Alternative Assessment in Engineering Language Education: The case of the Technical University of Madrid

This article describes a research project involving students from nine different engineering degrees at the Technical university of Madrid. The purpose of the project was to analyze the use of peer and self assessment and the students? attitudes toward alternative assessment procedures.

Attitudes of the autism community to early autism research

Investigation into the earliest signs of autism in infants has become a significant sub-field of autism research. This work invokes specific ethical concerns such as use of 'at-risk' language, communicating study findings to parents and the future perspective of enrolled infants when they reach adulthood. This study aimed to ground this research field in an understanding of the perspectives of members of the autism community. Following focus groups to identify topics, an online survey was distributed to autistic adults, parents of children with autism and practitioners in health and education settings across 11 European countries. Survey respondents (n = 2317) were positively disposed towards early autism research, and there was significant overlap in their priorities for the field and preferred language to describe infant research participants. However, there were also differences including overall less favourable endorsement of early autism research by autistic adults relative to other groups and a dislike of the phrase 'at-risk' to describe infant participants, in all groups except healthcare practitioners. The findings overall indicate that the autism community in Europe is supportive of early autism research. Researchers should endeavour to maintain this by continuing to take community perspectives into account.

‘Neutral, native-like or authentic’ : Investigating attitudes and beliefs of expanding circle speakers of English

The status of English as the language of international communication is by now well-established. However, in the past 16 years, research has tried to emphasize the fact that the English spoken in international contact situations and between people with other first languages than English has different needs than the English spoken locally amongst native speakers, resulting in the emergence of English as a lingua franca (ELF) as a scholarly field. However, the impact of findings in ELF has so far only led to a moderate shift in English language teaching. Especially in expanding circle countries, where ELF should have the biggest impact, change is only gradually becoming palpable. Accent and pronunciation, as one of the biggest factors on both identity and mutual intelligibility (Jenkins 2000; 2007) are at the root of discussion. The scope of this study is therefore to examine accent choices and the extent to which native speaker ideology informs the preferences of ten speakers of ELF and 27 German natives with experience in international communication. Both ethnographical and sociolinguistic methods, as well as auditory analysis have been applied and conducted. The auditory analysis of six variables in the recorded speech production of the ten speakers suggests that there is no significant preference of one norm-giving variety over the other. Rather, speakers tend to mix-and-match General American- and Standard Southern British English-like features in their pronunciation. When reporting their accent ideals, the idea of a ‘neutral’ English accent is mentioned by four participants. Neutral accents seem to have been understood as ‘unmarked accents’. Expressed beliefs on their own English pronunciation show a comparatively high level of reflection on and confidence in their own production. Results from a rating task and a survey given to 27 German participants reveal attitudes that are more negatively stacked. While Germans reported openness towards NNS (non-native speaker) accents and showed awareness of the priority of intelligibility over accent choice in both their own and others’ pronunciation, they still largely reported NS accent preference. The ratings of the production from ten ELF speakers confirmed this and showed that ‘neutral’ is equated with native-like. In the light of these findings, issues are discussed that ultimately relate to the influence of NS Englishes, identity and the development of English as an international language.

Aboriginal self-determination in Australia - The effects of minority-majority frames and target universalism on majority collective guilt and compensation attitudes

In the context of Aboriginal-Anglo Australian relations, we tested the effect of framing (multiculturalism versus separatism) and majority group members' social values (universalism) on the persuasiveness of Aboriginal group rhetoric, majority collective guilt, attitudes toward compensation, and reparations for Aboriginals. As predicted, Anglo Australians who are low on universalism report more collective guilt when presented with a multiculturalist than a separatist Aboriginal frame, whereas those high on universalism report high levels of guilt independent of frame. The same pattern was predicted and found for the persuasiveness of the rhetoric and attitudes toward compensation. Our data suggest that (a) for individuals low in universalism, framing produces attitudes consonant with compensation because it produces collective guilt and (b) the reason that universalists are more in favor of compensation and reparation is because of high collective guilt. We discuss the strategic use of language to create power through the manipulation of collective guilt in political contexts.

The role of the English language in the context of national development vision 2025 with specific reference to agriculture in Tanzania

After thirty years of vacillation, the Tanzanian government has made a firm decision to Swahilize its secondary education system. It has also embarked on an ambitious economic and social development programme (Vision 2025) to transform its peasant society into a modern agricultural community. However, there is a faction in Tanzania opposed to Kiswahili as the medium of education. Already many members of the middle and upper class their children to English medium primary schools to avoid the Kiswahili medium public schools and to prepare their children for the English medium secondary system presently in place. Within the education system, particularly at university level, there is a desire to maintain English as the medium of education. English is seen to provide access to the international scientific community, to cutting edge technology and to the global economy. My interest in this conflict of interests stems from several years' experience teaching English to students at Sokoine University of Agriculture. Students specialise in agriculture and are expected to work with the peasant population on graduation. The students experience difficulties studying in English and then find their Kiswahili skills insufficient to explain to farmers the new techniques and technologies that they have studied in English. They are hampered by a complex triglossic situation in which they use their mother tongue with family and friends, Kiswahili, the national language for early education and most public communication within Tanzania, and English for advanced studies. My aim in this thesis was - to study the language policy in Tanzania and see how it is understood and implemented; - to examine the attitudes towards the various languages and their various roles; - to investigate actual language behaviour in Tanzanian higher education. My conclusion is that the dysfunctionality of the present study has to be addressed. Diglossic public life in Tanzania has to be accommodated. The only solution appears to be a compromise, namely a bilingual education system which supports from all cases of society by using Kiswahili, together with an early introduction of English and its promotion as a privileged foreign language, so that Tanzania can continue to develop internally through Kiswahili and at the same time retain access to the globalising world through the medium of English.

Total quality management in English language teaching:a case study in Turkish higher education

The need to improve the management of language learning organizations in the light of the trend toward mass higher education and of the use of English as a world language was the starting point of this thesis. The thesis aims to assess the relevance, adequacy and the relative success of Total Quality Management (TQM) as a management philosophy. Taking this empirical evidence a TQM-oriented management project in a Turkish Higher Education context, the thesis observes the consequences of a change of organizational culture, with specific reference to teachers' attitudes towards management. Both qualitative and quantitative devices are employed to plot change and the value of these devices for identifying such is considered. The main focus of the thesis is the Soft S's (Shared Values, Style, Staff and Skills) of an organization rather than the Hard S's (System, Structure, Strategy). The thesis is not concerned with the teaching and learning processes, though the PDCA cycle (the Action Research Cycle) did play a part in the project for both teachers and the researcher involved in this study of organizational development. Both before the management project was launched, and at the end of the research period, the external measurement devices (Harrison's Culture Specification Device and Hofstede's VSM) were used to describe the culture of the Centre. During the management project, internal measurement devices were used to record the change including middle-management style change (the researcher in this case). The time period chosen for this study was between September 1991 and June 1994. During this period, each device was administered twice within a specific time period, ranging from a year to 32 months.

Utilising fiction to promote english language acquisition

Towards the end of the university stage, students residing in the United Arab Emirates and specialising in subjects other than English are expected- amongst other university requirements- to have acquired adequate communicative competence as well as a repertoire of critical thinking skills. Despite the efforts made within the field of teaching English to EFL university students in the country, the output gained in terms of acquired skills and competencies is still below expectations. The main concerns of the current thesis are, therefore, a) to investigate the factors which inhibit EFL university students’ progress in the areas of acquiring adequate communicative competence as well as critical thinking skills, and b) to propose a course book and pedagogic methods to improve students’ progress in the areas of acquiring adequate communicative competence as well as critical thinking skills. Believing in the essential role literature plays in enhancing critical thinking and promoting communicative competence on the part of EFL learners, the current study introduces a course, designed and implemented by the researcher: LEARN AND GAIN. The proposed course is fiction-based language teaching, adopting the view that literature is a resource rather than an object, thus advocating the use of literature as one of the main resources in foreign/second language acquisition. Investigating whether or not the proposed course was effective in promoting EFL university students’ communicative competence as well as enhancing their critical thinking skills, a study sample taken from the study population was selected. Adopting an experimental design, the research project involved two groups: experimental and control. The experimental group students were exposed to the proposed course whilst the control group students were exposed to a general English language course. To examine treatment effectiveness, the researcher set and administered a pre-post test. Divided into two main parts, communicative critical reading competence and communicative critical writing competence, the pre-post test measured subjects’ communicative critical reading competence and subjects’ communicative critical writing competence. In addition, a pre-post questionnaire was administered and a semi-structured interview was conducted involving the experimental group students, to gain an awareness of students’ attitudes towards learning literary texts in general, and the proposed course in particular. To examine issues of interest and relevance, gender differences: male vs. female, and university major: science vs. non-science, were also examined for enrichment purposes. For the purpose of gathering sufficient data about subjects’ achievements on the pre-post, the following statistical tests were conducted: Mann-Whitney test, and paired data t-test. Based on the statistical findings, the experimental group students’ performance on the communicative critical reading competence pre-post test and the communicative critical writing competence pre-post test was significantly better than their counterparts of the control group students. Speaking of gender differences in relation to language performance on the communicative critical reading competence pre-post test and the communicative critical writing competence pre-post test, no significant differences were cited. Neither did the researcher cite any significant performance differences between science/non-science students on the communicative critical reading competence pre-post test and the communicative critical writing competence pre-post test. As far as the questionnaire’s findings are concerned, the experimental group students’ responses to the post-questionnaire’s items were more positive than those of their responses to the pre-questionnaire’s, thus indicating some positive attitudes towards literature, which students possibly gained throughout the course of implementation. Relating the discussion to the interview’s results, students conveyed their satisfaction with the proposed course, emphasising that promoting English language skills through the use of literary texts was rewarding. In the light of findings and conclusions, a number of recommendations as well as implications have been proposed. The current study aimed to arrive at some appropriate suggestions to a number of enquiries, yet concluding with some areas of enquiry to be explored for further research.

Teaching English to young learners in Europe:teachers' attitudes and perspectives

The introduction of languages into the primary curriculum has been the major development in language-in-education policy around the world over the last 20-25 years. In the vast majority of countries the language taught is English and it is being taught at an ever-earlier age. A relatively large amount of research has been carried out in Asia into teaching English to young learners (TEYL) from the point of view of language policy and planning and of policy implementation, especially in terms of the gap between policy and practice caused by the introduction of new methodologies such as communicative language teaching. However, to date far less research has been carried out into the situation in Europe, particularly concerning the attitudes of those most closely involved in policy implementation - the teachers themselves. This chapter examines the attitudes of teachers in six European countries (Italy, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Spain and Ukraine), uncovering the challenges they face and the changes they would like to see enacted to improve English language learning and teaching in their countries. The implications for policy, planning and teacher education are also discussed.

An evaluation of English language instruction in universities/colleges in Taiwan

The purpose of this study is about to survey the effectiveness of English teaching in universities/colleges in Taiwan and provide suggestions to the educational authorities for upgrading or improving the English language teaching techniques or methods currently in use. On the one hand, the suggestions of English teachers in universities/colleges are the main concerns in this study. On the other hand, equal attention is given to the opinions and learning attitudes of the students, including the interaction between the teachers and the students.^ A social investigation methodology, consisting of questionnaire and data analysis, is devoted to this evaluation and analysis of teaching effectiveness. Among the significant findings reported in this study is the fact that both students and teachers consider evaluation of teaching effectiveness as a very important aspect of English Language programs at the university/college level. Another significant finding is that students are less concerned about the grades earned or awarded in English Language courses and more concerned about how much they learned in these classes.^ The analysis and suggestions based on the results for English teaching evaluation of universities/colleges in this dissertation can help teachers modify their teaching techniques and methods, the students to adjust their learning attitudes, and the authorities to schematize the English teaching plan that can facilitate the teaching goals to be realized. ^

Language maintenance and use in south Florida Hispanic university students: Do educational programs matter?

This study examined the long-term effects of bilingual education/ESOL instruction on Hispanic university students' subsequent Spanish language maintenance using sociolinguistic methodology as its framework. The study investigated whether or not Hispanic university students who had participated in bilingual or ESOL classes in their elementary schooling maintained Spanish as young adults. Maintenance included using Spanish in their personal and professional lives and demonstrating written competence in Spanish, as well as whether subjects considered themselves to be bilingual, how they rated their ability in different skill areas for the two languages, and if they exhibited positive attitudes toward language and education as compared to Hispanic students who had experienced an all English classroom situation. A Language and Education Survey was developed to collect data pertaining to these areas. ^ A convenience sample of 202 Hispanic undergraduate university students enrolled in education classes at Florida International University during the 2000–2001 academic year participated in the study. Subjects were grouped according to the type of program they had experienced at the elementary school level, Bilingual/ESOL and All English. ^ Statistically significant differences were found between the groups in subjects' self-ratings of their abilities in speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. No statistically significant differences were found with respect to the continuation of Spanish language study at the secondary school or college levels although there was a significant difference in number of semesters for those who planned to do so. ^ In language use, there were statistically significant differences overall as there were in the personal domain, but none were found in the professional domain; nor were there any statistically significant differences between the groups with respect to attitudes regarding education and language. There were statistically significant differences between the two groups for communicative competence in written Spanish. These statistically significant findings in language ability, language use and written communicative competence indicated that Hispanic university students who were enrolled in bilingual programs/ESOL in their earlier schooling did maintain Spanish as their native language as compared to Hispanic students who did not participate in such programs. ^

Development of an instrument to measure high school students' global awareness and attitudes: Looking through the lens of social sciences

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure high school students’ perspectives on global awareness and attitudes toward social issues. The research questions that guided this study were: (a) Can acceptable validity and reliability estimates be established for an instrument developed to measure high schools students' global awareness? (b) Can acceptable validity and reliability estimates be established for an instrument developed to measure high schools students' attitudes towards global social issues? (c) What is the relationship between high school students’ GPA, race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, parents’ education, getting the news, reading and listening habits, the number of classes taken in the social sciences, whether they speak a second language, and have experienced living in or visiting other countries, and their perception of global awareness and attitudes toward global social issues. ^ An ex post facto research design was used and the data were collected using a 4-part Likert-type survey. It was administered to 14 schools in the Miami-Dade County, Florida area to 704 students. A factor analysis with an orthogonal varimax rotation was vii used to select the factors that best represented the three constructs – global education, global citizenship, and global workforce. This was done to establish construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. Descriptive statistics and a hierarchical multiple regression were used for the demographics to establish their relationship, if any, to the findings. ^ Key findings of the study were that reliable and valid estimates can be developed for the instrument. The multiple regression analysis for model 1 and 2 accounted for a variance of 3% and 5% for self-perceptions of global awareness (factor 1). The regression model also accounted for a 5% and 13% variance in the two models for attitudes toward global social issues (factor 2). The demographics that were statistically significant were: ethnicity, gender, SES, parents’ education, listening to music, getting the news, speaking a second language, GPA, classes taken in the social sciences, and visiting other countries. An important finding for the study was those attending public schools (as opposed to private schools) had more positive attitudes towards global social issues (factor 2) The statistics indicated that these students had taken history, economics, and social studies – a curriculum infused with global perspectives.^

Differential outcomes of two -way and transitional programs on English language learners at different entry levels

This study investigated the effects of two types of bilingual education programs (two-way and transitional) on the academic performance, attitudes, and metacognitive awareness of 5th grade students who entered kindergarten or first grade with different levels of English proficiency. The multi-stage sample consisted of students who had participated in each program for a period of at least five years. A mixed model design allowed for the collection of quantitative and qualitative data that were analyzed accordingly and integrated. ^ The findings indicated no significant differences between the two groups on measures of academic achievement in English. Significant differences were found in the number of semesters required for the students to become proficient English speakers. An important conclusion, based on these findings, was that the students enrolled in the two-way bilingual education (TWBE) programs learned English faster. Moreover, they maintained a high level of proficiency in Spanish, scoring significantly higher than the transitional bilingual education group on measures of Spanish reading ability.^ Questionnaire and interview data indicated that the students in the two-way bilingual education programs tended to use more Spanish for recreational purposes and tended to rate themselves as more proficient Spanish speakers than their peers. Conversely, the students enrolled in the transitional bilingual education programs tended to rate themselves as more proficient in English than their peers. ^ The level of English language proficiency upon entering school (five years later) was found to make a difference in academic achievement, as measured by standardized tests. Five years of schooling did not fully eliminate the gap in academic performance between students with different ESOL entry levels at kindergarten. However, entry level did not have an effect on attitudes towards bilingualism. ^ It is concluded that, although there was no significant difference between the two groups on measures of academic achievement in English, TWBE and transitional programs have differential effects. Students in the TWBE programs acquired oral language at a faster rate, developed literacy skills in their native language, and acquired more positive attitudes towards bilingualism. Theoretical, methodological, and policy implications of the findings are discussed. ^

Language Learning Motivation

This study aimed to measure how authentic material motivates students to perform well and have positive attitudes toward foreign language learning. Participants were 32 eighth grade students at Aquinas College in Nassau the Bahamas. Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (adapted Gardner, 2004), interviews, and open ended discussions were used.

Transplanting diglossia: attitudes towards Standard and Cypriot Greek among London’s Greek Cypriot community

The linguistic situation in Greek-speaking Cyprus has been traditionally described as a textbook case of diglossia à la Ferguson (1959) with Standard Modern Greek (SModGr) being labelled as the High variety and Cypriot Greek (CypGr), the regional ModGr variety of Cyprus, being labelled the Low variety (Arvaniti, 2011; Moschonas, 1996). More recently, however, it has been proposed that the linguistic repertoire available to speakers features an array of forms of CypGr, which is best described as a continuum ranging from basilectal to acrolectal varieties (Katsoyannou et al., 2006; Tsiplakou et al., 2006). The basilectal end encompasses low prestige varieties predominantly spoken in rural areas. The acrolectal end is occupied by the version of SModGr used in the public domain in Cyprus (Arvaniti, 2006/2010). SModGr is known to carry high prestige in Cyprus. Speakers of CypGr describe speakers of the standard as more attractive, more intelligent, more interesting and more educated than speakers of the Cypriot dialect (Papapavlou, 1998). In this paper, I explore the relation between SModGr and CypGr in a diasporic setting, namely, the Greek Cypriot community of London. The United Kingdom is home to a sizeable Greek Cypriot community, whose population is presently estimated to fall between 200,000 and 300,000 individuals (Christodoulou-Pipis, 1991; National Federation of Cypriots in the UK). Similarly to the Cyprus homeland, the members of the Greek Cypriot parikia (‘community’) share a rich linguistic repertoire, which, in addition to varieties of Greek, crucially includes English. As is often the case with diasporas, the parikia does not form a homogeneous speech community in that not all of its members have an equally good command of Greek or even English. Rather, different types of monolingual and bilingual speakers are found including a large number of heritage speakers in the sense of Benmamoun et al. (2013), Montrul (2008, 2015) and Polinsky & Kagan (2007). Twenty British-born heritage speakers of CypGr were interviewed on their attitudes towards the different varieties of Greek. Results indicate that the prestige relation between SModGr and CypGr that holds in Cyprus has been transplanted to the parikia. SModGr is widely perceived as the prestigious variety and is described in positive terms (‘correct’, ‘proper’). The use of CypGr, on the other hand, enjoys covert prestige: it is perceived as an index of solidarity and in-group membership but at the same time is also viewed by heritage speakers as reminiscent of the hardship and lack of education of the generation that brought CypGr to the UK. In certain cases, the use of CypGr by heritage speakers is actively discouraged by the first generation not only in the public domain but also in private domains such as the home. Active discouragement targets both lexical and grammatical variants that are traditionally associated with basilectal varieties of CypGr, and heritage language features, especially the adoption of morphologically adapted loanwords from English. References Arvaniti, Amalia. 2006/2010. Linguistic practices in Cyprus and the emergence of Cypriot Standard Greek. Mediterranean Language Review 17, 15–45. Benmamoun, Elabbas, Silvina Montrul & Maria Polinsky. 2013. Heritage languages and their speakers: opportunities and challenges for linguists. Theoretical Linguistics 39(3/4), 129–181. Christodoulou-Pipis, Irina. 1991. Greek Outside Greece: Language Use by Greek-Cypriots in Britain. Nicosia: Diaspora Books. Ferguson, Charles A. 1959. Diglossia. Word 15(2), 325–340. Katsoyannou, Marianna, Andreas Papapavlou, Pavlos Pavlou & Stavroula Tsiplakou. 2006. Didialektikes koinotites kai glossiko syneches: i periptosi tis kypriakis [Bidialectal communities and linguistic continuum: the case of Cypriot Greek]. In Mark Janse, Brian D. Joseph & Angela Ralli (eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory, Mytilene, Greece, 30 September – 3 October 2004, 156–171. Patras: University of Patras. Montrul, Silvina A. 2008. Incomplete Acquisition in Bilingualism: Re-examining the Age Factor. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Montrul, Silvina. 2015. The Acquisition of Heritage Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Moschonas, Spiros. 1996. I glossiki dimorfia stin Kypro [Diglossia in Cyprus]. In “Ischyres” – “Astheneis” Glosses stin Evropaiki Enosi: Opseis tou glossikou igemonismou [“Strong” – “Weak” Languages in the European Union: Aspects of Linguistic Imperialism], 121–128. Thessaloniki: Kentro Ellinikis Glossas. Polinsky, Maria & Olga Kagan. 2007. Heritage languages: in the ‘wild’ and in the classroom. Languages and Linguistics Compass 1(5), 368–395. Tsiplakou, Stavroula, Andreas Papapavlou, Pavlos Pavlou & Marianna Katsoyannou. 2006. Levelling, koineization and their implications for bidialectism. In Frans L. Hinskens (Eds.), Language Variation – European Perspectives: Selected Papers from the Third International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 3), Amsterdam, June 2005, 265–279. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Differential ability and attainment in language and arithmetic of Dutch primary school pupils.

Background. In pre-school and primary education pupils differ in many abilities and competences (‘giftedness’). Yet mainstream educational practice seems rather homogeneous in providing age-based or grade-class subject matter approaches. Aims. To clarify whether pupils scoring initially at high ability level do develop and attain differently at school with respect to language and arithmetic compared with pupils displaying other initial ability levels. To investigate whether specific individual, family or educational variables co-vary with the attainment of these different types of pupils in school. Samples. Data from the large-scale PRIMA cohort study including a total of 8258 grade 2 and 4 pupils from 438 primary schools in The Netherlands. Methods. Secondary analyses were carried out to construct gain scores for both language and arithmetic proficiency and a number of behavioural, attitudinal, family and educational characteristics. The pupils were grouped into different ability categories (highly able; able; above average; average and below). Further analyses used Pearson correlations and analyses of variance both between and within ability categories. Cross-validation was done by introducing a cohort of younger pupils in pre-school and grouping both cohorts into decile groups based on initial ability in language and arithmetic. Results. Highly able pupils generally decreased in attainment in both language and arithmetic, whereas pupils in average and below average groups improved their language and arithmetic scores. Only with highly able pupils were some educational characteristics correlated with the pupils’ development in achievement, behaviour and attitudes. Conclusions. Pre-school and primary education should better match pupils’ differences in abilities and competences from their start in pre-school to improve their functioning, learning processes and outcomes. Recommendations for educational improvement strategies are presented in closing.