Investigating the Effect of Anxiety of Male and Female Iranian EFL Learners on their Writing Performance

This study sought to examine the sort, frequency, and sources of writing wrongs committed by adult Iranian EFL students. To score the participants’ written essays and speaking interviews, the four criteria specified for the IELTS Speaking and Writing Band Scores (British Council, 2014) were taken into consideration. The study also tried to comparatively analyze the error categories made by men and women learners regarding the type and frequency of their linguistic errors. To gather the information, from the population of faculty members at Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences (HUMS) in Bandarabbas, Iran, 100 adults, both male and female, with their age ranging from 31 to 52, were selected using convenient sampling. Based on their previous IELTS band scores ranging from 4 to 6, the members are separated into three groups.The results of data analysis revealed that verb tense was the very common grammatical mistake done by members in all three groups. For the cohesion and coherence and lexical sub-categories, relative clauses and incorrect use of target lexical item were regarded as the most common categories of errors. Outcomes of Chi-Square analyses also showed substantial differences among errors committed by participants in different groups. Finally, the comparison between male and female participants’ errors revealed that male participants made both written and spoken errors more than females. According to the results, recommendations, and any suggestions that are of importance to teachers and policymakers as well as to EFL learners are presented in detail.

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Scrambled Cloze Procedure: Does It Influence EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension and Writing Performance?

Journal of Language Teaching and Research ◽

10.17507/jltr.1105.18 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 815

Author(s):

Jahanbakhsh Nikoopour ◽

Mino Bargnil

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Pearson Correlation ◽

Control Group ◽

Writing Performance ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Reading And Writing ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Cloze Procedure ◽

And Control ◽

Experimental Group

The present study investigated the effect of using scrambled cloze procedure on reading and writing among intermediate EFL learners. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 60 participants were tested on a PET test, from whom 48 homogeneous participants were selected and assigned randomly to two groups of 25 and 23, as experimental and control group. Then, both groups were given a pre-test of writing and reading comprehension. During 14 sessions, the experimental group were provided with scrambled cloze samples and tasks while practicing paragraph writing and reading, whereas the control group did not, while they were practicing paragraph writing and reading. At the end, the two groups were tested in reading comprehension and writing, based on a posttest. Two raters scored the writing samples collected from two groups in the pre and posttest. Pearson correlation was used to compute the inter-rater reliability. The results showed the experimental group outperformed the control group in paragraph writing and reading comprehension. However, it was found that gender did not make a significant difference in reading comprehension and writing performance.

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A Study of Relationship Between Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge and Semantic Set in Iranian EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Used in Writing

International Linguistics Research ◽

10.30560/ilr.v1n2p77 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. p77

Author(s):

Parisa Barkhodari

Keyword(s):

Data Analysis ◽

Significant Role ◽

Word Association ◽

Vocabulary Knowledge ◽

Intermediate Level ◽

Appropriate Use ◽

Writing Performance ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Intermediate Learners

This study investigated the Relationship between Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge and Semantic Set in Iranian EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Used in Writing. The purpose of this study was to see the role of depth of vocabulary knowledge in making appropriate choices among words in a semantic set in EFL learners’ writing performance. 70 lower-intermediate and upper-intermediate learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) from the language learners of English institute in Bandar Abbas, Iran participated in this study. Instruments for the data collection include Word Association Test (WAT), Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS), and four writing tests. In the first phase, using MANOVA statistical procedure for data analysis, the role of depth of vocabulary knowledge in writing performance and appropriate use of words in a semantic set in overall writing quality was investigated. The second part of the study attempted to explore the role of appropriate use of words in a semantic set in the participants’ overall writing performance using independent sample t-test. Finally, attempts were made to identify the role of depth of vocabulary knowledge and appropriate use of words in a semantic set in the overall use of words in the participants’ writings using a two-way ANOVA as the data analysis technique. The results of the data analysis provided empirical evidence supporting that: a) depth of vocabulary knowledge played a fundamental role in appropriate use of words in a semantic set in lower-intermediate level but not in upper-intermediate level, b) depth of vocabulary knowledge has a significant role in overall writing performance only in upper-intermediate level, c) using words appropriately in a semantic set played a significant role in writing performance of the lower-intermediate participants, while the opposite was revealed for the upper-intermediate group, d) the upper-intermediate learners could benefit from their knowledge of depth of vocabulary in using words, in general, correctly and appropriately. The findings promise some pedagogical implications for vocabulary and writing curriculum development, material development, and course designing.

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The Effect of Portfolio-Based Assessment on Jordanian EFL Learners’ Writing Performance

Bellaterra Journal of Teaching & Learning Language & Literature ◽

10.5565/rev/jtl3.629 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 32 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Salameh F. Obeiah ◽

Ruba Fahmi Bataineh

Keyword(s):

Writing Performance ◽

Efl Learners

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Is there a Relationship between Critical Thinking and Critical Reading of Literary Texts: A Case Study at Arak University (Iran)

International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences ◽

10.18052/www.scipress.com/ilshs.33.63 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 33 ◽

pp. 63-76 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Hamedreza Kohzadi ◽

Fatemeh Aziz Mohammadi ◽

Fatemeh Samadi

Keyword(s):

Critical Thinking ◽

Proficiency Test ◽

Literary Work ◽

Literary Texts ◽

Critical Reading ◽

Male And Female ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Female Data ◽

The Subject

Examining the theme, plot, and characters of a literary work is a common practice for students of literature so that they can criticize literature. Unlike a non-critical reading which provides readers only with facts, a critical reading also entails depicting how a book or a source illustrates the subject matter. Through various reading procedures including interpretation, inference and examining ideologies embedded in texts, readers can develop critical thinking. This paper aims at examining whether or not there is a relationship between critical thinking and critical reading of literary texts in higher education. To meet the mentioned aim, 121 EFL learners from Arak University were invited to participate in this study. After administrating English proficiency test, total numbers of students were 98 male and female. Data analysis was done through employing ANOVA and T-test.

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Communication Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Learners and English Native Speakers: Gender in Focus

International Journal of EFL ◽

10.21462/ijefl.v2i1.15 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Layla Hajiesmaeli ◽

Laya Heidari Darani

Keyword(s):

Language Proficiency ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Communication Strategies ◽

Numerical Data ◽

Communication Strategy ◽

Male And Female ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Native Speakers Of English ◽

The Difference

<p>This article was intended to explore the frequency and order of communication strategies used by Iranian male and female EFL earners as well as English native speakers while facing communication breakdowns. Furthermore, it was aimed to investigate the difference between native speakers and non-native speakers of English in their use of communication strategies. In addition, it was probed whether gender had any effects on the use of these strategies among native and non-native speakers. To this end, the data were collected through the communication strategy questionnaire distributed among 30 male and female Iranian intermediate EFL learners and 15 English native speakers. The design of this study was a quantitative one in which the questionnaire and thus numerical data were applied. To analyze the data, Cronbach alpha and independent-samples t-tests were used. The results indicated that non-verbal and social affective strategies were the most frequent strategies used by non-native speakers and native speakers of English, respectively. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between male and female Iranian EFL learners, but a significant difference between male and female English native speakers were seen. It can be concluded that language proficiency can contribute to the type and frequency of communications strategies which are used non-native speakers; likewise, it can play a significant role in gender differences in language use.<em></em></p>

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Effects of Bilingualism on Reading Fluency: An Analysis of Pausing Patterns of Iranian Learners of English as a Third Language

Education Research International ◽

10.1155/2021/9200025 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Zahra Banitalebi ◽

Ali Akbar Jabbari ◽

Shouket Ahmad Tilwani ◽

Mohammad Hasan Razmi

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Reading Fluency ◽

English Language ◽

Oral Proficiency ◽

Bilingual Learners ◽

Male And Female ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Third Language ◽

English Reading ◽

Significant Difference

Fluency is one of the most important components of oral proficiency, which can be affected by a number of variables including frequency, duration, and place of pause phenomena. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of bilingualism on learning a foreign language from the angle of fluency and pausing patterns by comparing the pausing patterns of monolingual (Persian speakers) and bilingual (Iranian Turkish speakers; L1: Turkish and L2: Persian) EFL learners. To this end, a sample of 40 male and female advanced EFL learners were selected from Yazd University and several English-language institutes. An English reading passage test was used to measure students’ fluency in terms of their pausing patterns in prepared mode of speech. As learners started to read the passage, their speeches were recorded. The collected data were analyzed by Praat software. The statistical analyses revealed a significant difference between monolingual and bilingual learners in the frequency, duration, and placement of the pauses they had produced while they were reading the English passage. The results showed that bilingual learners outperformed monolingual participants, suggesting the superiority of bilinguals in their pausing patterns. The implications are discussed.

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