scholarly journals Listening Skills: Important but Difficult to Learn

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jwahir Alzamil
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Learning To Listen

This study of 87 Saudi female university students aimed to discover whether they experience difficulties learning to listen to spoken English. Acknowledging that listening is an important part not just of learning a new language but also of day-to-day communication, data was collected using an online questionnaire. Participants were asked to respond to a series of statements designed to test four constructs relating to their attitudes to learning English language skills in general (a); learning listening skills specifically (b); their attitudes towards listening activities (c); and (d) their attitudes towards improving their listening skills. The results showed that most of participants felt that speaking and listening were the most important skills to learn, but listening was also the most challenging. Reading was felt to be the most effortless skill to learn, as well as the most commonly used, suggesting that frequency of use contributes to students’ perceptions of the ease of learning a skill. Participants’ difficulties with learning to listen to English were associated with speech rate, pronunciation, nervousness, limited vocabulary, and lack of background information. However, students also expressed positive attitudes towards improving their listening skills. Understanding students’ attitudes to listening skills and their problems with listening may help teachers improve the way they teach these skills. This may in turn improve students’ listening comprehension not only in universities but also in schools.

scholarly journals Listening Skills: Important but Difficult to Learn

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-374
Author(s):  
Jwahir Alzamil
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Learning To Listen

This study of 87 Saudi female university students aimed to discover whether they experience difficulties learning to listen to spoken English. Acknowledging that listening is an important part not just of learning a new language but also of day-to-day communication, data was collected using an online questionnaire. Participants were asked to respond to a series of statements designed to test four constructs relating to their attitudes to learning English language skills in general (a); learning listening skills specifically (b); their attitudes towards listening activities (c); and (d) their attitudes towards improving their listening skills. The results showed that most of participants felt that speaking and listening were the most important skills to learn, but listening was also the most challenging. Reading was felt to be the most effortless skill to learn, as well as the most commonly used, suggesting that frequency of use contributes to students’ perceptions of the ease of learning a skill. Participants’ difficulties with learning to listen to English were associated with speech rate, pronunciation, nervousness, limited vocabulary, and lack of background information. However, students also expressed positive attitudes towards improving their listening skills. Understanding students’ attitudes to listening skills and their problems with listening may help teachers improve the way they teach these skills. This may in turn improve students’ listening comprehension not only in universities but also in schools.

scholarly journals English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners’ Perceptions on the Effectiveness of the Internet to Enhance their Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Ziad Abdulrahman Al-Muwallad
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
English Language ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
The Internet ◽  
King Saud University ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Preparatory Year

This study attempted to investigate the vital role of the internet in enhancing the learning of reading. In addition, the study aimed to measure the students’ attitudes towards the internet and to identify to what extent the internet was employed in their reading classes. Moreover, the study aimed to explore the challenges that they encountered while using the internet in their learning of reading. In order to achieve these goals, the researcher used the descriptive analytical approach and used the questionnaire as the main data collection tool. The study sample comprised 50 Saudi EFL male students in the preparatory year at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. The findings of the study showed that students perceived that the internet is important in the process of reading comprehension learning and teaching with positive attitudes towards the internet. Results showed that the top challenges of using of the internet for reading learning/teaching are lack of students’ knowledge to know what to read on the internet, the short time of the class, and the students’ lack of the skills and knowledge to use the internet for academic purposes. Furthermore, the results showed that the students mostly used the internet for playing games, social networking, and learning vocabulary. It is recommended that English language teachers should be encouraged to use the internet in their language classes as it is valuable for their students to enhance their reading comprehension skills.

scholarly journals Situating east Indonesia's EFL Learners attitudes toward the extensive listening practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 314
Author(s):  
Yosefina Rosdiana Su ◽  
Fatmawati Fatmawati ◽  
Stanislaus Guna ◽  
Fransiskus Jemadi ◽  
Yovita Narsi Mat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Mixed Method Research ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
Authentic Environment ◽  
Language And Education

Learning English as a foreign language is very challenging for both teachers and students in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara of Indonesia. The challenges are primarily caused by their lack of exposure to the authentic environment of English. In dealing with this phenomenon, the appropriate listening practices expect to help the learners to obtain and construct their knowledge of English as well as to acquire more comprehensible input. This article reports an investigation on the EFL learners� attitudes toward the extensive listening practices. It applied mixed-method research procedures involving 55 students of the English language and education program of Universitas Katolik Indonesia Santu Paulus Ruteng. The data were collected through a survey coupled with Focus Group Discussions with 15 participants. This research revealed that the learners' attitudes are identified into two main categories called positive and negative attitudes. In this case, 38 % of the participants have positive attitudes toward extensive listening practices and 62% of the participant reflected the negative attitude toward the extensive listening practices. Learners with a positive attitude had a very strong awareness of the significance of listening skills in L2 learning. To improve their listening skills, they develop their listening practices outside the classroom consistently. Meanwhile, learners with negative attitudes were categorized as dependent learners who practiced their listening skills during the listening course only. This group of learners was less aware of the significance of listening skills in L2 learning and their listening practices were highly dependent on the teachers' instruction. It showcased that both of the learners� internal and external factors were strongly contributed to this poor extensive listening practices.� The EFL teachers are then strongly suggested to strengthen the learners� awareness on the significance of Listening Skills in L2 learning as well as design more instructed extensive listening practices outside the classroom.�

scholarly journals EFL LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE IMPROVEMENT OF THEIR ENGLISH SPEAKING PERFORMANCE

LITERA ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Mahripah
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Speaking Performance ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Students Attitudes

This study aims to describe EFL learners’ attitudes towards the improvement of their English speaking performance. The data were collected through a questionnaire distributed to 131 students of Department of English Language Education. The results of the dataanalysis show that all respondents show positive attitudes towards the improvement of their English speaking performance. Although female students have more positive attitudes than male students, the difference is not significant. The results also show that students’ attitudes towards their speaking performance change in accordance with their learning time. Their self-assessment of their speaking performance has a significant correlation with their attitudes. Their positive attitudes towards the improvement of their English speaking performance serve as a foundation to the success of the English language learning. Therefore, learners should pay attention to and maintain attitudes to improve their speaking performance.

scholarly journals Teachers' and students' attitudes towards reading and writing: Do they correlate to students' achievement in English?

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-156
Author(s):  
Titus Terver Udu
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Attitude Scale ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Senior Secondary ◽  
Attitudes Towards Reading

This survey tested the null hypothesis that teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards reading and writing do not simultaneously predict students’ achievement in the English language. The researcher utilized a sample of 38 teachers and 492 senior secondary school students from 12 schools in Benue State, Nigeria, for the study. The researcher developed and utilized the English Language Students’ Attitude Scale (ELSAS), English Language Teachers’ Attitude Scale (ELTAS), and Reading and Writing Achievement Test (RWAT) for data collection. An estimate of internal consistency was obtained through Cronbach’s Alpha and Kuder Richardson’s reliability methods and found to be 0.76 for ELSAS, 0.68 for ELTAS, and 0.81 for RWAT. Data analysis was by multiple regression statistics. The findings revealed that both English language teachers and students have a positive attitude towards reading and writing (F3, 492 = 0.160, p0.05) implying that teachers and students’ attitudes towards reading and writing jointly predicted students’ achievement in the English language in senior secondary schools. To conclude, learning would be facilitated if both teachers and students hold positive attitudes towards reading and writing, and this, in turn, could impact the students’ achievement in the English language. It was recommended that teachers should plan reading and writing instruction that can help students develop positive attitudes to these skills and parents should help in the development of these skills at home.

scholarly journals Using Videos to Increase Midwifery Students Listening Skills and Students’ Attitude

Curricula ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Resi Silvia
Keyword(s):  
Sampling Technique ◽  
First Year ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Comprehension Ability ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
The One ◽  
Dependent Sample ◽  
Comprehension Tests ◽  
Academic Year

<p><em>Video materials were used this study to examine the effectiveness of teaching English and to evaluate university students’ attitudes towards the use of video materials in teaching listening skills. The population for this study was 32 first-year midwifery students in the second semester of the academic year 2016/2017 at Adiwangsa University, Jambi. The sample were selected by total sampling technique. The study was conducted in 12 meeting including pretest and posttest. The one-group pretest-posttest design was implemented in this study. The instruments used in this study were lesson plans, English comprehension tests (pretest and posttest) and a questionnaire of the students’ attitude. Regarding the data analysis, mean score and pretest-posttest scores for the dependent sample were employed. The result indicated that the midwifery students’ English listening comprehension ability increased significantly after learning with videos and midwifery students had positive attitudes towards using videos in teaching listening skills.</em></p>

scholarly journals Teaching English Speaking Online versus Face-to-Face: Saudi Students’ Experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
Abdulrahman Alzamil
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
English Language ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Saudi Students ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Face To Face Learning ◽  
Students Attitudes

In March 2020, schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were suspended. Online learning became a substitute for traditional face-to-face learning. This study addresses the implications of this shift for the attitudes of university-level English majored Saudi students taking a listening and speaking course. The study investigated the students’ attitudes towards: a) the importance of speaking in English; b) teachers use of emails to communicate their feedback on students’ English-speaking tasks; c) online teaching of English speaking; and d) online learning and teaching of the English language. The data collection tool was a 21-item questionnaire. The participants were 18 second-year male Saudi students who were studying English at a Saudi university. The findings showed that the participants: a) had positive attitudes towards the importance of speaking English; b) appreciated the benefits that online learning offers, but felt it could not replace face-to-face learning.

Australian Occupational Therapy Students: Attitudes towards and Knowledge about Psychiatry

1997 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Gilbert ◽  
Jenny Strong
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Personality Factor ◽  
Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire ◽  
Occupational Therapy Students ◽  
Sixteen Personality Factor ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Personality Factor Questionnaire ◽  
Students Attitudes

This study examined attitudes towards psychiatry, prior knowledge about psychiatry and trait anxiety in preclinical Australian occupational therapy students. At the time of the study, students were anticipating their first clinical placement in psychiatry. Instruments used in the study were the Attitudes Towards Psychiatry – 30 Scale (ATP-30), the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF), and a demographic data sheet looking at background information on students which asked the question: ‘When you started the occupational therapy course, did you expect to have anything to do with psychiatry?’ The results showed that, while students reported positive attitudes towards psychiatry, a high percentage of students (In particular, the trait anxious student) had not been aware that psychiatry was part of the undergraduate education in occupational therapy. These findings suggest that the trait anxious student may not be able to assimilate knowledge in a new experience, and that the profile of the occupational therapist working in mental health needs to be enhanced.

scholarly journals Moroccan Students’ Attitudes Towards Local and Foreign Languages: The Role of Self-Directed and Language Policy Forces

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-320
Author(s):  
Abdelmajid Bouziane
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Empirical Perspective ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Do So

Ths article contributes to the hot debate on language preferences and choice at schools and society at large in Morocco from an empirical perspective. It investigates the Moroccan students’ attitudes towards the languages they use in their daily interactions and those that are widely used in the Moroccan education system and attempts to explain whether these attitudes are driven by intrinsic forces or by the language policy orientations set by decision makers. To do so, 1,477 respondents belonging to different school levels and disciplines completed a survey about their frequency of use and mastery of languages, as well as their preferences of language use in the future. Findings show that Moroccan students have positive attitudes towards all languages and would like to use foreign languages for instrumental purposes. They also show that such positive attitudes do not depend on the level of mastery of these languages, nor on their use as mediums of instruction or communication. The findings imply that attitudes towards languages in Morocco are rooted in factors beyond the official policy orientations.

scholarly journals Teachers and Students’ Attitudes towards the Integration of the Target Culture in the English as a Foreign Language Class: A Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 253-266
Author(s):  
Simon Pierre DABOU ◽  
Abdelhak HAMMOUDI ◽  
Romaissa CHIBANI
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Language Class ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Target Culture

Language and culture are like two sides of the same coin, the music on a radio or the soul in a body. The two are so interrelated that separating them is almost impossible. Therefore, teaching a foreign language implies integrating the target culture. In this context, this study aimed to investigate teachers and students’ attitudes towards the integration of the English culture in the EFL curriculum at the University of Sétif 2.  A Semi-structured interview with six English language teachers and a questionnaire to 53 third-year English students were the tools used to collect the necessary data. The analysis of the data showed that all the teachers were for the integration of the target culture in the EFL classes. The study also revealed that students who had positive attitudes towards the target culture represented only 28% of the sample. Therefore, the researchers suggested that the concept of target culture be properly defined within the EFL class and appropriately approached to sustain interest. Moreover, teachers are encouraged to integrate certain aspects of the target culture, such as language, norms, and values, to avoid misunderstanding, and respect each other’s cultural rights.

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