scholarly journals Importance of English consonants classification for EFL learners

2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahaa A. Muslim Abdul-Ameer Al-Zobaidy
Keyword(s):  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Google Books ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Consonant Sounds ◽  
As If

The practical formula of this paper helps the readers (EFL learners) how can they work by themselves to explain and realize the articulation of the English consonant sounds. However, the theoretical material is necessary for anyone who needs to understand the principles of regulating these sounds in spoken English. Most of the readers (EFL students) are aware of the importance of linguistics topics, but they do not have sufficient basic knowledge to understand these topics, especially Phonetics and Phonology. It is an endeavour to show the general categorization existing in consonants on the phonological aspects. Most of the time, there are three labels that are given a little awareness in instructors’ lectures to EFL students as if they existed worthless. Thus, while explaining the English consonant sounds, it is recommended that the EFL instructors should pay equal awareness to these labels with different class activities. The quantity of data displayed in some figures with (151) examples as part of direct education. These data were procured from Google Scholars, Google Books and other websites.

scholarly journals A Corpus-based Study of Shields in Conversations of Chinese EFL Learners

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 828
Author(s):  
Hongying Liu
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Engineering Majors ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Fuzzy Language ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Efl Students

As an important part of the fuzzy language, hedges have become a common linguistic phenomenon and frequently applied in daily spoken language. In this study, the authors investigated the shields-using frequency of Chinese EFL learners from the Multi-modal Spoken English Corpus of Chinese Learners-Science & Engineering Majors (MSECCL-SEM). In this study, the classification of Prince et al. (1982) will be adopted. Six shields that are frequently used in spoken English have been searched, namely, “I think”, “in my opinion”, “maybe”, “according to”, “as we (all) know”, “it is said that”. Data are analyzed by the application of Wordsmith 6.0 and SPSS 25.0. Through this study, we attempt to explore the characteristics of shields in spoken English of EFL learners, especially the differences in terms of gender, various language proficiency and two different kinds of shields. Through this research, the authors hope to guide second language teaching and learning by finding out the use of shields in EFL students' daily spoken language and analyzing its potential causes.

scholarly journals A Corpus-based Analysis of TESOL EFL Students’ Use of Logical Connectors in Spoken English

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 625
Author(s):  
Hao Wu
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Spoken Discourse ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
The Past ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Logical Connectors

In the past several decades, the compilation of learner corpora and the application of corpus linguistics have been extensively employed to improve learners’ use of logical connectors. However, the use of logical connectors in EFL learners’ spoken discourse remains under-researched. To investigate this field, the researcher built an EFL TESOL student spoken English corpus consisting of 27 spoken English samples of 12,241 words in total. Then, this study adopts corpus-based contrastive analysis and computer-aided error analysis to compare the tokens and the frequencies of the logical connectors with those in the native spoken English corpus of MICASE. Finally, underuse, overuse, and misuse in the TESOL student corpus were exemplified and explained.Findings reveal that the TESOL students tended to use a smaller set of logical connectors but used them more frequently than the English native speakers. Additive coordinating conjunctions such as and, so, and but were the most overused logical connectors. Moreover, the underuse of if, when, so that, and though shows that adverbial clauses were less frequently employed in their spoken discourse. A detailed explanation and pedagogical implications are also listed to help learners understand how to contextualize logical connectors at both syntactic and discourse level.

scholarly journals Underachievement in English Speaking Skills among Kuwaiti EFL Students at the College of Basic Education: Possible Causes and Possible Solutions

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
Mohammad A. Almutairi
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Modern Language ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
College Of Basic Education ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Speaking Skills

The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible causes and possible solutions of the massive underachievement in speaking skills among Kuwaiti EFL (English as a foreign language) students at the College of Basic Education (CBE). This study involved 331 male and female EFL students who are currently studying different bachelor degree programs at CBE. A questionnaire of 12 statements was used to collect their responses, and then the data was analyzed. After the analysis of the data, the findings indicated that the vast majority of students identified their speaking skills as weak or fair. Their answers revealed there are various factors that hinder in developing their weakness in speaking skills. The most obvious ones were lack of motivation, the lack of speaking skills emphasis in EFL syllabus design, and the absence of technology in ELT (English language teaching), including language laboratories and auditory aids. According to the recommendations of this study, this great challenge could be overcome by four central solutions. First, placing spoken English in the EFL syllabus. Second, including spoken English assessment in the coursework and providing a comfortable environment in class to motivate EFL students to use their target language and encourage them to improve it. Third, the study recommends that EFL teachers join special training courses in the Professional Development Center to learn the basic knowledge of how to use technology in ELT, including language labs. Finally, the researcher ends his recommendations by endorsing the administration of the College of Basic Education to provide modern language labs for the Language Center.

Study of Consonant Pronunciations Errors Committed by EFL Learners

2019 ◽  
pp. 48-56
Author(s):  
Ali Akbar Khansir ◽  
Afsaneh Salehabadi
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Listening Skill ◽  
English Pronunciation ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Knowledge Of Language

As the topic suggests, the research paper presents Study of Consonant Pronunciations Errors Committed by EFL Learners. Error analysis always tries to resolve language learners’ problems in acquiring second or foreign language setting. Learning to English pronunciation is perhaps as important as learning listening skill, speaking, and spelling. Errors in English pronunciation create several problems for English language learners in their works. In other words, most of the English language errors of pronunciation are due to the lack of knowledge of language learners. However, all the students in our sample are of age group (16-25) at Bushehr language institute and they are all Iranian nationals. In addition, all of them were female learners. An English pronunciation (consonant) test was used to get information about the knowledge of the learners in English pronunciation. Findings of this article indicated that the first and second hypotheses of this article were accepted, but the third hypothesis was rejected. However, the findings of this paper showed that the Iranian EFL students have problem to pronounce English sounds correctly.

An exploration of target L2 morphemes in the oral production of young EFL learners in Croatia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena O'Reilly ◽  
Eva Jakupčević
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Simple Construction ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Oral Production ◽  
The Past ◽  
Base Form ◽  
Production Study ◽  
Efl Students

Although the second language (L2) acquisition of morphology by late L2 learners has been a popular research area over the past decades, comparatively little is known about the acquisition and development of morphology in children who learn English as a foreign language (EFL). Therefore, the current study presents the findings from a longitudinal oral production study with 9/10-year-old L1 Croatian EFL students who were followed up at the age of 11/12. Our results are largely in line with the limited research so far in this area: young EFL learners have few issues using the be copula and, eventually, the irregular past simple forms, but had considerable problems with accurately supplying the 3rd person singular -s at both data collection points. We also observed a be + base form structure, especially at the earlier stage, which appears to be an emergent past simple construction.

scholarly journals From Instructed Writing to Free-Writing: A Study of EFL Learners

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402110071
Author(s):  
Saleh Alharthi
Keyword(s):  
Control Group ◽  
Writing Program ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Writing Assignments ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Free Writing ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Structured Writing ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group

Writing is an intricate process that encompasses various factors and is a key skill for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. Thus, writing assignments are vital for any curriculum. One of the essential aspects of effective writing includes good grammar knowledge. Advocates of process writing argue that a free-writing journal is a practical approach to teaching EFL students writing. This study is intended to examine the impact of the free-writing journal on EFL learners. This study was conducted on 80 students from a writing course at the University. Thirty-five students were randomly selected to join the free-writing program—the experimental group—and 45 students were kept in their regular structured writing program—the control group. The experimental group selected topics of interest to them and was encouraged to write in English freely without concern for errors, whereas the control group followed a regular structured writing program where the topics were selected for them and they wrote following a clear guideline. Five major areas were investigated to evaluate students’ progress: the number of words written, spelling, capitalization, subject-verb agreement, and punctuation. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 students of the experimental group to elicit their perception of the free-writing program. According to the analysis, students in the free-writing program acquired better grammar acquisition than the control group. The researcher also observed students’ perception of free-writing at the end of the study and found that free-writing improved their writing skills.

Captions and reduced forms instruction: The impact on EFL students’ listening comprehension

ReCALL ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Chi Yang ◽  
Peichin Chang
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Limited Capacity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Reduced Forms

AbstractFor many EFL learners, listening poses a grave challenge. The difficulty in segmenting a stream of speech and limited capacity in short-term memory are common weaknesses for language learners. Specifically, reduced forms, which frequently appear in authentic informal conversations, compound the challenges in listening comprehension. Numerous interventions have been implemented to assist EFL language learners, and of these, the application of captions has been found highly effective in promoting learning. Few studies have examined how different modes of captions may enhance listening comprehension. This study proposes three modes of captions: full, keyword-only, and annotated keyword captions and investigates their contribution to the learning of reduced forms and overall listening comprehension. Forty-four EFL university students participated in the study and were randomly assigned to one of the three groups. The results revealed that all three groups exhibited improvement on the pre-test while the annotated keyword caption group exhibited the best performance with the highest mean score. Comparing performances between groups, the annotated keyword caption group also emulated both the full caption and the keyword-only caption groups, particularly in the ability to recognize reduced forms. The study sheds light on the potential of annotated keyword captions in enhancing reduced forms learning and overall listening comprehension.

scholarly journals An Analysis of Errors in Writing Skill of Adult Iranian EFL Learners Preparing for the IELTS

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nima Pouladian ◽  
Mohammad Sadegh Bagheri ◽  
Firooz Sadighi
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Item ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
British Council ◽  
Women Learners ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Verb Tense

This study sought to examine the sort, frequency, and sources of writing wrongs committed by adult Iranian EFL students. To score the participants’ written essays and speaking interviews, the four criteria specified for the IELTS Speaking and Writing Band Scores (British Council, 2014) were taken into consideration. The study also tried to comparatively analyze the error categories made by men and women learners regarding the type and frequency of their linguistic errors. To gather the information, from the population of faculty members at Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences (HUMS) in Bandarabbas, Iran, 100 adults, both male and female, with their age ranging from 31 to 52, were selected using convenient sampling. Based on their previous IELTS band scores ranging from 4 to 6, the members are separated into three groups.The results of data analysis revealed that verb tense was the very common grammatical mistake done by members in all three groups. For the cohesion and coherence and lexical sub-categories, relative clauses and incorrect use of target lexical item were regarded as the most common categories of errors. Outcomes of Chi-Square analyses also showed substantial differences among errors committed by participants in different groups. Finally, the comparison between male and female participants’ errors revealed that male participants made both written and spoken errors more than females. According to the results, recommendations, and any suggestions that are of importance to teachers and policymakers as well as to EFL learners are presented in detail.

scholarly journals A Review of Studies on Cognitive and Metacognitive Reading Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension for ESL/EFL Learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Aziza M. Ali ◽  
Abu Bakar Razali
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
English Language ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Written Information ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Correct Reading ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Metacognitive Reading Strategies

Being able to read well is important for English language learners. Through the process of reading, the learner becomes an active participant in producing an interaction with the writer of the text through predicting, analyzing, summarizing and using other types of reading strategies. However, building such a connection between the reader and the written information of the text is complex and for English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) students, it can be quite difficult for them to apply different types of reading strategies. This article provides a review of literature on 27 studies on the teaching of reading strategies (particularly cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies) for ESL/EFL learners, which reveals that ESL/EFL teachers need to keep updating their teaching methods to meet the ESL/EFL students’ needs, particularly in the use of correct reading strategies. The authors also highlight some of the main issues that prevent ESL/EFL students from improving and developing their reading comprehension. Furthermore, the authors discuss and conclude the article by suggesting to ESL/EFL teachers some teaching strategies to be applied in the reading lesson to improve the ESL/EFL students’ use of reading strategies.

scholarly journals EXPLORING ENGLISH LISTENING PROBLEMS AMONG EFL STUDENTS AT IAIN KUDUS

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Azizah Maulina Erzad
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
English Education ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Education Department ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Physical Conditions ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Listening Process

Listening comprehension becomes one of the most difficult skills for most of English learners especially EFL learners. As a foreign language, English is rarely used in communication by EFL learners in their daily life. Therefore, the learners or students always face some difficulties/problems in listening comprehension. It can be seen from the results of their tests. The purpose of this study is to investigate the problems occur in listening class of EFL students at IAIN Kudus and the solutions to overcome those problems. The EFL students in this study refer to the English Education Department students of IAIN Kudus. The participants of this study are the second semester of English Education Department students. This study is a qualitative research. Observation, interview and documentation were conducted to collect the data. By conducting this study, several problems in listening comprehension can be revealed. The listening problems encountered by the EFL students are the pronunciation (accents), speedy delivery and length of the listening, physical conditions, unfamiliar vocabularies and terminologies, and limited facility for listening. Some actions should be done to overcome these obstacles occurred during listening process. The solutions to overcome the problems are students should be focus, practice more in listening English, memorize vocabularies, and prepare a language laboratory.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document