scholarly journals REVIEWING DIFINTIONAL AMBIGUITIES AND SIGNIFICANCE OF TEXT AUTHENTICITY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 01-09 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamdi Ahmad ◽  
Robert McColl Millar
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Authentic Materials ◽  
Authentic Texts ◽  
Learner Motivation ◽  
Need Analysis ◽  
Language Classrooms

Purpose of the study: The premise of this paper is to define and address the ambiguities surrounding the concept of text authenticity in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). Methodology: It represents a critical review of a series of research studies aimed at defining the concept of text authenticity and investigating the effect of text authenticity on ESL/EFL learners’ individual differences, namely ESL/EFL learner motivation and communicative competence. However, wherever possible, for the purpose of maintaining criticality, data associated with pedagogic/contrived materials are also discussed. Main Findings: The aspects of text authenticity may be situated in the text itself, the participants, social or cultural situations and purposes of the communicative act, or some combination of these elements. In addition, deficiency in learners’ overall communicative competence in the English language can be attributed to teachers’ exclusive reliance on contrived text materials presented in the form of textbooks. Applications of this study: It is strongly recommended that teacher training courses aim to develop classroom teachers’ practical knowledge and skills necessary for designing and evaluating TESOL materials. Reaching a consensus among researchers on the issue of the effects of authentic materials on ESL/EFL students’ motivation and overall communicative competence can have fundamental implications not only for developing language curricula but also for promoting learner autonomy. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study addressed the ambiguities surrounding the concept of text authenticity by proposing a typology encompassing eight possible inter-related definitions of text authenticity emerging in the ELT literature. More importantly, the paper structured a triangulation framework for introducing authentic materials into language classrooms:1) careful implementation of learner need-analysis, 2) criteria-based selection of authentic texts in the light of learner need-analysis, 3) utilization of task-based learning approach stressing the importance of activating learner schemata, awareness-raising activities, and task differentiation. This triangulation methodology is likely to reduce the difficulty of text authenticity and realize comprehensible input.

scholarly journals Review of Text Authenticity Relationship with Language Learner Motivation and Communicative Competence

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Hamdi Ahmad ◽  
Robert McColl Millar
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Authentic Materials ◽  
Learner Motivation ◽  
Language Classrooms

Although the call for a more learner-centered pedagogy has long existed in English language teaching, viewpoints are still very controversial on what type of materials should be used in language classrooms. This paper is aimed at defining and addressing the ambiguities surrounding the concept of text authenticity and its relationship with language learner motivation and communicative competence in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). However, wherever possible, for the purpose of maintaining criticality, data associated with pedagogic materials are also discussed. The study is based upon the theoretical strategy of research represented in a critical review of a number of research studies aimed at defining the concept of text authenticity and investigating the effects of authentic materials on language learners’ individual differences, namely learner motivation and communicative competence. The findings obtained from the literature review revealed that aspects of text authenticity may be situated in the text itself, the participants, social or cultural situations and purposes of the communicative act, or some combination of these elements. Equally important, the study concluded that a lack in language learners’ motivation and deficiency in their overall communicative competence in the English language can be attributed to teachers’ exclusive reliance on contrived text materials in a typical form of textbooks. The study recommends that teacher training courses should be aimed to develop language teachers’ practical knowledge and skills necessary for evaluating and designing TESOL materials. In addition, to introduce authentic materials into language classrooms, syllabus writers and classroom teachers need to take into consideration this methodological framework consisting of three sequential procedures: 1) conducting a careful analysis of learners’ needs in context, 2) selecting authentic texts in light of learners’ needs already analyzed in context, 3) basing teaching on the Task-Based Learning (TBL) approach that stresses the importance of activating learner schemata, awareness-raising activities and task differentiation. This triangulation methodology is likely to contribute to reducing the difficulty of text authenticity and realizing comprehensible input.

scholarly journals Teaching Speaking in the Nepalese Context: Problems and Ways of Overcoming them

1970 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bal Ram Adhikari
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
English Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Learner Centered ◽  
Speaking Skill ◽  
Meaningful Interaction

Fluency-first approaches such as Communicative Language Teaching and Task-based Language Teaching aim at the development of communicative competence in students by engaging them in meaningful interaction. Ability to speak accurate, appropriate and effective English is vital for meaningful interaction that ensures students' communicative competence in English. Unfortunately, in the Nepalese context, especially in government-aided schools and constituent colleges of Tribhuvan University (TU), speaking skill lies on the periphery of English Language Teaching (ELT) owing to several factors. This article attempts to explore those factors that have been a hindrance in developing speaking skill in Nepalese students in general and the students from the above-mentioned institutions in particular. This article draws on the author's experience as a supervisor of student teachers from B.Ed. and M.Ed. programmes and his teaching experience at a constituent campus of TU. Moreover, the article presents some suggestions that can help English teachers to overcome the hindrances.Key words: Speaking skill; Interaction; Teacher-fronted teaching; Learner-centered activitiesJournal of NELTA Vol. 15 No. 1-2 December 2010Page: 1-9Uploaded date: 3 May, 2011DOI: 10.3126/nelta.v15i1-2.4602

scholarly journals Implementation of Postmethod Pedagogy as an Alternative to Communicative Language Teaching at the Tertiary Level Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-154
Author(s):  
Naushin Nazifa Islam
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
English Language Classrooms

Along with the subsequent development in the field of English Language Teaching, the idea of methods has been criticized for not being sensitive to the contextual factors and also for being imperialistic in nature. The linguistic and cultural dimensions of archetypal methods establish the culture and language of the native speakers as the only erudite variety by promoting monoculturalism and monolingualism. Furthermore, even in Bangladesh, it can be seen that CLT has been applied as a method to teach English as a foreign/second language since the mid-nineties, but it has not brought any significant changes. Therefore, to overcome the obstacles and limitations experienced by the application of the prototypical methods, the notion of postmethod pedagogy has been introduced which focuses on the significance of contextualized materials to bring authenticity in English language classrooms, which in turn ensures learners’ motivation and successful intake of the lesson. At the same time, it also emphasizes the importance of teacher and learner autonomy. Hence, this research paper explores the scopes of the implementation of postmethod pedagogy and its effectiveness at the tertiary level English language classrooms in Bangladesh.    

scholarly journals AN INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL FOR ENHANCING EFL LEARNERS’ SPEAKING PROFICIENCY

EDULANGUE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-97
Author(s):  
Syarifudin Syarifudin
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
Speaking Proficiency ◽  
Speaking Skill

Due to the central role of speaking skill and its escalating demands of instruction in various levels of education in Indonesia, a myriad of teaching approaches and strategies have been applied to equip learners with the competences enabling the development of this skill. As a widespread approach to English language teaching (ELT),  which  gains  its  popularity  within  the context  of  EFL, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is geared towards learners’ communicative competence comprising of grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence as the underlying abilities of speaking proficiency. The development of these competences can be better facilitated when learning takes its place both in and outside classrooms as the latter provides potential promises for learners’ speaking proficiency development. For this reason, this paper presents learners’ challenges for learning speaking, the model activities in and outside classrooms, the importance of speaking instruction and the components of communicative competence and speaking proficiency.

scholarly journals Incorporating Communicative Competence in Assessment and English Language Teaching in Multilingual Settings

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Ella Yuzar
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Test Validity ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Historical Review ◽  
Language Testing ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
English Language Teaching

There has been a high level of agreement among scholars that communicative competence should be integrated within language learning and assessments. The study attempts to unravel the issues of how communicative competence can be assessed and measured in multilingual environments and how communicative language testing can be promoted. Using the content analysis approach as the qualitative method, it begins with the historical review of communicative competence that started at the beginning of 1970s to the most current concept involving intercultural communicative competence. Then, some practical models of communicative competence that can be used to propose a measurement of communicative competence are presented. Later, this article argues that there is an upsurge need to shift the paradigm of language testing and language assessment towards communicative competence. Moreover, the nature of language testing should not only concern linguistic or knowledge competence but also recognize the different varieties of English. This study implies that, in the field of language testing, language test designers should encompass the concept of communicative competence in the test construct to include real-life language use, and by extension, to increase test validity. As for teachers, a reform integrating communicative competence in classroom language assessment has become essential within the scope of language teaching.

scholarly journals Integrating Cloud World Synergy in ELT to Adults: Perspectives of Handheld Technologies

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Mohammed Abdulgalil Abugohar ◽  
Kamariah Yunus ◽  
Ghaleb Rabab'ah ◽  
Tarig Awad Eltahir Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
The Rich

<p>The outcomes of modern technology have turned real-world interaction into a virtual community, then into a cloud one. These giant leaps aided by the excitement created by the possibilities inherent in learning through handheld technologies made using mobile devices in English language teaching (ELT) indispensable. This paper is aimed to deeply overview available handheld technologies and their features that can enable teachers in their mission. It investigates the synergy of a group of mobile devices of smartphones, tablets, iPods, iPads, E-readers, and classroom response systems, among others. These devices have been effective in everyday activities, and are expected to enrich ELT, especially in communities where there is a lack of community of practice (CoP) on the target language. To this aim, this paper was cored around reviewing the potential handheld technologies have in language classrooms. The main data were obtained from the rich body of literature, shedding more light on their properties in creating interactive communication in and out of classrooms. The findings revealed that handheld technologies can be successfully integrated into English language teaching and learning. Pedagogically, teachers are encouraged to exploit mobile devices into their classroom practices after closely testing their specifications, and scanning their advantages and shortcomings.</p>

An application of XML to the creation of an interactive resource for authentic language learning tasks

ReCALL ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
FREDA MISHAN ◽  
BOB STRUNZ
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Electronic Resource ◽  
Authentic Texts ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Pedagogical Models ◽  
Authentic Language

There has of late been a call among language practitioners for the sophisticated new markup language XML to be used in Web-based tools for language learning (Mills, 1999; Riley, 2001; Godwin-Jones, 2000). This paper describes just such an application: the development of an interactive electronic resource book of learning tasks for English Language Teaching (ELT). The electronic resource book incorporates an authenticity-centred approach to language learning materials design, viz language learning based on authentic texts complemented by authentic tasks. The paper covers a general introduction to XML, describes the pedagogical model (i.e. the authenticity-centred approach) that it was used to realise, and describes the development of the XML-based system operating the electronic resource book. Among the conclusions of this paper are that this trial application reveals XML to be ideally suited to the realisation of such pedagogical models and that its greatly enhanced information management and linking potential promises an exciting future in the field of language teaching by providing the possibility for pedagogy-led technology rather than technology-led pedagogy.

scholarly journals The Effect of Psychological Factors on English Speaking Performance of Students Enrolled in Postgraduate English Language Teaching Programs in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol V (II) ◽  
pp. 101-114
Author(s):  
Habiba Qureshi ◽  
Fareeha Javed ◽  
Sana Baig
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Factors ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Speakers Of Other Languages ◽  
Speaking Performance ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Teaching Programs

This research attempted to identify the psychological factors that affect the speaking performance of students enrolled in Postgraduate English Language Teaching programs in Pakistan. A quantitative approach was used to address the main aim of this study. The participants of the research were 100 postgraduate students enrolled in English Language Teaching (ELT) and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) programs of public sector higher education institutions and universities in Pakistan. The findings revealed that many students in this study reported finding it difficult to speak in English in foreign language classrooms due to psychological factors like lack of selfconfidence, lack of self-esteem, fear of making mistakes, shyness, anxiety and motivation mainly. The findings also revealed that almost all the psychological factors are interlinked with each other and have a direct effect on the speaking performance of the students in this study.

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