Michael Marek

Environmental Factors Affecting Computer Assisted Language Learning Success: A Complex Dynamic Systems Conceptual Model.

This conceptual, interdisciplinary inquiry explores Complex Dynamic Systems as the concept relates to the internal and external environmental factors affecting computer assisted language learning (CALL). Based on the results obtained by de Rosnay [World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, 67(4/5), 304–315 (2011)], who observed that the systems approach is separate from, and complimentary to, the analytical/experimental model of analysis, the authors use a systems analysis approach to identify a typology of environmental factors that are internal and external to the CALL student, and internal and external to the school. The typology is presented in a CALL ecology model (CEM) along with implications for pedagogy. The authors believe that the systems orientation will become more and more important in the overall understanding of best practices in computer assisted language learning.

Service quality and customer satisfaction: qualitative research implications for luxury hotels.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to determine whether luxury hotel managers and customers have the same understanding of service quality and satisfaction and whether there is a disparity between services offered by luxury hotels and the way customers actually experience them. Design/methodology/approach – This paper used interviews with managers and guests of 5-Star hotels in Taiwan and qualitative analysis to understand definitions and perceptions of luxury, service quality and satisfaction. Findings – The major findings of the study were that: there were no fundamental disconnects in the respective understandings of managers and guests; however, the two groups used different language to describe luxury, service quality and satisfaction; the managers evaluated satisfaction in terms of services provided, but the guests conceptualized satisfaction in terms of value received for the price of lodging; and luxury, service quality and satisfaction were closely related in the minds of the managers and gu...