Letting students decide whether to work in pairs or individually in class

Communicative approaches to language teaching have advocated for the benefits of pair and group work when learning foreign languages. This paper reports an example of classroom research that has been carried out with intermediate students of English, level B1+, focusing on how they prefer to work in class as regards grammar and vocabulary exercises when given the chance to choose. In order to obtain the results for this classroom research study, the students’ teacher becomes a participant observer who records the data throughout the course and collects the data on observation worksheets. Contrary to what it might be expected, the outcomes show that many of the younger students prefer working on their own and then compare and justify their answers with their partners, rather than working in pairs from the very beginning. This is recommended to establish whether this is just specific of these students, or it is something common with other students and teachers have been unaware of it. Keywords: Classroom research, individual work, learning gains, learning preferences, pair work, personal decision.

The perception of Nigerian students of German about serious games: Using ‘Secret of the Sky Disc’ as a case study

The use of serious games is usually common, but digital games are not used in the teaching of German. This study aims to find out the attitude of students of German to the possible use of serious games in the teaching of German at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and their impression of the game ‘secret of the sky disc’ introduced by the Goethe Institute for the learning of German as a foreign language. Two different sets of questionnaires were administered to the students of German of OAU. The resulting data were analysed, discussed and conclusions were drawn. The results show the readiness of students of German for the use of digital games in teaching German at the university. The study adds to the limited literature on the use of serious games in teaching German as a foreign language Keywords: German, Nigeria, perception, serious games, Obafemi Awolowo University, students.

Critical reading as an impediment for effective synthesis: Case of master 2 students

Writing an appropriate research paper requires evidently the mastery of effective synthesis. This paper intends to highlight students’ hindrances in producing a sound synthesis, particularly weak critical reading and proposes equally outlets for a sturdy comprehension. The motivation is linked with the slenderness of studies addressing critical reading/effective synthesis binary. This will have pedagogical implications regarding the teaching of synthesis. The researchers used purposive sampling with master two didactic students (39 students). Self-assessment of the teaching strategy, corpus analysis, and an eight-item student questionnaire were used. The findings indicated that the major problems surrounding the internalisation of good synthesis were related to the different operations required for critical reading. The paper put into evidence the necessity of integrating the subject of academic writing into the syllabi of Master didactic students, the design of adequate critical reading tasks, and urged equally the necessity of more condensed practice, both in-class and off-class. Keywords: Critical reading, effective synthesis, paraphrasing, shortness of instruction, master 2 students.

The necessity of learning English in multilingual Algeria: Belhadj Bouchaib University as a case study

English is believed to be the language of science and technology; it helps increase the quality of education and promotes social and technological progress. This paper aimed at scrutinising the students’ language preference as a medium of instruction and their attitudes towards an entire English-based instruction. Its significance was established in checking whether or not English is a prerequisite among the learners via a written open-ended questionnaire and oral interview sessions. The present study is built on a mixed method approach to data collection and a probability sampling including 42 master students. These students receive their lectures in French. The findings revealed that the participants seem to hold in high esteem English and appraise it, for it is a valuable means of job opportunities and knowledge transfer compared with French, a language they consider far less effective for their professional career and the prosperity and socio-economic growth of their country. Keywords: English, higher education, learning, multilingual Algeria, prerequisite.

E-teaching and e-learning challenges during the coronavirus: Dr. Moulay Tahar University as a case study

Information and communication technologies have become vital in the educational realm over the past two decades and a significant subject in the language educational system. E-materials are not available for all the students, and that causes an impediment for English foreign language teachers at Dr. Moulay Tahar University of Saida-Algeria. The research paper aims at investigating e-teaching and e-learning effectiveness in the Algerian university. The first research tool was an interview with teachers at the Department of English Language and Literature, Saida. The second research instrument was observational classroom sessions. Second-year students were observed for 2 months (20 sessions in 2020–2021). The findings revealed that e-teaching and online learning are in vain as they are still new for both tutors and learners. Thus, e-education ought to start at an early age so that learners will get used to it. Both students and teachers should be trained in virtual learning and teaching methods. Keywords: Algerian EFL students, English, ICT, online learning, language: e-teaching.

Thematic implications and representativeness in Wuthering Heights (1848): Dialect as a social reality

Since language is a brainwork of speakers who live in social and physical environments, researchers are obliged to think about the alliance between the vocabularies’ meaning in dictionaries and their significance in social use. And because the novel is a fictional piece of writing which is primarily inspired by real life and reflects realities. In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte strives to interfere in her characters’ thought and considers their social class, culture and experience; she acts as a writer, the speaker and the reader as well. These authorial qualities gave birth to a text combined of two language varieties, the Standard English and the Yorkshire dialect which are tightly interwoven without distorting the unity and the arrangement of the story plot. This paper looks to cover the different social inclinations of E. Bronte’s depiction of dialect in addition to some critical resonances of such representation. Keywords: Wuthering Heights, dialect representativeness, social reality, thematic implications, language.

Investigating style and narrative techniques in Dickens’ Bleak House

Dickens could never get rid of his everlasting catching style even though the very novel has been said to be one of his maturities. The style is there with more repetition and mock. The latter is not obvious to readers; it is dramatically welded to the circumstances, bizarre, rare but not alien to commoners of the very epoch. One of the most stunning texts and range of words, wordiness and elements within contexts alluding, saying but revealing the hidden, forbidden and the taboo, is the introduction of his novel A Tale of the Two Cities. In the following excerpts taken from Bleak House, the introduction is dense and irregularly shaped in English: the very language of his and her majesty. Wherein the question poses itself and raises the discrepancies among form and content; a dichotomy that ought to be considered in conducting the investigation of style and stylistics upon the forthcoming texts. Keywords: Dickens, stylistics, narrative, techniques, Bleak House.

Cross-country comparison of foreign language curriculum in Germany, Spain and Turkey

In an ever-increasing global world, foreign language teaching (FLT) has been in the agenda of many countries. The purpose of this study is to compare the FLT curriculum at compulsory education in Germany (Berlin) and Spain (Madrid) with the curriculum in Turkey. Qualitative in nature, the study is designed as a multiple (collective) case study. Maximum variation (heterogeneity) sampling, a purposeful sampling strategy, is used to compare the FLT curriculum in Germany and Spain with Turkey, aiming at capturing and describing common patterns accross a variety of cases. The results show that with the latest revisions in Turkey’s curriculum, the curriculum in three countries are similar to one another in terms of design, main philosophy, content, assessment and evaluation approach, as well as the language teaching approach. This paper concludes that the structural differences depending on the language family could be one of the reasons behind Turkey’s situation in FLT. Keywords: Comparative education, curriculum, foreign language teaching, primary education, cross-country.

Teachers’ perceptions and concerns about implementing active learning in teaching EFL literature. A case study at Tlemcen University, Algeria

One of the major features of literature teaching in Algeria is the use of teacher-centred instructional approaches based on unidirectional lecturing and extended presentations. The paper examines teachers’ perceptions of and their concerns in implementing complex active learning strategies in their classrooms. The research is a case study conducted at the Department of English at Tlemcen University, Algeria. A qualitative approach was adopted in the analysis of the data collected through a structured interview held with three teachers. The findings revealed that despite the teachers’ recognition of the crucial role of active learning strategies in sustaining students’ engagement with the literature, they are still reluctant to introduce them into their teaching owing to a host of personal reasons and other background and contextual challenges. In response to this, the paper suggests the urgent reconsideration of the applied literature teaching methodology, stressing the role of teacher development to make active learning a successful approach in the classroom. Keywords: Active learning, literature teaching, teachers ‘perceptions, traditional approaches, teacher development.

Comparative effects of partial dictation and dictogloss on listening comprehension ability of EFL learners

TEFL teachers and scholars acknowledge the unique characteristics of listening skills and the vital role it plays in language learning and communication. The present study seeks to empirically investigate if partial dictation versus dictogloss has any significant effect on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. Participants include 60 male EFL learners who were selected via double sampling and after taking the listening pre-test were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (partial dictation versus dictogloss) and a control group. A thorough analysis of the data using paired sample t-test indicated that the partial dictation group slightly outperformed the dictogloss group in the listening post-test and both experimental groups significantly outperformed the control group. The results can have implications for learners, teachers and material developers. Keywords: Dictogloss, listening comprehension, partial dictation, EFL learners, comprehension ability.