ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Chinese-French Case Study of English Language Learning via Wikispaces, Animoto and Skype
Author: Hartwell, Laura M.
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Case Studies,Chinese,French,English (Second Language),Web 2.0 Technologies,Learning Experience,Computer Mediated Communication,Code Switching (Language),Undergraduate Students,Business Administration Education,Technology Uses in Education,Speech Skills,Assignments,Student Projects,Qualitative Research,Foreign Countries

This paper reports on the learning experience of Chinese and French students participating in a computer mediated communication (CMC) collaboration conducted in English and supported by Wikispaces, Animoto, and Skype. Several studies have investigated CMC contexts in which at least some participants were native speakers. Here, we address the linguistic and cultural challenges that students face when language code-switching is impossible. Twenty-five French students enrolled in their final semester of an undergraduate program in Sports Management and 40 Chinese students enrolled in their second year of undergraduate program in Business completed individual and group projects related to tourism in Europe based on information gathered through communication in English with their foreign partners. Data from students' written and oral productions were complemented by students' self-reflective evaluations. This study illustrates that mastering new technologies and interacting with an authentic audience motivated student learning. Some students also benefitted from the possibility of improving speaking skills through recording and listening to their own voices. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
The Use of New Technologies for the Teaching of the Igbo Language in Schools: Challenges and Prospects
Author: Iloene, Modesta I.
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Technology Uses in Education,African Languages,Teaching Methods,Teacher Competencies,Barriers,College Faculty,Teaching Experience,Questionnaires,Educational Practices,Access to Computers,Teacher Surveys,Native Language Instruction

This paper examines the experience of teachers in the use of new technologies to teach the Igbo language spoken in South East Nigeria. The study investigates the extent to which new technologies are available and accessible to Igbo teachers, the competence of the Igbo language teachers in the new technologies and the challenges they face that limit the use of the new technologies in the teaching of the Igbo language. Forty respondents from two Nigerian universities were used for the study. The instrument is made up of fifteen questions divided to generate answers to five research questions. The findings show that new technologies are both?? available and accessible to the Igbo language teachers, and most of them are very competent in use. Furthermore, they are positively disposed to the use of computers in teaching, but do not sufficiently use them for exercises because systems and application software are not available by default for Igbo. This creates the need to advocate some interventions to enhance the utility of the Igbo language as a vehicle for new technologies in language teaching. Comparisons of responses from the two universities also reveal some significant differences in the extent of access to and expertise in the new technologies as well as perception of the need for and challenges to these technologies. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
A Facebook Project for Japanese University Students (2): Does It Really Enhance Student Interaction, Learner Autonomy, and English Abilities?
Author: Hamada, Mayumi
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Social Networks,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Foreign Countries,North Americans,Intercultural Communication,Program Descriptions,Teaching Methods,Student Surveys,Student Attitudes,Feedback (Response),International Educational Exchange,Learning Activities,Cultural Awareness,Asians,College Students,Personal Autonomy,Language Skills,Computer Mediated Communication,Social Media,Likert Scales

Facebook is, in most countries, a very popular Social Network Service (SNS). Since the launch of its service in Japan in 2008, it has been growing rapidly. As a platform for a link to the world, Facebook can also be used effectively for language learning in English as a foreign language (EFL) environments. The purpose of this project was to investigate how Facebook can help Japanese university students to improve their English by integrating Facebook activities into English lessons, and examine whether it could facilitate student interaction and self-motivation for learning English. The Facebook project was conducted over the course of one academic year in two parts. A previous study reported on the results of the first semester (????Hamada, 2012). In the second semester, the students were given an opportunity to exchange opinions with American university students. A writing task on Facebook was assigned to both Japanese and American students every week. In this study, I will present the results of the second semester based on a survey and feedback from the students. I will also discuss how the Facebook exchange with the American students can facilitate not only the language learning of the Japanese students, but also the interactions between students and inter-cultural understanding. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
German-French Case Study: Using Multi-Online Tools to Collaborate across Borders
Author: Brautlacht, Regina
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Intercultural Programs,Electronic Publishing,Cooperative Learning,Student Projects,Synchronous Communication,Asynchronous Communication,Student Publications,Web 2.0 Technologies,English (Second Language),French,German,Action Research,Questionnaires,Prior Learning,Peer Relationship,Writing Skills,Student Attitudes,College English,Foreign Countries,College Students,Social Media

This paper examines how students learn to collaborate in English by participating in an intercultural project that focuses on teaching students to work together on a digital writing project using various online tools, and documents their reflections working in an intercultural context. Students from Université Paris Sud Orsay and Bonn Rhein-Sieg-University of Applied Sciences participated in this digital collaboration project. Mixed groups of students, two French and two German, used several synchronous and asynchronous tools to communicate with their counterparts (Facebook, WordPress blog, WIMS e-learning platform, email, videoconferencing). Students had to produce an article together, comparing French and German attitudes about a topic they negotiated freely in their groups. Before publishing their post, students were expected to peer-review the article written by their group. Once published, the posts were commented on by the other participants of the project. The final stage consisted of voting for the best posts on the e-learning platform, WIMS. A videoconference was also organized to create cohesion between the participants. The result of the student evaluations, together with the administrative, technical and intercultural difficulties encountered during the collaboration between two vastly differing university setups is presented. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
Exploring Culture-Related Content in the COCA with Task-Based Activities in the EFL Classroom
Author: Lopes, António
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Cultural Awareness,Computational Linguistics,North American English,Writing Skills,Skill Development,Undergraduate Students,Humanities,Social Sciences,Writing Assignments,Questionnaires,Student Attitudes,Grammar,Accuracy,Learning Strategies,Teaching Methods

The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) at the Brigham Young University website has been used in the English as a Foreign language (EFL) classroom to help learners better understand how language works at different levels of analysis and also to develop their writing skills. However, it also allows learners to explore culture-related content by giving them access to invaluable information about the social, ideological, political and historical contexts. Moreover, it provides the means to examine the ways in which such aspects intersect with language and condition its use. The understanding of this cultural and discursive dimension of language is pivotal in the training of undergraduate students in the areas of humanities and social sciences. To determine how far the COCA can contribute to increase this awareness, a series of task-based activities involving writing was drawn up and carried out in an EFL class of undergraduate students. They were first introduced to this corpus analysis tool and encouraged to explore it further. Later on, in order to complete a writing task, they were prompted to resort to a series of strategies to collect information about relevant events, personalities and social or cultural phenomena, to analyse and interpret data, and to draw conclusions about the modes in which culture and language can interact. This paper provides (a) the rationale and a brief literature review on this topic, (b) a description of the task-based activities, the implementation process, the students' strategies and the evaluation procedures, and (c) a critical reflection on this study that may open the path for further developments in this area. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
Critically Evaluating Prensky in a Language Learning Context: The &quot;Digital Natives/Immigrants Debate&quot; and Its Implications for CALL
Author: Benini, Silvia
Date: 2013-04-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Computer Assisted Instruction,Second Language Learning,Theories,Case Studies,Secondary School Students,Foreign Countries,Technology Uses in Education,Secondary School Teachers,Computer Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Computer Literacy,Mixed Methods Research,Questionnaires,Semi Structured Interviews,Focus Groups

More than 10 years have passed since the first introduction of the term &quot;digital natives&quot; in Prensky's (2001a, 2001b) two seminal articles. Prensky argues that students today, having grown up in the Digital Age, learn differently from their predecessors, or &quot;digital immigrants&quot;. As such, the pedagogical tools and methods used to educate the Natives are outdated. Consequently, many educational professionals became convinced that the ways in which today's students think and learn have been qualitatively changed by their use of information and communication technology (ICT). Indeed, the analogy introduced by Prensky is very appealing, however, no significant empirical evidence exists to support this conjecture and neither facts nor evidence tested in everyday practice have been provided. This paper aims to critically examine the underlying &quot;digital native&quot; theory by reviewing some recent studies questioning the existence of digital natives and presenting some of the current findings from a major case study. The study involves Irish secondary school students and their approach and use of new technologies for language learning. By monitoring and interviewing the students and their teachers, it is intended to provide evidence and information to reflect on some key topics such as the use of ICT for language learning during and outside the class, the analysis of students' skills (as putative digital natives) within language learning, and the attitude of teachers and tutors toward technologies. Overall, it is intended to examine if the current evidence resulting from this study validates Prensky's digital native theory. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
Developing Swedish Spelling Exercises on the ICALL Platform Lärka
Author: Pijetlovic, Dijana
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Swedish,Spelling,Questionnaires,Educational Technology,Pronunciation,Computer Assisted Instruction,Scores,Error Patterns,Feedback (Response),Databases,Usability,Learning Activities,Speech Communication,Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,Instructional Effectiveness,Spelling Instruction,Listening,Foreign Countries

In this project we developed web services on the ICALL platform Lärka for automatic generation of Swedish spelling exercises using Text-To-Speech (TTS) technology which allows L2 learners to train their spelling and listening individually at home. The spelling exercises contain five different linguistic levels, whereby the language learner has the choice between word, inflected word, phrase, sentence and performance based levels. The embedded avatar pronounces a random item of the desired level, which the user has to spell. Furthermore, the users have the possibility to train their own words for different linguistic levels. A result tracker containing a total and correct answer score keeps track of the language learner's performance. In order to analyse typical spelling errors and provide better feedback, misspellings are collected in a database. The usability of the spelling exercises, concerning the different linguistic levels and the quality of speech, has been evaluated through a questionnaire with 10 participants. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
Podcasts for Learning English Pronunciation in Igboland: Students' Experiences and Expectations
Author: Mbah, Evelyn E.
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Statistical Analysis,Information Technology,Pronunciation,Learning Experience,Questionnaires,Pronunciation Instruction,African Languages,Geographic Regions,Foreign Countries,Native Language,Sampling,Surveys,Computer Assisted Instruction,Technological Literacy,Student Attitudes,Handheld Devices,Undergraduate Students,Phonetics,Audio Equipment

This paper studies students' experiences and expectations on the use of podcasts in learning English pronunciation in Igboland. The Igboland is made up of five states in Southeastern Nigeria where Igbo is spoken as a mother tongue. The states are Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo. The study is a survey research where two universities were studied. A proportional sampling technique was used with the aid of a structured questionnaire that was used to elicit information. The data gathered were analysed using mean, standard deviation, t-test, and ANOVA with the aid of Statistical tool for the Social sciences. The study concluded that the students agreed to the fact that podcasts improved their English pronunciation. The hypothesis tested generally showed that there was no significant difference in the internet background, level of students or gender in the use of podcasts. Thus, technology was indispensable in learning a second language. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
Developing a Virtual Learning Community for LSP Applications
Author: Panagiotidis, Panagiotis
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Virtual Classrooms,Communities of Practice,Web 2.0 Technologies,Second Language Programs,Educational Philosophy,Educational Practices,Educational Objectives,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Environment,Courseware,Individual Needs,Individual Instruction,Design Preferences

Foreign language teachers are nowadays required to respond to the changes provoked by the advent of web 2.0 and the developments it has introduced in the learning behaviour of users, and to adopt a new teaching approach, integrating users' online social activities in their educational practice. In this new educational approach, users must be able to choose the appropriate content for their needs, interact and collaborate with others and learn in an informal online environment, similar to the environment they use in their everyday life. Towards this direction, the development of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) seems to promise new possibilities in the field of language teaching and learning, especially concerning LSP applications. In this paper we first present the current research on PLEs, their?? philosophy, the pedagogical context they are based on as well as the different ways of their formation. Furthermore, we propose a PLE developed specifically for language learning using the Netvibes platform. More specifically, we present the ?? components and the possibilities of this PLE, as well as the way the environment was used in the foreign language classroom. Finally, we draw conclusions deriving from this application and the perspectives that this type of environment creates for language learning. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
Establishing an Online Vocabulary Levels Test by Using Flash Incorporating COPS Theory
Author: Aizawa, Kazumi
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Vocabulary,Computer Assisted Testing,Scores,Multiple Choice Tests,Correlation,Self Efficacy,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Japanese,Native Language,Statistical Analysis,Test Items,College Students,Foreign Countries,Test Format

The present study aims to demonstrate how the estimation of vocabulary size might be affected by two neglected factors in vocabulary size tests. The first factor is randomization of question sequence, as opposed to the traditional high-to-low frequency sequencing. The second factor is learners' confidence in choosing the correct meaning for a given target word. A new online vocabulary size test was developed for the purpose of the study with the two factors in mind. The results of the test revealed that (1) randomizing question sequences did not have significant effects on the score of the vocabulary size test and (2) even though the learners who had a mastery level of 8000 words showed higher confidence in high frequency words than the learners with a smaller vocabulary, such confidence faded as early as 4000 frequency level of JACET 8000. The findings are discussed in detail in terms of the scale or the length of vocabulary size tests as well as the need for incorporating confidence in the estimation of vocabulary size. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
Conceptions of Personal Learning Environments among EFL Teachers at Upper Secondary Level in Sweden
Author: Allen, Christopher
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Language Teachers,Computer Simulation,Social Media,Teaching Methods,Secondary School Teachers,Management Systems,Educational Trends,Information Technology,Work Environment,Web 2.0 Technologies,Municipalities,Questionnaires,Teacher Attitudes,Cooperative Learning,Learning Activities,Semi Structured Interviews,Focus Groups

In recent years, virtual learning environments (VLEs) or course management systems (CMSs) have become commonplace in European higher education as well as making inroads into primary and secondary schools. VLEs such as &quot;Moodle,&quot; &quot;Blackboard&quot; and &quot;It's Learning&quot; offer educational institutions standardised packages in the form of a range of administrative, pedagogical and communicative tools. Teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) at secondary and tertiary levels are certainly no exception to this trend, employing VLEs as learning platforms to support a variety of ICT-based learning activities and tasks. VLEs have however attracted criticism from some quarters in that they may sometimes be seen merely as virtual embodiments of the classroom with all the restrictions which the &quot;physical&quot; classroom has traditionally entailed. Furthermore it has been argued that VLEs have failed to embrace the full advantages of Web 2.0 technologies or acknowledge trends towards informal learning afforded by social media. The response to this criticism has been the envisioning of personal learning environments (PLEs) which utilise the plethora of free, often collaborative online resources and tools now available to teachers and learners. This paper explores the conceptualisation of PLEs among upper secondary school teachers of English in Sweden on the basis of Dabbagh and Reo's (2009) model of social collaboration and interactivity in the educational workplace. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
C[superscript 4] (C Quad): Development of the Application for Language Learning Based on Social and Cognitive Presences
Author: Yamada, Masanori
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Cooperative Learning,Second Language Learning,Communities of Practice,Computer Assisted Instruction,Computer Mediated Communication,Integrated Learning Systems

This research aims to develop collaborative language learning systems based on social and cognitive presence for learning settings out of class, and evaluate their effects on learning attitude and performance. The main purpose of this system is focusing on the building of a learning community, therefore the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework suggested by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) was considered to design this system. This system &quot;C[superscript 4]&quot; (spelled out as C quad) consists of three functions: chatbot, constitutive chat, and contribution visualization for the enhancement of social and cognitive presence. In this paper, we explain system design and architecture, and discuss future work. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]
E-xperience Erasmus: Online Journaling as a Tool to Enhance Students' Learning Experience of Their Study Visit Abroad
Author: Gabaudan, Odette
Date: 2013-09-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Study Abroad,Learning Experience,Case Studies,Questionnaires,Interviews,Foreign Countries,International Trade,Business Administration Education,Language Tests,Journal Writing,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Pilot Projects,Maintenance,Electronic Publishing,Portfolios (Background Materials),Feedback (Response),Computer Mediated Communication,Student Adjustment,Administrators,Student Placement,Reflection,Writing (Composition),Scoring Rubrics,Undergraduate Students,French,Phenomenology,Cultural Awareness

Students on the BA International Business and Languages who spend a full academic year on a study visit abroad experience many new challenges such as a different culture, a new university, different academic practices, a foreign language, etc. The assessment methods for the year include the results of the modules taken in the partner universities, a language examination and the submission of a country notebook. This research is a pilot study that explores how the maintenance of an online journal via a blog/e-portfolio structure can support students in their new learning experiences, alert the home coordinator to any potential difficulty before it escalates, provide them with regular online feedback on their progress and enhance their final reflective paper submission. The cohort of students is small and limited to those who are currently in France, spread across five different locations. The research is framed within an interpretivist paradigm using case-study as a research design. Data is gathered through documentary evidence, field observations, questionnaires and interviews. The project's results are of interest to Erasmus coordinators and educational institutions whose programmes include a study visit or even a placement component. The research brings insights on how reflective thinking can augment students' learning by practicing regular online reflective writing. Rubrics are used as a powerful tool for online feedback and for the continuous formation of students' learning. The advantages and challenges of using an enhanced blog structure for the maintenance of an online journal are also reviewed. [For full proceedings, see ED565044.]