Cooperative learning has been a popular technique in language learning. Some relevant research was already conducted, and its benefits were also proved. This study was to investigate its effectiveness on the development of English listening proficiency in an EFL college in Northern Taiwan. The participants were 65 freshmen students from the engineering department. These students were divided into an experimental and a control group, and they all experienced an eight-week treatment. An adapted listening comprehension test was used for the measurement of the participants' listening performance. To analyze the data collected, paired sample t-test and ANCOVA were administered. The findings showed that all the students from the experimental and control group made significant progress after the treatment. However, the advancement of the experimental group was not higher than that of the other group. In view of these results, the researcher recommended that teachers should employ cooperative learning in their teaching as it was positively instrumental to develop English listening proficiency.
The global pandemic in the past few years has significantly reshaped our lives, most notably within the realm of education. Rigorous social distancing measures and safety protocols had forced educational institutions across the globe to switch to online learning platforms as the primary medium of instruction during the past few years. Whereas online learning was once merely a supplement option to traditional education, it has now emerged as the mandatory mode of teaching and learning in many educational environments worldwide. While many predict that this blended learning model will become the educational norm in the future, it raises questions and concerns about its full integration. This study examines the experiences of college students using Moodle and Microsoft Teams in an English department at a northern Taiwanese university. Utilizing a survey research method, the study reveals that students generally exhibit a positive attitude and high level of acceptance towards online learning, although they also express certain reservations. The findings from this study aim to provide valuable insights to policymakers and educators, fostering a deeper understanding of the use of online learning in classroom settings and offering practical recommendations for future improvements.
The cosmetics industry is experiencing rapid growth and heightened competition, with an ever-increasing number of cosmetic stores and brands worldwide presenting consumers with a vast selection of products. Consequently, effective labeling strategies are crucial for businesses to differentiate themselves and attract customers. Despite this, the impact of using different languages in labeling on consumer perceptions, product evaluations, and purchase intentions within this industry remains underexplored. Thus, this study aimed to fill this gap by examining the effects of cosmetic product labels in different languages on Taiwanese college students' purchase intentions and product evaluations. The study recruited 107 Taiwanese college students and employed both qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data. The findings revealed that participants perceived cosmetic product labels in traditional Chinese as most reliable and practical. Korean cosmetic product labels were viewed as most purchase-stimulating, popular, satisfactory, influential, and cost-effective. Cosmetic products with English labels were considered most attractive. Moreover, participants' purchase intentions were generally at a moderate level, while their product evaluations were medium-to-high; both purchase intentions and product evaluations were positively and moderately correlated. Furthermore, the amount of money spent on purchasing cosmetic products showed a positive and moderate correlation with the number of apps used by Taiwanese college students to understand cosmetic product labels. The present study provides practical suggestions for cosmetic companies regarding marketing strategies, particularly the choice of language, to enhance consumers' purchase intentions. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of the languages used in labeling in the cosmetics industry and suggest that companies should consider language preferences when targeting specific consumer markets.
Data from the World Health Organization indicates that the pandemic resulted in over two million fatalities worldwide and more than 100 million confirmed cases. According to van Hoof, COVID-19 represented the largest biological experiment ever conducted. Following the decline of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in studies examining its impact on learners. From Brooks et al., they indicate that the most commonly used measures, such as quarantine, had imposed psychological effects worldwide: producing stress, confusion, anger, and stressors (e.g. fear, frustration, boredom, and financial concerns). The implementation of quarantine and social distancing had made isolation a common phenomenon, and social communication had been limited. Although it has been almost four years since the first outbreak of COVID-19, studies show that its impacts on college students still remain. In higher education, as students become more anxious and stressed due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, their psychological wellbeing must receive more attention. Consequently, learning environment changed from schools to homes, shifting from physical layouts to virtual settings using various communication platforms. It is apparent that the swift transition to online learning since 2020 has significantly altered the learning methods of college students worldwide, including those in Taiwan. Hence, the impacts regarding students' learning and psychological wellbeing have drawn considerable attention in the field of education. In this study, in addition to the six dimensions from Li and Yu's Chinese version of Psychological Wellbeing Inventory, students' learning academically was also taken into account. Utilizing a quantitative research method, a questionnaire was employed. One hundred and sixty-one college students participated in the study. The purposes of the study are to determine whether students' learning as well as their psychological wellbeing, were affected by the pandemic and the relationships between the two.
Writers can interact with their readers through engagement and quotes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of engagement in English-language editorials from Japan. Included in the study was an analysis of the amount of quoted material found in the editorials. I used 22 editorials published by The Japan Times, an English-language newspaper. Even though all of the editorials were from this newspaper, they split evenly between those that were international-focused (n = 11) and those that were Japan-focused (n = 11). Around 16% of the sentences used an engagement feature, with personal asides (7.09%) the most used feature. This was followed by reader mentions (4.69%), directives (3.35%), and shared knowledge (0.77%). None of the editorials used questions. In all four categories, the Japan-focused editorials (17.60%) had a higher percentage of sentences with an engagement feature than the international-focused ones (14.12%). Around 11% of the sentences used a quote. In contrast to the engagement findings, the international-focused editorials (12.94%) had a higher percentage of sentences with a quote than the Japan-focused ones (8.80%). One of the most interesting findings dealt with the inclusivity of the reader mentions found. The majority of reader mentions were used to specifically mention a reader in Japan as opposed to a global reader. The study shows that English-language newspapers from English L2 countries are excellent teaching and learning resources for EFL students and classrooms.