scholarly journals The Impact of Information Gap Activities on Young EFL Learners’ Oral Fluency

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramón Antonio Ortiz-Neira
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Eighth Graders ◽  
Public High School ◽  
Oral Fluency ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Information Gap ◽  
Post Test ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Impact

This study adopted a mixed method approach with an action research design. The aim was to determine the impact of information gap activities on young English as a foreign language learners’ oral fluency. Information gap activities were based on the communicative approach as well as on task-based learning. Twenty-three eighth graders participated in this action research. The students were immersed in a multicultural and at-risk context in a public high school in southern Chile. Their English-speaking level fluctuated between A1 and A2. The technique was applied over the course of a semester (ten weeks). Data were collected by applying a pre-test, post-test, and focus group questionnaire. Results suggest an improvement in oral fluency and a positive perception of the technique used during the intervention.

scholarly journals The Use of Critical Thinking Activities through Workshops to improve EFL Learners' Speaking Skills

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 444-460
Author(s):  
Eliana Pinza-Tapia ◽  
Vanessa Toro ◽  
Karina Salcedo-Viteri ◽  
Fabian Paredes
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Public High Schools ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Tenth Grade ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Speaking Skills

Speaking is considered to be the most complex skill to master by EFL (English as a foreign language) learners. Unfortunately, Ecuadorian students do not reach the desired speaking level. To address this issue, this mixed-method study aims at identifying the impact of critical thinking activities through workshops, in order to improve learners’ speaking skills.  This study was conducted at public high schools in the different provinces of Ecuador. The sample consisted of 635 students from the tenth grade of elementary school and the first and second grades of senior high school. The data-collection instruments were a pre-test, and a post-test, to find out the students´ CEFR speaking level, and an observation grid to discover students’ attitude and performance concerning oral communication skills. Additionally, five different workshops, based on the use of critical thinking activities were carried out. The results led us to the conclusion that critical thinking workshops have a positive impact on students’ speaking skills. They allowed students to use accurate grammar, vocabulary, and to improve their fluency and pronunciation, in order to communicate their ideas orally.

scholarly journals The Impact of Oral and Written Feedback on EFL Writers With the Use of Screencasts

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Alvira
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Private University ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Oral Feedback ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Promising Strategy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Results

<p>This article, based on an action research study performed at a Colombian middle-sized private university, proposes specific strategies to provide feedback to English as a foreign language learners and uses a Web 2.0 tool called screencasting. The findings of the study suggest that the use of coded, written, and oral feedback is widely accepted by students and yields positive results in the improvement of their writing skills at the paragraph level, and that the use of screencasting is a promising strategy that is motivational to students and increases the quality of their uptake.</p>

scholarly journals Do EFL Learners Enhance Their knowledge of Their Home Cultures as a Result of comparing them with other Cultures Through Project-Based Learning?

2021 ◽  
Vol 04 (08) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akharraz Mohamad ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Cultural Products ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group

The existing research studies have revealed that project-based learning (PjBL) has significantly helped foreign language learners enhance their cultural understanding as a result of completing their projects (e.g., Bouchouk, 2017; Hsu, 2014; Kim, 2019; Liu et al., 2006; Ngo, 2014). While these studies have congruently proved the utility of PjBL in enhancing students’ cultural awareness, none of them has measured the effect of PjBL together with a comparative and contrastive approach on students’ understanding of their home cultures. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of comparing students’ home cultures with the English cultures through PjBL on students’ understanding of their own cultures in terms of cultural products, cultural practices, and cultural perspectives. Two similar intact groups were randomly assigned to control and treatment groups. The two groups were pretested, administered two different treatments for 24 weeks, and post-tested to assess their differences. The independent sample t-tests results exhibited that the experimental group substantially deepened their understanding of their home cultures as a result of comparing them with the English cultures through PjBL. The study also revealed that while the control group significantly improved their cultural products, those in the experimental group greatly enhanced their knowledge of cultural practices and perspectives.

The progressive form and its functions in spoken learner English

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-194
Author(s):  
Lea Meriläinen
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Home Country ◽  
International Database ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Progressive Form ◽  
Influential Variable

Abstract Present-day English manifests ongoing changes in the frequency and semantic range of the progressive form, which presents a challenge for foreign language learners. This study examines the frequencies and semantic functions of the progressive in the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage with the aim of finding out to what extent learners are adopting the ongoing changes. This study analyses the effects of an exposure-rich learning environment by comparing learners from countries where English is used in varying degrees outside formal educational contexts and by examining intra-corpus variation between learners who have vs. have not spent time in English-speaking countries. The results reveal that exposure to English in the home country explains some of the variation in the progressive frequencies, but most of all it shows in the extent to which the learners have adopted its new semantic uses. By contrast, stay in English-speaking countries was not found to be an influential variable for all learner groups.

PRACTICE IS IMPORTANT BUT HOW ABOUT ITS QUALITY?

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 999-1026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masatoshi Sato ◽  
Kim McDonough
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Declarative Knowledge ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
University Level ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis study explored the impact of contextualized practice on second language (L2) learners’ production of wh-questions in the L2 classroom. It examined the quality of practice (correct vs. incorrect production) and the contribution of declarative knowledge to proceduralization. Thirty-four university-level English as a foreign language learners first completed a declarative knowledge test. Then, they engaged in various communicative activities over five weeks. Their production of wh-questions was coded for accuracy (absence of errors) and fluency (speech rate, mean length of pauses, and repair phenomena). Improvement was measured as the difference between the first and last practice sessions. The results showed that accuracy, speech rate, and pauses improved but with distinct patterns. Regression models showed that declarative knowledge did not predict accuracy or fluency; however, declarative knowledge assisted the learners to engage in targetlike behaviors at the initial stage of proceduralization. Furthermore, whereas production of accurate wh-questions predicted accuracy improvement, it had no impact on fluency.

scholarly journals ENHANCING LIBYAN STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING PERFORMANCE THROUGH LANGUAGE GAME AND INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES

2019 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-125
Author(s):  
Eman Abdussalam Owen ◽  
Abu Bakar Razali ◽  
Arshad Abd Samad ◽  
Nooreen Noordin
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Game ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Information Gap ◽  
Post Test ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Speaking Performance

The importance of English as a foreign language EFL in Libya has increased significantly throughout the years and the language has become essential in all disciplines. However, one of the essential challenges that needs to be explored is the lack of speaking competence of the Libyan students. There has been little research, which adopts an experimental design to determine the causal effects of certain teaching methods, particularly the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach on Libyan students’ English speaking performance. Against this backdrop, this research sets out to assess the effects of selected Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) activities (i.e., Information gap and Language games) on Libyan first-year secondary school students’ English speaking performance. Using a sample of 124 students from a public secondary school in Sabratha, Libya, and adopting the quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test non-equivalent groups design (NEGD), first year classes were randomly assigned as three experimental groups (i.e., Experimental Language Game group (G1), Experimental Language Game and Information Gap group (G2), and Experimental Information Gap group (G3)) and one Control group (G4). Treatments were given to the experimental groups and paired sample t-test results reveal significant differences between the groups’ in the post-test English language speaking scores. While an ANOVA test, comparing the scores between the four groups reveals a substantial difference between Information Gap group and the control group through a post-hoc test. It is therefore concluded that implementing communicative activities based on the principles of CLT in the Libyan English language classroom helps to enhance students’ English speaking performance. Keywords: Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), English as a foreign language (EFL); information gap and language games activities; quasi-experiment speaking performance.

scholarly journals Improving Upper-intermediate EFL Learners’ Communicative Competence through Authentic Materials

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 956
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hossein Keshmirshekan
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Authentic Materials ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of authentic materials on enhancing Iranian English as a foreign language learners' communicative competence. To this end, 106 upper-intermediate participants out of 136 were selected based on their performance an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and randomly assigned to two equal groups- one experimental group and one control group. Then a pre-test was administered to assess the participants' communicative competence at the beginning of the course. Then, the experimental group received the treatment. The control group was taught the course content using the regular communicative method through which students received teacher-course from the textbook. After the treatment, the two groups took the post-test. The data analysis through paired and independent sample t-tests revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the posttest. In other words, teaching authentic materials showed to have a significant effect on improving learners' communicative competence. The implications, limitations, and suggestions of this study are explained at the end of the study.

scholarly journals Exploring the Impact of VAK Learning Style on Teenager Level Language Learners in Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 807
Author(s):  
Rina Asrini Bakri ◽  
M. Asfah Rahman ◽  
Baso Jabu ◽  
Jassruddin Jassruddin
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Learning Capability ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Before And After ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Speaking Skills

This study aims at finding out whether Visual Auditory Kinesthetic (VAK) learning styles improve the It presents pre experimental design  to see the impact of  VAK learning style with one group pre-tested and post-tested, employing oral testing. The target group of this study was teenager level language learners at a school in Makassar Indonesia in the 2015/2016 academic year. Twenty nine students with average speaking ability participated in this study. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit participants.  The data was collected through an oral proficiency. The results of the data analysis indicated that there was a significant difference in the students’ English speaking skills before and after being trained using the VAK learning style. Results indicated that post-test was greater than pre-test in accuracy, fluency, comprehensibility. Based on the result of analysis can be concluded that the adoption of the VAK learning style can improve the English speaking skills and the methodology can be used as a preliminary strategy to assess students’ learning capability.

scholarly journals Reticence is not a Virtue in Aviation: Improving English Speaking Proficiency of Future Aviation Specialists

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 498-515
Author(s):  
Liudmyla Herasymenko ◽  
Svitlana Muravska ◽  
Maryna Lomakina ◽  
Nadiia Martynenko ◽  
Iuliia Mazurenko
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Speaking Proficiency ◽  
Information Gap ◽  
Grammatical Skills ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Speaking Skills

English language proficiency is a vital requirement for air-to-ground communication for aviation specialists. A special attention should be paid to developing speaking skills of future pilots, air traffic controllers and engineers. Our research has shown that future aviation specialists come across certain challenges in the process of communication in English: insufficient aviation knowledge to give an opinion, low motivation to speak, poor grammatical skills and insufficient knowledge of vocabulary items, uneven participation in discussions, and fear of making mistakes. To overcome these challenges some recommendations were formulated for teachers to follow. The problem-solving activities were chosen and designed to enhance students’ speaking skills. They include value-clarification tasks, discussions, role-plays, information-gap activities, describing pictures, and discussing videos. This research aims to define the impact of applying these problem-solving activities on developing students’ speaking skills. 120 second year students in aviation specialties took part in this experiment. They were divided into a control and an experimental group of equal numbers. In both groups, the teachers taught the same Aviation English content which corresponded to the syllabus. In addition, in the experimental group the teacher implemented the problem-solving activities, which contributed significantly to the development of future aviation specialists’ speaking skills.

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