Students Satisfaction - Essay Example

Many communication opportunities are offered by the Internet for students and teachers in e-learning courses. Many distractions are caused by these different communications opportunities: e-mails, video’s, documents, and become complex for the students and teachers to understand. Different questions arise such as, are the teachers and students able to master the necessary media tools or skills, can the tailored learning be accommodated by the communication models, can the student and the teacher be able to master and chose the most appropriate language that they can use for e-learning. These are among many questions that usually come about when it comes to e-learning and especially language is brought in trying to satisfy the needs of online studies (Spencer-Oatey, 2008, pp. 57). The idea of pedagogies and didactics is just surfacing in use in education field and its adoption is still far from full range. Additionally, so far that there is no tailor made media languages that can suite specific learners and teachers. In most cases, the teacher through the teacher’s intuition decides the way that digital audience will be communicated. This is through the aspect of Internet been a communication media with its own language and logic. Language can be influenced by the speed and complexity of messages. Messages are compressed, communication tools are employed and substitution of text messages with images. Acronyms have become a common use, through this various means complex names and explanations can be removed or avoided but which leads to the transferred information been meaningless or ambiguous. For example, the word ASAP, this acronym may have up to 73 definitions but depends on the context that is employed. ASAP may mean “As Soon As Possible” or “After School Activities Program”. This may confuse the student, while other words such as LAN (Local Area Network) may confuse a person who as no idea of computer networking (Spencer-Oatey, 2008, pp. 79). E-mail supports certain features that are not formally supported and may cause confusion and cause conflict of interest. Traditional greetings are disappearing and are continually replaced by slang and universal loanwords – mostly referred to as “globes-speak”. It has also influenced the etiquette during the online correspondence and conversation. Lack of this cause certain cultures that are accustomed to it as been part of the message have been received differently by different cultures e.g. in Japan communication is associated with symbols and rituals. Therefore, language and culture goes hand in hand. The problem comes between the students who are in most cases young and takes in the “universal” chat that constitutes codes that may not be well acquainted with the teachers. It becomes difficulty for a native English to comfortable communicate with people from other languages; it is difficult for a Chinese to communicate with a British (Kelvin, 2007, pp. 34). Moreover, because most things in the Internet are based in English, most people are native English speakers are advantaged, but if Chinese language becomes dominant it will result most people to learn Mandarin. It is a requirement that most abstracts, keywords, articles and keywords are translated into English, but not into other languages, adds the effect of English superiority. The ability of searching of information causes filtering that may affect other languages. The language that is used to undertake a query will return the search in terms of the language that was used. It is not possible to return the search in different languages unless specific software or gateways is installed that can accommodate this scenario. Hence, multi-linguality is a real problem in developing e-learning capabilities in terms of languages (Mick, 2006, pp. 240 - 242). Personal beliefs and expectancy of information brings in the issue of language. Most things that are communicated are filtered through personal beliefs and are related to previous experiences. Due to the core purpose of online studies, to reach many people, it has to be expected differently by the different cultures that are associated with the teachers and students. A native English teacher may be teaching a Chinese or a Vietnamese, but the translation of an English term or sentence may be something that is different to the other community. The student may see the teacher from a certain view that the teacher was not expecting (Peter, 2006, pp. 280 - 281). Satisfaction of a student depends on whether the information and materials that are provided by the teacher are conclusive and if such means as communication, interaction and technology is appropriate at that juncture. Communication plays an important role due to language. In most cases, the students are satisfied to some extent depending on the language that they come from and the cultural scenarios that they are associated with. In most cases, the teachers and students come from different cultures that many influence accents and the methods that they write the e-mails. Pronunciation of the words and missing characters from certain words may make it difficult to understand the message. For example the Spanish who learns English tends to add additional words in terms of suffix e.g. instead of e-mail it becomes emailer or click to clicker. When they (Spanish and an English student) are given an exam or assessment one culture will, benefit compared to other depending on the language that was used during for teaching (Aretha, 2008, pp. 124). Native English students are more satisfied because most of the materials that are in the Internet have been translated to suite them. However, other communities may receive information in a way that causes cultural conflict and tends to view the teacher as racial, ethnic, and inappropriate to transfer the required information. Generally, language usually affects online learning because of cultural and technological aspect. The technology that is supported by the Internet influences the amount of information that can be retrieved by the e-learners or students. This is through filtering phenomenon that is a result of gateway and multilingualism that is not supported by various means. Cultural background determines the accent and means that the information that is transferred will be absorbed. Different cultural communities will respond differently according to their beliefs and will influence the satisfaction of online learning. References Aretha, M. (2008). What are the Importance of E-Learning. Globalization Journal, 6, 123 - 145 Iskander, M. & Springer Link. (2007). Innovations in E-Learning, Instruction Technology, Assessment, and Engineering Education. New York: Springer, pp. 105 – 107 Kelvin, B. (2007). The World of E-Learning and Language. Perspective Journal, 45, 33 – 45 Mick, S. (2006). E-Learning and Language and Style in Lancaster. Language and Literature, 15, 234 – 256 Peter, C. (2006). E-Learning and Language and Style in Hong Kong. Language and Literature, 15, 277 – 290 Spencer-Oatey, H. (2008). E-Learning Initiatives in China: Pedagogy, Policy and Culture. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 57 – 79 Sandra, F. & Browne, C. (2007). New Perspectives on call for second language classrooms. London: Routledge, pp. 256 Wim, J. & Joroen, J. (2004). Integrated E-learning for Pedagogy, Technology and Organization. London: Routledge, pp. 80 - 83 Read More