scholarly journals The Roles of Online Placement Test in English Language Teaching

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthonia Akhidenor-Bamidele

The influence of technology in the world today and most especially by students have made it paramount for learning institutions to inculcate technology in the English language teaching curriculum. Could it be that there is a dire need to dive away from the traditional way of chalkboard teaching system to a more interactive whiteboard teaching system? It is worth-noting that constant attraction of students to the internet has made it important for learning institutions to keep abreast with the changes with no exception to context of the study. Thus, on the one hand through literature, this study will review the innovative strategies behind the use of online placement test to determine the course level of students enrolled in English language courses. On the other hand, the study will compare the final examination performance of students to determine the effectiveness of the online placement test. This study intends to address the following research questions: (a) what criteria are used to determine the course level of students before commencing any English language course? (b) Do students prefer the use of online placement test for English course leveling? And (c) how does the English online placement test affect students’ overall performances in the course? The study will adopt a triangulation approach which will comprise the use of surveys, in terms of questionnaires and the use of semi-structured interviews. Thus, the study on the roles of online placement test in English language teaching will shed new light on the importance of technology to enhance learning performances especially amongst students who live in a globalised and digitalised age in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-57
Author(s):  
Yeraldine Aldana Gutiérrez

The English language teaching (ELT) field has undergone transformations regarding its views on knowledge and language. Although instrumental perspectives situate English teachers in a passive, receptive and technical position, their research and pedagogical work displays an interest in extracurricular phenomena about Peace Construction (PC) in ELT. This qualitative exploratory study aimed at unveiling possible connections between PC and ELT in Colombia. Documental revision and semi-structured interviews were applied with 4 English teachers. Findings discuss an organic metaphor as facilitating “teachers’ situated knowledge construction” (Serna, 2018, p. 585). Thus, a critical reflection is developed on how ELT and PC may articulate one another towards an alternative reading on their possible relationality or the reduction of the canonical distance imagined between these two fields, in order to acknowledge their interconnection. Conclusions around the multifaceted transdisciplinary ELT field are presented.


Author(s):  
Ali Al-Issa ◽  
Ali Al-Bulushi ◽  
Rima Al-Zadjali

As a high-stakes international language proficiency benchmark, the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) requires different and special Language Learning Strategies (LLS), which pose numerous challenges to its takers. Some Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) majoring in English Language Teaching (ELT), have therefore, failed to achieve an overall score of Band 6 on the IELTS as a language proficiency requirement and a condition mandated by the Ministry of Education for selecting English language teachers among. This qualitatively driven hermeneutic phenomenology study, hence, discusses this issue from an ideological perspective. The study triangulates data from semi-structured interviews made with six fourth-year ELT Student Teachers (STs) at SQU and the pertinent literature. The critical discussion revealed various ideologies about the powerful impact of the IELTS on the STs’ English language development. The findings have important implications for the practices of the teachers in the Omani ELT school system and elsewhere.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ribut Wahyudi

<p>This dissertation aims to critically examine lecturers’ discursive statements in interviews and English Language Teaching (ELT) classroom practices in Indonesia, primarily in the teaching of Argumentative Writing (AW) and Cross Cultural Understanding (CCU) courses at two universities (Multi-Religious and Islamic University) in Java. This study uses poststructural and interdisciplinary lenses: Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA); Connell’s (2007) ideas of Southern Theory, Kumaravadivelu’s (2006b) Post Method Pedagogy, and Al-Faruqi’s (1989) and Al-Attas’ (1993) Islamisation of knowledge, as well as the critiques of these theories and other postcolonial voices. The critical examination of ELT practices through poststructural and interdisciplinary lenses in an Indonesian context is urgent, as teaching practices at present are subjected by competing regimes of ‘truth’ including Western, neoliberal, Southern, and Islamic discourses. The data were collected from curriculum policy documents, semi structured interviews, stimulated recalls and classroom observations from seven lecturers. The data were then transcribed and analysed primarily using FDA and also discussed in relation to other interdisciplinary theories, the critiques of these theories, and other relevant postcolonial literatures. Within the analysis there is a particular focus on how ELT Methods and World Englishes are enacted, negotiated, or resisted by lecturers.  This study strongly suggests that Western discourses have dominated other regimes of truth, as evidenced in the privileging of process and genre approaches, global Northern structures of AW essay, as well as an emphasis on American and British English in AW courses and the privileging of those two dominant English varieties in CCU courses in most contexts. The study also suggests there are tensions between religious discourse and emerging neoliberal discourses in national policies and university documents and some lecturers’ language. Southern discourses seem to have been marginalised and seem to be only resorted to support the use of Western discourses in the classroom teaching. The use of FDA and interdisciplinary lenses, along with their critiques and other postcolonial voices, are underexplored in current studies of ELT practices. Therefore, this study extends scholarship in the ELT field and makes a case for exposing lecturers to counter discourses, such as Southern and Islamic discourses, in order for them to be able to critically negotiate or appropriate Western and neoliberal discourses in their teaching practices.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shijun Chen ◽  
Jing Wang

Task-based language teaching on the purpose of enhancing students&rsquo; communicative skills and involving them actively in the authentic context has long been highlighted in recent years in tertiary English language teaching. This paper proposes a framework of task-based teaching approach and language assessment in intensive reading class based on the researcher&rsquo;s own teaching practice to explore positive impacts on students&rsquo; competences. This is done in the context of both oral presentation and written reports of first undergraduate English major students. The research method consists of semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire with 18 questions pointing to different aspects in the learning and teaching processes, aiming to explore what impacts it has on students&rsquo; competence in both second language acquisition and at cognitive level. In this empirical study, all the findings indicate that TBLT applied in Chinese English teaching class is very effective and beneficial for the enhancement of Chinese English learners.


2020 ◽  
Vol 92 (12) ◽  
pp. 242-244
Author(s):  
Zokhidjon Olimjonovich Kholikov ◽  
◽  
Sherzod Sultanovich Samandarov ◽  
Nargiza Akhmadjonovna Abdullayeva ◽  
Sherzod Abdug’anio’g’li Valijanov ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Muhammad Anjar Nugraha ◽  
Slamet Wahyudi Yulianto

Take-in the ever-changing policy of Education in Indonesia seems a very long-crucial issue to be discussed. Post-method pedagogy offers with the controversial claim that in the 21st era the play of teaching method is dying. Post-method pedagogy is the current issue of English Language Teaching (ELT) nowadays. This is a qualitative case study aims at investigating English teachers’ perspective towards post-method pedagogy. English teachers from two senior high schools in Subang has taken as the participants. A school is a public school, in which implements 2013 revised-curriculum and one another school is a private school that implements a School-based Curriculum or integrated curriculum. Those teachers administered the questionnaire and one teacher for each school will be chosen to conduct classroom observation and semi-structured interviews. According to the result of this study, the researcher indicates that all the participants tend to implement Communicative Approaches-Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)-Task Based Language Teaching most in their future classes. Eventhough the participants have their own style of teaching, they are not believe in themselves enough to produce their own teaching method. They have an authority to combine and prove it with their beliefs and background knowledge. They pay attention to the background of language learner and should not only focus on native speakers’ value. The researcher is almost able to observe the macro strategies that purposed by Kumaravadivelu. There is no difference between teacher who implements the 2013 revised curriculum and school-based curriculum or integrated curriculum from post method pedagogy principle


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Umar Farooq ◽  
Abdul Fatah Soomro ◽  
Abdul Fatah Soomro ◽  
Muhammad Umer ◽  
Muhammad Umer

Culture and language are inseparable. Language is used both as a means of communication as well as a carrier of culture. Language without culture is unthinkable, so is human culture without language (Wei, 2005). While teaching a foreign language, a teacher needs to accustom himself with the culture of the target language and the culture of learners. However, teachers in different classrooms in different parts of the world still ignore the importance of culture as a part of language study. This study focuses on perception and practices of teachers regarding culture and English language teaching in Saudi Arabia. The data were collected from 121 (60 male and 61 female) teachers of different cultural background through a questionnaire on their perceptions and implication of teaching target culture in the classroom through English language courses. It was revealed that all teachers have knowledge about the aspects of the target culture to some extent, but how they deal with the target culture is affected highly by the curricular considerations and limitations. 


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelhak Bouslama ◽  
Fawzia Bouhass Benaissi

Intercultural competence (IC) has been promoted by many educationalists as the most exalted type of competence in modern foreign language teaching (FLT). Among the difficulties to incorporate IC into FLT can be due to the fact that teachers may not have sufficient knowledge on the concept. To test this hypothesis, we attempt to answer the following question: how do Algerian English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers perceive the concepts of culture and IC as well as the objectives of the intercultural approach (ICA) in English language teaching (ELT) contexts? The present study proceeds to analyze teachers’ knowledge, perceptions and understanding of the concepts of culture, IC and the ICA and seeks to identify any potential deficiencies that may hinder effective IC teaching. The main aim of the study is then to help teacher trainers establish training programs that address more efficiently targeted teachers’ needs with regard to IC teaching. This paper will hopefully assist in improving the implementation of IC into FLT classrooms. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with eight teachers and then analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that many EFL teachers displayed a lack of theoretical understanding concerning the ICA and its objectives, which may well impact negatively on their IC teaching practices. Teacher educators therefore need to focus more on updating EFL teachers’ on both the theoretical and practical levels that learners are today expected to grow as cultural mediators equipped with a set of skills rather than as native-like proficient language users.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusop Boonsuk ◽  
Eric A. Ambele

Since English is extensively used among linguacultural users to access life opportunities, it has become a requisite foreign language in the Thai educational system. To prepare Thai learners for this new changing role of English and reduce English Language Teaching dependency on the native English variety, this study aimed to explore English lecturers’ voices in Thai universities on existing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogies at the Thai tertiary level with the research question: how do English lecturers in Thai universities perceive EFL in Thai universities? Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 25 Thai EFL university lecturers selected from ten different universities in Thailand and analyzed using content analysis. The finding reveals that EFL-oriented pedagogy plays a dominant role in English language teaching (ELT) education in Thai classrooms, illustrating three main salient themes from the study: (1) EFL pedagogies; (2) EFL materials; and (3) EFL curriculums. The result shows that the pedagogy is less responsive in the changing roles of English use and its widespread worldwide, especially among diverse linguacultural interlocutors. Hence, English university lecturers should reconsider, adjust, and made more practical glocal changes in English language teaching for the purpose of language teaching, language planning and predicting language change.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. Syeda Naureen Mumtaz ◽  
◽  
Dr.Uzma Quraishi ◽  

The study was attempted to explore as to what extent English language teaching in Pakistan has been able to develop language skills among the target learners. The researcher intended to evaluate the limit to which the textbook helps in generating competence of all four integrated skills, especially as laid down in the standards of the National Curriculum (2006). The purpose of this study was to create pragmatic awareness among learners, teachers and educational professionals, working in the field of English as Foreign Language. By method , it was a qualitative study, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were the tools used to elicit the data. The participants of this research were selected from public sector schools and organizations including, teachers, policymakers, curriculum developers, subject specialists, and students to examine the effectiveness of grade VIII’s English language textbook on students’ performance . For data analysis themes were developed, coded and summarized in a descriptive mode. The findings of this study reflected that the relevant textbook does not cater to the target learners’ future academic and professional language needs. As a solution to the problems while teaching and learning English as foreign language in Pakistan; this study also offered a model to be followed by the policy makers and practitioners in order to make the existing English language textbook more effectives in terms of foreign language teaching and learning and language skill development.


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