scholarly journals Using six-word stories to trigger EFL learners’ creative writing skills

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-188
Author(s):  
Phuong Le

There has been a growing volume of six-word stories and related literature available in recent decades. In only six words, the authors are able to tell amazing stories of various types, packed with strong emotions. Inspired by the succinct and thought-provoking language use of these stories, the author has used this valuable source of materials as prompts in promoting EFL learners’ creativity and language development, both at high school and tertiary levels in a semi-structured case study in Vietnam. The article illustrates the different language activities that have been used with two groups of EFL students and their related products. Implications are introduced for their applications in similar educational contexts.

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 120
Author(s):  
Enas Abdelwahab Eltom RahmtAllah

Writing is considered an essential learning tool for all content areas. However, to master and have excellent writing skills for EFL students of undergraduate programs is challenging. Cohesion and coherence are both crucial textual elements to master writing. The present study examined coherence in English essays written by 46 female Saudi EFL third year at Unaizah College of Sciences and Arts, Qassim University. Examination of essays by the subject group designed to answer the research question. 1.) To what extent are EFL students competent in achieving coherence in writing skills? Each student was asked to write two essays (a writing test that included two essay questions). The data were analyzed through SPSS. The study results demonstrated that learners are not competent in achieving coherence in their writing tasks. In light of these results, recommendations are presented. The results also recommend further studies to investigate coherence and action research to improve this crucial skill among undergraduate Saudi EFL learners.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samir BASSAOUI

The present research studies the effects of using Facebook as a medium to minimize students’ spelling mistakes of high school EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. The study used four types of data collection which are: students’ questionnaire, classroom observation, Spelling Mistakes Group on Facebook, and Diagnostic test which was administered to students in order to check their spelling mistakes. The finding of the questionnaire found that students had positive attitude toward using Facebook as a means of developing their writing skills in general. As an educational tool assisting, Facebook will provide students with an attractive medium to help them engage in discussions with their teachers and classmates to share their knowledge.


2014 ◽  
pp. 309-314
Author(s):  
Janine Berger

This paper describes a work in progress in which we aim to encourage EFL students to take their learning beyond the classroom in order to experience English in different ways. Inspired by what is being done at the Quest to Learn middle and high school in New York City and ChicagoQuest (Institute of Play, 2014b) our idea involves conducting an action research project in order to find out if game-like learning techniques, modified and adapted to the needs of university-aged EFL learners in Ecuador will help to increase motivation and independent learning for our students.


2000 ◽  
Vol 129-130 ◽  
pp. 225-274
Author(s):  
Ali Işik

The present study investigates the combined effects of different amounts of comprehension-based and form-focused instruction on skill-based proficiency and knowledge of grammatical structures of beginner-level efl students. Specifically, the study addresses the following research questions : 1) Does a basically comprehension-based program of instruction supported by form-focused instruction help beginner-level efl learners improve/develop their listening, reading and writing abilities more than a basically form- focused program of instruction? 2) Does a basically form-focused program of instruction help beginner-level efl learners improve their knowledge of grammatical structures more than a basically comprehension-based program of instruction? One experimental and one control group, each containing 20 lycee prep level Turkish efl students, participated in the study. The subjects in the experimental and control groups were randomly selected from among lycee prep classes in two different schools. The experimental group enrolled in a program of comprehension-based instruction supported by form- focused instruction; whereas, the control group enrolled in a basically form-focused program of instruction. Both the experimental and control groups had 29 hours of efl instruction per week for 36 weeks. Different instruments were used to see the effects of these two different types of instruction on their reading, listening, writing skills and knowledge of grammatical structures. At the end of the fourth month, both groups were given the listening, reading and writing components of the Key English Test (ket) and the grammar component of the Oxford Placement Test. At the end of the eighth month, they were given the Preliminary English Test (pet) and another version of the grammar component of the Oxford Placement Test. The results indicated that the program of comprehension-based efl instruction supported by form-focused instruction was more effective than a basically form-focused program of instruction in helping beginner-level students develop their listening, reading, and writing skills as well as their knowledge of grammatical structures.


2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xia Chen ◽  
Hao Xu

AbstractThis case study on three Chinese EFL learners in junior high school examined the interaction inside and outside learners’ EFL self-concept system, and the findings revealed: (1) inside the self-concept system, the interaction between the global and specific self-concepts is of much complexity; (2) the gap between the global and specific self-concepts would cause imbalance in the self-concept system, and thus trigger efforts to improve learning, while some reconciling elements in the global self-concept may sustain balance in the self-concept system, inhibiting learners’ motivation to improve; and (3) the degree of specificity of learners’ specific selfconcepts that inform learners’ learning efforts contributes considerably to the outcome of these efforts, as does that of learners’ beliefs about EFL learning which mediate the learning efforts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-266
Author(s):  
Anisyafa Firda Dwi Damaranti ◽  
Hilmansyah Saefullah ◽  
Iwan Ridwan

This research attempted to explore how the KWL strategy facilitates EFL students' reading engagement. The participants of this research were three students of an Islamic Senior High School. Using a case study design, the researcher describes EFL students' reading engagement by observing and engaging them in in-depth interviews. For gaining the data, the researchers used semi-structured interviews and the students' artefacts of the KWL tables. The interview session was conducted through WhatsApp audio-recording as a preferred interview media by the participants. The result of the research found that the KWL strategy gives positive engagement and self-assessment to EFL students with several stages. Other researchers are suggested to conduct further research on similar topics related to reading engagement in EFL students. Several research possibilities will expand this research. First, future researchers can complete this study by looking at the students' needs in the classroom. The results of this study revealed that students have difficulty with vocabulary.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 200-206
Author(s):  
Jan Marie Catbagan ◽  
Adam Agbunag ◽  
Ian Atijera ◽  
Alexea Apigo ◽  
Jean Alecs Banaticla ◽  
...  

In current research on EFL, a great deal of effort has been devoted to establishing the role of psychological factors in the success or failure of the learners. Among these psychological factors are affective factors with “anxiety” as one of their sub-categories. EFL students often have difficulty interacting with native speakers in school. Some EFL students avoid interactions with native speakers because of their frustration or embarrassment at their poor English. Teachers are best placed to engage in effective instructional practices when they can competently select and use high-quality resources and/or approaches that have been built around a strong evidence base. Conventionally, the objective of this descriptive study is to determine the Pedagogical Practices to Aid Korean EFL Learners with Language Anxiety of LCSSHS, how and why their teaching strategies help to aid them with their studies. The researchers floated questionnaires to the Korean Students of Lorma Colleges Special Science High School from Grade 7 to 4th year High School. The questionnaire used is a standardized test by Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J (1986). Results indicated that lack of sufficient input for learning FL/L2 in the environment where the target language is not the first language, and lack of opportunities to frequently process the limited (sometimes filled with errors) input, can cause language anxiety at the output (speaking) stage for ESL/EFL learners. The researchers also formulated lists of pedagogies that will serve as tools to help not only the teachers but also the Korean EFL learners in their studies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 59-75
Author(s):  
Rahmah Fithriani

Hanuer’s Meaningful Literacy has been used as a major justification for including poetry writing as part of pedagogical practices in second and foreign language contexts. Unfortunately, within the EFL context, many teachers are still reluctant to include poetry writing in their teaching practices due to the common assumption that writing poems in a second language is too difficult for students to deal with and therefore will be out of their reach and interest. This qualitative study, which collected data through observations, documentation and surveys, investigated how 171 Indonesian EFL students successfully write their poetry books in creative writing classes. Employing an ethnographic case study approach, the findings showed that students use the following strategies in writing their English poems: (1) Using popular poem templates as idea starters; (2) Creating a vocabulary bank for writing rhyming poems; and (3) Building emotions through personal story sharing and later channeling them through poetry writing. This study concludes that EFL students could enjoy poetry writing as expressive pedagogy and thus, debunks the negative assumption related to EFL students’ lack of interest and appreciation in poetry writing. Keywords: Creative writing, English as a Foreign Language (EFL), expressive pedagogy, poetry writing, Indonesian students


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Seli Siti Syadiah

This research focuses on the EFL learners� problems in listening comprehension. The present research attempts to investigate listening problems encountered by a group of low level at seniors of a private university in Kuningan. This qualitative case study involved 10 participants who took TOEFL course in 7th semester. The data was gathered by means of questionnaires and interviews. The result of the research showed that accent, pronunciation, speed of speech, insufficient vocabulary, different accent of speakers, lack of concentration, anxiety, and bad quality of recording were the major listening comprehension problems encountered by EFL students. This research also found that most students (60%) used compensation strategy to overcome the problems by guessing the answer, while the others (30%) used memory strategy by using their knowledge or experiences, and the rest 10% of the students used affective strategy by motivating themselves to try answering the questions. Knowing students� learning difficulties may enable EFL teachers to develop the effective learning strategies and ultimately improve their English listening abilities. Suggestion is made for addressing problems regarding how students can help themselves and the teachers can help their students to overcome the listening comprehension problems encountered by the students.Keywords: EFL Learner, listening comprehension, listening problem


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