scholarly journals A look at the advanced learners' use of mobile devices for English language study: Insights from interview data

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Mariusz Kruk
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
The One

<p>The paper discusses the results of a study which explored advanced learners of English engagement with their mobile devices to develop learning experiences that meet their needs and goals as foreign language learners. The data were collected from 20 students by means of a semi-structured interview. The gathered data were subjected to qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results of the study demonstrated that, on the one hand, some subjects manifested heightened awareness relating to the advantageous role of mobile devices in their learning endeavors, their ability to reach for suitable tools and retrieve necessary information so as to achieve their goals, meet their needs and adjust their learning of English to their personal learning styles, and on the other, a rather intuitive and/or ad hoc use of their mobile devices in the classroom.</p>

scholarly journals A Study of Language Anxiety among English Language Learners in Saudi Arabia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Badia Muntazer Hakim
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Self Awareness

Classroom anxiety is a recurrent phenomenon for language learners. There are various factors that cause language anxiety, the most common of which include learners’ excessive self-consciousness and self-awareness concerning their oral reproduction and performance and their peculiar, and quite often misplaced and mistaken, views and beliefs regarding different approaches. Other potential reasons for this problem could include the fear, and the consequent deterrence occasioned thereof, of encountering difficulties in language learning, specifically learners’ individual problems regarding the culture of the target language and the varying social statuses of speakers. The most important fear is, perhaps, the deterrent fear of causing damage to one’s self-identity. Therefore, while needing to paying special attention to language learners’ anxiety reactions, language teachers have a crucial role in helping their students achieve the expected performance goals in the target language. Another factor that could potentially lead to language anxiety is simply the poor command of the target language. This problem could be attributed to linguistic barriers and obstacles language learners encounter in learning and using the target language. In the current study, using a qualitative, semi-structured interview and the focus-group discussion technique, the researcher aims to investigate the factors that contribute to language anxiety among Arab language learners. It focuses on learners both within the classroom setting and without, i.e. in the social context, and recommends a number of approaches to manage and overcome this problem.

scholarly journals Fossilized Use of Active and Passive Simple Present by Iraqi M.A. Students

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nawal Fadhil Abbas ◽  
Lina Laith Younus ◽  
Huda Hadi Khalil
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Error Analysis ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Current Problem ◽  
College Of Education ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Master Of Arts

Interlanguage fossilization is a crucial dilemma that foreign language learners may fall in. The problem of the present study is shown clearly in the answers of Iraqi students of Master of Arts in the College of Education for Women University of Baghdad. In spite of all the previous years of studying English language, some still have the problem of fossilized active and passive simple present tense. The present study aims at shedding light on the reasons behind the Iraqi students’ problem. An error analysis is applied to critically examine the students’ answers in their final course exam of two courses namely; pragmatics and discourse analysis. Depending on Selinker’s model (1972) of error analysis, students errors are all traced back to the language transfer of their native language. Among the results of analysis the researchers have arrived at a suitable solution for the current problem embodied by Sharwood’s Consciousness-Raising Approach (1981). It is recommended as a psycholinguistic model for defossilization. It is very suitable for mentally matured learners and help to solve the dilemma.

scholarly journals English Language University Teachers’ Difficulties in Research Engagement: A Case Study in Vietnam

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Huong Hoang Le
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Cultural Framework ◽  
The One

The study uses a qualitative case study framed within a socio-cultural framework to investigate Vietnamese English language university teachers’ difficulties in their research engagement. The study was conducted among 21 English language university teachers in Hong Duc University in Vietnam. Skype semi-structured interview was employed to collect necessary data to explore teacher participants’ perceived obstacles to research. The findings of the study show that there was a gap between Vietnamese authorities’ expectations of research outputs and the realities of English language university teachers’ research capabilities. Such gap has caused serious challenges to those teachers and prevented them from effectively engaging in research. On the one hand, Vietnamese authorities hope to increase universities’ research output to keep up with the international academic ranking. On the other hand, the working realities of university teachers hinder their engagement in research. However, no official investigation has been done to reduce such gap and the enforcement of research activity in universities has been taken for granted. In this sense, the significance of this study is an opportunity for English language university teachers to voice their opinions about the enforced nature of research activity in universities in Vietnam.

scholarly journals Differentiation in the Digital-Based Classroom: A Universal Design Approach for Inclusive Settings in Middle Schools

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen McCoy ◽  
Sarup Mathur
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
English Language Learners ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Autistic Behavior ◽  
Diverse Classrooms ◽  
Inclusive Settings ◽  
Diverse Student

Teachers across the world have become barraged with various techniques to meet the educational needs of multiple subgroups, e.g., autistic, behavior disorders, English Language Learners (ELL), gifted. They have the responsibility of creating environments in which learners become more knowledgeable and skilled from the time when they entered the classroom. For the current and future generations of learners and their teachers, the emergence of technology has created new prospects for accommodating the learning styles of diverse classrooms. The versatility of technology can be used to organize and design material that promotes successful acquisition and retention of expected middle school content within the inclusive settings. In this paper, the authors provide a greater understanding of how technology can be an effective change agent for learning in middle school inclusive settings. Suggestions are included for teachers’ capacity building to integrate technology to accommodate diverse student learning needs and styles.

scholarly journals ERROR ANALYSIS OF CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
Wilna Kristina ◽  
Albert Rufinus ◽  
Masfa Maiza
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Research Method ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Analysis Data ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Study Program ◽  
West Kalimantan ◽  
Foreign Language Learners

Making mistakes when using conditional sentences is common for foreign language learners. Errors in this study are in accordance with the error classification surface strategy taxonomy, namely omission, addition, misform ation and misordering. The purposes of this study are to identify and to classify the types of error and to find the factors causing errors in the use of conditional sentences. The research method used is descriptive qualitative research method that is a case study with taxonomic analysis. Data collection techniques were carried out using test and interview. The research subject was third semester students of the English Language Education Study Program 2018/2019 of Pamane Talino College of Education in Landak Regency, West Kalimantan. The results show that 30.27% of students make omission errors, 21.11% addition errors, 34.86% misformation errors and 13.76% misordering errors. The factors that cause errors are found from the system's own target language (intralingual). The main error factors classified as intralingual errors in this study are: incomplete knowledge in verb forms, incomplete application of rules and false concept hypothesis.

scholarly journals Effects of Digital Short Stories on the Development of Listening Skills: An Action Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 65-84
Author(s):  
Zeynep Çetin Köroğlu
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Listening Skills

Literary texts can be used to improve language learners' skills such as reading, writing, speaking and listening because these texts contain rich vocabulary, complex grammar structures, interesting plot and most importantly imagination of the author. However, using literature for language teaching purposes is a controversial issue among scholars. While some researchers think positively, others have negative views on the subject. Learners' needs and way of using literary texts are the main concerns of literature use in language pedagogy. In this context, the present research aimed to find out whether digital short stories can improve language learners' listening skills. The purpose of this study was to figure out student teachers' perceptions of digital short stories’ implementation into language classrooms. Specifically, the current research aimed to investigate whether digital short stories are useful to develop language learners' listening skills in English. The research is action research in design. The study used pre-test and post-test, a written structured interview to collect data and it included both quantitative and qualitative components. The interview consisted of six open-ended questions. Achievement tests and t-test were used to analyze quantitative data. On the other hand, content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The data were collected in 2016-2017 academic years, Bayburt University. Participants were prep class students of English language teaching department of Bayburt University. In the treatment process, digital short stories were used for eight weeks, which were written by various famous American authors and voice recorded by various American natives. Additionally, weekly worksheets and handouts were prepared by the researcher. Results showed that digital short stories provide satisfactory content, supports vocabulary learning, improves language learners’ listening skills, helps participants to gain familiarity with complex grammar structures and makes students more familiar with different cultures. Furthermore, participants are satisfied with digital short stories and they think these digital stories are useful to improve their listening skills.

scholarly journals HAMBATAN SEMANTIK DAN BUDAYA DALAM PROSES TRANSFER IDE OLEH MAHASISWA JURUSAN NON BAHASA INGGRIS DALAM PENULISAN PARAGRAF

Edulib ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Doddy Rusmono ◽  
Susanti Agustina
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Good Writing ◽  
The One ◽  
Target Culture ◽  
Bahasa Indonesia

Abstrak. Proses transfer ide dalam bentuk tulisan yang dilakukan oleh mahasiswa jurusan ilmu perpustakaan dan informasi sebagai mahasiswa jurusan non Bahasa Inggris (SNED) yang mempelajari Bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing (EFL) perlu diinvestigasi. Ketidakmampuan untuk menjembatani kesenjangan antara ide dalam bahasa ibu (Bahasa Inggris) dengan ide dalam bahasa pembaca (Bahasa Inggris) menghambat pemahaman pembaca, khususnya pembaca yang merupakan penutur asli Bahasa Inggris. Paragraf yang ditulis oleh mahasiswa SNED sebagai pembelajar Bahasa Inggris tidak dapat dipahami karena hambatan linguistik dan budaya. Sejumlah kecil mahasiswa yang membuat tulisan Bahasa Inggris dalam ujian tengah semester memperlihatkan gambaran ketidaktepatan dalam hal menyusun kalimat sehingga Bahasa Inggris mereka pada tingkatan tertentu terdengar seperti Bahasa Indonesia. Dalam hal ini kemampuan mereka untuk menggunakan Bahasa Inggris seperti layaknya bahasa Indonesia terbukti sangat rendah sehingga seorang penutur asli Bahasa Inggris yang mencoba untuk memahami ide mereka bisa salah memahaminya. Seorang pembelajar Bahasa Inggris harus memiliki kosakata yang cukup banyak dan setidaknya mengetahui aturan gramatikal seperti formulasi 9BP+3CC (Cd,Cx,Cdx) dan PoS misalnya, untuk melengkapi pemahaman sebelum benar-benar dapat mengekspresikan ide dalam tulisan Bahasa Inggris yang dapat dipahami. Selain itu, pengetahuan mahasiswa tentang budaya penutur Bahasa Inggris memainkan peranan yang sangat penting untuk menghasilkan tulisan yang bagus, sebagaimana yang diungkapkan oleh seorang ahli bahasa bahwa seringkali seorang pembelajar bahasa mengetahui aturan tata bahasa tetapi tidak memiliki pengetahuan yang cukup tentang budaya penutur asli. Mahasiswa mengalami kesulitan dalam mengkomunikasikan idenya dikarenakan ekspresi suatu ide terikat oleh budaya yang merupakan entitas independen. Budaya penutur asli mempengaruhi dan membentuk perasaan, sikap, dan respons terhadap pengalaman dan interaksi seorang pembelajar bahasa dengan yang lain. Oleh karena itu, upaya fasilitator untuk memperbaiki kemampuan menulis mahasiswa mungkin untuk dilakukan.Kata kunci: Penulisan paragraf, Bahasa, Kultur , Constraint, Betterment,  SNED. Abstract. Ideas transferred in the written form by Library and Information Science students as SNED (Students of Non-English Department)learning English in the environments of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) need investigating. Inability of bridging the gap between the ideas in their native language (Indonesian language) and the audience language (English language)hampers understanding on the readers' part, as especially a native speaker of English language. Paragraphs written by the SNED as English Language Learners (ELLs) are incomprehensible due to linguistic and cultural constraints. Quite a small number of students  willing to write in English in their Mid-term Examination give some picture of inappropriateness in terms of sentence structuring resulting in their English being “Indonesian” to some extent. Their “at-homeness”, in this case, proves to be so low that a native speaker of English trying to understand their ideas put into a paragraph will be more than likely misled. ELLs should have vocabularies in a sufficient number and know grammatical rules such as the one formulated as 9BP+3CC (Cd,Cx,Cdx) and the PoS at least, for instance, to equip themselves with before actually expressing their ideas in comprehensible English writing mode. Other than that, ELLs' knowledge of target culture (English, that is) plays a great role in producing a good writing as coined by a linguist: Most frequently confronted that students to a great extent know the rules of language, but are not knowledgeable enough about the target culture. In communicating their ideas, students found it difficult to do due to a culture-bound independent entity of idea expressions. The target culture influences and shape the ELLs' feelings, attitudes, and responses to the ELLs' experiences and interactions with others. It is indicated that any facilitator's efforts towards betterments in terms of writing better paragraphs by the ELLs should be a possibility.Key words: paragraph writing, linguistic, cultural, constraint, betterment, SNED.

scholarly journals LEARNERS’ STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP THEIR COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-279
Author(s):  
Durga Bhusal
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Affecting Factors ◽  
Language Learning Strategies ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The One

Language Learning Strategies (LLSs) are specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques that the learners use them to improve their performance which is important for L2/FL learning and teaching. These strategies are as affecting factors on success or failure of the language learning process. Hence, this paper explores the English language learners’ learning strategies to develop their communicative competence within the theoretical stance of Oxford’s 1990 Language Learning Strategies (LLSs). The study is qualitative in nature where four participants were interviewed to understand their ontological perspectives and practices of different LLSs to enhance their communicative ability in English. The findings show the learners seemed to be usual strategy users. However, social, affective, and metacognitive strategies frequent strategies for developing their communicative competence. It further depicts learners are not always aware of the influence of consciously using language learning strategies for making their learning quicker and more effective. Thus, the teachers need to be the one who helps their students develop the awareness of language learning strategies and enable them to use a wider range of appropriate strategies for further success in their communicative competence.

scholarly journals Using Drama and Drama Techniques to Teach English Conversations to English as A Foreign Language Learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Saman Masoumi-Moghaddam
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
The Public ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
English Competence

The present study aimed to examine the ways in which drama and drama techniques and practices, as implemented in the English language classes and combined with pedagogical practices to teach and learn English conversation, can create the appropriate conditions that promote learning environments conducive for learning English conversations. The participants of this study were thirty undergraduate male and female students who had studied English at the secondary and high school levels at the public schools in Ardebil. They were classified into two groups including Control and Experimental groups. The two groups were administered a Test-Retest evaluation to measure the targeted language skills that was to be taught to them. In order to collect the necessary data, two modern plays were taught and rehearsed in classroom context and then a retest were administered after the practice of these two modern dramatic discourse in the classroom. The different data-collecting techniques were used for the current research were participant observation (direct and indirect), and interviews. After analysing the data the results showed that there was no significant improvement in English competence of the Control group but the Experimental group revealed a tremendous achievement in their abilities in English conversations through the use of dramatic discourse.

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