scholarly journals Theme-Based Teaching to Promote Oral Fluency in a University in Colombia

HOW ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-119
Author(s):  
Angela Patricia Velásquez-Hoyos
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
English Language ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
Oral Fluency ◽  
Research Orientation ◽  
University Life ◽  
Technological University

The present qualitative study with an action research orientation focuses on the strengthening of students’ oral fluency in English through the implementation of six theme-based teaching workshops. The participants were students of an EFL pre-intermediate English language course in the institute of foreign languages at the Technological University of Pereira, in Risaralda State, Colombia. Besides the implementation of theme-based teaching, this study includes the speaking phases of rehearsal, performance, and debriefing to impact students’ oral fluency. This project emerged from an exhaustive needs analysis which showed that the university’s students, as future professionals, had difficulties with their oral performance i.e. their being unable to speak about topics related to their university life in English; hence, the need of including themes aligned with their academic contexts was highlighted with the purpose of helping them improve their oral fluency in English. The findings indicate that the students improved in their oral fluency in terms of vocabulary, intonation, and a reduction in the number of long pauses when speaking in English.

scholarly journals An ESP Needs Analysis: Addressing the Needs of English for Informatics Engineering

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Elok Putri Nimasari
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Need Analysis

English for specific purposes (ESP) have different needs of English language use. These needs will be the fundamental indicators to develop appropriate ESP syllabus. In order to find those needs, a need analysis research is necessary to conduct. This qualitative study addresses the result of ESP needs analysis for 95 Informatics Engineering of Muhammadiyah University of Ponorogo students. Brief reviews of ESP, needs analysis, and current learners’ situation of ESP classroom for Informatics Engineering are described as theoretical frameworks. A needs analysis questionnaire is utilized as an approach to find specific needs and to evaluate the current class situation. The results address 10 areas of English language use for Informatics Engineering major.

scholarly journals Enneagramma, motivazione e stile cognitivo

EL LE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flora Sisti
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Student Needs ◽  
Psychological Types

Within the context of student needs analysis, instructors can use the Enneagram of psychological types to shape the personal profiles of learners and apply the appropriate teaching strategies to include them in the learning process. This paper presents a case study involving 246 Italian students who were asked to take the SEDIG test, to fill in the Ehrman & Leaver questionnaire, and release a sample of their handwriting in which they described their reasons for studying foreign languages. The goal of this action research study was to improve students’ self-perception and their capacity to develop an effective dialogue with instructors and fellow students. The objective of the research is to verify whether there is a connection among the three factors considered, i.e., students’ personality traits, the reasons behind the choice of foreign languages as a course of study and academic success in terms of exam marks.

scholarly journals Got it, and you? let´s speak together!

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-147
Author(s):  
Lady Carrero Galindo ◽  
Mélany Rodríguez Cáceres
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Oral Performance ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Multimedia Resources ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
New Material ◽  
Speaking Skill

This article presents the outcomes of an action research project aimed at developing English language speaking skill with fourth gradestudents at IED Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño in Bogotá, Colombia, through digitized fables with multimedia resources, as aninnovative strategy offering meaningful input to students in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Instruments such as fieldnotes, audio recordings, and students’ logs after each digitized fable presentation were applied to follow the process and assess progress through students’ interaction, reactions to new material, and oral performance. The findings revealed that, despite some oral mistakes, students could increase their number of original utterances as opposed to repetitive speaking; on the other hand, the attitudes towards learning English were improved because of the material implemented.

Needs Analysis and Teachers' Perceptions: A Study of the English Undergraduate Students

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Visual Aids ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Classroom Activities ◽  
Teaching Aids

Needs Analysis in the context of language-learning-teaching is an important process to design a certain course and syllabus. It helps course designers to set objectives, choose content, method of instruction, appropriate teaching aids, and classroom activities for different courses. This paper reports the perceptions of the researchers on the English language learning needs of the English undergraduate students of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Sheringal, Pakistan. The data is based on the researchers’ personal experience and first-hand observation of the population as the researchers have been teaching in the target context for about a decade. Furthermore, the researchers have always been in discussion with their students and colleagues about the target students’ English learning needs, preferred learning styles, motivation in learning English, interest, strengths/weaknesses, and attitude toward English learning in the target setting. Learners’ assignments, exam answer sheets, and presentations have also been used is a source of data collection. A needs analysis model proposed by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) has been applied in order to analyze the data. The results show that the students lack well grammatical sentences, have poor spellings, capitalization problems, limited vocabulary, unaware of collocations, poor/slow reading comprehension, and lack of effective presentation skills. Furthermore, most of the students have a lack of involvement in classroom activities and feel shy about speaking the English language. It was reported that the provision of authentic material, interesting activities, suitable audio-visual aids, relevant texts, language labs, and other logistic arrangements can better help them in learning the English language. The findings demonstrate that the students wished to have a learner-centered-course that helps them excel in their academic life and learning the English language.

scholarly journals Views of Indian Migrants on Adaptation of Child Oral Health Leaflets: A Qualitative Study

Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Amit Arora ◽  
Roneel Maharaj ◽  
Seemagni Naidu ◽  
Ritesh Chimoriya ◽  
Sameer Bhole ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oral Health ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
English Language ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Health Messages ◽  
Birth Cohort Study ◽  
Migrant Populations ◽  
Oral Health Education ◽  
Health Education Materials

The aim of this study was to gain insight on the views of Hindi-speaking mothers on readily available English language oral health education materials and to evaluate the acceptability of Hindi language adapted versions of these materials. This qualitative study is nested within an ongoing multi-centre birth cohort study in Greater Western Sydney, Australia. Following purposive selection of Hindi-speaking mothers (n = 19), a semi-structured interview was conducted. Two English leaflets were mailed to participants prior to the interview. The simplified English and translated Hindi versions of the leaflets were provided at the interview, and the participants were asked to compare and evaluate all three versions. Interviews were audio recorded, and thematic analysis was used to analyse data from interview transcripts. A majority of the participants reported a certain degree of difficulty in reading and comprehending oral health messages in Hindi. Although Hindi translations were accurate, mothers preferred the simplified English as opposed to the Hindi version. Visual illustrations and a simple layout facilitated the understanding of oral health messages. Developers of oral health education leaflets should thoroughly research their prospective user groups, particularly migrant populations, and identify the need for simplified or translated oral health education leaflets.

Using Reward Cards to Motivate Students’ Learning in an ESL Form 2 Classroom in Perak

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 922-927
Author(s):  
Siti Nurafiqahbinti Abdullah Et.al
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
English Language ◽  
Urban School ◽  
Audio Recording ◽  
Classroom Data ◽  
Learning English ◽  
Esl Classroom

Thepurpose of this research wasto investigate the effectiveness of using reward card in ESL classroom to improve students’ motivation in learning. This action research was conducted on eighteen (18) Form Two students from a semi-urban school in Perak. The problem with these students was they lacked motivation in learning English language in the classroom. The researcher conducted an action research of five (5) weeks where researcher introduced a strategy of using reward card in the classroom. Data were collected using questionnaire, interview and reward card. Data were analysed by calculating the percentage of students’ rating on each item of the questionnaire and reward card. Data were also analysed from the audio recording from students’ interview. The research found that reward cards motivate students to participate in classroom and compete with their classmates in collecting the most stamps, as tokens. This research shows that reward cards motivate students in learning during the English language lesson

scholarly journals Modern English Drama and the Students’ Fluency and Accuracy of Speaking

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Kian Pishkar ◽  
Ahmad Moinzadeh ◽  
Azizallah Dabaghi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Oral Fluency ◽  
Ell Students ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Oral Communications ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance

Speaking a language involves more than simply knowing the linguistic components of the message, and developing language skills requires more than grammatical comprehension and vocabulary memorization. In teaching-learning processes, drama method may have some positive effects on ELL students’ speaking fluency and accuracy. This study attempts to probe one of the main concerns of language learners, that is, how to improve their speaking components, e.g. oral fluency and accuracy. To attain this aim, the researchers investigated the effect of two selected texts from modern English dramas on students’ speaking fluency and accuracy. They distinguished fluent from non-fluent and accurate from no accurate learners. Therefore, the current study was designed as a true experimental research and the data were gathered from 60 EFL students, whose ages are between 19-25 (80 percent girls and 20 percent boys),of English language and literature at Hormozgan University in Iran. The data were the recorded speaking transcripts which were analyzed to show the probable progresses after four-time (10 weeks) treatment. The factors to be considered in present study were the numbers of filled and unfilled pauses in each narration, the total number of words per minute, mean length of utterance, and number of stressed words. The results were compared and their temporal and linguistic measures were correlated with their fluency scores. They revealed that the speech rate, the mean length of utterance, phonation time ratio and the number of stressed words produced per minute were the best predictors of fluency scores, and thus, students’ speaking fluency increased, whereas the students’ speaking accuracy decreased in some areas of speaking abilities and oral communications.

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