The Effect of Explicit Instruction of Requests on Saudi EFL learners using a pre-test, post-test Approach

The aim of the current study is to test whether explicit instruction of various L2 request forms can be a useful measure in developing Saudi learners’ linguistic and pragmatic competences. This study is based on the results obtained from a previous research investigating interlanguage requests. The findings in that study suggested that the second language learners were not aware of some of the request strategies which were exclusively employed by the British English native speakers. The aim and the question of this study is to find out whether explicit instruction of request strategies will be effective in helping Saudi EFL learners gain linguistic knowledge and achieve pragmatic appropriateness in making requests in L2. Thirty female foundation year students participated in this study. They were all EFL learners studying at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The group underwent three phases of instruction: pre-test, instruction/intervention, and post-test. The first and last phases consisted of written questionnaires which were distributed right before and after the instruction phase. The results showed that in the third phase, the students demonstrated great progress in their understanding of request forms in L2. Their improvement was manifested by the learners’ acknowledgement of these forms as proper employment of request strategies in English, recognition of request function names, ability to assign correct functions to linguistic realizations and their overall understanding of the appropriate use of these forms dictated by the weightiness of different request situations.

The Effect of Explicit Instruction of Requests on Saudi EFL learners using a pre-test, post-test Approach

The aim of the current study is to test whether explicit instruction of various L2 request forms can be a useful measure in developing Saudi learners’ linguistic and pragmatic competences. This study is based on the results obtained from a previous research investigating interlanguage requests. The findings in that study suggested that the second language learners were not aware of some of the request strategies which were exclusively employed by the British English native speakers. The aim and the question of this study is to find out whether explicit instruction of request strategies will be effective in helping Saudi EFL learners gain linguistic knowledge and achieve pragmatic appropriateness in making requests in L2. Thirty female foundation year students participated in this study. They were all EFL learners studying at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The group underwent three phases of instruction: pre-test, instruction/intervention, and post-test. The first and last phases consisted of written questionnaires which were distributed right before and after the instruction phase. The results showed that in the third phase, the students demonstrated great progress in their understanding of request forms in L2. Their improvement was manifested by the learners’ acknowledgement of these forms as proper employment of request strategies in English, recognition of request function names, ability to assign correct functions to linguistic realizations and their overall understanding of the appropriate use of these forms dictated by the weightiness of different request situations.

Syntactic Maturity in the English Written texts of Bilingual Students in a Secondary School in Surabaya

This research was aimed to investigate the syntactic maturity and developmentas manifested in the written texts of bilingual students in a secondary school in Surabaya. This study measured the (1) mean T-unit length, (2) subordinate clause index, (3) mean clause length, (4) mean sentence length, (5) main clause coordination index, and (6) the index of erroneous T-units/total T-units as the indicators of the syntactic maturity. However, it was the mean T-unit length that was used as the main indicator of the syntactic maturity because mean T-unit length was considered to be the most reliable index. The data of the syntactic maturity indicators were obtained by analyzing the descriptive texts that the subjects wrote in response to a writing test instruction. The results of this study have shown that the syntactic maturity and development are influenced by the following four dominant factors: (1) the innate acquisition device enabling the students to acquire English and Indonesian almost simultaneously, (2) the amount of English inputs obtained from parents, teachers, English-immersion program schooling, English movies, books and social media have provided the students with a variety of English resources, (3) the abundant opportunities to produce outputs available at home and at schools have enabled the students to use their English and then modify it during the process of English acquisition, and (4) the individual variations.

The effect of test instruction and risk taking tendency on psychometric properties of multiple choice testsTest yönergesi ve risk alma eğiliminin çoktan seçmeli testlerin psikometrik özelliklerine etkisi

The research is a quasi-experimental research which aims to investigate the effect of test instruction and risk taking tendency on the psychometric properties of multiple choice tests. The study group of the research comprised of 220 undergraduate students studying at different departments of Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences in 2014-2015 spring term. An achievement test of measurement and evaluation course consisting of 24 items was applied to students in the study group. The test was applied to four similar groups with different instructions. A risk taking scale was applied to determine the risk taking tendency of the students. The data were analyzed by using one way ANOVA, dependent sample t-test, independent sample t-test, Feldt test, Fisher’s z test, Pearson correlation coefficient, Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient and confirmatory factor analysis. The findings showed that corrected score means, uncorrected score means and reliability coefficients calculated from corrected scores of tests applied with different instructions were significantly different whereas reliability coefficients calculated from uncorrected scores were not significantly different. The validity of the test applied with the instruction stating that no correction for guessing would be made was the highest one. In general, risk taking tendency did not significantly change test scores. Extended English abstract is in the end of PDF (TURKISH) file. ÖzetBu araştırma, test yönergesi ve risk alma eğiliminin çoktan seçmeli testlerin psikometrik özellikleri üzerindeki etkisini incelemeyi amaçlayan yarı deneysel bir araştırmadır. Araştırmanın çalışma grubu, 2014-2015 bahar döneminde Ankara Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Fakültesinde öğrenim gören 220 öğrenciden oluşmaktadır. Çalışma grubundaki öğrencilere ölçme ve değerlendirme dersi başarısını ölçen 24 maddelik çoktan seçmeli test uygulanmıştır. Başarı testi birbirine benzer dört öğrenci grubuna farklı yönergelerle uygulanmıştır. Öğrencilerin risk alma eğilimini belirlemek için risk alma ölçeği uygulanmıştır. Veriler; tek faktörlü varyans analizi, ilişkili örneklemler için t-testi, ilişkisiz örneklemler için t-testi, Feldt testi, Fisher z testi, Pearson korelasyon katsayısı, Spearman sıra farkları korelasyon katsayısı ve doğrulayıcı faktör analizi teknikleriyle analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgular, farklı yönergelerle uygulanan testlerin ham puan ortalamaları, düzeltilmiş puan ortalamaları ve düzeltilmiş puana göre hesaplanan güvenirlik katsayıları arasında manidar fark olduğunu; buna karşın ham puanlara göre hesaplanan güvenirlik katsayıları arasında manidar fark olmadığını göstermektedir. Şans başarısı için herhangi bir düzeltme yapılmayacağını bildiren yönergeyle uygulanan testin geçerliği, diğer yönergelerle uygulanan testlerin geçerliğinden yüksek çıkmıştır. Risk alma eğilimi genel olarak test puanlarında manidar değişikliğe yol açmamıştır.

Human performance at old age

Force plates are a straightforward tool to assess human acceleration as an indicator of human performance. Understanding of the physical principle, and also of the test instruction is required to arrive at meaingful results and interpretations. Notably, performance and physiology levels can differ. A series of studies in healthy people has yielded that peak jumping power is a robust, ecological measure of performance and physiology. It shows a very pronounced decline with age. Morover, these studies reveal that sports is beneficial for muscles and bones. Some benefits by sports diminish with age (bone, muscle), but fracture reduction by sports extends into 10th decade of life.

Human performance at old age

Force plates are a straightforward tool to assess human acceleration as an indicator of human performance. Understanding of the physical principle, and also of the test instruction is required to arrive at meaingful results and interpretations. Notably, performance and physiology levels can differ. A series of studies in healthy people has yielded that peak jumping power is a robust, ecological measure of performance and physiology. It shows a very pronounced decline with age. Morover, these studies reveal that sports is beneficial for muscles and bones. Some benefits by sports diminish with age (bone, muscle), but fracture reduction by sports extends into 10th decade of life.