A Research Proposal：An Empirical Study of the Use of POCIB software in Practice of International Trade Teaching in Colleges

1 Introduction

POCIB （Practice for operational competence in International Business） is a comprehensive practice of international trade skills.POCIB Project focuses on the college students of international economy and trade and related majors and the new personnel of the international trade industry，aiming at improving learners’ comprehensive business skills of foreign trade.It takes the virtual online international trade game as the core way to learn and introduces innovative，efficient，practical and scientific teaching methods and training means to our country for talents training of foreign trade.

This study is going to testify whether POCIB software used in daily teaching is better than traditional teaching method or not.

2 Research methodology

In my opinion，the use of POCIB software should not be limited to use as a kind of competition，and it should be used in daily teaching.In order to identify the effectiveness of the use of POCIB software in the class of practice of international trade and the effectiveness for students’ learning interest and motivation based on the use of POCIB software in the class，an experimental study will be carried out by the researcher.This section mainly focuses on the design of the research.

2.1 Research Questions

1.What are the effects of the use of POCIB software on the practice of international trade achievements？

2.What are the effects of the use of POCIB software on students’ learning motivation and interest？

2.2 Subjects

The subjects of this study are 60 students who come from two classes of international economy and trade major.In this study，the two classes are also named Control Class （CC） and Experimental Class （EC）.Students in each class are all junior，whose ages are between 21 and 23 years old.In order to make sure the students in each class have the same proficiency of the practice of the knowledge of international economy and trade and learning ability，a pre-test will be carried out at the beginning of the study.In addition，the two classes will be taught by the same teacher.The procedures of the study in the two classes are in the same period of time.That is to say，the only difference between the two classes is the teaching method.The Control Class （CC） is taught by the traditional teaching method （case-based teaching），and the Experimental Class （EC） is taught by the use of POCIB software.

2.3 Instruments

The instruments involved in this study are tests，questionnaires，observations and interview.The tests （pre-test and post-test） aim to get information about students’ proficiency of the practice of the knowledge of this subject and learning ability.The questionnaire and the interview are used to getting information about students’ interest and motivation towards international economy and trade based on the use of POCIB software.The classroom observations will be used to compare the two classes’ in-class differences.

2.3.1 Tests

This experimental study lasts for a month.In order to assure the reliability and validity of the tests，both of the pre-test and the post-test of this study test students’ ability of filling of documents（almost all documents used in the international trade），trade negotiations（inquiry，offer，counter offer，acceptance），price accounting（choose one of the trade terms），handling of emergency events（case study）.Students in both CC and EC will be given the tests within 2 hours at the same time.

2.3.2 Questionnaires

After the pre-test，if it shows that there is no sharp difference between CC and EC，then a questionnaire will be given to the students in both CC and EC.The questionnaire will be tested its reliability in SPSS.The questionnaire aims to investigate the students’ interest and motivation toward this subject.In order to make a comparative analysis，the same questionnaire is given to the students in CC and EC again at the end of the study.The questionnaire is made up of fifteen questions，which all focuses on students’ interest and motivation towards this subject from different aspects.Students have to make a choice from the five-point Likert Scale.1 Totally Agree，2 Agree，3 Somewhat Agree，4 Disagree，5 Totally Disagree.In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding，the questionnaire will be given to the students in Chinese.Before the questions，there are clear instructions that the answers of the questionnaire will just be used for scientific research with no relation to their academic performance.And students could answer it based on self-condition.

2.3.3 Observations

Classroom observation is the most direct way to observe what happens in class，including the behaviors of the teachers，the behaviors and reactions of the students，and what the teaching is like under the use of case-based teaching and POCIB software.The researcher observes the teachers’ classes for at least one unit （five to six class hours） to discover what actually happen in the Control Class and the Experimental Class.

2.3.4 Interview

After the experiment，an interview will be conducted to make a supplement of the study based on the use of POCIB software.Nine students in EC are typically selected as the interviewees according to their higher，medium or lower practice of international trade level in the pre-test.The questions of the interview include： 1.What do you think of teaching with POCIB software？ 2.Do you like this kind of teaching way or traditional teaching way？ 3.What kinds of ability do you think have improved？ Etc.In order to make sure that the students can express their ideas about the questions clearly and talk freely，the questions and the interview are employed in Chinese.And the whole interview is carried out under a relaxed and delighted circumstance，which likes a talk between friends.

2.4 Data collection

Both of the pre-test and the post-test of this study come from related certificate examinations.The scores of the pre-test and the post-test will be collected and entered into SPSS by the researcher.Questionnaires are given to the students in both CC and EC before and after experiment，in order to investigate the students’ interest and motivation toward the course learning.The questionnaire is made up of fifteen questions.The points of the students’ questionnaires are entered into SPSS by the researcher.The observations of the two classes are to compare teachers’ behaviors and students’ class performance.An interview is conducted to make a supplement of the study based on the use of POCIB software.Nine students in EC were selected as the interviewees according to their higher，medium or lower English reading level in the pre-test.It will be recorded during the interview，and then be transferred by the researcher.

2.5 Data analysis

The data obtained from the pre-test and the post-test will be analyzed with the help of Microsoft SPSS.The result of the post-test is to make a comparison with the pre-test and testify the achievement of the whole study.The data obtained from the questionnaires are also analyzed by SPSS.The analysis of the data which obtain from the interview is analyzed by the researcher according to the order of the problems.The data obtained from the experimental procedures are all analyzed by Microsoft SPSS.

3 Significance of the study

The significance of the proposed study lies in it tries to make a comparison between case-based teaching method and the use of POCIB software in the teaching.Many colleges use the POCIB just for taking competition with other colleges.The design of POCIB software is very close to real life.Using POCIB software to do virtual business with real persons from other schools can improve students’ many abilities，including communication，price accounting，filling of documents and so on，and all these abilities are indispensable in their later work.The study intends to testify the use of POCIB software can be more efficient than case-based teaching method，and it can make students have more interest and motivation on the practice of international trade course.

References

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作者簡介

何亞女（1992—），女，碩士研究生，桂林理工大學(xué)，翻譯學(xué)。