Original investigations into language education, including theoretical perspectives and implications for practice. Any medium accepted.
Results 41 to 50 of 70
Ayah Durkawi, Department of Arabic and Persian, the University of St Andrews Marwa Mouazen, Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, the University of Edinburgh...
Marc Jones, Department of English Communication, Tokyo Kasei University Jon Steven, Department of English, Waseda Junior High and High School ABSTRACT The authors examine and...
Marco Aurelio Golfetto, Ph.D., Department of Language and Cultural Mediation, Università degli Studi, Milan (Italy) ABSTRACT The presence of Arabic heritage students in classroom poses...
Dr. Muntasir Al-Hamad, Arabic for Non-Native Speakers Center, Qatar University Dr. Yehia A. Mohamed, Arabic Program, Georgetown University Qatar ABSTRACT The complex interrelation between orthographic and phonological...
Formative feedback can have a transformative impact on learning. Therefore, learners need to interact with this feedback to develop and achieve in their studies. This article outlines how international students’ study experiences were further enhanced by audio formative feedback and how it added value to their overall learning. The small-scale case study employed a mixed methods approach (quantitative via a questionnaire and qualitative via a focus group interview) to a cohort of 16 international students and it evidenced that audio formative feedback was a positive experience. The results showed it promoted student agency, developed their listening and academic skills, encouraged them to revisit feedback to check their understanding and progression and engaged them with formative feedback. The primary message promulgated by this case study is that audio feedback re-engages international students with formative feedback as a tool for learner development which in turn will aid progression and achievement in their studies.
A shift in how Spanish grammar has been traditionally taught has been advocated for some time now, thus moving from a behaviourist approach, with a focus on the form and the linguistic structure, to a communicative approach in which the communicative intention and the context are taken into account. On the other hand the use of digital tools has been increasingly applied to the field of second-language teaching. More specifically, the benefits of using online games and digital tools in the form of gamification for teaching have been highlighted in some studies. However, after years of explaining and presenting the grammar based on a behaviourist approach and by using a specific format, are our students ready for a change in the concept of how grammar should be taught as well as for a change in the way it is presented for practice? The main aim of this paper is to analyse, on the one hand, students’ reactions to different approaches to how the same grammar content is taught and, on the other hand, to find out which benefits or constraints students find in doing the activity in different formats, namely, on a piece of paper or using a digital tool. Students had to complete two different activities. One of the proposed activities was designed according to a traditional approach to grammar teaching and was presented on a piece of paper, the other activity followed a cognitive approach to teaching the grammar and used the online tool Twine to create a game and was accessed online. In both activities students were practising the difference between Spanish indicative and subjunctive modes in relative clauses, and after completion they were asked about their experience by filling out a questionnaire. Students’ mixed answers with regards to both activities raises some questions, namely, to which extent are advanced students willing or ready to shift the ways in which they have been traditionally taught, and what are the benefits and constraints of using a digital tool or a piece of paper in terms of enhancing learning.
This special issue of the Language Scholar, which focusses on content-based language education, is dedicated to our friend and colleague, Cheryl Greenlay. Before her unexpected...
This article documents and reflects on the development of an interdisciplinary English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP) course. Historically, there has tended to be a dichotomous discourse within the EAP community regarding the relative merits and shortcomings of adopting either a general or specific approach to teaching English for Academic Purposes. The arguments for both of these positions are explored and particular attention is paid to the often very underwhelming arguments for EGAP. Having explored the arguments for general and specific orientations to teaching EAP, one of the authors reflects on her experience of developing and teaching on an EAP course with an interdisciplinary focus as a means of overcoming the often unimaginative approaches to dealing with cohorts of students from different disciplines. The final section of this article critically examines understandings of specificity, interdisciplinarity and disciplinarity from within EAP, and, based on these observations, we make some tentative suggestions as to how interdisciplinarity can provide a useful platform for discussions with students on the social and ideological dimensions of knowledge production.
The twenty-first century of digital media and multimodalities demands a rethinking of approaches to languages for specific purposes (LSP) in Higher Education. This article seeks to highlight how the field of LSP has evolved over time to adapt to the changing needs of learners. It further aims to highlight the current need to develop a multimodal approach to the teaching of LSP in the Higher Education sphere, in order to respond to the linguistic, academic and professional needs of students in the twenty-first century. The current communicative landscape is deeply complex with digital technologies mediating many of our daily interactions. The rise in multimodality is a particularly striking trend in technologically mediated communication, and LSP teaching and learning needs to incorporate a wider range of semiotic resources in order to enable learners to negotiate today’s communicative landscape. Within this context, this article thus aims to advocate a multimodal approach to LSP in Higher Education, and also examines how on a practical level, this approach can be applied in the LSP classroom using digital video creation as an example. It further suggests that LSP researchers and practitioners consider integrating other multimodal teaching and learning activities in the Higher Education classroom, in order to prepare them for the complex communicative landscape that awaits them in the discourse communities for their relevant disciplines.
This paper is a reflection on the design and delivery of a brand-new intensive programme “Literature and Intercultural Communication” at the University of Leeds. Drawing on scholarly literature, as well as programme documentation, lesson materials and student feedback, the article identifies three elements that informed the design and delivery of the course. Firstly, the literary and cultural components of this highly integrated programme were selected with a view of dislodging received notions of identity, writing and culture. By inviting oppositional readings of the literary canon and refraining from prescriptive cultural perspectives, the syllabus aimed to foster an air of curiosity and an appreciation of difference. This criticality was further enhanced by the experiential nature of the programme, which is the second aspect of the programme the paper dwells on. Encouraging learners to incorporate prior learning into their experiences in and out of the classroom not only enhanced their engagement with new, and sometimes abstract, literary, cultural and linguistic content, but it also promoted the internalisation of content knowledge and the automatisation of subject-specific skills and procedures (or pluri-literacies), and provided students with opportunities for creative risk-taking in project assignments. The discussion concludes with a section on multimodality; foregrounding the multiple semiotic systems used in communication was not only a logically corollary to the experiential nature of the programme, but it also transformed the classroom into a more relevant, inclusive and agentive space.