scholarly journals The impact of enjoyment and anxiety on English-language learners’ willingness to communicate

2021 ◽  
pp. 91-111
Author(s):  
Elias Bensalem
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
English Language ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
The Impact

Willingness to communicate (WTC) plays a pivotal role in second language learning (Clément et al., 2003; Kang, 2005;Yashima et al., 2004) because a high level of WTC may help learners achieve language proficiency (MacIntyre et al., 2003; Yashima et al., 2004). Therefore, MacIntyre et al. (1998, p. 547) asserted that the major goal of language learning should be WTC. Willingness to communicate in a foreign language is linked to a range of negative emotions (i.e., anxiety and boredom) and positive emotions (i.e., enjoyment and pride). Inspired by the shift from negative psychology to positive psychology in the field of second language learning, the present study aimed to investigate whether language enjoyment and anxiety are potential predictors of WTC. A group of 349 English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduate students (female = 226, male = 123) enrolled at public Saudi Arabian universities were surveyed. Quantitative data were collected during one month. Descriptive analyses revealed above-average levels of WTC of theparticipants. Multiple regression analyses revealed that foreign language enjoyment (FLE) was a predictor of WTC but foreign language classroom anxiety (FLA) did not correlate significantly with students’ WTC. These results suggest higher levels of enjoyment may have neutralized the effects of anxiety on WTC, indicating the role of positive emotions. Implications for foreign language teachers are discussed.

FIRST AND SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING THROUGH TEXTBOOKS IN ALBANIAN SCHOOLS (COMPARATIVE OVERVIEW OF ALBANIAN AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS)

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 2319-2324
Author(s):  
Rina Muka ◽  
Irida Hoti
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Grammatical Knowledge ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
The Third

The language acquired from the childhood is the language spoken in the family and in the place of living. This language is different from one pupil to another, because of their social, economical conditions. By starting the school the pupil faces first the ABC book and then in the second grade Albanian language learning through the Albanian language textbook. By learning Albanian language step by step focused on Reading, Writing, Speaking and Grammar the pupil is able to start learning the second language on the next years of schooling. So, the second language learning in Albanian schools is related to the first language learning (mother tongue), since the early years in primary school. In our schools, the second language (English, Italian) starts in the third grade of the elementary class. On the third grade isn’t taught grammar but the pupil is directed toward the correct usage of the language. The textbooks are structured in developing the pupil’s critical thinking. The textbooks are fully illustrated and with attractive and educative lessons adequate to the age of the pupils. This comparative study will reflect some important aspects of language learning in Albanian schools (focused on Albanian language - first language and English language - second language), grade 3-6. Our point of view in this paper will show not only the diversity of the themes, the lines and the sub-lines but also the level of language knowledge acquired at each level of education. First, the study will focus on some important issues in comparing Albanian and English language texts as well as those which make them different: chronology and topics retaken from one level of education to another, so by conception of linear and chronological order will be shown comparatively two learned languages (mother tongue and second language). By knowing and learning well mother tongue will be easier for the pupil the foreign language learning. The foreign language (as a learning curriculum) aims to provide students with the skills of using foreign language written and spoken to enable the literature to recognize the achievements of advanced world science and technology that are in the interest of developing our technique. Secondly, the study will be based on the extent of grammatical knowledge, their integration with 'Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing' as well as the inclusion of language games and their role in language learning. The first and second language learning in Albanian schools (grade III-VI) is based on similar principles for the linearity and chronology of grammatical knowledge integrated with listening, reading, writing and speaking. The different structure of both books help the pupils integrate and use correctly both languages. In the end of the sixth grade, the pupils have good knowledge of mother tongue and the second language and are able to write and speak well both languages.

The Role of Social-emotional skills among kindergarteners in Foreign Language Learning

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 364
Author(s):  
Chalak Ghafoor Raouf ◽  
Ranjdar Hama Sharif
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Emotional Skills ◽  
Young Learners

Nowadays, second language learning among young learners is considered to be one of the main subjects in the field of education around the world. A lot of researches dealt with this subject, and focused on the processes of second language learning among young learners. Researchers were trying to understand and diagnose young language learners’ strengths and weaknesses. They came up with some evidences which show that language aptitude, gender, age, creativity, and motivation are among the elements that make a young student be different from other students. Unlike the other researches, this paper investigated the role of social-emotional skills among young learners in second language learning. It examined the influences of these skills in the process of foreign language learning. For this study a kindergarten was chosen, and 20 children were randomly selected as representatives of the 60 children who applied for an English language course in this kindergarten. Thirteen of the selected children were male learners, while the rest were females, and the age of the participants were between 4-5 years old. At the beginning of the English course a group of socialworkers conducted a pretest to measure the young learners’ social and emotional skills, and after the English course a group of English language teachers conducted the second test to measure the learners’ language proficiency. After the data collection, the finding showed a significant relationship between social-emotional skills and foreign language learning. Those students who showed a high level of social-emotional skills were more active in learning the new language, and passed the test of English proficiency with high degrees, while those students who showed a low level of social-emotional skills couldn’t pass the English proficiency test or passed with low degrees.

scholarly journals Investigating Students' and Teachers' Perceptions of Using the iPad in an Italian English as a Foreign Language Classroom

2020 ◽  
pp. 881-902
Author(s):  
Valentina Morgana ◽  
Prithvi N Shrestha
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Learning And Teaching

Recent research indicates that mobile technologies can support second language learning. However, studies focused on the use of the iPad and teaching in schools is still scarce. This study reports on an action research project that investigated the use of the iPad in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context in an Italian school. The study sought to investigate learners' and teachers' perceptions of mobile learning through the use of the iPad. The data was collected through a survey (N=41), classroom observations (N=4), interviews (N=20), and recorded teacher meetings (N=5). Results show a positive impact on student motivation and on the approach to second language learning tasks. We found that within the duration of the study students and teachers became increasingly independent in the use of the iPad for English language learning and teaching. This study provides educators with hints on how to start integrating mobile devices to perform specific language learning/teaching tasks.

Going glocal: The impact of CLIL on English Language Learners’ multilingual Identities and Attitudes in the Balearic Islands

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estefania López-Deflory ◽  
Maria Juan-Garau
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
The Impact

AbstractLanguages are a defining identity component, intrinsic to all individuals and societies. Identities are not fixed but ever fluctuating, hence the process of learning a second or foreign language may entail a negotiation of shifting identities, modifying positioning, attitudes and beliefs. Departing from this premise, in multilingual contexts the potential of education in shaping multilingual identities should be addressed.This study contrasts the attitudes of two groups of secondary education students (n=73), partaking in two different language learning programmes in the Balearic Islands (formal instruction in English as a Foreign Language –EFL, and Content and Language Integrated Learning –CLIL), where the introduction of English as a medium of instruction may be perceived as a threat to the unbalanced coexistence of Spanish and Catalan as the majority and minority languages, respectively. A 31-item questionnaire quantified the values ascribed to multilingualism, Spanish, Catalan, and English, the internationalisation of the latter, and the perception of the classroom as a genuine community of language practice. Qualitative data were collected through an essay eliciting students’ metalinguistic reflection on the position of different languages in their future imagined communities.The results shed light on the relevance of teaching methodologies in the development of identities, ascertaining the positive impact of integrative approaches such as CLIL on the construction of summative multilingualism.

scholarly journals The Anxiety of Language Learning and Language Skills: Conceptual Problems and Helpful Ideas to the Study of English as a Foreign Language

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asti Gumartifa
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Study Finding ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Classroom

Ignoring the fact of anxiety as second language learning is a new issue in the process of acquiring an international language. Teachers seldom recognize anxious students and instead assign a lack of other factor discussions of students’ low accomplishments. in acquiring the English language.  This research intends to assist literature completely on the classification of second language and language skills anxiety. The overviews of decreasing or giving solutions about students’ anxiety in various potential aspects occur. Further items of the questionnaire in measuring students’ anxiety in terms of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale mentioned. Utilizing qualitative study presents a review in the classroom that aimed to investigate the variations of anxious students. This study finding and solution also describe analysis approaches and examines the educational effects of the result.

scholarly journals Motivational Factors that Influence English as a Foreign Language Learners at Quality Leadership University, Panama City, Panama

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Ricardo Roman Jr. ◽  
Aixa M. Nunez
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Instrumental Motivation ◽  
Learning English

Research in second language acquisition took off in the early 1970s. This study on integrative and instrumental motivation examined the correlation between the two forms in terms of second language acquisition, and the interest it has generated through continued research efforts in language learning. Research to date suggests a possible relationship between motivation and second language learning. The results obtained by this research were determined by two basic types of motivation which play a relevant role in second language acquisition, it also revealed which was the most prevalent motivational factor that influences students in learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at Quality Leadership University, Panama. Our objective was to prove that instrumental motivation is more prevalent among students learning English as a Foreign Language in Panama. Although cultural awareness is very much present in the EFL classroom, it too plays a major role with English Language Learners (ELLs). This is a quantitative research study which includes a questionnaire classifying twenty motivational statements into two types of motivation, integrative and instrumental. The study revealed that instrumental motivation was more prevalent among English language learners at Quality Leadership University, Panama. Albiet learning about new cultures has been the driving force with which students approach language learning and students in Panama are not the exception. We can thus conclude that instrumental motivation has been acknowledged as the significant factor by students surveyed and the interest in specific language learning for career advancement, whereas integrative motivation is linked to more general second language acquisition for the benefit of cultural integration.

scholarly journals Developing Second Language Writing Through Scaffolding In The ZPD: A Magazine Project For An Authentic Audience

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Schwieter
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Writing Development ◽  
Proximal Development ◽  
Language Writing

In the present study, Vygotsky’s (1978, 1986) sociocultural framework of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and scaffolding writing (Bodrova & Leong, 1995, 1996; Ross, 1976) are used as the theoretical basis to study the development of second language writing. A course project is presented in which advanced English language learners of Spanish acted as authors and editors to create their own professional magazines for an authentic audience. In the project, each student authored four essays which went through four peer- and instructor-edited stages of scaffolding writing techniques. After each stage, ratings were given by the editors who also facilitated feedback debriefing sessions (Lidz, 1991). Statistical analyses revealed significant improvement within the four essays demonstrating writing development of subsequent revisions of a single essay. There was also significant improvement between the four essays revealing a linear, continuous writing development. In all, these results support a notion that scaffolding writing techniques and feedback debriefing sessions within the ZPD effectively develops writing skills in second language learning when contextualized through a writing workshop involving the creation of a professional magazine designed for an authentic audience.

scholarly journals Investigating Students' and Teachers' Perceptions of Using the iPad in an Italian English as a Foreign Language Classroom

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Morgana ◽  
Prithvi N Shrestha
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Learning And Teaching

Recent research indicates that mobile technologies can support second language learning. However, studies focused on the use of the iPad and teaching in schools is still scarce. This study reports on an action research project that investigated the use of the iPad in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context in an Italian school. The study sought to investigate learners' and teachers' perceptions of mobile learning through the use of the iPad. The data was collected through a survey (N=41), classroom observations (N=4), interviews (N=20), and recorded teacher meetings (N=5). Results show a positive impact on student motivation and on the approach to second language learning tasks. We found that within the duration of the study students and teachers became increasingly independent in the use of the iPad for English language learning and teaching. This study provides educators with hints on how to start integrating mobile devices to perform specific language learning/teaching tasks.

scholarly journals EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING MOTIVATION AND PROFICIENCY

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Karen Dunn ◽  
Janina Iwaniec
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
L2 Motivational Self System ◽  
Language Learning Motivation ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract A foundation of second language motivational theory has been that motivation contributes to explaining variance in language learning proficiency; however, empirical findings have been mixed. This article presents an innovative approach to exploring L2 proficiency and motivations of teenage English language learners in Madrid, Spain (N = 1773). Participants completed a multiskill English language test, plus an eight-scale questionnaire operationalizing constructs from Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2005). Data were analysed using Latent Variable Mixture Modeling, a person-centered profiling approach. Results indicated five distinct classes of students, characterized by differing motivation-proficiency profiles. The importance of this study is that the analysis does not assume a homogenous relationship between motivational traits and proficiency levels across the learner sample; whilst there is undoubtedly a connection between the two areas, it is not a straightforward correlation, explaining to some extent discrepancies in previous findings and laying groundwork for further, more nuanced, investigation.

scholarly journals Influence of Extracurricular Teaching on Bangladeshi English Language Learning (ELL)

BELTA Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-123
Author(s):  
Feroza Yasmin
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Education System ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
The Impact

The practice of extracurricular teaching, that is, the teaching outside formal educational institutions, is a well established phenomenon in the education system of Bangladesh. Extracurricular teaching can be offered for any subject, including second/foreign language. This paper discusses the role of extracurricular teaching in English language learning in Bangladeshi context. Moreover, it reports on a qualitative study to explore the impact of extracurricular teaching on success while learning a second/foreign language. The paper ends with the interpretations of the dataset which reveal that due to interest learners join extracurricular teaching. Therefore, it is students’ interest which has the most significant role than extracurricular teaching in achieving the success in second language learning.

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