Living Newspaper in the English Discussion Classroom

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-37
Author(s):  
Chris Parham
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Young People ◽  
English Language ◽  
Active Participation ◽  
Japanese Government ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
The Way

Since 2003, the Japanese government has been urging universities to improve and reform the way they teach English to develop young people who can actively and immediately work in global contexts after graduation (MEXT, 2003). Some universities are using drama in the English language classroom to nurture students’ creativity, cooperation, and confidence. As has been shown, drama brings a multitude of psychological and communicative benefits – it helps students think about pronunciation, meaning, emotion, motivation, cooperation, confidence, and active participation, all of which can help to promote language acquisition and the spontaneous use of language (Miccoli, 2003; Ranzoni, 2003; Sato, 2001; Shapiro & Leopold, 2012; Zyoud, 2010). With a background in theatre and some useful drama resources at my disposal, I have been seeking ways to give my English classes a communicative and performative edge, and this article examines how I tried to incorporate a drama activity into my university discussion class.

Constructing reading proficiency and struggle through tracked contexts

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 182-198
Author(s):  
Julie E. Learned ◽  
Mary Jo Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Struggling Readers ◽  
English Language ◽  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
State Standards ◽  
Reading Difficulty ◽  
Content Type ◽  
English Curriculum ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Students Attitudes

Purpose This paper aims to report on a study investigating how young people and teachers interpreted reading proficiency and difficulty across different tracks of English language arts in the sole high school serving a culturally diverse city. Design/methodology/approach For six months, the researchers observed in three hierarchically tracked English classes. Participants were three teachers and 15 focal youths. The researchers also conducted semi-structured and open-ended interviews and collected classroom artifacts and students’ records. Findings Despite adoption of the Common Core State Standards and a school-designed common English curriculum, both of which were to contribute to shared literacy objectives, students and teachers built highly contextualized understandings of reading proficiency, which diverged across tracks and mediated instruction. Across tracks, however, deficit discourses about reading struggle persisted, and students and teachers attributed difficulty to students’ attitudes and behaviors. Young people never described themselves in negative terms, which suggests they resisted the deficit labels tracking systems can generate. Originality/value Findings extend research by showing how literacy-related tracking contributed to exclusionary contexts through which students were unproductively positioned at odds. Findings suggest a need for renewed rigor in the examination of tracking practices, particularly how notions of reading difficulty/proficiency position youths and mediate literacy instruction. Despite deficit conceptions of “struggling readers” across the school, youths never described themselves negatively and accepted reading difficulty as normal; how youths achieved such resourceful stances can be further investigated. These research directions will support the creation of English contexts that invite all youths into inquisitive, critical and agentive interactions with texts and each other.

scholarly journals Strategies for Designing and Optimising an English for Medical Purposes for French Medical Students

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascaline Faure
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Content Knowledge ◽  
English Language ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Prior Training ◽  
University Hospitals ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Medical English

Due to the considerable volume of medical content knowledge that medical students have to acquire and memorise, very little time can be devoted to medical English learning. Therefore, an English language teacher has to find strategies to both motivate the learners and facilitate language acquisition inside and outside the classroom. Yet, very few teachers can claim to be experts in medical English. Most teachers are sent to university hospitals without prior training and are trained on the job, which is far from being satisfactory. Therefore, after illustrating the specificity of medical English as opposed to general English, this paper discusses the strategies that have been implemented in a medical faculty so as to optimize medical English classes. Finally, this paper will raise the issue of teacher training specifically in English for medical purposes and suggest some solutions to help teachers acquire the medical knowledge sufficient to design relevant and efficient course contents.

Motivation in Virtual English Language Classrooms During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2022 ◽  
pp. 372-392
Author(s):  
Ebru Melek Koç
Keyword(s):  
Student Motivation ◽  
English Language ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Effective Use

This chapter aims to investigate the perceptions of English language teachers on motivation in the virtual English language classroom. The participants are 17 English language teachers at elementary and secondary schools. Interview questions were used to collect data, and thematic analysis was conducted to analyse the data. The findings revealed that student motivation in virtual English lessons was lower compared to their motivation in lessons conducted face-to-face. Another finding was that there were various factors that impact student motivation negatively and positively in synchronous English classes such as interaction, inequality, student education environments, and effective use of synchronous virtual classroom platforms.

scholarly journals PRE-SERVICE STUDENTS’ TRAINING TO TEACH LISTENING IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

2021 ◽  
pp. 25-34
Author(s):  
Alla Gembaruk
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
School Experience ◽  
Learning Assessment ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Joint Project ◽  
British Council ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
New Generation ◽  
The Way

The article describes the way of pre-service students’ training to teach listening in the English language classroom which is done within the framework of new PRESETT Curriculum on Methodology designed in context of “New Generation School Teachers” joint project (2013–2019), initiated by the Ministry of Education and Science, Ukraine and the British Council, Ukraine. The article highlights the content of the unit devoted to teaching listening, its structure, modes of teaching and learning, assessment specifications. The article also specifies the tasks for school experience and the way teacher assistantship is organized. The results of students’ evaluation of the unit on teaching listening are presented in the article. Keywords: PRESETT Curriculum on Methodology, “New Generation School Teachers” project, pre-service teacher training, teaching listening, school experience, modes of teaching and learning, assessment specifications, reflection, unit evaluation form, self-assessment checklist.

scholarly journals Problems in Teaching English in Indian Classrooms: Issues and Remedies

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-109
Author(s):  
Sarita Jain
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Remedial Measures ◽  
English Classes ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Right

This paper examines the present status of English as a second language in India. It defines language and identifies the factors that affect second language learning. It discusses different problems faced by learners of English and what is the right way of language acquisition for second language learners in India. Language acts as an instrument to express effectively in various communicative situations. However, it is the very second language which requires a conscious and diligent, systematic efforts to acquire or master it. Second language acquisition is really a big challenge for all native speakers of that language who really deal with it. The majority of Indian students, particularly from rural pockets, especially in the states of Bihar, eastern U.P. and Maharashtra, consider this seven –letter word as a magical and mystical word. A feeling of uneasiness sets in, the moment they hear something in English. As a result of this, teachers who handle English classes face insurmountable difficulties. Students find it difficult to listen and to understand the English language. What are the reasons for this? What are the remedial measures to be taken to alleviate these problems? This paper is an attempt to discuss the nature of second language acquisition and the factors responsible for its slow acquisition. Appropriate and adequate remedial measures are cited for the successful rectification of these problems.

scholarly journals EXPLORING THE ROLE OF UPDATED TECHNOLOGY IN UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 5647-5655
Author(s):  
Dr. Sundus Aj. Kamil
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
English Classrooms ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
English Classroom ◽  
Google Search

 Technology nowadays has become the trend of every aspect of life and  teaching  is not away from the that fad. What Elbert Einstein indicates “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity”  ,has been sharply outlined. The adoption  of updated technology represents an important  advance in modern English language teaching methods. The use of technology in an English classroom  is involved with a variety of technical gadgets  like a variety of mobile phones, wireless phone, laptop, tablets, notebooks, pen drives, online dictionary in addition to social media  such as Facebook, Orkut, and Google search. English classes have become a part of the novel trends. They encourage  the English teachers  to investigate  the best appropriate one which optimizes the  class for better learning English. The present term-paper is intended to shed the light on the role undertaken by up-to-date technology in optimizing English classrooms nowadays. The aim of this study is to identify the role updated technology in  language classrooms undertake to nurture and support language learning. This research is a descriptive one where a sample of (90) second year students at the Department of English/ College of  Education /IbnRushd /University of Baghdad are randomly chosen to respond to the questionnaire items which  are  adopted from a previous study to identify the role undertaken by updated technology in language classroom. The students’ responses have been statistically analyzed and rejected positively the null hypothesis to capture the importance of updated technology  in boosting language learning on the students’ part.

scholarly journals Students' perception toward gamification applied in English language classroom

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
Pandu Perdana Putra ◽  
Arif Suryo Priyatmojo
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Basic Concept ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Learning Motivation ◽  
Classroom Teaching ◽  
Teaching Process ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Game Elements

This study aims to find out the students' perception toward gamification applied on English language Classroom. Gamification emerged as an innovation in classroom teaching. The basic concept is to incorporate game elements into teaching, taking advantage of students' interest in games that can be used for the purposes of the teaching process. This study is conducted since there is still limited research that is conducted in Indonesia which analyses the students' perception toward the gamification utilization. This research used qualitative methods as a way to present research results from data collected. Data from this study were collected using two methods, namely online questionnaires, and interviews. This research shared questionnaires to 30 students. The questionnaire was a Likert-style close-ended question. From the research conducted, it was found that the majority of students' perceptions of gamification used in English classes was positive. The students believed that gamification was effective and fun to bring to classroom learning. This teaching method allows students to engage more in-class activities, reduces boredom because it creates a learning atmosphere, and increases learning motivation without disturbing the understanding of the material obtained by students.

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