Developing English Pronunciation through Animation and YouTube Videos

Using multimedia inside the English as a foreign language (EFL) lassroom has been anticipated by several researchers and educators recently as a new necessary component of language learning. This is ascribed on the one hand to the continuous advancements in the new technological devices that might be used in presenting the various types of multimedia inside the classroom, and, on the other hand, to the fact that learners have started to acquire new modes of cognitive learning preferences due to their excessive daily use of these devices. This study investigates the appropriateness and practicality of using some animated or dynamic graphs and YouTube movies in teaching the pronunciation of English to Iraqi-Arabic learners of English as a foreign language. The two groups of the subjects who participated in this case study were taught using two different methods of teaching with and without using multimedia. Unlike those who were part of the control group, subjects belonging to the experimental group performed much better in their posttest results (62.31% of the experimental group average percentage and 47.09% of the control group average percentage).

Assessing the confidence, knowledge and learning preferences of healthcare workers regarding personal protective equipment use during the COVID-19 pandemic

We surveyed healthcare workers at one urban academic hospital in the U.S. about their confidence in and knowledge of appropriate personal protective equipment use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of 461 respondents, most were confident and knowledgeable about use; prescribers or nurses and those extremely confident about use were most knowledgeable.

Learning Preferences among Medical and Physical Therapy Students: A Systematic Review

Learning style is known as affective, cognitive, physiological, or combined characteristics which indicate the ways through which students interact, respond and understand the learning environment. A systematic review was conducted with relevant literature from 2012 to 2021 by hand searching and from electronic databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, ProQuest, and Eric) with proper search strategy as Boolean operator. They were searched using the keywords ‘allied health students’ ‘learning style’, ‘medical students’, ‘MBBS students’ and ‘physical therapy students OR physiotherapists’. Out of 1027 studies, only 16 potentially relevant articles were included in this review. This study reflected undergraduate physical therapy and MBBS students from various countries and their most preferred learning style is kinaesthetic and activist which states learning is based on experiments, hands-on practice, audio-visual lectures, teaching sessions in a new environment allowing students to analyze and synthesize theories. However, students require adaptable, educative, and assessment strategies as they have different learning styles.

The Effects of Temper Traits and Study Method (Full-Time vs. Extramural) on Polish Students’ Adaptability to Online Learning as a Result of COVID-19. A Pilot Study

COVID-19 has forced students to readjust to online learning. The current study aimed to investigate attitudes of Polish students towards online education, relationships between learning preferences and temper traits, and differences in learning preferences among extramural and full-time students. The study recruited 185 college students between May and June 2021. The findings indicated between group differences in learning preferences, with extramural students preferring online education slightly more than full-time students. Two temper traits, briskness and activity, appeared to be significant predictors of positive attitude towards online learning. However, as this was a pilot study, further investigations are recommended.

Developing English Pronunciation through Animation and YouTube Videos

Using multimedia inside the English as a foreign language (EFL) lassroom has been anticipated by several researchers and educators recently as a new necessary component of language learning. This is ascribed on the one hand to the continuous advancements in the new technological devices that might be used in presenting the various types of multimedia inside the classroom, and, on the other hand, to the fact that learners have started to acquire new modes of cognitive learning preferences due to their excessive daily use of these devices. This study investigates the appropriateness and practicality of using some animated or dynamic graphs and YouTube movies in teaching the pronunciation of English to Iraqi-Arabic learners of English as a foreign language. The two groups of the subjects who participated in this case study were taught using two different methods of teaching with and without using multimedia. Unlike those who were part of the control group, subjects belonging to the experimental group performed much better in their posttest results (62.31% of the experimental group average percentage and 47.09% of the control group average percentage).

Elementary School EFL Learning Experience: A Needs Analysis

Regular curriculum modifications and the shift from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered paradigm in educational institutions are meant to enhance the teaching-learning process and fulfill learners' needs as successfully as possible. This study aimed to examine learners' attitudes towards learning English, their needs/wants, learning preferences, strategies, and lesson topics. Moreover, it also investigated the differences in learning preferences based on grade level. The data were gathered from a survey administrated to 200 elementary school students in Central Bosnia and Herzegovina. The findings illustrated that the participants generally have a positive attitude towards learning English with more significant extrinsic reasons motivating them to learn it. Regarding students' needs, the analysis revealed that overall, students found writing the most challenging and speaking the most desirable language skill. Furthermore, the majority of the participants reported that they like to learn by reading texts or stories, finding the discussion in the classroom the most annoying classroom activity. While learning vocabulary by translating new words is regarded as the most beneficial method, doing written exercises at school presents the most significant way of acquiring grammar. Moreover, the study identified a significant influence of a grade level on the preferred ways of learning English.

Blended Learning Activities in an e-Business Course

The objectives of this study were threefold: to understand students’ perceptions of activities in a blended learning environment; to determine their preferred learning activities in this context, paralleling the four stages of Kolb’s learning cycle; and to determine the effectiveness of the blended learning used, based on scores achieved in an e-business course supported by the BLearning assessment system, a custom-designed reflective assessment tool. A mixed-methods approach was used to identify the students’ preferred activities. Findings indicate that (1) blended learning can add interest and variety to improve the students’ learning experience, (2) students prefer blended learning activities that match the first three stages of Kolb’s learning cycle (concrete experience, reflective observation, and abstract conceptualisation), and (3) data collected from the e-business course exam results show that the blended learning process was effective. In aligning teaching activities to student preferences, the notion of “teaching patterns” is introduced as the teaching perspective on these activities. Findings further indicate that blended learning activities based on the first three stages of Kolb’s learning cycle may be more suitable for students who share similar learning preferences.