| Peer-Reviewed

Research on Effective Teaching Methods for English-medium Instruction Computer Networking Course

Received: 5 October 2019    Accepted:     Published: 8 November 2019
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

Chinese universities have been strongly supported by government to promote English-Medium Instruction (EMI) in the past two decades. While EMI is not simply translating lecture contents into English, the teaching methods should be adjusted accordingly. This study aims at seeking effective EMI teaching methods for engineering courses, taking the case of Computer Networking course in Shanghai Maritime University. Several computer-aided teaching methods have been practised, including interactive teaching with Rain Classroom, class demonstration with Wireshark and Packet Tracer, video review, online teaching resources, and hands-on projects. Based on our teaching experience, a 3-step interactive teaching routine was set up and practiced. The comparing result of three consecutive years’ final exam scores and labs scores show an overall improvement of the students’ learning outcomes. An online questionnaire was designed to investigate the students’ opinions on teaching contents and methods. The collected survey results and feedbacks show that most of the students approve of our EMI teaching methods. But there are up to 27.5% students who still consider EMI academic course is difficult. The cross comparative result of the online students’ survey reveals that the students’ previous EMI experience greatly affects their perceived level of difficulty. It should be very helpful to offer an introductory EMI course or an ESP (English for Special Purpose) course for the engineering freshmen to prepare them for the follow-up EMI academic courses.

Published in Education Journal (Volume 8, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.edu.20190806.17
Page(s) 279-285
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

English-medium Instruction, Interactive Teaching Methods, Computer Networking

References
[1] K. Ngok, “Massification, bureaucratization and questing for “world-class” status higher education in China since the mid-1990s,” Int. J. Educ. Manage., vol. 22, pp. 547–564, 2008.
[2] O’Dowd R. (2015, April 12). The Training and Accreditation of Teachers for English Medium Instruction: A Survey of European Universities [Online]. Available: https://formacion.uam.es/pluginfile.php/110823/mod_resource/content/1/EMI%20Survey_Report_ODowd.pdf.
[3] T. R. Murray and V. N. Kobayashi, Educational Technology — Its Creation, Development and Cross-Cultural Transfer, Elsevier, 2014.
[4] Schönwälder Jürgen, Timur Friedman, and Aiko Pras, “Using Networks to Teach About Networks (Report on Dagstuhl Seminar #17112),” Acm Sigcomm Computer Communication Review, 2017, 47 (3), pp. 40–44.
[5] Atila Bostan, “Teaching Computer Networks: Theory and Problem Solving,” in Journal of Advances in Computer Networks, 2015, vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 299–302.
[6] Lin TANG, “Study on Teaching Methods of Computer Network Course Based on Analogy and Problem-based Approach,” in 2017 2nd International Conference on Education and Development, pp. 222–227.
[7] Zhamanov, Azamat, and Zhulduz Sakhiyeva, “Implementing flipped classroom and gamification teaching methods into computer networks subject, by using cisco networking academy,” in 2015 Twelve International Conference on Electronics Computer and Computation (ICECCO), pp. 1–4.
[8] Gu H. and Ren L., “English-medium instruction in engineering education: Practices, challenges, and suggestions,” in IEEE International Conference on Teaching Assessment, and Learning for Engineering., Hongkong, China, 2017, pp. 229–232.
[9] Kurose J. F. and Ross K. W., Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet Package. Addison-Wesley, 2002.
[10] Wang S. G., “Rain Classroom: The Wisdom Teaching Tool in the Context of Mobile Internet and Big Data,” Modern Educational Technology, 2017, vol. 5, pp. 26–32.
[11] Gu H. and Ren L., “A survey of Chinese Engineering Students’ Attitudes toward EMI”, in 3rd International Conference on Management, Education Technology and Sports Science, Guilin, China, 2016, pp. 158–161.
[12] I. Rothe, “How to handle large classrooms of engineering students: Sharing experiences with applying three methods/practices including evaluation results and personal feedback,” in IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2016, pp. 11–14.
[13] Ting Y. and Tai Y., “Work-in-progress: Students' self-making videos for the tandem learning of two engineering courses,” in IEEE International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning, Florence, Italy, 2015, pp. 1–4.
[14] Tsou W., “Interactional Skills in Engineering Education,” in English as a Medium of Instruction in Higher Education, Springer, Singapore, 2017, pp. 79–93.
[15] Kaur M. “Academic Listening Practices among International Graduate Students in English as Medium of Instruction Context: Difficulties and Corrective Measures,” Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities, 2016, vol. 24, pp. 1579–1599.
[16] Chou, Ichia . "Helping Students Learn in EMI Courses Using Reciprocal Teaching: A Case Study of a Taiwan University," Asian Education Studies, 2016, vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 37–43.
[17] J Dearden, “English as a medium of instruction - a growing global phenomenon,” British Council, 2014.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Gu Haiyun, Bo Hua. (2019). Research on Effective Teaching Methods for English-medium Instruction Computer Networking Course. Education Journal, 8(6), 279-285. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20190806.17

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Gu Haiyun; Bo Hua. Research on Effective Teaching Methods for English-medium Instruction Computer Networking Course. Educ. J. 2019, 8(6), 279-285. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20190806.17

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Gu Haiyun, Bo Hua. Research on Effective Teaching Methods for English-medium Instruction Computer Networking Course. Educ J. 2019;8(6):279-285. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20190806.17

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.edu.20190806.17,
      author = {Gu Haiyun and Bo Hua},
      title = {Research on Effective Teaching Methods for English-medium Instruction Computer Networking Course},
      journal = {Education Journal},
      volume = {8},
      number = {6},
      pages = {279-285},
      doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20190806.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20190806.17},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20190806.17},
      abstract = {Chinese universities have been strongly supported by government to promote English-Medium Instruction (EMI) in the past two decades. While EMI is not simply translating lecture contents into English, the teaching methods should be adjusted accordingly. This study aims at seeking effective EMI teaching methods for engineering courses, taking the case of Computer Networking course in Shanghai Maritime University. Several computer-aided teaching methods have been practised, including interactive teaching with Rain Classroom, class demonstration with Wireshark and Packet Tracer, video review, online teaching resources, and hands-on projects. Based on our teaching experience, a 3-step interactive teaching routine was set up and practiced. The comparing result of three consecutive years’ final exam scores and labs scores show an overall improvement of the students’ learning outcomes. An online questionnaire was designed to investigate the students’ opinions on teaching contents and methods. The collected survey results and feedbacks show that most of the students approve of our EMI teaching methods. But there are up to 27.5% students who still consider EMI academic course is difficult. The cross comparative result of the online students’ survey reveals that the students’ previous EMI experience greatly affects their perceived level of difficulty. It should be very helpful to offer an introductory EMI course or an ESP (English for Special Purpose) course for the engineering freshmen to prepare them for the follow-up EMI academic courses.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Research on Effective Teaching Methods for English-medium Instruction Computer Networking Course
    AU  - Gu Haiyun
    AU  - Bo Hua
    Y1  - 2019/11/08
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20190806.17
    DO  - 10.11648/j.edu.20190806.17
    T2  - Education Journal
    JF  - Education Journal
    JO  - Education Journal
    SP  - 279
    EP  - 285
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2327-2619
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20190806.17
    AB  - Chinese universities have been strongly supported by government to promote English-Medium Instruction (EMI) in the past two decades. While EMI is not simply translating lecture contents into English, the teaching methods should be adjusted accordingly. This study aims at seeking effective EMI teaching methods for engineering courses, taking the case of Computer Networking course in Shanghai Maritime University. Several computer-aided teaching methods have been practised, including interactive teaching with Rain Classroom, class demonstration with Wireshark and Packet Tracer, video review, online teaching resources, and hands-on projects. Based on our teaching experience, a 3-step interactive teaching routine was set up and practiced. The comparing result of three consecutive years’ final exam scores and labs scores show an overall improvement of the students’ learning outcomes. An online questionnaire was designed to investigate the students’ opinions on teaching contents and methods. The collected survey results and feedbacks show that most of the students approve of our EMI teaching methods. But there are up to 27.5% students who still consider EMI academic course is difficult. The cross comparative result of the online students’ survey reveals that the students’ previous EMI experience greatly affects their perceived level of difficulty. It should be very helpful to offer an introductory EMI course or an ESP (English for Special Purpose) course for the engineering freshmen to prepare them for the follow-up EMI academic courses.
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • College of Information Engineering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China

  • College of Information Engineering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China

  • Sections