scholarly journals Incorporating Professional Initiatives in EFL Classrooms: A Way to Treat Pedagogical Solitude

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
El-Alia Wafaâ ZAGHAR

In this climate of the expansion of globalization, in today’s classrooms, encouraging student investment in writing is paramount. Due to the complicatedness of this skill, many teachers find it difficult to make their learners aware of the divergent phases of writing so they produce better compositions. Thus, the professionalism of teachers is inevitably essential in shaping the learners’ writing ability (assisting students as they develop a piece of writing, and boosting their engagement with writing), and learners can achieve successful learning outcomes if they grasp how best to improve their work. To make language learning more effective, there is a need for pursuing professional growth and providing conditions where teachers cooperate to attain higher levels of learning among their students. Indeed, professional development for a teacher is about acquiring new skills, creating a potent learning atmosphere, surmounting the barriers, rectifying the failures and moving forward. It provides ongoing opportunities for educators to continue to identify teaching/learning problems, develop solutions, raise their performance, address students’ needs and up their achievements. The present paper sets out to take a closer look at how teachers work with writing among the first year English as foreign language (EFL) students. It tends to offer an instruction based on a set of professional development methods that provide practitioners with several avenues to implement them in classroom practice. To this end, findings of the research indicate that the proposed strategies can lead to a virtuous bond between the teaching/learning process of written expression that may generate beneficial knowledge, valuable teaching, and constructive learning results.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed A. A. Farrah

This study aims to analyze the experiences and perceptions of a group of graduate students regarding an MA Technology in Language Learning and Teaching Course at Hebron University, Palestine. Specifically, the study addressed the aspects of the course that were perceived as the most useful for them and how graduate students perceive their professional growth as a result of the course. The study took place during the second semester of the academic year 2016/2017. The researcher employed a qualitative research to achieve the aims of the study. The participants wrote reflective journals and described how the course integrated theory and practice. The results revealed that the students benefited from the different elements of the course. Particularly, they benefited from the practical projects. The experience helped them in their professional development. Finally, the students offered a number of suggestions for improving the course. The researcher concluded with a set of recommendations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir H. Abdalla

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential benefits of using the intercultural approach to teaching English as a foreign language in the preparatory –year programme (male branch), Taif University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The intercultural approach is considered a viable means of foreign language education that seeks to address issues of culture in foreign language learning and teaching and how best to address them. Hence, this study intends to explore the attitudes of first year EFL Taif university students to the potential benefits of the intercultural approach to EFL. A sample of 200 EFL students participated in the study. Participants’ views on the topic of the study are collected via a questionnaire the researcher designed and administered to the participants. In addition, the views of 50 EFL instructors teaching in the preparatory programme were gathered by a questionnaire regarding the topic researched. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the collected data.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. ar42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelique Kritzinger ◽  
Juan-Claude Lemmens ◽  
Marietjie Potgieter

Higher education faces the challenge of high student attrition, which is especially disconcerting if associated with low participation rates, as is the case in South Africa. Recently, the use of learning analytics has increased, enabling institutions to make data-informed decisions to improve teaching, learning, and student success. Most of the literature thus far has focused on “at-risk” students. The aim of this paper is twofold: to use learning analytics to define a different group of students, termed the “murky middle” (MM), early enough in the academic year to provide scope for targeted interventions; and to describe the learning strategies of successful students to guide the design of interventions aimed at improving the prospects of success for all students, especially those of the MM. We found that it was possible to identify the MM using demographic data that are available at the start of the academic year. The students in the subgroup were cleanly defined by their grade 12 results for physical sciences. We were also able to describe the learning strategies that are associated with success in first-year biology. This information is useful for curricular design, classroom practice, and student advising and should be incorporated in professional development programs for lecturers and student advisors.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raniah Kabooha ◽  
Tariq Elyas

The present study sought to examine the improvement in vocabulary comprehension and retention of Saudi English as foreign language female students at King Abdul Aziz University as a result of integrating YouTube in their reading classes. The study also investigated the perceptions of both students as well as teachers towards the inclusion of YouTube on the development of vocabulary. One hundred female intermediate level students aged between 18-20 years old participated in the study. Students were divided into two groups: an experimental group who watched YouTube during the reading activities and a control group who was not exposed to the videos. Data were collected using pre-tests and post-tests in addition to questionnaires. The findings of the study reveal that the group who viewed the YouTube clips outperformed the group who was not exposed to YouTube videos in the posttest. The results clearly show that YouTube provided statistically significant effects on the students' vocabulary acquisition. The findings of the study indicate that the participants positively viewed the use of YouTube in their lessons. The findings also revealed significant improvement in the students’ vocabulary achievement. The implications of the findings are discussed within the context of foreign language learning and teaching.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Ruth Martyn

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is a key construct in Business English teaching in universities in China today. While there is a plethora of articles on implementation in European contexts, there is limited evidence in the literature of the teaching/learning experience in other foreign language learning environments—despite its wide application in, for example, south-east Asia and China in particular. As CLIL programs have been developed in a variety of ways to meet the unique needs of learners and societal expectations, the context of teaching and learning is critical. This paper focuses on the perceptions and learning experiences of students in a first year, first semester course, Introduction to Contemporary Business, in a Chinese university. Lesson observations, questionnaires, and interviews explore the experience of learners. While most students found the course very challenging in their first semester, they met the challenge. Coping with both language and content is always a double challenge: most students found their Introduction to Contemporary Business their most difficult course, yet they perceived it as manageable and worthwhile. Students coped with the difficulty level in two main ways: either by spending much time in review and translating the textbook prior to class, or by focusing on the teacher’s PowerPoint slides after class—as they considered these were the key points and the textbook was too difficult. Suggestions for a closer integration between language and content within CLIL courses are offered, such as a case-task-based approach, a greater variety of input, and the role of content teachers in English enhancement.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 302-313
Author(s):  
Hery Yufrizal

The objectives of this research are firstly to investigate the application of Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach in improving students’ English writing ability andsecondly to answer what factors influence the students’ writing performance. The subjects of the research were the students of senior high schools in Indonesia consisting of a group of students as experimental group and as control group. The results showed that students improved their writing after they were involved in Cognitive Academic Language Learning Actvitities. Furthermore, the study also showed that levels of students’ critical thinking did not any significant effects toward their writing achievement  


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Maha H. Alsoraihi

This paper deals with the emergence of discourse analysis (DA), its significance and its application in the classroom environments. It also sheds light on (DA) dimensions and how its relevance to English language teaching (ELT) will enhance the quality of teaching/learning a language. This research paper supports the fact that language cannot be learned or taught in isolation. Effective language learning/teaching requires learners to be engaged in actual/social contexts in order to apply their knowledge and skills for achieving a successful communication which is the ultimate goal of learning a language. This paper discusses various associated applications of discourse analysis in language classrooms in an attempt improve the quality of language teaching/learning techniques and outcomes. The researcher also reviews the most prominent challenges that hinder the effective implementation of this approach and provide certain solutions that can be used in order to overcome these challenges. This paper assumes that learners who focus on relating linguistic knowledge to social and cultural contexts will demonstrate high levels of communicative performance and self-confidence.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-169
Author(s):  
Nohora Inés Porras ◽  
Lenys Smith Díaz ◽  
Marlen María Nieves

Presently, learning a foreign language is an essential academic requirement in several contexts, hence the importance and the need for effective teaching in this field at all educational levels starting with the first years of school. As a consequence, teaching and learning in elementary school is a key issue to success in the learner’s future language learning. However, at some public elementary schools in Colombia there are many factors that hinder this process. One of them is the fact that most of the teachers who are in charge of teaching English in elementary schools are not sufficiently trained to do this job (McNulty & Quinchía, 2007). For this reason, the aim of this study is to strengthen the pedagogical practices of the participating teachers. Guided by the theoretical foundations of peer coaching and reverse mentoring, this mixed-methods study examined strategies for professional development via results of an English test, class observations, questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, and journals. Findings show the effectiveness of the proposal in terms of the professional growth of the participants who exchanged teaching experiences and pedagogical tools within a mutual and trusting atmosphere. This helped them to enhance their knowledge about teaching a foreign language and test new teaching techniques and strategies to favor their students’ language learning. 


Author(s):  
Jeremy Riel ◽  
Kimberly A. Lawless ◽  
Scott W. Brown

Teacher professional development programs typically do not meet teachers' ongoing, long-term needs that arise. In this chapter, the authors forward a systematic framework called responsive online professional development (ROPD) that can be used by instructional designers to provide continuous, online PD for teachers in the service of curriculum implementation fidelity. The systematic process afforded by the ROPD framework promotes teachers' reflection on their individual classroom practice as they implement new curricula or standards and provides support to teachers as they are implementing new curricula, standards, and pedagogies. Design elements of the proposed ROPD framework are discussed by the authors, and an illustrative example of the implementation and observed outcomes of a previously enacted ROPD Program (GE2PD) are discussed. When compared to conventional PD programs, professional growth from ROPD is emphasized during the implementation process through a systematic approach that intentionally connect teachers with the instructional designers of a curriculum.


Author(s):  
Nasrah Mahmoud Ismaiel

The purpose of the current research is to scrutinize the relationship between metamemory and EFL learners` achievement. The participants were 250 first year university students who were chosen from a large sample of the preparatory year Science and Humanities streams at Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia. The objective of the research is twofold: (a) to assess whether metamemory can predict English language skills achievement (listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and (b) to assess if there exist notable discrepancies between male and female students and the different academic streams (the science stream and the humanities stream) on the metamemory factors. Students` metamemory was measured by the Metamemory questionnaire (SMSQ) of Tonkovic and Vranic (2011). The results of this study show that metamemory is a good predictor of the EFL students` language learning skills achievement. It also indicates that there are differences between male and female students on the metamemory factors in favor of females. Furthermore, the findings reaffirm that there are differences between the academic streams, in favor of the science stream.  


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