Language Activation in Online Pedagogical Learning: Students’ perspective
Abdullah, Aarya Y.1, Hamid, Twana S. 2, Mahmood, Asaad M. 3
1University of Garmian, College of Basic Education, Department of Kurdish,
2University of Sulaimani, College of Languages, Department of English Language,
3University of Garmian, Pedagogy training and academic development centre.
ABSTRACT
Distance learning has become the norm in the education systems recently. The online learning context, where terminologies are mainly English, introduced English terminologies that are nonexistent in other languages. Few studies have looked into the students’ perspective on online learning (Zaborova et al., 2017). However, no previous study has looked into students’ perspective on the online-related L2 vocabulary and body language. This study surveyed 360 participants; they were Kurdish adults with postgraduate degrees who were enrolled in online pedagogical courses from 12 universities in Kurdistan Region. The results show a positive attitude towards the role of online learning in improving the learners’ L2 level. More than half (58%) of the students think that online learning improves the level of English language. However, many (37%) students think that using English as the only medium of communication can cause misunderstanding. Therefore, they (62.2%) suggest using native language (i.e., Kurdish) equivalent terms for the English online terms. Results also show that valuable responders feel they have freedom of dialogue (61.1%) and have chance of effective discussion (54.9%). Body language and Emoji are other effective silent language, they respectively allocated 55% and 52.5% of responses to increase motivations and communications.
Keywords: Online learning, language activation, pedagogy, learning engagement
Doi: 10.23918/vesal2022a10