English phonological errors by Kimakunduchi speaking EFL learners in Zanzibar

The aim of the present study was to find the phonological errors on segmental level involving selected consonant sounds which are produced by Kimakunduchi speaking English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Zanzibar. Specifically, the study sought to provide the evidence of cross-linguistic influence involving phonological transfer on segmental level. The study employed two sampling techniques: stratified and random sampling. The data for this study were collected from three secondary schools located at Makunduchi district in Unguja Island –Makunduchi, Kusini, and Kizimkazi secondary schools – using the oral interview and observation. The data were analyzed with the use of both qualitative and quantitative research approach. The study was guided by the transfer theory (reference needed) which was one of the components of Selinker’s (1992: 209) interlanguage theory. The findings revealed that, to a large extent, native Kimakunduchi speakers of EFL tended to transfer the sounds existing in their L1, or even in Kiswahili, into English. The transfer was done because of the nonexistence of the particular sound in the students’ native language or because of the discrepancy of spelling and pronunciation in English language. The study concludes that an articulation of vowels is more complex compared to consonants because of their absence in the first language (L1) or because of the confusion of spelling and pronunciation in English as FL. Thus, the study recommended that serious measures should be taken from both education holders to make sure that the learners could be able to pronounce English phonemes/words correctly.

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Iranian EFL Learners’ Writing Problems: A Move towards Solution

Journal of Studies in Education ◽

10.5296/jse.v6i4.10203 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 110

Author(s):

Maryam Sharafi Nejad ◽

Shohreh Raftari ◽

Shaik Abdul Malik Mohamed Ismail ◽

Lin Siew Eng

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

English Language ◽

Real Life ◽

Special Focus ◽

Efl Learners ◽

English As Foreign Language ◽

Efl Context ◽

Long Period ◽

Writing Problems ◽

Learning English

Writing connotes the declaration or expression of thoughts, feelings, plans and wishes in a composed form that demands skills and expertise as opposed to knowledge. Skillful writing calls for diligent work, perusing or reading, composing through reaching inferences from perusing materials and long period of practice. This study seeks to investigate the problems and identify the practical needs of writing skill in English as Foreign Language (EFL) context with special focus on Iranian citizens studying in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). In Iran, learning English language appears cumbersome for learners because it is handled as a foreign language. Hence, the leaners are confronted with plethora of problems in writing the language because it is not utilized in real life conversation or situation. In order to achieve its objectives, the study administered questionnaires to the respondents to elicit information on the difficulties confronting them while learning English as Foreign Language and their pragmatic needs.

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The Structuring of English Sentences by Chadian EFL Learners

International Journal of English Language Studies ◽

10.32996/ijels.2021.3.2.10 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 86-100

Author(s):

Magdaline Bakume Nkongho ◽

Ernest Mbaiornom

Keyword(s):

Data Collection ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Error Analysis ◽

Small Proportion ◽

Positive Attitude ◽

English Language ◽

French Language ◽

Efl Learners ◽

English As Foreign Language

Recent studies have shown that there is a positive attitude and an increase motivation in the learning of English language by Chadian learners. Despite this, the learners’ linguistic performances remain poor especially in their written productions which are often characterised by grammatical deviances and incomprehensible sentences. This study investigates several kinds of deviances that occur in the structure of English sentences produced by Chadian learners of English as Foreign Language (EFL). The study was carried out using corpora as the method for data collection. Thus, data were drawn from 175authentic narrative paragraphs written by 175Terminale A4 students from Lycée Adoum Dallah, Moundou in Chad. The analyses were based on Interlanguage and Error Analysis Theories. Findings revealed that miss elective errors were the widespread errors committed by Chadian learners of EFL as this category represents 39.17% of deviances. The results also indicate that sentences produced by Chadian learners of EFL were frequently affected by additive errors (27.76%) and omissionerrors (26.47%). Lastly, the study equally found that misordering errors were less committed as this category of errors represents a small proportion (6.58%) of deviances. These categories of errors were attributed to French language influences and intralingual factors.

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A Comparative Study of Dari Persian and English Language Consonant Sounds

Journal of Language Teaching and Research ◽

10.17507/jltr.1301.09 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 73-82

Author(s):

Mahmood Usmanyar

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

English Language ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

First Language ◽

Persian Language ◽

Research Article ◽

Manner Of Articulation ◽

Listening And Speaking ◽

Consonant Sounds ◽

Meaningful Communication

This research article compares the consonant sounds of English and Dari Persian language in terms of state of larynx, place and manner of articulation. This research article aims to determine similarities and differences between the consonant systems of English and Dari Persian language which can be useful for teachers and learners of both languages, especially in listening and speaking skills. In this research article, the qualitative method has been used to find similar and different consonant sounds. In this research article, it was found out that eighteen consonants are similar in between, two consonant sounds are slightly similar, 4 English consonants are not present in Dari Persian, and 3 Dari Persian consonants are not present in English language. It is believed that one’s mother tongue obviously has influence on second or foreign language. That is, one’s own language pronunciation habits are so strong that they are extremely difficult to break. On the other hand, mispronouncing the sounds in spoken language can cause miscommunication or misunderstanding. Therefore, this research article can help teachers and learners of English with Dari Persian as the first language and vice versa to maintain effective and meaningful communication while listening and speaking with more focus on the sounds which are different between the first and the second or foreign language.

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Classroom Interaction in Teaching English as Foreign Language at Lower Secondary Schools in Indonesia

Advances in Language and Literary Studies ◽

10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.6p.147 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (6) ◽

pp. 147 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hanna Sundari

Keyword(s):

Secondary Schools ◽

Foreign Language ◽

English Language ◽

Classroom Interaction ◽

Deep Understanding ◽

Language Teachers ◽

English As Foreign Language ◽

Language Classroom ◽

Language Classrooms ◽

Lower Secondary Schools

The aim of this study was to develop a deep understanding of interaction in language classroom in foreign language context. Interviews, as major instrument, to twenty experienced English language teachers from eight lower secondary schools (SMP) were conducted in Jakarta, completed by focus group discussions and class observation/recordings. The gathered data was analyzed according to systematic design of grounded theory analysis method through 3-phase coding. A model of classroom interaction was formulated defining several dimensions in interaction. Classroom interaction can be more comprehended under the background of interrelated factors: interaction practices, teacher and student factors, learning objectives, materials, classroom contexts, and outer contexts surrounding the interaction practices. The developed model of interaction for language classroom is notably to give deep descriptions on how interaction substantially occurs and what factors affect it in foreign language classrooms at lower secondary schools from teachers’ perspectives.

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Investigating the Causes and Negative Effects of English Language Speaking Anxiety: A Case Study among EFL Learners at Kandahar University

American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research ◽

10.46545/aijelr.v2i2.77 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 10-21

Author(s):

Ahmad Anwari

Keyword(s):

Quantitative Research ◽

English Language ◽

Research Approach ◽

Oral Performance ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Speaking Anxiety ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Self Confidence ◽

English Speaking

The present study has been conducted to investigate the causes of English language speaking anxiety among EFL learners at Kandahar University. Furthermore, the second goal of the study to investigate the negative effects of speaking anxiety. This study uses a quantitative research approach. Similarly, the questionnaire had two parts the first part had comprised 14 items and the second part 7 items and applied randomly. Besides, the data analyzing was performed in SPSS (version, 24) and bring out the mean and standard division. Finally, the findings revealed those factors which caused EFL learners to feel anxiety during English speaking and numbered as follow: (1) I feel fear of making pronunciation mistakes, (2) I am afraid that my classmates will laugh at me when I speak English. (3) I feel worried during Performing communication orally. In addition, the following factors are the negative effects of anxiety on learners: (1) Anxiety limits my speaking fluency, (2) Anxiety causes me to become under pressure during presentation and (3) Anxiety decreases my oral performance and self-confidence.

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In-Service Primary School Teachers’ Account of Phonetically Difficult Words in English as a Foreign Language

Research in Language ◽

10.18778/1731-7533.17.3.05 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 297-315

Author(s):

Oleksandr Kapranov

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Primary School ◽

English Language ◽

First Language ◽

Initial Position ◽

School Teachers ◽

Primary School Teachers ◽

Efl Learners ◽

English Spelling ◽

Reflective Essay

This article presents and discusses a mixed-method study that seeks to establish a set of words in the English language that in-service primary school teachers consider difficult to pronounce by young learners of English whose first language (L1) is Norwegian. In the study, 26 in-service primary school teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) are asked to write a reflective essay with a list of phonetically difficult words (henceforth PDWs) in English that they think are difficult to pronounce by young EFL learners. Additionally, the in-service primary school teachers (further – participants) are requested to reflect and comment on PDWs, and explain the reasons why they think they are phonetically difficult. The participants’ individual lists of PDWs are compiled into a corpus which is processed in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) in order to calculate the frequency of PDWs. The participants’ comments and reflections are subsequently analysed qualitatively in order to establish the sources of PDWs. The results of the investigation reveal that the corpus of PDWs is comprised of 257 lexical items. The most frequent PDWs are associated with those sounds of the English language that are absent in the young EFL learners’ L1, Norwegian, e.g., /θ/ in birthday, /ð/ in this, /z/ in zoo, etc. Other frequent PDWs are related to English spelling conventions (e.g., fruit), the word-initial position of affricates (e.g., chocolate), and word stress (e.g., window). These findings and their linguo-didactic implications are further discussed in the article.

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Investigating the Causes and Negative Effects of English Language Speaking Anxiety: A Case Study among EFL Learners at Kandahar University

American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research ◽

10.46545/aijelr.v2i2.184 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 10-21

Keyword(s):

Quantitative Research ◽

English Language ◽

Research Approach ◽

Oral Performance ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Speaking Anxiety ◽

Efl Learners ◽

Self Confidence ◽

English Speaking

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The Effect of Facebook Activities on Enhancing Oral Communication Skills for EFL Learners

International Education Studies ◽

10.5539/ies.v11n5p144 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 144

Author(s):

Basmah Issa AlSaleem

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Communication Skills ◽

English Language ◽

Oral Communication ◽

First Year ◽

Efl Learners ◽

English As Foreign Language ◽

Foreign Language Learners ◽

Study Results

This study investigated the effect of utilizing Facebook activities on enhancing oral communication skills for English as Foreign Language learners (EFL) in the English Department at Yarmouk University, Jordan. Participants of the study were first year English Language Bachelor degree students who speak English as a foreign language. The researcher hypothesized that if these learners practiced Facebook activities, their oral communication skills may be improved. For answering questions of the study, the researcher designed a pre-post oral communication skills test to determine the participants’ mastery of oral communication skills. Furthermore, she uploaded the activities on a Facebook account that were made available for all the participants of the study. Results revealed that the suggested Facebook activities were effective on improving participants’ oral communication skills. Then the study recommended that Facebook activities may be utilizing on improving other skills such as speaking and listening or even English language pronunciation.

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The Anxiety Factors among Saudi EFL Learners: A Study from English Language Teachers’ Perspective

English Language Teaching ◽

10.5539/elt.v10n6p160 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 160 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Fariha Asif

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

English Language ◽

Cultural Factors ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Language Anxiety ◽

Efl Learners ◽

English As Foreign Language ◽

College And University ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

English Language Teachers

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that trigger language anxiety among Saudi learners in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. The factor of anxiety is especially found among learners while developing proficiency in over all communication and speaking skills as felt by the EFL teachers. The study also seeks to answer the questions like what are the socio-cultural factors as well as psycholinguistic factors that cause language anxiety. Furthermore, this study also explores strategies that can be designed and used to cope with language anxiety successfully. The scope of the study is limited to the college and university English teachers and subject specialists working in public sectors colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia.

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Evaluating the Use of Kurdish in Efl Classes at Secondary Schools in Duhok City: A Teacher’s Perspective

Academic Journal of Nawroz University ◽

10.25007/ajnu.v9n2a822 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 284

Author(s):

Asma A. Hussein ◽

Hamza Zeebaree

Keyword(s):

Secondary School ◽

Secondary Schools ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

English Language ◽

First Language ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Ongoing Debate ◽

English Language Teachers ◽

Teacher's Perspective

This study examines the use of first language (L1) in secondary school EFL classes in Duhok city in the Kurdistan Region - Iraq. The use of L1 in EFL classes has been an ongoing debate among researchers and practitioners across the globe especially as regards its role as a facilitator of, or a hinderance/barrier to the teaching of English. Hence, the researcher aims to discover whether or not the use of Kurdish facilitates the teaching of English, in secondary schools in Duhok city. In addition, the researcher aims at finding out on what basis do teachers decide to use L1 and for what purposes do they use it. In this study, among the participants were 50 English language teachers from different secondary schools in Duhok city. The data were collected through interviews. The results indicated that the use of L1 (Kurdish) facilitates teaching of foreign language (FL) and that a balanced and judicious use of L1 in the EFL classroom by teachers can be useful in the language learning process especially with regard to grammar and vocabulary instruction.

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