Promoting Intercultural Competence by Means of Blended Learning. Application of Forum Exercises in Beginners German Language Class in Jordan

With the help of electronic media certain conditions can be created in the teaching of foreign languages, which support a learner-oriented approach in the sense of a moderate constructivistic didactic. This paper aims to show, with\ud the help of a practical example, how forum exercises implement a Western understanding of modern foreign language teaching in a country in the Middle East. Therefore a blended learning model was created, whose application was\ud evaluated by the users. This paper exemplarily presents the application of forum exercises as an accompaniment to face-to-face classes and their potential for an intercultural language course. The term “culture” appears in this context on two levels: (a) as content, and (b) as a feature of the learner’s disposition. Additionally the results of the evaluation of this blended learning form will be presented

Inter-W Bose-Einstein Correlations ... or Not?

A critical summary is given of the present status of the study of Bose-Einstein Correlations in W-pair production at LEP II. In particular, the evidence is reviewed for or against the existence of Bose-Einstein correlations between pions originating both from a different of the two W's. If present, such an inter-W interference would not only form a potential bias in the determination of the W mass, but also would provide a laboratory to measure the space-time development of the overlap. If absent, this would drastically change the conventional (Hanbury Brown and Twiss) picture of pion interferometry in high energy physics.Comment: The contribution to the proceedings of the XXXth International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics, ISMD2000, Tihany, Hungar

(Some of) recent γγ\gamma\gamma measurements from LEP

Inclusive measurement of $J/\Psi$ (DELPHI), search for $\eta_b$ (ALEPH) and measurement of the cross-section of the double-tagged $\gamma\gamma$ events (ALEPH) are briefly overviewed.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures in ps and 5 in eps, talk given at XXXI International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics, Sept 1-7, 2001, Datong China. see http://ismd31.ccnu.edu.cn

The role of cultural diversity in e-based language learning.\ud A comparative study of Bulgarian and Lithuanian learners of German as a foreign language using an online learning platform

The study reported on in this paper focusses on the impact of cultural\ud factors in media-based language acquisition. The study sets out to investigate the\ud role of learners‟ cultural dispositions during the use of media-based programs in\ud language learning. More specifically, the study aimed at finding out to what extent\ud the cultural disposition of learners outweighs the learners‟ individual preferences\ud in a media-based (online) language course. The analysis of input data produced\ud strong differences between the two learning cultures at the outset of the study.\ud Lithuanian learners were found to be more passive, more rule oriented, more\ud reliant on their mother tongue as a means of instruction and less tolerant vis-à-vis\ud ambiguity when they entered the experiment. They also turned out to reject open\ud (less teacher-guided) forms of communicative learning requiring active\ud participation and, instead, preferred language teaching to be (passively)\ud entertaining. Bulgarian learners by contrast were more tolerant vis-à-vis ambiguity\ud and more goal-oriented with respect to learning the foreign language for academic\ud success abroad. They also turned out to be more focussed on and appreciative of\ud the technical aspects of the program and thus were eager to explore new\ud approaches to media-based learning. However, over the course of the study both\ud groups of participants developed an unexpected ability to adapt to the electronic\ud media even though the program seemed to counteract their cultural-specific\ud preferences. The study shows that both groups of learners improved significantly\ud over the course of the experiment with respect to language skills and that\ud acceptance of the program was high in both groups despite the initial resistance\ud and despite the fact that the program requires a well developed level of\ud independence. Despite the fact that a tendency to act according to cultural\ud dispositions can be shown those influences were not found to be statistically\ud significant