Research on English Learners’ Self-efficacy in Rural Junior High Schools from the Perspective of Rural Revitalization

Currently, English learners in Chinese rural junior high schools have been increasingly focused by people in all walks of life, especially the government for they will function as an impetus to promote the construction as well as the growth of the new rural areas. Accordingly, this study will utilize the rural revitalization, a national strategy for rural areas to investigate some current situations on English learning self-efficacy of rural school students, which is an important factor affecting their learning, taking students of several rural middle schools in Suining, Sichuan province as participants and including the following research questions by virtue of the method of questionnaire, interview and literature analysis: 1) What is the current situation about English learning self-efficacy of rural junior high school students under the background of rural revitalization? 2) What factors can affect English learners’ learning self-efficacy against the background of rural revitalization? 3) Is there any positive or negative correlation between learners’ English learning self-efficacy and their academic achievements in the context of rural revitalization? Based on the outcomes of this research project, some valid and feasible strategies can be introduced to promote English learners’ self-efficacy and facilitate better achievements in English learning in rural junior high schools.

Post-Traumatic Growth and Identity Construction in Covid-19 Messages Delivered to the People of Ghana by President Nana Akuffo Addo

This work analyses post-traumatic growth in Covid-19 addresses delivered to the people of Ghana by President Nana Akuffo Addo. We draw on Post-Traumatic Growth Theory to explain how Akuffo Addo constructs a new identity for himself and the nation in order to navigate through the pandemic and forge an agenda of growth and prosperity for Ghana. The study employs a linguistic content analysis approach. The data consists of twenty different speeches from the president to the people. The speeches are first analysed and coded manually for the five main tenets of Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) identified in the updates. Consequently, the linguistic markers that are used in reconstructing the Ghanaian identity in response to the pandemic are delineated and mapped to the goals of the president using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015 (LIWC2015; Pennebaker et al., 2015) software; a vocabulary analysis tool. The analysis showed that there was a high prevalence of personal pronoun use, use of positive-emotion words, and cognitive-processing words. This confirms our hypothesis that linguistic markers can be used to detect PTG.

Writer Identity Construction in MSc. Students of Engineering

Writing in academia is not only a way for students to acquire knowledge and skills, but also a process through which they construct author/researcher identity. This study aims to explore how twenty MSc. students construct their identity as writers of research papers. The students in this study received genre-based writing instructions on writing research papers during their writing course in the first semester of university. They wrote four papers during the semester, and the researcher provided feedback to their papers. Then, they were interviewed individually in order to find out how they reacted to the instructions, the writing process, and the feedback provided by the teacher. In addition, they were requested to write a reflective piece of writing about what they experienced including their emotions, thoughts and opinions about writing an academic paper before and after the course. Two types of analyses were made. Firstly, their sample research papers were examined during the course to see if there were improvements in the areas where feedback was provided. Secondly, the interviews and reflective pieces of writing were subjected to content analysis in order to extract themes. The examination of the papers revealed that the feedback provided by the teacher was effective as the writings improved in the areas where feedback was given. The thematic analysis resulted in two major themes of Affect and Attitude and the Need for Adaptation. An important implication of this study was the role feedback played in helping student/researchers to develop their identity in writing.

Using Online Texts to Build Independent Readers in ESL Classrooms

Studies with proficient users of English suggest that readers demonstrate deeper comprehension of texts when reading non-linear hypertexts than when reading linear texts. This is attributed to the networked nature of texts that helps readers exercise cognitive flexibility. An aspect that remains largely unresearched is the potential of linear online texts to facilitate comprehension in readers who are non-proficient users of English. Keeping in mind the fact that a majority of readers reading online texts in English can be hindered by three types of comprehension deficits – low levels of language proficiency, non-availability of prior knowledge, or both – this study investigated the interactive effects of two salient features of online texts, viz., non-linearity in the presentation of text and the availability of additional sources of information, on the reading comprehension of ESL readers. Two groups of readers with high and low levels of English proficiency read twelve texts on familiar and unfamiliar topics in print, linear online, and non-linear online modes. A comparison of readers’ responses to comprehension questions and free recalls showed that those with low linguistic competence and/or topic familiarity were able to achieve better comprehension of linear online texts than print texts or non-linear online texts. The findings indicate that text linearity when combined with the presence of multiple information resources (both provided by the author within the text and freely available on the internet) might have the potential to scaffold linguistic and content knowledge deficits in ESL readers and promote deep levels of comprehension.

Using Students’ L1 (Arabic) in English L2 Classrooms in College Classrooms in Kuwait

This study explored the use of students’ L1 (Arabic) in one of Kuwait’s public institutions—namely, the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET). The purpose of this study was three-fold: (1) to look at the functions of using L1, (2) to explore any comprehensibility issues and/or academic gains, and (3) to investigate any psychological issues students face when not using L1. The study employed a two-stage data collection phase, where a total of 278 students participated in the closed-ended questionnaire and 6 students participated in the semi-structured interviews. The results showed that students attach several important aspects to the use of L1 in their L2 classrooms. Students expressed that the inclusion of Arabic eases their intake from lectures and allows them to better understand the lectures’ content. However, the findings also indicated that students object to the overreliance on Arabic and instead prefer that teachers strike a balance between L1 and L2 use to maximize their learning.

A Study on the Construction of Americanism in Mark Twain’s Works

American Writer Mark Twain in his works vividly records social changes caused by the industrialization in the 19th century. His writing could be regarded as a kind of construction of Americanism. He insists on advocating of Puritanism, using the American dialect to tell American stories, displaying the culture in American West and South. He employs humor and irony to combine American history with reality, getting rid of influences of the British literature to illustrate Americanism and the historical process of America.

English Education in Rural Secondary Schools in Southwest China: Problems and Countermeasures under the Rural Vitalization Strategy

The Chinese government has proposed the rural vitalization strategy in its poverty reduction, aiming at narrowing the discrepancies in economic levels between urban and rural areas. Under this development blueprint, poverty alleviation through education, one of the imperative approaches mentioned in this overarching strategy, has attracted attention from all sectors of Chinese society. In Southwest China, however, the urban-rural gap in compulsory education is still concerning, especially in English teaching and learning. This has lowered the overall quality of English education in these areas, whereas only a few studies have looked into this issue. Therefore, under the guidance of the rural vitalization strategy, the present study intends to offer a response by calling for more attention on the problems in rural English teaching in various aspects. Furthermore, this study explores the corresponding strategies adopted to solve these problems and discusses their effectiveness of English teaching. It is hoped that the study can develop a theoretical framework about the current issues of English teaching in rural areas under the rural vitalization and can provide practical suggestions for policymakers and educational practitioners.

The Impact of Rhetorical Argumentation on Achieving the Mastery of Fluency and Accuracy in Communicative Competence: A Case Study of 2 nd Year Students at the University Des Frères Mentouri, Constantine

The present study is a comparison between the impact of rhetorical argumentation and narrating stories on students’ fluency and accuracy in communicative competence. We aimed at evaluating the usefulness and suitability of these tasks, and their efficiency when it comes to teaching fluency and accuracy by analysing the direct effects of the tasks on the indices of fluency and accuracy. The problematic issue in this research investigates the effects of the task rhetorical argumentation, and whether it is an important task that teachers should rely on it in teaching speaking in academic contexts. The sample is composed of 65 students which are divided in between 30 students in the control group and 35 students in experimental group. The data was collected by a test which was used to evaluate three main areas which are: classroom interaction, topic knowledge and language knowledge. The results of the experiment show that there are two types of fluency which are procedural and automatic. Rhetorical argumentation can be used to develop procedural fluency, and not automatic since the task is considered as difficult and students were not familiar with it.

Critical Thinking and Intercultural Competence: Review, Use, and Classification of the 21st Century Skills in Intercultural EFL Education

We all live in a globalised world today, and even the smallest interactions taking place in our daily lives can now take place in a global level thanks to the advancements in telecommunication facilities. To keep up with these intercultural interactions, whether virtually or in real life, people now need some abilities for effective communication and cooperation, and 21st Century Skills are a way to address this need. Among these skills, critical thinking – clear and rational thinking, might be a helpful way of approaching issues arising from intercultural communication and guiding learners in developing their intercultural communication and interaction skills. Both of these competences are used in the area of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), in textbooks, materials, and assessment tools. This article review aims at scanning the literature to find traces of different uses of the skill of critical thinking and intercultural competence in the EFL context to tackle issues resulting from intercultural communication or develop language learners’ intercultural competence. The study also intends to classify these uses by analysing similar patterns in the studies investigated. The review explores 14 studies discussing these two competences in the EFL context and determines three distinct approaches by the researchers.

The Current Status of Research on English Language Teaching for Deaf Students - A Visual Analysis Based on CiteSpace Software

This article is in line with the initiatives of “supporting the disadvantaged” and “developing the cause of persons with disabilities” proposed by UNESCO. With using “deaf students” and “English teaching” as the key research terms, efforts are put into searching research in the Web of Science (WOS) core collection database from the year 2000 to 2020. The index results are sorted by publication years, authors, institutions, sources and keywords. Then these statistics are visualized by CiteSpace software in five aspects, including authors, institutions, journal sources and keywords. In total, there include 4866 articles abroad in this study. The number of articles published at home and abroad show an increasing trend. These collected researches focus on the teaching method, teaching strategy, cognitive condition, sign language teaching, and cochlear implant in English teaching for deaf students. The foreign ones emphasize on ability of deaf students themselves and influence force of auxiliary tool. The overall research on English language teaching for deaf students is on the rise, and the research contents and hot topics international literature are somewhat overlapped while somewhat different. The team cooperation and international exchange should be strengthened while complementing each other, in order to promote the overall development of this field.