Motivating Students' Foreign Language and Culture Acquisition Through Web‐Based Inquiry

Abstract

According to the National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, one of the ultimate goals of studying a foreign language is to better understand different cultures. To this end, we implemented a project in an undergraduate foreign language course that promoted a systematic inquiry‐based approach to learning about the Hispanic culture. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether this project would increase students' ability perceptions and values related to the Spanish language and the Hispanic culture. Data from questionnaires and reflection essays demonstrated that students reported higher ability perceptions and values in the Spanish language and the Hispanic culture as a direct result of participating in the project. These findings suggest that this inquiry‐based teaching approach is a viable way to incorporate the study of culture into a university foreign language course.

Flipping the Classroom and Tertiary Level EFL Students’ Academic Performance and Satisfaction

“…This was demonstrated in a wide variety of categories: the format of learning materials, better active learning, higher participation levels in and outside of class, active cooperation, and conducting self-assessment of learning outcomes. Students with higher levels of satisfaction and involvement often exhibit better learning performance (Altstaedter & Jones, 2009;Qin & Teng, 2017;Teng, 2017b). This factor explained the reason behind the better academic performance of learners in the flipped classroom.…”

Revisiting WebQuests to Develop Intercultural Communication Competence

“…Through this guided learning environment on the Web by teachers, it is possible to reduce the risk of students losing the point of the task, and subsequently their motivation caused by the task being beyond their cognitive and linguistic abilities. There have been numerous studies which investigate the effects of WebQuests on enhancing students' motivation and engagement in class, and these have suggested a positive correlation [1]. The aim of this study is to determine whether WebQuest activities can help students enrolled in an intercultural communication class to understand various cultural contexts and improve their intercultural competence.…”

Assessment as a Learning Tool in a Flipped English Language Classroom in Higher Education

“…Web-Quest has been promoted by foreign language educators to support students' active learning in the English language classroom (Altstaedter & Jones, 2009 higher-level thinking, and are designed to address topics or issues that exist in the real world encouraging students to use a variety of reliable sources to present multiple points of view, hence making the tasks authentic. Web-Quest helps scaffold tasks and often requires students to work as part of a group and present the information to an audience.…”