The effects of raters' mother tongues on performance in English speaking assessment of native/non-native English teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 397-421
Author(s):  
Yoonhee Choe
Keyword(s):  
English Teachers ◽  
Speaking Assessment ◽  
English Speaking

Students’ Speaking Skill in English Immersion School

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Fadil ◽  
Sumardi Sumardi ◽  
Ngadiso Ngadiso
Keyword(s):  
English Teachers ◽  
Program Improvement ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
English Immersion ◽  
Speaking Skill ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Comparative Results ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Speaking Skills

This research aims to describe: (1) students' English speaking skill in English immersion school; (2) students’ strengths and weaknesses in speaking skill in English immersion school; (3) factors affecting students' speaking skill in English immersion school. The research was designed as a case study, conducted at a school applying English immersion in Bondowoso, East Java, Indonesia in Academic Year 2017-2018. The research used purposive sampling. Data were collecated by interview, questionnairre, observation, and document analysis. The informants were grade 2 students, English teachers, and the school founder. The analysis found that: (1) on the scale of 1-5 (1=very bad, 2=bad, 3=fair, 4=good, 5=very good), students’ English speaking skills were at levels of very good (2.22%), good (6.67%), fair (37.78%), bad (44.44%), and very bad (8.89%); (2) students’ strengths in English speaking skills were related to vocabulary with average score of 2.7, and the weaknesses dealt with fluency with average score of 2.25; (3) factors that were assumed to affect students’ English speaking skills were environment, local accent, vocabulary mastery, English use, preference, and habits. It is recommended that all parties involved in the English immersion program evaluate the running of the program and the content of the program to provide learning outputs through English immersion. Commitment to using English should be strengthened, especially in English Week program. Improvement on English teachers’ is needed by involving them in trainings. Finally, similar research at non-English immersion school is necessary to ensure the comparative results gained from both types of school.

scholarly journals Speaking Assessment at Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels and Students’ Deficiency in Speaking Skill: A Study to Find Interdependence

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 234-251
Author(s):  
Zakia Noor Matin
Keyword(s):  
National Curriculum ◽  
Private Universities ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Speaking Assessment ◽  
Comprehensive Development ◽  
Speaking Skill ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Listening And Speaking

For a comprehensive development of students’ communication skills, reading, writing, listening and speaking are equally important to be emphasized. At the learning process, assessment is the final step where the learners get feedback of what they have been taught and how much they have learned. The study aims to show the current approach of assessing students’ English speaking skill (the most important medium of communication) at the Secondary and Higher Secondary levels, and how far this approach helps students develop language skills. Finally, the study intends to find out the reason of students’ reluctance in improving English speaking skill and evaluate their sufferings at the tertiary level. A survey was conducted among one hundred students of three private universities. Majority of them have come from Bangla medium institutions. The syllabuses (2008), text books and question papers (2006 to 2010) are used as reference for this study. The research was exploratory and three private universities of Dhaka city were selected as study area. Irrespective of the discipline of the study, 100 students were interviewed through a structured questionnaire. The academic practice of the students in secondary and higher secondary levels was portrayed retrospectively and the obstacles they were facing at the tertiary level were analysed according to the objective of the study. This is also a finding which shows a rift between the objective of introducing Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and the assessment technique followed by National Curriculum and Text Books Board. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/sje.v7i0.14476 Stamford Journal of English; Volume 7; Page 234-251

Young learners’ response processes when taking computerized tasks for speaking assessment

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinhye Lee ◽  
Paula Winke
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Test Accommodations ◽  
Speaking Test ◽  
Speaking Assessment ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Native English Speaking ◽  
Hesitation Phenomena

We investigated how young language learners process their responses on and perceive a computer-mediated, timed speaking test. Twenty 8-, 9-, and 10-year-old non-native English-speaking children (NNSs) and eight same-aged, native English-speaking children (NSs) completed seven computerized sample TOEFL® Primary™ speaking test tasks. We investigated the children’s attentional foci on different test components (e.g., prompts, pictures, and a countdown timer) by means of their eye movements. We associated the children’s eye-movement indices (visit counts and fixation durations) with spoken performance. The children provided qualitative data (interviews; picture-drawings) on their test experiences as well. Results indicated a clear contrast between NNSs and NSs in terms of speech production (large score differences) as expected. More interestingly, the groups’ eye-movement patterns differed. NNSs tended to fixate longer on and looked more frequently at the countdown timer than their NS peers, who were more likely to look at content features, that is, onscreen pictures meant to help with building up speech. Specifically, the NNSs’ fixations on timers were likely to co-occur with hesitation phenomena (e.g., hemming; pausing; silence). We discuss (a) the potential effects of test-specific features on children’s performance and (b) child-appropriate test accommodations and practices.

scholarly journals Emerging Challenges of Teaching English in Non-native English-Speaking Countries: Teachers’ View

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Nurul Hasanah ◽  
Pratiwi Tri Utami
Keyword(s):  
School Environment ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
English Teacher ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Language Teacher ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Native English Speaking

Teaching English to students, particularly non-English speakers, requires proper strategies and methods. By doing so, each teacher has his/her challenges. This study intends to unveil the emerging challenges faced by English teachers from non-native English-speaking countries (non-NESCs) such as China, Japan, Thailand, Senegal, Mongolia, Cambodia, and Laos. This study stands on to answer two research questions: 1. What are the challenges of teaching English in non-native English-speaking countries? 2. Is there any effort to overcome the challenges? If so, how do they overcome it? By utilizing the qualitative method, seven teachers are interviewed to tell their challenges. The result indicates three main problems, including learning materials which do not cover students’ need, too big classroom size and school environment, and also students’ low motivation. Some programs are conducted to overcome those challenges. For example, Japan has an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) who comes once a week to cooperate with the English teacher in each school. Then, Volunteer English Teacher (VET) program helps English Teachers in Laos.

scholarly journals When teachers talk about films: An investigation into some aspects of English teachers’ discursive practices

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Synnøve Bakken
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Secondary Classroom ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World

Denne artikkelen utforsker hva atten ungdomsskolelærere sier om læringsverdien av film i engelskundervisningen. De filmene lærerne nevner er hovedsakelig fiksjonsfilmer om forhold i den engelskspråklige verden eller filmatiseringer av skjønnlitterære verk. Hvordan begrunner lærene bruken av disse filmene? Hvilke ytre forhold kan bidra til lærernes meningsskaping omkring filmbruk? Jeg bruker perspektiver fra Norman Faircloughs kritiske diskursanalyse for å utforske trekk ved lærernes refleksjoner i intervju. Jeg inndeler lærernes meningsskaping i fire antakelser om filmens læringsverdi; den referensielle, den kompensatoriske, den emosjonelle og den språklige verdien. Videre skisserer jeg hvordan disse refleksjonene kan knyttes til omliggende diskurser om hva man kan lære av film; i engelskfaget, i media og i lys av mer abstrakte diskurser om deltakelse og demokrati i norsk skole. Det synes å være enighet om at film fortjener en plass i engelskundervisningen. Imidlertid virker det som om forestillinger om filmens læringsverdi representerer en blindsone som i liten grad har fått kritisk et søkelys. Jeg mener at de perspektivene som belyses i denne artikkelen kan være gjenstand for diskusjon både i engelskfaget og på tvers av fag.Nøkkelord: fiksjonsfilmer, engelskundervisning, kritisk diskursanalyse, læreres diskursive praksiserAbstractWhen teachers say: “you can learn a lot from films”, what does this imply? This article explores interviews with eighteen Norwegian English teachers about the learning value of films in the lower secondary classroom. The films that these teachers talk about are mostly fiction films about conditions in the English-speaking world or film adaptations of literary texts. This article focuses on the teachers’ reasoning about fiction films.  I use perspectives from critical discourse analysis (CDA) to explore how the teachers justify their choices and what notions of films they can be seen to rely on. There appears to be some sort of general agreement in the field of English teaching that films deserve a place in the classroom. Still, notions about the value of classroom film use might represent a blind spot that has escaped scrutiny.Keywords: fiction films, EFL teaching, critical discourse analysis, teachers’ discursive practices

scholarly journals TEACHING OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING SKILL BY GOVERNMENT SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHERS OF QUETTA CITY

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Rahila Khan Zainab Akram Sadia Suleman Khan
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Language Skill ◽  
English Classes ◽  
English Class ◽  
Speaking Skill ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The 1960S

Speech is an important language skill used for communicating. It is the creative oral language skill that allows one to produce a logical spoken statement in order to express oneself meaningfully. For an effective communication, teaching of speaking skill at schools is of great importance. It is found that in Pakistan, speaking skill is not effectively taught at Government Secondary Schools. The objective of this study was to investigate the perceptions of Government Secondary School English teachers about the challenges they face in teaching English speaking skill to their students. Communicative competence presented by Dell Hymes in the 1960s, provided the theoretical framework for this study. The participants of this study were 100 Government Secondary School English teachers of Quetta city, out of whom 50 were male and 50 females. Data was collected using five items Likert scale questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS. The findings revealed that the majority of English teachers spoke in both English and Urdu in their English class. It was also found that the teachers often asked student for sentence drilling and repeating sentences after them in English. Inclusively, the findings of this study depicted that most English Teachers agreed that they describe grammar only when required in class. The study suggests that English should be taught only by the teachers qualified in this subject. It is further suggested that speaking skill should be assessed in the board examination, only in that case the English teachers would focus teaching of speaking skill in their English classes in order to enhance communicative competence of their students.   

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