Taiwanese College Research Articles

From frustration to enlightenment: experiences of student exchange program awardees in Taiwan

Background: This qualitative study investigates the experiences of international students’ exchange who faced difficulties in adjusting to their new environment. They experienced awkwardness in the use of advanced equipment from technology and in various cultural aspects. This study investigates two Indonesian students who participated for a semester at a Taiwanese university. It aims to explore the Indonesian student exchange program awardees’ experiences by examining both the obstacles and benefits of attending the Taiwanese university. Methods: This study used qualitative data analysis. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview, informal participant observations, and a set of open and closed-ended questions. Two Indonesian undergraduate students who belonged to the same major, year, and university were recruited to participate in this study. Results: Challenges and Benefits are the two major themes in this research. Challenges include: (1) Departure and journey; (2) Difficulties in settling in; (3) Inability to use technology facilities. Benefits include: (1) Meeting new people and exploring new places; and (2) 21 st-century classroom environments. Conclusions: Despite the challenges that are associated with being students exchange awardee, there are vast opportunities for self-development and learning that is associated with teaching from the 21st-century classroom pedagogy.

Developing and Validating a Computerized Adaptive Testing System for Measuring the English Proficiency of Taiwanese EFL University Students

ABSTRACT Prompted by Taiwanese university students’ increasing demand for English proficiency assessment, the absence of a test designed specifically for this demographic subgroup, and the lack of a localized and freely-accessible proficiency measure, this project set out to develop and validate a computerized adaptive English proficiency testing (E-CAT) system for Taiwanese EFL university students. Drawing on the guidelines posited by L2 testing specialists, we devised and followed a six-stage procedure to develop this E-CAT system: determining the test purpose, defining the construct, developing the test items, designing the administration processes, performing the field testing, and constructing the E-CAT system. Upon its completion, we performed two validation studies on the simulated data and as such offered the backing for the generalization inference and the explanation inference, which combined to lend support for the validity argument for the E-CAT score-based interpretations and uses. This project highlighted the importance of test localization, foregrounded the utility of computerized adaptive testing and item response theory in language test development and validation, and generated a localized, free-of-charge English proficiency test for Taiwanese university students to satisfy the graduation benchmark requirement and/or to demonstrate their English proficiency levels when job hunting.

Interrelationships Between Psychosocial, Motivational, and Psychological Processes for Effective Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Study.

We tested a theoretical-conceptual model that introduced our recently developed psychological concept, termed as psychological processes, which is defined as “a person’s continuing frame of mind to focus on disposition toward strong resolute, structured thoughts and organization, and aspiration to strive for educational success.” This proposition is innovative as it considers the notion that a person’s mindset is malleable and, importantly, subjects to social experiences derived from a situated social context. Moreover, from our definition, we contend that psychological processes, as a distinct construct, is “latent,” or underlying, with three comparable psychological attributes: personal resolve, effective functioning, and personal striving. Our conceptualization, acknowledging the importance of social contexts and individualized experience and personal belief, proposed that perceived social experiences (i.e., positive versus negative), as a source of information, would shape a student’s psychological processes, his/her state of motivation, and engagement in different types of adaptive outcomes. Moreover, from our point of view, psychological processes would act as a predictor as well as a potential mediator of motivation and engagement in different types of adaptive outcomes. In a similar vein, from the positive effect of psychological processes, motivation could act as a predictor as well as a mediator of adaptive outcomes. Structural equation modeling, from Taiwanese university students’ (N = 739) responses to various Likert-scale measures, showed support for our original a priori model – for example, the positive effects of perceived social experiences on psychological processes (β = 0.81, p < 0.001) motivation (β = 0.61, p < 0.001), and adaptive outcomes (β = 0.36, p < 0.01), and the positive effect of psychological processes on motivation (β = 0.31, p < 0.01). Interestingly, we also found some interesting findings with regard to the effects of measured indicators – for example, the positive effect of personal resolve, as a measured indicator, on adaptive outcomes (β = 0.28, p < 0.001), and the effect of self-efficacy, as a measured indicator, on academic liking experience, also a measured indicator (β = 0.12, p < 0.01). Overall, the results established have a wide range of implications for consideration – for example, the development of an educational program and/or instructional design that could promote and foster positive learning experiences.

Expanding Protection Motivation Theory to Explain Willingness of COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake among Taiwanese University Students.

Vaccination appears to be one of the effective strategies to control the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the challenge of vaccine hesitancy may lower the uptake rate and affect overall vaccine efficacy. Being a low-risk group in terms of serious consequences of infection, university students may possess low motivation to get vaccinated. Therefore, an expanded Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) incorporating perceived knowledge, adaptive response, and maladaptive response was proposed to investigate the COVID-19 vaccination intention among Taiwanese university students. University students (n = 924; 575 males; mean age = 25.29 years) completed an online survey during January to February 2021. The proposed expanded PMT model was examined using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that perceived knowledge was significantly associated with coping appraisal (standardized coefficient (β) = 0.820; p < 0.001), and coping appraisal was significantly associated with adaptive response (β = 0.852; p < 0.001), maladaptive response (β = 0.300; p < 0.001) and intention (β = 0.533; p = 0.009). Moreover, maladaptive response (β = −0.173; p = 0.001) but not adaptive response (β = 0.148; p = 0.482) was significantly and negatively associated with intention. The present study’s results demonstrated a positive path between perceived knowledge, coping appraisal, and intention among university students. Therefore, improving knowledge among this population may increase the intention to uptake the vaccine.

Exploring the relationships of achievement motivation and state anxiety to creative writing performance in English as a foreign language

This study aimed to investigate whether English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners’ creative writing performance was correlated with their achievement motivation and state anxiety and could be predicted by these two factors. Data were collected from seventy-one Taiwanese university students who took part in an English creative writing task. In this activity, the students completed the Questionnaire on Motivation Toward Verbal Creativity in English, the State Anxiety Inventory, and a creative story. Their stories were compared and each story was rated by four university English teachers to yield a content creativity score and a language accuracy score. Both scores were further combined as a total score of creative writing performance. Results indicated significantly negative correlations between achievement motivation and state anxiety and between state anxiety and creative writing performance. Only state anxiety alone could significantly predict creative writing performance, suggesting that the students who felt less anxious tended to perform better on the story-writing task. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications are discussed regarding how English L2 teachers can support learners’ creative writing by dealing with their anxiety.

Taiwanese EFL learners’ English proficiency, intercultural competence, and willingness to communicate

Although issues on intercultural competence and willingness to communicate have been largely studied, most studies focused on learners’ personality traits, motivation, or communication apprehension as affected factors. The significant relationship between intercultural competence, willingness to communicate, and learners’ English proficiency was less addressed. This study hereby examined the relationship of these three. It drew on quantitative research by employing a questionnaire to 409 Taiwanese college freshmen studying at one Taiwanese university (216 high- &amp; 193 low-English-proficiency). A printed questionnaire of fifty-two items with the use of the five-point Likert-scale was adopted. The result showed significant differences between high- and low-proficiency students’ intercultural competence and willingness to communicate. Students of high English proficiency showed more intercultural competence and willingness to communicate. They demonstrated sophistication in operating their skills of intercultural competence and were more confident in communicating with people of different cultures in English. This study also found that learners’ growth of intercultural competence and willingness to communicate were interconnected per se; this interconnectedness was evident on both high- and low-proficiency groups. This study adds new threads to relevant studies and suggests that language teachers seek ways to enhance their students’ intercultural competence and willingness to communicate.

SOUNDS ELISION BY TAIWANESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN PRONOUNCING ENGLISH PHRASES

The study aims to figure out the phonological variations of sounds elision realized by Taiwanese university students in pronouncing several English phrases. Eight native Taiwanese students were chosen to support the analysis of the study. They consisted of 8 males and 8 females from the college of humanities and literature of Chung Chen University and from the faculty of foreign languages of Asia University, Taiwan. The study used a descriptive qualitative design. According to Ary, Jacob and Sorensen (2010), qualitative researchers seek to understand a phenomenon by focusing on the total picture rather than breaking it down into variables. The goal is a holistic picture and depth of understanding rather than a numeric analysis of data. After analyzing the data, it was found that the pronunciation of the elision of initial /h/, final /t/ and final /d/ sound realized by the Taiwanese university students were varied. Some still pronounced them and some elided them.

Taiwanese Higher Education in Times of Change: The Implications of the New Policy 2018

Abstract This paper explores the potential consequences of the Higher Education Sprout Project (hesp) announced by the Ministry of Education (moe) in March 2018. In the fast-changing global arena of higher education, the Taiwanese government is striving for excellence in the performance of its higher education. Together with other East Asian countries like Japan, Korea, and Singapore, Taiwan officially entered the competition of global university ranking in 2006 when the government initiated the first round of the Aim for Top University Project (atup). After two five-year atup rounds, moe reviewed the results and started to revise the policy. Consequently, hesp was proposed and implemented. In this paper, we explicate the context of changing higher education landscape in Taiwan since 1994, the year the most recent education reform started. The discussion then moves to the issues emerging from the nationwide atup project. During the ten years of atup, most Taiwanese universities were influenced by the directions the project established. However, there has been criticism of atup and its outcome was severely in question. After reviewing the atup, the hesp came out in 2018. We analyse the policy as well as address its potential influences on universities in Taiwan.

Introduction

Introduction

English and Chinese language ideologies among Vietnamese students in Taiwan: the construction of an ideal neoliberal self

ABSTRACT This article examines English and Chinese language ideologies among Vietnamese students in Taiwan, focusing on their beliefs about the value or benefits of the languages and their self-construction as reflected in these beliefs. Data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with students of English-medium programs in Taiwanese universities. The students suggested a number of benefits of English and Mandarin Chinese, thereby associating the languages with human capital and/or marketable commodities. In that process, they may be relating their personhood to an ideal neoliberal self – the person who possesses the capital and commodities valued by the market. The ideal neoliberal self as imagined by the students, however, is not necessarily a comprehensive image for them to construct and not necessarily connected with their future actual self. It is also suggested that in addition to English, competence in another powerful language such as Chinese is a strong plus for individuals to be more employable and competitive.

Understanding what determines university students’ behavioral engagement in a group-based flipped learning context

Flipped learning emphasizes substantial peer interaction, and most teachers use groups for discussions or to assign tasks. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a student behavioral engagement model in a group-based flipped learning context by drawing on expectancy-value theory (EVT) and an interactional psychology perspective. Since interactional psychology considers human behavior a function of interaction between an individual and an encountered situation, we developed and tested a research model to explore interactions between the subjective (interest and utility) value of courses, expectancy beliefs (perceived task difficulty), and a group factor (group peer interaction) and their association with students’ behavioral engagement in a group-based flipped learning context. Based on data from a survey of 276 students in 78 groups in 8 classes of 2 management courses at a Taiwanese university, we used moderated multiple regression (MMR) to examine the study hypotheses. The results showed that (1) interest value and utility value were positively associated with students’ behavioral engagement, (2) the positive association between interest value and students’ behavioral engagement was weak under conditions of high perceived task difficulty, (3) a negative linear relationship existed between perceived task difficulty and students’ behavioral engagement, and (4) group peer interaction was positively associated with students’ behavioral engagement. Additionally, group peer interaction moderated the nonlinear relationship between perceived task difficulty and students’ behavioral engagement, in that, when group peer interaction was high and perceived task difficulty was moderate, students’ behavioral engagement was high, and (5) the positive association between utility value and students’ behavioral engagement was strong under conditions of high group peer interaction. Based on the findings, we provide suggestions for teachers intending to use group-based flipped learning.

Language and intercultural peer interactions: Vietnamese students in Taiwan’s bilingual academic settings

This study examines Vietnamese students’ experiences of language choice practices in intercultural interactions with their local Taiwanese peers. Data were gathered from semi-structured interviews with students from five different Taiwanese universities where both English and Mandarin Chinese are used as mediums of instruction and communication. Findings suggest that the students frequently used English as a language of neutrality to communicate with local students, which either connected them with or disconnected them from their peers. They, whereas, considered Mandarin as a language of convergence, which helped them to get closer to their Taiwanese friends. They also occasionally made use of Vietnamese—a language of divergence—to a small extent to connect with their local peers. As international students seem to be the ones who often put more effort into addressing the linguistic and cultural gaps and improving the communication effectiveness compared with their local counterparts, it is recommended that local students should play a more proactive role in using proper accommodation strategies to connect with international students. Internationalised universities should also contribute to building a healthy and inclusive intercultural environment for international and local students and facilitating respectful and effective intercultural interactions among them.

Toward a Rational Civil Society: Deliberative Thinking, Civic Participation, and Self-Efficacy among Taiwanese Young Adults

To explore the mechanisms that foster rational, communicative, and actionable citizenship, this research proposes a mediation as well as moderation research framework that links deliberative thinking, political self-efficacy, social capital, and civic participation. Data from 865 Taiwanese university students are analyzed with structural equation modeling, showing a positive association of deliberative thinking to political self-efficacy and civic participation, as well as a positive association between them. Moreover, the association between deliberative thinking and civic participation is significantly and positively mediated by political self-efficacy. When background factors are controlled, only social capital is identified to be moderating any associations between variables in this study. The established association between deliberative thinking and political self-efficacy and that between deliberative thinking and the non-electoral, as well as community-based dimensions of civic participation, are significantly weaker among those possessing less social capital, while such differences are not significant in the case of gender and household income. Based on these findings, the relative roles of deliberative thinking, political self-efficacy, and social capital in promoting effective deliberative democracy will be discussed.

Complexity, Conflict, and Uncertainty: Smartphone Use and the Efficacy to Learning on University Students in EFL Classrooms

The use of smartphones among university students is like a double-edged sword (Qi, 2019), on the positive side, it can boost academic performance; on the negative side usage (or the restriction of it) can detract from learning. The studies offered seem to create a dichotomy: smartphone use during class is either positive or negative. This paper, however, aims to reveal how students’ smartphone use in the classroom is an intricate, conflicting picture that has several layers of complexity creating a confusing picture for the instructor as to how, when, or why to use smartphones in the classroom. In order to explore Taiwanese university students’ potential conflicting viewpoints on the smartphone uses during class time, this study collects both quantitative and qualitative data for data analysis. All the questionnaire respondents used their smartphones during class time. The main reason they do so is due to learning purposes (e.g., check English words online, participate in class activities). However, it is interesting to note that the most frequent uses for the students are for personal reasons, e.g., check the time, check personal messages. Moreover, quantitative data shows that 2/3 of the participants in this study believed that it is all right to use their smartphone during the class, because being able to check information online aids their learning during the class. On the other hand, about 1/3 of the students believed that cellphone use is a distraction for them during the class. Semi-structured interviews also reveal that the interviewees expressed that they have mixed feelings about the appropriateness of the use of smartphones during class. Hopefully, these data can shed light on how teachers approach students’ smartphone uses policy in class.

The Role of Co-Creating Value and Its Outcomes in Higher Education Marketing

This study examines the role of student co-creation behavior in contributing to student satisfaction, perceived university image, and student positive word of mouth (WOM). Using a sample of 513 students from a Taiwanese university and conducting partial least squares structural equation modeling, the findings indicate that co-creating value is critical to student satisfaction, university image, and positive WOM. The results also show the effect of student satisfaction and university image on student positive WOM. This study confirms the pivotal role of student participation in co-creating value in enhancing satisfaction with the university experience, creating and sustaining a positive image, and building the credibility of the university. This research is particularly important to higher education institutions because it has practical implications for decision-makers, brand managers, and HE marketers who wish to improve understanding of the relationship between the university and students in the process of co-creating value and its outcomes.

From frustration to enlightenment: experiences of student exchange program awardees in Taiwan.

Background: Studying abroad is one of the most exciting experiences for a college student who is running a student exchange program, as it creates opportunities to learn, work, solve problems, and ensure a secured life. However, Indonesians who are into student exchange programs face some difficulties in adjusting to their new environment. They experience awkwardness in the use of advanced equipment from technology and cultural aspects. This study investigates the experiences of two Indonesian students who participated for a semester at a Taiwanese university. It aims to explore the Indonesian student exchange program awardees' experiences by examining both the obstacles and benefits of attending the Taiwanese university. Methods: This study used qualitative data analysis. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview, informal participant observations, and a set of open and closed-ended questions. Two Indonesian undergraduate students who belonged to the same major, year, and university were recruited to act as ambassadors. Results: The two students reported facing some problems but felt more independent and became more adaptable. They met with new people and explored new places, and learned much in terms of teaching pedagogy and personal development from the 21 st-century classroom pedagogy, which was important for their future carrier in education. Aside from being able to feel the 21 st-century classroom environment, they were able to learn the host language and culture, which enriched their insights. Five main findings emerged: departure and journey, difficulties in settling in, inability to use technology facilities, meeting new people and exploring new places, and 21 st century classroom environment. Conclusions: Despite the challenges that are associated with being a student exchange awardee, there are vast opportunities for self-development and learning the ropes associated with teaching from the 21st-century classroom pedagogy.

Religiosity, Emotions, Resilience, and Wellness during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study of Taiwanese University Students.

One hard fact of COVID-19 is the uncertainty of all things. Anchoring on the assumption that the religiosity of an individual has a profound impact on their emotions, resilience, and wellness, this study investigated the levels of the centrality of religiosity, emotions towards God, resilience, and wellness among 399 Taiwanese university students. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, group comparisons, multiple regression, and mediation analysis. Findings showed that most of the participants were religious. Furthermore, the 16 emotions towards God were successfully factored into three distinct sub-groups, namely: pleasant, unpleasant, and moral valence, which were later found to be quite related to Asian religions. More importantly, the results suggested that the resiliency of an individual can be attributed to their belief in the existence of God or the Divine, while the wellness indicators of security and satisfaction were related to one’s religiosity. Lastly, structural equation modeling showed that resilience fully mediated the relationship between the ideology dimension of religiosity and the security and satisfaction component of wellness. In addition to discussing these significant results, this paper also included some implications of the study results, particularly the importance of religiosity and emotions toward God or the Divine in sustaining resilience and promoting wellness, especially in the context of crisis, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Vocational awareness and aspiration of seafaring students in Taiwan

PurposeThis study aims to examine variables and factors in vocational awareness and attitudes that affect the vocational aspiration of seafaring course students who are potential future seafaring employees.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was conducted to identify factors that prompt students in seafaring courses to pursue seafaring careers, followed by a design of preliminary questionnaire questions to survey students’ perception on the conditions of seafaring careers (i.e. vocational awareness) and their intention to pursue a seafaring career (i.e., vocational aspiration). A total of 744 seafaring course students in four Taiwanese universities completed a questionnaire developed according to the previous studies. A structured equation modelling was conducted in this research including model validity, goodness of fit, model correction and mediation effects.FindingsWith a model consisting of four factors for vocational awareness, three factors for overall attitudes and vocational aspiration as a dependent variable, the results showed that factors of vocational awareness and students’ overall attitudes were significantly correlated, and the factors of overall attitudes exhibit strong mediation effects on vocational aspiration from vocational awareness. The results confirmed that the factors are important determinants for the vocational aspiration of students.Originality/valueThe findings of this study provide a comprehensive approach to understand students’ seafaring aspiration for the universities, governments and shipping companies. Seafaring policies and management are discussed from the research findings.

How do institutional changes facilitate university-centric networks in Taiwan? The Triple Helix model of innovation view

AbstractThis article investigates how institutional changes facilitate university-centric interactions from the Triple Helix model of innovation perspective. The Triple Helix research framework consists of three cyclical dimensions, namely government institutional changes, the roles, missions, and interactions of universities, and university-centric networks. By developing a triangulation method, the qualitative dataset of the Taiwanese institutional changes includes science and technology, educational, and industrial policies; the quantitative dataset (1986–2015) collects the patents of Taiwanese universities via the US Patent and Trademark Office database. The results reveal that integrated policies systemically facilitate institutional changes that drive the transition of university’s roles and missions, while the university-centric networks have transformed from isolated to loosely-coupled and ultimately, to densely interactive networks. This article concludes that government institutional changes have effectively transformed the roles and interactions of universities with other actors towards entrepreneurial universities, in turn, have facilitated a more interactive Triple Helix model of innovation in Taiwan. Some policy implications are suggested.

Professional qualities of an effective English language teacher: as seen by Taiwanese university students

An effective teacher plays a crucial role in the process of learning English as a foreign language (EFL) when students’ opportunities to English exposure outside the classroom are limited. The aim of this study was to examine professional characteristics that an effective EFL teacher should have as perceived by Taiwanese university students. A four-section questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument, and the study sample included responses from 68 senior students majoring in EFL. The results show that the three most significant characteristics of an effective teacher of English in the eyes of Taiwanese university students are not related specifically to the teacher’s knowledge of the subject or English proficiency level. Those characteristics can be attributed to any teacher, and they include providing clear grading guidelines, giving clear explanations, and preparing each lesson well. The findings may contribute valid information on college students’ expectations of EFL teachers in the Asian educational context and help make the language learning process more effective.