Search results

This study describes a telecollaborative project in an upper-level French language course at an American university from the students’ perspectives. The project involved synchronous computer-mediated communications via the online videoconference platform Skype between US-based French language learners and French native speakers in France. In order to increase the participants’ interest and engagement in the virtual exchanges, the telecollaboration employed critical approaches in the task design. In this telecollaboration, students were asked not only to take part in an intercultural exchange with their partners on potentially sensitive topics that included freedom (e.g., freedom of speech, religious liberty), globalization (e.g., child labor), and immigration (e.g., racism, xenophobia), but also to engage in a short debate on these topics. An online anonymous survey was used to solicit their reactions and attitudes toward this critical approach, as well as toward the technology-enhanced learning activity as a whole. The qualitative analysis of the students’ responses showed that the telecollaboration project was generally well received, despite the inclusion of sensitive topics. Most students indicated that they felt most challenged by and most apprehensive about the topic of immigration, which was attributed to the concurrent complex socio-political situation at the time they participated in the telecollaboration project. High levels of anxiety were also reported from the youngest participants, those who majored or minored in other disciplines than French, and non-degree students. This exploratory study calls for more data and an in-depth analysis of the student’s discourse, especially with respect to potential differences in pragmatic strategies used for addressing sensitive versus less sensitive topics in the target language during virtual exchanges with native speakers in that target language.

This research aimed to identify the levels of stress students experience, the different sources that generate them and the relationship between the stress levels and the students' gender.

A mixed-methods design was used, focusing on the quantitative stage. The qualitative section was designed to obtain supporting information. 86 Ecuadorian undergraduate polytechnic students enrolled in an English course took part in this study. Quantitative data are obtained using the Telecollaborative Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (T-FLAS), while online interviews supply insight from students.

The present research identified four types of anxiety related to emergency remote teaching (ERT). Communication anxiety is one of them that has also been found in regular foreign language classes (Horowitz et al., 1986). However, the actual contribution is regarding the other three sources of ERT-related anxiety: Online interaction anxiety, ERT anxiety and technology anxiety. Also, it was identified that girls experience higher anixety levels than men do.

A limitation of this study is the T-FLAS, a tool that has not been widely used. However, as Fondo and Jacobetty (2020) reported, other papers have made use of this novel tool. Another limitation to this research is the number of participants; although it is not very small, it might not be considered large enough for generalization purposes. Also, this study was limited by its scope, which only looked at the relationship between the students' genders and anxiety levels.

First, this researcher recommends that language departments use the survey at the beginning of each semester. That way, there will be a clear idea of the sources of anxiety students are experiencing, and measures can be taken to lower those anxiety-causing factors. Also, this study shows students experiencing a high level of anxiety when they are required to interact with their peers using a foreign language. Thus, supplying practice through guided discussions and role-plays should allow learners to reduce their anxiety levels and perform better during these kinds of exchanges in the short term.

Another issue reported by this study is the feelings of uneasiness when turning cameras on to do an exercise or taking quizzes and exams, as learners feel like their classmates and teachers are invading their homes. It is recommended that the Student Welfare Department of the educational institutions deal with this and other issues. They can design intervention, relaxation and yoga programs for students who are feeling anxious to help them lower those feeling and allow them to have better interactions in class during these times of remote learning.

This paper's originality lies in the fact that it looks at anxiety from the point of view of the COVID-19 pandemic and the move it had to be made to the digital realm. It identifies three factors that are new and related 100% to emergency remote teaching–learning. It is also valuable as it is looking at data emerging for a South American country, as data are scarce from this continent and especially from Ecuador.

This study aims to examine how teacher candidates (TCs) in Türkiye and the USA navigate their intercultural communication skills in a telecollaboration project.

Forty-eight TCs participated (26 in Türkiye and 22 in the USA) in the study. TCs discussed critical issues in multicultural education on an online learning platform for six weeks. Their discussions were analyzed using content and discourse analysis.

The findings indicated that TCs approached the telecollaborative space as a translingual contact zone and positioned themselves and their interlocutors in the discourse by using the personal pronouns; I, we, you and they. When they positioned themselves using we (people in Türkiye/USA), they spoke on behalf of everyone included in the scope of we. Their interlocutors responded to these positionings either by accepting this positioning and responding with a parallel positioning or by engaging in translingual negotiation strategies to revise the scope of we and sharing some differences/nuances in beliefs and practices in their community.

When TCs talk about their culture and community in a singular manner using we, they frame them as the same across every member in that community. When they ask questions to each other using you, the framing of the questions prime the respondents to sometimes relay their own specific experiences as the norm or consider experiences from different points of view through translingual negotiation strategies. A singular approach to culture(s) may affect the marginalized communities the most because they are lost in this representation, and their experiences and voices are not integrated in the narratives or integrated with stereotypical representation.

Teachers and teacher educators should first pay attention to their language choices, especially use of pronouns, which may communicate inclusion or exclusion in intercultural conversations. Next, they should prepare their students to adopt and practice language choices that communicate respect for cultural diversity and are inclusive of marginalized populations.

Speakers’ pronoun use includes identity construction in discourse by drawing borders around and between communities and cultures with generalization and particularity, and by patrolling those borders to decide who is included and excluded. As a response, interlocutors use pronouns either to acknowledge those borders and respond with corresponding ones from their own context or negotiate alternative representations or further investigate for particularity or complexity. In short, pronouns could lead the direction of intercultural conversations toward criticality and complexity or otherwise, and might be reasons where there are breakdowns in communication or to fix those breakdowns.

This study shows that translingual negotiation strategies have explanatory power to examine how speakers from different language backgrounds negotiate second and third order positionings in the telecollaborative space.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction through an extensive annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2017 in over 200 journals, magazines, books and other sources.

The paper provides a brief description for all 590 sources.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

This study aims to examine the relationship between knowledge management and career development in an era characterized by high levels of youth unemployment and a demand for specialized skills. Despite the increasing transition to a knowledge-based economy, there is a significant gap between young people’s skills and career readiness, necessitating an in-depth analysis of the role of knowledge management at the individual, organizational and national levels.

The authors conducted a qualitative study using the theory-context-characteristics-methodology approach based on a systematic literature review. The authors created an ecological framework for reflecting on knowledge management and career development, arguing for a multidisciplinary approach that invites collaboration across sectors to generate innovative and reliable solutions.

This study presents a comprehensive review of the existing literature and trends, noting the need for more focus on the interplay between knowledge management and career development. It emphasizes the need for businesses to promote the acquisition, storage, diffusion and application of knowledge and its circulation and exchange to create international business human capital.

The findings may help multinational corporations develop managerial training programs and recruitment strategies, given the demand for advanced knowledge-based skills in the modern workspace. The study also discusses the influences of education, experience and job skills on business managers’ performance, guiding the future recruitment of talents.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this review is among the first to assess the triadic relationship between knowledge management, career development and the global unemployment crisis. The proposed multidisciplinary approach seeks to break down existing silos, thus fostering a more comprehensive understanding of how to address these ongoing global concerns.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the inability of the Japanese higher education system to adapt to widespread unexpected disruption. The limited metrics available to assess Japanese higher education’s response in the wake of the pandemic indicate several areas where the system needs to be strengthened. This paper aims to harness the ecological perspective to explore the procedures by which higher education in Japan can mitigate extant digital shortcomings.

Leveraging Zhao and Frank’s ecological perspective as its theoretical model, this paper proposes practical solutions to remedy deficiencies highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic rooted in existing literature both within and outside of Japanese higher education research.

The paper suggests pragmatic ideas to embolden each of the three strata encompassing the educational “ecosystem”: institutions, faculty and students. The paper identifies measures for strengthening institutions to become more adaptive and improve leadership capacity. At the faculty level, meanwhile, an increase in professional development opportunities and the bolstering of support systems may function to bridge an intergenerational digital divide. Finally, for students, the authors argue for mobile-assisted language learning in an effort to cultivate stronger learner outcomes, and prescribe how to integrate this method into formal IT platforms.

The current paper is among a select few that use the ecological perspective in the field of educational research in Japan. The authors contend that the model, while effective, offers an incomplete view of education, suggesting that the ecological perspective must be expanded to include students as a distinct species.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if team personality composition has any effect on group work performance of undergraduate students in China.

Using a questionnaire based on the Big-Five framework to collect data on personality traits, this study investigated whether in the Chinese education setting overall effectiveness of university students working in groups was related to the different personalities of the group members. Students of two undergraduate business programs jointly run by an Australian university and a Chinese university in Shanghai participated in the research.

The findings reveal that aggregated personality traits have no effect on team effectiveness but homogeneity in emotional stability among group members does have a positive impact on group performance. Based on a comprehensive review of studies concerning the Chinese education approach, it is believed that the outcome of this study may reflect to a certain extent the influence of traditional learning method on how university students interact with team members in group work hence affecting group performance.

This study has surveyed 166 undergraduate students on their personality traits and performance in group work. A larger sample size can help improve the generalizability of the findings.

The findings of this study shed light on how group work can be used more effectively in learning through proper assessment task design and guidance from the facilitator.

The outcome of this research also provides insight on how group work in higher education can better prepare students for the Chinese workforce.

While studies on relationship between personality mix and team effectiveness in business setting are plenty, there is relatively little research on how team personality composition can impact on group performance in education especially in Asian countries. This study is one of the first attempts to supplement the inadequacy in this regard.