Treffer: Revisiting the Visual Syllabus: Utility, Impact, and Teacher Impressions in University English as a Foreign Language

This study follows a study that researchers conducted at the beginning of the fall 2024 semester to investigate the first-day impacts of using an updated, visually stimulating syllabus on conveying essential course information and on initial perceptions of teachers. Findings indicated that students perceived the syllabus as easier to understand than standard text-only syllabi and that it positively impacted their impressions of teachers. In the current study we evaluate how students used the syllabus, what impact it might have had on grades and attendance, and how it affected teacher impressions over the semester. We used a mixed-methods approach to gather quantitative and qualitative data from 213 university-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at two universities in Japan. After students completed an end-of-semester survey about their use of the visual syllabus, we analyzed their responses for themes. In addition, we compared final grade and attendance data between two experimental groups and four control groups to determine what impact we could deduce from that data. Findings indicate that, despite an inconsistent impact on their attendance and grades, students retained positive impressions of their instructors and found the syllabus useful. These results suggest that the visual syllabus had a positive long-term effect on students and their perceptions of their performance and teachers.

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