scholarly journals Empowering Teenage English Language Learners Through Creative Projects

2020 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Mari Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Private Language ◽  
School Students ◽  
Japanese Students ◽  
Senior High School Students

Research shows that Japanese students’ motivation for English study tends to decline as they move through their schooling and that secondary-level students’ schoolwork-related anxiety rises as they grow older. In this practice-oriented paper, I first discuss the learning background and needs of junior and senior high school students at my private language school. I then describe small-scale “creative projects” that I design and implement with the aim of fostering the students’ intrinsic motivation for English language learning and to improve their confidence in expressing and discussing original ideas in English. The description of a sample project illustrates the project goal, class profile, and project procedure. My reflective comments regarding the effectiveness of the project in achieving the above-mentioned goals are also provided. Finally, the limitations of creative projects and possibilities of further improvements are discussed. 数々のリサーチが日本の中高生の英語学習への意欲は学年が上がるほどに減退し、彼らの学習についての不安は成長とともに高まると示唆している。この実践報告レポートでは、まず筆者の主宰する民間英語教室での中高生の学習状況と彼らが有する独特のニーズを自己決定理論と内発的動機づけに関する理論の観点を通して紹介する。次に、彼らの英語学習への内発的動機を育み、英語で独自のアイディアを表現する自信を高めるために当校で開発、実施している小規模な創造的プロジェクトを解説する。プロジェクトの描写ではプロジェクトの目的、クラス構成と活動手順を示し、プロジェクトが目的を果たす上での効果についての指導者の振り返りコメントも提示する。また最後に、現在の創造的プロジェクトの限界と今後の改善の可能性を述べる。

scholarly journals SITUATED PERSPECTIVES ON THE MOTIVATIONAL TRAJECTORIES OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH IN RURAL VIETNAM

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-266
Author(s):  
Cuong Huy Pham
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
English Language Learners ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
English Language ◽  
School Students ◽  
Situated Perspective ◽  
Learning English

Despite the growing body of research on the complex and contextually contingent nature of language learning motivation, investigations into the motivation of English language learners in rural areas have remained limited. This study explores the motivational constructions of two high school students learning English in rural Southeast Vietnam from a situated perspective. The students, one female and one male, were in their first year at high school and had relatively low levels of English. Data gathering took approximately one and a half years and was based primarily on interviews drawing on a social practice approach and observations. Findings reveal that students developed diverse motivational trajectories resulting from a synergy of social and idiosyncratic elements pertinent to their own learning conditions, interpersonal relationships, and their agentive appraisals of language affordances and learning opportunities available within and across settings. The longitudinal and situated perspective of this study provides insights into the ways in which students’ appraisals of affordances were shaped and reshaped by on-going interactions with significant others as well as by the sociocultural values permeating their agentive practices.

Motivation and Language Learning: A Look at Age Factors, Learning Histories, and More

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-28
Author(s):  
Joseph Wood ◽  
Karl Koisegg
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Age Factors ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Japanese Students ◽  
Motivation And Learning

Motivation plays an important role in successful language learning. Where does the motivation to learn a second or foreign language come from though? What makes some learners more motivated to study a language than others? This study examines how Japanese students perceive their own motivation to learn English and asks them to reflect back on their language learning histories as they do it. The study collected and analyzed data from two sets of English language learners: 23 university students and 13 adult learners who were either working full time or retired. Survey and interview data were collected and analyzed to compare the two groups and found that they share more similarities than differences in their attitudes toward motivation and learning English. 効果的な語学学習において、モチベーション(動機)は重要な役割を担っている。しかし、第二言語や外国語を学ぶモチベーションは一体どこから湧いてくるのだろうか。一部の学習者が他者よりも高いモチベーションを持つのはなぜだろうか?この研究では、日本の学生たちが英語を学ぶにあたってどのように自身のモチベーションを感じ取っているか調べ、また彼らの学習履歴を振り返ったときのモチベーションの変化について聞いてみた。まず英語学習者を 2 つのグループに分け、それぞれのデータを収集し分析した。1 つは 23 人の大学生、もう 1 つは成人してフルタイムで働く、または定年退職後の学習者グループである。彼らを観察し、面接して得られたデータを収集・分析し 2 つのグループを比較したところ、モチベーションと英語学習に対する姿勢には相違点よりも類似点のほうが多いということがわかった。

scholarly journals Enhancing English Language Learners’ Conversation Abilities via CA-informed Sitcom Lessons

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Abdulloh Waedaoh ◽  
Kemtong Sinwongsuwat
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
English Language Learners ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Public High School ◽  
School Students ◽  
Leave Taking

The study investigated the effectiveness of Conversation Analysis (CA)-informed sitcom lessons in enhancing conversation abilities of Thai learners of English. The participants included 42 high school students enrolled in an English for Communication course at a public high school in Southern Thailand. Through 15-week sitcom lessons, they were taught how to construct conversation sequences to accomplish such sequential actions as greeting and leave-taking, dis/agreement, new announcement, compliment, invitation, and request, as well as to collaboratively analyze conversations from the sitcoms and role-play them at the end of each lesson. Before and after the series of lessons, the participants were engaged in role-play conversations that were videotaped for subsequent assessment of their conversation abilities. The findings from both comparative statistical and close single-case analyses revealed significant improvements in all the aspects assessed especially regarding grammar and appropriacy. Therefore, it is recommended that EFL teachers should apply CA principles to teaching English conversation, integrating conversations from authentic materials such as sitcoms to strengthen English language learners’ conversation abilities.

scholarly journals The effect of topic selection on writing fluency among Japanese high school students

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Lin Lubold ◽  
Sarah Forbes ◽  
Ian Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
English Language Learners ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Writing Fluency ◽  
School Students ◽  
Student Meaning

Written fluency and fluency building activities have been shown to promote linguistic choice and student voice development, increased ability to express ideas using complex grammatical structures and greater intrinsic motivation in English language learners. Since the 1970’s, process-oriented writing has been emphasized, yielding an amplified focus on meaning of student content over linguistic form precision. Current research of writing fluency must delve deeper into questions of student ownership of topic and the outcomes for low-risk activities that support fluency practice and encourage confidence building in students. The purpose of this replication study is to further explore previous findings on the effects of topic selection on writing fluency for high school English as foreign language learners. Building off of the work of Bonzo (2008), this study focused on a timed, non-graded writing activity administered to groups of Japanese engineering students in three departments: mechanical, electrical, and global engineering. The six subsequent samples for each participating student were analyzed using online text-analysis for total and unique word counts, providing data used to perform a t-test. Responses to bi-lingual student questionnaires, with prompts on self-perceived written English ability, self-efficacy and strategies for success while writing, provided additional insight into the facets of fluency. The results of these writing sessions offer both confirmation of and contrast to Bonzo’s original work, demonstrate increased student meaning making, and support the use of free writing activities in English language classrooms as a means by which student written fluency may be improved.

Social Capitals and English Language Learning in an Iranian Language Institute

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Ebrahim Khodadady ◽  
Mozhgan Ashrafborji
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Language Achievement ◽  
Religious Activities ◽  
School Students ◽  
Social Capitals

This study aimed to 1) explore the social capitals of students who had registered in the three branches of Khorasan Language Institute (KLI) to learn English, 2) establish their factorial validity and 3) explore their relationship with English language achievement. To this end the 40-item Social Capital Scale (SCS) developed by Khodadady and Alaee (2012) and validated with grade three senior high school students in Mashhad was modified and administered to 493 female English language learners (ELLs) in the KLI. The application of Principal Axis Factoring and Varimax with Kaiser Normalization to the collected data showed that the SCS consisted of seven factors, i.e., Social Attachment, Parental Supervision, Parental Expectation, Helpful Others, Social Contact, Religious Activities, and Parent Availability. When the SCS was correlated with the ELLs’ scores on oral and written examinations, no significant relationship could be found between social capitals and English language achievement. Out of seven factors, only Helpful Others correlated significantly but negatively with ELLs' English achievement. The results are discussed from both empirical and theoretical perspectives and suggestions are made for future research.

Peer Disruption and Learning: Links between Suspensions and the Educational Achievement of Non-Suspended Students

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
NaYoung Hwang ◽  
Thurston Domina
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
English Language ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
School Students ◽  
Low Achieving Students ◽  
Disciplinary Cultures

To evaluate the net effects of classroom disciplinary practices, policymakers and educators must understand not only their effects on disciplined students but also their effects on non-disciplined peers. In this study, we estimate the link between peer suspensions and non-suspended students' learning trajectories in a California school district where middle and high school students took up to 12 basic skills tests in mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) over the course of the 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 school years. We find that Hispanic students, students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, English language learners, students enrolled in special education, and low-achieving students are disproportionately exposed to classmate suspensions. Analyses with student and classroom fixed effects show that student achievement in mathematics increases when their classmates receive suspensions, particularly suspensions attributed to disruptive behavior. We find no association between classmate suspension and ELA achievement. Since these results come from schools in which suspensions are relatively rare events, they may not generalize to settings with draconian disciplinary cultures. Nonetheless, our findings imply that suspensions, when used appropriately, can improve the academic achievement of non-suspended students, particularly for students from vulnerable populations.

scholarly journals READING STRATEGIES AS DEVELOPMENT MODEL ENGLISH COGNITION OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-96
Author(s):  
S Supeno ◽  
Imam Suseno ◽  
Lubban Anwari Alhamidi
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Random Sampling ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
English Language ◽  
School Students ◽  
Cluster Random Sampling ◽  
Contextual Meaning ◽  
Senior High School Students

ABSTRACT This study aims to develop a model of reading strategies of English language learning which is expected to further enhance students’ cognitive abilities in English. The model reading strategies serve as a strategy to read the English subtitles via bottom-up, top-down and mixed strategies that are capable of triggering the students' critical thinking and have been integrated with development ideas from experts and linguists. The study employed a cluster random sampling of 30 schools and 900 students for the standardization of the model reading strategies as a new model that best enhance the cognitive power of English language learning. The method used was Research and Development, through  seven steps in the research cycles. The subjects were high school students in the class tenth in  Special Capital Region of Jakarta. The steps to reading development strategy that are able to improve the cognitive of students are 6 steps consisting of:  overall understanding,  understanding on contextual meaning,  assumption of contextual meaning,  look for meaning in contextual output,  searching for further meaning, and  returning to the main idea of ​​our thinking.   ABSTRAK Penelitian ini bertujuan mengembangkan model pembelajaran bahasa Inggris yakni reading strategies, yang diharapkan dapat meningkatkan daya kognitif bahasa Inggris siswa. Permodelan reading strategies sebagai strategi untuk membaca teks bahasa Inggris melalui strategi bottom-up, top-down dan mixed yang mampu memicu pemikiran kritis siswa dan telah diintegrasikan dengan gagasan pengembangan dari para ahli dan ahli bahasa. Dengan cluster random sampling terpilih sebanyak 30 sekolah dan 900 siswa untuk standarisasi model reading strategies sebagai model baru yang dapat meningkatkan daya kognitif bahasa Inggris siswa. Metode yang digunakan adalah Research and Development, melalui tujuh langkah dalam siklus penelitian. Subjek penelitian adalah siswa SMA di kelas sepuluh di DKI Jakarta. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa reading strategies yang dapat meningkatkan kemampuan kognitif siswa yaitu melalui adalah 6 langkah strategi membaca yaitu:  pemahaman teks secara utuh, memahami makna dalam konteks, berpikir dan menduga tentang makna, mencari makna dalam konteks, mencari makna lebih jauh, dan kembali pada pemikiran makna kata. How to Cite: Supeno. Suseno,I. Alhamidi, L. A. (2017). Reading Strategies as Development Model English Cognition of Senior High School Students. IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 4(1), 84-96, doi:10.15408/ijee.v4i1.4822DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v4i1.4822

scholarly journals Students’ Readiness in Implementing Mobile Learning for English Language Learning Purposes

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-31
Author(s):  
Muhammad Fathur Rahman Khalik ◽  
Nur Hidayanto Pancoro Setyo Putro
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
School Students ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Senior High School Students

Background: The application of mobile learning (m-learning), especially in the area of language learning, has gained interest in the last several years due to the benefits offered by mobile devices. However, to maximize the effectiveness of m-learning, students are required to be ready. Thus, it is crucial to assess students’ readiness before implementing m-learning. By focusing on rural schools, this quantitative study aims to examine students’ readiness in implementing m-learning in their English language learning. Methodology: This study employed a survey design to measure m-learning readiness of senior high school students by investigating three factors, namely mobile self-efficacy, optimism, and self-directed learning. Through an online questionnaire, 140 responses were successfully collected from students in two public senior high schools (one high school and one vocational high school) located in a rural area in Soppeng, Indonesia. The data collected were subsequently analyzed using SPSS Statistics ver. 25. Findings: The results revealed that senior high school students from a rural area in Soppeng, Indonesia, had a high level of self-efficacy and optimism in implementing m-learning in their English language learning. However, their self-directed learning was still at a moderate level. Moreover, further analysis showed that type of school significantly affected students’ mobile self-efficacy and optimism, while self-directed learning was not affected. Conclusion: Students from rural senior high schools in Soppeng, Indonesia, showed readiness in implementing m-learning for English language learning purposes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document