ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Learner Differences among Children Learning a Foreign Language: Language Anxiety, Strategy Use, and Multiple Intelligences
Author: Liu, Hui-ju
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Anxiety,Second Language Learning,Learning Strategies,Multiple Intelligences,Grade 5,Grade 6,Elementary School Students,Student Attitudes,Language Proficiency,Oral Language,Self Esteem,English (Second Language),Likert Scales,Scores,Classification,Statistical Analysis

This study mainly investigates language anxiety and its relationship to the use of learning strategies and multiple intelligences among young learners in an EFL educational context. The participants were composed of 212 fifth- and sixth-graders from elementary schools in central Taiwan. Findings indicated that most participants generally experienced a mild level of anxiety in the EFL classroom. However, at least a quarter of the full sample experienced an above-average level of anxiety when learning the target language. These students tended to be most anxious when (1) feeling that other students had better English performance, (2) being called on to speak in the English class, and (3) feeling afraid of being left behind in the English class. Overall, students were most likely to feel anxious due to worry over inadequate language performance and fear of being evaluated negatively by others. Furthermore, the current findings indicated a significant negative correlation between language anxiety and strategy use among the young EFL children. Students who had greater strategy use were less likely to feel anxiety. Interestingly, the use of social strategies had the strongest relationship with language anxiety among the young learners. Another learner variable, multiple intelligences, was found to be significantly related to both strategy use and anxiety; its relationship with strategy use seemed to be much stronger than that with anxiety. All six strategy categories were found to have significant correlations with multiple intelligences. Implications derived from the results are discussed in the paper.
An Empirical Study on Washback Effects of the Internet-Based College English Test Band 4 in China
Author: Wang, Chao
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,College Students,Internet,Questionnaires,Observation,Interviews,Course Descriptions,Technology Uses in Education,Language Skills,High Stakes Tests,Nonmajors,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis,Learning Motivation,Learning Strategies,Course Content,Learning Activities,Teacher Attitudes,College Faculty,Teaching Methods,Language Tests,Second Language Learning

Based on Bailey's washback model, in respect of participants, process and products, the present empirical study was conducted to find the actual washback effects of the internet-based College English Test Band 4 (IB CET-4). The methods adopted are questionnaires, class observation, interview and the analysis of both the CET-4 teaching and testing syllabus. Through analysis, it is found that the IB CET-4 helps to establish the new computer and internet-based teaching model, to cultivate students' autonomous learning abilities, to improve students' ability for screen reading and keyboard writing as well as to urge colleges and universities to provide financial support to college English teaching and learning by constructing more internet language labs. However, overemphasizing practical ability, such as listening and speaking, leads to students' lack of spelling and grammatical knowledge.
The Impact of Attrition on Vocabulary Knowledge among Saudi Teachers
Author: Alharthi, Thamer
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Language Skill Attrition,English Teachers,Graduate Study,College Faculty,Vocabulary Skills,Pretests Posttests,Language Tests,Achievement Gains,Knowledge Level,Second Language Instruction,Verbs,Form Classes (Languages),English (Second Language),Predictor Variables,Longitudinal Studies,Scores

This two-year longitudinal study tracks the extent of vocabulary attrition among Arabic-speaking English graduate teachers. Data were collected through pre-post tests of receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. The results showed drastic attrition in vocabulary knowledge soon after the end of formal instruction followed by slight gain, although the gain was not quite back to the level of baseline achievement. Verbs and adjectives were more prone to attrition than nouns. The rate of attrition was greater for productive than receptive lexical knowledge. Interestingly, knowledge at peak attainment emerged as a predictor of attrition over time.
Blended Learning as a Theoretical Framework for the Application of Podcasting
Author: Ting, Kuang-yun
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Information Dissemination,Nonprint Media,Programming (Broadcast),Multimedia Materials,Action Research,Vocabulary Development,English (Second Language),English for Special Purposes,Second Language Learning,Student Attitudes,Blended Learning,Computer Assisted Instruction,Foreign Countries,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

The use of podcasting has attracted the attention of teachers because it is content-rich and is of wide general interest. Users can listen to podcasts via the Internet or download them on to a portable music player. Some also offer video or animation to make the contents more interesting and easier to understand. Accordingly, podcasts that tend to focus on the use of vocabulary can be very effective in language learning. They help learners hear how to pronounce their words clearly and use them appropriately. In addition to the benefit of its multimodal facilities, the main advantage of podcasting lies in the variety and the control it provides. Many podcasts provide an authentic context including those which are vocationally orientated. In other words, learners can access podcasts linked to their field of study or interest. Therefore, this research project explores how podcasts in an ESL (English for specific purposes) environment can be used with foreign language learners. It then discusses learners' perspectives of podcasts related to certain subjects. Finally, it proposes a number of suggestions for practical strategies and techniques for teaching English through podcasting.
Foreign Culture Awareness Needs of Saudi English Language Majors at Buraydah Community College
Author: Alsamani, Abdul-Aziz Saleh
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Majors (Students),Two Year College Students,Community Colleges,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Attitude Measures,Professional Personnel,Cultural Awareness,Questionnaires,Audio Equipment,Video Technology,Educational Media,Newspapers,Communicative Competence (Languages),Language Proficiency,Cultural Influences,Diagnostic Tests,Needs Assessment

Although many EFL learners have a command of internalized foreign language knowledge, they may have difficulty using this knowledge in different contexts. This is due to many interacting factors affecting their performance, mainly lack of target culture awareness. This study intended to identify the cultural aspects suitable to be integrated into the Saudi EFL classrooms, search for the sources upon which students get their knowledge of the target culture and examine their attitudes towards it. The study was administered to three main categories of subjects: students, teachers, and experts in the field of teaching EFL. The required data were collected using a Culture-awareness Diagnostic Test and a Culture-Awareness Needs Assessment Questionnaire. The results revealed the students' need to learn about different aspects of foreign culture to develop their culture-awareness and that they depend mostly on audio-/visual media to learn about the target culture. The findings also showed that students possess positive attitudes toward the target culture and its people. Introducing authentic materials such as DVDs, video tapes, newspapers in the foreign language classroom was highly recommended for enhancing culture awareness and improving language proficiency. Therefore, the current research suggested modifying the entire EFL education programs to introduce culture in the foreign language classroom.
The Effects of Self-Monitoring and Peer-Monitoring on Writing Activities
Author: Toofan, Zohreh Zare
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Writing Evaluation,Self Evaluation (Individuals),Peer Evaluation,English (Second Language),Paragraph Composition,Writing Tests,Pretests Posttests,Writing Ability,Correlation,Gender Differences,Language Proficiency,Statistical Analysis

Writing is an important experience through which we are able to share ideas, arouse feelings, persuade and convince other people (White &amp; Arndt, 1991). It is important to view writing not solely as the product of an individual, but as a cognitive, social and cultural act. Writing is an act that takes place within a context, that accomplishes a particular purpose and that is appropriately shaped for its intended audience (Hamplyones &amp; Condon, 1989).The present research considered the significance effects of two important independent variables self-monitoring and peer-monitoring in writing activities on Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. In this research we were supposed to investigate self-monitoring &amp; peer-monitoring effects on 173 male and female learners' writing activities whose age ranged from 16 to 27, and they had a composing description writing paragraph as pre &amp; posttest in the same conditions. Although many studies have been conducted on the effects of self-monitoring with a variety of students across a variety of settings (Amato-Zech, Hoff, &amp; Doepke, 2006, L. Dunlap, G. Dunlap, L. Koegel, &amp; R. Koegel 1991). This research studied about self-monitoring and peer-monitoring procedures which had new effects on learners' written tasks.
The Application of Constructivism to the Teaching of Intercultural Communication
Author: Liu, Lin
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Intercultural Communication,Communicative Competence (Languages),Second Language Instruction,Constructivism (Learning),Models,Teaching Methods,Learning Activities

Cultivating intercultural communicative competence is not a process in which teachers transmit knowledge to students, but one in which students construct their intercultural communicative competence on their own initiative. By applying the constructivist theory to the teaching of intercultural communication, the author designs a model of teaching intercultural communication and elaborates the procedure in detail. This model aims to facilitate students' construction of their intercultural communicative competence effectively.
Reading Strategies Employed by University Business English Majors with Different Levels of Reading Proficiency
Author: Chen, Jun
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,College Students,Business Administration Education,Majors (Students),Reading Strategies,Language Proficiency,English for Special Purposes,Difficulty Level,Reading Comprehension,Reading Tests,Questionnaires,Business English

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of reading strategies by the university Business English majors in relation to their levels of reading proficiency. The participants were 926 university Business English majors from 6 universities in southwest China. The Strategy Questionnaire for Business English Reading (SQBER) and the Business English Reading Comprehension Test (BERCT) were used to collect the data. The results showed that the students with good reading proficiency reported significantly greater use of reading strategies than the students with either fair or poor reading proficiency at the overall and category levels. At the individual strategy level, 25 out of the 45 reading strategies across the inventory varied significantly in terms of the students' levels of reading proficiency. Most of these strategies with significant differences showed positive correlation, with the higher reading proficiency students reporting employing reading strategies significantly more frequently than the lower reading proficiency students. In addition, the students with different proficiency levels had different tendencies in the use of individual reading strategies.
Motivating College Students' Learning English for Specific Purposes Courses through Corpus Building
Author: Wu, Lin-Fang
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Technical Institutes,College Students,Student Motivation,Motivation Techniques,English for Special Purposes,Vocabulary Development,Second Language Learning,College Second Language Programs,Instructional Design,Course Evaluation

This study was conducted to determine how to motivate technical college students to learn English for specific purposes (ESP) courses through corpus building and enhance their language proficiency during the coursework for their majors. This study explores corpus building skills, how to simplify ESP courses by corpus building for English as second language learners, and ESP course evaluations. Although ESP programs have been implemented in technical colleges in Taiwan for several years, many students and educational practitioners feel frustrated regarding the academic achievement of learners' ESP courses. Corpus building is crucial for implementing an ESP program and its subsequent success. Designing appropriate teaching materials enables learners to overcome their fears when taking ESP courses. Numerous linguistic professionals have mentioned that ESP courses are aimed at advanced learners. However, the vocabulary size of most technical college students is below 2000 words in Taiwan. Teaching an ESP course at a technical university is challenging work for ESP teachers. Constructing an ESP corpus and selecting appropriate ESP vocabulary to meet learner needs is essential. Building a localized corpus and designing appropriate ESP materials based on student language proficiency is the future trend for ESP courses. In this study, we discuss basic rules for developing linguistics corpora, how to build localized corpora, and the most commonly used tutorials for corpus building.
Students' Thinking and the Depth of the Mathematics Curriculum
Author: Kent, Laura B.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mathematics Instruction,Teaching Methods,Comprehension,State Standards,Participative Decision Making

This article explores the impact of students' thinking centered professional development on mathematics teaching and learning. Purposeful pedagogy and problem posing are examined as mechanisms by which teachers can potentially deepen students' understanding of mathematics. A classroom example comparing student generated strategies versus algorithmic approaches also highlights the benefits of instructional approaches that emphasize students' understanding of mathematics.
Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Cognitive Elaboration on Accounting Learning Outcomes
Author: Xiong, Yan
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Accounting,Learning,College Students,Student Attitudes,Teaching Methods,Outcomes of Education,Statistical Analysis,Grade Point Average,Pretests Posttests,Active Learning,Thinking Skills

This study analyzed how self-generated elaboration, instructor-assisted elaboration, and self-generated followed by instructor-assisted elaboration, affect accounting students' acquisition of procedural knowledge, intellectual skills, and their attitudes towards learning. The results indicate that the self-generated elaboration instructional strategy improves accounting students' acquisition of procedural knowledge and intellectual skills more than the instructor-assisted elaborations. However, the effects of these instructional strategies on attitudes are not significantly different. Also, our three-way ANOVA results indicate that the students who have higher GPAs and pretest scores tend to have more intellectual skills, but not necessarily more procedural knowledge or more positive learning attitudes, using the self-generated elaboration instructional strategy.
The Effect of Speed Reading Strategies on Developing Reading Comprehension among the 2nd Secondary Students in English Language
Author: Abdelrahman, Mahmoud Sulaiman Hamad Bani
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Strategies,Reading Rate,Reading Comprehension,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Comparative Analysis,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Speed Reading,Pretests Posttests,Instructional Effectiveness,Foreign Countries,Hypothesis Testing,Secondary School Students,Reading Tests,Statistical Analysis

This study aimed to find the effect of speed reading strategies on developing reading comprehension among second secondary literary stream students in English language. The sample of the study consists of (42) students assigned into two groups who were chosen randomly from schools, a controlled group (21) students, and an experimental (21) students trained on speed reading strategies during the academic year 2013/2014. The study used a training material, pre and post reading comprehension tests were administrated (Rababa'h, 1991). T. test results revealed that there were significant differences at (a = 0.05) among the students' means in favor of the experimental group. In the light of the results, it is recommended that teachers should train students extensively on the use of speed reading strategies.
Enhancing Manufacturing Process Education via Computer Simulation and Visualization
Author: Manohar, Priyadarshan A.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Manufacturing,Engineering Education,Process Education,Computer Uses in Education,Computer Simulation,Metal Working,Interdisciplinary Approach,Student Projects,Visual Aids,Undergraduate Students,Instructional Effectiveness,College Instruction,Experiential Learning,Educational Experience

Industrially significant metal manufacturing processes such as melting, casting, rolling, forging, machining, and forming are multi-stage, complex processes that are labor, time, and capital intensive. Academic research develops mathematical modeling of these processes that provide a theoretical framework for understanding the process variables and their effects on productivity and quality. However it is usually difficult to provide the students with hands-on experience of experimentation with process parameters which leads to disconnect between engineering education and industrial needs. In order to solve this problem, interdisciplinary student projects were undertaken at author's institution to develop computer simulation tools that would facilitate process visualization, experimentation, exploration, design and optimization. The hypothesis is that these new computer-based tools would enhance educational experience for the manufacturing engineering students as assessed by the ABET-derived educational outcomes and also based on Bloom's cognitive outcomes modified for STEM disciplines. The first system described in this paper is the visualization of metal ingot production schedule in an industrial setting that provides a basis for interactive decisions. The graphical user interface is created to visualize the schedule according to the specific characteristics of the machines. Another example of process simulation presented in this paper is the design and analysis of flexible rolling technology in industrial processing of low carbon steels. Process simulation tools designed in both cases allow new process sequences to be generated by breaking down existing process routes into key elements and then by recombining them to generate novel alternative and more efficient hot processing sequences. This enables the identification of an optimal process sequence for specified steel compositions that also satisfies simultaneous design criteria such as process feasibility and property maximization. It is proposed that incorporation of such computer simulation tools in the pedagogy would be highly effective to enhancing and enriching undergraduate manufacturing education.
How Well-Being Mediates the Relationship between Social Support and Teaching Effectiveness
Author: Chi, Hsingkuang
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Well Being,Social Support Groups,Teacher Effectiveness,Principals,Leadership,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Surveys,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Questionnaires,Foreign Countries,Statistical Analysis,Correlation,Regression (Statistics)

When the function of the family does not work adequately, and the value of society is confusing, teachers become important promoters to turn this situation into a clear direction, and their behaviors can deeply influence their students. However, teachers are not isolated individuals left to fight alone or to concentrate only on their own work without having regard with what is happening in the outside world. They need resources from the sharing of the experience of peers, interaction within a social network, and social support for encouragement. A teacher with well-being can build self-confidence and hold an optimistic attitude and will present his or her best to their students. In addition, principal leadership plays a very important role in the operation of a school, and it will profoundly impact a teacher's service morale, teaching attitude, and effectiveness. Principal leadership is also a critical factor to decide whether the implementation of school affairs will succeed or not. The study aims to examine the impacts of social support, well-being, principal leadership on teaching effectiveness, the mediating effect of well-being between social support and teaching effectiveness, and the moderating effect of principal leadership between social support and teaching effectiveness. The study uses a questionnaire as the survey method to collect data from Chiayi County elementary school teachers in Taiwan. The authors dispatched a total of 300 questionnaires, and collected 265 valid copies. The effective response rate is 81.67%. The findings of the research are as follows: (1) Social support will positively and significantly affect teaching effectiveness, (2) social support will positively and significantly affect well-being, (3) well-being will positively and significantly affect teaching effectiveness, (4) principal leadership will positively and significantly affect teaching effectiveness, (5) well-being has mediating effect between social support and teaching effectiveness, and (6) principal leadership has no moderating effect between social support and teaching effectiveness.
A Proposal on the Validation Model of Equivalence between PBLT and CBLT
Author: Chen, Huilin
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computer Assisted Testing,Language Tests,Test Validity,Case Studies,Models,English (Second Language),Multitrait Multimethod Techniques,Achievement Tests

The validity of the computer-based language test is possibly affected by three factors: computer familiarity, audio-visual cognitive competence, and other discrepancies in construct. Therefore, validating the equivalence between the paper-and-pencil language test and the computer-based language test is a key step in the procedure of designing a computer-based language test. By taking the test on Essentials of English-Speaking Countries as the case study, this paper elucidates the three-step model of validating the equivalence of the two types of test: investigating computer familiarity, assessing the impact of audio-visual cognitive competence, and examining other discrepancies in construct. The model proposed by this paper can offer some methodological insights on the way to establishing the validation model of the equivalence between the paper-and-pencil language test and the computer-based language test.