Foreign Language Education in Colombia: A Qualitative Study of Escuela Nueva

Since 2004 the Colombian Ministry of Education has been implementing the Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo (PNB) with the goal of having bilingual high school graduates in English and Spanish by 2019. However, implementation of the PNB has been criticized by English Language Teaching (ELT) specialists in the country who say, among other things, that the PNB introduced a discourse associated exclusively with bilingualism in English and Spanish. This study analyzed interviews with 15 participants of a public school of the Colombian Escuela Nueva, a successful model of community-based education that has begun a process of internationalization, regarding the participants’ perceptions of foreign language education and the policies of the PNB. Six students, five teachers, and four administrators were each interviewed twice using semi-structured interviews. To offer a critique of the PNB, this study tried to determine to what extent the school implemented the elements of Responsible ELT, a model developed by the researcher incorporating the concepts of hegemony of English, critical language-policy research, and resistance in ELT. Findings included the following: (a) students and teachers saw English as the universal language whereas most administrators saw English imposed due to political and economic reasons; (b) some teachers misinterpreted the 1994 General Law of Education mandating the teaching of a foreign language as a law mandating English; and (c) some teachers and administrators saw the PNB’s adoption of competence standards based on the Common European Framework of Reference for languages as beneficial whereas others saw it as arbitrary. Conclusions derived from this study of this Escuela Nueva school were: (a) most participants found the goal of the PNB unrealistic; (b) most teachers and administrators saw the policies of the PNB as top-down policies without assessment or continuity; and (c) teachers and administrators mentioned a disarticulation between elementary and high school ELT policies that may be discouraging students in public schools from learning English. Thus, this study suggests that the policies of the PNB may be contributing to English becoming a gatekeeper for higher education and employment thereby becoming a tool for sustaining inequality in Colombia.

The Role of Temporal Synchrony in the Facilitation of Perceptual Learning during Prenatal Development

This study explored the critical features of temporal synchrony for the facilitation of prenatal perceptual learning with respect to unimodal stimulation using an animal model, the bobwhite quail. The following related hypotheses were examined: (1) the availability of temporal synchrony is a critical feature to facilitate prenatal perceptual learning, (2) a single temporally synchronous note is sufficient to facilitate prenatal perceptual learning, with respect to unimodal stimulation, and (3) in situations where embryos are exposed to a single temporally synchronous note, facilitated perceptual learning, with respect to unimodal stimulation, will be optimal when the temporally synchronous note occurs at the onset of the stimulation bout. To assess these hypotheses, two experiments were conducted in which quail embryos were exposed to various audio-visual configurations of a bobwhite maternal call and tested at 24 hr after hatching for evidence of facilitated prenatal perceptual learning with respect to unimodal stimulation. Experiment 1 explored if intermodal equivalence was sufficient to facilitate prenatal perceptual learning with respect to unimodal stimulation. A Bimodal Sequential Temporal Equivalence (BSTE) condition was created that provided embryos with sequential auditory and visual stimulation in which the same amodal properties (rate, duration, rhythm) were made available across modalities. Experiment 2 assessed: (a) whether a limited number of temporally synchronous notes are sufficient for facilitated prenatal perceptual learning with respect to unimodal stimulation, and (b) whether there is a relationship between timing of occurrence of a temporally synchronous note and the facilitation of prenatal perceptual learning. Results revealed that prenatal exposure to BSTE was not sufficient to facilitate perceptual learning. In contrast, a maternal call that contained a single temporally synchronous note was sufficient to facilitate embryos’ prenatal perceptual learning with respect to unimodal stimulation. Furthermore, the most salient prenatal condition was that which contained the synchronous note at the onset of the call burst. Embryos’ prenatal perceptual learning of the call was four times faster in this condition than when exposed to a unimodal call. Taken together, bobwhite quail embryos’ remarkable sensitivity to temporal synchrony suggests that this amodal property plays a key role in attention and learning during prenatal development.

An interview study of community college student perspectives on service-learning

Over the past two decades, the community college in the United States has boasted a leadership role in the movement to make education community-based and performance-oriented. This has led to an intensification in attempts to search for more innovative means to make education more experiential and relevant to students' lived experiences. One such innovative program that holds promise to meet this challenge is service- learning. This paradigm attempts to relate the academic education in the classroom to community-based problems, which fits in neatly with the community-based characteristics of the community college. It promises to link ideas developed in the classroom and their practical application within the community through guided reflection. It is designed to enhance and enrich student learning of course material by combining citizenship, academic subjects, skills, and values. Though many studies have been carried out in regard to the outcomes of service-learning through quantitative means, relatively few qualitative studies are available, and those available have primarily studied traditional students at four-year residential colleges or universities. Therefore, there is an urgent need to study non-traditional students' perspectives at the community college level. The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the perspectives of five students at Broward Community College, Central Campus, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The following exploratory questions guided this study: 1. What elements constitute these students' perspectives? 2. What variables influence their perspectives? 3. What beliefs do these students hold about their service-learning experience which support or are contrary to their perspectives? This ethnographic interview study was conducted over a period of twelve months and consisted of three interviews for each of the five participants. The analysis of the data was conducted following the stringent principles of ethnographic research which included constant comparative analysis. The interviews were tape recorded with the participants' permission, transcribed verbatim, and organized into categories for in-depth understanding. Furthermore, these categories were developed from the data collected and an organizational scheme for understanding and interpreting of these perspectives emerged. The researcher, as well, kept a reflective journal of the research process as part of the data set. The results of this study show the need for a better grasp of the concepts of service-learning on the part of all involved with its implementation. In spite of this, all of the participants displayed gains to a greater or lesser degree in personal growth, academic skills, and citizenship skills.

Motivation and Vocabulary Breadth in CLIL and EFL Contexts. Different age, Same Time of Exposure

Numerous studies have found a positive connection between learners’ motivation towards foreign language and foreign language achievement. The present study examines the role of motivation in receptive vocabulary breadth (size) of two groups of Spanish learners of different ages, but all with 734 hours of instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL): a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) group in primary education and a non-CLIL (or EFL) group in secondary education. Most students in both groups were found to be highly motivated. The primary CLIL group slightly overcame the secondary non-CLIL group with respect to the mean general motivation but this is a non-significant difference. The secondary group surpass significantly the primary group in receptive vocabulary size. No relationship between the receptive vocabulary knowledge and general motivation is found in the primary CLIL group. On the other hand, a positive significant connection, although a very small one, is identified for the secondary non-CLIL group. We will discuss on the type of test, the age of students and the type of instruction as variables that could be influencing the results.

Who is in charge? An L2 Discourse Intonation Study on Four Prosodic Parameters to Exert the Pragmatic Function of Dominance and Control in the Context of L2 Non-specialist Public Speaking

This paper reports the findings from a study of the learning of English intonation by Spanish speakers within the discourse mode of L2 oral presentation. The purpose of this experiment is, firstly, to compare four prosodic parameters before and after an L2 discourse intonation training programme and, secondly, to confirm whether subjects, after the aforementioned L2 discourse intonation training, are able to match the form of these four prosodic parameters to the discourse-pragmatic function of dominance and control. The study designed the instructions and tasks to create the oral and written corpora and Brazil’s Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English was adapted for the pedagogical aims of the present study. The learners’ pre- and post-tasks were acoustically analysed and a pre / post- questionnaire design was applied to interpret the acoustic analysis. Results indicate most of the subjects acquired a wider choice of the four prosodic parameters partly due to the prosodically-annotated transcripts that were developed throughout the L2 discourse intonation course. Conversely, qualitative and quantitative data reveal most subjects failed to match the forms to their appropriate pragmatic functions to express dominance and control in an L2 oral presentation.

Understanding Teacher and Student Learning Situated in a School-wide Implementation of Fractions Instruction

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

To Succeed Is to Believe: Comparison of Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Language Learning between Learner Groups of English and Swedish in Finland

In this thesis, I studied self-efficacy in the learning of English and Swedish in Finland. The theory of self-efficacy, which was created by Albert Bandura, suggests that the beliefs a person has of his or her capabilities in a certain task affect the person’s performance in the task. My aim was to study whether there are differences in self-efficacy beliefs between the learners of English and Swedish, and whether these beliefs correlate with the performance in the language in question. My hypotheses were that the learners of English have higher self-efficacy beliefs than the learners of Swedish and that self-efficacy beliefs correlate with language performance. The study was quantitative, and it consisted of a self-efficacy questionnaire and a language test which were distributed to students of English and Swedish in an upper secondary school in Rovaniemi. The study was answered by 137 students, of whom 93 were learners of English and 44 were learners of Swedish. The results indicated that the learners of English had a higher sense of efficacy than the learners of Swedish. The analysis proved that there was a significant correlation between English students’ self-efficacy and their performance in the language measured by the test and the grades. In addition, a significant correlation existed between Swedish students’ self-efficacy and their grades. However, there was no correlation between the Swedish students’ self-efficacy and their test results. The difference in the self-efficacy beliefs of the two language groups indicates that people in Finland are more confident in using English than Swedish, which also implies that English is more valued in Finnish society than Swedish. It is important to acknowledge the lower self-efficacy beliefs in Swedish because various studies have proven that self-efficacy affects academic achievement. As a suggestion for further research, the self-efficacy beliefs of different language groups could be compared in a qualitative study in order to understand the development of self-efficacy more profoundly.

The interaction of economic and pedagogical ideals in the context of workplace learning in Germany: a framework for empirical research – inspired by business ethics

As an effect of marketisation, the importance of workplace learning in Germany has increased. The article follows up on the long-standing discourse around the question of how economic and pedagogical ideals interact in this context. In order to develop a theoretical framework for empirical research, three major positions of the discipline of business ethics are introduced. Business ethics in more abstract ways deals with the very same question, namely how do ideas such as profit orientation interact with other norms and values? The new perspectives show that the discourse has been hitherto based on a specific understanding of economy. In order to derive an empirical answer to the research question, the question is re-formulated as follows: Which values are inherent in the decisions taken? Consequently, it suggests using the concept of ‘rationalities of justification’ for empirical research. The article shows how this concept can be applied by conducting a test run. (DIPF/Orig.)

Mind the gap! An exploration of the role of lifelong learning in promoting co-production and citizenship within social care for older people

Contemporary themes in public policy have emphasised co-productive approaches within both the access and provision of support services to older people. This paper provides a cross disciplinary exploration from its respective authors perspectives on social work and educational gerontology to examine the potential for lifelong learning and learning interventions from which co-production with those using social care services in later life might be better facilitated. Using an example from the UK, we specifically elicit how co-produced care can enhance the horizon of learning and learning research. The synthesis of ideas across these two disciplines could enrich understanding and provide essential levers for moving towards empowerment and emancipation by engaging with a more co-productive approach in social care for older people. (DIPF/Orig.)

e-Math Workshops : a forum for exchanging experiences of mathematics e-learning at university level

We report here about a series of international workshops on e-learning of mathematics at university level, which have been jointly organized by the three publicly funded open universities in the Iberian Peninsula and which have taken place annually since 2009. The history, achievements and prospects for the future of this initiative will be addressed.

Action and perception: Neural indices of learning in infants

Early human development offers a unique perspective in investigating the potential cognitive and social implications of action and perception. Specifically, during infancy, action production and action perception undergo foundational developments. One essential component to examine developments in action processing is the analysis of others’ actions as meaningful and goal-directed. Little research, however, has examined the underlying neural systems that may be associated with emerging action and perception abilities, and infants’ learning of goal-directed actions. The current study examines the mu rhythm—a brain oscillation found in the electroencephalogram (EEG)—that has been associated with action and perception. Specifically, the present work investigates whether the mu signal is related to 9-month-olds’ learning of a novel goal-directed means-end task. The findings of this study demonstrate a relation between variations in mu rhythm activity and infants’ ability to learn a novel goal-directed means-end action task (compared to a visual pattern learning task used as a comparison task). Additionally, we examined the relations between standardized assessments of early motor competence, infants’ ability to learn a novel goal-directed task, and mu rhythm activity. We found that: 1a) mu rhythm activity during observation of a grasp uniquely predicted infants’ learning on the cane training task, 1b) mu rhythm activity during observation and execution of a grasp did not uniquely predict infants’ learning on the visual pattern learning task (comparison learning task), 2) infants’ motor competence did not predict infants’ learning on the cane training task, 3) mu rhythm activity during observation and execution was not related to infants’ measure of motor competence, and 4) mu rhythm activity did not predict infants’ learning on the cane task above and beyond infants’ motor competence. The results from this study demonstrate that mu rhythm activity is a sensitive measure to detect individual differences in infants’ action and perception abilities, specifically their learning of a novel goal-directed action.

Learning English is Fun! Incidental vocabulary acquisition of music and traditional class ninth graders via listening to pop songs

Finnish youth are constantly exposed to music and lyrics in English in their free time. It is likely that this has a positive effect on vocabulary learning. Learning vocabulary while simultaneously accompanied with melodies is likely to result in better learning outcomes. The present thesis covers a study on the vocabulary learning of traditional and music class ninth graders in a south-western upper comprehensive school in Finland, mainly concentrating on vocabulary learning as a by-product of listening to pop music and learning vocabulary through semantic priming. The theoretical background presents viable linguistic arguments and theories, which provide clarity for why it would be possible to learn English vocabulary via listening to pop songs. There is conflicting evidence on the benefits of music on vocabulary learning, and this thesis sets out to shed light on the situation. Additionally, incorporating pop music in English classes could assist in decreasing the gap between real world English and school English. The thesis is a mixed method research study consisting of both quantitative and qualitative research materials. The methodology comprises vocabulary tests both before and after pop music samples and a background questionnaire filled by students. According to the results, all students reported liking listening to music and they clearly listened to English pop music the most. A statistically significant difference was found when analysing the results of the differences in pre- and post-vocabulary tests. However, the traditional class appeared to listen to mainstream pop music more than the students in the music class, and thus it seems likely that the traditional class benefited more from vocabulary learning occurring via listening to pop songs. In conclusion, it can be established that it is possible to learn English vocabulary via listening to pop songs and that students wish their English lectures would involve more music-related vocabulary exercises in the future. Thus, when it comes to school learning, pop songs should be utilised in vocabulary learning, which could also in turn result in more diverse learning and the students could, more easily than before, relate to the themes and topics of the lectures. Furthermore, with the help of pop songs it would be possible to decrease the gap between school English and real-world English.

Teaching Communications, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities with Multimedia: A University-Middle School Service-Learning Project

Se describe el uso de tecnología en forma de presentaciones de multimedia para facilitar la enseñanza de las Normas para el Aprendizaje de una Lengua Extranjera del Concilio Americano para la Enseñanza de Lenguas extranjeras. Las normas abarcan las comunicaciones, las culturas, las conexiones, las comparaciones y las comunidades. El estudiantado universitario aprende a crear, con multimedia, presentaciones sobre un tema cultural en la lengua meta. El componente de aprendizaje por servicio comunitario se fundamenta en las presentaciones creadas para estudiantes de colegio, quienes tienen acceso a las presentaciones en un sitio web de la universidad.A description is provided of how the use of technology in the form of multimedia presentations enhances the teaching of the Five C Standards for Foreign Language Learning of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages: communications, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities. University students learn to create multimedia presentations on a cultural topic in the target language. The service-learning component provides the multimedia presentations for middle-school students who access them from the university website.

Computer and laboratory simulation in the teaching of neonatal nursing: innovation and impact on learning

Objectives: to evaluate the cognitive learning of nursing students in neonatal clinical evaluation from a blended course with the use of computer and laboratory simulation; to compare the cognitive learning of students in a control and experimental group testing the laboratory simulation; and to assess the extracurricular blended course offered on the clinical assessment of preterm infants, according to the students. Method: a quasi-experimental study with 14 Portuguese students, containing pretest, midterm test and post-test. The technologies offered in the course were serious game e-Baby, instructional software of semiology and semiotechnique, and laboratory simulation. Data collection tools developed for this study were used for the course evaluation and characterization of the students. Nonparametric statistics were used: Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon. Results: the use of validated digital technologies and laboratory simulation demonstrated a statistically significant difference (p = 0.001) in the learning of the participants. The course was evaluated as very satisfactory for them. The laboratory simulation alone did not represent a significant difference in the learning. Conclusions: the cognitive learning of participants increased significantly. The use of technology can be partly responsible for the course success, showing it to be an important teaching tool for innovation and motivation of learning in healthcare.

LEARNING A COMPLEX MOTOR SKILL FROM VIDEO AND POINT-LIGHT DEMONSTRATIONS

The aim of this Study was to compare the learning process of a highly complex ballet skill following demonstrations of point light and video models 16 participants divided into point light and video groups (ns = 8) performed 160 trials of a pirouette equally distributed in blocks of 20 trials alternating periods of demonstration and practice with a retention test a day later Measures of head and trunk oscillation coordination d1 parity from the model and movement time difference showed similarities between video and point light groups ballet experts evaluations indicated superiority of performance in the video over the point light group Results are discussed in terms of the task requirements of dissociation between head and trunk rotations focusing on the hypothesis of sufficiency and higher relevance of information contained in biological motion models applied to learning of complex motor skills