The use of Virtual Reality in education has been highly prevalent in recent years. In nearly every domain of education, integration of Virtual Reality has been ongoing including foreign language teaching and learning. There is a huge shift in teaching and learning facilities from conventional classrooms to interactive ones. What makes Virtual Reality special in comparison to other technologies are immersion, interaction and involvement properties. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the studies on foreign language learning and teaching through virtual reality technology and to highlight the current trends on this topic, thus propose some suggestions for future researchers of this field. Document analysis method was used in this study. Like other analytical methods in a qualitative research, document analysis requires that data be examined and interpreted in order to elicit meaning, gain understanding, and develop empirical knowledge. 40 research papers published between the years 1995 and 2015 were scanned in terms of data collection tools, research design, sample, sample size, data analysis method, and the topic of the paper. The results of the study revealed that document analysis was in the first place in terms of data collection tool and half of the studies were qualitative. In addition, undergraduate population was primarily the focus of attention. As from sample size, 101-300 size was primarily used. Moreover, effectiveness of virtual reality and game-based learning were the two outstanding topics of these studies.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the current challenges in English language learning and teaching in Turkey from high and low achievers' perspective. The study was qualitative in nature and the participants of the study were twenty-two students attending at various departments of a state university in Turkey. In this study, the question of "what were the challenges that you had while learning English?" was asked to each participant and their responses were classified in terms of overall ideas, language skills, method, approach, practice, linguistic differences in two languages, personal differences, teacher, material, family and environment. The results of the study suggest that the objectives of English course should be realistic and be considered as a whole from primary education to higher education. Teaching and improving four language skills are supposed to be the focus of attention rather than grammar-centred language teaching. English courses should be designed as practice-based rather than theory-based. In addition, foreign language teachers should take into consideration the individual differences, learner characteristics and plan the activities in this regard. Foreign language teachers should take inservice training and update their professionalism from time to time. Finally, the materials such as course books, videos, and internet web sites should be chosen carefully according to the students' interest, level and needs.
The purpose of this study was to determine the use of language learning strategies of e-learners and to understand whether there were any correlations between language learning strategies and academic achievement. Participants of the study were 274 e-learners, 132 males and 142 females, enrolled in an e-learning program from various majors and taking an English course through e-learning in Turkey. The Turkish version of Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL) was used as the data collection instrument. The results of the study revealed that while participants used cognitive and affective strategies least, they preferred to take advantage of metacognitive and memory strategies the most. In addition, a significant difference was found for females in cognitive strategies and for males in metacognitive strategies. Finally, this study suggested that using language learning strategies had an effect on academic achievement.
This research aims to determine the preference of prospective English teachers in performing computer and paper-based reading tasks and to what extent computer and paper-based reading influence their reading speed, accuracy and comprehension. The research was conducted at a State run University, English Language Teaching Department in Turkey. The participants were 96 prospective English teachers, 74 females and 22 males. Two types of data were collected in this research. First, the Questionnaire for Online Reading Comprehension was used to collect data about the participants' views on their computer and paper-based reading activities. Second, one experiment was conducted with 14 volunteering subjects to understand their reading speed, accuracy and comprehension in both computer and paperbased reading activity. The results of the research suggested that prospective English teachers preferred paper-based reading to computer version and their performance was higher in paper-based reading than computer. The study also revealed that reading speed on a computer screen was nearly 12% faster than paper-based reading for prospective English teachers.
This purpose of this study was to understand e-learners and face to face learners' views towards learning English through e-learning in vocational higher school context and to determine the role of academic achievement and gender in e-learning and face to face learning. This study was conducted at a state-run university in 2012-2013 academic year and subjects were 221 students from two different Vocational Higher Schools taking up English course through e-learning and traditional learning. The results of the study revealed that there was no significant difference between e-learners and face to face learners about the views towards learning English via e-learning. Furthermore, academic achievement and gender were not the strong determiners in e-learning compared with face to face learning.Keywords: Face to face or e-learning, e-learning in language teaching, e-language learning.
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