THE EFFECTS OF GENDER ON WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE AMONG TURKISH EFL LEARNERS

Effective communication in a foreign language is a captivating area of study for language learners, teachers, and researchers alike. Language learners hope to exemplify characteristics conducive to fruitful communication. Language teachers aim to develop beneficial practices and cultivate an atmosphere where students feel willing to share their ideas, knowledge, and opinions in a foreign language. Language researchers endeavor to describe the ideal conditions and learner characteristics for successful communication. The task of analyzing potential factors in successful communication appears endless, yet each new study helps to construct a more comprehensive understanding of the road map to efficacious second language and foreign language communication. This study explored gender’s impact on Turkish university students’ willingness to communicate in English. Gender’s influence was also evaluated in learners’ self-perceived communicative competence, communication apprehension, and personality. The research participants were taken from four universities in different cities of Turkey. The sample (N=282) was composed of Turkish students in English Language Teaching undergraduate programs. This research employed a hybrid design marrying quantitative data from participant questionnaires and qualitative data from participant interviews. The results of the present research concluded that willingness to communicate differs between male (n=119) and female (n=163) language learners, but not to a significant extent. Article visualizations

Foreign language listening comprehension anxiety and anxiety management strategies

textBy reviewing previous studies, this report aims to explore foreign language listening anxiety and provide a description of anxiety management strategies. There are three parts in the literature review: First, the report discusses the definition and process of listening comprehension; second, it investigates the concept and components of foreign language anxiety and its measurement and impact; finally, the literature review focuses on the importance of foreign language listening comprehension anxiety, and lists its possible sources and influences. In the pedagogical implication portion, this report lists nine listening anxiety reducing strategies developed from the findings in the literature review. By incorporating these strategies into language learning, learners can alleviate the negative influence from foreign language listening anxiety.Foreign Language Educatio

Chinese International Students’ Intercultural Communication Competence and Intercultural Communication Apprehension in the USA

This study investigated the intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension of Chinese international students. Participants in the study consisted of Chinese international students over 18 years old studying at two 4-year public universities in the southeastern United States. The study participants completed 2 online survey questionnaires: the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS), which measured the degree of intercultural communication competence, and the Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA), which measured the degree of intercultural communication apprehension. The findings of the study indicated a significant relationship between Chinese international students\u27 intercultural communication competence and their intercultural apprehension. Findings also noted that gender, age, number of U.S. friends, and level of education were not factors predicting the participants\u27 degree of intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension. However, frequency of speaking English outside of the classroom was an important factor indicating differences in the degree of the study participants\u27 intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension. In addition, the study revealed that the length of time in the United States affected participants\u27 intercultural communication competence but not their intercultural communication apprehension

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies

A systematic search of the research literature from 1996 through July 2008 identified more than a thousand empirical studies of online learning. Analysts screened these studies to find those that (a) contrasted an online to a face-to-face condition, (b) measured student learning outcomes, (c) used a rigorous research design, and (d) provided adequate information to calculate an effect size. As a result of this screening, 51 independent effects were identified that could be subjected to meta-analysis. The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction. The difference between student outcomes for online and face-to-face classes—measured as the difference between treatment and control means, divided by the pooled standard deviation—was larger in those studies contrasting conditions that blended elements of online and face-to-face instruction with conditions taught entirely face-to-face. Analysts noted that these blended conditions often included additional learning time and instructional elements not received by students in control conditions. This finding suggests that the positive effects associated with blended learning should not be attributed to the media, per se. An unexpected finding was the small number of rigorous published studies contrasting online and face-to-face learning conditions for K–12 students. In light of this small corpus, caution is required in generalizing to the K–12 population because the results are derived for the most part from studies in other settings (e.g., medical training, higher education)

Kultivierungshypothese : eine Bibliographie

Kultivierungshypothese: Eine Bibliographie. Zusammengestellt von Hans J. Wulf

Exploring the Nature of Language Anxiety: Experiences of NonNative EnglishSpeaking College Students in the United States

The thought of learning another language makes some people cringe, while others display neutral to positive reactions. To understand the complex experiences of students learning a new language, this study investigated the affective psychological development encompassing language anxiety (LA) among nonnative Englishspeaking college students in the United States (US). The purpose of this study was to identify LA, while keeping in mind that some of the LA experiences may be moderate to none, and to explore the nature of this phenomenon. Ten university students from nine different countries were interviewed concerning their experiences learning and functioning in English in the US. While only a few studies have reviewed the nature of LA encompassing the possible existence of facilitating LA, this study investigated both the positive and negative effects of anxiety on second language learning. The answer to the research question, How do college students in the US whose native languages are not English experience LA was pursued by using qualitative analyses. The results indicated a new construct of LA, identity frustration, and its relationships to the other LA constructs already specified in the literature. The study also suggested the timing when students cease to translate between the two languages to be the point where they experience a lower level of LA. In addition, four other themes emerged. They are culturerelated LA; the recursive nature of LA; relationships among selfexpectation, selfconfidence, and LA; and facilitating LA, termed euphoric language tension

Hazırlık seviyesinde dijital yaratıcı yazmanın yazma başarısı ve motivasyona etkisi

Yazma becerisi, hem ana dilde hem de yabancı dilde öğretmenler ve öğrenciler için her zaman zorlu bir süreç olmuştur. Öğrenciler fikirlerine nasıl başlayacakları ve onları nasıl organize edecekleri konusunda endişelenirken, öğretmenler öğrencilerini yazma becerilerine karşı motive etmekte sorun yaşarlar. Yazılan ürünün kalitesi istenilen düzeyde olmadığında öğrenciler, yazma sürecindeki en büyük sorunlardan biri olan kaygıyı hissederler. Zorlukların üstesinden gelmek ve bu süreçte öğrenicilere daha faydalı olabilmek için, yenilikçi ve umut vaat eden yöntemler yazma müfredatına entegre edilmelidir. Teknolojinin hayatımızın her aşamasında var olduğu ve büyük bir etkiye sahip olduğu kabul edilmektedir. Teknoloji ilerledikçe, sadece iletişimde değil eğitim sisteminde de büyük bir atılım yapmıştır. Sanal bir ortamda informal dil edinimine ilişkin bireysel deneyimler kazanma ve öğrencilerin motivasyonunu artıran, onları yaşam boyu öğrenenler olmaya yönlendiren öğrenen özerkliğini geliştirme fırsatı sağlamıştır. Bu sebeple, bu deneysel çalışma, dijital bir platform üzerinde web 2.0 teknolojileri esas alınarak B2 seviyesi yaratıcı yazma yeteneğini değerlendirme konusunu araştırmaktadır. Çalışmanın amacı, dijital yaratıcı yazmanın hazırlık okulu öğrencilerinin yazma becerilerini, yazmaya karşı tutum ve beklentilerini belirlemek ve keşfetmektir. Çalışma Türkiye'de bir vakıf üniversitesinin Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulu'nda uygulanmıştır. B2 seviyesinde 66 öğrenci bu çalışmaya katılmıştır. Deney ve kontrol grubu olarak birbirine denk iki grup seçilmiştir. Veriler, yazma becerileri final sınavlarından, Özbay ve Zorbaz tarafından adapte edilen Yazma Kaygısı Ölçeği Türkçe versiyonundan, öntest ve son testlerden ve yaratıcı yazma değerlendirme rubriği ile toplanmıştır. Çalışmaya katılan kişilerden veri toplandıktan sonra, bu kişilerin tutumları, beklentileri, motivasyonları ve yazma yeterlikleri analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmanın sonuçları dijital yaratıcı yazmanın hem akademik yazmayı geliştirdiğini hem de öğrencilerin yazma motivasyonunu artırmaya yardım ettiğini göstermiştir. Son olarak, bulgu ve sonuçlar elde edildikten sonra, hedef kitleye bazı pedagojik tavsiyeler verilmiştir.Writing skills have always been challenging for teachers and students both in the native and foreign languages. Students worry about starting and organizing their ideas, whereas teachers have trouble motivating their students towards writing skills. When the quality of the written product is not at the desired level, students feel anxious which is one of the biggest problems in the writing process. To overcome challenges and be more beneficial to learners in this process, innovative and promising methods should be integrated into the writing curriculum. It is globally accepted that technology has a significant influence and becomes omnipresent in every process of our lives. As technology advances, it has made an immense breakthrough in communication and the education system. It has provided an opportunity to gain individual experiences of informal language acquisition in a virtual environment and promote learner autonomy that increases learners' motivation and leads them to become lifelong learners. Thus, this experimental study investigates the evaluation of B2 level creative writing ability based upon using web 2.0 tools on a digital platform. The study aims to identify and explore the effect of digital creative writing on English Preparatory School students' writing skills, attitudes, and expectations towards writing. The study took place at a foundation university, the School of Foreign Languages in Turkey. 66 students in the B2 level participated in this research. Two groups that were equivalent to each other were chosen as experimental and control groups. Data were collected through final writing skills quizzes, the adaptation of the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test to Turkish developed by Özbay and Zorbaz (2011), pre-test and post-test, creative writing rubric developed by the researcher. After obtaining data from participants who attended the study, attitudes, expectations, motivation, and writing proficiency were analyzed. The results indicated that digital creative writing not only improved academic writing achievement but also helped increase the writing motivation of the students. Finally, after attaining findings and results, some pedagogical recommendations were given for target groups

The effect of flipped learning on EFL learners’ public speaking in Taiwan

This study investigates the effectiveness of flipped learning on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ public speaking. An experimental design was implemented throughout the study, for which the researcher used convenience sampling. Seventy-nine sophomore students, from two intact English Public Speaking classes, were divided into a flipped learning group (FLG) and a conventional instruction group (CIG). This happened over a 12-week period where the focus was to investigate how a language learner’s experience of flipped learning or conventional instruction affected their English public speaking. The author used quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data: a pre- and post-in-class speech and a 250-word post-treatment reflective essay. Both an independent and paired t-test were used to analyze the scores of the speeches, whereas coding was used to specify the themes that emerged from the qualitative data. The results revealed that the FLG significantly outperformed the CIG in the areas of body language and paralanguage. In addition, they did better in the areas of content and organization, and developed other skills as will be detailed later. The findings can be an impetus for EFL instructors to adopt flipped learning in an English public speaking course.</p

Students apprehension and affective inertia in a Twitter-based activity: Evidence from students of an economics degree

Students' affective inertia can lead to their resistance to conducting an activity. This article aims to identify the characteristics of an e-learning activity carried out via Twitter that can help teachers reduce the possible incidence of such inertia. The analysis, based on structural equation modelling and applied to a sample of 105 students, reveals that e-learning activities should be useful and enjoyable in order to reduce affective inertia. Furthermore, students that are more apprehensive towards using social networking sites (SNS) are more likely to experience affective inertia, and having high expectations regarding the activity's enjoyment are less likely to reduce their inertia, compared to those who are less apprehensive about SNS use. This research offers important implications for teaching practice on the designing of e-learning activities