scholarly journals EFL Learners’ Language-Specific Time Attitudes

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majid N. Al-Amri

The present study investigated the time attitudes (TAs) of EFL learners and their willingness and preference to share their TAs with peers and EFL instructors. Limited research has explored willingness and preference to share their TAs —a distinct and meaningful part of their temporal perspective that encompasses their positive and negative feelings about the past, present, and future experiences of English language learning. Participants were 229 students of technical and administrative diploma programmes at a Saudi industrial college in the western region of the country. Data were collected through questionnaires. Findings indicated that (1) students’ responses differed mostly on feelings about the past; (2) participants are more willing to share their feelings with peers than with instructors; (3) students are more willing to share with both peers and instructors their combined past, present, and future experiences; (4) students prefer to share their feelings about their present experiences with peers and instructors compared to their past or future experiences; (5) students prefer to share with peers both negative and positive feelings about their past, present, and future experiences; and (6) students prefer to share only negative feelings with instructors.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 142-152
Author(s):  
Majid N. Al-Amri

The present study investigated the time attitudes (TAs) of EFL learners and their willingness and preference to share their TAs with peers and EFL instructors. Limited research has explored willingness and preference to share their TAs —a distinct and meaningful part of their temporal perspective that encompasses their positive and negative feelings about the past, present, and future experiences of English language learning. Participants were 229 students of technical and administrative diploma programmes at a Saudi industrial college in the western region of the country. Data were collected through questionnaires. Findings indicated that (1) students’ responses differed mostly on feelings about the past; (2) participants are more willing to share their feelings with peers than with instructors; (3) students are more willing to share with both peers and instructors their combined past, present, and future experiences; (4) students prefer to share their feelings about their present experiences with peers and instructors compared to their past or future experiences; (5) students prefer to share with peers both negative and positive feelings about their past, present, and future experiences; and (6) students prefer to share only negative feelings with instructors.


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


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Zarrabi

The present study explores the ways in which English is used in public discourse in Tehran-Iran and the motivations of Iranian - English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and teachers towards English language learning. The paper begins with an overview of different places in which English is used in Iran, such as media, public signs, traffic signs, advertisements, products, people’s ordinary lives, and education. A cohort of 327 participants, including 168 Iranian EFL learners (male and female) and 159 experienced Iranian EFL teachers (male and female) responded to an English language motivation questionnaire. The results revealed that there is an active presence of English in Iran. In addition, the majority of Iranian EFL learners and teachers involved in the study regard English as an important part of their lives for many and various reasons such as being up-to-date, love, education, learning a new skill, being promoted, having a better and more highly qualified job and increased life chances.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
NADIA KIES

This paper reports the results of a research work that has sought to investigate the characteristics of students’ management of their English language learning and has attempted to correlate it with effective, independent, autonomous learning. It stresses the importance of improving students ‘learning how to learn skills’ through implementing an instructional programme based on autonomy fostering. It is undeniable that the ultimate objective of Education is targeting quality assurance and enhancement for facing twenty first century education challenges. Therefore, the primary goal of higher education is to prepare learners to function independently and appropriately into this world in constant motion. It is our role as teachers to equip them with the necessary tools and skills so that they manage both content and the way to learn it and use it for future employability objectives. Major researches in the area of learner autonomy in language learning will be reviewed drawing the characteristics of the autonomous learning behaviour as well as the main variables influencing its practice. The research adhered to a descriptive interpretative type of research, where we have attempted to investigate whether students were able to manage, monitor and self-regulate their learning and make it more self-directed and more successful. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected thanks to a triangulation of research tools used before and after the instruction in learning skills and competencies. Some of the results revealed that while for the majority of learners, autonomy fostering was welcomed and gave significant results, not all students were ready to function independently from a teacher for their language learning.


Information ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Xin Zuo ◽  
Regina Weaver ◽  
Julia MacRae ◽  
Limin Wang

Researchers have proposed many multidimensional frameworks to identify significant and potential factors, e.g., educational background, positive feelings and career aspirations, that impact English learning attitude in second language acquisition. Yet, there is still very little research to graphically describe the interactions between these factors and how these factors directly or indirectly impact learning attitude. To this end, a questionnaire survey was conducted in Changchun University of Technology. Statistical measures and Bayesian network analysis were introduced to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze the collected data. Furthermore, the significant attitudinal differences between students majoring in the Liberal Arts or Sciences were investigated for the case study. Studying the interaction between these factors can help explain how they positively affect students’ attitudes toward English language learning. To stimulate interest, teachers may take targeted pedagogical approaches or strategies.


Author(s):  
Morteza Mellati ◽  
Marzieh Khademi

The expansion of technological applications such as computers and mobile phones in the past three decades has impacted our life from different perspectives. Language teaching is no exception and like other fields of study, language teaching has also influenced by new language teaching sources and software. More recently, there has been a passionate debate about the usefulness of the smart-phones for educational purposes and their possible uses in English language instruction; therefore, the present study investigated the impacts of interactivity perceptions on EFL learners' achievements in Online Mobile Language Learning (OMLL) course. To conduct the present study, 68 Iranian intermediate EFL learners were chosen among which 43 participated in Online Mobile Language Learning (OMLL) course and 25 others participated in conventional language classrooms. The results of the study demonstrated that OMLL has significant effects on learners' achievements; however, there are some challenges in conducting online mobile language learning (OMLL) courses in Iranian EFL context.


Author(s):  
Midori Kimura

The past ten years has seen remarkable developments in mobile devices, especially mobile phones, and interest in the potential of using mobile phones in an educational setting has intensified recently. The author’s working group, in cooperation with eLPCO (e-learning Professional Competency) at Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan, started a mobile learning project in 2002 to demonstrate model programs of mobile learning using mobile phones (mLearning/MPs), with the findings from all the experiments conducted over the past seven years contributing to the educational process. This chapter first discusses the barriers, such as the psychological, pedagogical, and technological issues, that mLearning/MPs had to overcome. Next, the author introduces findings obtained from four projects carried out on the English language by mobile phones, and then provides suggestions on essential conditions required for a good program for mLearning/MPs. The chapter proposes open source-based mobile services as a way of overcoming barriers faced by mLearning/MPs, and as an effective model for English language learning using mobile phones.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8205
Author(s):  
Rastislav Metruk

In recent years, an accelerating trend in an undergoing shift from the use of traditional desktop computers towards the utilisation of smartphones for language learning purposes has been detected. In line with these trends, this study aims to investigate Slovak EFL learners’ attitudes and perceptions of English language learning apps (ELLA) regarding practicing and learning English. Furthermore, the differences in the perception of ELLA between the male and female research participants are also analysed. The target population totalled 158 Slovak university EFL learners, 48 males and 110 females, who were required to display their level of agreement to statements by responding to a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. The instrument consisted of 30 statements altogether, involving items on apps’ usage and apps’ perception. The calculated means indicate that the participants’ attitudes and perceptions of ELLA range between being neutral and positive, and that EFL learners tend to practice language systems and skills to varying degrees. Moreover, 30 independent-sample t-tests, which were run in order to determine the differences between the male and female attitudes and perceptions, reveal that 50% of statements on apps’ usage and apps’ perception differ significantly, demonstrating considerable differences between the two sexes. The achieved results seem to contribute to the existing research on the use of smartphones and ELLA in the context of EFL learning by casting more light on mobile language learning, an area that merits further scientific exploration.


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