A Look into Literature Courses in Pre-Service Teacher Training

This paper explored the load of literature courses in the teacher-training program at the collegiate level in Yemen. It dwells on teacher candidates’ perceptions of the current status quo of literature teaching based on the learner-centered approach and humanistic curriculum. Data were elicited through an opinion poll from a sample of senior prospective teachers (n=112) who have undertaken courses in verse, fiction, and prose embedded in the program. Findings ensued from this analysis show that the participants had a wealth of difficulties that hamper achieving the objectives of embedding literature in the program, and most of such difficulties stem from teaching inadequacies in the given context. The study brings to the foreground some insightful ideas into curriculum reform. It generally informs the curriculum designers to readdress the existing program with an eye on the underestimated literature courses. It recommends that the overhaul of the existing syllabus should be fashioned to a new purpose, a new footing and a new perspective in line with the worldwide, extemporized changes in terms of curriculum development. A balanced approach to literature instruction to link the school curriculum with what is taught at the tertiary level would be a stepping-point to an improved literature teaching scenario.

English Language Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Critical Thinking within Moroccan High Schools

This study addresses the restricted attention of critical thinking in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Moroccan high schools, which is one of the new issues investigated in recent times. Many students could not think critically since their instructors could not implement critical thinking into their instructional practices every day. The primary bjective of this inquiry is to examine teachers’ attitude towards the use of critical thinking in the classroom. In this paper, the questionnaire was used to address only English language high school teachers. Descriptive statistical analysis of means, standard deviations, and percentages were used. The results showed that teachers held a positive attitude towards the use of critical thinking in the classroom. Therefore, they need not hesitate to introduce it in their teaching. Our findings strongly indicate that having an understanding of what really happened in the classroom will surely help shape the development of critical thinking in education. This suggests that further study could be carried to determine teachers’ level of use of critical thinking in Moroccan high schools.

Moroccan High School EFL Teachers’ Attitudes and Anxiety on Using Microsoft Teams Platform

The world has witnessed major changes in delivery modes in education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Being no exception, Morocco declared a full lockdown in March 2020, and this resulted in the use of online platforms to cope with the new situation. The platform that was adopted by the Moroccan Ministry of Education was Microsoft Teams (MT). Hence, the current paper investigated Moroccan high school EFL teachers’ use of the platform accounting for their age, gender, anxiety, and attitudes towards the platform. For this aim, a questionnaire adapted from Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS) by Heinssen et al. (1987) was distributed to 171 EFL teachers working in different public high schools belonging to the academy of Casablanca/Settat. Results revealed that the participants’ attitudes towards the usability of the platform were negatively associated with their years of experience, and their general anxiety and power and control of the platform negatively affected the time they spent on the platform. The findings imply that anxiety should be taken into consideration as an integral component in further implementation of technology in education.

College Students' Experience in Online Asynchronous Peer Feedback in Writing

Writing is heavy, tedious, and difficult for college students. Likewise, writing instruction is equally arduous for teachers. The implementation of online and remote classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic becomes an opportunity for students to develop writing through their peers’ feedback. This study analyzes the college students’ experience and evaluation in online asynchronous peer feedback in writing. One hundred college students in free sections from a private university responded to an adopted, modified, and validated survey questionnaire and focus group discussions to evaluate and validate their experience in online asynchronous peer feedback in writing. The survey results underwent statistical analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 20, to determine the weighted mean scores. Thus, the results revealed that the college students have a strong positive experience in online asynchronous peer-feedback in writing with the course facilitator of English language-based subjects. Though online asynchronous peer feedback in writing is an established learning approach, it is not yet maximized in all or most classes of college students. Nevertheless, the study concludes that the positive assumptions, experimentations, and explorations done in online peer feedback in writing remain valuable for college students, especially in their asynchronous writing development.

The Level of Community of Inquiry (CoI) Presences in Online Classes among MSU BTESL Students

Community of Inquiry (CoI) is a framework that acknowledges the importance of the environment in shaping the educational experience. According to this framework, teaching, social, and cognitive presences are essential for an optimal online learning experience. The purpose of this study is to identify the level of each of these presences in online classes among Management and Science University (MSU) Bachelor in Education – TESL (Hons). The instrument used for the research tool was adapted from the original CoI framework survey, (Arbaugh et al, 2008). The questionnaire consists of 20 items; six items for teaching presence, another six items for social presence and eight items for the cognitive presence. 263 students who are currently doing the programme participated in the study. The findings concluded that, all three presences are present in high or strong level in online classes among MSU BTESL students with the most substantial presence in online classes among MSU BTESL students being the cognitive presence, followed by the teaching presence and lastly the social presence.

University ESL Instructors’ Reflections on the Use of Blended Learning in their Classrooms

Blended learning has been adopted in many universities worldwide since it combines the advantages of both online learning and face to face instruction. In this paper, the researcher reports on the quantitative segment of a mixed-methods case study that was conducted in a public university in Malaysia with the aim of investigating the ESL instructors’ reflections on the implementation of blended learning in their English language classrooms. More specifically, the researcher was interested in identifying the factors that enhance the implementation of blended learning and the challenges that seem to hinder an effective blended learning environment. The quantitative data of the study were collected by a survey questionnaire, which was distributed to at least 30 English language instructors. Nineteen instructors responded to the questionnaire, and the data were analyzed by descriptive statistics via the statistical package for social science (SPSS). Findings show that while experience with technology and positive attitudes towards technology were identified as main factors enhancing the implementation of blended learning; workload and technological infrastructure were found to be the major challenges. The study signifies the need to address technology and workload related issues in order to effectively implement blended learning to promote ELT at tertiary level.

The Challenges of Functional Adult Literacy: A Descriptive Study on EFL Learners in Beqaa District

The world witnesses a rapid change as a result of the technological revolution thatshapes people's daily lives. This new lifestyle demands from 21st-century students new skills such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and computer skills. However, it is noticeable that literate people in Lebanon lack these skills which hinder their success at the professional and social levels. In this way, functional literacy is needed to help the literate to read, write, do calculations, and solve technical problems in the social and professional context. Therefore, this research conducted descriptive research on 100 EFL literate in the Beqaa using a questionnaire and a poll to test functional literacy level and to determine the challenges that prevent adult literates to act as functional literate in the 21st-century. The results affirmed that nearly half of EFL adult literates in the Beqaa district can act as functional literates, but the majority of them are at the intermediate level. The results also revealed that they need more improvements regarding developing English skills, technological skills, and numeracy skills. Thus, it is recommended to design training courses that develop functional adult literacy skills by presenting them in a procedure that depends on promoting communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and computer skills so that that the adult learners can substitute the gaps they missed in their educational systems and contribute in the sustainable development of the society

PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS FROM BTESL TOWARDS ENHANCING VOCABULARY THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA IN MSU

Vocabulary is fundamental and one of the important components in acquiring a second language. The implementation of various platforms and applications in carrying a lesson is another way or substitute towards enhancing the students’ vocabulary knowledge. The current study aims to investigate the perceptions of students from Bachelor in Teaching English as a Second Language (BTESL) towards Enhancing Vocabulary through Social Media in Management and Science University (MSU), Malaysia. Another aim of this study is to examine the differences in the perceptions of the BTESL students towards enhancing vocabulary through social media according to the year of study. This research involves 263 BTESL students consisting of 78.1% of Female respondents and 21.9% of Male respondents. A quantitative research was used in this study by using a survey method for the data collection. The questionnaire was created after reviewing the existing related literature and the draft was given to the experts in the field of Linguistics. The data was tabulated in the SPSS software and it was interpreted through descriptive analysis. The findings affirm that majority of the students view enhancing vocabulary through social media positively and it was observed that there are differences in the students’ perceptions according to the year of study. Thus, this study provides pedagogic implications to foster the teaching and learning processes based on the 21st Century learning.

Analysis of Translation Mistakes of Compound Nouns from English into Arabic among Yemeni University EFL Students

The present study is devoted to the discussion on errors of English translation into Arabic with special reference to English compound nouns. The study is confined to the students of the Department of English, Faculty of education, Hodeidah University, Yemen as they face various difficulties and commit errors while translating English compound nouns into Arabic and vice versa. The researcher aims at examining multiple factors responsible for this state of affairs and make pedagogical suggestions to improve teaching and learning and thereby helping in the process of translation. For this study, the researcher has collected the data by conducting the test of 40 students of I to IV level, Department of English, Hodeidah University, Yemen. The test consists of one question having three items and each item has five words. In findings, the researcher concludes that the students face various difficulties and obstacles in the process of translating English compounds into Arabic. Moreover, they commit a number of mistakes while translating English compounds.

Factors Affecting the Application of Communicative Language Teaching CLT in Syrian Schools

The main purpose of CLT is to help EFL learners to communicate with other Englishlanguage speakers. Practicing speaking and communication is limited in Syrian educationalinstitutions. Hence, to improve the communicative skills of learners, the CLT approach of the teachinglearning process is highly recommended. The study aims to identify the challenges that negatively affect the valid application of CLT in Syrian public schools in Aleppo governance. The study employed a fully quantitative research design. A survey questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument. A number of 50 English language teachers from 25 schools were randomly selected. The collected data were analysed descriptively using SPSS (25) software. Teachers despite their awareness of the importance of CLT, faced many challenges. The results showed four types of challenges namely; teachers-related challenges: lack of training, lack of authentic materials, lack of English cultural knowledge. Students related challenges: low proficiency, passive learning style, lack of motivation. Education system-related challenges: lack of support, too large classes, unsuitable curriculum. Finally, CLT related challenges: lack of effective and efficient assessment instrument, lack of teaching materials. The study provided a comprehensive approach towards better implementation of CLT in the EFL context. Implications and recommendations were discussed in light of the findings.