Nowadays, the world's scientific community has been publishing an enormous number of papers in different scientific fields. In such environment, it is essential to know which databases are equally efficient and objective for literature searches. It seems that two most extensive databases are Web of Science and Scopus. Besides searching the literature, these two databases used to rank journals in terms of their productivity and the total citations received to indicate the journals impact, prestige or influence. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive comparison of these databases to answer frequent questions which researchers ask, such as: How Web of Science and Scopus are different? In which aspects these two databases are similar? Or, if the researchers are forced to choose one of them, which one should they prefer? For answering these questions, these two databases will be compared based on their qualitative and quantitative characteristics.
With the rapid development of world and technology, English learning has become more important. Teachers frequently use teacher-centered pedagogy that leads to lack of interaction with students. This paper aims to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of integrating social networking tools into ESL writing classroom and discuss the ways to plan activities by integrating social networking services (SNSs) into the classroom. Data was collected through an online discussion board from TESL students in a state university in Malaysia. The findings revealed that integrating social networking services in ESL writing classroom could help to broaden students’ knowledge, increase their motivation and build confidence in learning ESL writing. The students’ difficulties for concentrating on the materials when they use computer, lack of enough equipment as well as access to internet, and teachers’ insufficient time to interact with the students were regarded as the main disadvantages of integrating social networking tools into ESL writing classes. Therefore, in this new technological era, it is essential for students and teachers to be equipped with technical skills to be competent for life-long learning and teaching. More studies are needed to explore the teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards using ICT in ESL/EFL contexts. Future quantitative and qualitative studies with more participants are needed to provide deeper insight.
Technology is evolving rapidly in the past two decades. Many are familiar with technology and gradually becoming digital natives. In this technological era, the application of technology has eased our ways in various fields of work particularly in the education field. Technology has also proven its effectiveness in language teaching which includes as a source of motivation and provides room for authentic learning. However, there are still disadvantages in using technology to teach. Students may get easily distracted and might misuse the technology. Other than that, frequent use of technology can limit students thinking potential. Hence, this paper reviews the highlights and challenges of using technology in language teaching. This paper could be a source of reference by teachers who are planning to integrate technology in ESL classroom. Future research can look into how technology affects students' attitude.
The lack of language skills among ESL learners could affect their ability to work collaboratively at the undergraduate level. This study looks at how collaborative writing in a language course could be enhanced by the use of an interactive on-line tool called Padlet. 87 participants taking a language course in a public university in Malaysia were involved in the research. The study was aimed to improve language and communication skills, increase motivation, lower anxiety and encourage students to become more autonomous. A series of tasks were designed using Padlet and carried out through the semester. Student's posts and feedback in the form of a questionnaire were analysed. The findings showed that Padlet motivates students to participate in class activities, lower anxiety, encourages interaction among class members and instructor, and improves language accuracy through learning from peers. Padlet could be effectively used in an undergraduate course to facilitate collaborative writing among lower proficiency ESL learners.
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