EFL university students’ perceptions about cross-cultural presentations via videoconferencing

Abstract

This study aims to examine EFL university students’ perceptions about cross-cultural videoconferencing presentations for professors in the United States. Nineteen Taiwanese English-as-foreign-language university students who studied in a night program for a bachelor’s degree attended the study. Each of them was free to choose a topic related to Taiwanese cultures and individually made a 25-min presentation plus a five-minute question-and-answer session. After the presentation, they watched recordings of their presentations, completed a five-point Likert-scale attitude survey, and wrote down their reflections. The results showed that the participants were positive about the activity. Based on the analysis of their reflections, the participants acknowledged various aspects of the cross-cultural presentations, such as the opportunities to use English meaningfully, motivation to prepare for the project, and the authentic nature of the interaction. However, the participants had concerns about their language abilities, anxiety, and limited preparation time. Finally, they mentioned the impact the presentation had on them. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are provided.

Study on Teaching Reform of Urban Design Course for International Students Majoring in Urban and Rural Planning: A Case Study of Inner Mongolia Normal University

“…The anxiety and sense of loss brought by culture shock will make people hostile to the new environment, resulting in a negative evaluation of the different culture, and irrationally attached to their own culture, which will hinder cross-cultural communication and the establishment of different cultural identities [11] . The cultural inheritance of different countries is distinct, and the difference between the cultural foundation and the Chinese culture has become the primary difficulty for international students studying in China [12][13][14][15] .…”