scholarly journals Corpus-Based Versus Traditional Collocation Learning: The Case of Iranian EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Elham Mohammadi Foomani ◽  
Karim Khalaji
Keyword(s):  
Control Group ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Intermediate Students ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Teaching Procedure ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Writing Task

<p>A vital aspect of word knowledge is knowledge of collocations. Regarding its central role in accurate and fluent use of words, it is essential to consider collocation learning as integral to the study of vocabulary. While different methods are proposed for teaching collocations, the efficiency of these methods is yet subject to question. This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of corpus-based learning of verb-noun collocations as opposed to the traditional methods. To this aim Collin Collocation Dictionary was used as a concordancing tool for learning collocations. Forty five upper-intermediate students divided randomly into control and experimental groups were studied. A pre-test was conducted to both groups before the experiment. Next, in 4 subsequent weeks, the experimental group was provided with 24 concordance collocations and was required to identify the collocations and miscollocations while the control group received traditional collocation training through texts. At the end of the teaching procedure a post-test as well as a writing task were administered to compare students’ collocation learning and their accurate application of collocations in the writing task. In a final step, an interview was conducted to gain insight into students’ perceptions of the design. The results indicated the experimental groups’ advantage in collocation acquisition as well as their application in writings. The interview results with seven students indicated their positive perceptions of the corpus-based design despite the reported limitations.</p>

scholarly journals The Effect of Two Pre- task Activities: Pre- taught Vocabulary and Brainstorming on Intermediate EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Masoud Khalili Sabet ◽  
Abdorreza Tahriri ◽  
Somayeh Rostami Shirkoohi
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Attitude Questionnaire ◽  
Intermediate Students ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group

The primary purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of two pre- task activities of reading: pre- taught vocabulary and brainstorming in EFL learners’ reading comprehending.  To this end, three intact classes in a private English Institute in Tehran, were selected from a population of 60 English learners.  Based on their scores on Oxford Placement Test (OPT), the students were randomly assigned into two experimental groups and one control group and a pre-test was run at the beginning of the course. At outset of the course a pre- test was run among three groups.  The researcher instructed the experimental groups in 16 weeks, one session a week and lasting 40 minutes in each session. The first experimental group benefited from pre- taught vocabulary, while the second experimental group benefited from brainstorming as a pre- task and the third group did not receive any pre- task activities in the reading class. At the end of the course, a post- test with the same items of the pre- test was run to determine the improvement of EFL intermediate students’ reading comprehension changes and an attitude questionnaire was planned to determine the learners’ attitudes toward the pre- task activities.    The results of paired sample t- test indicated that the use of pre- taught vocabulary and also brainstorming enhanced the scores of  the first experimental and second experimental groups’  post- tests ; moreover, ANOVA results revealed a significant increase in reading comprehension scores  of the first and the second  experimental groups’ post- tests compared to the control group’ post-test scores.  The results of attitude questionnaire demonstrated the pupils’ positive attitudes toward the use of pre- task activities. 

Pedagogical Efficiency of Teacher-led Whole-class Scaffolding as a Pre-writing Task

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 495
Author(s):  
Nafiseh Hosseinpour ◽  
Mansour Koosha
Keyword(s):  
Control Group ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
Proximal Development ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Content Organization ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Whole Class ◽  
Language Context ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Writing Task

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) can provide learners with more authentic communicative activities, particularly in foreign language context, where learners may experience few such opportunities. From the perspective of sociocultural theory (SCT), scaffolding is a process of supportive interaction that occurs when learners are communicating with each other. There are situations in which the mediation of the teacher as an expert is necessary in the scaffolding process to advance the learners’ zone of proximal development. The present study sought to extend the scope of TBLT through SCT. More specifically, it was an attempt to investigate the effects of teacher-led whole-class scaffolding as pre-task on the writing proficiency of EFL learners. To this end, fifty Iranian female learners of English at intermediate level of general English proficiency took part in the study which was based on post-test only equivalent groups design. The participants were asked to evaluate some ELT textbooks based on a checklist and write a report respectively. The control group did not receive any pre-task activities; however, the experimental group participated in scaffolding as a pre-task. The results revealed that the trial of pre-task improved the writing performance in such areas as content, organization, grammar, and vocabulary.

The Writing Performance of Iranian EFL Learners in the Light of Metadiscourse Awareness

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sima Farhadi ◽  
Nader Asadi Aidinloo ◽  
Zahra Talebi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Intermediate Students ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Writing Test ◽  
Writing Skill ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group

In the framework of language teaching, the writing skill requires to be encouraged during the language learners’ course of study. Since metadiscourse markers help transform a tortuous piece of text into a coherent and reader-friendly one, knowledge about the metadiscourse, amongst other things, is used to improve writing skill. The current study aimed to investigate the influence of instruction of metadiscourse markers on intermediate EFL learners’ writing performance by using metadiscoursal taxonomies proposed by Hyland (2005). For this purpose, a pet test was administrated to 60 intermediate students in Iran Language Institute in Urmia. Having being homogenized by Preliminary English Test (PET), they were assigned randomly into two groups. Both the control and the experimental group sat for a pretest of writing test in the form of a cloze test which aimed to measure the learners’ initial knowledge of writing performance. The experimental group was exposed to explicit instruction of metadiscourse markers for seven successive sessions. On the other hand, the control group didn’t receive any instruction.  Eventually,  a post  test  designed to evaluate  their  writing  ability  with the focus of  metadiscourse markers  was  administered to both groups. The findings implied generally that the implementation of metadiscourse markers (via instruction) significantly improves EFL learners’ writing ability.

scholarly journals Does Dictionary Use Affect Iranian EFL Learners’ Lexical Density in Writing?

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Reza Abdi
Keyword(s):  
Placement Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Lexical Density ◽  
Dictionary Use ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Writing Task

An important, but rare question in EFL writing is whether learners should use dictionaries or not. The problematic state of this question prompted the present study. This study assesses research on the question of "does dictionary use affect Iranian EFL learners' lexical density or not". In order to answer the above question, a total of seventy four Iranian EFL intermediate learners (male and female aged from 17 to 26) from Nasr English Institute, Ardabil, Iran took part in this research study. The participants were high school and college students whose L1 was Azari-Turkish. They were appointed to three experimental groups and one control group randomly. Since this research explored the effect of dictionary use on learners' writing, the three experimental groups were labeled as EPD, PED and EED. The study had a pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2 design. All four groups took a proficiency test named Solutions Placement Test. ANOVAs proved their homogeneity (F=.002, p=1.000). Then the participants completed three pieces of writing, each including a writing task with similar level and number of words but a different topic. Experimental groups had two treatment sessions after pre-test and they had a two-week interval after post-test 1. During the test, experimental group one (EPD) used English-to-Persian dictionary, meanwhile, experimental group two applied Persian-to-English dictionary and finally, experimental group three took the advantage of English-to-English dictionary. Nevertheless, the compassion group received no dictionary and no treatment sessions. To fulfill the purpose of the study, a One-way ANOVA was applied to figure out the differences among the performance of the four groups. Although, there observed tangible improvement in the scores, the results ran counter to the expectations and showed no significant difference.

scholarly journals The Effect of Problem Solving Task on Critical Reading of Intermediate EFL Learners in Iranian Context

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Masoud Khalili Sabet ◽  
Amir Madavi Zafarghandi ◽  
Arezoo Norouz Karkaraq
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Intermediate Students ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Teaching Problem ◽  
Iranian Context ◽  
Experimental Group

The attempt in this study is to investigate the effect of teaching critical thinking through problem solving on  reading comprehension performance of EFL intermediate learners. In so doing, forty including twenty male and twenty female intermediate students studying English in an institute in Ardabil, Iran, were selected based on their scores on Preliminary English Test and assigned into control and experimental groups. Afterwards, the sample TOEFL reading comprehension pre-test was administered to both of these groups to ensure homogeneity. The learners in experimental group were taught through problem solving instruction and the learners in control group were taught through traditional method of instructing reading comprehension. After ten sessions of instruction, the same sample TOEFL reading comprehension as post-test was given to the learners to measure the possible differences between pre-test and post-test. The finding revealed teaching problem solving had statistically significant effect on EFL learners reading comprehension performance. Conclusion can be drawn to confirm that teaching critical thinking through problem solving bring better understanding of the text.

scholarly journals The Effect of Aural and Visual Storytelling on Vocabulary Retention of Iranian EFL Learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Maryam AminAfshar ◽  
Ahmad Mojavezi
Keyword(s):  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Vocabulary Test ◽  
Vocabulary Retention ◽  
Visual Storytelling ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Do So

EFL learners at all ages and proficiency levels are usually confronted with various problems in vocabulary learning and retention. This study sought to introduce strategies for improvement of vocabulary learning and retention. Therefore, the effects of using aural/visual storytelling on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary learning and retention were investigated. To do so, 50 intermediate female EFL learners were randomly assigned to two groups. After the administration of teacher made English Vocabulary Test as the pre-test, aural storytelling method was used for the control group, and visual storytelling method was used for the experimental group. After three months of instruction, the aforementioned teacher made English Vocabulary Test, as the post-test, was given to the students of both groups to assess their improvements. Two weeks after post-test, they were given a delayed post-test to measure their retention of English vocabulary knowledge. The reliability of the English Vocabulary Test using Cronbach's Alpha was estimated equal to 0.80. Finally, Using ANCOVA, the results revealed that, the experimental group’s participants outperformed those of control group in both learning and retention of English vocabulary. So, it can be noted that the training program according to visual could have impressive impact on the learning and retention of vocabulary knowledge.

scholarly journals Using Podcasts to Improve Second Language Comprehension in Iranian Language Classrooms

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Mohammad Davoudi ◽  
Mojtaba Rezaei
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Good Method ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Transcript File

<p>The present study aims at investigating the influence of podcasts (POD) on language comprehension of Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners. An Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was administered to 60 male and female university students. The participants were considered as pre-intermediate learners and were divided into two groups (one experimental group and one control group). During the fifteen sessions of the treatment, thirty podcasts were presented to the two groups. The experimental group received just the audio file of the POD, and the control group received a different treatment which was the transcript file of the same audio podcast file of the experimental group. The results of the t-tests revealed that there was no significant difference in language comprehension scores across the posttest between two groups. Based on the interview results after the post-test, all of the participants (100%) agreed that both audio and the transcripts (written texts) were useful for them and claimed that it is a good method of improving language comprehension.</p>

scholarly journals The effect of peripheral learning on elementary EFL learners’ grammar improvement: The case of prepositions of time and place

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-100
Author(s):  
Islam Namazian Doost ◽  
Soheila Tahmasbi
Keyword(s):  
T Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Teaching Environment ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Elementary Classes ◽  
And Control ◽  
Experimental Group

This study aims to investigate the possible effects of peripheral learning on elementary EFL learners’ grammar improvement: the case of prepositions of time and place. Two elementary classes were selected as experimental and control groups. Before beginning the treatment, a grammar test was administered to both the groups as a pre-test. Then, as treatment, the experimental group was exposed to realia, pictures, posters and texts, while the control group was not. After term-long treatment of 10 weeks, the two groups received the same grammar test as post-test. The results of t-test showed that the experimental group improved their grammar ability, i.e., knowledge of prepositions of time and place more than their friends in the control group. The finding of the study may open an optional path for teachers to include some peripheral materials in their teaching environment to further invest on unconscious learning abilities of the students.   Keywords: Peripheral learning, reposition of time, prepositions of place, grammar.

scholarly journals Exploring the Effectiveness of Critical Thinking on Vocabulary Learning by Malaysian EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Maryam Sharafi Nejad ◽  
Shohreh Raftari ◽  
Lin Siew Eng
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Male Undergraduate ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Thinking Strategies ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group

<p>Based on the findings of previous studies which highlight the role of vocabulary knowledge  in English as a Foreign Language/English as a Second Language (EFL/ESL) learners’  learning process, this study is aimed at exploring<strong> </strong>the effectiveness of critical thinking on vocabulary learning by Malaysian EFL learners. .To achieve the purpose of this study, 60 male undergraduate EFL learners studying English at Asian EFL Academy Language Institute in Pinang were selected after administering Preliminary English Test.To examine whether there is a significant difference between experimental and control group, two parallel versions of Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (Pribakht &amp; Wesche, 1993) were used as pre-test and post-test. The participants in experimental group were instructed on how to employ critical thinking strategies on vocabulary learning. The results of the post-test showed that the experimental group who received formal instruction based on the critical thinking strategies revealed the prominent <a href="https://www.google.com.my/search?newwindow=1&amp;biw=1366&amp;bih=609&amp;q=define+development&amp;sa=X&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjsxaLZw_nLAhVMFJQKHWTjC10Q_SoIHjAA">development</a> and interest in vocabulary learning. The t-test also indicated a significant difference between the performance of the control and experimental group.</p>

scholarly journals The Role of Persian Elaboration on Incidental Vocabulary Learning from Reading by EFL Learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Shahin Vaezi ◽  
Aso Biri ◽  
Farhang Moradi
Keyword(s):  
Learning Experience ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Incidental Vocabulary ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Incidental Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Experimental Group

This study attempted to tap into the potential of reading for incidental vocabulary learning by exposing EFL learnersto elaborated texts. This study was also concerned with investigating learners’ attitudes toward using elaboratedpassages in their reading classes. To this end, 38 students were selected as the participants of this research anddivided into two groups. Students attending the experimental group (N=20) read Persian elaborated texts in whichthe Persian meanings of the specified target words were provided in apposition to them. On the other hand, studentsof the control group (N=18) were required to read the non-elaborated version of the aforementioned texts. Generally,the results of the post-test pointed to the effectiveness of this approach in incidental vocabulary learning, and theparticipants of the experimental group were found to gain a significant vocabulary improvement in comparison to thecontrol group. Furthermore, the interview suggested that students held positive attitudes to reading elaborated textsand regarded them as effective in their vocabulary learning experience. The findings of this study have implicationsfor material developers who need to reconsider the role of modified materials.

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