Intensive Language Course Research Articles

Avrupa Ortak Dil Çerçeve Programı Kapsamında Açılan Erasmus Yoğun Dil Kurslarının Dil Öğrenimi Bağlamında İncelenmesi

The language learning process is a process that will continue throughout life and can be repeated and renewed at any age that individuals need. It is expected that carrying a language passport will be mandatory for every European citizen thanks to the right of free movement and work trail obtained together with full membership in the European Union. In other words, if people who find a job in any European country show this passport to the employer, they will have the opportunity to work in that country, and the languages and levels that individuals know will be indicated in the language passport. If a person with a language passport knows the language of the country in which he wants to live, it is expected that he will get a residence and work permit in that country more quickly. In this study, the studies conducted and ongoing studies related to the Intensive Turkish Language Course of the Erasmus Program were discussed. It should be remembered that there are various exchange programs related to different fields and sub-fields besides Erasmus. The number of participants coming to Turkey within the scope of these programs is increasing every day. English French Turkish German One of the services to be provided to these participants is the service of teaching Turkish as a foreign language which is considered to be a less spoken and less taught language apart from modern languages (English, German and French) today. The Council of the European Union, which has adopted lifelong learning as a principle with the E-European action plan, attaches great importance to language development as well as cultural development. For this reason, as in all other areas of education, it is believed that it will be useful to strengthen the information infrastructure and ensure coordination on a national basis in order to effectively use information technologies in education in the teaching of Turkish as a foreign language within the scope of European Union Education and Youth programs. Key Words: European Common Language Framework Program, Erasmus Intensive Language Course, Language Learning

Teaching resilience in fragile times

Teaching resilience in fragile times

A Critical Study of Intensive Language Courses at the Private Universities in Bangladesh: Goals and Achievements

This study examines the goals and achievements of Intensive Language Courses (ILC) at Private Universities in Bangladesh. It focuses on how the students develop four linguistic skills— the art of critical reading, elegant writing, fluent speaking, and empathic listening; their performance in appearing for the examination and professionally dealing with the public audience. It also emphasizes how effectively the learners acquire communicative competence in English and the challenges they face in learning it. The researcher has followed the descriptive method for collecting qualitative and quantitative data. Besides, the researcher has employed questionnaires and interview methods to determine the objectives, findings, and limitations of ILC. The paper highlights the expert suggestions to learners and why they must follow the ILC to foster a strong local, regional and global network; develop professionalism in academic, corporate, and social life. Finally, based on the findings, the study intends to provide recommendations to ensure the effective implementation of ILC at Private Universities in Bangladesh.

Chinese students’ motivation for learning German and French in an intensive non-degree programme

This paper reports on a mixed method study that examined the motivation of 121 students in a 1-year intensive language course in German or French at a Chinese university. Drawing on Dörnyei’s (2009) theory of the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS), a survey was conducted to explore their motivation to learn German or French. Regression analyses revealed that learning experience and promotion-focused instrumentality were the predictors for the German learners’ intended learning effort, while ideal L2 self was the predictor for the French learners’ motivation. Furthermore, ought-to self, culture/community interest and prevention-focused instrumentality were excluded in both regression models. In addition, 17 participants’ qualitative data in the interviews suggested that most of them had lower expectations for the value of German or French than for the value of English in improving one’s employability. Instead, they were much more oriented to learn and appreciate the cultural values of these languages. The results provided insight into the complexity of motivation to learn Languages Other than English (LOTEs) in the university context in China, and suggested future direction for research on LOTE learning motivation

(Re)sources for Intercultural Dialogue between Hungary and Greece

This article addresses the concept of preserving cultural heritage by looking at the flourishing historical and cultural links between Hungary and Byzantium and at their modern manifestations. Since the 1980s and 1990s both Hungary and Greece have organised intensive language and cultural education courses for foreign nationals and those with Hungarian and Greek ancestry to promote intercultural dialogue. In addition to discussing the historical bonds that date back millennia, this article also outlines the sources and resources used to maintain Hungarian and Greek cultural characteristics. It demonstrates some of the best practices of Greek language and culture programmes offered, which serve the notion of the continued survival and flourishment of European cultural heritage.

학부 외국인 유학생을 위한 한국어 교양교육과정의 문제점 및 제안: 단국대학교 한국어 집중과정을 중심으로

학부 외국인 유학생을 위한 한국어 교양교육과정의 문제점 및 제안: 단국대학교 한국어 집중과정을 중심으로

The Effect of an Intensive Language Course on Students' Linguistic Performance at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia

The Effect of an Intensive Language Course on Students' Linguistic Performance at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia

The Effect of an Intensive Language Course on Students' Linguistic Performance at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia

This study aims to investigate the effect of an intensive language course at Majmaah University on improving students' linguistic repertoires. It also explores the perceptions of instructors at Majmaah University on students' performance after the intensive language course. The study also addressed the following questions: 1-To what extent did the intensive language course at Majmaah University improve students' linguistic repertoires? 2-How do instructors at Majmaah University react towards students' linguistic repertoires after the intensive language course? To achieve the set objectives: the study used a mixed-of qualitative and quantitative method. A total of 283 students participated in the study experiments, and eight instructors responded to the interview questions. A paired samples t-test was used to evaluate the students’ scores before and after the three-month program. The findings revealed that the students scored significantly higher on the post-test. Qualitative data also showed that improvement was not limited to their linguistic repertoires but also applied to their personal skills.

Stuart Levine (1932–2016)

Stuart Levine (1932–2016)

Global Tourism and Language Learning: the Study Abroad Sector

Over the years, the globalisation of tourism has seen new players entering in the competition arena. The competition in the industry is high with offers of many products and travel experiences. The buyer decision is mostly influenced by the experience needed in a specific moment of the life. Audiences can be grouped in bubbles formed by niches of customers with same needs and intentions. The audience in the bubbles is temporary and the movement from a bubble to another depends by the needs at a specific stage of their life. In the last decade, we have observed an increase in the demand from people wishing to learn a foreign language, as a result there has been a corresponding increase in demand for holidays which include intensive language courses. A new profile of tourist is nowadays active and the tourism industry has seen the entrance of strong competitors that can offer a leisure product with a surplus: the language learning. The paper gives an overview of the dynamics of the sector and how it contributes to the growth of the global tourism industry.

The Effectiveness of Synchronous Videoconferencing on the Oral Proficiency of Novice Language Learners

This paper investigated the extent to which videoconferencing-supported distance L2 instruction would have an impact on adult learners’ attainment of Korean and Chinese in terms of L2 oral language skills. Many relevant studies on videoconferencing mainly reported findings obtained from pilot projects. Meanwhile, research on videoconferencing use in regular L2 learning class remains relatively unfledged. In order to address such a research gap, this study reported the findings of adult learners’ L2 oral language development via synchronous videoconferencing. Novice Korean and Chinese L2 learners participated in L2 oral proficiency tests and a survey after they studied their target languages over an intensive 120-hour language course mainly using videoconferencing. The results of the pre-test and post-test suggest that there was a significant increase in both Korean and Chinese learners’ L2 oral performances, achieving higher proficiency levels. The findings of a survey also show that they seemed to perceive benefits of having the videoconferencing as a distance L2 languagelearning tool. This study suggests that videoconferencing could provide novice L2 learners with learning environments to develop their L2 oral proficiency.

Deconstructing Cultural Stereotypes to Improve International Students' Interculturality

Malaysian Pre-France programmes prepare Malaysian students to study at a French university. Students are prepared in intensive language courses, as well as mathematics and science in line with the French curriculum. The teaching staff members include French citizens and other nationals, native and non-native speakers, members of the ethnic minorities from France. Malaysia itself is a multicultural country and highly diverse in terms of language, ethnicity, religion, etc. The authors' expectations were that the convergence of these French-speaking lecturers with students from a ‘culturally' diverse environment would entail a certain form of fluidity in approaching the ‘culture' of the host destination. However, their experiences during the required DELF, a diploma awarded by the French Ministry of Education to prove the French-language skills of non-French candidates, demonstrate that the representations of France remain rather static and ‘traditional'. Such representations generate some anxiety for the students before they travel abroad. In an attempt to evaluate the impact of these representations and the students' readiness to meet ‘culturally different others', the authors conducted a small scale experiment with final semester students who were about to leave for France two months. They first administrated a questionnaire to 21 students for the purpose of revealing the students' latent representations of their host destination. The participants then followed a lecture in order to deconstruct their original representations, and asked to write a report in French on this experiment. Results show that the long-term exposure to ‘visible' diverse speakers has little effect on the participants in terms of moving away from cultural stereotypes, but that a relatively short but explicit intervention has a rather significant impact on the participants' representations. The authors conclude that only a pro-active, deconstructive and explicit course of action can enable learners to move away from widespread stereotypes, and that a fluid intercultural awareness on the part of lecturers is crucial.

Teaching a foreign/second language in a multicultural classroom: a graded proposal for the level of basic user (A1/A2 Erasmus intensive language course)

Teaching a foreign/second language in a multicultural classroom: a graded proposal for the level of basic user (A1/A2 Erasmus intensive language course)

Novelty, Challenge, and Practice: The Impact of Intensive Language Learning on Attentional Functions.

We investigated the impact of a short intensive language course on attentional functions.We examined 33 participants of a one-week Scottish Gaelic course and compared them to 34 controls: 16 active controls who participated in courses of comparable duration and intensity but not involving foreign language learning and 18 passive controls who followed their usual routines. Participants completed auditory tests of attentional inhibition and switching. There was no difference between the groups in any measures at the beginning of the course. At the end of the course, a significant improvement in attention switching was observed in the language group (p < .001) but not the control group (p = .127), independent of the age of participants (18–78 years). Half of the language participants (n = 17) were retested nine months after their course. All those who practiced Gaelic 5 hours or more per week improved from their baseline performance. In contrast, those who practiced 4 hours or fewer showed an inconsistent pattern: some improved while others stayed the same or deteriorated. Our results suggest that even a short period of intensive language learning can modulate attentional functions and that all age groups can benefit from this effect. Moreover, these short-term effects can be maintained through continuous practice.

Model of the Development of Language Competences for Tourism

Abstract The article describes a proposed concept and implementation of individual intensive personalized language courses, such as Course of Meetings and Guiding in Eco and Geotourism, for the students of Management of Tourism within the project of Interdisciplinary, information-cognitive, linguistic and modular development of study (IKLIM) run at the Faculty of Informatics and Management in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. The author explores aims, identification of participant's needs, content, study materials development, distribution of study materials and evaluation of the individual courses in compliance with the requirements of the Common European Reference Framework for languages and overall project goals. All these highly specialized courses are run in three different languages: English, German and Spanish.

Peer Effects in Language Training for Migrants

We investigate the relation between peer group composition and language improvement in language classes for adults. Using unique survey data of migrants participating in an intensive language course in Germany, we find that the age and skill composition of groups is related to differences in skill acquisition as assessed by the teacher. Moreover, groups that are more heterogenuous in terms of regions of origin on average obtain improvements in language skills with a higher probability.

An Investigation into European Learners’ Needs with Regards to Turkish as a Foreign Language

The purpose of this research is to determine the content topics, language skills, learning environments, learning preferences, teaching-learning materials, in-class activities, out-of-class activities, and the teaching and assessment methods that are needed by the European learners of Turkish as a foreign language (TFL). The paper also aimed to discover the European language learners' level of interest in Turkish and reasons to learn it as a foreign language. The research was conducted with 137 European learners who were attending a Turkish language program called the Erasmus Intensive Language Course (EILC) at four state universities in Turkey in the 2013- 2014 academic year. Data was collected using a needs analysis questionnaire. The results revealed that learners were highly interested and motivated in learning TFL. It was also seen that the learners preferred speaking activities, the correction of oral mistakes by the teacher and grammar exercises in the language learning process.

University teaching experience with the electronic European Language Portfolio: an innovation for the promotion of plurilingualism and interculturality / Experiencia docente universitaria con el Portfolio Europeo de Lenguas electrónico: una innovación para la promoción del plurilingüismo y la interculturalidad

This article describes the teaching experience gained from the introduction of the Spanish electronic European Language Portfolio (eELP+14) in the university teaching of the Erasmus Intensive Language Course (EILC) within the Vives Network of Universities. The aim was to seek the views of teachers during their first experimental work with undergraduates in relation to their learning of Catalan culture and language. A pilot study was carried out following a mixed methods methodology, with a QUAN+qual design, through two online ad hoc questionnaires (pretest-posttest). Overall, the tool has been assessed positively with regard to pedagogical aspects (reflection and self-evaluation of the Biography) and communication aspects (the linguistic profile of the Passport), although some difficulties have been highlighted concerning the time students need to dedicate to it and the amount of time they actually have, as well as the need to introduce technological and linguistic improvements. On the one hand, the eELP is recognized as an educational innovation which is entirely suitable for the current university context, and on the other hand, it is considered to have only a moderate influence in the learning of languages and cultures.

THE PENSIVE CITADEL

6 7 R T H E P E N S I V E C I T A D E L V I C T O R B R O M B E R T The early morning hours were the most di≈cult. Lying in bed, I would count the future sabbaticals the way some count how many springs they may still live to see. In the rented room next to the funeral parlor, I imagined the black limousines lining up in the adjacent driveway, ready to convey their co≈ned loads to the town’s periphery. Thoughts drifted. It was di≈cult enough on drizzly days, but more di≈cult still when the early rays of the sun intruded with insistent irony. Half awake, I was afraid to fall asleep again and not make it in time all the way to Phelps Hall. I had already been late several times, and as a teaching graduate student I was vulnerable to occasional inspections. Yet I enjoyed facing my students. As for sabbaticals, they were at that stage only distant mirages. At the present it was fun to make my freshmen repeat ‘‘C’est rond, c’est long, c’est bon,’’ the slightly salacious words uttered with inescapable innuendo by the fictional Mireille in the Méthode orale we used as a textbook in this intensive language course. That was more than sixty years ago. Presently, the emeritus professor seated on a bench with a missing slat in the Parc Monceau , at the edge of the 8th Arrondissement, muses on the actual 6 8 B R O M B E R T Y sabbaticals that punctuated his academic life. A film in rewind. The self takes on the features of a character in a third-person narration. He and I absorb impressions of the park: the fake ruined colonnades, the duck-filled pond, the groomed flowerbeds, the couples snuggling on nearby benches, the jocose groups munching their luncheon sandwiches on the grass, the neoclassical rotunda that was once a toll station at the entrance of Paris and now houses public toilets. On my bench, I ponder the meaning of the word sabbatical. It pleases me to think that beyond the obvious reference to an extended academic leave every seven years (with luck, more often) for the purpose of renewal and research, the word had more venerable meanings associated with the number seven: the seventh day of creation, when the Lord rested; the seventh day of the week, meant to be a day of repose, reverence, and spiritual meditation; the seventh year during which the land was to remain untilled and allowed to rest according to religious law, and all debts remitted . As for the word sabbath, it carried slightly perverse and therefore seductive undertones, referring as it does to demonic nocturnal revels. Somehow sabbatical had become for me a metaphor evoking the broader joys of life. In a sense, my academic existence began in a sabbatical mode. An entire year on a Fulbright Fellowship in Rome to finish my dissertation on Stendhal, the great lover of Italy. In that immediate post–World War II year, Rome was still awaking from nightmarish times recorded in neorealistic films such as Roberto Rossellini ’s Rome, Open City and Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thieves. Peace had returned, but Italians were profoundly divided as the new Cold War intensified. Riot squads in jeeps – the celere created by the minister of the interior, Mario Scelba, known as the ‘‘Iron Sicilian’’ – were protecting the U.S. Embassy and suppressing left-wing manifestations as well as neofascist rallies. But by 1950, Rome once again began to transcend contemporary history, and the newly wed Fulbright couple, in quest of historic perspectives and poetic sensations, were discovering the legendary hills of the eternal city, but also the more popular quarters, as Bettina and I followed the footsteps of Stendhal, using his Promenades dans Rome as guide and inspiration. Our walks often led us up to the church of San Pietro in Mon- T H E P E N S I V E C I T A D E L 6 9 R torio on the Janiculum. There was...

Introducing High-Tech Translation at Undergraduate Level to Enhance Students' Language Competence and Awareness

This study investigates the impact of introducing teaching of translation at the undergraduate level by the Department of English &amp; Translation, Faculty of Science &amp; Arts, King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia with the aim of exploring and developing aspects of communicative competence and language awareness. The study is applied to 1st year students studying science subjects and humanities. The research hypotheses have been tested against a sample group of 40 respondents out of 160 students. The researchers explored a number of linguistic and non-linguistic, namely socio-cultural factors responsible for the students’ lowering standards of language proficiency. Then an intensive language course to acquire the requisite basic skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking was designed in order to place the students at a reasonable position to init