Student voice in distance FL course design and its practical implications

Under the guidance of foreign language curriculum design theory, foreign language courses in colleges and universities should construct a foreign language course teaching system from the aspects of reconfiguring the course objectives, updating the course content, and designing a diversified evaluation system. This paper combines the 5Ds framework with the GFKE model to establish the teaching system of foreign language courses in colleges and universities, designs the blended teaching mode of foreign language courses in colleges and universities, and constructs the corresponding course evaluation index system. Taking Z University in H province as the research object, the relevant teaching process of foreign language courses was designed, the coefficient of variation method solved the weights of evaluation indexes, and the teaching effect of foreign language courses in universities was comprehensively evaluated by set-pair analysis. On this basis, a validation analysis was carried out using the dimensions of teaching effect and teaching evaluation. The reading scores of students in the Experiment 1 class went up by 3.31 points, and the average score of students’ writing test scores went up by 53.86%, as per the findings. In the posttest of the depth of knowledge of English vocabulary, the experimental 1 class scored 25.83 points, which was 45.28% more than the control 2 class’s score. Blending foreign language courses based on the GRKE model can promote the improvement of students’ foreign language learning ability, and teaching evaluation results will be more accurate.

This study aims to construct a new model of ideological and political education in foreign language courses based on knowledge graphs and the ADDIE Framework. The "Guidelines for Ideological and Political Construction of Courses in Higher Education Institutions" emphasize the importance of ideological and political education across all disciplines and specialties in universities. However, current ideological and political education in foreign language courses faces several challenges, including the separation of course content and ideological elements, the absence of Chinese cultural elements in textbooks, and the singularity of teaching methods. By utilizing knowledge graphs, high-quality ideological and political elements are integrated into the foreign language curriculum, achieving an organic fusion of ideological education and course knowledge. This model is based on the ADDIE instructional design principle, which includes five stages: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. It also incorporates constructivist theory, emphasizing active student participation and interaction.

From the perspective of educational ecology, this study systematically explores the challenges facing the ideological-political education in foreign language courses, and taking the course of "Advanced English" as an example, this study attempts to construct a ecological pathway for ideological-political education in foreign language courses featuring holistic harmony and dynamic balance. It is suggested that in the practice of ideological-political education, foreign language teachers are supposed to first raise their ideological-political initiative and competence, excavate ideological-political elements in English texts and design language-skills-supported value objectives and teaching activities. Then making fullest use of AI environment, foreign language teachers are advised to adopt varied teaching methods to integrate ideological-political education into foreign language courses and evaluate the effect of ideological-political education in a scientific and reasonable way. This study is aimed to practically promote the ideological-political reform in foreign language courses.

Few studies focus on the instruction of vocabulary to very young foreign-language learners. How useful, frequent or even interesting are the words that Greek young learners have acquired by the end of their first couple of ‘junior’ years? This paper investigates the vocabulary used in five recent English as a foreign language (EFL) course books currently used in Greece in the first two years of primary EFL teaching which are expected to raise learners to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) A2 level. Our research suggests that the books are insufficiently loaded with vocabulary to achieve this aim and are very heavily focused on only the most frequent vocabulary. It emerges, too, that the course books are extremely varied in the vocabulary they present, which suggests that learners moving from one school to another using different books will find the transition especially difficult. Further, comparison with the word lists for the linked examinations suggests that the content of the course books is not tied to formal exams at beginner's level.

Awareness about possible contributions and drawbacks of English as a foreign language courses through distance and traditional face-to-face education may contribute to improving the efficiency of the process of teaching and learning a foreign language. The aim of this study is to investigate pre-service teachers’ views related to English as a foreign language courses through distance education compared to the traditional face-to-face education. The study intended to reveal the pros and cons of English as a foreign language courses not only through distance education but also face-to-face education and provide some suggestions to overcome possible problems encountered with the distant and/or face-to-face learning/teaching of English. Moreover, the study aimed to explore pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language and the impact of learning English through distance education compared to face-to-face education on their grades. This study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The participants were 91 pre-service teachers from different majors for the quantitative part of the present study while 14 pre-service teachers participated in the qualitative part. The findings highlight the importance of pre-service teachers’ views regarding learning English as a foreign language through distance education compared to the traditional face-to-face education considering the perceived strengths and weaknesses of each. Likewise, the study provided implications to improve their effectiveness in the process of learning English as a foreign language, which is considered one of the top priorities in the Turkish education system.

Objective: Language barriers between physicians and patients are linked to poorer clinical outcomes,higher healthcare costs, and worse patient satisfaction. Incorporating medical foreign language intomedical school curriculums can be costly and time-consuming. We sought to evaluate the efficacy of astudent-initiated medical foreign language course in communicating with patients with limited Englishproficiency (LEP). Methods: Senior medical students designed the curriculum and textbook for amedical foreign language course aimed at teaching basic medical Mandarin Chinese, Hokkien Chineseand Malay. After the course, students completed questionnaire on their comfort engaging in patientswith LEP and whether they would take a second course. Results: A total of 38 students enrolled and22 completed the post-course questionnaire. Students felt significantly more comfortable engagingpatients with LEP (p < 0.05). All students agreed the course was effective at teaching medical foreignlanguage and the majority would take a second LINGO course in the future. Conclusion: Studentledmedical foreign languages classes may be effective in helping medical students communicate withpatients with LEP.

Recently, in most foreign language course books, rubrics of units, activities, and exercises are codified resulting in a peculiar coexistence of semiotic systems to produce or to accentuate meaning, creating thus polysemiotic signs. In this paper, I study the polysemiotic signs of English and French in foreign language course books published in Greece which are composed of verbal and visual signs within the context of Groupe M. Such a relation of semiotic systems also includes intersemiotic and interlingual translation. My main result is that course books are characterized by an increasing visuality that permits reference to a common cultural framework or semiosphere that enables the polysemiotic signs used in course books to be understood by students learning a foreign language.

Foreign language proficiency is a complex trait that reflects an individual's ability to effectively understand and use a non-native language, shaped by both genetic and environmental factors. The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between genetically determined memory capacity and self-reported foreign language proficiency in 129 children (63 males, 66 females, age 14.2 ± 3.9) and 128 adults (90 males, 38 females, age 29.8 ± 8.2). Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously linked with memory function were used in a polygenic analysis (CAMTA1 rs4908449, CLSTN2 rs6439886, COMT rs4680, CPEB3 rs11186856, SCN1A rs10930201, SNAP25 rs3746544, and WWC1 rs17070145). Self-reported foreign language proficiency was evaluated using a single-item question. Children's level of immersion in foreign languages was divided into three categories: linguistic school, non-linguistic school with extra foreign language courses, and non-linguistic school without additional foreign language courses. We found that genetically predicted memory capacity (i.e., number of memory-increasing alleles) was positively associated with self-reported foreign language proficiency in children (p = 0.0078 adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, verbal IQ, and level of immersion in foreign languages). When combined, genetically predicted memory capacity, age, sex, ethnicity, verbal IQ, and level of immersion in foreign languages explained 31.5% (p < 0.0001) of the variance in children's self-reported foreign language proficiency. The association between genetically predicted memory capacity and self-reported foreign language proficiency was replicated in adults (p = 0.0158 adjusted for age, sex, and ethnicity). Foreign language proficiency may partly depend on the presence of a high number of memory-increasing alleles in both children and adults.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a focus on reforming teaching, learning models and strategies, particularly in online teaching and learning tools. Based on the social cognitive career theory and the constructivist learning theory, the purpose of this study was to understand and explore the learning preference and experience of students’ online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic and the management after the COVID-19 pandemic from the students’ perspective. The study was guided by the following two research questions: (1) After the COVID-19 pandemic, why do the students want to continue their foreign language courses via an online platform and model? What are the motivations and reasons? (2) How would the students describe their experience of a foreign language course via an online platform and model? With the general inductive approach and sharing from 80 participants, the participants indicated that flexibilities and convenience, same outcomes and learning rigorousness, and interactive experiences with classmates from different parts of the world were the three main key points. The results of this study may provide recommendations to university leaders, department heads, and teachers to reform and upgrade their online teaching curriculum and course delivery options after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ability to think critically is considered an important component of a college education, and postsecondary institutions typically include critical thinking in student learning outcomes, particularly in the general education curriculum. Foreign language has traditionally been a staple discipline in general education. However, college foreign language instruction has not consistently integrated critical thinking in its approach to teaching and learning. Explicit teaching of critical-thinking skills in foreign language courses would strengthen higher-order thinking skills while enhancing language and cultural proficiency. This article (1) offers a definition of critical thinking that can be applied to foreign language and culture study, (2) outlines the role of critical thinking in postsecondary education, (3) discusses the various components that build communicative competence in a foreign language and culture, (4) describes the benefits of critical thinking to foreign language learners, and (5) suggests future research directions for integrating critical thinking into the foreign language curriculum.

This study adopted mixed method research to investigate motivating factors of Thai undergraduate students who took foreign language courses at a Thai university in the Greater Bangkok area, using Dörnyei’s (2009) L2MSS as a study framework. One hundred and seventy-three undergraduate students completed a questionnaire, 25 of whom agreed to participate in the semi-structured interview session. Quantitative data were analyzed utilizing frequency, mean, standard deviation, one-way ANOVA, and two-way ANOVA, while interview data were content analyzed. The findings revealed different motivating sources for the students who had taken or were taking foreign language courses. English and Korean students reported the Ought-to L2 Self as their primary source of motivation, while French, Chinese, and Japanese students reported the Past L2 Learning Experience. The study suggested that teachers provide an adequate and supportive learning experience to foreign language students, leading to higher motivation and engagement in foreign language classrooms.

There has been a burgeoning interest of students’ motivational beliefs in determining their motivational behaviors in classroom activities: choice of task and persistence of task. Previous research mostly used quantitative methods to understand students’ general motivation, without taking contextual factors into consideration. To fill in this gap, the present study examined the influence of changing contexts on students’ motivational beliefs in a Chinese language classroom, and how those changes in motivational beliefs shaped their motivational behaviors in class activities. An ethnographic multiple-case study approach was adopted, and six adult learners were chosen from a Chinese language course in a Hong Kong university. On-going semi-structured interviews, class observations, stimulated recall and document reviews were conducted to understand student development across time. Findings show that the more proficient students were showing relatively stable motivational beliefs as well as behaviors throughout the foreign language course. In contrast, the less proficient students were demonstrating obvious changes in their motivational beliefs and hence behaviors, due to the different contexts of non-exam and high-stake exam. The study suggested students’ learning motivation in class was context-dependent, and could fluctuate substantially on a weekly basis. Those dynamic within-course changes at different learning stages and the reasons shaping the changes could give pedagogical insights to the teacher with adult learners.

Accommodations in postsecondary settings have become commonplace for many students with learning disabilities (LD) who have documented needs. Many of the accommodations professionals recommend for students with LD are based on an analysis of the course demands, the student's functional limitations, and a basic understanding of how the accommodation can facilitate the demonstration or acquisition of knowledge. However, little is known about which accommodations are recommended for math, science, and foreign language courses as well as the effectiveness of those accommodations. Because these content areas pose substantial hurdles for secondary students with LD who may transition to postsecondary settings, a review of the literature was conducted to evaluate current practices in the provision of accommodations to postsecondary students with LD in math, science, and foreign language courses. Findings indicate strong empirical evidence for extended test time for algebra exams and emerging research in changes to foreign language instruction. Recommendations for further research are provided.

This article studies the imperative of reforms in teaching foreign languages to adults both from the social point of view and methodological needs of the particular process of foreign language teaching for representatives of a special age group. The starting point of the article is the authors` own experimental research in the form of a questionnaire, which, as the target audience, conducted a survey of people aged 45+ studying at or graduated from foreign language courses as a part of integration programs (the survey was conducted among relocants from Ukraine after February 24, 2022) finding out what factors contributed / did not contribute to their success and psychological comfort in language learning. The second part of the study presents the results of a survey of teachers who work in foreign language courses attached to higher educational institutions of Ukraine and presents their point of view on the difficulties of teaching in mixed age groups and in groups dominated by people over 40 years. The purpose of the article is to show that in order to fulfill the social tasks that modern society places on the study of foreign languages by older people, changes in methodological approaches to the stated process are necessary.

Over the past decade there has been an increasing attempt to explore the potential of computer games in order to engage students’ towards foreign language learning. However, literature review has shown that there are still few attempts to provide empiric evidence of the educational potential of computer games, whereas the present study aims to address this lack. The purpose of our paper is to explore the possibilities of using a highly interactive 3D online game, we previously designed according to our student needs, in order to reinforce their foreign language acquisition and communicative competence. The target groups are students of a German foreign language course from the A1 level (CEFR). For our project we designed a 3D online-game that is based on a role-play, in which students need to cooperate in order to complete the game successfully. The game is built upon the OpenSim platform, and cooperation is conducted through game chats. Game chat interactions are being registered in a log file that is later processed. Furthermore, by analyzing different indicators we are able to obtain initial evidences to assess students’ proficiency regarding their communicative competence in the target language. We include some examples from a pilot study we did with students of a German foreign language course (A1).KeywordsCooperative learningvirtual worldscomputer-supported language learning