Evaluating Four Factors of Students’ Engagement in Task-based Learning under Blended English Learning Environment Using PLS-SEM Approach by Zhang Suyan and Goh Ying Soon

ABSTRACT

The discussion in this article centres on the implementation of blended learning and the learning duties that are delegated to students within a blended learning environment. Learners will be entrusted with blended learning duties in the midst of pandemics. However, the efficacy of task utilisation may fail to fulfil its intended objective. Therefore, the research presented in this article assessed the perceived level of student engagement in integrated learning tasks based on the following criteria: task timeliness, task richness, task accuracy, and task adaptability. The investigation was carried out at four universities located in Shandong Province, China. An English course was conducted in the spring of 2022 employing a task-based teaching approach and a combination of traditional and online instructional design. The instructors allocated learning tasks for each class, both in-person and online. Specifically, the students were given these tasks prior to, during, and subsequent to each class. The duties completed by the students were assessed and the instructors provided feedback. At the conclusion of the academic term, students were requested to provide feedback through the administration of a questionnaire. The study’s findings underscored the students’ favourable disposition towards assignments within integrated learning courses. The research emphasised the importance of meticulously crafted assignments that possess the qualities of promptness, depth, precision, and flexibility. Moreover, the efficacy of integrated learning is enhanced by practical assessment methods that gauge students’ attributes and provide timely feedback on task completion. Additionally, learner autonomy and student engagement are enhanced by the task-based blended learning course.

Keywords: Blended learning, PLS-SEM, task-based learning, timeliness of task, richness of task, accuracy of task, adaptability of task

 

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Cultural Discourse in African Poetry: Output by Human Translators and Machine Translation Systems by Adeyola Opaluwah

ABSTRACT

The article reports on how two European translators (Etienne Galle and André Bordeaux), two General machine translation (GMT) systems (DeepL and Amazon Translate) and a Custom-built Microsoft Azure translator engine render the Culture-Specific Items (CSIs) in two anthologies of an African Author, Wole Soyinka, into French. The study seeks to fill a knowledge gap, namely the question of whether and to what extent existing Neural Machine Translation systems that are trained preponderantly with texts produced in Western contexts take CSIs in texts written by authors from a non-Western cultural background into account. Following Aixelá’s (1996) model for identifying and categorising CSIs, CSIs were first noted in the corpora's human, Deepl and Amazon Translate French translation versions. A Custom Translation Engine (CTE) was thereafter built and trained on Microsoft Azure with parallel data of about 14,000 English/ French African poetry sentences. CSIs were again noted after the CTE translated the anthologies. 25 CSIs were identified in the human and machine French translations of the two anthologies studied; more than two-thirds of this number are proper nouns, and the rest are common expressions. The results showed that most CSIs identified in the translation by CTE were lexically and orthographically similar to those identified in the human translation (HT). The results also indicated that CTE’s output of CSIs was less monotonous than that of GMT systems.

Keywords: African Poetry, CSIs, Human Translation, Machine Translation, Custom Translation Engine

 

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Storytelling as a Discursive Strategy for Framing Fragile and Stable States in WHO Reports by Muaataz Riyadh Khalil Al Tameemi, Ramesh Nair and Laura Christ Dass

ABSTRACT

The embedding of personal stories in formal reports allows for the dissemination of complex information alongside relatable narratives which are more palatable. Storytelling serves to humanize information, making it more accessible and impactful for diverse audiences. This paper examines the use of storytelling as a discursive strategy employed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to report the responsiveness of both stable and fragile states to the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing personal stories which were included in extensive reports published for global consumption, this paper explores how storytelling was utilized as a discursive strategy to convey stereotypical images of stable and fragile states. The analysis revealed that the personal stories consistently portrayed fragile states as incapable of managing the crisis without external support. In contrast, stable states were portrayed as being very much in control of the situation, equipped with the best people and facilities to deal with the pandemic. The paper argues that besides serving as a powerful tool to humanize a global crisis, personal stories also serve to construct separate identities for stable and fragile states. Employing a content analysis, it was found that the personal stories went beyond narratives about the pandemic also to highlight broader issues in fragile states, such as gender discrimination. In so doing, the stories were reinforcing mainstream media narratives which typically portray fragile states as being backward. The findings inform media practitioners, particularly those working in the healthcare sector, about the integration of storytelling in official reports.

Keywords: storytelling, discursive strategy, World Health Organization, personal stories, fragile and stable states

 

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Assessment of ESL Student-Student Interactions: Vygotsky’s Approach by Bello Ibrahim and Muhammad Kabir Kado

ABSTRACT

Language is defined as a means of communication between one person and another for different purposes. Learning it enables individuals to communicate easily with different societies. In addition, it gives a chance to understand their cultures, localities, states, and countries. It also serves as an instrument to share knowledge and experiences. English language becomes the global language in terms of education, technology, science, politics, etc. Report shows that more than half of today’s publications are in English. Hence, this study focuses on the Study of Student-Student Interactions in the English Language Classroom. It selects public senior secondary schools III in Katsina Metropolis. The importance of this study is to investigate whether the level of student-student interactions is enough to facilitate learning. The study reviews different literatures such as collaborative dialogue, peer feedback, question-asking, and the role of a teacher as guide. The study uses social learning theory proposed by Vygostsky (1962). It suggests that learning occurs via interactions students have with their peers, teachers, and other individuals. In that, the learning becomes easier. Also, the teacher stands as a guide to create a good atmosphere for interactions. The instruments for data collection are questionnaires, a target language observation scheme (TALOS) to get information from students, and audio recorded lessons in the schools. Katsina Metropolis has twelve schools, out of which six were selected for the study. The selection is based on the availability of data researchers take into consideration in the schools. Six English language teachers and 132 students are the sample of the study. All six teachers were issued with the questionnaire while 132 students were observed, and the lessons were recorded at different times using the afore-mentioned instruments. For easy comprehension and analysis, the researchers use simple frequency counts and percentages for the analysis of the data collected. The study reveals that student- student interactions in all the schools are very negligible as the students do not utilize them. Hence, it becomes insufficient to facilitate English language learning. It results in having poor results in the future of students, so they cannot further their education. To remedy this problem, schools should enforce the use of English language for every interaction among the students themselves and between the students and the teachers.

Keywords: classroom, interactions, language, student-student

 

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Tracing the Indian Influences on Lexical Borrowing in Malaysian Standard English by Zhang Zhiming, Shaidatul Akma Adi Kasuma, Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh and Yan Da

ABSTRACT

Culture is embedded in and reflected by language. Malaysian Standard English encompasses a vast number of indigenised words borrowed from Malay, Chinese, and Indian cultures (Baskaran, 2005). Malaysian Indians, the third-largest ethnic group in Malaysian society, have played a significant role in shaping Malaysian Standard English (MSE) through lexical borrowing from their rich and diverse cultural heritage. This study investigates the influence of Malaysian Indian culture on lexical borrowing in MSE. A survey adapted from Tan (2009a, 2009b) comprising both qualitative and quantitative questions was administered to 60 Malaysian Indian students at one of the public universities in Malaysia. It gathers 134 MSE words borrowed from Indian culture and examines the motivations for borrowing Malaysian Standard English words from Indian culture. The borrowed words are categorised under different cultural items like festivals, martial arts and acrobatics dances, medicine, food, social and recreational activities, religion, and clothing and apparel. The need to emphasise one’s Indian ethnic background emerged as the key motivation behind the adoption of the words in MSE. Also, the least significant motivation is the need to fill the lexical gap, which is different from many previous studies. By collecting those borrowed words and their underpinning motivations, this study offers valuable insights into the obvious relationship between language and culture, shedding light on how Malaysian Standard English reflects the influence of Malaysia’s Indian community. It also provides opportunities for people to acquire familiarity with Indian culture and promote smooth cross-cultural communication among Malaysian Indian ethnicity and other ethnic groups in Malaysia.

Keywords: culture; language; Indian culture; lexical borrowing; Malaysian Standard English (MSE)

 

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