Cooperative strategies and listening comprehension: The cases of Jigsaw and Missing information techniques

This study examined the impacts of the jigsaw and missing information activities on pre-intermediate EFL learners' listening comprehension. Accordingly, 69 homogenous participants (17 to 19 years old) were chosen from a private English language institute. Following the selection of the intended subjects, they were randomly assigned to one of three equivalent groups: two experimental groups and one control group. Then the researcher administered a researcher-made listening pre-test to the three groups and then taught the experimental groups using the jigsaw and missing information activities during 15 sessions. Participants in the control group, on the other hand, were not given the above instruction. The modified version of the pre-test was performed as the post-test at the end of the intervention to determine the effects of the treatment on the students' listening progress. After running one-way ANOVA and Scheffe Post Hoc Tests, it was reavealed that that both jigsaw and missing informations strategies improved EFL learners' listening comprehension. In the end, the research implications were explained and some recommendations for further studies were suggested. Keywords: Cooperative Strategies, Jigsaw, Missing Information, Listening

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A Comparative Study of the Effect of Portfolio and Dialogue Journal Assessment on Iranian EFL Learners' Writing Performance

Journal of Language Teaching and Research ◽

10.17507/jltr.0902.25 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 408

Author(s):

Seiflou Kobra ◽

Hashemnezhad Hossein

Keyword(s):

English Language ◽

Portfolio Assessment ◽

Control Group ◽

Writing Performance ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Dialogue Journal ◽

Post Test ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

And Performance ◽

English Language Institute

The aim of the present quasi-experimental study is to investigate the effect of dialogue journal assessment and portfolio assessment on Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance. To do this, 90 intermediate EFL students from 150 students in Omid –Mofid English Language institute in Khoy were non-randomly chosen. They were male and female (58 females and 32 males) and their age range is between 20-32. Then they were randomly divided into three groups of 30: a control group receiving only the routine instruction, and two experimental groups receiving portfolio and dialogue journal, respectively. Topic based paragraph writing as pretest and posttest were given to the participants of three groups to detect their writing ability at the beginning and at end of study. The result of the study showed that portfolio assessment group, the dialogue journal group and the control group performed significantly different on the post test. Students in portfolio assessment group outperformed than the student in dialogue journal group and performance of dialogue journal group was better than control group in their writing performance. Finally, some implications are provided for EFL teachers, learners, and syllabus designers.

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Using Mobile Instant Messaging in Teaching Vocabulary to Pre-intermediate EFL Learners: The Case of WhatsApp

Journal of English Education ◽

10.31327/jee.v5i1.1162 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Ehsan Namaziandost ◽

Sajad Shafiee ◽

Ray Suryadi

Keyword(s):

Mobile Application ◽

English Language ◽

Instant Messaging ◽

Control Group ◽

Vocabulary Test ◽

Daily Lives ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Post Test ◽

English Language Institute ◽

Experimental Group

Smartphones are becoming an increasingly common part of our daily lives. Applications used in these systems are extremely varied due to their extraordinary efficiency. With respect to language teaching, the use of these technologies has opened up new doors, changing innovatively the way teachers teach and students learn. Accordingly, this study aimed to find out the impacts of using WhatsApp as a mobile instant messaging application on teaching vocabulary among pre-intermediate EFL learners. To this end, 60 Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners were selected from a private English Language Institute. Then, they were randomly assigned to two equal groups- an experimental group and a control group. They were pre-tested by a researcher-made vocabulary test. Then, the treatment was applied to both groups. As the treatment, the control group was taught with traditional activities whereas the experimental group was taught with the use of mobile application (WhatsApp). At the end of the instruction, a researcher-made vocabulary post-test was administered. The results of independent samples t-test and one-way ANCOVA indicated that the experimental group had better performance on the post-test compared to control group revealing the usefulness of the mobile application utilized in this study on learning vocabulary.

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The Effect of Using Approximation and Appealing for Help Techniques on Learning Speaking Skill among Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

Journal of Language Teaching and Research ◽

10.17507/jltr.0806.22 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (6) ◽

pp. 1195

Author(s):

Islam NamazianDoost ◽

Asadallah Hashemifardnya ◽

Nasrin Panahi

Keyword(s):

Target Population ◽

Role Playing ◽

Control Group ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Post Test ◽

Speaking Skill ◽

Post Hoc ◽

And Control ◽

Experimental Group ◽

Better Than

This study examined the effects of using approximation and appealing for the help techniques on learning speaking skill among Iranian intermediate EFL learners. First sixteen participants out of 120 were chosen for the target population. The participants were then randomly assigned to three equal groups- two experimental groups and one control group. The groups were pretested by a speaking pre-test. Regarding the treatment, the experimental groups were taught by using the communicative approach techniques including approximation and appealing for the help. One experimental group received instruction on how to appeal for the help if their competence cannot come up with the exact word. The other experimental group received instruction on how to compensate failure in conversation by using approximate words. For example, in case of forgetting the exact word they used an approximate word or phrase like using "boat" instead of "ship" or "pipe" for "water pipe". However, the participants in the control group received traditional activities in learning speaking such as question and answer, topic discussion, dialogs and role playing. The treatment took 10 sessions of 45 minutes each under the guidance of the supervisor. Then, the control group and the experimental groups took the post-test of pet. After collecting the data, they were analyzed through using One-way Anova and Post-hoc Scheffe Test- Multiple Comparisons. The findings showed that both experimental groups outperformed than the control group. The results showed that those students who received appealing for the help treatment were better than approximation group and control group.

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The Effect of Oral Metalinguistic Corrective Feedback on Learners’ Knowledge of Pronoun among Iranian EFL Learners

Theory and Practice in Language Studies ◽

10.17507/tpls.1006.07 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 672

Author(s):

Fatemeh Azimi Amoli

Keyword(s):

Language Learners ◽

English Language ◽

Corrective Feedback ◽

Control Group ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Metalinguistic Feedback ◽

Grammatical Errors ◽

Post Test ◽

Grammatical Judgment ◽

The Impact

A great number of language learners claims that they are unable to produce the foreign language accurately without any grammatical errors at the end of their language course. In this study, the impact of oral metalinguistic corrective feedback, among various types of corrective feedback, on learners’ pronoun accuracy was considered. The participants were 74 EFL learners (46 females, 28 males) studying English at Safir English language institutes in Tehran. In order to homogenize the learners, Key English Test (KET) test was given to them. 60 learners were selected for the study and 14 learners were removed. Participants were randomly divided into two groups. One group received metalinguistic feedback and the other group received explicit correction feedback. Grammatical judgment test was used as a pretest and posttest. Eight reading passages from “Select Readings” were another instrument that was used for training through jigsaw task in this study. Then t-test was run to check the significance of the mean difference between pretest and post-test of groups. The results show the priority of experimental group (which received oral metalinguistic feedback) on control group (which received explicit feedback).

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The Effect of Structured Academic Controversy on English Proficiency Level within Communicative Language Teaching Context

Journal of Language Teaching and Research ◽

10.17507/jltr.0802.18 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 349

Author(s):

Reza Tavakoli ◽

Seyed Hesamuddin Aliasin ◽

Fariba Mobini

Keyword(s):

English Language ◽

English Proficiency ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Communicative Language Teaching ◽

T Test ◽

Control Group ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Proficiency Level ◽

Post Test ◽

Academic Controversy

This study aimed at investigating the effect of Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) on English proficiency level of Iranian intermediate EFL learners within the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) context. To this end, the Cambridge English Placement Test (CEPT) as the pre-test was administered to 90 EFL learners at Khayyam University of Mashhad, Iran. Based on the results and according to the test guidelines, only the intermediate EFL learners were selected as the final participants (N=60). Then, they were randomly divided into two groups of control and experimental, each group consisting of 30 subjects. Then, a t-test analysis was conducted to ensure that the two groups were not different in their English proficiency level before treatment. The experimental group was taught English based on a CLT syllabus supplemented by SAC techniques, whereas the control group received the same instruction but without being aided with the SAC techniques. After treatment, the participants received the same CEPT as the post-test. The t-test results for this test revealed a significant effect of SAC on the experimental group's performance on the post test, which means that SAC can play a role in EFL learners' English language proficiency improvement.

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Enhancing Cultural Intelligence and Interpersonal Communication: Multi-Authenticity Exposure in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Context

Journal of Education and Culture Studies ◽

10.22158/jecs.v2n2p87 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 87

Author(s):

Anahid Bahrami ◽

Mehry Haddad Narafshan

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Interpersonal Communication ◽

Cultural Intelligence ◽

English Language ◽

Authentic Materials ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Efl Context ◽

Post Test ◽

Moderate Change ◽

English Language Institute

The current study focuses on authentic exposure, specifically whether multi-authentic tasks affect the nature of L2 learners’ cultural intelligence and interpersonal communication in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context of Iran. To this end, sixty learners at an English language institute were assigned to control and experimental groups to carry out the M-A tasks. M-A was manipulated by assigning visual, aural, and printed tasks. Descriptive and inferential analyses of data, a comparison of the control and experimental groups over a four-month period, revealed that the implementation of authentic materials was successful in raising the cultural intelligence and interpersonal communication of EFL learners in the post-test. A subsequent ANOVA analysis showed that among M-A materials, visual was the most and aural was the least effective one increasing EFL learners’ cultural intelligence. Moreover, the printed material was the most effective one to make a moderate change in interpersonal communication of the participants.

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The Effect of Modified vs. Authentic Input on Iranian EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension

Theory and Practice in Language Studies ◽

10.17507/tpls.0804.13 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 450

Author(s):

Farzad Taghavi ◽

Farzaneh Aladini

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

English Language ◽

Placement Test ◽

Control Group ◽

Authentic Texts ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Reading Materials ◽

Independent Variable ◽

English Language Institute ◽

Experimental Group

The present study investigated the effect of authentic input as a classroom activity on Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension. This study intended to determine whether authentic reading materials could enhance Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension at the upper-intermediate level. To achieve this goal, 46 language learners were randomly selected from 60 ones who attended Shokoh English Language Institute in Rasht, Iran. Quick Placement Test was conducted to homogenize the participants. They were divided into two groups: the experimental and control groups. The groups experienced identical conditions during the study except for their exposure to the independent variable. After administrating the pretest, the participants in the experimental group received the treatment. After eight sessions of the treatment, the posttest was administered to both groups of the study to find out the possible effect of authentic reading materials (independent variable) on the participants' reading comprehension skill (dependent variable). The results indicated that in the experimental group EFL learners' improvement in reading comprehension was significantly greater than those in the control group. This research is meant to improve EFL classes with respect to reading skill and to help English language publishers and teachers to see the unquestioning value of authentic texts.

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Partial Dictation vs. Dictogloss Effect on Listening Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners

Global Journal of Foreign Language Teaching ◽

10.18844/gjflt.v10i4.5085 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 240-256

Author(s):

Bahram Mowlaie ◽

Milad Abdolmajid ◽

Ali Rahimi

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Listening Comprehension ◽

Vital Role ◽

Control Group ◽

Homogeneity Test ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Instructional Activity ◽

Post Test ◽

Experimental Group

The unique characteristics of the listening skill and the vital role they play in language learning and communication do not receive the attention they deserve and the situation is worsened in EFL contexts due to lack of communication in everyday context. Given this, the present study was an attempt to empirically investigate if partial dictation versus dictogloss had any significant effect on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 60 male EFL learners were selected via double sampling and, after taking homogeneity test and listening pre-test, they were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (partial dictation versus dictogloss) and a control group. The first experimental group was exposed to dictogloss, while the second experimental group was exposed to partial diction. The control group underwent the mainstream usual classroom activities. After the treatment which took one hour each session for seven sessions, a listening post-test was given to all groups. The thorough analysis of data using paired sample t-test indicated that partial dictation group slightly outperformed the dictogloss group in the listening post-test and both experimental groups significantly outperformed the control group in the listening test. The result can have implications for learners, teachers, and material developers in all second and, especially, foreign language contexts where listening comprehension does not receive the attention it deserves and this, in turns, deprives EFL learners of viable sources of input. It is recommended that dictation in either partial format or dictogloss become an instructional activity in English classes because of its usefulness in improving listening comprehension and, more importantly, because of its practicality which is an important concern in many language learning contexts. Key words: Dictogloss; English as a Foreign Language, Listening Comprehension; Partial Dictation

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The Effects of Using Podcast on Listening Comprehension among Iranian Pre-intermediate EFL Learners

International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature ◽

10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.6p.57 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (6) ◽

pp. 57 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Islam NamazianDost ◽

Ghassem Bohloulzadeh ◽

Rezvan Rahmatollahi

Keyword(s):

Listening Comprehension ◽

Placement Test ◽

Control Group ◽

Homogeneity Test ◽

Efl Learners ◽

English Classes ◽

Post Test ◽

Listening Ability ◽

Experimental Group ◽

Better Than

The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of using podcast on listening comprehension among Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners. To fulfill the objectives of the study a Homogeneity test (Oxford Quick Placement Test) was administered among 90 students at the pre-intermediate level of Poyesh language Institute and finally 60 participants were selected. Then, they were non-randomly divided into two subgroups, namely control and experimental groups. Before starting the treatment, a validated teacher-made listening comprehension test was administered to students as pre-test to assess the participants' listening comprehension at the beginning of the course. Then, the experimental group received the treatment, which was teaching listening comprehension through using podcasts while the control group was taught using traditional methods of teaching listening with no multimedia source. After 20 sessions of treatment, the two groups were administered the same teacher-made listening test as post-test. Data were analyzed by Paired and Independent Samples t-test. The findings showed that the experimental group significantly performed better than the control group. Generally, the experimental groups outperformed the control groups. The results suggest that podcasts can be used in English classes to develop listening ability among Iranian EFL learners.

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The Role of Social Media (YouTube and Snapchat) in Enhancing Saudi EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension Skills

Arab World English Journal ◽

10.24093/awej/th.268 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-54

Author(s):

Wed Nasser Al Harbi

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Language Learning ◽

Listening Comprehension ◽

English Language ◽

Female Students ◽

Target Language ◽

Control Group ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Comprehension Skills

Despite of the importance of listening in EFL learning and teaching, this skill is not getting as much attention as other skills. Therefore, learners are less motivated to depend on their listening comprehension as a tool to help them in the process of language learning. Social media, especially YouTube and Snapchat, can be effectively used as a pedagogical tool to enhance the listening skills of EFL learners, compared with other traditional audio recording tools. The objective of this research is to investigate the role of social media (YouTube and snapchat) as a method of teaching, in order to enhance EFL Saudi learners' listening comprehension skills. The primary goal of this study is to know whether social media is capable of developing EFL listening comprehension skills, and gaining the deeper understanding of the presented materials. In addition, using these tools makes them familiar with the target language culture and it's native speakers. In order to achieve this objective; the researcher used a mixed method to ensure the research validity: a questionnaire and a post-test.The participants of the study were 50 female students studying in English Language Centre at Taif University. They were randomly selected and they divided into two groups: the experiment group consisted of 20 female students and the control group consisted of 30 female students. The experiment group was instructed using (YouTube and Snapchat) as the control group using traditional audio method. Then there is a post-test is given to both groups to measure their listening comprehension performance. The findings of the study showed that using social media (YouTube and Snapchat) can enhance the listening skill of Saudi EFL leaners. The researcher recommends conducting more studies on other samples from different studies, age levels and from different environments like the schools or training institutes.

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