scholarly journals The Role of Language Proficiency in Willingness to Communicate: A Case Study of Saudi EFL Learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 469-478
Author(s):  
Hassan S. Alqurashi ◽  
Haitham A. Althubaiti
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Efl Students

This study’s principal aim revolves around expanding comprehension of the facets affecting people’s readiness to use foreign languages. To achieve that, the study investigates the various elements of verbal interaction between undergraduate English as a Foreign Language learners and their instructors in the classroom. Linguistic skills are of particular interest, especially their connection to learners’ readiness to speak during classes. The research aims to answer the question ‘How does language proficiency affect the willingness to communicate among Saudi EFL students in the classroom?’ Qualitative data was gathered through the implementation of a triangulation strategy that incorporated focus-group discussions and individual interviews. Moreover, the research takes inspiration from the work of MacIntyre (1994) and MacIntyre and Charos (1996), who focused on learners’ readiness to speak as the conceptual basis for their studies. The study shows that learners exhibit an unwillingness to speak in EFL settings due to perceived linguistic inadequacies, a limited lexicon and concerns that they may make mistakes when attempting to speak English, which would, in turn, prompt further misunderstandings. The study concludes with recommendations for further studies in similar institutions to investigate other factors that may influence students’ willingness to communicate.

scholarly journals The Role of Language Proficiency in Willingness to Communicate: A Case Study of Saudi EFL Learners

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan S. Alqurashi ◽  
Haitham A. Althubaiti
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Efl Students

This study’s principal aim revolves around expanding comprehension of the facets affecting people’s readiness to use foreign languages. To achieve that, the study investigates the various elements of verbal interaction between undergraduate English as a Foreign Language learners and their instructors in the classroom. Linguistic skills are of particular interest, especially their connection to learners’ readiness to speak during classes. The research aims to answer the question ‘How does language proficiency affect the willingness to communicate among Saudi EFL students in the classroom?’ Qualitative data was gathered through the implementation of a triangulation strategy that incorporated focus-group discussions and individual interviews. Moreover, the research takes inspiration from the work of MacIntyre (1994) and MacIntyre and Charos (1996), who focused on learners’ readiness to speak as the conceptual basis for their studies. The study shows that learners exhibit an unwillingness to speak in EFL settings due to perceived linguistic inadequacies, a limited lexicon and concerns that they may make mistakes when attempting to speak English, which would, in turn, prompt further misunderstandings. The study concludes with recommendations for further studies in similar institutions to investigate other factors that may influence students’ willingness to communicate.

scholarly journals THE INVESTIGATION OF PRODUCTIVE AND RECEPTIVE COMPETENCE IN V+N AND ADJ+N COLLOCATIONS AMONG INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Saudin Saudin ◽  
Iis Sulyaningsih ◽  
Lina Meilinda
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Test Model ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Lexical Cohesion ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Important Sign

The important role of collocation in learners’ language proficiency has been acknowledged widely. In Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), collocation is known as one prominent member of the super-ordinate lexical cohesion, which contributes significantly to the textual coherence, together with grammatical cohesion and structural cohesion (Halliday & Hasan, 1985). Collocation is also viewed as the hallmark of truly advanced English learners since the higher the learners’ proficiency is, the more they tend to use collocation (Bazzaz & Samad, 2011; Hsu, 2007; Zhang, 1993). Further, knowledge of collocation is regarded as part of the native speakers’ communicative competence (Bazzaz & Samad, 2011); and lack of the knowledge is the most important sign of foreignness among foreign language learners (McArthur, 1992; McCarthy, 1990). Taking the importance of collocation into account, this study is aimed to shed light on Indonesian EFL learners’ levels of collocational competence. In the study, the collocational competence is restricted to v+n and adj+n of collocation but broken down into productive and receptive competence, about which little work has been done (Henriksen, 2013). For this purpose, 49 second-year students of an English department in a state polytechnic were chosen as the subjects. Two sets of tests (filling in the blanks and multiple-choice) were administered to obtain the data of the subjects’ levels of productive and receptive competence and to gain information of which type was more problematic for the learners. The test instruments were designed by referring to Brashi’s (2006) test model, and Koya’s (2003). In the analysis of the data, interpretive-qualitative method was used primarily to obtain broad explanatory information. The data analysis showed that the scores of productive competence were lower than those of receptive competence in both v+n and adj+n collocation. The analysis also revealed that the scores of productive and receptive competence in v+n collocation were higher than those of productive and receptive competence in adj+n collocation. The finding comes as a surprise since it turns out adj+n collocation is more problematic than v+n collocation both productively and receptively. Much research, by contrast, has reported that mistakes in v+n collocation are typical (Al-Zahrani, 1998; Nesselhauf, 2003; Liu, 1999; Sun, 2004). A conclusion has even been drawn that “v+n collocation is more difficult than adj+n collocation” (Kuo, 2009, p. 148). Though more studies are needed to support its finding, this research suggests the type of collocation deserve to get more attention from researchers.

scholarly journals The Long-term Effects of Instruction on EFL Learners' Use of Complaining Formulas

10.29007/5xsb ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Martínez-Flor ◽  
Esther Usó-Juan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Over Time

Studies analysing the positive role of pragmatic instruction in formal settings have increased over the last decades. Within this area of interventional pragmatics, some studies have particularly examined whether the effectiveness of the instruction implemented is sustained over time. In order to shed more light on the long-term effects of instruction, this research investigates English as a Foreign Language learners’ use of complaining formulas not only after immediately receiving instruction, but also two months later. Results show that learners keep using a variety of appropriate complaining formulas two months after having participated in the instructional period. These findings are discussed and directions for future research suggested.

scholarly journals An investigation of scaffolded reading on EFL hypertext comprehension

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui-Fang Shang
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Multiple Resources ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Efl Students

<span lang="EN-US">With the rapid growth of computer technology, some printed texts are designed as hypertexts to help EFL (English as a foreign language) learners search for and process multiple resources in a timely manner for autonomous learning. T</span><span lang="EN-US">he purpose of this study was to</span><span lang="EN-US"> design a hypertext system and examine if a 14-week teacher-guided print-based and hypertext reading intervention might benefit non-traditional EFL students’ reading comprehension. Non-traditional EFL students are older students with greater work experience. The primary investigation finding revealed no significant difference in comprehension between the teacher-guided print-based and hypertext intervention conditions, though a significant mean improvement was found after hypertext learning. EFL learners’ attitudes also supported that both teacher-guided print-based and hypertext interventions merit reading comprehension performance. In addition, there appears to be a significantly strong and positive relationship between the perceived usefulness of hypertext reading and attempt of future hypertext use, suggesting that the majority of non-traditional EFL learners made a positive willingness and prediction to use the hypertext system in their future reading, but that the degree of usefulness of hypertext reading was not reliably predicted by their hypertext comprehension scores. Based on the investigation results, limitations and future research are discussed and presented.</span>

scholarly journals Using Games to Promote English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Willingness to Communicate: Potential Effects and Teachers’ Attitude in Focus

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Liu ◽  
Balachandran Vadivel ◽  
Ehsan Rezvani ◽  
Ehsan Namaziandost
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Item Questionnaire ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
Students Attitudes

This study aims to find out the role of games in promoting students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) and their teachers’ attitude toward it. In order to collect the data, the researchers employed a 28-item questionnaire which was given to 60 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in an English institute. Then, the students were randomly divided into two groups of 30 learners functioning as control and experimental groups. The students in the experimental group received games in their language lessons and classes, while control group learners did not. At the end of the term, the same questionnaire was given to the students to know if playing games had a significant impact on their WTC. In addition, the teachers were asked to answer a 30-item questionnaire to investigate their attitudes toward playing games in language classes. The results showed that most of the teachers in this study believe that games have a positive influence on the students’ attitudes towards learning English and that using them in class serves many educational purposes. In addition, games played a significant role in improving the EFL leaners’ willingness to communicate. In the light of these findings, the researchers suggested using games as energizers and practical activities at the end of class not only to improve enthusiasm for learning, but also to improve the learners’ WTC.

scholarly journals The Role of Traditional and Virtual Scaffolding in Developing Speaking Ability of Iranian EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Seyyed Hassan Mirahmadi ◽  
Sayyed Mohammad Alavi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Convenience Sampling ◽  
Spss Software

<p>The present study attempted to investigate the effect of the four scaffolding techniques, namely Hard, Soft (Saye &amp; Brush, 2002), Reciprocal (Holton &amp; Clarke, 2006), and Virtual (Yelland &amp; Masters, 2007), on the speaking ability of the Iranian EFL language learners and their fluency, lexicon, grammar and pronunciation. To this end, the four scaffolding techniques were classified into the two groups of Traditional (Hard, Soft and Reciprocal) and technology-mediated (Virtual). 120 Maritime students at Kharg Azad University (IAU-Kharg) were selected as participants based on convenience sampling. At the onset, an Oxford Placement Test was given to the students to place them in the same proficiency level, Intermediate. 10 students were found as outliers who remained as intact members of the groups throughout the study. Eventually, the 110 homogeneous students were randomly assigned to the four scaffolding groups. A pretest of speaking ability was run to the students prior to the scaffolding treatments lasting for 8 weeks (16 sessions). After the treatments, the students completed a posttest of speaking. Having analyzed the data through SPSS software, it was found that under the influence of the four scaffoldings, not only did the Iranian EFL students outperformed in the posttest of speaking, but they also showed a significant improvement in their fluency, grammar, lexicon, and pronunciation. Thus, the findings of this current study extended earlier understandings of scaffolding in an EFL environment and will contribute to the advancement of future courses in terms of their scaffolding pedagogical aspects.</p>

scholarly journals Role of Mobile Phones in Developing Motivation through Reading Activities in English Language Learners

2021 ◽  
pp. 7-19
Author(s):  
Roger Segura Arias
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teaching Reading ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Reading Activities

This case study attempts to elucidate the effects that the use of mobile phones as tools for teaching reading have in fostering motivation in EFL students. Through the use of qualitative research techniques, the professor executes a set of activities in a reading techniques course for second-year English language learners; focus groups and questionnaires help gather the students' perceptions on their involvement, enjoyment, and investment; the atmosphere created during the implementation of the activities, and their overall experience. In conclusion, the ubiquity of cell phones provides advantages in the development of motivation towards learning English and in fostering independence.

scholarly journals A Corpus-based Study of Collocation Production of Chinese EFL Learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Bowen Gao ◽  
Lin Zhu ◽  
Lin Zhu ◽  
Ziyan Luo ◽  
Ziyan Luo
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
School Students ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Language Influence

It is of great difficult for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners to acquire collocation. This research investigated V + N collocation production of Chinese middle school university EFL learners based on TECCL (Ten-thousand English Composition of Chinese Learners) corpus, aiming at discovering the difficulties in collocation usage. In the study, collocations in the writing samples were identified manually and evaluated by dictionaries, corpus and native speakers as right or wrong. Collocation accuracy was figured out and errors were examined. Therefore, difficulties in collocation usage were discovered. The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively to yield the following three findings: first, middle school students and university students respectively produced 79% and 83% correct collocations among their collocation production. Second, collocation accuracy did not improve significantly as overall L2 (second language) proficiency increases. Third, wrong choice of verb and noun was the largest problem for Chinese EFL learners. The results also suggested that L1 (first language) influence and deficiency in L2 knowledge affected collocation usage. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications were discussed.

scholarly journals The relationship between writing anxiety, writing selfefficacy, and Spanish EFL students’ use of metacognitive writing strategies: a case study

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Aula Blasco
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Writing Strategies ◽  
Think Aloud ◽  
Writing Anxiety ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Efl Students

The composing process of a written text is one of the most challenging tasks encountered by foreign language learners. Mastering writing depends on numerous aspects, being the use of metacognitive writing strategies a paramount factor in the process. However, writing metacognition is not isolated from other factors, and emotional constructs have a deep influence both on the use of strategies and on the final written outcome. In this article, a case study is undertaken among six upper-secondary-school Spanish EFL students in order to explore, identify, and analyze the unique relationships existing between the use of metacognitive writing strategies, writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy, observing also how these three factors influence students’ writing performance. To do so, participants were invited to take part in a think-aloud protocol while writing a text in English. Results were cross-validated with students’ completion of a questionnaire designed drawing on previous literature (O’Neil and Abedi 1996; Cheng 2004; Jones 2008; Stewart et al. 2015; Ho 2016) to measure the three factors. Participants’ responses to both research instruments showed a positive correlation between writing metacognition and writing self-efficacy. On the other hand, these two factors were reported to be negatively correlated with students’ level of writing anxiety. Findings also suggest that think-aloud protocols might have flaws when measuring emotional constructs. Thus, EFL instruction should aim at reducing both personal and environmental factors that may cause writing anxiety and decrease learners’ self-efficacy, ultimately enhancing students’ writing skills.

scholarly journals Student’s Ability and Factors to Use Gerund and To Infinitive Case Study: Indonesian EFL Learners in University Level

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Rina Husnaini Febriyanti
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Research Result ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
University Level ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Descriptive Method

<p>Mastering grammar seems very challenging for English foreign language learners. Learning grammar constructions that they do not find or have different system to their first language bring some consequences. One of them is on learning about gerund and to infinitive. The objectives of this study are to describe the ability on mastering gerund and infinitive form and to analyze the factors affecting them to learning its form. This study used descriptive method. The respondents of this research were the students who took English Structure subject on second year of Indraprasta PGRI University Jakarta. Moreover, the data was collected through the instruments, and they were test and questionnaire. The data was analyzed descriptively, and it was tabulated and calculated. Next, it was presented in percent form. After analyzing the data descriptively, the research result is the ability of the students on mastering the using of gerund is on very poor range that is 41.82% (23 out of 55), in other words, it can be said that more than half respondents were still in low understanding of gerund, in the same time, mastering the using to-infinitive form is on very poor range that is 36.36% (20 out of 55), or it can be said that the respondents were still low in understanding of to infinitive. The factors affecting them were being passive, lack of motivation, slow learning, less practice in doing exercises, poor of literature, and not learning from the mistakes. These findings may encourage the lecturer of English Structure to find out more ways to improve student’s ability especially on using gerund and to infinitive for Indonesian EFL Learners in<strong> </strong>University level.</p>

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