The Use of Language Functions among Sudanese EFL Learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Ahmed Osman Zakaria
Keyword(s):  
Efl Learners ◽  
Language Functions

scholarly journals Online Collaborative Writing via Google Docs: Case Studies in the EFL Classroom

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 922-934
Author(s):  
Nakhon Kitjaroonchai ◽  
Suksan Suppasetseree
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Google Docs ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Factors Influencing

This article reported a case study investigating small group interaction patterns in online collaborative writing tasks and factors influencing team collaborations. Participants included six Asian EFL university students who formed two small groups and were engaged in two online collaborative writing tasks via Google Docs. Data collection included the participants’ use of writing change functions and language functions during the collaborative writing processes revealed through Google Docs archives and collaborative essays. Semi-structured interviews were employed to examine factors influencing small group collaborations. The findings revealed that the two teams exhibited divergent interaction patterns, but the patterns of interaction remained consistent within each group across both tasks. The qualitative content analysis showed factors that affected team collaborations were individual goals, learners’ English proficiency, individual roles, and the use of collaborative agency. The findings may help elucidate the divergence of online collaborative writing and provide insightful information for instructors to design collaborative writing activities and assist EFL learners in the co-construction of writing tasks.

scholarly journals Interlanguage Pragmatic Motivation in EFL Context

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Widya Caterine Perdhani
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
First Language ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
The University ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge ◽  
Pragmatic Motivation ◽  
Pragmatic Production

This research sets out to explore the Interlanguage pragmatic motivation in EFL to their pragmatic production. This research is focus on the construct and impact of Interlanguage pragmatic motivation in EFL to their pragmatic production. The participants of the study were the university students chosen randomly from among intermediate EFL learners. There are three instruments in this study; there will be different types of analyses. Both general and speech-act-specific motivation questionnaires will be analysed by using factor analysis on a five-point Likert scale (1-5). Skewness and kurtosis will be calculated to investigate whether the questionnaires and the WDCT items fell within the normal range. Regression analysis will be done to measure how well general pragmatic motivation and Speech-act-specific motivation could predict pragmatic production. Several conclusions can be drawn from the resent study. First, language learners possess a specific type of motivation for the acquisition of interlanguage pragmatics, called pragmatic motivation, which refers to two interrelated types of motivation: general pragmatic motivation and speech-act-specific motivation. Second, EFL learners are strongly motivated to acquire and develop English pragmatic features, i.e. their pragmatic motivation is high; however, they do not have the necessary pragmatic knowledge. Third, predicting EFL learners’ pragmatic production based on their speech-act-specific motivation is somehow possible since both pragmatic production and speech-act-specific motivation focus on learners’ illocutionary competence, i.e. language functions and speech acts.

scholarly journals A Case Study of ASEAN EFL Learners’ Collaborative Writing and Small Group Interaction Patterns in Google Docs

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Nakhon Kitjaroonchai ◽  
Suksan Suppasetseree
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Google Docs ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Group A ◽  
Group B

The study investigated the interaction patterns of six ASEAN EFL university students when they worked in small groups on two collaborative writing tasks: a descriptive essay and an argumentative essay. Both groups were homogeneous in terms of gender and heterogeneous in terms of home countries. Data collection included pre- and posttest writing, pre- and post-task questionnaires, participants’ work on essays, their reflections, observations, and semi-structured interviews. The students worked on their essays in Google Docs, and the researcher(s) used DocuViz as a tool for visualizations of students’ collaborative writing contributions and styles. The findings showed different interaction patterns (a cooperative revision style for Group A vs. a main writer style for Group B) across the two collaborative writing tasks. While revising, both groups added and corrected their essays and employed almost the same writing change functions and language functions, which were suggesting, agreeing, and stating.

scholarly journals The Impact of Incorporating Stylistic Models of Inversion in Teaching Grammar on Students’ Comprehension of Literary Text

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-137
Author(s):  
Hasan Mohammed Jaashan
Keyword(s):  
Literary Texts ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Innovative Learning ◽  
Teaching Grammar ◽  
The Impact

Pedagogical stylistics increases EFL learners’ awareness about the way the language functions in different texts. It also enhances innovative learning and teaching. This study aims at knowing the impact of incorporating stylistic models of inversion in teaching grammar on students’ comprehension of literary texts. It also aims to explore the learners’ perceptions about incorporating them in grammar courses. The models were adopted by (Galperin, 1977). A total of 85 EFL learners at King Khalid University participated in this study; 41 are students of Grammar III and are divided into two groups (15, 26); 44 are students of Grammar IV and are divided into two groups (20, 24). The second phase of the research is a unified long text exam that contains stylistic models of inversion in literary texts and is given to all students. Generally, the post-test results show that the participants identify stylistic models of inversion that help them understand the meaning of texts. Moreover, the quantitative approach shows the learners' preference for incorporating models in grammar courses because they are important in comprehending literary texts. The study recommends considering stylistic implications in teaching grammar in general and stylistic models of inversion in particular.

A Comparison of Four Adolescent Language Tests

1987 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Jane Lieberman ◽  
Ann Marie C. Heffron ◽  
Stephanie J. West ◽  
Edward C. Hutchinson ◽  
Thomas W. Swem
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Significant Discrepancy ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Sixth Grade Students ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Selection Of

Four recently developed adolescent language tests, the Fullerton Test for Adolescents (FLTA), the Test of Adolescent Language (TOAL), the Clinical Evaluation of Language Functions (CELF), and the Screening Test of Adolescent Language (STAL), were compared to determine: (a) whether they measured the same language skills (content) in the same way (procedures); and (b) whether students performed similarly on each of the tests. First, respective manuals were reviewed to compare selection of subtest content areas and subtest procedures. Then, each of the tests was administered according to standardized procedures to 30 unselected sixth-grade students. Despite apparent differences in test content and procedures, there was no significant difference in students' performance on three of the four tests, and correlations among test performance were moderate to high. A comparison of the pass/fail rates for overall performance on the tests, however, revealed a significant discrepancy between the proportions of students identified in need of further evaluation on the STAL (20%) and the proportion diagnosed as language impaired on the three diagnostic tests (60-73%). Clinical implications are discussed.

Getting EFL Learners to Speak: Obstacles and Solutions

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (01) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Eulis Rahmawati
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Education ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Education Department ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Research Problems ◽  
English Competence ◽  
Academic Year

This research investigates how process of speaking instruction takes place at IAIN SMH Banten. There are three main issues in the research problems: the process of teaching speaking, obstacles found in the teaching and learning process, and what efforts do they make to solve the obstacles in speaking. The process of teaching speaking discusses materials, preparation, procedures or steps in teaching speaking while obstacles and solutions discuss the speaking barriers that the students faced in speaking class and how they minimize the barriers. By applying descriptive qualitative research design to students of fourth semester in academic year 2014/2015, the result shows that the focus of speaking instruction at the fourth semester of English education department of IAIN SMH Banten seemed to let the students speak, without any language skills discussion as the feedback. At the same time, during the process of speaking instruction there are some problems faced by students. The first is  problem of limited English Competence dealt with students poor of vocabulary and the second is problems of psychological factors.

Study of Consonant Pronunciations Errors Committed by EFL Learners

2019 ◽  
pp. 48-56
Author(s):  
Ali Akbar Khansir ◽  
Afsaneh Salehabadi
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Listening Skill ◽  
English Pronunciation ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Knowledge Of Language

As the topic suggests, the research paper presents Study of Consonant Pronunciations Errors Committed by EFL Learners. Error analysis always tries to resolve language learners’ problems in acquiring second or foreign language setting. Learning to English pronunciation is perhaps as important as learning listening skill, speaking, and spelling. Errors in English pronunciation create several problems for English language learners in their works. In other words, most of the English language errors of pronunciation are due to the lack of knowledge of language learners. However, all the students in our sample are of age group (16-25) at Bushehr language institute and they are all Iranian nationals. In addition, all of them were female learners. An English pronunciation (consonant) test was used to get information about the knowledge of the learners in English pronunciation. Findings of this article indicated that the first and second hypotheses of this article were accepted, but the third hypothesis was rejected. However, the findings of this paper showed that the Iranian EFL students have problem to pronounce English sounds correctly.

Tertiary English-majored Students’ Perceptions toward the Role of Pronunciation in English Language Learning and their Practicing Strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-279
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
The University

Accurate pronunciation has a vital role in English language learning as it can help learners to avoid misunderstanding in communication. However, EFL learners in many contexts, especially at the University of Phan Thiet, still encounter many difficulties in pronouncing English correctly. Therefore, this study endeavors to explore English-majored students’ perceptions towards the role of pronunciation in English language learning and examine their pronunciation practicing strategies (PPS). It involved 155 English-majored students at the University of Phan Thiet who answered closed-ended questionnaires and 18 English-majored students who participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that students strongly believed in the important role of pronunciation in English language learning; however, they sometimes employed PPS for their pronunciation improvement. Furthermore, the results showed that participants tended to use naturalistic practicing strategies and formal practicing strategies with sounds, but they overlooked strategies such as asking for help and cooperating with peers. Such findings could contribute further to the understanding of how students perceive the role of pronunciation and their PPS use in the research’s context and other similar ones. Received 10th June 2019; Revised 12th March 2020; Accepted 12th April 2020

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