Workshop 4: Get Rid of Your Students’ Fear and Intimidation of Learning a Programming Language By Applying Second Language Acquisition in a Blended Learning Environment

Knowledge of computer programming is very beneficial and often required for engineering students. Unfortunately, students frequently experience fear and intimidation regarding introductory programming language courses. Second language acquisition (SLA) has shown promise as a means of content delivery in second language learning courses. Blended learning environment is also becoming increasingly popular in course frameworks. This workshop will discuss the application of second language acquisition to facilitate a blended learning of programming languages (SLA-aBLe) and will examine the effectiveness of using SLA to teach introductory programming language, MATLAB. The proposed workshop will also share instructor, and student experience(s), review student outcomes from this three-year study, and provide participants course materials.