scholarly journals The Effect of the CAREY Program on the Students’ Reading Attitude towards Reading English Materials

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwan Yahya Al-Shawesh ◽  
Supyan Hussin
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Attitudes Toward Reading ◽  
Reading Attitude ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Qualitative Analyses

<p>Reading is one of language learning skills which has a great significance for the role it plays in the second language acquisition (SLA) process. The aim of this paper was to examine the extent to which the CAREY (Computer-Assisted Reading Yemen) program affects the Yemeni EFL students’ reading attitude towards reading English materials. To achieve this objective, the data was collected from pre-and post-questionnaires of reading attitude. Additionally, the data was collected based on an interview and an observation. 20 students selected purposively from level one of an English proficiency course, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Ibb University, Yemen in this study. All participants answered the pre- and post- reading questionnaires, and five of them were further interviewed. The study used both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data including descriptive statistics of the responses from the questionnaires and thematic analysis of responses from the interviews. The results revealed that all participants showed their positive attitudes toward reading English materials especially after they joined the class of reading via CAREY program. In addition, it was found that CAREY program positively affected the participants’ attitudes towards reading English materials.</p>

scholarly journals EFL Learners’ Attitudes towards the Proper Pronunciation of English and Podcasts as a Facilitator of Proper Pronunciation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Riam K. Almaqrn ◽  
Abdulrahman M. Alshabeb
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Saudi Students ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Correct Pronunciation ◽  
Level 3

The aim of this study is to examine the attitudes of Saudi students of English towards proper pronunciation, and podcasts as a facilitator of proper pronunciation. It will discover the importance given to correct pronunciation, as well as gauging learners’ attitudes towards the possibility of introducing podcasts as a new language input tool for facilitating improvements in pronunciation. To achieve this, the previous literature in this area is reviewed, followed by presenting the results and analysing the data from an attitudinal questionnaire distributed amongst 23 Level 3 Saudi EFL learners from the department of English at Imam University. The questionnaire is divided into two parts- one concerning proper pronunciation, and the other podcasts. The data analysis shows that the participants, in spite of the low rate of improvement in their pronunciation, have positive attitudes towards the proper pronunciation of English. This outcome is compatible with previous studies` results, which assert that having a positive attitude towards a particular language and its speakers can improve pronunciation. The students were presented with a total of five podcasts related to their speaking and listening textbook for use over an eight week period, and at the end of this time they were requested to complete the questionnaire. The findings support the usefulness of examining learners` attitudes towards new Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) applications before using them in a practical way. The results show a high rate of acceptance of podcasts and that, overall, the students have positive attitudes towards them.

Enhancing Grammatical Accuracy and Linguistic Fluency

2014 ◽  
pp. 23-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Robust Learning ◽  
Grammatical Accuracy ◽  
Linguistic Fluency ◽  
Article Usage

This chapter introduces a new paradigm of Web-based language learning, experimental Computer-Assisted Language Learning (eCALL) and its application in ESL and EFL grammar instruction. eCALL methods provide online training that complements classroom practice, while integrating second language acquisition theories and models. The authors introduce an eCALL tutor that teaches the correct use of the English article system. The authors examined the effectiveness of the tutor in an experimental study with 78 Chinese intermediate-advanced EFL learners. The tutor incorporated Bayesian knowledge tracing and provided individualized and adaptive training of English article usage. Learners' performance was measured by accuracy and response time. The results show that the tutor led to significant learning gains after three hours of tutor training, with gains retained two weeks later. The robust learning effects were documented by a significant improvement in accuracy and fluency of using the article.

A Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game and Its Effects on Interaction in the Second Language

2018 ◽  
pp. 367-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuttakritta Chotipaktanasook ◽  
Hayo Reinders
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Role Playing Game ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have been dramatically used in language education and identified in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) research as playing a central role in second language acquisition (SLA). This chapter addresses the integration of a commercially developed MMORPG Ragnarok Online into a language course as a basis for digital game-based language learning and reports on its effects on second language (L2) interaction. Thirty Thai learners of English who enrolled in a 15-week university language course were required to complete 18 face-to-face classroom lessons and six gameplay sessions. Learners' language use in both text and voice chats during gameplay was recorded and analysed to measure the effects of the game. The findings show that participating in MMORPG resulted in a significantly more considerable increase in L2 interaction that used a wider range of discourse functions compared with English interaction in the classroom. The authors discuss some of the theoretical and pedagogical implications of these findings.

Mothers' Attitudes Toward the Use of CALL for Their Children's English Learning

2019 ◽  
pp. 1764-1787
Author(s):  
Masoumeh Hasani
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Item Questionnaire ◽  
Positive Attitudes

In this chapter the attitude of mothers to the use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in their children's language learning was investigated. 118 Iranian mothers were selected based on convenient sampling. Their attitude towards CALL was assessed by a 12-item questionnaire. The result of data analysis revealed that generally mothers have roughly positive attitudes towards CALL. Significant differences were reported when mothers with higher education were compared with those mothers who did not have university degrees. However, gender, age, and mother's profession did not have any role in their attitudes towards CALL.

scholarly journals Social Network Sites Effectiveness from EFL Students’ Viewpoints

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sulaiman Alnujaidi
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Network Sites ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes And Perceptions ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Perceptions And Expectations ◽  
The Relationship

This study investigated the relationship between EFL students’ experience, attitudes, perceptions, and expectations toward the effectiveness of Social Network Sites (SNS), namely, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Flickr, Classmates, Academica, MySpace, English baby, and Google+, in English language learning. A survey of 103 participants from different higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia was conducted. The study’s results revealed that the participants had an average SNS experience. The findings also indicated that participants had overall positive attitudes, perceptions, and expectations toward SNS. In addition, the correlations between experience and attitudes, and experience and expectations were statistically significant. Data analysis also showed that the correlations between attitudes and perceptions, attitudes and expectations, and perceptions and expectations were statistically significant. However, experience did not significantly correlate with perceptions. The findings also indicated that the model of the three variables (attitudes, perceptions, and expectations toward SNS) predicting the variable (experience in SNS) was statistically significant: The significant predictor was expectations.

Taking Technology to Task: Technology-Mediated TBLT, Performance, and Production

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 136-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Technology In The Classroom ◽  
Second Language Development ◽  
Integration Of Technology ◽  
And Performance

ABSTRACTOver the last few decades, task-based language teaching (TBLT) has garnered increasing attention from researchers and educators alike. With a strong and growing body of research demonstrating the efficacy of tasks to support and facilitate second language development and performance (e.g., Keck, Iberri-Shea, Tracy-Ventura, & Wa-Mbaleka, 2006), TBLT has become a leading pedagogical approach. Similarly, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) has also grown as a field, with the use and integration of technology in the classroom continuing to increase (Petersen & Sachs, 2015). As these fields have matured, a reciprocal relationship has developed (Lai & Li, 2011), with the literature on tasks and technology seeking to not only examine how technology might support and facilitate language learning, but how TBLT might serve as a framework to more thoroughly investigate CALL. In light of the expanding research on tasks and technology, this review article aims not only to provide a current state of the art of how technology-mediated TBLT facilitates and supports second language development and performance, but also to describe how technology can contribute to our understanding of how features of TBLT, such as task design features and task implementation, influence the success of second language acquisition. Suggestions for possible research agendas in technology-mediated TBLT are also made.

The impact of computer-assisted language learning on Iranian EFL students’ vocabulary learning

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 210-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Rahimi ◽  
Samira Mouri
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group

This study aimed to explore the impact of computer-assisted language learning on Iranian EFL students’ vocabulary learning. Participants of the study were 76 students – 29 males and 47 females – learning English as a foreign language in Parto, Sadr, Poyesh and Andishe Institutes in Ahvaz who were selected after taking the Nelson English Language Test as a proficiency test. They were randomly divided into two groups. One group was taken as control and the other as experimental group. Both groups participated in the teacher-made test of vocabulary, Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT), and Word-Associates Test (WAT) as pre-test. During class sessions the control group was taught the vocabulary, in the conventional way, through the printed textbook while the experimental group taught by the software version of the same book. Three ANCOVAs were run to compare the performance of experimental and control groups after the treatment period. The results of the ANCOVAs revealed that using vocabulary learning software was more effective than using printed book on vocabulary learning, vocabulary breadth, and vocabulary depth of the participants. The results of the present study could help EFL course book designers, foreign language institutes, educational planners, material developers, teachers, and learners to provide a better context for EFL learning. Keywords: computer-assisted instruction, computer-assisted language learning, information communication technology, vocabulary breadth, vocabulary teaching software.  

Learners’ interactions: a comparison of oral and computer-assisted written conversations

ReCALL ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARISOL FERNÁNDEZ-GARCÍA ◽  
ASUNCÍON MARTÍNEZ ARBELAIZ
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Language Context

Previous research has underscored the role of negotiation in providing appropriate conditions for second language acquisition. Varonis and Gass (1985b), in a study of English as a Second Language (ESL), found greater amount of negotiation in non-native–non-native interaction than in native-non–native interaction. Given the increased interest in computer mediated communication and in its applications to language learning, this investigation explores whether those results are obtained when using an electronic written medium. This study compared the negotiations generated by dyads of non-native speakers (NNS–NNS), native speakers (NS–NS), and non-native and native speakers (NNS–NS), in the oral and written modes. The results revealed that the NNS–NS group negotiated in the oral mode significantly more than in the written mode; this group also negotiated significantly more than the other two groups in the oral mode. Learners' shared social and linguistic background seemed to have facilitated the comprehension of input. Conversely, lack of familiarity with native speaker's pronunciation seemed to have caused more breakdowns in the oral conversations of the mixed dyads. Though the results of this study suggest that negotiation is not the main resource to obtain modified input in a foreign language context, other learning strategies that may be beneficial in the language learning process were at use in learner-learner interaction.

Observations in the computer room: L2 output and learner behaviour

ReCALL ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE LEAHY
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Oral Interaction

This article draws on second language theory, particularly output theory as defined by Swain (1995), in order to conceptualise observations made in a computer-assisted language learning setting. It investigates second language output and learner behaviour within an electronic role-play setting, based on a subject-specific problem solving task and the Internet as source of primary information. Students were given a task which includes the collaborative development of a marketing strategy for a chosen product. Data collected consists of the following corpora: emails exchanged between groups, the recorded discussions between each group’s members while engaged in the problem solving activity, oral presentation of the groups’ results as well as the individually written summaries. One area of particular interest is the analysis of the oral L2 output while solving a computer-assisted language learning task. How can the oral interaction be characterised? What kind of conclusions regarding the use of CALL can be drawn from the comparison of the oral interaction and the written output? Another area of interest is the analysis of the written L2 output. Is there evidence of second language acquisition and/or acquisition of content? Can such a CALL setting promote second language acquisition (SLA) and/or acquisition of content? Finally, the study aims to identify whether student-initiated focus on language form can be found. The article answers the questions posed above. Furthermore, the results of this study show that a very high percentage of all communication took place in L2 and occurrences of acquisition of content and language can be demonstrated.

scholarly journals Motivating EFL Students with Conversation Data

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1138
Author(s):  
Austin Gardiner
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Strategic Reading ◽  
System A ◽  
Efl Students

Motivating learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to improve their speaking fluency is challenging in environments where institutions emphasize reading and listening test performance. The focus tends to shift to strategic reading and listening first in order to attain acceptable test results, often at the expense of communicative competence. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is well positioned to assess and develop communicative competence for EFL learners, and to motivate them to speak. This article introduces the Objective Subjective (OS) Scoring system, a CALL system which sets clear immediate goals on the path to better communicative competence with data from videoed conversation sessions. It motivates learners to improve on their data in every consecutive conversation session, whereby an environment is created which facilitates conversation practice as well as individual error correction.

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