scholarly journals The Influence of Reading Texts on L2 Reading-to-Write Argumentative Writing

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingjing Qin ◽  
Yingliang Liu

Reading-to-write is an essential skill in academic writing, and reading-writing tasks have been widely adopted in standardized English tests. Much more recent literature on integrated reading-writing tasks has focused on writers’ use of source texts or the validity of integrated writing assessment, while little is known about whether the nature of the types of reading texts has any bearing on integrated reading-writing tasks. This study examines whether the types of reading texts (i.e., similar views or opposing views on a debatable issue) have any influence on second language (L2) students’ argumentative writing in terms of the use of argument elements and its overall quality. Fifty-four Chinese second-year university students majoring in English language teaching were asked to write an argumentative essay after reading texts with either similar views or opposing views. Results show that students reading texts with opposing viewpoints presented more data and higher overall quality of argumentative essays than students reading texts with similar viewpoints, although the latter group presented more counterargument data. Pedagogical implications on teaching argumentative writing are discussed.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
J.A.M. Buddhima Karunarathna

In the arena of English for academic purposes, many nonnative speakers of English in different contexts find it difficult to perform well, because academic genre is alien to them. Current study was based on improving writing skills with a special focus on writing of language hedges in argumentative essays through reading journal articles. The study focused on the two research questions; 1.) Is there a significant improvement in using language hedges in academic writing through reading journal articles? 2.) What are the perceptions of students in reading journal articles to improve academic writing? Methodology of the study was based on quasi experimental and longitudinal design. Mixed method was utilized in collection of data. Participants of the study were 32 first year undergraduates of an English Language Teaching degree programme of a vocational technological university in Sri Lanka. Quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire and intervention through reading journal articles. Qualitative data was collected by interviewing 12 selected participants of the study. Two subject expertise evaluators and AntConc (2019), SPSS (23), MS Excel (Office 365) and thematic analysis were used to analyse data. Findings of the study reveal that there is a significant improvement in using language hedges by reading journal articles in the five categories of language hedges concerned; epistemic hedges, lexical hedges, lexical verbs, modal verbs and possibility hedges according to the descending order of the usage and the rate of improvement. Further, it can be concluded that pleasure and conscious reading of journal articles provide both cognitive and affective insights for novice academic writers of English. Two major implications for further research were drawn; to study the effect of language hedges in the culture of first language affects the usage of language hedges among undergraduates, and to study on the other stance features and engagement features in academic writing among the undergraduates in the Sri Lankan context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gusman Keizer Bondar ◽  
I Wayan Dirgeyasa Tangkas ◽  
Eddy Setia

There are two problems proposed in this paper, i.e. about (1) the transitivity systems elements that characterize English for SMK 1 Textbook for Grade X, and (2) the relevance of transitivity elements (Process and Circumstance) with the English teaching and learning processes. By using the theory of SFL, it can be described (as qualitative descriptive method of research), that in all Units of reading texts in the English textbook there were 238 clauses selected methodologically to be analyzed. In these clauses, all Process Types can be found with varieties of the usage. It is found that in all units of reading texts, Material Process types was the dominant type used, i.e. (48.6%), followed by Relational Process type (27,2%), Mental Process (18.6%) Verbal Process type 8,4%, and Behavioral and Existentional 7.0% each respectively. Related to the circumstance, the dominant one is Circumstance of Location (Time and Place = 37.7%). For the participant, it is related to the process exists in the text, i.e. Actor for Participant 1 and Goal for Paticipant 2.Keyword: Transitivity Systems Analysis, Textbook, Vocational High School


2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 136-144
Author(s):  
A Litovkina ◽  
◽  
D Zhorabekova ◽  
A Issabekov ◽  
◽  
...  

This article is devoted to the analysis of the current state of level teaching of the English language in schools in Kazakhstan. The introduction of the Common European Framework of References for Languages in the process of foreign language education in Kazakhstan entailed significant changes that made it possible to im-prove the quality of teaching English, bring it closer to international standards, and ensure its competitiveness at the global level. However, research has shown that in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to take into account the awareness and opinion of teachers. This article is an exploratory study examining the application of CEFR in the English language teaching system in general education schools in Kazakhstan, with emphasis on the knowledge and opinions of teachers. The article also provides a brief overview of world experience in the practical application of the principles of CEFR in teaching English. This study used a survey for English teachers as the primary data collection method. The results of the study showed that there are difficulties at the school level that affect the final result of proficiency in English language teaching. Nevertheless, thanks to the adopted language policy, the country is undergoing a progressive development of foreign language ed-ucation and purposeful work is being carried out to ensure the quality of teaching English, which is reflected in almost all program documents for the development of education.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Irena Kuzborska

This article is based on the plenary talk given at the inaugural UHAMKA International Conference on English Language Teaching (ELT) and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) (UICELL 2018) in Jakarta, Indonesia, 23 November 2018, and focuses on the explanation of reading as a communicative rhetorical act. Outlining the key features of such reading, it then considers the benefits of reading texts rhetorically. A specific focus is given to the role of rhetorical reading in writing. While the article acknowledges the limited research on the relationship, it provides some evidence that reading texts rhetorical can lead to both more effective reading and more effective writing. A specific technique on how to teach students to read texts rhetorically is also presented in this article.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-15
Author(s):  
Nunung Susilo

This research was designed in descriptive qualitative research to ensure there are triangulations data regarding Kahoot apps in English Language Teaching (ELT) context. The data was collected from several related literature on the application of Kahoot online application in English classrooms including online forum. The analysis of the study sees teaching English using media such as Kahoot is one effective strategy that makes students enjoy the teaching and learning process around the globe. Many studies have proven the effectiveness of using video as a learning medium for students, especially in EFL classes. Kahoot seems not only gives students pleasure to learn but also can make students more active and comfortable in the learning process. Therefore, taking a cue from many studies around the world underline the significant findings the teacher as a model must know how to deliver good material using Information system i.e., Kahoot online application. This study also would like to suggest before using this online application as a medium for teaching, teachers must have a step by step plan of what the teacher must do during teaching and learning to ensure the quality of teaching.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Anis Firdatul Rochma ◽  
Sulis Triyono

<em>As an effort to give contribution to the existing knowledge, it is expected for the undergraduate students to compose an engaging research article in order to convince the readers about the importance of the research article. However, there is only a little attention given to the articles written by the undergraduate students although it is considered very critical to examine whether the exposure of English academic writing has significantly enhances the writing competence of the students. Furthermore, as it is also very crucial to build a meaningful semantic meaning among the sentences in order to disclose the worthiness of the research article, it is essential to analyze the cohesion of the research article written by the undergraduate students. Henceforth, the present research is projected to investigate the cohesion of the research articles written by the undergraduate students of English Language Teaching. As the introduction section of research article is likely to be an area to portray the logical explanation of the research, the present research solely focuses on examining the cohesion of the introduction section of research article. By adopting a qualitative design and involving several steps to analyze the introduction section, it is revealed that the grammatical cohesion is considered to be the most utilized type of cohesion in writing the introduction section. Still, the lexical cohesion is also necessary to build an eloquent semantic meaning about the topic as well the importance of the research article.</em>


Author(s):  
Danny C. Barbery-Montoya ◽  
Carlos Bautista-Nuques ◽  
Jeaneth P. Wiesner-Mora

For service companies, one of the most difficult challenges to measure is brand value, considering the subjectivity of the service, given by consumer perception. In this way, the objective of this chapter is to know the elements that provide value to the service company's brand. To carry out the study, the authors deepen the concepts of service and brand considering the SERVQUAL and CSI questionnaires, which allow them to obtain indexes of measurement of the quality of services and brand valuation and apply them in the English language teaching institutes in Guayaquil (Ecuador). The results show that five high-importance schools have valuation elements that build their brand with characteristics that differentiate them, but also with others that resemble them. Understanding each of the brands and variables, they propose an initial model that allows analyzing this industry in which elements relevant to the consumer are observed.


Author(s):  
Khadija Anasse ◽  
Rajaa Rhandy

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed an abrupt change in our teaching practices. Particularly the online assessment of students’ writing has been an unprecedented, novel situation for many English foreign language teachers. What is novel about this issue is the constraint of adopting it in a critical situation in which it has been an alternative way to assess students in the absence of the physical presence of students. The shift from face to face assessment to online assessment has been a novel experience for many Moroccan English foreign language teachers who have never implemented it before nor have any background knowledge about its mechanisms and methods albeit there are some teachers who are familiar with online teaching and online assessment. The issue has generated important points for English language teaching practitioners and stakeholders about the strategies and challenges of this compulsory mode of assessment during COVID-19 lockdown. From this perspective, the purpose of this paper was to reflect on writing assessment in the era of COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of teachers. The paper aimed to explore the perceptions of Moroccan English foreign language teachers about online writing assessment and the challenges that encountered them.  For this purpose, data were collected from 100 English language teachers in the region of Casablanca through the use of questionnaires. The findings of this study substantiated that most participants considered online assessment of students’ writing a real challenge and hence hold a negative attitude towards it. Based on the results of this study, it was recommended to teach digital writing skills to English foreign language learners and design teaching training programs about online writing assessment. 


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ribut Wahyudi

<p>This dissertation aims to critically examine lecturers’ discursive statements in interviews and English Language Teaching (ELT) classroom practices in Indonesia, primarily in the teaching of Argumentative Writing (AW) and Cross Cultural Understanding (CCU) courses at two universities (Multi-Religious and Islamic University) in Java. This study uses poststructural and interdisciplinary lenses: Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA); Connell’s (2007) ideas of Southern Theory, Kumaravadivelu’s (2006b) Post Method Pedagogy, and Al-Faruqi’s (1989) and Al-Attas’ (1993) Islamisation of knowledge, as well as the critiques of these theories and other postcolonial voices. The critical examination of ELT practices through poststructural and interdisciplinary lenses in an Indonesian context is urgent, as teaching practices at present are subjected by competing regimes of ‘truth’ including Western, neoliberal, Southern, and Islamic discourses. The data were collected from curriculum policy documents, semi structured interviews, stimulated recalls and classroom observations from seven lecturers. The data were then transcribed and analysed primarily using FDA and also discussed in relation to other interdisciplinary theories, the critiques of these theories, and other relevant postcolonial literatures. Within the analysis there is a particular focus on how ELT Methods and World Englishes are enacted, negotiated, or resisted by lecturers.  This study strongly suggests that Western discourses have dominated other regimes of truth, as evidenced in the privileging of process and genre approaches, global Northern structures of AW essay, as well as an emphasis on American and British English in AW courses and the privileging of those two dominant English varieties in CCU courses in most contexts. The study also suggests there are tensions between religious discourse and emerging neoliberal discourses in national policies and university documents and some lecturers’ language. Southern discourses seem to have been marginalised and seem to be only resorted to support the use of Western discourses in the classroom teaching. The use of FDA and interdisciplinary lenses, along with their critiques and other postcolonial voices, are underexplored in current studies of ELT practices. Therefore, this study extends scholarship in the ELT field and makes a case for exposing lecturers to counter discourses, such as Southern and Islamic discourses, in order for them to be able to critically negotiate or appropriate Western and neoliberal discourses in their teaching practices.</p>


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