scholarly journals Using Movies in EFL Classrooms: A Study Conducted at the English Language Institute (ELI), King Abdul-Aziz University

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raniah Hassen Kabooha
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Reflective Journals ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Preparatory Year ◽  
English Language Institute

<p>The present study sought to examine the attitudes of Saudi English as a foreign language (EFL) learners as well as teachers towards the integration of English movies in their classes as a tool to develop students’ language skills. Fifty female intermediate level students studying English in their Preparatory Year Program (PYP) in the English Language Institute (ELI) at King Abdul-Aziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, participated in the study. Questionnaires were administered to the students to investigate their perceptions towards the integration of English movies in their classes to develop their language skills. The researcher also conducted semi-structured interviews with both students and teachers to explore their perceptions towards the use of movies in their classes. In addition, teachers were required to write reflective journals regarding the use of movies in their classes. The findings of the study indicate that both students as well as teachers had positive attitudes towards the use of movies in their classes to improve students’ language skills. The study offers pedagogical implications for EFL instructors with respect to the integration of films in their classrooms to improve students’ language learning. Well-selected movie materials could enhance students’ language learning process and increase their motivation to learn the target language.</p>

scholarly journals How EFL Learners Maintain Motivational Factors and Positive Attitudes during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 277
Author(s):  
Reza Anggriyashati Adara ◽  
Novita Puspahaty
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Extrinsic Motivation ◽  
English Language ◽  
Personal Communication ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Extrinsic Factors ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes

The present study aims to analyze how a group of EFL learners in Indonesia maintained their motivation and positive attitudes toward English learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. The present study applied a qualitative study by conducting semi-structured interviews with ten respondents. The results suggest that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the respondents significantly. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, most respondents were demotivated but they were able to motivate themselves again by reminding themselves of the reasons they learned English in the first place. Those reasons are mostly dominated by extrinsic factors such as their need to get jobs, studying overseas and the benefits of mastering English for their future also motivated the respondents. However, some are still motivated to learn English because they are intrinsically motivated. The results suggest that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are needed to maintain learners' motivation and positive attitudes toward language learning. In addition, maintaining personal communication with students during tough times such as the Covid-19 pandemic seems important to be conducted by teachers. By keeping personal communication, teachers can help maintain students' motivation. Besides that, the findings of the present study indicate that the respondents used various methods to maintain their motivation such as using social media to learn English and constantly reminding themselves of their language learning goals. In regards to this, teachers should help students by integrating social media into the lessons and providing affirmations that remind students of the benefits of English language mastery.

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

British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Students’ Manual: A Critical Analysis of the Coursebook Taught at Pakistani Universities for Academic Purposes (EAP) Students’ Manual: A Critical Analysis of the Coursebook Taught at Pakistani Universities

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Teaching Principles

English for Academic Purposes course focusing on the academic language needs of students is a subfield of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). It is a type of specialized course to integrate specific subject matter, language content, and material based on learners’ needs. The study aims to evaluate the British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) coursebook in terms of content, sequencing, learners’ autonomy, motivation, feedback and focus on language skills. Furthermore, the study tries to provide a general perception of the usefulness and effectiveness of the coursebook for undergraduate students. The EAP Students’ Manual coursebook is used as a primary source for the data collection. The researcher has chosen Nation & Macalister (2010) model of language teaching principles to analyze and discuss the data. The study found the coursebook a useful, effective and an appropriate source of English language learning in terms of the investigated aspects of the book. The findings report that the coursebook provides practice and practical usage in all domains of the academically required English language skills. It helps the students to build language competency and to be more independent learners. In addition, it provides an opportunity to the learners to think in the target language, use the language more practically and learn it in a natural type of environment. The study concludes and suggests that the content needs to be supplemented with English language audios and videos presenting the students relevant documentaries and helping material in order to make the coursebook and the learning process more useful, effective, interesting and motivating. Furthermore, the study recommends that while choosing /designing a coursebook for a certain course, it needs to be evaluated following the various criteria and language-teaching-principles suggested by different language researchers.

British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Students’ Manual: A Critical Analysis of the Coursebook Taught at Pakistani Universities

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Teaching Principles ◽  
Language Needs

English for Academic Purposes course focusing on the academic language needs of students is a subfield of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). It is a type of specialized course to integrate specific subject matter, language content, and material based on learners’ needs. The study aims to evaluate the British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) coursebook in terms of content, sequencing, learners’ autonomy, motivation, feedback and focus on language skills. Furthermore, the study tries to provide a general perception of the usefulness and effectiveness of the coursebook for undergraduate students. The EAP Students’ Manual coursebook is used as a primary source for the data collection. The researcher has chosen Nation & Macalister (2010) model of language teaching principles to analyze and discuss the data. The study found the coursebook a useful, effective and an appropriate source of English language learning in terms of the investigated aspects of the book. The findings report that the coursebook provides practice and practical usage in all domains of the academically required English language skills. It helps the students to build language competency and to be more independent learners. In addition, it provides an opportunity to the learners to think in the target language, use the language more practically and learn it in a natural type of environment. The study concludes and suggests that the content needs to be supplemented with English language audios and videos presenting the students relevant documentaries and helping material in order to make the coursebook and the learning process more useful, effective, interesting and motivating. Furthermore, the study recommends that while choosing /designing a coursebook for a certain course, it needs to be evaluated following the various criteria and language-teaching-principles suggested by different language researchers.

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 EFL Learners’ and Teachers’ Perception toward the Use of Online Videos in EFL Classes

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-228
Author(s):  
Doniazad Sultan Alshraideh
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Effective Technique ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Online Videos ◽  
Preparatory Year

This study aims at analyzing the English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ and teachers’ perception toward the use of online videos in EFL classes. The current study used a mixed method to answer the question of the study which is: What is the perception of EFL learners and teachers toward the use of online videos in EFL classes? It includes both quantitative and qualitative techniques, namely a questionnaire and an interview. To get the required data and to answer the question of the study, the researcher collected information by distributing a relevant questionnaire among 120 EFL Saudi female students who are studying English in their preparatory year “Unified Scientific Track” at Taibah University. Their ages range between 18 to 21 years old. The questionnaire of the study consists of 10 items. For the first nine items, Likert Scale is used to let the respondents range the statements on a five- point scale. The tenth item asks the respondents to rate the usefulness of the online video regarding language skills and other aspects. The researcher also conducted an interview with six EFL teachers who teach English language skills in the English Language Centre (ELC) at Taibah University. The responses of the participants showed that the use of online videos is an effective technique and has a positive influence in EFL classes.

scholarly journals EFL LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE IMPROVEMENT OF THEIR ENGLISH SPEAKING PERFORMANCE

LITERA ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Mahripah
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Speaking Performance ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Students Attitudes

This study aims to describe EFL learners’ attitudes towards the improvement of their English speaking performance. The data were collected through a questionnaire distributed to 131 students of Department of English Language Education. The results of the dataanalysis show that all respondents show positive attitudes towards the improvement of their English speaking performance. Although female students have more positive attitudes than male students, the difference is not significant. The results also show that students’ attitudes towards their speaking performance change in accordance with their learning time. Their self-assessment of their speaking performance has a significant correlation with their attitudes. Their positive attitudes towards the improvement of their English speaking performance serve as a foundation to the success of the English language learning. Therefore, learners should pay attention to and maintain attitudes to improve their speaking performance.

scholarly journals Teachers and Students’ Perceptions on the Effectiveness of the Writing Task in the Foundation Year at the ELI

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 360
Author(s):  
Reem Alsanie ◽  
Wafa’a AlRezqi ◽  
Danyah Al-Sayeud ◽  
Nadia Shukri
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Writing Classes ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
King Abdulaziz University ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
Preparatory Year ◽  
English Language Institute ◽  
Writing Task

<p><em>The current study investigated the perceptions of Saudi female teachers and their preparatory year students on the Writing Task (WT) used in the English Language Institute (ELI) at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Jeddah, KSA. To obtain a deeper insight, mixed methods were used through quantitative questionnaires and qualitative semi-structured interviews. While quantitative data were analysed using a descriptive SPSS analysis, qualitative data were analysed using a thematic analysis by NVivo. The sample consisted of 50 students (mean age: 19) and 6 teachers with different qualifications and years of experience. First, a questionnaire was distributed to elicit student’s perceptions</em><strong> </strong><em>on the WT then the 6 teachers were interviewed. The results indicated that the students had negative perceptions towards the effectiveness of the WT and that it was not beneficial in developing their writing skills, unlike some of the teachers who expressed positive views towards the WT. The findings offer future instructional implications that will help in enhancing the WT of the ELI. Some of these implications indicate that extensive writing classes must be given to students to improve their writing skills and that the writing topics must be contextualised and taken from the students’ daily life to keep them interested.</em></p>

scholarly journals Medical Students’ English Language Learning: Needs and Perceptions

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-190
Author(s):  
Amin Karimnia ◽  
Mohammad Reza Khodashenas
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
English Language Learning ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Skills Use ◽  
English Language Skills

Summary This study investigated the medical students’ English language learning needs and their perceptions of ESP courses in an academic environment. To do this, 100 medical students studying medical sciences in the faculty of medicine in Mashhad, Iran, were selected as the participants. Hutchinson and Waters’ target language needs analysis framework was drawn on as the analytic model guiding the study. A needs analysis questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire designed to identify the learners’ perceptions of the frequency of English language skills/sub-skills use, the importance of English language learning, their ability in using language skills, their needs of language learning and their preferences of an English language course. After gathering and analyzing the data, it was found that reading skill is given priority by the students in terms of frequency of use, importance and proficiency. It also revealed that students need and prefer training in speaking, listening and communication skills. Considering the students’ perceptions of the current ESP course, the findings implied that the English language skills incorporated in the current ESP book for the medical students and the allocated time for this course are not compatible with the English language learning needs and wants of the students.

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.

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