DEVELOPMENT OF VERBAL CREATIVITY BY BILINGUAL AND ENGLISH AS FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN KINDERGARTEN TO 8TH GRADE SCHOOLS

Bilingualism has long been within the scope of creativity studies that investigate creativity and problem solving. This study aims to explore the possible effect of bilingualism on the verbal creativity of English language learners. Participants from a bilingual and an English as foreign language teaching program within the same school were selected as an experimental and a control group respectively to compare verbal creativity. A series of creative English writing tasks designed by the authors were assigned to a total of 86 third grade (aged 7–8) students. Both the English as foreign language group (N = 42) and the bilingual group (N = 44) were subject to assessment and evaluation in terms of verbal creativity. The two cohorts completed the same creative writing tasks that were then assessed by a board of five English teachers from the same school who were trained by the authors to assess verbal creativity using a Student Product Assessment Form. An independent samples Student’s t-test was conducted and descriptive statistics of both cohorts for 9 of the assessment form were analyzed. The results showed that the students on the bilingual program outperformed those on the English as foreign language program in terms of verbal creativity. The study offers implications for English language teaching in primary schools with reference to developing creative verbal language skills at early ages.

Identity Work as Ethical Self-Formation: The Case of Two Chinese English-as-Foreign-Language Teachers in the Context of Curriculum Reform

Curriculum reform urges teachers to constantly reflect on existing identities and develop probably whole new identities. Yet, in the wake of the poststructuralist view of identity as a complex matter of the social and the individual, of discourse and practice, and of agency and structure, teacher identity is a process of arguing for themselves and hence ethical and political in nature. Drawing on Foucault’s notion of ethical self-formation and its adoption by Clarke (2009a) “Diagram for Doing Identity Work” in teacher education research, this 2-year-long case study explores how two Chinese English-as-foreign-language (EFL) teachers engaged in identity work in a changing curricular landscape. The analysis of narrative frames and semistructured interviews reveals the relations between the relative stable and the evolving elements of teachers’ identity work, and the essential role of teachers’ ethical agency based on reflective and critical responsiveness to the contextual reality and the dynamic power relations during the reform. The findings argue for the importance of nourishing teachers’ reflective identity work and ethical agency during the turbulence of educational change.

Text-image complementarity and genre in English as foreign language textbooks

Relating visual images to textual messages may have great potential in facilitating students’ reading comprehension. The inevitable and important presence of visuals in textbooks obliges language teachers to exploit all semiotic resources to deepen students’ understanding. However, analysis of how images interact with text in textbooks has been rare, and among the efforts it has generally been found that visuals and text often fail to achieve coherence. This study investigates whether and how text and image complement each other ideationally (i.e., the “what”) by six sense relations (e.g., synonymy and hyponymy) and interpersonally (i.e., reader engagement) by the Mood system in ninth-grade English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks to reach intersemiotic complementarity (IC). The results revealed that ideational rather than interpersonal IC is more frequent, where many more Participants (i.e., the nominal groups) than Processes (i.e., the verbal groups) in the texts find their visual complements. Ideational IC is particularly high in Information Reports while Recounts generally mark higher percentages of interpersonal IC. To accomplish ideational IC, repetition is most frequent, followed by hyponymy (i.e., general-specific relation) and collocation (i.e., relations that naturally co-occur). Distinct IC patterns also characterize the different editions of textbooks investigated, which may suggest their different potentials in catering to students of varying proficiencies.

Syllabus Design for Writing Course: EFL Learners’ Needs

Analyzing English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ needs in writing courses is an important thing that should be done by teachers. This is done in order to meet what EFL learners needs for writing course, and what should be planned and written in the syllabus. The purpose of this research is to analyze EFL learners’ needs for writing course especially in terms of learning materials, learning strategies, learning supports, and mastery of writing aspects. The design of this research was descriptive research. 50 EFL learners in Universitas Lancang Kuning were involved in this study as respondents of this research. To collect the data, a questionnaire was used with 20 statements available. The data from the questionnaire was analyzed descriptively by giving deep explanation towards the data. The result showed that most EFL learners were chosen response “agree” from the questionnaire. It means that the EFL learners very need good and acceptable learning materials, learning strategies, learning supports, and good competence in terms of writing aspects. In conclusion, the EFL learners’ needs for writing course are varied, but in general, the EFL learners expect good learning environment for writing course such as utilizing appropriate technology, attractive teaching media, and acceptable learning materials.

English as a Lingua Franca Approach: Implications and Limitations in Saudi English as a Foreign Language Classrooms

English language considers a global language spoken by a majority of people around the world. It is a language used mainly for communication, trades and study purposes. This widespread of English language being wildly spoken lead to different varieties of English as a lingua franca (ELF) means that non native speakers of English still be able to communicate with each other. Using ELF as a legitimate variety of English in language classrooms is questioned by some researchers. This paper will provide an overview of the concept of ELF. It will also present implications and limitations of using ELF in Saudi English as foreign language classrooms.

Improving Communicative Competence Levels of Pre-Service Teachers Through Spoken-Based Reflection Instruction

This study investigated the use of spoken-reflection instruction to improve the communicative competence level of English as Foreign Language learners in a second language acquisition classroom. A listening and speaking test was administered before and after the study to determine the participants’ level of speaking competence. A quantitative research design was adopted for the study. A 3-credit unit language course was designed and implemented for the study. The course was built on the core principles of reflective practice. Participants were taught using the normal language teaching method and spoken-based reflection instruction. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 65 English as Foreign Language learners who willingly participated in the study. At the end of the course, a questionnaire was used to obtain information from the participants about their perceptions of using spoken-based reflection instruction to improve their speaking skills. In addition, participants were administered a Reflection-Listening, and Speaking Skills Test before and after each experimental phase to determine whether their listening and speaking skills had improved. Most learners found the use of spoken reflections to be a fun way to learn. However, they expressed anxiety about doing teacher-student reflection because they felt intimidated by the presence of their language teacher, although sending recordings of their reflections to their teachers was more convenient than interacting with them on a one-to-one basis.

Beyond the avatar: Using video cameras to achieve effective collaboration in an online second language classroom

In language learning, students learn through interaction with the teacher, the other students, and with the study material, to build language skills. What happens to interaction opportunities when learning goes online? In an online classroom, collaboration is difficult to achieve due to lack of physical proximity among the participants. This paper explores the problem of online collaboration between teachers and students in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classroom with the empirical focus on the role that video cameras play in online collaboration. We argue that cameras, although being contested as a pedagogical tool, should be seen as an important ‘proximity tool’ that helps foster collaboration by bringing learners and teachers ‘closer’. We theorise ‘collaboration’ via the social constructivism lens and argue that collaboration as being ‘close’ echoes in the digital sense with ‘being with’ and is core for developing an ecology of virtual collaboration. We draw on the online survey data from foreign language students and language instructors in one Russian research-intensive university, who were asked how they use cameras online. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis have been used to identify key patterns and emerging themes. The key findings of the study are that 1) cameras could be an important aspect of fostering collaboration online; 2) there is a tension in relationships between students, teachers, and study materials; 3) students and teachers differently perceive the need to use cameras, which may limit opportunities for online collaboration; and 4) while students feel more comfortable when all the other participants turn their cameras on, many do not see turning cameras on for themselves to be important. The paper concludes with a discussion of how camera use can foster online collaboration between teachers and students.

Effect of the Bloomfield Program on English as Foreign Language Skills

The objective of the research carried out was to determine the effect of the Bloomfield program on the competences of English as a foreign language in the students of a language center-2020. The research had an applied study, experimental design and a quasi-experimental class. The sample was non-probabilistic, in which a pre-test and post-test of level A1 were applied within the Common European Framework of References. The total population was 317, and the selected sample of 174 students. The results were tabulated from the collection of test results. Then the results in the post test showed that 100% were at the beginning level, 0% achieved, and 0% outstanding. On the other hand, the post test showed that 0% in the beginning, 1% in the process level, and 99% in the outstanding level in the competence of English as a foreign language. Concluding in this way that the applied program significantly improves the competences of English as a foreign language in Peruvian students in Bloomfield Idiomas, 2020.

GENDER INEQUALITY REPRESENTED IN ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Ideologies are contested through discourses; thus, textbooks can be a fertile ground for implanting the prevalence of women's marginalization in society, or they can also be used for deconstructing the ideology. The present study aims to provide a general map of how English as a foreign language reflects gendered stereotypes. The study was library research that used the results of previous studies to answer the research questions. Using George's method, the study chose thirty articles published in 2010 - 2021, then critically reviewed. The critical reading was continued with mapping the results of the studies, and their arguments on gender stereotypes included English as Foreign Language textbooks worldwide. The review revealed that there had been prevalent marginalization of women in English textbooks reflected through the depiction of women as less dominant, inferior than men, primarily domestic, generally weak, powerless, voiceless, and passive. Such male prevalence was also found in Indonesian EFL textbooks. Many previous studies admit that male prevalence and women marginalization in EFL textbooks reflect reality in society. Nevertheless, the present study takes the standpoint that calls for the utilization of textbooks to deconstruct gendered binary oppositions that marginalize women by deliberately designing textbooks that impart awareness about gender equity.