The Roads not Taken: Greater Emphasis Needed on “Sounds”, “Actual Listening”, and “Spoken Input”

RELC Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003368822110402
Author(s):  
Art Tsang
Keyword(s):  
English Proficiency ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Learning To Listen ◽  
Efl Learning

Many scholars and teachers in EFL education should agree that compared with reading and writing, listening has received much less attention. This brief article discusses important gaps existing in EFL listening and overall proficiency development. It presents the case for a greater focus on sounds and actual listening in the classroom and spoken input (SI) beyond the classroom. To facilitate the discussion, two modalities of listening, namely learning to listen and listening to learn are introduced. It is hoped that by shedding light on these substantive issues, EFL stakeholders will work towards fine-tuning listening pedagogical practices and facilitating learners' reception of more SI beyond the classroom, both of which will highly likely improve learners' listening skills, enhance their overall English proficiency, and lead to more positive EFL learning experiences.

scholarly journals Listening Skills: Important but Difficult to Learn

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jwahir Alzamil
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Learning To Listen

This study of 87 Saudi female university students aimed to discover whether they experience difficulties learning to listen to spoken English. Acknowledging that listening is an important part not just of learning a new language but also of day-to-day communication, data was collected using an online questionnaire. Participants were asked to respond to a series of statements designed to test four constructs relating to their attitudes to learning English language skills in general (a); learning listening skills specifically (b); their attitudes towards listening activities (c); and (d) their attitudes towards improving their listening skills. The results showed that most of participants felt that speaking and listening were the most important skills to learn, but listening was also the most challenging. Reading was felt to be the most effortless skill to learn, as well as the most commonly used, suggesting that frequency of use contributes to students’ perceptions of the ease of learning a skill. Participants’ difficulties with learning to listen to English were associated with speech rate, pronunciation, nervousness, limited vocabulary, and lack of background information. However, students also expressed positive attitudes towards improving their listening skills. Understanding students’ attitudes to listening skills and their problems with listening may help teachers improve the way they teach these skills. This may in turn improve students’ listening comprehension not only in universities but also in schools.

scholarly journals Práticas Pedagógicas Assistidas na Aquisição da Leitura e da Escrita / Pedagogical Practices Assisted in the Acquisition of Reading and Writing

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (51) ◽  
pp. 908-916
Author(s):  
Elisa Barros Vales ◽  
Joelson Rodrigues Miguel
Keyword(s):  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
De Se

O trabalho discute acerca dos processos de aquisições da leitura e da escrita no desenvolvimento sócio-cognitivo dos educandos, além disso, o estudo discorre sobre a importância de se estimular o hábito da leitura nas crianças, tornando-os leitores mais atentos e críticos, que possa ler e entender um texto. É importante que a aprendizagem seja prazerosa tanto para o aluno quanto para o mediador. A metodologia consistiu em revisão integrativa  com base nos aportes teóricos de autores como: Abed (2014); Freire (2015); Garcia (2013); Kuethe (1974); Libâneo (1994); Losacco (2002); Moniz (2009); Nacarato (2018); Oliveira (2010); Pinto (2018); Ramalho (2018); Trancoso (2011) e  outros. Os resultados demonstraram que é importante que se ofereça uma educação de qualidade em que, escola e família possam estar cada vez mais entrelaçadas com a finalidade de promover a construção do saber referente a uma leitura e escrita de qualidade. Neste sentido, possibilitar-se-á a construção de um sujeito crítico e reflexivo durante sua aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita, de forma que, as crianças possam atingir, no futuro, o sucesso educativo e o bem-estar social.   

scholarly journals INSTAGLISH: WHEN INSTAGRAM IS BEYOND ONLINE PHOTO-SHARING PLATFORM TO INDUCE YOUR ENGLISH

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Pusfika Rayuningtya ◽  
Ika Fitriani
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Observation ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Photo Sharing ◽  
New Learning ◽  
Story Sharing ◽  
Writing Scores

Motivated by the growth of social media throughout the globe, including in Indonesia, educational practitioners need to be creative and make use of this opportunity to boost up the learning goals, for example making use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Line, and many others (social media) in educational settings. Among those social media, Instagram has increased its popularity, particularly in Indonesia, with its 22 million users. It is an online platform in which users can share their stories via uploaded photos. Recently, it is not merely used as photo story sharing but also online shopping, news updating, and video conferencing. As Instagram offers promising features, this study explored how this platform was applied to improve the students English written competence, focusing on reading and writing. This study is action research that investigates the use of Instagram as a social-and-educational medium that offers beyond new language learning experiences in the project called InstaGlish, Instagram English. The data were collected from the classroom observation during the project, students' Instagram photo posts, captions and comments, and students' reading and writing scores after project implementation.  A questionnaire and direct interview to the students were also carried out to give a more thorough and deeper understanding of the students' responses toward how effective InstaGlish helps them learn and induce their English. In addition, the findings of this current study were expected to give fruitful insight on how to use social media not merely as the fun-without-meaning activity yet fun-and-meaningful new learning experiences.

scholarly journals Indonesian Students’ Attitudes towards EFL Learning in Response to Industry 5.0

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Rolisda Yosintha
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Descriptive Case Study ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Efl Learning ◽  
Education Stakeholders

The main objective of this study was to identify the attitudes of Indonesian students towards studying English vis-a-vis their readiness to compete in the fifth industrial revolution era. The data obtained from a four-point scale questionnaire administered to 216 participants from 12 universities across Indonesia were analyzed through a descriptive case study procedure. The findings showed that even though most students had positive attitudes towards EFL learning ( = 3.29) as well as towards Industry 5.0 ( = 3), they did not have the confidence to affirm that they have the instrumental competencies required by the tight competition of Industry 5.0, especially English competencies ( = 2.37). These findings indicate that despite their positive attitudes towards EFL learning, Indonesian students would be possibly not yet ready for Industry 5.0 in terms of their English proficiency. Therefore, it is suggested that policymakers and all education stakeholders take the necessary measures to improve the students’ English skills to ensure that they will be graduates who match the demands of Industry 5.0.

scholarly journals Meningkatkan Kemampuan Menyimak Melalui Metode Bercerita pada Anak Kelompok A di TK Siti Khodijah Pucuk Lamongan

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Suhartini Nurul Azminah
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Similar Material ◽  
Fundamental Function ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Group A ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Listening Ability ◽  
Human Use ◽  
Classroom Action Research

<p><em>Listening has a fundamental function of life including the preschoolers. Human use more time of listening activities for about 50%, while the rest 50% are used for speaking, reading, and writing. Listening activities should begin early for children in all situations. But,it is not in line with the </em><em>listening </em><em>ability of group A children in Kindergarten SitiKhodijahPucukLamongan. </em><em>They </em><em>have some difficulties when </em><em>being </em><em>asked by </em><em>the </em><em>teacher to listen to information given. Listening is a tedious activity for children, especially preschoolers. It is necessary to have similar material and interesting way to practice listening skills in preschoolers.</em></p><p><em>According</em><em> to the problem, </em><em>the research questions are formulated as follows</em><em> (1) How the application of storytelling method to improve the listening ability of children group A in Kindergarten SitiKhodijahPucukLamongan?, (2</em><em>)</em><em> How to improve the listening ability through the storytelling method of group </em><em>A</em><em>children in Kindergarten SitiKhodijahPucukLamongan? The purpose of this study are (1) To find out how the application of storytelling method to improve the listening </em><em>ability </em><em>in children group A in Kindergarten SitiKhodijahPucukLamongan, (2) To know the improvement of listening ability through storytelling method of group A in Kindergarten SitiKhodijahPucukLamongan.</em></p><p><em>This study uses a Classroom Action Research in which there are actions of teachers in two cycles. On the </em><em>first </em><em>cycle</em><em>the </em><em>percentage of children who </em><em>are able based on criteria of</em><em> Exponential Developing Criteria (BSH) reaches 33.33% while in the </em><em>second </em><em>cycle</em><em>the </em><em>percentage of children </em><em>who are able</em><em> increase</em><em>s</em><em> to 83.33%</em><em>. Based on</em><em> the result of this study, it can be concluded that the method of storytelling can improve the </em><em>listening </em><em>ability o</em><em>f</em><em> children group A in Kindergarten SitiKhodijahPucukLamongan.</em><em></em></p>

EFL Learning Potential: General or Modular?

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-27
Author(s):  
Alex Kozulin ◽  
Tziona Levi
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Learning Potential ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Writing Scores ◽  
Efl Learning

Little attention has been paid to the question about generality versus modularity of the learning potential (LP). The main research question of our study was: Is the students’ LP established with the help of a dynamic assessment of their English as a foreign language (EFL) oral proficiency general enough to predict their subsequent EFL reading and writing scores? Eighty students (38 boys, 42 girls) received a dynamic assessment of their EFL oral proficiency in a pretest – mediation – posttest format. Six months later they took a standard EFL reading comprehension and writing exam. The results indicate that the correlations between oral LP scores and both reading (r = .42) and writing (r = .45) are significant and much stronger than the correlations with the static oral pretest. Oral LP appears to be general enough to predict students’ subsequent reading and writing achievements.

scholarly journals Teaching Accounting in English in Higher Education – Does the Language Matter?

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Huan Cai ◽  
Meining Wang ◽  
Yingmei Yang
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Intensive Training ◽  
Accounting Courses ◽  
English Majors ◽  
Good Learning ◽  
To Receive ◽  
English Training

Learning business related courses, especially accounting, in English is a challenge for many Chinese students. The purpose of this study is to provide some insights into the role of the language in accounting learning. We investigate this issue in the program of Teaching Business Related Courses in English for undergraduate students at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Accounting courses in English at GDUFS are taught to two different groups: English majors with higher English proficiency who are required to receive 2 years of intensive training in listening, speaking, reading and writing before taking the accounting course in English and non-English majors who do not receive the same level of English training as English majors do. We find that there is no direct significant relationship between accounting learning and students’ English proficiency but we do find a strong correlation between students’ analytical ability and their accounting learning instructed in English. We also find that motivation, specifically students’ clear career path in the accounting field, plays an important role in determining their performance in accounting learning. The findings in this paper have meaningful implications for the feasibility of teaching non-English majors accounting in English and for designing a good learning environment in English educational settings.

scholarly journals Teaching assimilations to improve listening skills for Vietnamese students

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 88-92
Author(s):  
Du Thanh Tran
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Reference Materials ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Careful Observation ◽  
Learning Language

Few would deny that at the very first stage of learning, language learners have to spend most of their time on practising listening skills in communication inside and outside class. They have to listen to others speaking, listen to themselves while talking and even implicitly while reading and writing. Listening is an important way of acquiring the language as well as picking up the structures and vocabulary. With a careful observation of the current situation of Vietnamese learners’ listening competencies and a thorough review of reference materials in English language teaching and learning, it is hoped that the study will help heighten students’ awareness of the problematic sounds that they encounter when listening to colloquial, casual and connected speech.

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