A Study of Students’ Perceptions Toward the Use of ICT Tools and Collaboration Activities to Increase Interactions During COVID-19

Irvin,Christopher,Park Seong Man(Seong Man Park) 영상영어교육학회 2022 영상영어교육 (STEM journal) Vol.23 No.4

This study has been conducted to investigate what students thought about their experiences trying to interact more frequently during the fall semester of 2020. It took place in a general English classroom at a private Korean university during the COVID-19 pandemic and aimed to gain insight into students’ perceptions of whether using a learning management system and other Information and Communication Technology tools, taking part in asynchronous discussion board activities, and completing voluntary activities would increase the number of interactions despite taking an emergency online class. A total of 28 first-year students from 6 different sections of a freshmen-level general English course voluntarily participated by filling out a survey at the end of the semester. For data analysis, descriptive statistics were initially analyzed to provide basic numerical data. Then, qualitative analysis was used to find common themes. Finally, student quotes were used to add greater meaning to the findings. The main finding was that the number of interactions between learners and the content, their instructors, and their peers increased due to the use of the learning management system and Information and Communication Technology tools. More detailed findings and implications for future uses are discussed.

Low-Level Students’ Perspectives Toward Synchronous and Asynchronous Blended Learning Activities in the Post-Pandemic Era

Irvin,Christopher(Irvin,Christopher ) 영상영어교육학회 2024 영상영어교육 (STEM journal) Vol.25 No.1

Entering the post-pandemic era, educators at universities across South Korea dealt with many restrictions and challenges transitioning back to face-to-face courses. To overcome these difficulties, some instructors used their experiences during emergency remote teaching to incorporate more blended learning activities. This study aimed to gain insight into low-level students’ perspectives toward participating in online synchronous and online asynchronous activities during an in-person EFL course in the first semester of 2022. A total of 83 students participated in this study by completing a series of surveys composed of a mix of Likert-scale and semi-structured qualitative questions. Data analysis combined descriptive statistical analysis with qualitative analysis based on the creation of themes and categories. Key findings are as follows: first, learners enjoyed both types of blended learning activities but preferred asynchronous discussion boards; second, low-level learners believe synchronous activities can help improve their listening skills, while asynchronous activities provide valuable chances to read and write; third, low-level students will accept an activity if they perceive it has value, and these learners have their own opinions of how to make the activities better. Specific comments and examples related to student perspectives and suggestions for the future use of blended learning activities are discussed.

University Students’ Perspectives on Synchronous Online Teacher- and Student-led Group Activities: Based on General English Classes

Christopher Irvin,Seong-Man Park,Hee-Joo Im 한국외국어교육학회 2021 Foreign languages education Vol.28 No.4

For nearly two years, virtual learning has been employed by most Korean university instructors and students in online teaching environment. A major negative result of prior research on this issue has been a feeling of isolation and desire for more interactions by students. Therefore, this study was conducted to elicit student insights and feelings related to their satisfaction, self-ratings, and advantages and disadvantages of online Teacher-led (TL) versus Student-led (SL) team activities in their online learning environment. A total of 53 freshman students in two general English classes took part in four Zoom group meetings. The surveys and reflection essay were analyzed through qualitative methods. Major findings included: students from both the TL and SL groups reported relatively higher satisfaction and self-ratings of English skills through the four team activities. However, the TL group indicated that there was a lack of emphasis on reading skills, and an overreliance on teacher interventions led to a lack of team cooperation. While the SL group reported that a lack of teacher interaction led to confusion, poor time management, increased Korean use, and fewer listening comprehension opportunities. Implications and a discussion of team activity use in general English programs are included.

Student Insights Related to the Use of Simultaneous Speech Translation for Video Lectures in a University English Course

Irvin Christopher 영상영어교육학회 2021 영상영어교육 (STEM journal) Vol.22 No.4

For native English-speaking teachers, the ability to overcome communication issues caused by not having the same first language as their pupils is a challenge, especially with low-level students. The increased use of video lectures due to COVD-19 has made this even more difficult. This study was conducted to investigate whether the use of Artificial Intelligence-powered interlingual Simultaneous Speech Translation subtitled video lectures could be a practical solution to overcome this challenge. To that end, 14 participants from a first-semester prerequisite General English course took part in this study. A semi-structured interview was combined with surveys and descriptive statistics, and data was analyzed through qualitative means of thematic, descriptive, and inductive procedures that relied on simultaneous analysis and category construction. Key findings were as follows: First, respondents found the subtitled videos to be highly satisfactory and fairly accurate. Second, respondents reported greater content understanding as the main advance and less emphasis on improving listening ability as the primary disadvantage. Third, the use of English instead of Korean subtitles or subtitling only certain sections of the video in Korean were the main suggestions for the future. Specific responses from the student interviews and future implications are discussed.

College Students’ Perceptions of the Use of Collaborative Discussion Boards during COVID-19

Christopher Irvin,임희주 한국멀티미디어언어교육학회 2022 멀티미디어 언어교육 Vol.25 No.3

The purpose of the study was to examine students’ perceptions toward the use of asynchronous collaborative discussion boards in an online class. A total of 19 freshman students took part in four discussion board activities. For the data collection, they participated by filling out surveys and writing a reflective essay, and the data was descriptively analyzed. According to the results, the findings are as follows. Firstly, among the four group discussions, students’ participation was the highest for the last activity. Secondly, students’ group satisfaction was higher than their individual satisfaction for all four activities. Lastly, the reported strengths of the use of the discussion boards were that participants were satisfied with the ability to share and develop ideas with their group members, including being able to clearly share their thoughts through written posts and chances to practice their listening and speaking skills by making and watching student-created videos. However, the biggest weakness was identified as time. This included the overall time it took to complete a discussion board activity, the time that students had to wait for their partners to make a post, and the time and discomfort it took to make the videos. Several implications are discussed.

An Investigation of Korean College Students’ Perceptions of Interactions During Remote Courses Caused by COVID-19

Christopher Irvin,박성만 한국영어어문교육학회 2021 영어어문교육 Vol.27 No.1

The aim of this study was to investigate specific examples and suggestions related to the personal experiences of university students during remote courses. A total of 148 first-year students completed a semi-structured qualitative survey composed of 13 questions to determine their reflections and perspectives towards their first semester of remote learning; then, the data was analyzed through thematic, descriptive, and inductive analysis procedures with non-statistical analysis. Key findings are as follows: First, students felt that interactions could be completed more effectively if multiple modes of communication were utilized. Second, efforts should be made by the professor to encourage more student interactions, with students suggesting that an increase in verbal communications, better organizations, more coordination, and improved monitoring of students could be accomplished through holding more synchronous classes, expanding the number of speaking activities, and employing more teacher demonstrations and so on. Third, students realize more personal efforts and ownership of student-to-student and student-to-teacher interactions are needed to interact with a larger number of peers in their classes, but also there is presently a large desire to include more real-time and verbal interactions. Specific comments and examples related to what students experienced and suggested for improving future online classes are discussed.

College Students’ Perspectives Toward an English Medium Instruction Course in The Field of General Education

박성만(Seong Man Park),Christopher Irvin 한국영어어문교육학회 2020 영어어문교육 Vol.26 No.3

Within the context of Higher Education (HE) the implementation and use of English Medium Instruction (i.e. EMI) courses across the globe seems to be very common within particular departments or amongst specific majors. This paper, however, explores college students’ perspectives toward an EMI course in the field of General Education within the Korean context to determine if there is a need for introducing or adding more classes to the prerequisite curriculum. This study utilizes mixed methods of individual interviews, a group discussion, and a participant observation with 6 college students. The results of this research confirms that there is a desire and recognition by Korean university undergraduates for the need of EMI courses within the fields of General Education to maximize their English abilities and compete both domestically and internationally within a society that emphasizes English education as extremely important to be a part of the globalized world. Therefore, this paper hope to provide implications for the purpose of introducing more EMI courses in the area of General Education at a college level within the Korean context.