scholarly journals EFL University Students Challenges in the Process of Online Learning of Foreign Languages in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaytseva Iryna Volodymyrivna ◽  
Vysotchenko Svitlana Vasylivna ◽  
Liahina Iryna Anatoliivna ◽  
Malynovska Iryna Anatoliivna

The sudden shift of English language teaching from face-to-face classroom interaction to online learning has resulted in many challenges for EFL students in Ukraine. The aim of the study is to analyze the challenges EFL students at Ukrainian higher educational institutions face under the Covid-19 pandemic and quarantine measures. Mastering a foreign language requires the development of foreign language skills, motivation, self-esteem, emotional stability, and psychological involvement of students in the learning process. There was the survey for English language learners at Ukrainian Universities: Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Kyiv National Linguistic University, Taras Shevchenko Chernihiv National University “Chernihiv Collegium.” The study analyzes the responses of 357 students. The researchers surveyed in 2020. The results of the study show that students have psychological challenges in the process of learning foreign languages. They are caused by low self-esteem, demotivation, frustration, fear of failure, the impact of quarantine measures and conditions: lack of face-to-face interaction, pandemic-related stress, anxiety, depression, etc. The author uses the methods of theoretical analysis, synthesis, comparison, classification, and systematization of theoretical and experimental data. The results of this study provide recommendations for EFL teachers to enhance the efficiency of online teaching and learning activities. The study presents some recommendations for EFL teachers to guide their students through online learning.

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Hanaa Al-Ghamdi ◽  
Abdullah Al-Bargi

The purpose of this study is to investigate, following a qualitative research design, the ways in which English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers modify their speech in an endeavor to create interactive learning environments facilitated by the implementation of strategies providing inherently comprehensible input for students. The study also seeks to examine students’ reactions to the use of such different speech modification strategies. The data gathered was taken from three different EFL classrooms with a total of sixty-two university students (forty male and twenty-two female) and three non-native speakers (NNS) of English language teachers. The data analysis reveals that EFL teachers regularly modify their talk through the use of different linguistic and interactional strategies in the Saudi EFL context, including the use of simplified grammar and vocabulary, shorter sentences, repetition, and emphatic stress and reduced speech rate. Other modification strategies include the use of clarification requests, confirmation checks, transition markers and hand gestures in order to facilitate student understanding and learning. The data analysis also suggests that teachers’ modification strategies have a positive impact on language learners in accelerating their comprehension and developing their classroom interaction. The study results provide valuable implications for foreign language classroom pedagogy and teacher training.


2021 ◽  
pp. 50-56

This study aimed to explore Sudanese EFL undergraduate students’ level and kinds of motivation towards learning English as a Foreign Language. Simple random sampling technique was used to select (25) firs-year students drawn exclusively from the English Language Department, at College of Languages, in University of Bahri. A questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. The data was then analysed using statistical package for social science (SPSS). The researcher adopted the descriptive analytical method to interpret the data obtained from the above mentioned instrument. The findings revealed that most of Sudanese EFL students have extrinsic orientation towards English language learning. Therefore, the study recommended that EFL teachers should incorporate authentic teaching materials and content into their lecture plans to supplement and enhance textbook units and topics to encourage internal motivation in students and help them achieve their goals.


2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 132
Author(s):  
Amel AlAdwani ◽  
Anam AlFadley

Covid-19 pandemic made a sudden shift of all ages to online learning and distance learning instructions. However, there is a paucity of research to address the possible impacts of the pedagogical shift integrated into new online platforms on learning, interaction, and assessment, especially in higher education settings from the vantage point of EFL students. Framed in a descriptive quantitative study, the main objective of this study includes two folds: a) to identify the possible effects of online learning via Microsoft TEAMS platform during the COVID-19 pandemic on assessment, interaction, and learning English as a foreign language from EFL students’ perception and b) to reveal the possible significant correlation between learning, interaction and online assessment via Microsoft TEAMs. Data were collected using a developed questionnaire consisting of 30 items focusing on three dimensions: interaction, learning, and assessment among 440 EFL students whose major was English at the College of Basic Education in Kuwait. At the significance level of 0.01, the results revealed the effect of online learning via Microsoft TEAMS during the COVID-19 pandemic on learning of English skills, students’ interaction and achievement assessment as perceived by the EFL students in the English Language Department in the CBE was rather high, moderate and moderate and moderate respectively. There is a strong/high statistically significant correlation between Interaction and Assessing (r = 0.538), interaction and Learning (r = 0.747). There is a statistically significant moderate correlation between Assessing and Learning (r = 0.467). This study is of some pedagogical and assessment ramifications for EFL contexts in the pandemic era.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Abrar Khalawi ◽  
Maha Halabi

The purpose of this research paper is to explore Saudi foundation-year teachers and students’ perceptions of the use of virtual classes for teaching or learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at the English Language Institute (ELI) in King Abdulaziz University (KAU). The data for this study was collected through questionnaires from a total of 20 teachers and 22 students. The survey was conducted during the second semester of the academic year 2019-2020, and the data was analyzed quantitatively. The overall results of the questionnaires demonstrate that the majority of teachers and students held positive attitudes towards EFL virtual classes, however, they prefer face-to-face classrooms. Additionally, some participants admitted the huge role virtual classes play in improving learners’ autonomy.


Author(s):  
Ali Akbar Khansir ◽  
Afsaneh Salehabadi

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Aziza M. Ali ◽  
Abu Bakar Razali

Being able to read well is important for English language learners. Through the process of reading, the learner becomes an active participant in producing an interaction with the writer of the text through predicting, analyzing, summarizing and using other types of reading strategies. However, building such a connection between the reader and the written information of the text is complex and for English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) students, it can be quite difficult for them to apply different types of reading strategies. This article provides a review of literature on 27 studies on the teaching of reading strategies (particularly cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies) for ESL/EFL learners, which reveals that ESL/EFL teachers need to keep updating their teaching methods to meet the ESL/EFL students’ needs, particularly in the use of correct reading strategies. The authors also highlight some of the main issues that prevent ESL/EFL students from improving and developing their reading comprehension. Furthermore, the authors discuss and conclude the article by suggesting to ESL/EFL teachers some teaching strategies to be applied in the reading lesson to improve the ESL/EFL students’ use of reading strategies.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ammar Mohammed Ahmed Mudawy

The study aims at suggesting effective methods and techniques that could improve English as a foreign language EFL students’ performance in writing skills. The researcher uses the descriptive, analytical method. Four tools were adopted pretest, post-test, supporting program, and a questionnaire for teachers for collecting data. Twenty-five students in Holy Quran University, Sudan, were chosen purposively, and thirty EFL teachers at a university level were randomly selected as a sample for the study. Ninty percent of the teachers agree on the suggested program and techniques. The findings of the study indicate that: using varied techniques and activities in pre-writing stage promotes students’ performances in writing, integration of reading and writing skills in the classroom improves students’ writing skills, as well as encouraging extensive reading outside the classroom promotes students’ performance in writing skills. Accordingly, the researcher recommends that: teachers should focus on the prewriting stage through different activities as well as reading and writing should be used in an integrated way in-class writing to guide the writing process.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-212
Author(s):  
Carina Sjöberg-Hawke

It can be a challenge for a university teacher to arrange the teaching of written tasks so that weak foreign language students with differing disciplinary backgrounds can develop their written communication skills. The difficulty is to avoid the focus from becoming just language proficiency. In one course at a technical university in Sweden, three written summaries are scaffolded to address such a challenge. The purpose of this teaching practice paper is to show how employing a specific strategy of repetition facilitates the writing skill development in low-level English language multidisciplinary students. The repeated features are the genre of the task, the writing process used and the occurrences of teacher response. They are organised along a specific learning path so as to encourage the students to build on the knowledge gained in each iteration, between tasks and potentially beyond the course. The paper describes the journey the students take writing the three summaries, working on fulfilling criteria concerned with aspects such as content organisation, coherence and cohesion, and limited grammar errors. A brief analysis of excerpts from one case student’s first and third summaries is included. It is suggested that while the scaffolding can remain the same, the material could be replaced to suit other skills and language level needs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 607-630
Author(s):  
Viktor P. Sheinov

Social networks are taking up more and more place in the daily life of modern people, becoming an integral part of our existence. At the same time, the role of social networks is constantly growing along with the rapid growth in the number of their active users. As online interaction for many has become more used than face-to-face communication, social networks have begun to seriously affect the way of life, communication, interests and psychology of people. The use of social networks is growing exponentially and has covered more than a third of the worlds population; therefore, researchers from different countries are actively studying social networks. Considerable empirical data has been accumulated that requires generalization and understanding, which is the purpose of this review. We found positive links between social media addiction and depression, anxiety, stress, neuroticism, emotional problems, low self-esteem, cyber-victimization, physical health problems, mental disorders, loneliness, procrastination, smartphone and internet addiction, and infidelity in relationships. Negative links were revealed between social media addiction and life satisfaction, academic performance of schoolchildren and students, labor productivity and commitment to the organization of its employees, social capital, and age. The main reason for social media addiction is the need for communication, and women are generally more active in social networks than men. This review provides only those links of social media addiction that have been established in a number of studies conducted in different countries. The presented results were obtained abroad using foreign language questionnaires that determine social media addiction. The lack of such a reliable and valid tool among Russian-speaking psychologists has become a serious factor hindering the conduct of similar domestic research. With this in view, the author developed a specially designed social media addiction questionnaire.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document