Language Exchange Partners Program (LEPP) -‐ Report
Prepared by the Office of Data Analytics and Institutional Research (DAIR)
December 2013
Introduction and Overview
As part of the ongoing assessment and evaluation, the departments of the Arabic Language Institute (ALI) and the English Language Institute (ELI) in coordination with the office of Data Analytics and Institutional Research (DAIR) developed the Language Exchange Partners Program (LEPP) survey to convey students’ feedback and opinions about the program in order to improve it for the best of the students.
On December 2, 2013, the survey link was sent to 17 students who participated in the LEPP program. One email reminder was sent and the survey remained accessible until December 21, 2013. From the 17 respondents, 12 filled the survey, for a response rate of 70.6%.
Methodology and organization of the report:
It should be noted, as a technical comment, that we removed missing responses from the analysis sec$on and analyzed the en$re survey without missing data. We trust removing missing data will paint a clear picture of the respondents’ evalua/on that filled out the survey.
This report is divided into 2 sections: Section I, where demographic information are presented in addition to some questions related to the pattern in meeting with the partner. Section II, where the open-‐ended questions are presented.
Survey Results
Section I:
Please identify yourself: Frequency Percent
Undergraduate Student 8 72.7%
Graduate Student 3 27.3%
Total 11 100%
Missing 1 8.3%
Choices A: Frequency Percent
ALI 5 71.4%
ELI 2 28.6%
Total 7 100%
Missing 5 41.7%
Choices B: Frequency Percent
English 98 2 66.7%
English 120 1 33.3%
Total 3 100%
Missing 9 75.0%
Choices C: Frequency Percent
Elementary 4 66.7%
Intermediate 1 16.7%
Advanced 1 16.7%
Total 6 100%
Missing 6 50.0%
72.7%
27.3%
Undergraduate Student Graduate Student
Students' Categories
Other (please specify):
§ English 101
§ English 124 –English 125
§ I'm not an ELI student I just want to prac4ce speaking English and teach somebody Arabic
§ Presiden(al Intern (repeated 3 (mes)
Choices A: Frequency Percent
1 day 7 77.8%
2 to 3 days 2 22.2%
Total 9 100%
Missing 3 25.0%
Choices B: Frequency Percent
1hour 7 100%
Missing 5 41.7%
71.4%
28.6%
66.7%
33.3%
66.7%
16.7% 16.7%
ALI ELI Eng 98 Eng 120 Elementary Intermediate Advanced
Students' Iden<fica<on
77.8%
22.2%
100.0%
1 day 2 to 3 days 1hour
Times (Days/Hours) usually spent in a partner's conversa<on per session
Did you continue meeting your
partner throughout the semester? Frequency Percent
Yes 3 33.3%
No 6 66.7%
Total 9 100%
Missing 3 25.0%
If "Yes" when in the semester did/will you have your final meeting?
§ Last week
§ Our final mee+ng this semester was December 5.
§ We are con)nuing to meet and will probably have our final mee)ng some)me before Christmas.
§
Do you plan to remain in contact with your
conversation partner's in the future? Frequency Percent
6 66.7%
No 3 33.3%
Total 9 100%
Missing 3 25.0%
33.3%
66.7%
Yes No
Did you con<nue mee<ng your partner throughout the semester?
66.7%
33.3%
Yes No
Do you plan to remain in contact with your conversa<on partner's in the future?
Please specify your answer:
§ Hopefully we can con.nue to meet next semester.
§ I would like to but she hasn't been very good at keeping in touch
§ Next semester we'll resume
§ We did not meet enough to create a las2ng friendship.
Section II:
If you stopped meeting your partner soon after the initial session, why did you stop?
§ I had two partners. I met with one once, the other two 3mes. Both were early in the semester. I think we were too busy with our studies to con4nue mee4ng.
§ We didn't
§ I did not.
§ I would send her emails to arrange a mee2ng but she was always busy.
What were the main benefits of the conversation partnerships for you?
§ I learned a lot just from the few encounters. I got some new insights and felt comfortable expressing myself, too.
§ I only had one mee,ng with her, so, unfortunately, I didn't benefit that much
§ Improve spoken English
§ It was a stress-‐free, fun way of learning essen0al and basic Arabic.
§ Just ge(ng to talk to an Egyp1an and learn more about life here at AUC and in Cairo.
§ My partner helped me in building new vocabulary and in reading newspaper in Arabic. She also clarified some doubts that I may have had regarding my lessons.
§ My partner is Indian and I exposed to her culture. She is a very nice person and I enjoyed teaching her the Arabic language
§ Prac%ced spoken English
In your opinion, what were the main benefits for your partner?
§ Hopefully he got to hear proper English and have a be6er sense of the way an American actually speaks.
§ I hope that they got to know a li%le bit about why I'm here and why that's important to me. Naturally, I hope they picked up a few things about my culture as well.
§ I think when we were reading the Arabic newspapers she felt that this will help her in her media class
§ Improve informal Arabic
§ My partner men+oned that she wasn't very confident about her spoken English the first (me we met and that she needed someone to prac(ce speaking with as her environment did not allow her that opportunity. We spoke in English when we met and I think she may have got the opportunity that she wanted.
§ My partner was very relaxed and friendly.
§ She was kind and helpful but we only met once
§ Taught him the basics of spoken Egyp5an Arabic as well as the Alphabet and other basics
§ We had one mee*ng, but I think I would've benefited if we had more opportuni(es for exchange
Did you learn anything significant that added to your intercultural awareness or understanding?
§ A little bit about religion. One partner is a conservative Muslim and from a lower class than most AUC students. I appreciated his candor and open-‐minded
approach to studying at AUC.
§ Again, we only had one meeting.
§ No
§ Not really..
§ Nothing really significant, no.
§ Of course, it was wonderful meeting my partner each time and we were able to appreciate and understand each other's cultures through dialogue.
§ Yes. Pronunciations of some words.
§ Yes as I mentioned before I was exposed to her culture.
Do you have any suggestions for future activities for LEPP?
§ I think that in the future more check-‐ins might be good?
§ It would've been much be1er if it was a group!
§ Maybe send each language partner a one-‐page sheet with guidance on how to approach an exchange session?
§ Nothing in my mind
§ Perhaps some kind of a social event once a semester when all the par$cipants of LEPP can meet and share their experiences.
§ The hardest thing for me that she is in Zamalek campus and I am in Qatamya. But I would like to thank LEPP team for their efforts.
§ Try to pair people based on their schedules. I know that's difficult, but at least gauging what *me of day they have available would help solve a lot of the scheduling issues I faced. It was very difficult finding a common 9me with all of our schedules conflic.ng.
