English Proficiency Standards Research Articles

IMPACTS OF EXTERNAL FACTORS ON ENGLISH PROFICIENCY AMONG TOURISM STUDENTS BASED ON ASEAN TOURISM CURRICULUM

This study is aimed to investigate external factors that hinder the students' attainment of English proficiency in the Common ASEAN Tourism Curriculum. The study was conducted on tourism students in AKN Lombok Barat. The study used a descriptive qualitative method and the data was gained through competency-based assessment and questionnaire for the students in three subdivisions; Hotel Accommodation, Food Beverages, and Hotel Engineering. The findings showed that several factors hinder the students' achievement of English proficiency standards externally. The external factors comprise the unsupportive college cultural factors; the dominant use of the mother tongue; the lack of English facilities in the college, such as an English listening laboratory to support the learning process; the limited learning hours for English subjects: the lecturers have limited interaction in English, especially outside the classroom; the lecturer has limited strategies in their teaching method, especially in practicing English for specific purposes like in tourism.

FAKTOR EKSTERNAL PENGHAMBAT PENCAPAIAN STANDAR KECAKAPAN BAHASA INGGRIS PADA MAHASISWA PARIWISATA BERDASARKAN COMMON ASEAN TOURISM CURRICULUM

This study is aimed to investigate external factors that hinder the students' attainment of English proficiency in the Common ASEAN Tourism Curriculum. The study was conducted on tourism students in AKN Lombok Barat. The study used a descriptive qualitative method and the data was gained through competency-based assessment and questionnaire for the students in three subdivisions; Hotel Accommodation, Food Beverages, and Hotel Engineering. The findings showed that several factors hinder the students' achievement of English proficiency standards externally. The external factors comprise the unsupportive college cultural factors; the dominant use of the mother tongue; the lack of English facilities in the college, such as an English listening laboratory to support the learning process; the limited learning hours for English subjects: the lecturers have limited interaction in English, especially outside the classroom; the lecturer has limited strategies in their teaching method, especially in practicing English for specific purposes like in tourism

Perceptions of Non-English Major Students on English Proficiency Standards and CEFR-V in Tertiary Education in Vietnam

Vietnam’s education system has made significant efforts to enhance foreign language proficiency, particularly in English, across all levels of training. In recent years, although many educational policies and projects, typically National Foreign Language Project have been promulgated and widely applied, there are still gaps and limitations. One of them is the lack of research on the beliefs and understanding of students who are most deeply affected by the English graduation standard policies. This paper aims to examine non-English major undergraduates’ understanding of the CEFR-V (a Vietnamese version of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and their beliefs about the current implementation of the English proficiency standards to university students in Vietnam. The study collected data from 122 students from a large university in Vietnam. Descriptive statistics indicate that while the participants possess sufficiently positive beliefs about the implementation of the national proficiency standards for undergraduate students, there are still concerns about standardization and differentiation. Additionally, the students are found to have limited knowledge and low usage of the CEFR-V. Thereby, some suggestions were made to improve the foreign language policy and optimize students' learning outcomes.

Perceptual Mismatch Between Meso and Macro Policy at Tokyo International University

Educational policies of Japanese institutions of higher education regarding English language instruction have looked at both macro and micro level variables. Through conducting interviews researchers gained knowledge of how or if institutions portray their standards to students and staff and how those goals are displayed through curriculum. This research showed a disconnect between the stated goals and in class instruction. While the researchers looked at overall disconnects, none looked at specific universities and their programs. My study aims to fill that gap, focusing on a university known for its international approach to learning. The intention is to find if there is a perceptual mismatch between documented university English proficiency standards at Tokyo International University (TIU) and what is communicated with students. This investigation explores how (or if) their goals are communicated and if the students believe they are able to communicate in English conversational settings.

Internal Factors Hindering the attainment of English Proficiency in ASEAN Common Competency Standard

This study is aimed to investigate internal factors hindering the attainment of English proficiency standards in the Common ASEAN Tourism Curriculum. The study was conducted to tourism students. The study used a descriptive qualitative method and the data were gained through questionnaires for the students in three sub-divisions; Hotel Accommodation, Food and Beverage, and Hotel Engineering. The findings showed that there are several internal factors that hinder the attainment of English proficiency standards. The internal factors include the lack of confidence to use English in interaction in the learning process and outside the class; the minimum ability to reach general English and English proficiency standards; the monotonous learning style in learning English; the lack of self-esteem in case of following the learning process by doing an assignment or practicing; the limited exploration and use of knowledge about English terms based on their subdivision; the lack of intrinsic motivation as the reason to improve their skill in English; the passive attitude by the students toward learning process of English subject.
 
 Keywords: English proficiency standard; Common ASEAN Tourism Curriculum; internal factors

Personalized College English Learning Based on Deep Learning under the Background of Big Data.

Generally, in-depth learning has been extensively employed in numerous industries to enhance the growth of economic globalization since the dawn of the big data age. At the same time, the demand for foreign language talent has risen dramatically, and more and more businesses are steadily raising their English proficiency standards. International interactions, as well as scientific and technical exchanges, are influenced by English communicating competence. As a result, colleges and universities place a high value on students studying English. However, English learning is also a compulsory course in Colleges and universities, which is different from other courses. Therefore, in setting teaching objectives, arranging teaching activities, and compiling teaching contents, we should highlight students' personalized needs and formulate learning plans in combination with the individual requirements of each student. Aiming at this problem, this paper adopts the deep learning method to study the personalized learning of College English. Deep learning algorithm utilization in the development of college students' English learning reduces teachers' workload and focuses more on students' personalized needs, which is beneficial to teachers' teaching and students' learning. By analyzing the deep learning neural network model, the process of English speech recognition is described, and the characteristic parameters of English speech are extracted. Then compare and explain the characteristics of deep learning and shallow learning, analyze the relationship between them, and clarify the route of deep learning. Finally, the effect of College Students' personalized learning is analyzed by random sampling, and the effect of College English personalized learning based on deep learning is explained from two aspects: listening effect and reading practice.

Comparative Study Between International and Domestic English Proficiency Standards From a Diachronic Perspective

This paper intends to explore the relationship between international English-language proficiency scales and the English teaching syllabus for domestic universities by comparing their objectives, standards and definitions of proficiency. The results show that the development of English proficiency standards in China is always accompanied by the evolution of international language proficiency theory, and combined with its practical application in various countries. It is suggested that the college-level standard of English proficiency in China should be set based on the research of domestic and international scholars and organizations on language proficiency scales. At the same time, by drawing lessons from proficiency scales and adapting them to the English language scales used in China, a standard, comprehensive language proficiency system for teaching English can be established.

Analyzing a faculty learning community strategy based on a process-genre approach supported by videos to develop the writing competence of English teaching students

ABSTRACT The primary purpose of this inquiry is to analyze the impacts of a teaching and learning strategy designed and implemented by a Chilean Faculty Learning Community (FLC) intended to develop the writing competence of student-teachers of an English Teaching Program. The FLC-led strategy was implemented through an eight-step cycle based on the process-genre approach and supported by educational videos. FLC members guided this cycle during writing sessions at the four levels of the English Linguistic Competence course at Universidad Católica de Temuco. The FLC implemented this experience to address the challenge of serving diverse students’ learning needs and meet the requirements of the national English proficiency standards required by the Chilean Ministry of Education. The FLC examined this experience focusing on students’ writing tasks results and their perceptions of the use of videos in the process, oriented by an impact and evaluation framework of teaching innovations and an action research design. The ages of trainee English teachers who participated in this innovation range between 18 and 22 years old. Students’ writing tests results were analyzed and compared to the suggested CEFR outcomes per level. Moreover, students shared their perceptions towards the use of videos through focus groups. Results show that most students improved their writing performance, especially in content and organization. Furthermore, students perceived that videos helped them contextualize their writing process and contribute as a support resource embedded in classroom activities. Overall, this experience helped the FLC members identify changes resulting from the innovations and areas of improvement.

English Language Use in Malaysian Government and Private Civil Engineering Workplaces

Employers in the engineering sector require certain standard of English proficiency among their employees as the language is widely used for numerous job scopes. In order to understand the current demand of the civil engineering industry on the use of the English language in the workplace, this study was conducted on 20 undergraduates of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia who undertook the industrial training. Based on focus group discussions, the participants learned and shared significant use of English language through their industrial training experience. The findings of the study highlighted the activities that were conducted in English for speaking, listening, reading and writing including the language skills. In addition, the amount of time spent on each activity in English was also identified in understanding the importance of English language in the civil engineering sector. The findings of the study are vital in making informed decisions for the design and development of appropriate English language courses for present and future civil engineering students.

Dynamic pedobarography in evaluation of prone and neutral foot in adolescent

This discussion paper focuses on English proficiency standards for nursing registration in Australia, how Australia has dealt with the issue of language proficiency, and the factors which have led to the establishment of the current language standards. Also, this paper will provide a comparison of the two language tests that are currently accepted in Australia (OET and IELTS), including the appropriateness of these tests and the minimum standards used. The paper will also examine the use of educational background as an indicator of language proficiency. Finally, communication-based complaints in the post-registration environment will be explored, and some discussion will be provided about why pre-registration measures might have failed to prevent such problematic situations from occurring.

Language proficiency and nursing registration

This discussion paper focuses on English proficiency standards for nursing registration in Australia, how Australia has dealt with the issue of language proficiency, and the factors which have led to the establishment of the current language standards. Also, this paper will provide a comparison of the two language tests that are currently accepted in Australia (OET and IELTS), including the appropriateness of these tests and the minimum standards used. The paper will also examine the use of educational background as an indicator of language proficiency. Finally, communication-based complaints in the post-registration environment will be explored, and some discussion will be provided about why pre-registration measures might have failed to prevent such problematic situations from occurring.

Standards-based classroom assessments of English proficiency: A review of issues, current developments, and future directions for research

With the United States’ adoption of a standards-based approach to education, most attention has focused on the large-scale, high-stakes assessments intended to measure students’ mastery of standards for accountability purposes. Less attention has been paid to the role of standards-based assessments in the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to discuss key issues and challenges related to the use of standards-based classroom assessments to assess English language learners’ English proficiency. First, the paper describes a study of a standards-based classroom assessment of English proficiency in a large urban school district in California. Second, using this study as an example and drawing from the literature in language testing on classroom assessment, this paper highlights the major issues and challenges involved in using English proficiency standards as the basis for classroom assessment. Finally, the article outlines a research agenda for the field given current developments in the areas of English proficiency standards and classroom assessment.

Language ability and adjustment: Western expatriates in China

AbstractAlthough the standard of English proficiency is rising in China, using English in conversations with Chinese host nationals may be difficult. Therefore, proficiency in the Chinese language may promote the adjustment of foreign business expatriates in China. To test this proposition, a mail survey was directed to Western business expatriates assigned to China. Controlling for the time expatriates had spent in China, results showed that their language ability had a positive association with their sociocultural adjustment. Not surprisingly, this positive relationship was strongest for interaction adjustment and weakest for work adjustment. The straightforward implications of these clear findings are discussed in detail. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.