Monday Poster Session

Foreign Languages Education & Applied Linguistics (including ESL/TESL/TEFL)

69093 | Cultivating Global Human Resources in Japan: Professional Reflections and Suggestions

Mitaka Yoneda, Mukogawa Women's University, Japan

It has long been said that the fostering of global human resources or global workers (people who can actively work in a global environment) is an urgent issue in industry and education in Japan. However, the definition of global human resources is not clearly shared among the population; more specifically, the desired qualifications of global human resources - and the tools such workers need - have yet to be examined in detail. This study aimed to confirm the sought-after qualities in global workers from the perspective of businesspeople who work in international settings. Individual and group interviews were conducted with the study participants, who were English-major alumnae of one women’s university in Japan. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology in Japan unpacks the concept of “global human resources,” through the use of three categories: Category I comprises language and communication skills; Category II includes independence, positivity, a challenging spirit, cooperativeness, flexibility, and a sense of responsibility and mission; Category III refers to cross-cultural understanding and a Japanese identity. The study participants provided their views on each element and ranked which ones they believe are beneficial for global workers, based on their professional experiences. The presenter will contend that participants’ perspectives are useful for stakeholders in language education attending to the development of global human resources in the Japanese context.

Higher Education

67707 | Study on the University Admissions System Under the 108 Curriculum Guidelines

Yu-Chuan Chen, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan

To understand the development and promotion of university admissions system under the "108 Curriculum Guidelines", the researcher collected and analyzed relevant data on the development of the university selection mechanism over the years. In view of this, the researcher conducted relevant document analyses and interviews to validate its development and identify the changes in the admission mechanism compared to previous periods when the "108 Curriculum Guidelines" were not in effect. After analyzing the documents and interviews verbatim, the researcher reached several conclusions. First, multiple data collection mechanisms for university admissions have become the direction of development for university admissions review. Second, while the mechanism’s emphasis on the student’s individuality and learning experience was well-intended, it has impacted the existing system of access to higher education. Thus, the promotion of multi-channel admissions is still questioned by the public. Third, the university admissions system has become a key factor that determines whether the "108 Curriculum Guidelines" are successful. However, a consensus has not yet been reached at the universities’ end on the criteria for selection. Fourth, insufficient knowledge about the high school curriculum has resulted in the issue of Mathematics A or B scores being adopted in admission examinations. Fifth, given the declining birth rates, while the suitability of students is a consideration of many universities in recruiting them, how to actually secure students has become their priority. Many departments are actively decreasing the number of examination subjects that students appear for.

Innovation & Technology

67588 | A Time-aware MOOC Recommendation

Yen-Liang Chen, National Central University, Taiwan

Model Based on Global Learning Information

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been one of the most popular ways of learning in the Internet age. While many courses offer learners many opportunities to continue their learning, it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify courses that meet individualized learning goals. Therefore, MOOC recommendations are an important part of improving learner satisfaction and reducing dropout rates from MOOC platforms. No wonder there is a lot of research building models to recommend which courses students are most likely to take in the next stage of their studies. However, these studies have the same disadvantage of being unable to predict when learners will take the next course. Without this timing information, we would face the difficulty of not knowing when we should make recommendations to learners. Furthermore, the global learning information is an important source that helps to improve the recommendation accuracy. If we can leverage the global learning information to build a recommendation model, the recommended courses can be expected to be more accurate. Therefore, in this study, we propose a deep neural network model to predict the next course and time a learner will study by exploiting the interaction between learners and courses to construct global information to improve local information deficits.

Language Development & Literacy

67794 | Reading Comprehension and Academic Achievement in Biology of STEM Students: Implications for a Reading Enhancement and Development Plan

Bernard Lazaro, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Catherine Genevieve Lagunzad, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Queena Lee-Chua, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

National and international assessments showed that students attained a very low academic achievement in science and in reading. This result encouraged the researcher to determine the academic performance of senior high school Science and Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students in Biology subject, their level of reading comprehension, and its correlates through mixed-methods research approach. Also, this study surfaced the challenges encountered by the students in reading comprehension in Biology were identified. A researcher-made instrument to assess the level of reading comprehension and an open-ended question on the challenges was administered to STEM students in Bulacan, Philippines. Grades of students in Biology class were utilized in measuring their academic achievement using descriptive statistics. Their reading comprehension was measured through the administered assessment that composed items measuring their literal, interpretative, critical and creative comprehension. The results revealed that the students have high academic achievement in Biology, and had a low scores in reading comprehension, for the topic cells. It was found that the information about students’ proficiency level in reading comprehension is associated with their academic performance in Biology, but into a weak correlation. There are pressing challenges identified by students in reading comprehension in Biology, which include course content, student’s vocabulary, retention of lessons, interests, application of studied concepts and time. The result of the study was used to support the proposal to create programs for reading enhancement and development among students and teachers.