Teaching Phonics to Chinese L1 EFL Pupils

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 76-94
Author(s):  
Yu-Lin Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Educational Technology ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Classroom Teaching ◽  
Phonics Instruction ◽  
Teaching Standards ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Synthetic Phonics ◽  
Current Article ◽  
The Uk

Despite that converging evidence has led to the mandate of phonics instruction in primary education in the UK, U.S. and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) China and Taiwan, teachers across the board (native or EFL, experienced or novice alike) have been found to lack the knowledge required for delivering high-quality synthetic phonics. While reforms to improve current practices are underway, it is vital that teachers are supported with well-designed educational technology (e.g., interactive synthetic phonics software) to maintain teaching standards and boost learning outcomes. Although well-designed interactive synthetic phonics software is available, it is not suitable for Chinese L1 EFL teachers and pupils. The current article introduces Easy Phonics (interactive synthetic phonics software designed specifically for Chinese L1 EFL teachers and pupils), presents preliminary findings using the software in classroom teaching, and confirms its potential to assist ‘phonics-untrained’ teachers in maintaining teaching standards and boosting learning outcomes. The current article, while supporting the use of educational technology in phonics teaching, does not suggest that educational technology can ‘replace’ teachers in phonics instruction.

scholarly journals Teachers’ Atttitudes toward the Use of L1 in the EFL Classroom

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Lisa Suhayati
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Classroom Management ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Teaching Tool ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
West Java ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
English Classroom

This study aims to determine the attitudes and beliefs of teachers regarding the use of L1 in EFL (English as a foreign language) and to describe the functions for which L1 was employed by the teachers. The participants of this study were 15 EFL teachers teaching at several schools in three provinces: Banten, West Java, and Jakarta (Indonesia). To collect data, the writer conducted Likert-scale survey and semi-structured interview to two teachers. The results showed that even though there were few of them were in doubt whether the use of L1 might negatively affect students’ English learning, their attitudes were positive toward the use of L1 in the English classroom. The results also indicated that the teachers employed L1 in the classrooms as a teaching tool and as part of classroom management to maximize the learning outcomes.

scholarly journals Understanding Formative and Summative Assessment for EFL Teachers: Theoretical Reflections on Assessment for Learning.

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-50
Author(s):  
M. Ridhwan
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Summative Assessment ◽  
Assessment For Learning ◽  
Classroom Teaching ◽  
Learning Behavior ◽  
Teaching Improvement ◽  
Assessment Of Learning ◽  
Efl Teachers

The literatures showed that the important of assessment has brought so significance works and studies. Currently, the teacher’s conception and belief to conduct assessment being questioned because of its nature, the cheating habit among students while assessing summative kind of test becomes the roots of all the problems occurred during the classroom test. They, especially EFL teachers should not determine by the test as the only gear to measure learning outcomes, using formative as assessment for learning is better proposed and understood rather than spotlighting the assessment of learning. Dispute summative can someway use feedback for formative purpose, it seems the roles of the teachers would take so little function for students’ improvement. It is then suggested for EFL teachers, they should immense formative procedures over summative to enhance the learning target which has been previously shared with students. Eventually, if it is successfully offered and applied massively by teachers, the earlier problems found such as cheating, lower students’ grade, would be diminished, and positively change the learning behavior. In addition, will not possible to transform teachers’ conception and practice from being an “assessment of learning” into assessment for learning”. The formative teachers will always examine their students based on the dynamic situation of their students, they viewed every dynamic problem found during classroom teaching and learning could be as feedback for teaching improvement and re-designed their teaching method in the classroom.

scholarly journals ESP in Polish Tertiary Language Courses – in Search of Definition

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Dzięcioł-Pędich
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Business English ◽  
Course Materials ◽  
Teaching Standards ◽  
Faculty Learning ◽  
Language Courses

In the Polish educational system it is mainly institutions of higher education that conduct English for Specific Purpose (ESP) courses, partly because of the regulations of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which stipulate that a B.A. graduate should know a foreign language at least at the B2 level of CEFR and its specialized variety1. This article presents an analysis of Polish ministerial and faculty documents such as ministerial teaching standards and faculty learning outcomes that influence the teaching of ESP at tertiary level in Poland. It also presents an analysis of ESP syllabi from eight higher education institutions published at Internet websites of faculties of economics and management. The aim of the analysis was to see how ministerial and faculty documents define ESP and what type of ESP students of economics and management learn and what are the main course materials for syllabus design for students of economics, management and their various specializations. All the documents and syllabi were subject to qualitative analysis which showed that neither teaching standards nor faculty learning outcomes provide a clear indication of what language for professional or specific purposes is supposed to be. Furthermore, it showed that while teaching students of economics and management, language teachers reach for business English course books which offer a general set of topics and skills, and use one and the same course books with students of different specialties. This shows that the lack of clear guidelines from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education makes it difficult for teachers to provide ESP courses beyond a certain level of generality.

scholarly journals Exploring the consequences of teachers’ self-efficacy: a case of teachers of English as a foreign language

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Goudarz Alibakhshi ◽  
Fariborz Nikdel ◽  
Akram Labbafi
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Qualitative Research Method ◽  
Burn Out ◽  
Efl Teachers

AbstractTeacher self-efficacy has been abundantly studied. However, it seems that the consequences of teachers’ self-efficacy have not been appropriately explored yet. The research objective was to investigate the consequences of teachers’ teaching self-efficacy. The researchers used a qualitative research method. They collected the data through semi-structured interviews with 20 EFL teachers who were selected through purposive sampling. The interviews were content analyzed thematically. Findings showed that self-efficacy has different consequences: pedagogical, learner-related, and psychological. Each consequence has several sub-categories. It is concluded that high self-efficacy affects teachers’ teaching practices, learners’ motivation, and achievement. It also affects teachers’ burn-out status, psychological being, as well as their job satisfaction. The findings can be theoretically and pedagogically important to EFL teachers, teacher-trainers, and administrators of educational settings.

Politeness in professional contexts: foreign-language teacher training

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerrard Mugford
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
First Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Bilingual Teachers ◽  
Further Training ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Professional Contexts

Abstract This paper examines the professional context of teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), whose first language is not English but who are required to help learners adhere to target-language (TL) politeness norms and practices. Many of these teachers have had little or no contact with TL countries/cultures and have limited professional training in this area. This paper highlights the specific context of 39 Mexican EFL teachers who reflected on their understandings and “teaching” of politeness. I argue that by employing existing resources and knowledge and with further training, bilingual teachers can be helped to take “possession” of politeness rather than having to unquestioningly teach appropriate, socially-accepted, socially-expected usage.

scholarly journals Foreign Language Anxiety and Student Interpreters’ Learning Outcomes: Implications for the Theory and Measurement of Interpretation Learning Anxiety

2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 589-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yung-Nan Chiang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Learning Anxiety ◽  
Exam Scores

Although anxiety has been documented as an important variable in both interpretation performance and second language acquisition, there has been virtually no research on the interconnections between the anxiety reactions induced by these two cross-linguistic / cultural endeavors. A review of the literature on anxiety and interpretation performance finds that most of the existing studies have treated the anxiety induced by interpretation as a transfer of other general types of anxieties, such as trait anxiety, without considering the probable role of second language anxiety in interpretation performance. In order to determine the role of foreign language anxiety in 213 Chinese-English interpretation students’ learning outcomes, which were indexed by the participants’ mid-term exam scores and semester grades, this study employed Spielberger’s (1983)Trait Anxiety Inventoryto measure the students’ trait anxiety, while utilizing Horwitz, Horwitzet al.’s (1986)Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale(FLCAS) to measure the participants’ foreign language anxiety. Results of correlation analyses showed that a) trait anxiety was not related to either mid-term exam scores or semester grades, b) foreign language anxiety was significantly and negatively associated with both outcome measures, c) after controlling for the effect of trait anxiety, the relationship between foreign language anxiety and interpretation learning outcomes remained significant, and d) a vast majority of theFLCASitems had significant and negative associations with both outcome measures. Implications for developing a theory of and a measurement instrument for interpretation learning anxiety are suggested.

scholarly journals An Analysis of an EFL Teachers' Guide: A Case Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Nazari
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Classroom Activities ◽  
Teaching Objectives ◽  
Efl Teachers

This paper is an attempt to analyse one of the documents which may affect the classroom activities of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, namely teachers' guides. It also explores the context at which the document is aimed and critiques how EFL teachers are advised to teach as well as how EFL is taught. As such, the paper stands where critical discourse analysis and language policy come together in the study of language policies in education. The teachers' guide chosen and the analysis carried out here are not necessarily concerned with their representativeness and typicality but with the opportunity they provide to the researchers and teachers to learn about such language policy documents and how language and language teaching objectives are represented in them. The issues raised in this paper will have relevance to the EFL teachers' guides and EFL education in other contexts, as these issues are likely to be true of other EFL milieux.

Progression of Skills and Competencies through University to Employment

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 290-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hobrough ◽  
Rodney Bates
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Graduate Employment ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Undergraduate Experience ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Business Sectors

This paper discusses findings of a research project comparing skills of business-related advanced GNVQ/GCE students in the UK, together with perceptions as to how skills develop through undergraduate experience into employment. Expectations of employers in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are also indicated. GNVQ students seem more aware of business needs than GCE students, and appear to have a greater awareness of teamworking. GCE students tend towards a recognition of leadership skills and improvement of self-sufficiency during higher education. Work experience is identified as the major need within higher education for SME employment across Europe and the acquisition of a foreign language is identified as a growing need for graduate employment, not only in Europe but also in certain UK business sectors.

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