Examining the File Renaming Errors Made by Japanese University EFL Students During the First Year of Emergency Remote Teaching

Conference: The IAFOR International Conference on Education in Hawaii (IICE2022)
Title: Examining the File Renaming Errors Made by Japanese University EFL Students During the First Year of Emergency Remote Teaching
Stream: Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice & Praxis
Presentation Type: Virtual Presentation
Authors:
Brian Rubrecht, Meiji University, Japan

Abstract:

The move to emergency remote teaching (ERT) in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced instructors worldwide to necessarily include components of information and communications technology (ICT) in their lessons. However, this move proved particularly challenging in Japan, for the country has long lagged behind others in its implementation of ICT for educational purposes. While many university instructors in Japan were able to successfully provide ERT courses that utilized new or heretofore rarely used ICT (e.g., Zoom, learning management systems), students’ general lack of basic personal computer skills remained a persistent concern. Aware of both Japan’s ICT shortcomings and students’ anxiety and confusion regarding the transition to online learning, an instructor/researcher (I/R) teaching English as a foreign language at three Japanese universities opted to make heavy use of email – a standard digital tool widely used for decades – for assignment submission and student-teacher communication purposes. In spite of email’s many inherent advantages, the I/R unexpectedly received a large number of email attachments that were not renamed according to the repeatedly-explained file renaming convention he had established for all emailed documents. The proposed presentation presents analyses of the file names of a subset of emailed documents the I/R received during AY2020, with the research goal being to categorize the file renaming errors so that their likely sources could be determined. Because the errors arose from multiple and varied sources, explanations about and recommendations for pedagogical practices (e.g., the giving of instructions, typing in a foreign language) are proffered.

Virtual Presentation

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