content were held constant. The results of the item response theory analysis indicated no consistent differences in item difficulty across levels of linguistic demands. Moreover, differential analyses of subgroups presented no consistent differences in solution frequencies of items related to different linguistic demands. Furthermore, while the highest linguistic demand of the texts led the students to perceive a lower comprehensibility, their text comprehension was not affected. Hence, this study provides evidence that the influence of linguistic features on text comprehension is at most low and might be overestimated in present discussions.

Emotion regulation among Chinese and German children and adolescents: a binational comparative study

Emotion regulation has been a central research topic in developmental psychology and psychopathology for several decades. Habitual use of adaptive (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) or maladaptive strategies (e.g., expressive suppression) may influence psychosocial adjustment in children and adolescents. Despite consensus on the influence of culture on emotion regulation, little is known about cultural differences in emotion regulation in children and adolescents. In this study, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA) was used and tested for its measurement invariance between Chinese and German children and adolescents. Cultural similarities and differences in the use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression were examined, as well as the associations of these strategies with behavior problems and prosocial behavior. The sample consisted of 765 Chinese and 431 German students (Mage = 12.46 years, SD = 1.12). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis revealed partial scalar measurement invariance of the ERQ-CA. A latent mean comparison showed more frequent use of both strategies in Chinese compared to German students. The results of the multi-group structural equation model showed similar patterns of relationships between emotion regulation strategies and youth behavior across groups. Cognitive reappraisal was associated with fewer behavior problems and more prosocial behavior, whereas expressive suppression was related to more behavior problems. In summary, the current findings indicate that the ERQ-CA allows comparisons of emotion regulation between Chinese and German children and adolescents. Furthermore, the relevance of the cultural context for emotion regulation and the promotion of adaptive regulation strategies is highlighted.

Global temporal typing patterns in foreign language writing: exploring language proficiency through recurrence quantification analysis (RQA)

Recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) is a time-series analysis method that uses autocorrelation properties of typing data to detect regularities within the writing process. The following paper first gives a detailed introduction to RQA and its application to time series data. We then apply RQA to keystroke logging data of first and foreign language writing to illustrate how outcome measures of RQA can be understood as skill-driven constraints on keyboard typing performance. Forty native German students performed two prompted writing assignments, one in German and one in English, a standardized copy task, and a standardized English placement test. We assumed more fluent and skilled writing to reveal more structured typing time series patterns. Accordingly, we expected writing in a well-mastered first language to coincide with higher values in relevant RQA measures as compared to writing in a foreign language. Results of mixed model ANOVAs confirmed our hypothesis. We further observed that RQA measures tend to be higher, thus indicating more structured data, whenever parameters of pause, burst, and revision analyses indicate more fluent writing. Multiple regression analyses revealed that, in addition to typing skills, language proficiency significantly predicts outcomes of RQA. Thus, the present data emphasize RQA being a valuable resource for studying time series data that yields meaningful information about the effort a writer must exert during text production.

Creative idea forecasting: The effect of task exposure on idea evaluation.

History is replete with cases in which people have failed to recognize creative ideas generated by others. In various settings, people are responsible for evaluating ideas generated by others while not being involved in the idea generation process, and thus not exposed to the task. However, little is known on how this lack of task exposure affects creative forecasting. This study therefore examines the effect of task exposure on creative idea evaluation using 1864 German students who evaluated ideas on their creativity, originality and feasibility. Their ratings were compared to ratings by content and creativity experts. The students were randomly assigned to one of the following conditions: task exposure (i.e., they had to generate and evaluate ideas for the same task) or no task exposure (i.e., they had to generate ideas for a different task than the idea evaluation task). The results show that task exposure improves students' ability to accurately recognize creative and original ideas, and their ability to discriminate between highly feasible and unfeasible ideas. As such, these findings suggest that task exposure is beneficial to creative idea forecasting. Together, the results highlight the importance of carefully reconsidering whether people should be exposed to a task before evaluating others' ideas.

COVID-19 school closures and chemistry-related competencies: A study of German students transitioning from primary to secondary school

The COVID-19 pandemic led to temporary closures of schools around the world, resulting in a change from face-to-face teaching to distance teaching, which had been practiced minimally until then. In this study, we investigated the effects of pandemic-related school closures on students’ chemistry-related competencies, at the transition from primary to secondary school. We also explored the extent to which at-home or in-school data collection influenced the results. We measured the competencies of 2,262 students from grades 5 to 9 in Germany. Data collection took place before, during, and after the pandemic-related school closures, based on test booklets completed by students. The results showed that the competencies of students in Chemistry, who were taught in school before the closures, were similar to those of students who were taught via distance learning. Thus, students’ competencies were similar before and after the school closures. The school closures led to differences not only in teaching, but also in the way the data in this study was collected. During school closures, students worked on their test booklets at home, and before and after school closures, the data were collected at school. This also enabled us to examine the effects of the different data collection designs on the test scores. We found differences between the results of the test booklets completed at home, and those completed at school, only for younger students. For students in higher grades, there were no differences.

Mental health indicators and their lifestyle associations in German students: a gender-specific multivariable analysis

BackgroundStatistics show that the number of received psychosocial counselling sessions remains at a constantly high level or has even increased since the COVID-19 pandemic situation in 2020. The objective of this work is to identify factors associated with students’ mental health to improve prevention and promotion in mental health at universities.MethodsThe analyses were based on a cross-sectional data set collected by an online survey among 1,842 students from a German University of Applied Sciences in 2014. Descriptive statistics as well as nine different multiple linear regression models were calculated with IBM® SPSS® Statistics software. Mental health indicators used were mental health-related quality of life (mental HRQOL), depression, and anxiety, which were analysed in a gender-specific manner.ResultsThe analyses showed that the mean of the mental HRQOL score of the SF-36 for the student sample (46.68) was lower than the values for German (48.76) or American (51.34) norm samples. A key finding was the differences in mental health indicators between male and female students. Women reported worse mental health status in comparison to men. Female gender (ß of -.09; p < 0.01), age (ß of -1.05; p < 0.01), underweight (ß of -.09; p < 0.05), smoking (ß of -.10; p < 0.05) and drug consumption (ß of -.15; p < 0.001) were negatively associated with mental health indicators. In our sample, a moderate consumption of alcohol within the female population (ß of .12; p < 0.01) and physical activity within the male sample (ß of .09; p < 0.05) were positively associated with mental health indicators.ConclusionThe gender-specific differences of students’ mental health and its associations could be an important result for counselling services at universities to adjust methods according to gender. Contrary to the general societal perception, students have lower mental health than a norm sample even before the pandemic. Due to the additional mental stress caused by the pandemic, it can be assumed that mental health problems have increased even more. Universities should therefore pay more attention to the mental health of their students.

Investigating the characteristic delay time in the leader-follower behavior in children single-file movement

The single-file movement experiment offered a convenient way to investigate the one-dimensional leader–follower behavior of pedestrians. This study investigated the time delays of children pedestrians in the leader–follower behavior by introducing a time-dependent delayed speed correlation. A total of 118 German students from the fifth grade (aged 11–12 years old) and the 11th grade (aged 17–18 years old) participated the single-file experiment. The characteristic delay time for each pedestrian was identified by optimising the time-dependent delayed speed correlation. The influences of the curvature of the experimental scenario, density, age, and gender on the delay time were statistically examined. The results suggested that to a large extent, the revealed characteristic delay time was a density-dependent variable, and none of the curvatures, the age and gender of the individual, and the age and gender of the leader had a significant influence on it. The findings from this study are variable resources to understand the leader–follower behavior among children pedestrians and to build related simulation models.

Media Edpuzzle dalam Pembelajaran Menyimak Bahasa Jerman

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to determine and describe the effectiveness of using Edpuzzle media on the learning outcomes of listening to German students in class XI MIPA SMAN 8 Makassar. This type of research is a quasi-experimental design (non-equivalent control group design). The population of this research is the students of class XI MIPA SMAN 8 Makassar. The subjects of this study were students of class XI MIPA 3 as the experimental class and students of class XI MIPA 4 as the control class which were selected randomly (random sampling). The instrument in this study was a test consisting of multiple choice and true-false tests. Data analysis using the Independent sample t-test test shows the value of &gt; that is 2.610 &gt; 2.00665 and the value of Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) of 0.012 (p&lt;0.05)). That is, the results of this study indicate that the use of Edpuzzle is effective on the learning outcomes of listening to German for students in class XI SMAN 8 Makassar.

Examining and Improving the Gender and Language DIF in the VERA 8 Tests

The purpose of this study was to examine and improve differential item functioning (DIF) across gender and language groups in the VERA 8 tests. We used multigroup concurrent calibration with full and partial invariance based on the Rasch and two-parameter logistic (2PL) models, and classified students into proficiency levels based on their test scores and previously defined cut scores. The results indicated that some items showed gender- and language-specific DIF when using the Rasch model, but we did not detect large misfit items (suspected as DIF) when using the 2PL model. When the item parameters were estimated using the 2PL model with partial invariance assumption (PI-2PL), only small or negligible misfit items were found in the overall tests for both groups. It is argued in this study that the 2PL model should be preferred because both of its approaches provided less bias. However, especially in the presence of unweighted sample sizes of German and non-German students, the non-German students had the highest misfit item proportions. Although the items with medium or small misfit did not have a significant effect on the scores and performance classifications, the items with large misfit changed the proportions of students at the highest and lowest performance levels.

PERCEPTUAL-ARTICULATORY ASPECTS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF GERMAN-SPEAKING VARIATIVE COMPETENCE

The given article highlights a relevant question of methodology, namely, how well students who study German as a foreign language can distinguish national versions of German by ear. It is thus about the development of variable competence of students, as well as the level of tolerance for the perception of national versions of the German language. As it is known, since the 1980s, the German language has acquired the status of a pluricentric language with national centers located in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. On the one hand, there is the problem of insufficient level of development of perceptual competence of students in the perception of national versions of the German language, which is noted by many scholars, which determines the relevance of this study. On the other hand, however, it is necessary to take into account the target group and the level of students, so that the pluricentric approach does not become an additional burden in learning a foreign language. Our focus is on the language of the media, namely audio recordings of Austrian and federal German television. The study involved German students of the 4th and 8th semesters of study, who, after listening to audio recordings, filled out a questionnaire designed specifically for this study. During the first audition, it was necessary to establish the national version of the German language in which the news releases sound. The second task of the study was to establish pronunciation variants that especially distinguish the federal-German standard pronunciation from the Austrian national variant of the German language. As the results show, there is no doubt about the influence of the media language of Germany on some sound realizations. We can assume that it could be not only about linguistic, but also about complex psychological processes and ultimately about the persuasive influence of sound media language on the individual.

Stress development during emergency remote teaching in higher education

Higher education includes e-learning in addition to on-site learning. Still, the shift to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) as reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic in the summer semester 2020, presented a challenging situation for students. Cross-sectional studies pointed towards higher stress levels of students. However, only a few studies addressed the development of students' stress across several dimensions (joy, worry, tension, demands) within one semester. The current study analyzed trajectories of stress in ERT in relation to age, gender, digital readiness, and experience of loneliness, based on a sample of N = 2795 German students. Latent Growth Curve Models (LGCM) revealed a significant increase in demands, tension and worries and a decrease in joy during the summer term 2020. The development of tension and demands was influenced by age, gender, digital readiness, and loneliness. The decrease in joy and increase in worries could be primarily attributed to digital readiness and loneliness.

Education for Sustainable Development and Meaningfulness: Evidence from the Questionnaire of Eudaimonic Well-Being from German Students.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD, SDG 4) and human well-being (SDG 3) are among the central subjects of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this article, based on the Questionnaire for Eudaimonic Well-Being (QEWB), we investigate to what extent (a) there is a connection between EWB and practical commitment to the SDGs and whether (b) there is a deficit in EWB among young people in general. We also want to use the article to draw attention to the need for further research on the links between human well-being and commitment for sustainable development. A total of 114 students between the ages of 18 and 34, who are either engaged in (extra)curricular activities of sustainable development (28 students) or not (86 students), completed the QEWB. The students were interviewed twice: once regarding their current and their aspired EWB. Our results show that students who are actively engaged in activities for sustainable development report a higher EWB than non-active students. Furthermore, we show that students generally report deficits in EWB and wish for an improvement in their well-being. This especially applies to aspects of EWB related to self-discovery and the sense of meaning in life. Our study suggests that a practice-oriented ESD in particular can have a positive effect on the quality of life of young students and can support them in working on deficits in EWB.

School grades and students’ emotions: Longitudinal models of within-person reciprocal effects

Based on control-value theory, we expected reciprocal associations between school grades and students' achievement emotions. Existing research has employed between-person designs to examine links between grades and emotions, but has failed to analyze their within-person relations. Reanalyzing data used by Pekrun et al. (2017) for between-person analysis, we investigated within-person relations of students’ grades and emotions in mathematics over 5 school years (N = 3,425 German students from the PALMA longitudinal study; 50.0% female). The findings from random-intercept cross-lagged modeling show that grades positively predicted positive emotions within persons over time. These emotions, in turn, positively predicted grades. Grades were negative predictors of negative emotions, and these emotions, in turn, were negative predictors of grades. The within-person effects were largely equivalent to between-person relations of grades and emotions. Implications for theory, future research, and educational practice are discussed.

Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and suicidal ideation/behavior: The moderating effects of positive mental health and social support among Iranian and German students

AbstractSuicidal ideation and behavior are common in those suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The present study investigated factors buffering the association between PTSD symptoms and suicidal ideation/behavior. A total of 571 Iranian students and 421 German students took part in the investigation. Social support and positive mental health (PMH) were considered as resilience factors moderating the association between PTSD symptoms and suicide ideation/behavior within both samples. PMH moderated the impact of PTSD symptoms on suicidal ideation/behavior in Iranian and German students. Social support moderated the impact of PTSD symptoms on suicidal ideation/behavior in Iranian students only. Positive mental health and perceived social support seem to confer resilience and should be taken into account, when assessing individuals for suicide risk.

Is English the Culprit? Longitudinal Associations Between Students’ Value Beliefs in English, German, and French in Multilingual Switzerland

AbstractMotivational interactions during multiple language learning have been largely neglected in language motivation research. To fill this gap, we investigate longitudinal relations between Swiss German students’ value beliefs in English, French, and German in upper secondary schools and whether there are differences in motivational development between multilingual and monolingual students. Multivariate latent growth modeling was used to analyze data from 850 students (Mage = 15.61 years, SD = .62; 54% female) gathered yearly from Grades 9 to 11. Results suggest an interference between students’ value beliefs in English and the other 2 languages. Students who reported higher value beliefs in English in Grade 9 showed steeper decreases in their value beliefs for French and German from Grades 9 to 11. However, stronger increases in English value beliefs over time were associated with stronger increases in French and German value beliefs. Moreover, while multilingual students reported higher initial value beliefs in French and English, they also showed steeper decreases in French and English value beliefs over time compared to their monolingual peers. Findings are discussed in relation to their implications for teaching practice and future research directions.