STANCE IN ADVANCED ACADEMIC WRITING BY SAUDI EFL POSTGRADUATES: A CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF CRITIQUE WRITING

Whether the postgraduate students in the EFL context are adequately trained to express their authorial voice in academic writing in an appropriate tone has not been clarified enough in the literature. The aim of this study is to explore the linguistic resources used by Saudi postgraduate students of Applied Linguistics to construct stance when they write critique essays. To achieve this goal, a corpus of 78000 words was built from 73 critique essays collected in five years. To analyze this corpus, LancsBox corpus analysis software was used to generate the concordances with frequencies of key words in context. The model of corpus analysis used was Hyland’s (2005) which views stance as a construct within a model of interaction in academic discourse that comprises boosters, hedges, attitude markers, and self-mentions. The major findings of the study showed that the most frequently used stance markers were hedges, followed by attitude markers, then boosters, and finally self-mentions. In addition, the linguistic resources used in these strategies of stance construction by the students in this particular context need to be enhanced in order to conform with conventional standards of academic writing. To meet this ambitious requirement, the study recommends explicit instruction, training, and showcasing these textual resources as they occur in high quality discipline-specific publications.

PERCEPTIONS OF BORDER AREA LECTURERS AND STUDENTS REGARDING THE USE OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY AND SMARTPHONE APPLICATIONS IN LEARNING ENGLISH

This study aimed at exploring the use of computer technology and smartphone applications in the learning of English. A case study design using questionnaires and interview data was expected to reveal lecturers and students' perceptions comprehensively. The data obtained were analyzed with quantitative and qualitative data analysis in descriptive statistics and coding. This study indicated that computer technology and smartphone applications in learning English could smoothly run if the internet network was stable and there was a sufficient data quota. In its use, both lecturers and students needed to coordinate well regarding the English learning platform used. Both lecturers and students needed to prepare, implement structured learning, and pay attention to learning evaluation.

DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH LEARNING MODEL BASED ON LOCAL WISDOM WITH BLENDED LEARNING APPROACH USING MACROMEDIA FLASH AT SMPN SATU ATAP TUNDA ISLAND

The aim of the research is to create a learning media model for English that uses the Macromedia Flash program, as well as to assess the viability of utilizing Macromedia Flash-based learning media to assist English. This study is a Research and Development (R & D) project with several stages. (1) Analysis stages, such as identifying Learning Media objectives and student characteristics; (2) Design stages, such as designing learning materials and learning media design using the Macromedia Flash program; (3) Production stages, such as producing learning materials, authoring materials, and editing learning materials; (4) Stages of evaluation, including Material Expert Review, Media Expert Review, and Student Testing. The findings demonstrate that the English learning media products adhere to research and development guidelines and are successful in the learning process for SMPN Satu Atap Pulai Tunda students.

USING BOOKWIDGETS TO ATTRACT STUDENTS' INTEREST IN LEARNING ENGLISH

English teachers deliver their teaching materials using various platforms. One of those is the BookWidgets platform which is used to create interactive learning activities and involves students in engaging teaching material. This platform provides teachers and students with dynamic widgets such as iPad, Android tablets, Chromebooks, and iBooks with interactive content. These are designed to interact with students’ interest in acquiring English smoothly. Therefore, this study is aimed at finding out students’ interest in learning English and attract their interest using Bookwidgets. The method used in this study was a quantitative descriptive method, which used a survey to collect the data. The population in this study was taken from junior high school students in MTs Al-Falah using a questionnaire or online survey. In analyzing the data, the writer used a Likert statistical analysis. The results of this showed that students’ interest in English learning using media increased up to 48,1% after they were being introduced to Bookwidgets.

ANALYZING IMPLICATURES IN TALIWANG DIALECT

This study aims to analyze the types of implicature and flouting maxims and the reasons for doing the flouting in Taliwang Dialect. It applied the descriptive method with a qualitative approach. Data was collected by recording natural conversations among the natives of Taliwang Dialect. It was found two types of implicature, namely, Generalized Conversational Implicature (GCI) and Particularized Conversational Implicatures (PCI). In GCI, the speaker and interlocutor could easily understand the conveyed utterances because they mostly used general statements which are commonly spoken in the Taliwang dialect. In PCI, both speaker and the interlocutor needed a particular knowledge to understand each other because of the flouting maxim. Some speakers or hearers in PCI often break the maxim in a conversation due to some reasons such as accepting untrue or lie information, receiving more information than the needed information, getting irrelevant information and having unclear or ambiguous information.

IRANIAN HIGH SCHOOL EFL LEARNERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS ONLINE LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

By the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, students and teachers were pushed to adapt themselves to the online learning system. The current study is a quantitative attempt to investigate English as a foreign language students’ perception of online learning during the pandemic. For this purpose, 30 male and 30 female students at the high school level were chosen to answer a questionnaire in Iran, Tehran. The questionnaire used in this study is adopted from Rojabi (2020) and comprises two parts. The first half assesses the interaction among students and between students and the teacher whereas the second half measures students’ attitude towards their online learning platform. The data was interpreted through the SPSS software (version 24) and the results revealed that learners mainly have negative perspectives on online learning and would not suggest it for further educational years to come. The majority of participants struggled with having effective interaction. Also, most of them did not have pleasant experiences with the learning platform they were instructed to use. It is recommended that the current learning environment be improved and teachers apply strategies to involve students fully in the learning process throughout online sessions.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING ON WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

Students' responses to the implementation of task-based language teaching in the writing learning process and the implementation of task-based language teaching in the writing of descriptive text are the focus of this study. The research design used in this study is the case study. The participants that participated in the study were in the tenth grade of a vocational high school. There were three male and two female participants in this study. In addition, research utilizes observation, interviews, and documentation to gather data for the studies. There are three diplomas in the framework for task-based learning such as pre-task, task cycle, and language focus. As shown in the findings of this study, task-based language teaching has an influence on students' learning, particularly in regards to writing descriptive text. Students become active and task-based language teaching also influences students to involve a high level of creativity, students are required to think critically and be responsive. However, Students find it difficult with the tasks that have been assigned because it believes writing to be difficult and there are aspects of writing that weren't well understood.

RELATIVE CLAUSE TRANSFER STRATEGY AND THE IMPLICATION ON CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS HYPOTHESIS

Foreign language learners may transfer their previous language properties into that of the target language either positively or negatively. The present study was designed to investigate the transfer strategy from the Indonesian relative clauses to the English ones. It was a descriptive study. The data were collected from the theses submitted by the Master's Program students of English Language Education to the university. The study found out that most students relativized subjects successfully but frequently failed to relativize the object of which Indonesian could not do it. The students were not found relativizing indirect objects, oblique, and comparison of which Indonesian did not permit. In conclusion, the study supported the strong contrastive analysis hypothesis.

LOSING MY CODE: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHY ON LANGUAGE ATTRITION

Learning a new language is one of the privileges that a person can get when moving from one place to another and staying there for a longer time. In this paper, I will discuss my journey that resulted to gradual decline of my L1 (First language), Polillohing Tagalog, which is a variety of the Tagalog language, in the Philippines. The result of migration, acquisition of other languages, and exposure to different speaking environment had led me to continuously decline my first language. Using the auto-ethnographic type of writing a research, I reflected on my experiences which lead me to language attrition. Auto-ethnographic research is when the researcher is the participant of the story narrating his experience on the culture and phenomenon of the researched topic.

STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL OF TEACHERS' MINDSETS, SELF-EFFICACY, AND EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES AND IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS' WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE AND L2 MOTIVATIONAL SELF SYSTEM

This study aimed at investigating the interrelationships between EFL teachers' mindsets, self-efficacy, and emotional experiences and Iranian EFL learners' willingness to communicate (WTC) and L2 motivational self system (L2MSS). The participants of this study were 100 Iranian teachers and 501 students of the same EFL teachers, both male and female randomly selected from high schools. To fulfill the purpose of the study, teachers were asked to complete four questionnaires to measure their implicit theories of intelligence, efficacy, and emotional experiences including their burnout symptoms. Learners were required to complete two questionnaires to measure their willingness to communicate and L2 motivational self system. The results of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) revealed a significant structural relationship among all variables. Results also indicated that motivation was the strongest direct predictor of willingness to communicate. WTC was also indirectly correlated with teachers' implicit theories, efficacy, and emotional experiences through the mediating effect of L2MSS.