SPEAKING CHALLENGES THAT ENCOUNTER  2ND AND 3RD YEAR EFL  UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

This research investigated the common problems and difficulties that face 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students in developing their speaking skills. The qualitative approaches (interview and observation) were used as methods of collecting data of this study. Four classes were involved in the classroom observation, twenty students from this cohort and four teachers were interviewed. Some of the difficulties which were introduced in this study were related to the poor classroom conditions and methods that teachers employ in teaching speaking skills. Some other difficulties were related to pronunciation, including adding extra vowels and intonation and stress. Furthermore, there were other difficulties regarding the lack of vocabulary, which lead the students to avoid practicing their problems, have been provided in this study. The findings of this study are important as they represent the most influential factors which appear to be responsible for the problems of developing 2nd and 3rd year under- graduate students speaking skills. Recognition of the problems outlined in the first step of this study in order to supply appropriate solutions for overcoming these difficulties. In addition, these findings draw attention towards the importance of helping both the foreign language teachers and students to change their perspective about teaching and learning English speaking skills.

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Teachers and Students’ Stereotypes about the Teaching and Learning of English

GiST Education and Learning Research Journal ◽

10.26817/16925777.313 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 75-92

Author(s):

Eliana Edith Roberto Flórez ◽

Gladis Leonor Arias Rodriguez

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Private University ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Work Behavior ◽

Academic Majors ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

English Class ◽

Grounded Theory Method ◽

Teachers And Students

This article is the result of a research study that examined teachers and undergraduate students’ stereotypes about English teaching and learning processes at a private university in Tunja, Colombia. The research was carried out with six English teachers and twenty undergraduate students from first and second semesters. The instruments used to collect data were semi-structured interviews and questionnaires from both teachers and students. A grounded theory method was used to analyze the gathered information. Findings demonstrate that language teachers created stereotypes about students’ academic work, behavior, and attitudes due to their experiences with them as their teachers, and particularly according to students’ academic majors. Students also evidence stereotypes about the teaching and learning of English, according to their experiences in English class.

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Unlocking Technology for Language Learning: A Viability at the Time of Transition from Traditional to Online Teaching and Learning

Arab World English Journal ◽

10.24093/awej/mec2.7 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 96-110

Author(s):

Reema Srivastava

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Online Teaching ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Learning Tools ◽

Online Teaching And Learning ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

Learning Platforms ◽

Teaching Learning

Online teaching and learning activities are no longer ‘a nice-to-have extracurricular facility’ but an answer to what, how, when people learn, and where they learn it from. Digitization of education helps us to find answers to how technology can enable teachers and students to access specialized materials outside the classroom, in various formats and ways that help to utilize both time and space. Educators all over the world are trying to overcome the limitations of being physically separated by moving onto online learning platforms. This paper attempts to find out the feasibility of using technology for teaching language to learners of English as a second language in the present-day context. The findings of this research are based on responses to a questionnaire answered by both the Language teachers and the Undergraduate students of Middle East College, Muscat and through literature review. Gen Z, the ‘digital natives’ do not want teachers to be replaced entirely by computers as they need motivation, inspiration, and emotional support. Virtual education is feasible, but its success depends upon the effective content generation, designing and planning for its delivery, and the effective use of teaching/learning tools that can supplement the efforts of the teachers. For online teaching and learning not only do the colleges and educational institutions need to be well-equipped, the learners also need to adapt to the changing scenario.

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College students’ attitudes towards the use of Flipgrid to improve speaking skills

AlfaPublicaciones ◽

10.33262/ap.v3i3.1.85 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (3.1) ◽

pp. 161-170

Author(s):

Silvia Elizabeth Cárdenas Sánchez ◽

Ximena Elizabeth Naranjo Lozada

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Online Classes ◽

Online Resource ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

Points Of View ◽

Students Attitudes ◽

Speaking Skills

Introduction. Flipgrid, as a tool to use in class, has been designed in order to help teachers and students record videos and post them on Internet. Research has demonstrated that it works for teaching and learning English since it promotes students´ interactions. Objective. This research aims to analyze students´ points of view about their speaking improvement using Flipgrid. Methodology. There were 65 undergraduate students, with a A2 English level, who participated in this study and they were attending online classes because of the pandemic. Students recorded around five videos individually during the academic period and at the end of the semester they answered a questionnaire and had an interview with the instructor. The interviews were necessary in order to know opinions and attitudes about the use of Flipgrid as an innovative form of instruction of English as a Foreign Language. Results. The results demonstrated that students liked to use Flipgrid and their confidence, motivation, vocabulary, language and pronunciation improved. Conclusion. The use of Flipgrid as an online resource can be beneficial for students in order to promote speaking skills; however, there are some important implications that language instructors need to consider during the language learning process if they decide to use Flipgrid in classes.

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An Investigation in to Using Communicative Activities in Teaching English Speaking Skills at High Schools in Bac Ninh Province

International Journal of Social Science and Human Research ◽

10.47191/ijsshr/v4-i4-12 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 04 (04) ◽

Author(s):

Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai ◽

Keyword(s):

High Schools ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Quantitative Methodology ◽

Quality Of Teaching ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

English Speaking ◽

Communicative Activities ◽

Learning English ◽

Speaking Skills

The present study aims to investigate the reality of teaching and learning English speaking by using communicative activities for students in grade 10th at High schools in Bac Ninh province in Vietnam. There were ten teachers and 300 students participated in the study. Both qualitative and quantitative methodology were applied in the research. The data of research was collected by three research instruments including questionnaires, class observation and interviews. The study proved that teachers used Game, Discussion and Role play more than Class survey. Applying these activities was flexible and dependent upon the cognitive ability of students. Another finding from the survey was that both teachers and students felt interested in using communicative activities in speaking lessons. In the effort of carrying out various methods of research, the study explored the difficulties in the application of communicative for grade 10th students’ English speaking classes at two high schools. With these findings, the research suggestion could help the teachers and students at two high schools improve their quality of teaching and learning English, especially in speaking skills.

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Unlocking Technology for Language Learning: A Viability at the Time of Transition from Traditional to Online Teaching and Learning

10.31235/osf.io/qa2rm ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Reema Srivastava

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Online Teaching ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Learning Tools ◽

Online Teaching And Learning ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

Learning Platforms ◽

Teaching Learning

Online teaching and learning activities are no longer ‘a nice-to-have extracurricular facility’ but an answer to what, how, when people learn, and where they learn it from. Digitization of education helps us to find answers to how technology can enable teachers and students to access specialized materials outside the classroom, in various formats and ways that help to utilize both time and space. Educators all over the world are trying to overcome the limitations of being physically separated by moving onto online learning platforms. This paper attempts to find out the feasibility of using technology for teaching language to learners of English as a second language in the present-day context. The findings of this research are based on responses to a questionnaire answered by both the Language teachers and the Undergraduate students of Middle East College, Muscat and through literature review. Gen Z, the ‘digital natives’ do not want teachers to be replaced entirely by computers as they need motivation, inspiration, and emotional support. Virtual education is feasible, but its success depends upon the effective content generation, designing and planning for its delivery, and the effective use of teaching/learning tools that can supplement the efforts of the teachers. For online teaching and learning not only do the colleges and educational institutions need to be well-equipped, the learners also need to adapt to the changing scenario.

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Non-English Majors’ Attitudes towards Using YouTube to Improve Speaking Skills

EDEN Conference Proceedings ◽

10.38069/edenconf-2021-ac0004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 38-48

Author(s):

Nguyen Dinh

Keyword(s):

Teaching And Learning ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Descriptive Statistics ◽

Affective Attitudes ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

English Majors ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

English Speaking ◽

Students Attitudes ◽

Speaking Skills

This study aimed to explore students’ attitudes towards using YouTube to improve speaking skills at the context of a Binh Duong based university. A total of one hundred and fifty students participated in the research. Both quantitative and qualitative data was obtained through two instruments, namely questionnaires and interview. For analysing the data collected, descriptive statistics and content analysis were employed. The results of the study revealed that non-English majors hade positive attitudes towards using YouTube to improve speaking skills. More interestingly, the findings revealed that they had affective attitudes towards the use of YouTube higher than the cognitive and behavioural attitudes. The study also made several suggestions for both teachers and students with the aim of contributing a small part to the teaching and learning of English speaking skills.

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Pronunciation Errors of Letter “G” in English Language Made by Saudi Undergraduate Students

English Language and Literature Studies ◽

10.5539/ells.v6n4p104 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 104 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Huda Alqunayeer

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

English Language ◽

Female Students ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Test Results ◽

Loan Words ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

English Language Teachers ◽

Academic Year

The primary goal of the present study is to identify the problematic areas in the pronunciation of the letter “g” in English written words made by Saudi female learners of English as a foreign language, and the reasons for the weakness associated with mispronunciation of English written words which contain this letter. The population of the study was the female students (90 students) and their English language teachers (12 teachers) at the Qassim University during the academic year (2014-2015). There were two types of instruments used in this study. The first was a pronunciation test for the student participants in order to investigate the problematic areas of pronouncing “g” in different environments in different words; and the second a questionnaire for the teacher participants to provide comprehensive data about the causes of these errors of pronouncing “g” committed by EFL female students at Qassim University. Ninety female students were included for the pronunciation test and 12 teachers were asked to answer the questionnaire. Simple percentage was used for analyzing the data of recording words (pronunciation test). Results of the students’ recording words revealed that the participants mispronounced “g” before nasals (68%). According to the results of the teachers’ responses to the questionnaire suggested many factors that can cause difficulties for students in terms of pronouncing “g” in English written words. According to them, these difficulties are concerned with reading difficulties, nonstandard spellings, letters that follow “g” (many of them may become combinations), loan words, orthography (no correspondence between the English alphabets and their sounds). The researcher offers recommendations that might help teachers and students to overcome and reduce these mispronunciations of this letter in English written words.

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Role Play Activities: An Innovative Approach to Teaching Speaking Skills in an ESL Classroom

LSP International Journal ◽

10.11113/lspi.v7.16310 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 19-36

Author(s):

Nurhamimi Togimin ◽

Haliza Jaafar

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Role Play ◽

Real Life ◽

Target Language ◽

Innovative Approach ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Real Life Situation ◽

English Speaking ◽

Esl Classroom ◽

Speaking Skills

Encouraging students to speak during classroom activities is an effective strategy to improve their acquisition of the target language. Activities related to real life situation such as role play, debate and simulation provide substantial rehearsal and practice and they allow students to not just learn phrases, but also learn how to communicate in various circumstances. Recent studies have revealed that students who are exposed to learning using role play activities improve significantly in speaking competency. Hence, the aim of this study is to investigate how role play activities in an ESL classroom can be an innovative approach in improving students’ speaking skill. A total of nine undergraduate students from the Faculty of Computing in a public university in the Southern region of Malaysia were involved in this study. The main purpose for choosing the students as participants of the study was due to their low English proficiency based on their MUET results. The instruments used in this study were observation checklist and questionnaire. All the findings were tabulated and analysed qualitatively (observation checklist) as well as quantitatively (questionnaire). From the analysis carried out, it was evident that the students made positive improvement particularly in fluency, comprehension, context, and interactive communication. Besides that, the students felt that role play activities had brought positive effects on their English-speaking skills as obtained from the results of the questionnaire. Thus, it can be deduced that role play activities do have positive effects on students’ English-speaking skills.

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The Effects of Audio- visual Recorded and Audio Recorded Listening Tasks on the Accuracy of Iranian EFL Learners’ Oral Production

English Language Teaching ◽

10.5539/elt.v9n9p110 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. 110

Author(s):

Pooya Drood ◽

Hanieh Davatgari Asl

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Language Learners ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Control Groups ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Oral Production ◽

Self Study ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

English Speaking ◽

And Control

<p>The ways in which task in classrooms has developed and proceeded have receive great attention in the field of language teaching and learning in the sense that they draw attention of learners to the competing features such as accuracy, fluency, and complexity. English audiovisual and audio recorded materials have been widely used by teachers and students, and have been the important resources of teaching and self-study. Nowadays, the environment we are living in is abundant with audio visual input and we as teachers ,thus, should be aware of the fact that environment can change students’ behavior towards language and language learning .What effects do these materials have on English speaking ability? The objective of this study is to find out whether there is difference in Iranian EFL learners’ accuracy in both audiovisual recorded (videos, movies ,etc.) and audio recorded tasks. For this purpose, 40 students of intermediate level were chosen and then were randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups each of which was under different listening tasks. (Audio visual- and audio only). Data analysis showed that the group which was trained under AV listening tasks showed different effects on students’ accuracy, compared to the other group positioned using audio recorded. Based on the results of this study, it is imperative that teachers consider the types of activities and methods that can have influence over language learners’ speaking ability.</p>

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