Category: Language education
A Preliminary Report of the Use of Piazza for a Language Class
This paper presents a preliminary report of the project that investigates the impact of using an online forum for language teaching. The online forum used for this project is “Piazza” (https://piazza.com/), which has been widely used in science and engineering courses at MIT. The goal of the project is to learn how digital natives behave …
Difficulties of Building English Sentences in Writing
This study aims at investigating the problems of writing correct English sentences as for the Sudanese students of secondary schools. The study applied the descriptive and the analytical methods beside the statistical tools so as to achieve the desired goals. Therefore, the researcher used both questionnaire for teachers (31teachers) and test for students (25 students). …
The Importance of Phonological Studies to Nigerian Learners of Arabic
Abstract The Importance of Arabic Phonological Studies to Nigerian Learners of Arabic Foreign language learning has become in recent time a very important academic and professional pursuit. This is in recognition of the position and rule of language in the globalized world. Of all levels of language, the phonological level seems to be most important …
Grammarly Grammatical Grammar: An Investigation into Writing Issues
The paper used an electronic writing enhancement platform to identify writing issues in two essays of Level 4 Foundation students. In six broad categories – Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Enhancement Suggestion, Sentence Structure and Style – the upper group had 3,551 issues clustered into 28 sub-categories while the lower group recorded 3,974 issues bundled into 27 …
Questions and Mutual Understanding in the L2 Classroom
An integration of questions in the teaching of L2 is strongly supported in educational arguments. However, the nature of the constructs that underlie these questions in order to ensure mutual understanding is not defined. Many assessments of learners have shown that learners provide answers which are considered correct but not the appropriate one to the …
Reflections of Ab English Students on Their English Language Learning Experiences
This study seeks to investigate the language learning experiences of the thirty-nine AB-English majors who were selected through fish-bowl technique from the 157 students enrolled in the AB-English program. Findings taken from the diary, questionnaire and unstructured interview revealed that motivation, learners’ belief, self-monitoring, language anxiety, activities and strategies were the prevailing factors that influenced …
Using Personal Diaries to Improve Students’ Academic Writing Skills in English
Most students in Japan leave high school having been exposed to a wide range of grammatical structures and vocabulary items. However, analysis of first-year university students’ written reports showed a marked lack of multi-clause sentences, limited vocabulary use, and confusion about how to structure paragraphs. Additionally, student interviews showed that many students were unwilling to …
Reinterpreting School Vandalism: A Textual Analysis
This study unravel the meaning conveyed from vandalism through textual analysis. It determined the profile of the respondents, the reasons for performing vandalism, characteristics of the school vandalism in terms of language choice, placement, types and stylistic features.It also determined the denotative and connotative meaning of the vandalism, its social messages, and the vandal’s personal, …
Effectiveness in Using the Learning Package on “How to Make Questions in English” for Improving Speaking Skills of Degree Students
The objectives of this study were (1) to study the effectiveness in using the learning package on how to make questions in English of degree students; (2) to study the achievement between before and after using the package of Engineering and Business Administration students; (3) to compare the achievement between two groups of degree students: …
EFL Learners Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward the Use of Reader Theater for Improving Oral Skills in an Esp Course
In today’s global world, English speaking skills are important for international contexts. For EFL learners, good oral English skills require constant practice to achieve oral fluency, good pronunciation, and good intonation. Nowadays, communicative language teaching (CLT) is prevalent as many language instructors adopt a CLT curriculum design. However, unmotivated or underachieving EFL learners are often …
Developing English Communicative Ability and Promoting Collaborative Learning through Project-Based Voice Acting in an Holistic Approach
This study aims to assure the positive influence of integrated language learning and teaching focused on improving English communicative ability and promoting collaborative learning through voice acting. The study explores possibilities of promoting collaborative as well as holistic learning atmosphere in an EFL(English as a Foreign Language) context through an integrated voice acting project. The …
How to Teach the Expletive “It”
In some school grammar books in Japan, the expletive ‘it’ in a sentence like “(1) It seems that John loves Mary.” is not given a detailed explanation and is sometimes regarded as having the same status as ambient ‘it’ in a sentence like “(2) It is cold today.” I assume that this is because both …
The Frequent Errors in English Writing of Students Who Study in the English Writing for Careers Course
This study investigated common English language errors made by 28 participants who enrolled the English Writing for Careers course in Burapha University in 2003. Four writing assignments of all participants were analyzed. They were sentence writing according to the provided pattern, paragraph writing for introductory, resume writing, and cover letter writing. Errors were identified by …
Foreign Language Education in the Wake of Globalization: The ‘Learning-To-Communicate’ Approach
In 2010, the Industry-Academia Partnership for Human Resource Development Committee (METI & MEXT), suggested that one of three skills to witness economic transformation is the ability to communicate in English language. Undoubtedly, the project takes into account globalization in terms of migration of people and movement of capital. However, recognition through language learning process of …
Enhancing Reading Ability through Vocabulary Learning and Reading Satisfaction of Grade Eight Thai Rural Students with Self- Made Stories of Virtue and Morality
Reading is the English language skill most emphasized in all Thai educational levels. Therefore, Thai learners of English’s reading ability is highly expected, despite the fact that most of them still lack this ability and need to be enhanced (Chawwang, 2008). Thus, to solve this problem, this study implemented “Self-Made Stories of Virtue and Morality” …
The Usage of Games (Adapted from Korean Reality Shows) in Oral English Classroom to Increase Participation in Speaking
This study aims to understand how games influence oral English learning in terms of participation and motivation through a context-aware learning environment. Games help students to engage in learning activities based on motivation theory, involving various educational strategies, including game-based learning, collaborative learning, and context-aware learning. A qualitative research using case study method was adopted. …
The Influence of Saliency and Frequency of Morphosyntactic Structures on Attention to Recasts during Spoken Interaction
Studies on the effectiveness of recasts have drawn mixed results, which is possibly due to the role of attention to recast, or lack thereof, during interaction. According to Goldschneider and DeKeyser (2001), it is suggested that attention is associated with saliency and frequency of structures. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine how …
Application of Morphological Typology and English Affixation Instruction
This study aims at investigating the effects of application of morphological typology into the instruction of English Affixation instruction for English major students. It focuses on their performance in terms of analytic sense that indicates their knowledge for merits of English inflectional morphemes namely; the meaning of affixes, numbers of affixes in the made-up words, …
An Analysis of the ESP for Economics: Approaches to Determine the Feasibility of a Reading Program at Secondary Level as
This case study will examine the overarching approaches to second language (L2) reading instruction reflected in the Libyan ESP secondary three curriculum and how well this curriculum prepares students for tertiary reading in the ESP field. The Libyan context was chosen because it highly values ESP instruction and has many similarities with other English for …
Learning from English Lecturers’ Voices in Teaching Oral Communication in EFL Classrooms in Indonesia
Research in English as a foreign language (EFL) settings indicates that teaching oral communication has been problematic due to various reasons. Teachers’ limited competence, students’ low proficiency level, and the use of inappropriate teaching method are some of the most commonly perceived reasons that compromise effective English teaching to improve students’ oral communication skills. Yet, …
Engaging Students with Integrated Language Skills through Tailor Made Summer Camp Activities: A Case Study
In Taiwan, the four skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) in English are usually taught separately with the focus on reading, vocabulary building and grammar practice. The present study aims to integrate the four skills through various tasks or activities using teaching materials that are designed specifically for the participants during the summer of 2014. …
A Step-By-Step Approach to Learning English Vocabulary for Beginners as a Second Language
During spring 2007, special needs education became part of Japan’s school education program by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Education at schools must create an environment in which all the students have the opportunity to receive an equal education. With that in mind, remember the students with special learning disabilities. …
Social Responsibility and Language Teaching: The Triple Bottom Line in EAP
Sustainability is a key aim of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), particularly in areas such as environmental management, livelihood options, and socio-economic development; however, many Southeast Asian students lack a clear understanding of the meaning of sustainability. Even students who do understand sustainability may be unable to discuss this topic in English, the …
Intertwining Language with Perception: A Case of Internalizing a Globalized Language
Globalization is viewed from different angles, with three universally accepted theories used to explain it. All the theories can be summed up as saying that globalization is the form of institutionalizationinvolving the universalization of particularism (Roland Robertson:1992:102). English language is viewed as the vehicle that propels this institutionalization. We all live in this globalized world …
Negotiating the Syllabus: Autonomy and the Teaching of Literature in French Lycées
Although multiple benefits of teaching literature in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom have been cited in contemporary academic discourse, including gaining cultural awareness, enhancing creative abilities and developing critical skills in a second language, there has been a dearth of empirical work on what resources teachers actually use in their courses. Studying …
English as a Second Language at Kindergarten: Importance of Non-Verbal Language and Use of TPR to Elicit Communication
As more and more experts urge to adopt second language education from early childhood, an increasing number of kindergartens all over the world have included activities in L2 or bilingual programmes in their curriculum. This paper is based on eight years observation and practice at St. Anna Institute of Rome as English teacher at kindergarten …
Content and Language Integrated Learning: In Search of a Coherent Conceptual Framework
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has gained widespread acknowledgement in numerous education systems not only in Europe but also in other continents since its outset in the 1990s in Europe. However, despite its extensive reputation, CLIL has not yet attained a fully developed educational model. This study highlights the need for a coherent theoretical …
Studies on Global and Partial Processing for Chinese Children with Dictation Difficulties
Dictation difficulty refers to people who possess normal reading ability but poor dictation ability. Orthographic representation deficit of Chinese children with dictation difficulties might stem from backward in global processing, preferential effect in partial process or deficit in paired associative learning. However, there is a vacancy in this research field. Therefore, the current study aimed …
Adjustment of Feedback on Postgraduate Writing to Optimize Uptake
The importance of written feedback on L2 student writing is widely accepted. What seems to be unclear is which form of feedback proves to be most effective. In tertiary education settings where the medium of instruction is English, instructors of academic writing are also challenged with making decisions in prioritizing between genre-specific and L2-specific feedback. …
Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used by High Vocabulary Knowledge Students Studying in the 3rd Year English for International Communication Students
The purpose of this study was to investigate the vocabulary learning strategies used by high vocabulary knowledge students in the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, Songkhla. The subjects of this research were 72 third-year students studying in English for International Communication Program in the academic year 2013. The subjects were …
South Algerians’ EFL Errors
In Algeria, an Arabic-speaking and francophone country, it is a foreign language taught as a compulsory subject matter in public schools and universities. In higher education, particularly in the departments of English, EFL students write essays, exposés and memoirs/research papers in that foreign language. However, the Algerian learners of English face several difficulties at the …
Constructing a Democratic English Language Classroom
Teaching English to immigrant students is a trending issue in the US as well as in other English-speaking countries. This paper examines how the language of an ESL teacher functions in classroom interactions. The data came from an ESL class for immigrant students in the United State. The analytical framework of the paper is based …
Curricular Design for English Extension Courses at Universidad Libre, Bogota-Colombia
The proposal deals with an ongoing research project at the English Extension Courses at the Faculty of Education at Universidad Libre in Bogota, Colombia, that are developed by some pre-service language teachers of the BA Language Program, as part of their pedagogical research practice. It is an Action Research that develops the three main functions …
The Effects of Input Type and Tasks on Vocabulary Learning
This paper discusses the effects of various types of vocabulary lists and tasks on L2 vocabulary learning. Two studies were conducted in 2013 and 2014 with 29 Japanese students who are native English speakers. In study 1, three different vocabulary lists containing 37 verbs were presented to three groups: words in alphabetical order, words with …
If at First You Don’t Succeed…
This research focusses on how errors are generally regarded in the process of language learning, and more specifically in the written production. The starting point of the present work is the existing debate on the subject between Truscott and Ferris. While the former defends the necessity of abandoning all grammatical correction, the latter stands for …
TESOL Teachers’ Reflections on their Language Learning Experience: A Case Study of Six Primary English Language Teachers in Vietnam
Given that language learning experience in the past has great impact on TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) teachers’ beliefs and practice today, this research study explores Vietnamese TESOL teachers’ learning experience of English or other foreign languages during their school time and its impact on their construction of teacher identity. Data were …
Linguistics and L1 Transfer in the Service of Pre-Service L2 Student Teachers
In my talk, I will establish the unique contribution of integrating two major perspectives into Foreign Language (FL) teacher education, particularly to Student Teachers (ST’s) who are training to teach a FL that is NOT their native language. The first is based on insights from modern linguistics; the second adopts the concept of first language …