scholarly journals Cento as a creative writing approach to language learning

2020 ◽  
pp. 33-39
Author(s):  
Amjad Alsyouf
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Creative Writing ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
New Method ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Teaching Activity ◽  
University Departments ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Linguistic Structures

Creative writing can be both an effective and attractive English learning activity at university departments where students speak English as a Second Language (ESL). Language skill courses might not be always effective enough in improving learners’ communicative skills and motivating them to learn, particularly when adopting old style grammar-translation based methods. Involving creative writing as a method to teach language can play a significant role in prompting the students to improve their communicative skills. This study proposes employing a creative writing course as a new method to address L2 learners lacking motivation. It particularly relies on using cento poetry as a teaching activity. A cento is a poem made up of lines the learner selects from different poems by one or more poets. The learner consequently has to read several poems, understand their linguistic structures, and grasp the meaning of their vocabulary to begin writing their own work. It is against this background that this study examines the advantages of using cento poetry in ESL classes aiming to enhance language learning.

scholarly journals Error Analysis of Students Essays: A Case of First Year Students of the University of Health and Allied Sciences

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Benjamin Amoakohene
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Error Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
The University

Writing is considered as a daunting task in second language learning. It is argued by most scholars that this challenge is not only limited to second language speakers of English but even to those who speak English as their first language. Thus, the ability to communicate effectively in English by both native and non-native speakers requires intensive and specialized instruction. Due to the integral role that writing plays in students’ academic life, academic literacy has garnered considerable attention in several English-medium universities in which Ghanaian universities are no exception. It is therefore surprising that prominence is not given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS). In this paper, I argue for much time and space to be given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills, a programme that seeks to train students to acquire the needed skills and competence in English for their academic and professional development. This argument is based on the findings that came out after I explored the errors in a corpus of 50 essays written by first year students of  UHAS. The findings revealed that after going through the Communicative Skills programme for two semesters, students still have serious challenges of writing error-free texts. Out of the 50 scripts that were analyzed, 1,050 errors were detected. The study further revealed that 584 (55.6%) of these errors were related to grammatical errors, 442 (42.1%) were mechanical errors and 24 (2.3%) of the errors detected were linked to the poor structuring of  sentences. Based on these findings, recommendations and implications which are significant to educators, policy makers and curriculum developers are provided. This study has implications for pedagogy and further research in error analysis. 

scholarly journals Exploring literary texts to develop students’ creative writing skills: proposed activities for Spanish as a foreign language

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-49
Author(s):  
Carmen Martín de León ◽  
Cristina García Hermoso
Keyword(s):  
Creative Writing ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Fictional Worlds ◽  
Cultural Skills

Literary texts offer a rich environment for language learning that teachers can exploit to develop not only students’ linguistic (pragmatic, discursive) and cultural skills, but also communication and creative skills. In our study, we have used literature with different writing activities that involved the use of students’ imagination and creativity. In order to develop these skills, which require students’ communicative competence as well as their imagination, we need for them to be able to create the meaningful contexts that lie within fictional stories. The assumption is that, as students become familiar with the characters in the novels, they will be able to recreate situations that make sense for those very stories, generating a shared world in which they could immerse themselves. In that shared world, they would be able to participate in possible dialogues and build stories that could have taken place, thus developing their creative and communicative skills. In this paper, we show how the literature-based learning activities that we have designed following this hypothesis have helped students empathise with characters in novels and imagine fictional worlds. Such new fictional worlds have in turn empowered students to communicate in Spanish in an authentic way, that is, in a way that is similar to that of the characters in the novels.

scholarly journals Students' Perceptions of Collaborative Summary Writing

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 700
Author(s):  
Noura Nasser Muhammad Alawaji
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Summary Writing ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Writing Course

Writing is one of the four main language skills that are given emphasis in Second Language Learning. Summary writing is often viewed as a difficult and a challenging skill in learning a second language, which may result in negative attitudes forming, both toward summary writing and to writing in general. The main purpose of this study is to investigate students’ perceptions and problems related to collaborative summary writing in a university in Saudi Arabia. The study involved five undergraduate EFL Saudi female students as a case study and who were exposed to writing course participated in this study. The students were given different collaborative writing tasks during the semester and completed one summary writing task collaboratively for the purpose of this study. Then their views about the task were recorded via semi-structured interview. The findings suggest that most of the participants express positive attitudes toward collaborative writing and consider it beneficial for improving different aspects of writing skills, second language proficiency, and confidence. Several problems occurred during the process of collaboration, and these are also identified and discussed.

scholarly journals Constructing digital ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ gamebooks to enhance creative writing and collaboration skills

2020 ◽  
pp. 120-124
Author(s):  
Bradley Irwin
Keyword(s):  
Creative Writing ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Project ◽  
Japanese University ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Collaboration Skills ◽  
Survey Results

This paper explains details of a creative writing project aimed at increasing students’ motivation to write in English and develop collaboration skills. Forty-eight first-year – A2-B1 Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) level – English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners enrolled in a reading and writing course at a Japanese university and participated in a collaborative, project-based language learning task. In small groups, students created gamebooks (approx. 1,500 words) in the Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) style using Google Slides. Both experiences from class and survey results suggest that students found the activity highly enjoyable and that their motivation to write in English increased. In the survey, many students also commented about the positive impact that this project had on their ability to express themselves in English while collaborating with their classmates, suggesting that the project fulfilled its two aims.

scholarly journals Non - Native Speakers Motivation in Learning English as Second Language

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1490-1495
Author(s):  
Dr. Kampol Navun Et al.
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
English As Second Language ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Learning English

The demand for a good communication is the basis for every language learning activity, regardless of the language being learned. Studies on language leaning have shown that motivation is a key role, which moves a learner towards attaining proficiency in the goal language. The target of studying may be communicative, linguistic, materialistic or academic. It could also take from the need to improve one’s linguistic skills already acquired, in order to be a more competent user of the language and to be better communicator. In this situation, as a cognitive factor motivation plays an important role in learning English as a second or a Foreign language.  The objective of this present article analyzes the motivation in learning English as second language of non - native speakers. The non - native speakers are from different social and educational backgrounds. The results of the study show that motivation is an important portion which language learning and varies with individual learners. What triggers motivation is the focus of the study that takes a few interesting attitudes of the leaners to limelight.

Bridging the L1-L2 Divide

2020 ◽  
pp. 309-325
Author(s):  
Bridget M. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Heritage Learners ◽  
Learning Challenges ◽  
Learner Centered ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
The University

This chapter engages the reality of the university classroom that includes Heritage-Learners (HL) and second-language learners (L2) of Spanish. Rather than furthering the “what if” considerations of the idealized heritage learner in a quasi-homogenous group and specialized course track, the author focuses on the very pressing question of ways in which HL and L2 populations face similar learning challenges in an intermediate-level Spanish writing course. Drawing on research about learner-centered and HL and L2 language-learning pedagogies, the author discusses how implementation of progressive assignment design and targeted learning skills development supported L2 students and transitional bilinguals in the mixed classroom. Finally, the limits of this mixed classroom model for HL and L2 learners are discussed.

scholarly journals Effects of communication tasks on the grammatical relations marked by second language learners

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Newton ◽  
G Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
Grammatical Relations ◽  
Shared Information ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
Information Tasks

This study reports some possible grammatical consequences of interaction in split and shared information tasks undertaken by adult second language learners of English. Based on an analysis of a learners' corpus of almost 30,000 words, the study examines the morpho-syntax of task-based interaction and, in particular, ways of marking relationships between lexicalized concepts and between clauses by means of prepositions and conjunctions, respectively. The study confirmed the main hypothesis that shared information tasks would result in the use of more coordinating and subordinating conjunctions than split information tasks. The paper suggests that both cognitive and pragmatic reasons may explain why inter-propositional relationships are marked more frequently than intra-propositional relationships in the corpus, and why the marking of inter-propositional relationships may be encouraged more by shared information tasks an by split information tasks. The results of the study suggest that communication tasks for language learning can be designed to influence the use of particular linguistic structures. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Bridging the L1-L2 Divide

2017 ◽  
pp. 270-286
Author(s):  
Bridget M. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Heritage Learners ◽  
Learning Challenges ◽  
Learner Centered ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
The University

This chapter engages the reality of the university classroom that includes Heritage-Learners (HL) and second-language learners (L2) of Spanish. Rather than furthering the “what if” considerations of the idealized heritage learner in a quasi-homogenous group and specialized course track, the author focuses on the very pressing question of ways in which HL and L2 populations face similar learning challenges in an intermediate-level Spanish writing course. Drawing on research about learner-centered and HL and L2 language-learning pedagogies, the author discusses how implementation of progressive assignment design and targeted learning skills development supported L2 students and transitional bilinguals in the mixed classroom. Finally, the limits of this mixed classroom model for HL and L2 learners are discussed.

Experimenting a Computer-Based Essay Marking System at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saadiyah Darus ◽  
Siti Hamim Stapa ◽  
Supyan Hussin
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Computer Based

Di antara sistem pemarkahan esei berkomputer sedia ada adalah e–rater, Project Essay Grader, Intelligent Essay Assessor, Student Essay Viewer, Intelligent Essay Marking System, Marking dan Methodical Assessment of Reports by Computer. Sistem pemarkahan esei berkomputer adalah perisian yang dapat memberi maklum balas kepada penulis bagaimana untuk meningkatkan mutu penulisan. Kajian ini meneliti samada maklum balas yang diberikan oleh salah satu sistem pemarkahan esei ini berguna kepada 46 orang pelajar di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Esei pelajar–pelajar ini telah diberi markah di atas talian. Pelajar–pelajar ini dikehendaki untuk mengarang esei dalam Bahasa Inggeris berdasarkan satu topik yang telah diberikan. Selepas itu, mereka dikehendaki untuk memperbaiki esei mereka dengan mengambilkira maklum balas yang diberikan oleh sistem pemarkahan esei berkomputer tersebut dan juga menjawab soal–selidik. Hasil dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa walaupun pelajar–pelajar telah memperbaiki esei mereka dengan mengambilkira maklum balas yang telah diberikan, masih ada ruang untuk mereka memperbaiki esei mereka itu. Ini menunjukkan bahawa maklum balas yang diberikan tidak mencukupi untuk meningkatkan lagi mutu penulisan mereka. Hasil dapatan penyelidikan ini dapat diguna pakai dalam membangunkan satu kerangka sistem pemarkahan esei berkomputer untuk penulisan dalam Bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa kedua bagi pelajar–pelajar di institusi pengajian tinggi di Malaysia. Kata kunci: Penilaian esei, bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa kedua, pembelajaran bahasa dibantu komputer Some of the available Computer–Based Essay Marking (CBEM) systems are as follows: e–rater, Project Essay Grader, Intelligent Essay Assessor, Student Essay Viewer, Intelligent Essay Marking System, Marking and Methodical Assessment of Reports by Computer. These systems are computer programs that mark essays and can provide feedback to the writer explaining to a certain extent on how a text can be improved. This study investigates whether feedback given by one of these CBEM systems is useful to fourty–six Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia students whose essays were assessed online. Students, in a writing course, were required to compose an essay on a specified topic in English. Then, they were required to revise their essays by taking into account feedback given by the CBEM system as well as filling out a questionnaire. The results of the study suggest that although students faithfully revise their essays by taking into consideration feedback given by the CBEM system, there is room for improvement indicating that feedback given by the CBEM system is not sufficient. The results of this particular study will contribute to efforts in developing a framework of a CBEM system for writing in English as a second language at tertiary level of education in Malaysia. Key words: Writing assessment, english as a second language, computer assisted language learning

scholarly journals The ZPD, Second Language Learning, and the Тransposition ~ Transformation Dialectic

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-41
Author(s):  
M.E. Poehner ◽  
J.P. Lantolf
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Psychological Functioning ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Personal Perspective ◽  
Proximal Development ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
The Relationship

The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) held “great practical significance” for education as it identified how instruction can optimally impact learner development: by aligning mediation not to abilities that have already fully formed but to those that are emerging or “ripening” [30]. Despite being one of the most well-known and influential features of Vygotsky’s writings, it has also been subject to critique. For instance, it is [25] suggested that Vygotsky introduced a “methodological paradox” in formulating the ZPD: it endeavors to bring into focus proximal or future psychological functioning by engaging in teaching-learning activity in the present. In their view, this means that direct, empirical study of the ZPD is not possible as it can only be inferred retrospectively, once future abilities have become the new present [25]. Moreover, Valsiner and van der Veer [25] charged that Vygotsky’s depiction of the ZPD did not reflect his commitment to dialectical thinking because the concept does not allow for the creation of anything new but implies “mere transposition from the interindividual to the intraindividual domain” [25, p. 48]. Supporting our arguments with examples from research in our field of second language (L2) studies, we propose that attention to changes in the quality of mediation learners require during ZPD activity offers a means of observing the future as the abilities in question shift from ‘ripening’ to ‘developed.’ In this way, future independent performance is brought into the present during dialectical activity wherein tension between learner actual abilities and the demands of the task are resolved through mediator-learner cooperation. We propose this process as a way of realizing ‘the methodological imperative’ that was sought after by Vygotsky [26]. We then consider the importance of the relationship between learner transposition of ideal language features presented through instruction and the development of the ability to creatively manipulate these features in order to shape how others construe objects and events in accordance with the user’s personal perspective.

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