Taiwan International ESP Journal/台灣專業英語文期刊
- OpenAccess
台灣專業英語文學會,正常發行
選擇卷期
- 期刊
- OpenAccess
This paper describes the process of developing a screening test of English for specific academic purposes (ESAP) for science and engineering graduate students. Due to globalization, many graduate programs in Taiwan offer English medium instruction (EMI) as a way to attract international student enrollment. Along with the programs comes the special need to screen students' English proficiency level for admission. Currently no specialized screening tests are available for this purpose. The present paper describes the development of a vocabulary test to be used along with existing ESAP tests, and reports on analytical results which indicate its construct validity and correlation to the existing tests. The results of the study indicate that the newly constructed test is highly correlated to full-length ESAP standardized tests of reading and listening, both before and after students received intensive science and engineering ESAP instruction. In addition, the results of questionnaires indicate that the test was well received by test-takers. The test has proved to be reliable and valid, while economical in cost and test-taking time. Lessons learned from this study include an improved understanding of the design and implementation of the screening test in content-related vocabulary.
- 期刊
- OpenAccess
Authentic materials have been widely employed in college-based English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reading courses, especially in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. Although many Taiwanese colleges have integrated English newspapers into EAP reading courses, little research has examined how these courses support and challenge EFL students' learning. In addition, integrating English newspapers into college-based EAP reading courses in Taiwan is not without its critics, who claim that EFL students face challenges with English newspapers that contain difficult and complex language and culture-specific information. To support EFL students' learning from authentic materials, intertextuality has been recently advocated as an instructional approach. This qualitative case study investigated how intertextuality-aware instruction of English newspapers was implemented in a Taiwanese college-based EAP reading classroom of 47 Year 3 and 4 English majors, and how they used intertextuality in group discussions of English newspapers. Results obtained from interviews and classroom observations indicated that the students' intertextual connections helped them to cultivate global perspectives and critical thinking. Some of the students brought critical thinking skills to global issues, and demonstrated a greater engagement with the content of authentic materials, which could be expected to serve them well in college-level reading and beyond. In contrast, other students expressed indifference toward global issues; their personal opinions appeared to prevent them from engaging more deeply and thinking more critically. Implications for integrating authentic materials into Taiwanese college-based EAP reading courses are discussed.
- 期刊
- OpenAccess
Nursing professionals who aim to work as registered nurses (RN) in English speaking countries are required to pass two kinds of test: an English standardized test such as IELTS/ TOEFL/TOEIC, and a test that assesses their nursing knowledge, namely the National Council Licensing Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX RN exam). The present study investigates whether or not employing an NCLEX RN mobile learning app called 'NCLEX RN Mastery 2015' can help improve nursing students' medical terminology knowledge. Students' overall perception of the app in terms of attractiveness and usefulness was also investigated as a part of qualitative analysis in this study. Participants were 51 nursing major students from a University of Science and Technology located in Northern Taiwan, enrolled in a five-week RN vocabulary intensive course. A pretest, 3 quizzes, and a posttest were administered to assess participants' vocabulary knowledge before, during, and after the use of the NCLEX RN Mastery 2015 mobile app, respectively. At the end of the course, participants were given questionnaires about their perceptions of the mobile app. The results suggested that, although the improvement in the posttest could not be entirely attributed to the use of the mobile app, students with high motivation to take the RN test considered the mobile app appealing and useful in their vocabulary learning. In addition, they were willing to purchase the full version of the mobile app. We also discussed pedagogical implications and directions for improvement of nursing English mobile learning apps to better suit the learning situation in Taiwan.