scholarly journals A Survey on the Effectiveness of Mother Tongue on Learning L2 Vocabulary by Iranian Pre-intermediate EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Mohammadreza Khodareza ◽  
Maryam Kaviani

<p>This study investigated the role of mother tongue on learning English vocabulary by Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners. For this purpose, 30 female pre-intermediate learners were chosen. After administering a Nelson test participants were selected from the intact classes at Foreign Language Institute in Babol. These 30 partners were randomly allocated to 2 gatherings (one laboratory and the other control) each comprising of 15 partners. The participants received a pre-test comprising 70 English words to ensure that they did not have previous information of objective structures. Experimental group received their instruction, meaning of each target word, and translation of target words with their mother tongue (Persian). But control group just received target language (English) for all activities or instructions. Both teacher and students in this group didn’t allow using Persian. After the treatment, the same pre-test was given to the participants as a post-test to measure the effectiveness of therapy gained. After collecting the data, to respond the research proposal, a t-test was conducted. The results indicated that first language had significant effect on learning English words. The findings of this study are considered to be useful in methodology issue.</p>

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-473
Author(s):  
Mohammad Awad Al-Dawoody Abdulaal

This research study aims at replacing monoglossic approaches with a stego-translanguaging pedagogy (i.e., the indirect use of the mother tongue to enhance the target language perception and acquisition). To solve the problematic constant decline in the learners’ reading and writing IELTS scores in Port Said Language Center and to check the influence of the stego-translanguaging approach, two groups of participants were randomly chosen, an experimental group with 33 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners from different colleges in Port Said University in Egypt and a control group with 30 EFL learners. The participants in the experimental group followed a heteroglossic pedagogy, whereas the control group followed a strictly non-plurilingual monolingual approach. The results of Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the stego-translanguaging approach was much more influential in teaching IELTS reading than the monoglossic conventional approach with 1.483 as a mean difference between the two groups as (µ1=7) in the experimental group and (µ2= 5.517) in the control group. Another crucial result was displayed by a parametric test conducted to examine the significant differences between the IELTS writing posttest scores in the experimental and the control groups. The test showed that µ1 > µ2 with an estimation difference of 1.535, where µ1= 6.818 and µ2 = 5.28


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Mohanad A. Amret ◽  
Sinan A. Yousif

The purpose of this paper is to recognize the level of pragma-linguistic difficulties Iraqi EFL university learners face when handling phrasal verbs. Despite the fact that phrasal verbs are easy to understand by native speakers of English, non-native speakers usually encounter some difficulties in understanding the meaning of a phrasal verb depending on the meaning of the root verb, or different phrasal verbs of the same root. The problem might be attributed to pragma-linguistic knowledge. However, culture gap could be the reason behind such difficulties. The aim of the study is (1) to evaluate the pragma-linguistic level of interpreting phrasal verbs as understood and used by Iraqi EFL university learners, (2) to check the level of difficulty they experience while recognizing phrasal verbs, and (3) to find out reasons behind such misinterpretations. It is hypothesized that (1) the pragma-linguistic interpretation of phrasal verbs tends to play an important role in understanding the message conveyed by the speaker; (2) cultural gap could be the reason that EFL learners recognize phrasal verbs incorrectly, and (3) mother tongue language might make it difficult for EFL learners to understand phrasal verbs. To verify the aforementioned hypothesis, a test has been constructed and administered to a sample of 100 fourth-year Iraqi EFL university learners, morning classes at the department of English Language and Literature, College of Arts, in Mustansiriyah University, during the academic year 2017 – 2018. The responses of the students have been collected and linguistically analyzed according to a model given by Richards and Schmidt (2010). It has been found that Iraqi students’ lack of cultural norms of the target language makes it difficult for them to understand phrasal verbs. The lack of this knowledge is considered as a factor of confusion and then failure. The influence of the first language culture on the recognition of phrasal verbs may be seen as a negative first language transfer. The reason behind this negative transfer is that the norms and principles of first language are different from the norms and principles of the target language. It has been concluded that Iraqi EFL university learners have difficulties in pragma-linguistic knowledge as far as phrasal verbs are concerned. Iraqi EFL university learners face great difficulties in using phrasal verbs while communicating with other people. While using phrasal verbs, Iraqi EFL university learners have been highly influenced by their mother tongue language.


Author(s):  
Naria Fitriani ◽  
Said Iskandar Zulkarnain

This study aimed at investigating the mother tongue influence of Acehnese learners in vocational English class. The students’ mother tongue influence can be detected by the results of speaking errors on their performance. The primary data of the students’ speaking performance was recorded, then transcribed. Furthermore, the student’s questionnaire was applied to support the primary data. The results of this study were analyzed and presented into two parts containing pronunciation and grammar errors. Meanwhile, the data obtained from the questionnaire was quantitatively shown that the learning process of the target language was affected by the first language.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Awad Al-Dawoody Abdulaal

This research study aims at replacing monoglossic approaches with a stego-translanguaging pedagogy (i.e., the indirect use of the mother tongue to enhance the target language perception and acquisition). To solve the problematic constant decline in the learners’ reading and writing IELTS scores in Port Said Language Center and to check the influence of the stego-translanguaging approach, two groups of participants were randomly chosen, an experimental group with 33 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners from different colleges in Port Said University in Egypt and a control group with 30 EFL learners. The participants in the experimental group followed a heteroglossic pedagogy, whereas the control group followed a strictly non-plurilingual monolingual approach. The results of Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the stego-translanguaging approach was much more influential in teaching IELTS reading than the monoglossic conventional approach with 1.483 as a mean difference between the two groups as (µ1=7) in the experimental group and (µ2= 5.517) in the control group. Another crucial result was displayed by a parametric test conducted to examine the significant differences between the IELTS writing posttest scores in the experimental and the control groups. The test showed that µ1 &gt; µ2 with an estimation difference of 1.535, where µ1= 6.818 and µ2 = 5.28


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 826
Author(s):  
Rashed Alghamdy

To identify the impact of playing games on the achievements of EFL learners, a quasi-experimental design study was applied for 4 weeks at an elementary school in Saudi Arabia. This study examines the impact of playing games in enhancing EFL students’ English skills ability in learning English as a foreign language context. In particular, this study purposes to investigate the impact of playing games in comparison to traditional learning in learning English skills on the achievement of EFL learners and their behavioral states during playing games. The participants in this study were 52 male pupils, aged 12-15 years, level six at an elementary government school in Al-Baha City. According to the results from the post-test obtained they highlight statistical variances between the average scores from the EFL learners who were taught English within the learning method of playing games and the control group taught English using traditional learning methods. The variances favored the experimental group nevertheless the findings in the pre-test score suggested there were no statistical variances amid the EFL learners in the first group and those in the other groups in the achievement of English.Furthermore, the observation findings indicate that the EFL learners in the experimental conditions displayed more playing together behavior states and less playing individually on-task behavior states, non-playing together behavior, and off-task behavior than their classmates in the control condition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rashed Zannan Alghamdy

Seeking to identify the impact of mobile language learning (WhatsApp) on the achievements of EFL learners, a quasi-experimental design study was applied at Al-Baha University in Saudi Arabia. This study examines the impact of mobile language learning in enhancing EFL students&rsquo; English skills ability when learning English as a foreign language context. Particularly, the study intends to investigate the impact of mobile language learning (WhatsApp) in comparison to traditional learning in learning English skills on the achievement of EFL learners. Thus, the participants in this study included 48 male learners, aged 18&ndash;22 years, preparatory year at Al-Baha University. The results highlighted that there are significant differences between the mean scores of the EFL learners who were taught English in the Mobile language learning (WhatsApp), and those who were taught English by using the traditional learning (the control group) in the post-test. This difference was in favour of the experimental group. However, the findings revealed that are not statistically significant differences between the EFL learners in the experimental classes and the students in the control groups in their English achievement test score at the pre-test. Furthermore, the results of this research revealed that most EFL learners claimed that they were enthusiastic to join English lessons through WhatsApp groups and expressed the belief that working in a WhatsApp group can boost their motivation and their academic results. Also, most EFL learners highlighted that using mobile language learning method (WhatsApp) enabled them to increase their social skills, confidence, while helping them to create positive relationships with their colleagues and the teacher. However, there were some obstacles and barriers to join WhatsApp learning groups, such as lack of access to the internet and lack of tendency to share and participate in the WhatsApp group.


Author(s):  
Ali Mohammed Saleh Al-Hamzi ◽  
Ni Wayan Sartini ◽  
Nurul Fitri Hapsari ◽  
Ayoub Gougui ◽  
Raghda Mansour Ali Al-Nozili

Based on cross-cultural pragmatic research perspectives, the present study aimed at comparing the attainment of speech acts of invitation between Indonesian and Yemeni EFL learners. The study participants were 30 undergraduate students from Airlangga University, Indonesia, and 30 undergraduate students from Sana’a University, Yemen. All of the participants were different in terms of their cultural background. The data were gathered by using Discourse Completion Task (DCT) and then analyzed on the bases of Bruder and Tillitt (1999), Al-Khatib (2006), and Suzuki (2009) compilations of invitation strategies. The findings of the study displayed some similarities and differences in terms of invitation making. Some invitation strategies seemed to be culturally specific to one culture and others are universal across the two cultures. In this regard, Indonesian EFL learners preferred to be indirect in the use of speech acts while invitation making with the high preference to use Yes/No questions, asking for willingness and Wh. questions strategies. They believe that the use of such strategies helps them to add some polite expressions that they use in their daily conversation while using their first language. In contrast, Yemeni EFL learners favored being direct in the use of the speech act of invitation, with the highest percentage of imperative strategy followed by Yes/ No questions strategy. This might show a portion of the effect of their first language on their answers. They also know that direct invitations are mostly accepted in their culture. Besides, the findings of the study revealed that Indonesian and Yemeni EFL learners translated the utterances in their mother tongue into the target language without considering the variations between the two languages in patterns of sentences and the order of words. Implications of the study are supplied too.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 182-190
Author(s):  
Fatma Ali Lghzeel ◽  
Noor Raha Mohd Radzuan

It is difficult to describe cross-linguistic influence; however, it has been a contentious phenomenon for a long time. Whenever the speaker of a language becomes bilingual, the first language will subtly affect the new one, even if it is not used much. This is how first language influence begins since the majority of Arab English as a foreign language (EFL) learners suffer from this problem. This current research aims to study the negative influence of the native language (Arabic) on utilising the English passive voice. In this article, we aim to discover the levels of Arab EFL learners’ knowledge of the passive voice, as well as to examine the percentage of interlingual and intralingual errors. This study applies a quantitative method. Forty-six participants, who are Arab EFL learners studying at the Universiti Malaysia Pahang, engaged in the task of answering a grammar test. To conclude, the results show that Arab students have a high rate of L1 transfer on the English passive voice, and their levels of knowledge of passive voice are identified. The researchers recommend mixed methods for further research in order to provide a wider understanding about this issue.   Keywords: English as a foreign language, mother tongue, native language, target language.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Maryam AminAfshar ◽  
Ahmad Mojavezi

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.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Mohammad Davoudi ◽  
Mojtaba Rezaei

<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>


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