Measuring international students' understanding of concepts related to the use of library-based technology

Abstract

The ACRL Instruction Section's Committee on Instruction for Diverse Populations developed a multilingual glossary of terms related to the use of library-based technology. This study is a field test of the glossary. Methodology involved two parts, a survey of international students' perceived knowledge of the terms, followed by a series of test questions to measure the degree of their actual knowledge. Degrees of knowledge ranged from not understanding enough English to know what a term meant, to knowing what a term meant to the degree of being able to explain it to others. The majority of students believed that such a glossary would be helpful when using the library, as well as other library materials presented in translation.