scholarly journals The Role of Social Media (YouTube and Snapchat) in Enhancing Saudi EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension Skills

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wed Nasser Al Harbi

Despite of the importance of listening in EFL learning and teaching, this skill is not getting as much attention as other skills. Therefore, learners are less motivated to depend on their listening comprehension as a tool to help them in the process of language learning. Social media, especially YouTube and Snapchat, can be effectively used as a pedagogical tool to enhance the listening skills of EFL learners, compared with other traditional audio recording tools. The objective of this research is to investigate the role of social media (YouTube and snapchat) as a method of teaching, in order to enhance EFL Saudi learners' listening comprehension skills. The primary goal of this study is to know whether social media is capable of developing EFL listening comprehension skills, and gaining the deeper understanding of the presented materials. In addition, using these tools makes them familiar with the target language culture and it's native speakers. In order to achieve this objective; the researcher used a mixed method to ensure the research validity: a questionnaire and a post-test.The participants of the study were 50 female students studying in English Language Centre at Taif University. They were randomly selected and they divided into two groups: the experiment group consisted of 20 female students and the control group consisted of 30 female students. The experiment group was instructed using (YouTube and Snapchat) as the control group using traditional audio method. Then there is a post-test is given to both groups to measure their listening comprehension performance. The findings of the study showed that using social media (YouTube and Snapchat) can enhance the listening skill of Saudi EFL leaners. The researcher recommends conducting more studies on other samples from different studies, age levels and from different environments like the schools or training institutes.

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-54
Author(s):  
Wed Nasser Al Harbi

Despite of the importance of listening in EFL learning and teaching, this skill is not getting as much attention as other skills. Therefore, learners are less motivated to depend on their listening comprehension as a tool to help them in the process of language learning. Social media, especially YouTube and Snapchat, can be effectively used as a pedagogical tool to enhance the listening skills of EFL learners, compared with other traditional audio recording tools. The objective of this research is to investigate the role of social media (YouTube and snapchat) as a method of teaching, in order to enhance EFL Saudi learners' listening comprehension skills. The primary goal of this study is to know whether social media is capable of developing EFL listening comprehension skills, and gaining the deeper understanding of the presented materials. In addition, using these tools makes them familiar with the target language culture and it's native speakers. In order to achieve this objective; the researcher used a mixed method to ensure the research validity: a questionnaire and a post-test.The participants of the study were 50 female students studying in English Language Centre at Taif University. They were randomly selected and they divided into two groups: the experiment group consisted of 20 female students and the control group consisted of 30 female students. The experiment group was instructed using (YouTube and Snapchat) as the control group using traditional audio method. Then there is a post-test is given to both groups to measure their listening comprehension performance. The findings of the study showed that using social media (YouTube and Snapchat) can enhance the listening skill of Saudi EFL leaners. The researcher recommends conducting more studies on other samples from different studies, age levels and from different environments like the schools or training institutes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Michael Recard ◽  
Sandra Sembel ◽  
Shinta Hasibuan

<p>Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0. is about dealing with digital-native students  and developing autonomous learning. One possible strategy to deal with these issues is using YouTube as a tool for English language learning. There have been some studies discussing the effectiveness of using it, yet we still have niches; for instance, deeper and wider contexts and respondents. Thus, this study aims to examine students’ autonomy over their learning and whether YouTube can develop the listening comprehension skills of nursing students in a Faculty of Nursing in Tangerang. To achieve the first aim, quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted, while for the second aim, an experimental study was used. The experimental study involved an experimental group consisting of 16 students and a control group consisting of 16 students. The result shows that the participants consider YouTube as a useful support to develop their autonomy in learning English and YouTube video has been successful to develop their listening skills.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Siham BOUZAR FODIL-CHERIF

Learning another language as English requires a combination of knowledge of the target language with skills and strategies that enable an individual to use them effectively. That is a learner has to develop knowledge about receptive skills; i.e., listening and reading, as well as productive ones; i.e., speaking and writing. Though all the skills are important for language learning, the writing skill is probably the most needed in academic and professional communities. It constitutes an important means of communication through which the writer expresses feeling, ideas and arguments. In the case of English language learning, writing in a language that one is not familiar with constitutes a hard task. In fact, though writing represents a crucial skill for learning any language, its complex nature makes it a challenging affair for both the learners and the teachers. It requires the learners to be guided and assisted in their efforts to reach success. Besides, the teachers are expected to furnish the appropriate measures to achieve the teaching goals. Therefore, it is with the perspective to highlight the importance of writing and the role of reading literature in developing EFL learners’ writing skill that this piece of work is undertaken. This is achieved via disclosing the nature of the writing skill and how the implementation of literature in the writing classes can provide positive effect on EFL learners’ performance.


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


Relay Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 228-235
Author(s):  
Paul J. Moore ◽  
Phil Murphy ◽  
Luann Pascucci ◽  
Scott Sustenance

This paper reports on an ongoing study into the affordances of free online machine translation for students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) at the tertiary level in Japan. The researchers are currently collecting data from a questionnaire, task performance, and interviews with 10-15 EFL learners in an English Language Institute in a university in Japan. The paper provides some background on the changing role of translation in language learning theory and pedagogy, before focusing literature related to technical developments in machine translation technology, and its application to foreign language learning. An overview of the research methodology is provided, along with some insights into potential findings. Findings will be presented in subsequent publications.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Salsabila

Language is a medium that is used to convey information both orally or in writing from one individual to another individual. In Indonesia we use Indonesian as a national language and unifying language of our nation. However, over time, Indonesian language began to experience a shift in its use and was replaced by English. Language learning can also be obtained through social media namely Instagram. The main purpose of this article is to identify the role of social media Instagram as a strategy to maintain the existence of Indonesian language. The type of this research is descriptive qualitative approach from the account @bahasbahasa_. Based on the research, the data taken from the account @ bahasbahasa_ turns out that Instagram plays a role in improving the existence of Indonesian language. This is evident from some of his submissions which show how the Indonesian language is used properly and correctly. Data is classified based on the type of content sent by the account, namely the use of punctuation, standard words, and affixes. With the existence of this article, the researcher hopes that readers can find out the role of the Instagram in maintaining the existence of the language and using the best instagram for learning.


Author(s):  
Farzaneh Ghaed sharaf ◽  
Melika Mobaraki ◽  
Maryam Rabani Nia

Listening comprehension plays an important role in the process of language learning as it is one of the four major skills in language acquisition. This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of listening strategy instruction on improving listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. To achieve this goal, forty students studying at Birjand University were participated in the current study. All of thestudents were within the age range of 18 to 22. Then, they were non-randomly divided into two groups, as a control and an experimental group. Theexperimental was taught based on a guide lesson plan regarding listening strategies while the control group did not receive any treatment. The listening section of TOEFL was utilized to measure the listening performance of the participants before and after the treatment. The results of Independent Samples Test indicated thatinstructing listening strategies had no significant impact onlistening comprehension of Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Anton Subarno ◽  
Wen-Fu Pan ◽  
Mei-Ying Chien

<p class="Abstract"><em>This study aims to investigate the effects of audio comedy on English listening comprehension test results of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. The English listening test comprises four sections; each section has a seven-minute comedy audio mode and 13 questions, and participants listen to the four sections successively. This study was conducted with 117 sophomore, junior and senior students at Sebelas Maret University in Indonesia. Two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was adopted to distinguish between male and female students on the four successive test sections measuring English listening comprehension skills. The findings are: 1. Successive practice tests will stimulate English listening skills; and 2. Successive practice tests will improve students’ English listening skills. The comedy audio mode creates a low-stress English listening atmosphere and reduces the learner’s anxiety.</em></p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 66-77
Author(s):  
Saleh Alrasheedi

Equal focus needs be placed on teaching all four basic skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. However, it is observed that due attention is not devoted to developing speaking skills in Saudi EFL learners; this task is especially challenging as English is not widely used or spoken in their day-to-day communication. The current study aims to investigate the psychological factors which affect learners’ speaking performance by: (a) examining the strategies learners use for developing speaking skills, (b) identifying obstacles confronted by learners in developing speaking skills, and (c) suggesting ways to facilitate the acquisition of English speaking skills. The research seeks answers to these questions: (1) What are some psychological factors affecting speaking skills of students? (2) Why do learners find speaking in English so difficult? . I distributed a questionnaire among 200 female and male participants majoring in various fields at Majmaah university in Saudi Arabia. I employed SPSS to analyze the accumulated data and displayed the results in descriptive tables. The results reveal that affective factors impacting students’ performance in speaking skills are shyness, peer pressure, anxiety, and fear of making mistakes. Other factors that hinder speaking performance are paucity of necessary vocabulary, lack of exposure to the target language, and scarce opportunities to practice speaking outside the classroom. The study contributes to the existing English language learning (ELL) literature through its focus on the affective factors impacting speaking performance in Arabic-speaking EFL learners.


Author(s):  
Ghasem Aghajanzadeh Kiasi ◽  
Sona Rezaie

As an attempt to shed more light on the effectiveness of alternative assessment in second language learning, the current study sought to explore the effects of peer assessment (PA) and collaborative assessment (CA) on the Iranian intermediate EFL learners' writing ability. To fulfil the purpose of this study, 36 Iranian EFL learners studying English at Kadous English Language Institute in Rasht, Iran, were homogenized as intermediate learners based on their performance on Oxford Solutions Placement Test (OSPT). The final pool of qualified candidates was assigned to one control and two experimental groups comprising 12 learners. All the participants sat for a pretest of L2 writing so that their initial level of writing could be appraised and their homogeneity in writing could be determined. The experimental groups received treatment on English writing through utilizing PA and CA strategies. On the other hand, the control group was taught through the conventional method (i.e. teacher assessment, TA). At the end of a twelve-session experiment, a post-test measuring the effectiveness of the treatments and the participants' writing ability was administered. The results of descriptive and inferential analyses revealed a statistically significant difference among CA, PA, and TA strategies. The results also demonstrated that the CA and PA groups outperformed the control group. However, the CA group performed significantly better than the PA group. Based on the findings of this study, language teachers, materials developers, and education authorities can concentrate on employing CA as the main strategy to foster the writing ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. However, PA may also be utilized to teach writing where possible.


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