University students’ perception toward the use of the mother tongue in the EFL classrooms

This study identified learners’ perceptions toward using the mother tongue and analyzed the function or occasions of its use in the EFL classroom. A mixed-methods design, employing classroom observation, questionnaire, and semi-structured interview as data collection methods, was used to pursue this study. The questionnaire items gained the students’ opinion on two categories, namely: students’ preference and occasion of mother tongue use. Twenty undergraduate students who took the Speaking course at a private university in Aceh were involved as the participant of the observation and questionnaire. Meanwhile, only three of them were chosen as the interviewee. The questionnaire data were analyzed quantitatively. In contrast, the observation and interview data were analyzed qualitatively. The results indicated that the use of mother tongue brought positive and negative impacts regarding the students’ perception based on their various English proficiency levels. The low level of English proficiency and intermediate students revealed a higher preference toward the mother tongue to understand the instructions, explain unfamiliar vocabularies, and understand the differences or similarities of English pronunciation and idioms. At the same time, the advanced students indicated a negative perception of mother tongue use. They chose to avoid using their mother tongue to improve their skill through maximum exposure to English as the target language in the speaking classroom atmosphere.

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Motivation to Learn English Language: A Study of Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Sindh

International Journal of English Linguistics ◽

10.5539/ijel.v8n1p15 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 15

Author(s):

Ajab Ali Lashari ◽

Ghulam Mustafa Mashori ◽

Abdul Malik Abbasi ◽

Quratulain Talpur

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Extrinsic Motivation ◽

English Language ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Target Language ◽

Daily Routine ◽

Motivation To Learn ◽

Extrinsic Factors ◽

Intrinsic Factors ◽

Learning English

The present study aims to investigate the motivational factors which are directly involved in learning English language among Bachelor of Science (B.S) first year undergraduate students of Institute of English Language and Literature, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Sindh Pakistan. The study focuses on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors, which motivate students to learn English language. The questionnaire has been administered among students (N=70) which are based on 30 Likert scale items. Attitude Motivation Test Battery/AMTB (Gardner, 2004 English version) has been used in this regard. SPSS has been used to quantify the data. The semi-structured interview has been conducted by using purposive sampling for in-depth study from (N= 6) students. The results reveal that the students have extrinsic reasons as dominant factors for motivation to learn the target language. The dominant extrinsic factors which were investigated among the students are to get a good job and to qualify exams. The intrinsic factors such as learning English for developing self-image and communication skills in English with proficiency in their daily routine work are responsible for motivating students to learn English language.

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Apology Strategies Used by EFL Undergraduate Students in Indonesia

International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature ◽

10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.6p.214 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (6) ◽

pp. 214

Author(s):

Payung Cedar

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Speech Acts ◽

English Proficiency ◽

Target Language ◽

First Year ◽

Pragmatic Transfer ◽

Foreign Language Learners ◽

Proficiency Level ◽

Frequent Use ◽

Significant Difference

Interlanguage speakers, regardless of proficiency level, often experience problems in communication due to their limited knowledge of how speech acts are commonly performed in the target language. The current study attempted to investigate the effects of English proficiency level on the apology strategy use by Indonesian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners from two English proficiency levels. The study employed a DCT (Discourse Completion Task) questionnaire and involved 21 A2 students and 21 B1 students majoring in English in their first-year period from an Indonesian university. Utilizing the apology strategy framework from Olshtain & Cohen (1983) and Blum-Kulka, House & Kasper (1989), the findings demonstrated no significant difference between the two subject groups in the overall use of apology strategies, whereas differences were noted at an individual strategy level. Nonetheless, the B1 group made more frequent use and a wider range of apology strategies than the A2 group. In addition, the study found two forms of pragmatic transfer made by the subjects and a new apology strategy.

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PODCAST USAGE: EXPANDING ENGLISH LEARNING OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AT UNIVERSITAS AHMAD DAHLAN

ENGLISH EDUCATION JOURNAL OF ENGLISH TEACHING AND RESEARCH ◽

10.29407/jetar.v5i1.14033 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 13-24

Author(s):

Imam Tyas Sansinadi ◽

Dwi Suny Wardhany ◽

Winarko

Keyword(s):

Data Analysis ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Direct Observations ◽

Video Material ◽

Share Information ◽

Video Program

Podcast is an audio or video program which can be downloaded via the Internet to your mobile phone or computer in the form of an audio or video material. It is an interesting media that some people use to provide and share information. The use of podcast is another enjoyable way to expand the learning of English, as well as the use of movies or music as a mother tongue. This allows both students and teachers to develop their quality of learning. The style can also be more interesting and fun, as students and teachers can explore new ways of learning. This study aims to analyze the benefit of using podcast to enhance English skill for the undergraduate students at Universitas Ahmad Dahlan. The method used in this research is a qualitative approach. The objects of this research are the undergraduate students of Universitas Ahmad Dahlan who have been using a podcast in their daily life. The instruments used in this research are direct observations and semi-structured interview. The process of data analysis is started by collecting data from direct observation and semi-structured interviews. Then, the results of data analysis are integrated into the form of descriptive. The results showed that Podcast's benefits are that it can be downloaded and heard any time and wherever they want. It can be a media to get entertained besides enhancing English skills. Moreover, podcast can develop listening, speaking, pronunciation, as well as vocabulary.

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A Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Study of Invitation Strategies As Produced by Indonesian and Yemeni EFL Language Learners

International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature ◽

10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.9n.6p.42 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 42

Author(s):

Ali Mohammed Saleh Al-Hamzi ◽

Ni Wayan Sartini ◽

Nurul Fitri Hapsari ◽

Ayoub Gougui ◽

Raghda Mansour Ali Al-Nozili

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Speech Acts ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

First Language ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Target Language ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Research Perspectives ◽

Wh Questions ◽

The Two Cultures

Based on cross-cultural pragmatic research perspectives, the present study aimed at comparing the attainment of speech acts of invitation between Indonesian and Yemeni EFL learners. The study participants were 30 undergraduate students from Airlangga University, Indonesia, and 30 undergraduate students from Sana’a University, Yemen. All of the participants were different in terms of their cultural background. The data were gathered by using Discourse Completion Task (DCT) and then analyzed on the bases of Bruder and Tillitt (1999), Al-Khatib (2006), and Suzuki (2009) compilations of invitation strategies. The findings of the study displayed some similarities and differences in terms of invitation making. Some invitation strategies seemed to be culturally specific to one culture and others are universal across the two cultures. In this regard, Indonesian EFL learners preferred to be indirect in the use of speech acts while invitation making with the high preference to use Yes/No questions, asking for willingness and Wh. questions strategies. They believe that the use of such strategies helps them to add some polite expressions that they use in their daily conversation while using their first language. In contrast, Yemeni EFL learners favored being direct in the use of the speech act of invitation, with the highest percentage of imperative strategy followed by Yes/ No questions strategy. This might show a portion of the effect of their first language on their answers. They also know that direct invitations are mostly accepted in their culture. Besides, the findings of the study revealed that Indonesian and Yemeni EFL learners translated the utterances in their mother tongue into the target language without considering the variations between the two languages in patterns of sentences and the order of words. Implications of the study are supplied too.

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British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Students’ Manual: A Critical Analysis of the Coursebook Taught at Pakistani Universities for Academic Purposes (EAP) Students’ Manual: A Critical Analysis of the Coursebook Taught at Pakistani Universities

University of Chitral Journal of Linguistics and Literature ◽

10.33195/uochjll/3/1/03/2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Critical Analysis ◽

English Language ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Language Skills ◽

Primary Source ◽

English For Academic Purposes ◽

Target Language ◽

Teaching Principles

English for Academic Purposes course focusing on the academic language needs of students is a subfield of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). It is a type of specialized course to integrate specific subject matter, language content, and material based on learners’ needs. The study aims to evaluate the British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) coursebook in terms of content, sequencing, learners’ autonomy, motivation, feedback and focus on language skills. Furthermore, the study tries to provide a general perception of the usefulness and effectiveness of the coursebook for undergraduate students. The EAP Students’ Manual coursebook is used as a primary source for the data collection. The researcher has chosen Nation & Macalister (2010) model of language teaching principles to analyze and discuss the data. The study found the coursebook a useful, effective and an appropriate source of English language learning in terms of the investigated aspects of the book. The findings report that the coursebook provides practice and practical usage in all domains of the academically required English language skills. It helps the students to build language competency and to be more independent learners. In addition, it provides an opportunity to the learners to think in the target language, use the language more practically and learn it in a natural type of environment. The study concludes and suggests that the content needs to be supplemented with English language audios and videos presenting the students relevant documentaries and helping material in order to make the coursebook and the learning process more useful, effective, interesting and motivating. Furthermore, the study recommends that while choosing /designing a coursebook for a certain course, it needs to be evaluated following the various criteria and language-teaching-principles suggested by different language researchers.

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British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Students’ Manual: A Critical Analysis of the Coursebook Taught at Pakistani Universities

University of Chitral Journal of Linguistics and Literature ◽

10.33195/jll.v3i1.104 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

English Language ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Language Skills ◽

Primary Source ◽

English For Academic Purposes ◽

Target Language ◽

Teaching Principles ◽

Language Needs

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The role of cross-linguistic stress pattern frequency and word similarity on the acquisition of English stress pattern by native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese

Revista Diadorim ◽

10.35520/diadorim.2012.v12n0a3978 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Amanda Post Silveira

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

American English ◽

Brazilian Portuguese ◽

Stress Pattern ◽

Target Language ◽

English As Second Language ◽

Word Similarity ◽

L1 Transfer

This is a preliminary study in which we investigate the acquisition of English as second language (L2[1]) word stress by native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (BP, L1[2]). In this paper, we show results of a multiple choice forced choice perception test in which native speakers of American English and native speakers of Dutch judged the production of English words bearing pre-final stress that were both cognates and non-cognates with BP words. The tokens were produced by native speakers of American English and by Brazilians that speak English as a second language. The results have shown that American and Dutch listeners were consistent in their judgments on native and non-native stress productions and both speakers' groups produced variation in stress in relation to the canonical pattern. However, the variability found in American English points to the prosodic patterns of English and the variability found in Brazilian English points to the stress patterns of Portuguese. It occurs especially in words whose forms activate neighboring similar words in the L1. Transfer from the L1 appears both at segmental and prosodic levels in BP English. [1] L2 stands for second language, foreign language, target language. [2] L1 stands for first language, mother tongue, source language.

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Translating ambiguous and nonambiguous Words in a foreign Language

ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.2143/itl.139.0.2003201 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 139-140 ◽

pp. 129-152

Author(s):

Paul Bogaards ◽

Elisabeth Van Der Linden ◽

Lydius Nienhuis

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

University Students ◽

Language Learners ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

Empirical Support ◽

Lexical Ambiguity ◽

Target Language ◽

Bilingual Lexicon ◽

The Individual

The research to be reported on in this paper was originally motivated by the finding that about 70% of the mistakes made by university students when translating from their mother tongue (Dutch) into their foreign language (French) were lexical in nature (NIENHUIS et al. 1989). This was partially confinned in the investigation described in NIENHUIS et al. (1993). A closer look at the individual errors suggested that many problems were caused by words with more than one meaning which each require different translations in the target language. In the research reported on in this paper, we checked our fmdings in the light of what is known about the structure of the bilingual lexicon and about the ways bilinguals have access to the elements of their two languages. On the basis of the model of the bilingual lexicon presented by KROLL & Sholl (1992) an adapted model is proposed for the processing of lexical ambiguity. This leads to a tentative schema of the mental activities that language learners have to perfonn when they are translating from their mother tongue into a foreign language, The second part of the paper describes two experiments we have carried out in order to find empirical support for such a schema. The last section of the paper contains a discussion of the results obtained as well as the conclusions that can be drawn.

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Sleep Disturbances in Individuals Quarantined Due to SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Poland: A Mixed Methods Design Study

Global Advances in Health and Medicine ◽

10.1177/21649561211020707 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

pp. 216495612110207

Author(s):

Sabina Krupa ◽

Witt Paweł ◽

Wioletta Mędrzycka-Dąbrowska ◽

Agnieszka Lintowska ◽

Dorota Ozga

Keyword(s):

Mixed Methods ◽

Sleep Disturbances ◽

Acute Stress ◽

Sleep Problems ◽

Severity Index ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Mixed Methods Design ◽

Design Study ◽

Insomnia Severity Index ◽

Insomnia Severity

Objectives The study aimed to assess sleep disturbances in patients subjected to home quarantine due to suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection. The study used a mixed methods design study as a research methodology. Methods A semi-structured interview and the scale for Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were used to achieve the aim of the study. The survey was conducted from 16 to 20 April 2020 and 1 to 2 September 2020 in Poland, at the during of SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in this country. The data were coded and cross-processed. The (COREQ) checklist was followed. Results Interviews with patients and a thorough analysis of recordings revealed commonly used phrases in the following categories: “anxiety”, “ Am I going crazy?”, “Sleep problems”. 10 out of 11 respondents reported sleep disorders of varying severity according to the Insomnia Severity Index scale. Patients presented a fear related to the return to society and normal functioning after quarantine. Additionally, some study participants voiced concerns related to their mental health; some cases of hallucinations were reported. Conclusions Further global population studies should be conducted to analyse this phenomenon. Acute Stress Disorder should be understood as a threat to life and health of an isolated society in quarantine. Further research in this area should be promoted and the need for global guidelines for the entire population should be developed.

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Academic Press and Student Engagement: Can Academic Psychological Capital Intervene? Test of a Mediated Model on Business Graduates

International Journal of Higher Education ◽

10.5430/ijhe.v8n3p134 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 134

Author(s):

Meryem Fati ◽

Umair Ahmed ◽

Waheed Ali Umrani ◽

Fazluz Zaman

Keyword(s):

Student Engagement ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Psychological Capital ◽

Private University ◽

Academic Press ◽

Academic Efficacy ◽

Business Graduates ◽

Research Gap ◽

The Relationship

Psychological wellbeing has gained much prominence over the recent years. Parallel to organizational domains, empirical attention is also being paid across the academics as well. The present study attempted to examine the much important role and relationship between academic press and student engagement and to what length academic psychological capital can potentially mediate in the relationship. A total of 371 undergraduate students were sampled for the present study from a private university in Bahrain. Through using structural equation modelling using Smart PLS 3 the results of the mediated model reported significant relationship between academic press and academic psychological capital (i-e academic efficacy and resilience). Though the study did not find any support for academic press and student engagement relationship, nonetheless, found a significant mediation of academic psychological capital in the relationship between academic press and student engagement. The findings have suggested that students’ perceptions about how much their teacher presses them to do thoughtful work, facilitation in explaining and motivating for full efforts can act as a key ingredient for nurturing students` connectivity with the studies in general and views about their own learning. Accordingly, the study has also underlined that students with positive academic press from their teachers tend to be higher in engagement due to enhanced efficacy and resilience. The present study has attempted to address a major research gap with acute empirical findings for academicians to enhance their students` wellbeing.

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