The accessibility of online resources in English means that today informal contexts offer a multitude of language development opportunities. The main objective of this paper concerns the ...investigation of smartphone use for the online informal learning of English among undergraduate students in Slovenia. An online survey and semi-structured interviews were used to explore the most frequent smartphone activities involving language use, the predominant language for these activities, and the level of co-evolution between smartphone activities in English and perceived language competence in English. The results show that, despite the affordances of Web 2.0 technologies, the participants still predominantly access online content for receptive rather than interactive/productive activities, in particular when English and not their mother tongue is involved. In terms of perceived communicative competence and online informal learning of English, the results indicate the co-evolution of two complex dynamic systems: the use of the digital context in English and the system of participants’ communicative competence levels in English.
The present article reports on the findings of a study that explored the effect of explicit strategy based instruction on achievement test scores in mixed language ability groups within an ESP course ...in a higher education setting. The research results indicate that language learner strategy instruction, which focused on cognitive, metacognitive and memory strategies, did not have any effect on achievement test scores among students with a higher level of general language competence. The results also indicate that membership in the experimental group was not a positive predictor of scores on vocabulary tasks of the achievement test among students with lower levels of pre-existing language ability. The results, discussed with respect to the context in which strategy based instruction was conducted, bring into question the justification for explicit strategy based instruction in mixed language ability groups, emphasize the importance of metacognitive awareness, and suggest that when insufficient time is available for integrated strategy instruction, a separate and independent module on learner strategies, focusing on different strategies for students at different levels of language competence, or implicit language learner strategy instruction seem to be more appropriate. Adapted from the source document
The article examines the effect of two factors on achievement test scores in English as a foreign language for specific purposes in higher education: preexisting linguistic competence and frequency ...of use of language learner strategies. The rationale for the analysis of language learner strategies as a factor affecting achievement test outcomes is outlined, and then language learner strategies and linguistic competence are defined. Results of international studies that have confirmed the correlation between these two variables are also presented. The results of this study indicate a statistically significant positive effect of general linguistic competence on achievement test scores. Among the constructs of language learner strategies, however, the only construct having a statistically significant effect on achievement test scores is metacognitive strategies. The article concludes with a discussion of findings and presentation of measures that could help students at lower levels of linguistic competence improve their achievement test scores.
The study explores which languages are predominant in the online use among the targeted participant population in Croatia and Slovenia and examines the association between the participants’ ...smartphone online use of English and preferred subtitling mode with their perceived communicative competence in English. The findings indicate that in both nationality groups the use of English prevails in receptive language activities, in particular listening and audio-visual reception, while mother tongues are mainly used for productive and interactive activities. Participants who prefer English when engaging in online informal activities through their smartphones and who use English or no subtitles when watching video content also assess their competence in English to be on higher levels.
Authentic video has an established role in the teaching of General English (GE) in conventional language classrooms. What has been under-researched, however, is the role of authentic video in the ...Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) setting, where despite being common, video is still considered a peripheral product. In the teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), which also draws onto findings made in the field of GE, little research has been made into the use of authentic video in both conventional and virtual language environments (VLEs). In order to better understand the role of video in ESP teaching in general and to identify potential areas that call for further research, this paper will explore how authentic video is used to develop the four language skills, audiovisual reception, and vocabulary, in the Slovene higher education area. The research is based on qualitative research methodology, more specifically on semi-structured interviews with ESP teachers and textbook authors, and a textual analysis of ESP textbooks published in Slovenia. The results indicate that most ESP teachers are aware of the benefits of using video materials for the development of the four skills, in particular the productive skills of writing and speaking, and vocabulary. However, teachers are reluctant to include video-related tasks into printed textbooks. Instead, these tasks are migrating to VLEs, which highlights the need to further explore the relationship between traditional textbooks and VLE instructional materials used in conventional language teaching.
Nabor kompetenc v logistiki in transportu, ki sta panogi s primarno vlogo v gospodarstvu, postaja vse obsežnejši. Trg delovne sile zato od diplomantov pričakuje sposobnost prepoznavanja in reševanja ...problemov ter obvladovanje mehkih veŠčin, zaradi česar se izobraževalne ustanove usmerjajo k bolj izkustveni pedagogiki. Med metodami poučevanja, ki poudarjajo ustvarjalno reševanje problemov in inovativno razmišljanje ter se obenem zdijo zelo ustrezne v primerih, ko študentje ali dijaki ne morejo opravljati prakse v delovnem okolju, so žive študije primera. Raziskav uporabe te metode poučevanja v logistiki in transportu ni, raziskave na sorodnih področjih pa zanemarjajo vlogo učitelja, ki je ključni dejavnik uspešnega učenja. Namen pričujoče kvalitativne raziskave je podati poglobljen vpogled v uporabo, prednosti in izzive živih študij primera pri poučevanju na področju transporta in logistike za učitelje. Raziskava je pokazala, da večjih odstopanj v korakih izvedbe v primerjavi z izsledki preteklih raziskav ni, vendar pa opuščanje refleksije ob koncu učnega cikla ostaja problematično. Kot prednost uporabe živih študij primera za učitelje je bila prvič poudarjena možnost povezovanja teorije in prakse ter obratno. Žive študije primera na učitelje delujejo motivacijsko in krepijo njihovo ustvarjalnost. Izzivi za učitelje ostajajo predvsem sodelovanje z zunanjim deležnikom, pomanjkanje časa in celo neobstoj živih študij primera na nekaterih področjih.
As a result of the widespread use of online technologies and vast opportunities for the use of English in everyday online life, the field of online informal learning of languages, in particular ...English, has attracted a new wave of research attention. Nevertheless, the number of corpus studies in this field remains low. More specifically, to date no research study has focused on the suitability of the language input to which online users are exposed while performing online activities with regard to the development of language skills in English as a language for specific purposes. In order to bridge this research gap, the objective of this paper is to apply the corpus approach to examine whether watching a medical television series may have an effect on the development of medical Maritime English for future deck officers. The results indicate that in terms of lexical density, lexical diversity, terminology, and word clusters, watching a medical television series may have a limited effect on the development of medical Maritime English for future deck officers. However, future research should examine whether watching television series may have an effect on the acquisition of typical speech patterns in spoken maritime communication, which are closely related to everyday spoken communication. Importantly, the results also seem to indicate that online informal learning of English cannot replace all segments of the formal learning of English for Specific Purposes, but can significantly contribute to the development of general English competence, which is a precondition for the further development of discipline-specific language competence.
As a result of the widespread use of online technologies and vast opportunities for the use of English in everyday online life, the field of online informal learning of languages, in particular ...English, has attracted a new wave of research attention. Nevertheless, the number of corpus studies in this field remains low. More specifically, to date no research study has focused on the suitability of the language input to which online users are exposed while performing online activities with regard to the development of language skills in English as a language for specific purposes. In order to bridge this research gap, the objective of this paper is to apply the corpus approach to examine whether watching a medical television series may have an effect on the development of medical Maritime English for future deck officers. The results indicate that in terms of lexical density, lexical diversity, terminology, and word clusters, watching a medical television series may have a limited effect on the development of medical Maritime English for future deck officers. However, future research should examine whether watching television series may have an effect on the acquisition of typical speech patterns in spoken maritime communication, which are closely related to everyday spoken communication. Importantly, the results also seem to indicate that online informal learning of English cannot replace all segments of the formal learning of English for Specific Purposes, but can significantly contribute to the development of general English competence, which is a precondition for the further development of discipline-specific language competence.
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