Using CALL in a formal learning context to develop oral language awareness in ESL: an assessment

ReCALL ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Vincent-Durroux ◽  
Cécile Poussard ◽  
Jean-Marc Lavaur ◽  
Xavier Aparicio

AbstractFrench learners at university meet difficulties in the comprehension of oral English. Being in a formal context of language learning, they need to develop language awareness to compensate for insufficient exposure to the English language.To meet the students’ needs, data was collected in order to pinpoint the main errors made by French learners in listening tasks. The errors were then analyzed and put into perspective with the system of oral English; a connection clearly appeared between the errors and what is barely heard or cannot be heard in reference to written English, hinting at what could cause poor oral comprehension. Three areas of knowledge appeared to be missing in the students’ background: the links between morpho-syntax and phonology, the mastery of phonological data found in dictionaries and the possible recourse to strategies in order to compensate for what has not been heard properly. These issues were addressed in an on-line program designed for non-beginners of English at university.This paper deals with the assessment of the progress made by users of the program in a formal learning situation. Two groups of learners were considered: students whose major is English, and students for whom the study of English is optional. Two series of tests were implemented, before and after the use of the program. The tests focused on the ability of learners to read IPA transcription, to count syllables in oral English, and to pronounce auxiliaries and prepositions in different contexts.The results to be discussed establish that the two groups of learners significantly improved their knowledge of oral English. Of particular interest is the fact that, even if the two groups had significantly different knowledge of oral English before using the program, with non-specialists of English having poorer knowledge, the two groups obtain similar results on the post-test, showing greater progress on the part of the non-specialists. All learners appear to improve dramatically their knowledge of IPA and their ability to use it.The progress measured by the tests was corroborated by other modes of assessment: a survey on the students’ judgment as regards the usefulness of the program, and individual interviews focusing on what the students recall from the content of the program. In the latter, the students used relevant meta-linguistic and meta-cognitive expressions, showing their ability for further progress in developing listening abilities in English as a Second Language (ESL).

Author(s):  
Atif Obaid M Alsuhaymi

The present study aims to research the influences of games through Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) compared to Teacher-Centered Instruction (TCI) on teenagers' achievement in English language education in Saudi Arabia. Two groups of students tested, before and after instruction, so to determine success of the application of pedagogies. The full sample consisted of 22 teenagers, divided randomly, into two equal groups. The first group was the control (TDI) group, which used a school textbook. The second group was the experimental group (CALL), which given a CALL application, based on the game ‘Kahoot.’ Two types of tests were conducted, a pre-test and a post-test, at each of two periods for each group. The pre-test administered before instruction, and the post-test taken after the instructional period. Findings indicate that both groups increased their proficiencies with English object pronouns. However, performance on the post-test by the experimental (CALL) group significantly exceeded that of the control (TCI) group.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3.1) ◽  
pp. 123-142
Author(s):  
Noemi Mercedes Remache Carrillo ◽  
Viviana Vanessa Yánez Valle ◽  
Mariela Germania Pilco Labre

This research had as its main purpose to determine how the Storytelling strategy improves coherence in writing skills. To appraise the efficacy of this strategy, a writing pre-test and a post-test were applied to the sixth level students of the Cambridge Language Center extension of the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo during the September 2018 - February 2019 academic period. Those exams focused on the writing part from Cambridge PET (Preliminary English Test). A guide for the teacher was designed which was used during the classroom intervention. That guide was mainly based on the three stages of the writing process: prewriting, writing itself, and review through the use of use the following techniques:  narrative, visual history, problem / solution, dialogue; and, hero and enemy. The analysis and interpretation of the obtained data which came from the pre and the post-tests before and after the intervention was performed. Once the application of the proposal was accomplished, the data obtained from the pre-test and the post-test was processed by using the T-student mathematical test with the statistical software SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The results demonstrated that the application of the Storytelling strategy generated high interest and improvement in the students’ production of written texts. Therefore, the Storytelling strategy contributes with the enhancement of students' written production. Finally, it was concluded that students improved coherence in their written texts through the Storytelling strategy. Consequently, it is recommended that English teachers apply this proposal with the Storytelling strategy in their educational work to improve the development of students in their English language learning process.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 314
Author(s):  
Aasia Nusrat ◽  
Farzana Ashraf ◽  
Rabea Saeed

The objective of the current research is to investigate the effect of instructors and peers’ oral feedback on the written English accuracy of ESL learners. In this quasi-experimental study, 90 participants are assessed on three distinct forms of feedback (i.e., instructor’s oral metalinguistic feedback along with indirect written feedback, peers’ oral interaction along with indirect written feedback and no feedback) for writing errors of three types (i.e., verb tense, preposition, and articles). The participants are assessed three times; pre-test, an immediate post-test and delayed post-test. ANOVA demonstrates that learners receiving instructors’ oral metalinguistic feedback along with indirect written feedback outperform those who receive peers’ oral interaction along with indirect written feedback and no feedback in two out of three linguistic forms in subsequent writing. The findings of the study suggest that employing oral metalinguistic instructors’ feedback along with written feedback in the Pakistani language learning context can help learners improve their English language learning. Consequently, language efficiency may improve overall academic performance and success ratio in academia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3.1) ◽  
pp. 143-163
Author(s):  
Noemi Mercedes Remache Carrillo ◽  
Mariela Germania Pilco Labre ◽  
Viviana Vanessa Yanez Valle

This study aimed to determine the influence of cooperative learning in reading comprehension of high school students at Unidad Educativa “Riobamba” during 2017-2018 school period. For the assessment of the validity and effectiveness of this research, a pre-test and a post-test were applied based on the Cambridge PET (Preliminary English Test) exam, reading section. That exam was composed of two parts: the first was carried out through a cooperative work in pairs and the second part, taking into consideration the cooperative work in groups of four students. A didactic guide for the teacher was designed and applied in the classroom. After that, the analysis of data was made before and after applying the intervention. The teacher's guide was designed to put cooperative learning strategies such as jig-saw, think-pair-share, and reciprocal questioning into action. Three stages of reading were used namely before reading, during reading, and after reading. After the implementation of the proposal, the data analysis was performed using the T-student mathematical test. It is concluded that the students improved their reading comprehension through cooperative work in pairs and in groups as well. It was recommended that teachers practice cooperative learning in the classroom to improve students' reading comprehension in order to optimize their development in English language learning.


Author(s):  
Jafar Asgari Arani

Digital media has been used to enhance language learning for decades. Since the aim of language learning is to develop communicative proficiency, using communication devices and channels that already exist in the classroom is a sensible way of exploiting opportunities for language practice. The ‘anywhere, anytime’ accessibility to educational contents that mobile SMSs, sometimes freely, offer users, means that mobile learning can extend the opportunities for study outside of the classroom. Given the importance of writing, especially for academic purposes in university, the study set a dual goal: firstly, to analyze the outcome of applying supplementary SMS activity to teach English syntax necessary to paraphrase sentences and secondly, to clarify the medical students' ideas about it. A quasi-experimental, pre-test and post-test, research design was utilized to investigate the hypotheses of this study. Two groups (each 40-second year students of medicine) were randomly assigned to be the experimental and the conventional group. Both groups were taught the same syllabus materials designed for English for Medical Purposes (EMP) II course in a 17-week semester in Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. The former received the SMS –based supplementary contents in a scheduled pattern of delivery two times a week to strengthen their learning while the latter only was taught in a face to face setting. An open questionnaire was used to examine students feedback towards their attitudes. The validity of the questionnaire was examined by giving to a number of professors of English language. The data were also collected and analyzed through an Attitude/ Motivation questionnaire consisting of 12 Likert-scale items, pretest& posttest, paired-samples t-tests, and one way ANOWA. The pretest and posttest data paired t-test likert-scale items analyzed results showed that differences between the experimental and control groups were statistically significant. It was found that the effect of practicing SMS on the students' English syntax learning was positive. According to the findings, students receiving the supplementary English syntax SMSs noticeably improved their sentence paraphrasing performance and acquired higher grades during the post-test than those in conventional group. Qualitative data from interviews and questionnaires indicate that students hold positive attitudes towards receiving paraphrase syntactic points via SMS. Majority of students in this pilot project considered the educational program offered to be efficient, useful and beneficial. The data gathered revealed mobile syntactic supplementary SMSs can be integrated into EMP II course to enable students to develop better English sentence paraphrasing skills. Mobile SMS; Sentence Paraphrasing; Educational Tool; English for Medical Purposes


Author(s):  
Liping Deng ◽  
Nicole Judith Tavares

<p class="abstract">Situated within an informal learning context, this study examines how a group of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong use Facebook and Google Sites on their own initiative to fulfil their academic and socio-emotional needs during their teaching practice. Also included in the study are the motivating and inhibiting factors that influence student online participation. Guided by an informal learning model and the literature relating to online participation and sense of community, this exploratory study generates its findings from questionnaires, individual interviews and online postings. The results show that the Google Sites created an avenue for the students to share a range of self-developed teaching resources and ideas. Facebook is a more interactive platform through which the participants seek peer support, exchange teaching ideas, and engage in discussions on a variety of topics. Structure and control provided by Google Sites and immediacy and interactivity afforded by Facebook become complementary to each other.</p><p> </p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Liju Xu

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of vocabulary enhancement activities on vocabulary learning in an ESP course. In designing the activities, technical terms on journal entries were chosen for the acquisition of language necessary for the successful implementation of accounting major&rsquo;s professional tasks. The desirable difficulty approach and the four strands principle,focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning and fluency development, were guidelines in combining subject matter and English language learning. To test the result of the activities, the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale was employed to measure students&rsquo; knowledge of 50 vocabulary items. Subjects of the ESP course in discussion comprised 200 accounting juniors in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China. Half of them in Group A read the texts and did matching exercises and translation exercises. The other half in Group B read the texts and practiced journal entry activity, targeting at accounting concepts and terminologies. The results revealed that Group B gained better results than Group A at a post-test. After the test a reflection on the vocabulary activities was gathered among the participants of Group B. The feedback further proved that the students did benefit from the enhancement activities on selected technical terms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-331
Author(s):  
Hélder Fanha Martins ◽  
Maria João Ferro

Among the essential challenges faced by students in foreign language learning processes is vocabulary learning. Lexical competence has been acknowledged as critical to the use of language in which the students’ inadequate knowledge of the vocabulary causes problems in learning a second language. Therefore, learners require being educated with vocabulary in learning strategies when learning a second language. Contemporary research has not scrutinised to the fullest the categories of strategies of vocabulary learning used by learners who are majoring in Accounting.  The main objective of this research was to understand how students use vocabulary learning strategies. For that, we adopted a qualitative approach, based on open-ended individual interviews with fifteen learners. The strategies that were concluded include the monolingual and bilingual dictionary use, usage of several media of English language, learning a word by specific texts, and application of new words in everyday conversation, interrelated to memory, strategies of metacognitive, and determination. These are common strategies and have keenly been used by students.


Pujangga ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Evi Jovita Putri ◽  
Gilang Ilham Agustinus ◽  
Intan Kusuma Wardhani

ABSTRACT This research aims to analyze the effectiveness of YouTube-based videos as a media in learning daily English conversation for children and to identify factors affecting learning daily English conversation for children by using YouTube-based videos as a media. To obtain the aims, this research uses six children whose ages vary from ten to twelve years old lived in Asrama Yatim Mizan Amanah located at Jalan Salihara, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta as the source of data. Descriptive qualitative method is applied as the research design. In collecting data, the researchers gather the result of learning activities in pre-tests, treatments, and post-tests. Meanwhile, in analyzing the data, the researchers compare the children’s pre-test score with their post-test score to see the development of learning which show their competence before and after being treated. in this case, the research is focused on two topics, Greeting and Introduction in English. The children are introduced some expressions of greeting and introduction in English children by using YouTube-based videos, then some roleplays or conversation containing expressions of greeting and introduction are shown to the children by watching together YouTube-based videos. The last, the children are asked to recognize and practice the expression of greeting and introduction in English. The result shows that the usage of YouTube based video as a media in learning daily English conversation for children is considered effective. Four out of six children are able to memorize new expressions of both greeting and introduction in English, whereas the two other children remains stagnant after learning using YouTube based videos. It is found that there are factors that affect learning English for children by using this media, they are; personality, motivation and attitude, intelligent, learners’ belief, and personality. The most influential factors affecting learning are motivation and attitude. The successful children have these factors stronger rather than the stagnant children. Based on the result, the effectiveness in learning English using YouTube-based videos will be stronger if it is supported by an interactive and conducive learning atmosphere. The learning atmosphere should be considered to achieve a stronger speaking English proficiency. Key words: YouTube based-videos, language learning, daily English conversation ABSTRAK Penelitian ini ditujukan untuk menganalisis keefektifan penggunaan video berbasis YouTube sebagai media dalam belajar percakapan bahasa Inggris sehari-hari pada anak-anak dan untuk mengidentifikasi faktor yang mempengaruhi pembelajaran percakapan bahasa Inggris sehari-hari pada anak-anak yang menggunakan video berbasis YouTube. Untuk mencapai tujuan tersebut, penelitian ini menjadikan enam orang anak berumur sepuluh hingga dua belas tahun yang tinggal di Asrama Yatim Mizan Amanah Jalan Salihara, Pasar Minggu, Jakarta Selatan sebagai sumber data. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode descriptive qualitative. Disini, proses pengumpulan data meliputi pengumpulan hasil pre-tests, treatment, dan post-test. Sementara itu, proses analisis data dilakukan dengan cara membandingkan skor pre-test dengan skor post-test pembelajar untuk melihat perkembangan pembelajaran yang menunjukkan perkembangan anak-anak sebelum dan sesudah pembelajaran. Penelitian difokuskan pada dua topik pembelajaran yaitu sapaan dan perkenalan bahasa Inggris. Dalam hal ini anak-anak diajak mengenal ekspresi sapaan dan perkenalan dalam Bahasa Inggris melalui video yang ada pada YouTube. Kemudian menonton beberapa simulasi dari perilaku menyapa dan berkenalan dalam Bahasa Inggris juga melalui video You-Tube. Pada tahap terakhir, para pembelajar ini diminta untuk berlatih mengingat dan mempraktekkan ungkapan sapaan dan perkenalan dalam Bahasa Inggris Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa penggunaan video berbasis YouTube sebagai media belajar percakapan bahasa Inggris sehari-hari adalah efektif. Empat dari 6 anak mampu mengingat kosakata sapaan dan perkenalan yang baru secara signifikan setelah belajar menggunakan media video berbasis You Tube, meskipun ada 2 anak yang tidak mengalami peningkatan. Ada beberapa faktor yang memengaruhi pembelajaran pada anak-anak tersebut diantaranya kepribadian, motivasi dan sikap, kecerdasan, dan keyakinan. Faktor yang paling berpengaruh pada pembelajaran adalah motivasi dan sikap. Anak-anak yang mengalami peningkatan belajar yang pesat memiliki faktor motivasi dan sikap yang lebih kuat dibanding anak-anak yang tidak mengalami peningkatan. Berdasarkan hasil tersebut, keefektifan dalam belajar percakapan Bahasa Inggris sehari-hari menggunakan video YouTube menjadi lebih besar jika didukung oleh atmosfer belajar yang interaktif dan kondusif. Hal ini mesti diperhatikan guna mencapai kemampuan Bahasa Inggris lisan yang lebih baik. Kata Kunci: Video YouTube, Pembelajaran Bahasa, Percakapan dasar dalam Bahasa Inggris.


Author(s):  
Marco Cappellini ◽  
Martine Eisenbeis ◽  
Annick Rivens Mompean

Nous interrogeons les formes d’interactions des apprenants dans un parcours d’autoapprentissage guidé en langues. Le dispositif comprend un centre de ressources en langues, des entretiens et un journal de bord réflexif sur leurs activités dont certaines visent des interactions : tandem, réseaux sociaux, etc. À partir de questionnaires et d’extraits de journaux de bord, nous proposons une typologie des interactions qui nous conduit d’une part à interroger les apprentissages formels, non formels ou informels, d’autre part à relier ces interactions aux différentes catégories de l’autonomisation : autodirection, planification et choix des ressources, autorégulation et choix des stratégies, autoévaluation.We analyze the way interactions take place among learners in a self-directed language learning environment. It gathers a language learning centre, individual interviews and a reflexive learning journal describing their activities, which may include interactions such as tandem, social networks, etc. We rely on questionnaires and learning journal extracts that help us build a typology of interactions. This leads us to discuss the notion of formal, informal and non-formal learning and to associate these interactions with several categories for the development of autonomy: self-direction, planning and choosing resources, self-regulation and choice of strategies and self-evaluation.


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