Undergraduate Researcher Stories: Insights for Mentoring in an Open and Distance Learning Context

Research Experience ◽

Learning Context ◽

Bachelor Of Arts ◽

Open And Distance Learning ◽

Academic Year ◽

Purposive Sample ◽

Firsthand Experience

Research is a requisite for most of the undergraduate honors degrees offered by universities worldwide and these undergraduates are expected to submit a dissertation based on their research. Given the new demands of this independent component of learning, it is important to understand the challenges faced by students and the strategies that they employ in successfully navigating the various components of this process. This knowledge is useful to mentors and course developers as it provides insights about the firsthand experience of the students. The present study used a qualitative research design to investigate the research experience of a purposive sample of undergraduates who completed their Bachelor of Arts Honors in English and English Language Teaching in an open and distance university in Sri Lanka in the academic year 2017/2018. The responses from 12 undergraduates in the form of written stories were coded and analyzed thematically. The study revealed areas which need attention by mentors, faculty, and universities, especially those in open and distance contexts, when providing support to novice researchers.

Lecturers' Attitudes towards English Varieties Exposure in Indonesia

NOBEL Journal of Literature and Language Teaching ◽

10.15642/nobel.2019.10.2.163-173 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 163-173

Author(s):

Alfan Hariri ◽

Ahmad Munir ◽

Syafiul Anam

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Research ◽

Research Design ◽

English Language ◽

Language Teaching ◽

State University ◽

Qualitative Research Design

This study was established from the lack of research of English varieties concept in Indonesia. In this study, the lecturers’ attitude toward the English varieties is explored as well as their view about using the English varieties in the classroom. The study used a qualitative research design to seek the participants’ attitude toward the varieties. The subjects of the study are ten lecturers of three universities in Surabaya; they are two private and one state university with ten lecturers in total. The researcher used prompt-production to explore in-depth lecturers’ attitude. One of the most significant findings to emerge from this study is the differences between the international graduated lecturers and national graduated lecturers in terms of their attitude toward the English varieties. Furthermore, this attitude also influences their perception about teaching the varieties in English language teaching (ELT) classroom.

Learner Autonomy Practices in English Language Teaching in EFL Context

Journal of NELTA Gandaki ◽

10.3126/jong.v1i0.24460 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 53-61

Author(s):

Jagadish Paudel

Keyword(s):

Teaching And Learning ◽

English Language ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Group Discussion ◽

Learner Autonomy ◽

Taking Charge ◽

The One ◽

Language Teaching And Learning

Einstein says “I never teach my students. I simply provide the situations in which they can learn”. In line with this saying the learner autonomy (LA) approach provides learners with situations where they can learn independently in their own pace. This learner centered approach to teaching, emerged during the 1980s, aims at empowering learners by transforming responsibilities to them. This study aimed at exploring the practice level scenario of LA in English language teaching and learning. To this end, I employed the qualitative research design i.e. I observed teachers’ classes and conducted Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the students. The information elicited from participants was transcribed, codified, categorized and finally themes were generated. The study revealed that, though the teachers and the students were affirmative towards LA, in a real sense, the majority of them did not adopt in English language teaching and learning. The classroom ritual is still teacher oriented. On the one hand, the teachers are still in the cockpit of pedagogy without providing any agency for the students. On the other hand, students' readiness for bearing responsibility of their learning was found weak. They preferred attachment to teachers without taking charge of learning.

The Integration of Social Skills in Teaching Speaking to Undergraduate English Language Teaching Students

ELT Worldwide: Journal of English Language Teaching ◽

10.26858/eltww.v4i1.3201 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Rusdiah Rusdiah

Keyword(s):

Social Skills ◽

Nonverbal Communication ◽

Creative Thinking ◽

English Language ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Self Confidence ◽

Group Consultation

This study aimed at identifying (1) The social skills. (2) The ways of the lecturer’s social skills in teaching speaking. This research employed a descriptive qualitative research design. The instrument of this study involved interview, passive participant observation, and documentation. The subject of this research is the lecturer who teaches speaking and the fourth year students at undergraduate English language teaching students in Universitas Sulawesi Barat. The result of this study showed that there were eighteen social skills that lecturer integrated in teaching speaking both in verbal and nonverbal communication, namely; integrity, diligence, courage, responsibility, religiosity, discipline, creative thinking, curiosity, hard working, self-reliance, problem solving, critical thinking, communication skills, self confidence, decision making, collaborative working/cooperative, respect, and, caring. The ways of lecturer social skills integration in teaching speaking is by verbal and nonverbal communication. In verbal communication are by saying greeting when entering the class, praying before starting and ending the class, taking the register, giving advice to motivate students to study, calling on students by name when talking to them, responding to students reasons for being late, giving feedback to students, asking students to tell their most impressive learning English experience, inserting humor in teaching, telling students his personal experience, allowing students to have individual group consultation, allowing students to call him by his first name, asking students how they feel about their lesson and assignment given, and, using terms like “we” and “us” to refer to the class. Meanwhile, in nonverbal communication are by starting and ending the lesson on time, being enthusiastic in teaching, looking at the class while teaching, looking at the class while teaching, using gesture while talking to the class, using vocal variety, smiling at class while talking, dressing neatly, having a relaxed body posture while talking to the class, having eye contact when calling on a students’ name, nodding along students’ responses, coming closer to the students when lecturing, walking from back to the front and side-to-side between rows when teaching (moving around the class when teaching), looking very little at board or notes while talking to the class, and shaking hands with students. Key words: social skills, speaking, undergraduate English language teaching students

An exploratory study on Turkish EFL pre-service teachers’ subjective wellbeing

Zbornik Instituta za pedagoska istrazivanja ◽

10.2298/zipi2101121k ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 53 (1) ◽

pp. 121-150

Author(s):

Gökçe Kurt ◽

Burcu Demir ◽

Derin Atay

Keyword(s):

Self Efficacy ◽

English Language ◽

Well Being ◽

Efficacy Beliefs ◽

Study Data ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

High Level ◽

Academic Year ◽

Nature Of Teaching

Subjective well-being (SWB) has been an intensely studied domain of psychology, predominantly in the field of positive psychology. Due to the nature of teaching as an intellectually, physically and emotionally demanding profession, the last few decades have also witnessed a growing interest in teachers? SWB. The pres?ent study investigated pre-service teachers? (PTs) SWB and explored its relationship to teaching efficacy beliefs and occupational anxiety. A total of 261 PTs enrolled in English Language Teaching departments of five different universities in Turkey participated in the study. Data came from the scales of SWB, teachers? self-efficacy beliefs and occupational anxiety. The findings indicated that PTs had a high level of perceived SWB; female PTs had a significantly higher level of SWB than male ones; PTs? academic year and the type of university they were enrolled in had no signif?icant relationship with their SWB; and both self-efficacy beliefs and occupational anxiety served as significant predictors of PTs? SWB, together explaining 16.2% of the variance in their scores.

Students’ perspectives on technology integration in ELT

Journal of NELTA ◽

10.3126/nelta.v24i1-2.27682 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (1-2) ◽

pp. 95-106

Author(s):

Renu Singh

Keyword(s):

Technology Integration ◽

Secondary Schools ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

English Language ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Group Discussion ◽

Pedagogical Practices ◽

Ict Infrastructure

Technology integration in English language teaching (ELT) has changed the mode of classroom instruction at school. The use of modern technologies at public secondary schools within Nepal is a big challenge. This study explores students ‘perspectives on technology integration in English language teaching at public secondary schools in Nepal. The study was framed under qualitative research design that used focus group discussion to gather data from the six groups of students in the Kathmandu valley. The thematic analysis of their views under different categories revealed that the ELT with technology integration is a dire need for developing students’ language proficiency. Additionally, the results show that the learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) are aware of the advantages of teaching with technology but the insufficient ICT infrastructure at school and the lack of EFL teachers’ professional skills and knowledge of integrating technology into their daily pedagogical practices are main obstacles of technology integration. The study points out implications for ELT practitioners, researchers, policy makers of ICT in education along with stakeholders.

Use of Mobile Phones in Teaching English in Bangladesh: A Systematic Review (2010–2020)

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13105674 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 5674

Author(s):

Prodhan Mahbub Ibna Seraj ◽

Blanka Klimova ◽

Hadina Habil

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Empirical Research ◽

Mobile Phones ◽

English Language ◽

Language Skills ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Effective Learning ◽

Teachers Professional Development

The use of mobile devices for English language teaching (ELT) is increasing rapidly all over the world. This review study surveys the empirical research on using mobile phones in ELT published in Scopus and Web of Science indexing journals from 2010 to 2020 in Bangladesh. Out of 103 studies, 11 studies met the criteria of this study to analyze the effects of mobile phones on ELT. The findings show that the major research trends of these studies aim at teachers’ professional development using mobile phones for teaching language. The findings also reveal that the use of mobile phones is effective in ELT through facilitating feasible, ubiquitous, and effective learning environments with some limitations, i.e., an issue with charging, a small screen, affection, and a lack of teacher confidence. Of the studies conducted, 83% have employed a qualitative research design for investigating learners’ readiness and concepts on the use of this device. In addition, there is a lack of empirical studies with the intention to observe and justify the effect of mobile phones on developing learners’ language skills. There is also a lack of evidence describing which mobile applications are effective for developing relevant language skills. Overall, the results of this systematic review might be applicable in the context of similarly developing countries, as well as triggering empirical research in the field of technology-enhanced ELT in these countries.

The Influence of Linguistic Insecurity on Thai EFL Teachers’ Teaching Performance

International Journal of Linguistics Literature & Translation ◽

10.32996/ijllt.2021.4.8.6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (8) ◽

pp. 35-44

Author(s):

Palatee Jantri ◽

Pilanut Phusawisot

Keyword(s):

English Language ◽

Poor Performance ◽

Teaching Performance ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Study Approach ◽

Public Secondary School ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

Academic Year ◽

Linguistic Insecurity

Using a case study approach, this study focused on teachers’ linguistic insecurity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of Thai EFL teachers’ linguistic insecurity on their teaching performance. The data were obtained from classroom observation and semi-structured interviews. Using a purposive sampling, the participants were two Thai EFL teachers who were in-service teachers at a public secondary school in the northeastern part of Thailand. The study was conducted in the second semester of the 2020 academic year. Data were analyzed by using content analysis to identify themes. The results of the study indicated that the participants perceived that linguistic insecurity influenced their teaching performance in three aspects: lack of confidence about English knowledge, poor performance in English language teaching, and negative self-concept toward their English language ability. The discussion of findings, pedagogical implications, and recommendations for further investigations were also discussed.

Reflective practice in English language teacher training: From theory to practice

SOCIAL SCIENCES ◽

10.46223/hcmcoujs.soci.en.9.2.259.2019 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 31-44

Author(s):

Phan Thi Thu Nga

Keyword(s):

Reflective Practice ◽

English Language ◽

Teaching Practice ◽

Teaching Skills ◽

First Semester ◽

Theory To Practice ◽

Teacher Trainees ◽

Senior Students ◽

Academic Year

The main aim of the study presented in this article is examining what teacher-trainees could learn from the reflective practice task after their teaching performance in the English Teaching Practice Course. Participants of this study were teacher-trainees (or senior students majoring in English language teaching) in the first semester of academic year 2018-2019. Each trainee had his/her lesson recorded when s/he was conducting an English lesson in front of his/her peers. Then each watched the lesson and found some strengths and weaknesses in this lesson and submitted this task to the trainer. The findings from this reflective task indicated that trainees could recognize not only their errors in using classroom English but also four main weaknesses in their teaching skills. Moreover, the findings from the questionnaire after the course ended reveal that these trainees classified their errors into seven groups and suggested solutions to overcome such problems. Some limitations and recommendations for further study on reflection can be seen at the end of this article.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CREATIVE WRITING ON ELT (ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING) TO INSPIRE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ WRITING ACTIVITIES IN ELEVENTH GRADE OF MAN 2 PONOROGO IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2017/2018

EDUPEDIA ◽

10.24269/ed.v2i2.145 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 129

Author(s):

Novia Ella Febriana ◽

Bambang Harmanto ◽

Ana Maghfiroh

Keyword(s):

High School Students ◽

Creative Writing ◽

English Language ◽

Teaching Method ◽

Language Teaching ◽

School Students ◽

Before And After ◽

The Subject ◽

Academic Year

This purpose of this thesis is describing the effect of the implementation of creative writing on ELT (English Language Teaching) to inspiring the students’ writing activities in Eleventh Grade of MAN 2 Ponorogo in Academic Year 2017/2018.The subject of this research is the student of Eleventh Grade of MAN 2 Ponorogo. This research provide classroom action research method which doing the observations about the students’ writing learning activities before and after the research and monitoring the development of the students’ tasks by guiding them in creative writing. The researcher also makes the interview with the students’ experienced when they’re conducting writing activities. The data comes from students’ interviews and observation conducts to students’ writing paper, which one that they are finding problems in finding ideas than the other students within their understanding to find the ideas. This study will show you how creative writing will improve the students’ ideas and also provide their abilities to stay in their way of writing; they can also find their style in writing. Creative writing also produce their energy in order to find new discovery in the topic they had been chosen. It also guide them to be discipline, confident, imaginative, be a planner, because they will make their deadline a project of writing, they also try to be a pioneer, not a plagiarism. The researcher suggestion about this research were the student should read intensively to increase their vocabularies, doing the example of the task for more understanding about the lesson, and the last the teacher should apply the various the teaching method to motivate the student in learning English.

OVERCOMING LISTENING PROBLEMS RELATED TO LISTENERS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AS A WAY TO ENHANCE GOOD ATTITUDE TOWARD ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

UAD TEFL International Conference ◽

10.12928/utic.v1.166.2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 184

Author(s):

Dwi Rahayu ◽

Chusna Apriyanti

Keyword(s):

English Language ◽

English Education ◽

Psychological Characteristics ◽

Study Program ◽

Verbal Cues ◽

Spoken Text ◽

Comprehension Ability ◽

Listening Strategies

This paper aims to know the listening problems related to listeners’ psychological characteristics and the strategies to solve those problems. The researchers used descriptive qualitative research design. The data are collected through observation and giving questionnaire to the students on listening class of English Education Study Program grade I STKIP PGRI Pacitan academic year 2016-2017. The result shows that there are five problems related to psychological characteristic. First, the students feel nervous and worried when they do not understand the spoken text. Second, the students have difficulties in understanding the spoken text, which is of their interest. Third, they stop listening when they have problems in understanding a listening text. Fourth, they feel disappointed when they do not have total comprehension. Fifth, before listening, they fear that they cannot understand the text. Based on these problems, the lecturer gives some solving strategies. First, the lecturer provides the text based on the students’ level and ages. This is also related to the vocabularies ability. Second, the lecturer provides listening tasks that arouse students’ interest. The lecturer gives different inputs, such radio, TV, songs, lectures, advertisement. Third, the lecturer gives extra time in each section to motivate the students in answering the task. Fourth, the lecturer provides listening task’s background knowledge. Besides, the lecturer gives feedback to increase students’ motivation. Fifth, lecturer should encourage their students to develop listening strategies, such as predicting, asking for clarification, and using non-verbal cues to improve learners’ listening comprehension ability.