ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Accessibility of MOOCs: Understanding the Provider Perspective
Author: Iniesto, Francisco
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Large Group Instruction,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Distance Education,Higher Education,Semi Structured Interviews,Attitude Measures,Disabilities,Educational Legislation,Accessibility (for Disabled),Stakeholders

Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) have become an accepted way to make learning opportunities available at large scale and with low cost to the learner. However, only if these are made accessible will they be able to offer flexibility of learning and benefits to all, irrespective of disability. Experience in providing accessible online learning at distance universities suggests that this can be best achieved through understanding different roles and the options in planning for adjustments to be made. To effectively apply similar approaches to MOOCs, it is necessary to understand the various viewpoints and roles of stakeholders and how these impact on accessibility. This includes educators who create materials and facilitate learning, and technologists who develop and maintain platforms. In this paper, we report the results from a study involving semi-structured interviews to investigate the perceptions and accessibility-related processes of MOOC platform accessibility managers, platform software developers and designers, and MOOC accessibility researchers. Our results show the awareness that MOOCs can be valuable for disabled learners, and indicate that legislation acts as a driver for accessibility. However, our investigations suggest limited progress to date in either producing universally accessible MOOCs, or tailoring MOOCs to meet the needs of individual learners with disabilities.
Professional Development through MOOCs in Higher Education Institutions: Challenges and Opportunities for PhD Students Working as Mentors
Author: Urrutia, Manuel León
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Large Group Instruction,Online Courses,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Higher Education,Focus Groups,Foreign Countries,Doctoral Programs,Graduate Students,Mentors,Experience,Teaching Skills,Technological Literacy,Self Esteem,Knowledge Level,Qualitative Research,Interviews

The advent of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has been altering the Higher Education landscape in recent years. This kind of courses are penetrating in an increasing number of universities, the majority of which do not seem to have intentions to stop offering them in the short term. Such courses are generating new educational scenarios to which universities have to adapt, which creates a set of challenges and opportunities, most of them related to the use of technology in education. This study aims to shed light on such challenges and opportunities when a university employs postgraduate students as MOOC mentors. For this study, a set of focus group interviews were conducted in an English university to PhD students in various disciplines. In the interviews, participants share their experiences as mentors, especially regarding how they developed certain teaching and digital skills, and how they faced certain challenges related to their digital identity. The results suggest that participating in MOOCs as mentors can help early career researchers to develop certain teaching, digital, and academic skills that could be beneficial for the institutions they work for, and for themselves. However, their online exposure sometimes raises certain implications for their public image, their working conditions, and their online professional identity.
Adapting a MOOC for Research: Lessons Learned from the First Presentation of &quot;Literature and Mental Health: Reading for Wellbeing&quot;
Author: Hodge, Rachael
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Large Group Instruction,Online Courses,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Mental Health,Well Being,Literature,Surveys,Student Attitudes,Stress Variables,Poetry,Memory,Bibliotherapy,Video Technology,Interviews,Computer Mediated Communication,Foreign Countries,College Students

The University of Warwick's FutureLearn MOOC &quot;Literature and Mental Health: Reading for Wellbeing,&quot; which began its first presentation February 2016, was identified as an opportunity to conduct some research into the course subject area, &quot;reading for wellbeing&quot; or &quot;bibliotherapy&quot;. Since 2013, a substantial body of literature has emerged in the field of MOOC-related research, with the MOOC becoming both the subject of and vehicle for research. The research approach adopted in &quot;Literature and Mental Health&quot; was influenced by other, recent research studies conducted within MOOCs, and particularly by the first presentation of Monash University's &quot;Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance&quot; FutureLearn MOOC, which distributed a stress survey to its learners in the first and final weeks of the course, to assess the efficacy of the course's mindfulness practices. A number of reasons for trialling the use of this MOOC as a research tool were identified at the project's outset. MOOCs give researchers access to large numbers of possible research participants, making MOOC research an attractive prospect, while the opportunity to gather valuable, potentially publishable data from free online courses may help to justify the time and resources expended during the production of new MOOCs. Several additional benefits of in-MOOC research were discovered during the process, including the potential for research activities to enrich the learner experience. However, a number of challenges and limitations were also encountered during the development of the study; the inevitable self-selection bias among MOOC learners, and the difficulty of establishing a control group within the MOOC activities, posed impediments to the gathering of useful, publishable data. Although we were aware of other MOOCs which had been used as vehicles for research, the process of adapting &quot;Literature and Mental Health&quot; for this research study was nonetheless an illuminating and instructive experience. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on that experience, and to consider the lessons learned during the process which may be useful in informing future research studies conducted via Massive Open Online Courses.
The Tensions between EFL Teacher Identities and INSET in the Turkish Context
Author: Güngör, Fatih
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Communities of Practice,Mentors,Professional Identity,Language Teachers,Foreign Countries,Inservice Teacher Education,Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Behavior,Educational Experience,Teacher Competencies

Due to the insufficiency of current in-service training courses which are far from the collaboration and the reflection of teachers, the current study scrutinizes the incongruities between teacher identities and in-service training programs offered by the Ministry of National Education in Turkey based upon the use of the activity theory. In this narrative study, two English as a foreign language teachers reflected on their environment, behaviors, beliefs, competencies, and missions under the heading of teacher identity concept. The results suggest that teachers need a supportive community of practice and a well-tailored mentoring system to be able to reflect on themselves and the context in which they are teaching.
Problem-Based Learning: An Experiential Strategy for English Language Teacher Education in Chile
Author: Muñoz Campos, Diego
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Problem Based Learning,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Interpersonal Competence,Self Management,Preservice Teachers,Student Attitudes,Language Teachers,Transfer of Training,Thinking Skills,Reflection,Teacher Education,Foreign Countries,Linguistic Theory,Learning Theories,Scoring Rubrics

The Chilean education system requires English language teachers to be equipped with non-conventional teaching strategies that can foster meaningful learning and assure successful learners' performances in diverse and complex settings. This exploratory, descriptive, research study aimed at discovering the perceptions of 54 pre-service teachers about the impact of a problem-based learning activity in the development of key competencies, including higher order thinking skills and reflective, research, knowledge transfer/integration, social, and self-management skills. Groups of participants chose a made-up, ill-structured problem which combined language teaching and socio-cultural issues, and devised holistic solutions. Findings suggest a comprehensive impact on the first four skills, but a limited impact on social and self-management skills.
Teacher Socialization of EFL Teachers at Public School Levels in Central Mexico
Author: Lengeling, M. Martha
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Socialization,English (Second Language),Public Schools,Language Teachers,Personal Narratives,Inquiry,Qualitative Research,Preschool Teachers,Elementary School Teachers,Beginning Teachers,Semi Structured Interviews,Second Language Learning

This study aimed at exploring the processes of teacher socialization and identity formation of nine English as a foreign language teachers at public schools in central Mexico. These teachers began their careers in the National English Program in Basic Education. Qualitative research and narrative inquiry were used as a basis for this research. The data revealed that the teachers' socialization was somewhat informal in that little was required from them to gain entrance into the program. Once teaching, the participants dealt with challenges in their teaching contexts and the program. From these challenges, the teachers were able to make decisions concerning their future as teachers, forming and imagining their identity.
Comparing the Internet Usage of Pre-Service Language Teachers with Teachers of Other Subjects: Distance Learning vs. On-Campus Learning
Author: Firat, Mehmet
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teachers,Language Teachers,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Teacher Role,Distance Education,Internet,Student Attitudes,Technological Literacy,Conventional Instruction,Comparative Analysis,Foreign Countries,Student Surveys,Statistical Analysis,Scores

Teachers play a crucial role in helping individuals gain adequate Internet competency, which requires teachers themselves to be Internet-literate. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Internet use of the distance and on-campus pre-service teachers of language and other disciplines by multiple parameters. A total of 789 teacher candidates participated in this survey. The findings show that the candidate teachers in on-campus and distance-learning programs have an average level of Internet usage adequacy and that the younger candidate teachers and those in higher classes use the Internet more frequently. Pre-service foreign language teachers have been found to have a moderate level of Internet usage frequency, adequacy and technology ownership in comparison with the other preservice teacher groups.
Developing the Oral Skill in Online English Courses Framed by the Community of Inquiry
Author: Herrera Díaz, Luz Edith
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Oral Language,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Student Attitudes,Accuracy,Grammar,Vocabulary Development,Online Courses,Correlation,Guidelines,Teaching Methods,Distance Education,Learning Theories,Foreign Countries,Semi Structured Interviews,Statistical Analysis,Communities of Practice,College Students

Over the last decade, the community of inquiry framework has proved successful for online learning experiences in diverse disciplines, although studies in the teaching of English as a foreign language arena are still scarce. In this vein, this article reports a preliminary study about the development of the oral skill in a Basic English online course, uncovering the relationship between the community of inquiry framework (with its three forms of presence: teaching, cognitive, and social) and some indicators of the oral skill. Findings, based on learners' perceptions, confirmed the existence of such framework and suggest that the teaching presence fosters grammar, accuracy, and vocabulary. Discussion of findings, limitations of the study and future possible research actions conclude this report.
The Impact of Authentic Materials and Tasks on Students' Communicative Competence at a Colombian Language School
Author: Castillo Losada, César Augusto
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Communicative Competence (Languages),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Language Teachers,Experimental Groups,English (Second Language),Surveys,Foreign Countries,Diaries,Quasiexperimental Design,Teaching Methods,Semi Structured Interviews,Pretests Posttests,Qualitative Research,Observation,Pragmatics,Grammar,Tourism,Student Projects,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes

This article reports on a study carried out in a foreign language school at a Colombian public university. Its main purpose was to analyze the extent to which the use of authentic materials and tasks contributes to the enhancement of the communicative competence on an A2 level English course. A mixed study composed of a quasi-experimental and a descriptive-qualitative research design was implemented by means of a pre-test, a post-test, observations, semi-structured interviews, surveys, and diaries. The findings showed that the use of authentic materials and tasks, within the framework of a pedagogical project, had an impact on students' communicative competence progress and on the teaching practices of the experimental group teacher.
Language Learning Shifts and Attitudes towards Language Learning in an Online Tandem Program for Beginner Writers
Author: Tolosa, Constanza
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Student Attitudes,Foreign Countries,Spanish,Native Language,Semi Structured Interviews,Pretests Posttests,Positive Attitudes,Attitude Change,Writing Skills,Achievement Gains,Introductory Courses,Computer Mediated Communication,Intervention,Language Fluency,Accuracy,Secondary School Students,Cross Cultural Studies,Mixed Methods Research

We present findings of a project that investigated the potential of an online tandem program to enhance the foreign language learning of two groups of school-aged beginner learners, one learning English in Colombia and the other learning Spanish in New Zealand. We assessed the impact of the project on students' learning with a free writing activity done as pretest and posttest and used a semi-structured interview to explore their attitudes towards language learning and their perceived development of their native language. Data analysis indicated statistically significant gains in foreign language writing and positive attitudinal changes toward foreign and native language learning.
Inclusive Education and ELT Policies in Colombia: Views from Some &quot;PROFILE&quot; Journal Authors
Author: Robayo Acuña, Lina María
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,Foreign Countries,Periodicals,Journal Articles,Authors,Equal Education,Language Planning,Teaching Methods,Discourse Analysis,National Programs,Bilingualism,Standards,Minority Groups,Inclusion,Barriers

This article reports on a study aimed at exploring inclusive policies in the teaching of English as a foreign language in Colombia, as evidenced in the articles published in the &quot;PROFILE&quot; Journal by Colombian authors. The use of the documentary research method and critical discourse analysis showed that some policies--mainly The National Program of Bilingualism and the Basic Standards for Competences in English as a Foreign Language--contain issues closely related to the logic of discriminatory and segregation attitudes in English language teaching. We hope that the results of our analysis will generate more interest in scholars to examine language policies and work further to eradicate inequalities in education.
A Learning Experience of the Gender Perspective in English Teaching Contexts
Author: Mojica, Claudia Patricia
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Learning Experience,Gender Differences,Teaching Methods,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Foreign Countries,Faculty Development,Outcomes of Education,Role Playing,Feminism,Gender Bias,Classroom Techniques,Discourse Analysis,Course Descriptions,Masters Programs,Inservice Teacher Education,English Teachers

Eighteen Colombian English teachers participated in a course with an emphasis on gender and foreign language teaching in a Master's program in Bogotá. This text describes the design, implementation, and the learning in this educational experience. The analysis of the course was based on a view of learning as a process of participation rooted in the praxis of English teachers' classrooms. This experience reveals that gender is a relevant category in the frame of English language teacher education as it provides teachers with tools from a broader social and educational perspective. This reflection also leads to implications for teachers' practices with a gender perspective.
Citizenship Education and the EFL Standards: A Critical Reflection
Author: Calle Díaz, Luzkarime
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Citizenship Education,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Cultural Awareness,Global Approach,National Standards,Foreign Countries,Elementary Secondary Education,Social Development,Emotional Development,Holistic Approach

The reconfiguration of geographical and cultural boundaries has caused a growing concern among countries in regard to raising awareness of the importance of educating people to become &quot;citizens of the world.&quot; The language classroom seems to be the ideal place to incorporate the teaching and learning of global citizenship education, given its cross-cultural nature. This article intends to analyze the potential opportunities for the development of global citizenship education in the English as a foreign language classroom through a documentary analysis of the national standards and its connection to the national citizenship competences standards and the UNESCO global citizenship education topics and learning objectives. Finally, important recommendations are given to foster global citizenship in the English language classroom.
Empowering Pre-Service Teachers to Produce Ubiquitous Flipped Classes
Author: García-Sánchez, Soraya
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Instruction,Video Technology,Masters Programs,Preservice Teacher Education,Secondary Education,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Homework,Teaching Methods,Student Centered Learning,Foreign Countries,Cooperative Learning,Online Surveys,Student Attitudes,Creativity,Case Studies,Mixed Methods Research

This work focuses on technological and educational outcomes that resulted from the production of foreign language educational videos by 90 pre-service instructors enrolled in an official Master's Degree in Secondary Education programme. This teaching practice, conducted during two consecutive years, was set in a ubiquitous learning environment with the intention of effectively linking digital technology with pedagogy by means of producing flipped classroom units. The findings reveal that these pre-service teachers successfully combined instructional dynamics with digital skills to produce flipped classes adapted to the young generation's needs. The classroom becomes, therefore, a more participatory learner-centred scenario with a variety of interactive and collaborative activities performed by foreign language students.
Are International Students Quiet in Class? The Influence of Teacher Confirmation on Classroom Apprehension and Willingness to Talk in Class
Author: Hsu, Chia-Fang
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Students,Student Participation,Teacher Influence,Online Surveys,Predictor Variables,Language Skills,English (Second Language),Anxiety,Class Size,Cultural Influences,College Students,Likert Scales,Individual Characteristics,Structural Equation Models,Teacher Behavior,Classroom Environment,Hypothesis Testing

This study investigated the influence of teacher confirmation (TC) on classroom apprehension (CCA) and willingness to talk in class (WTT) among international students in the United States. The participants (N = 121) completed a battery of self-report instruments online. Results confirmed a path model that TC positively predicts classroom connectedness, which in turn, positively influences self-perceived language competence, which subsequently reduces CCA and increases WTT. The influences of length of stay in the U.S. and class size were controlled in the model, while culture of origin and class type did not influence CCA and WTT. Implications of these findings were further discussed.
Three Levels of Push-Pull Dynamics among Chinese International Students' Decision to Study Abroad in the Canadian Context
Author: Chen, Jun Mian
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Students,Migration,Immigration,Semi Structured Interviews,Study Abroad,International Education,Foreign Countries,Case Studies,Undergraduate Students,Asians

The extant literature on student migration flows generally focus on the traditional push-pull factors of migration at the individual level. Such a tendency excludes the broader levels affecting international student mobility. This paper proposes a hybrid of three levels of push-pull dynamics (micro-individual decision-making, meso-academic marketing, and macro-national marketing) to paint a more accurate picture of student migration flows. A case study of 15 semi-structured interviews with Chinese international students at a Canadian university was conducted to illuminate the underresearched reality that universities and Canada as a nation offer additional incentives, in conjunction with individual/familial reasons, for study abroad. The paper concludes with recommendations for new research directions arising from the present study.
Factors Affecting the Academic and Cultural Adjustment of Saudi International Students in Australian Universities
Author: Alsahafi, Nisreen
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Foreign Students,College Students,Student Adjustment,Influences,Educational Experience,Coping,Difficulty Level,Gender Differences,Age Differences,Educational Attainment,Language,Student Surveys,Semi Structured Interviews

The authors investigate factors affecting Saudi students' educational experiences in Australian universities and their adjustment issues. The data comes from the survey of 100 Saudi international students in Sydney and subsequent interviews. The analysis revealed that language proficiency is the main barrier to Saudi students' academic and social adjustment, with some academic factors such as classroom activities and assessment methods, and social factors such as homesickness and loneliness also affecting their study. The analysis has also identified Saudi students' coping strategies such as improvement of language competence, time management and mixing with others. It then discusses differences in perceived level of difficulty with respect to gender, age, educational level and length of residence, as well as some implications of the findings.