scholarly journals EFL Writing Skills Development Through Literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Siham BOUZAR FODIL-CHERIF
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Writing Classes ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Teaching Goals ◽  
Writing Skill ◽  
Important Means

Learning another language as English requires a combination of knowledge of the target language with skills and strategies that enable an individual to use them effectively. That is a learner has to develop knowledge about receptive skills; i.e., listening and reading, as well as productive ones; i.e., speaking and writing. Though all the skills are important for language learning, the writing skill is probably the most needed in academic and professional communities. It constitutes an important means of communication through which the writer expresses feeling, ideas and arguments. In the case of English language learning, writing in a language that one is not familiar with constitutes a hard task. In fact, though writing represents a crucial skill for learning any language, its complex nature makes it a challenging affair for both the learners and the teachers. It requires the learners to be guided and assisted in their efforts to reach success. Besides, the teachers are expected to furnish the appropriate measures to achieve the teaching goals. Therefore, it is with the perspective to highlight the importance of writing and the role of reading literature in developing EFL learners’ writing skill that this piece of work is undertaken. This is achieved via disclosing the nature of the writing skill and how the implementation of literature in the writing classes can provide positive effect on EFL learners’ performance.

scholarly journals The Role of Social Media (YouTube and Snapchat) in Enhancing Saudi EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension Skills

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-54
Author(s):  
Wed Nasser Al Harbi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
English Language ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Comprehension Skills

Despite of the importance of listening in EFL learning and teaching, this skill is not getting as much attention as other skills. Therefore, learners are less motivated to depend on their listening comprehension as a tool to help them in the process of language learning. Social media, especially YouTube and Snapchat, can be effectively used as a pedagogical tool to enhance the listening skills of EFL learners, compared with other traditional audio recording tools. The objective of this research is to investigate the role of social media (YouTube and snapchat) as a method of teaching, in order to enhance EFL Saudi learners' listening comprehension skills. The primary goal of this study is to know whether social media is capable of developing EFL listening comprehension skills, and gaining the deeper understanding of the presented materials. In addition, using these tools makes them familiar with the target language culture and it's native speakers. In order to achieve this objective; the researcher used a mixed method to ensure the research validity: a questionnaire and a post-test.The participants of the study were 50 female students studying in English Language Centre at Taif University. They were randomly selected and they divided into two groups: the experiment group consisted of 20 female students and the control group consisted of 30 female students. The experiment group was instructed using (YouTube and Snapchat) as the control group using traditional audio method. Then there is a post-test is given to both groups to measure their listening comprehension performance. The findings of the study showed that using social media (YouTube and Snapchat) can enhance the listening skill of Saudi EFL leaners. The researcher recommends conducting more studies on other samples from different studies, age levels and from different environments like the schools or training institutes.

scholarly journals The Role of Social Media (YouTube and Snapchat) in Enhancing Saudi EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension Skills

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wed Nasser Al Harbi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
English Language ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Comprehension Skills

Despite of the importance of listening in EFL learning and teaching, this skill is not getting as much attention as other skills. Therefore, learners are less motivated to depend on their listening comprehension as a tool to help them in the process of language learning. Social media, especially YouTube and Snapchat, can be effectively used as a pedagogical tool to enhance the listening skills of EFL learners, compared with other traditional audio recording tools. The objective of this research is to investigate the role of social media (YouTube and snapchat) as a method of teaching, in order to enhance EFL Saudi learners' listening comprehension skills. The primary goal of this study is to know whether social media is capable of developing EFL listening comprehension skills, and gaining the deeper understanding of the presented materials. In addition, using these tools makes them familiar with the target language culture and it's native speakers. In order to achieve this objective; the researcher used a mixed method to ensure the research validity: a questionnaire and a post-test.The participants of the study were 50 female students studying in English Language Centre at Taif University. They were randomly selected and they divided into two groups: the experiment group consisted of 20 female students and the control group consisted of 30 female students. The experiment group was instructed using (YouTube and Snapchat) as the control group using traditional audio method. Then there is a post-test is given to both groups to measure their listening comprehension performance. The findings of the study showed that using social media (YouTube and Snapchat) can enhance the listening skill of Saudi EFL leaners. The researcher recommends conducting more studies on other samples from different studies, age levels and from different environments like the schools or training institutes.

Tertiary English-majored Students’ Perceptions toward the Role of Pronunciation in English Language Learning and their Practicing Strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-279
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
The University

Accurate pronunciation has a vital role in English language learning as it can help learners to avoid misunderstanding in communication. However, EFL learners in many contexts, especially at the University of Phan Thiet, still encounter many difficulties in pronouncing English correctly. Therefore, this study endeavors to explore English-majored students’ perceptions towards the role of pronunciation in English language learning and examine their pronunciation practicing strategies (PPS). It involved 155 English-majored students at the University of Phan Thiet who answered closed-ended questionnaires and 18 English-majored students who participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that students strongly believed in the important role of pronunciation in English language learning; however, they sometimes employed PPS for their pronunciation improvement. Furthermore, the results showed that participants tended to use naturalistic practicing strategies and formal practicing strategies with sounds, but they overlooked strategies such as asking for help and cooperating with peers. Such findings could contribute further to the understanding of how students perceive the role of pronunciation and their PPS use in the research’s context and other similar ones. Received 10th June 2019; Revised 12th March 2020; Accepted 12th April 2020

Machine Translation for EFL

Relay Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 228-235
Author(s):  
Paul J. Moore ◽  
Phil Murphy ◽  
Luann Pascucci ◽  
Scott Sustenance
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Machine Translation ◽  
English Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Technical Developments ◽  
English Language Institute ◽  
Changing Role

This paper reports on an ongoing study into the affordances of free online machine translation for students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) at the tertiary level in Japan. The researchers are currently collecting data from a questionnaire, task performance, and interviews with 10-15 EFL learners in an English Language Institute in a university in Japan. The paper provides some background on the changing role of translation in language learning theory and pedagogy, before focusing literature related to technical developments in machine translation technology, and its application to foreign language learning. An overview of the research methodology is provided, along with some insights into potential findings. Findings will be presented in subsequent publications.

scholarly journals Investigation of Factors Influencing Speaking Performance of Saudi EFL Learners

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 66-77
Author(s):  
Saleh Alrasheedi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
English Language ◽  
Peer Pressure ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Affective Factors ◽  
Speaking Performance ◽  
Speaking Skills

Equal focus needs be placed on teaching all four basic skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. However, it is observed that due attention is not devoted to developing speaking skills in Saudi EFL learners; this task is especially challenging as English is not widely used or spoken in their day-to-day communication. The current study aims to investigate the psychological factors which affect learners’ speaking performance by: (a) examining the strategies learners use for developing speaking skills, (b) identifying obstacles confronted by learners in developing speaking skills, and (c) suggesting ways to facilitate the acquisition of English speaking skills. The research seeks answers to these questions: (1) What are some psychological factors affecting speaking skills of students? (2) Why do learners find speaking in English so difficult? . I distributed a questionnaire among 200 female and male participants majoring in various fields at Majmaah university in Saudi Arabia. I employed SPSS to analyze the accumulated data and displayed the results in descriptive tables. The results reveal that affective factors impacting students’ performance in speaking skills are shyness, peer pressure, anxiety, and fear of making mistakes. Other factors that hinder speaking performance are paucity of necessary vocabulary, lack of exposure to the target language, and scarce opportunities to practice speaking outside the classroom. The study contributes to the existing English language learning (ELL) literature through its focus on the affective factors impacting speaking performance in Arabic-speaking EFL learners.

scholarly journals Toward the Role of EFL/ESL Students’ Silence as a Facilitative Element in Their Success

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Hu
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
English Language ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Esl Teachers ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Students Success

Following the recent evolution of research perspectives toward student silence, an increasing number of studies have sought to empirically probe into the beneficial role of this variable in students’ success. Yet, a limited number of review studies have been carried out to illustrate the complex nature of student silence and its positive consequences (e.g., success, increased learning outcomes, etc.). Hence, this study aims to review different definitions of “student silence” to elucidate its facilitative function in EFL/ESL students’ success. Providing empirical evidence, the role of student silence as a facilitative element in English language learning was proved. Finally, some pedagogical implications for EFL/ESL teachers and teacher trainers are also discussed.

scholarly journals The Influence of CLL on EFL Learners’ Speaking Skill

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-56
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ilyas
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Speaking Skill ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The University

Some students in the university got some difficulties to express their ideas, especially expressing in foreign language such as English. How to start comunication and interaction sometime need someone to stimulate. The phenomenon often encountered in various levels of education even to the students college. The students tended to be very subjective towards topics, their peer or even partner. In the teaching and learning process, the teacher not only transfer the information to the students but also facilitate the students, stimulate to learn English and provide the technique suitable with the students’ need. Teaching English language might be carried out through several techniques, one of them was CLL (Community Language Learning). In this technique, students were treated as clients who could express their problems to the counselor as well as in the community. In addition, the teacher played the role of translator to help students express themselves using English. This means that learners had enough opportunities to speak without worrying about their limitations in using English. The results showed that CLL helped students to express ideas systematically. The ideas were organized well, understandable, and standardized. In addition, CLL improved the result of students’ score in speaking skill. The mean score increased from 54.74 in pre-test to 72.86 in post-test. It means that CLL gave good influence on students’ speaking skill.

scholarly journals The effectiveness of Topic-Based Writing on EFL Learners’ Writing Skill

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-299
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Dung
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Process Writing ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Writing Difficulties ◽  
Writing Classes ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Writing Skill ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Writing Activity

Being accepted as out of the four essential language skills in the language learning process, writing seems to be difficult for numerous EFL learners. This research is an endeavor to explore if learners can grow out of the writing difficulties with topic-based writing activity. 78 third-year students at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Phan Thiet University in Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province participated in the study. These students were in the two writing classes, one class was treated as the experimental group (EG) and the other as the control group (CG). Research findings exposed the benefits of topic-based writing activity in nurturing learners' writing motivation and enhancing their writing skill. Furthermore, this activity gave students good chances to widen their knowledge on the topic, enrich their emotion on disadvantaged people, and build a friendly learning environment outside the classroom. The necessity and usefulness of the application of topic-based writing activity was predominantly recognized among students.

scholarly journals The Role of Pashto (as L1) and Urdu (as L2) in English Language Learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Ayesha Saddiqa
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
National Language ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
The North ◽  
Facilitative Role

Pashto is one of the dominant languages in the north of Pakistan. Its speakers prefer to communicate in L1with their peers in non-pashto speaking regions like Lahore, which is the capital city of Punjab, Pakistan. Along with Pashto, they communicate in Urdu (the national language) and English (the most prestigious academic language) for higher education, employment and business. With this background in mind, the current study investigates: (a) what are the common syntactic properties (sentence structure, aspect, preposition, article and mood) in Pashto, Urdu and English languages?, (b) What are the advantages and/ or disadvantages to Pashto speakers in English language learning? and (c) What is the potential role of Urdu in English language learning? Linguistic Proximity Model was used as a theoretical framework to analyze the data. The data was gathered from 19 Bachelor of Science Pashto students of different programs from three universities located in Lahore. The participants were asked to translate sentences from Urdu to English and from Pashto to English to find interference of both Pashto and Urdu in learning the English language. Unlike many studies, the present study negates the facilitative role of background languages in learning the target language. Apparently, although Urdu serves as a base for learning the English language, the present study recommends an independent investigation to explore the role of the Urdu language in learning English.

scholarly journals Learner Autonomy in Language Learning: Syrian Refugee EFL Learners’ Perceptions and Readiness

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilcan Bozkurt ◽  
Fadime Yalcin Arslan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Mixed Method Research ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Syrian Refugee ◽  
8Th Graders ◽  
And Gender

This study examined Syrian refugee English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ perceptions regarding learner autonomy as well as their readiness for autonomy in English language learning. It also investigated the effects of grade and gender on learners’ perceptions. A mixed-method research design was utilized, and findings indicated that neither grade nor gender had caused statistically significant differences in terms of Syrian refugees’ perceptions of learner autonomy in language learning; nevertheless, both had caused statistically significant differences in terms of sub-scales. While the 8th graders in this study perceived themselves as being more autonomous in terms of experience in language learning, the female students seemed more autonomous in terms of their perceptions of the role of teachers and feedback. Additionally, although the learners’ perceptions regarding autonomy were slightly lower than their readiness for autonomy, there was a statistically significant relationship between their perceptions of learner autonomy and their readiness for autonomy in language learning. When their perceptions about learner autonomy increased, their readiness for autonomy also increased.

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