Category: Languages education and applied linguistics (ESL/TESL/TEFL)

G

Get Real: Using Real Dialogue in the English Language Classroom

Being able to use authentic communicative events such as telephone conversations, office gossip and shopkeeper-customer dialogues as example conversations will greatly improve an English learner’s communicative ability and prepare them for real life situations. By being able to navigate their way around a lot of the unnecessary utterances such as ‘eyeh’, ‘eok’ and ‘eah’, English

T

The Shift from Yakudoku to Communicative Language Teaching: Empowering Students with a Diversity of English Classes

Traditionally, English classes taught in Japanese schools have followed the yakudoku method (Gorsuch, 1998; Nishino, 2008; Rutson-Griffiths, 2012). In this method, English sentences are translated into Japanese word-for-word, and then reordered in accordance with Japanese grammar. This limits the use for students to practice speaking English with the exception of repeating words for pronunciation purposes.

T

The Design and Outcomes of a Writing Improvement Programme in an Australian University

This paper will present the educational design of an English writing improvement programme for upper-intermediate/advanced English L2 writers at a doctoral level. It will provide an evidence-based explanation of the decisions made in the creation of this programme, touching upon factors such as entry standards, language support, and the student experience. The paper will also

A

An Investigation of Taiwanese College English Majors’ Learning Motivation and Self-Identity Changes

Most studies investigating learners’ motivation have probed into the relationship between motivation and leaners’ linguistic outcomes; however, not many looked into the relationship between motivation and nonlinguistic outcomes such as leaners’ identity formation (Gao et al, 2007; Teer, 2013). Thus, the purpose of the study was twofold; one was to investigate students’ self-identity changes and

T

The Effect of Taxation Supplementary Measure for the Performance of the Elementary School Teachers

The purpose of this study is to understand the job satisfactions and performances of the elementary school teachers after cancelling tax-free policy and implementing taxation supplement measure. According to Dr. F. Herzberg’s Two-factor theory (Motivators-Hygiene Factors Theory), the work discusses how the two factors affect the teaching performance and service using different demographic variables and

T

The Effectiveness of a Suggested Program Based on English Songs on Developing Primary School Pupils’ Vocabulary, Grammar and Their English Language Learning Interest

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using a suggested program based on English songs on developing sith year, primary school pupils’ vocabulary, grammar and their English language learning interest. Sixty pupils were chosen from a large population enrolled in Raniah primary school, KSA. The study had a pre-post control group design. Sixty male

G

Graduate Students’ Perceptions of the Problems in Writing Research Articles in English in Higher Education: A Taiwan-Based Study

Writing research articles in English has become one of the most common currencies in higher education. In Taiwan, nowadays issues related to writing research articles in English have attracted considerable attention from the Taiwanese government authorities, particularly Ministry of Education, National Science Council, as well as universities, teachers and students. The present study seeks to

T

The Comparison of Two Different Text Processing Skills to Enhance EFL Reading Comprehension: Summarizing vs Listing the Main Points

As a global skill, reading is a cognitive activity including both surface and deep processing on its core, and developing reading comprehension is an important aspect of EFL as it requires the use of macro-level processing based on schema activation. The present study investigated the efficiency of two different text processing skills of reading comprehension;

A

A Study of Comparatively Low Achievement University Students’ Bilingualized Dictionary Use and Their English Learning

The aim of this survey study is to investigate bilingualized dictionary use (i.e. Longman Active Study English-Chinese Dictionary in paper form) of comparatively low achievement university students. It focuses on EFL learners’ overall dictionary use behavior and their perspectives on this book dictionary as well as the advance guidance of dictionary use offered by their

M

Material Selection, Design and Construction through CALL: EFL Teacher Reflection

The commercial software for English language learning in a computer lab has recently been implemented as part of practice hours in English Foundation courses for nursing college students. Regarding the results of course evaluation surveys conducted by the department, it was found that the contents in the software was not relevant to the course objectives

E

Effects of Two Implementations of Cross-Age Repeated Reading Treatments

Learning sight words enables learners to decode unfamiliar words by sight, thus learners can read words in text more efficiently. Penner-Wilger (2008) asserted that when achieving oral reading fluency (ORF) learners would have no problem identifying letters, syllables, and high frequency words. Preliminary finding showed integration of ABRACADABRA (ABRA) online activities into EFL classroom beneficial

E

Early Childhood English Language Acquisition of Hausa Children Living in Rural Communities of Kano State Nigeria

This paper examine the problem with early childhood English language acquisition of hausa children living in rural communities in Kano state in that most of the children who grow up in rural communities do not know and cannot speak English Language despite the fact that it`s a medium of communication in their schools. Yet the

T

Transforming Language Learning through Technology

As is the case in many educational systems worldwide, secondary education in Thailand is largely teacher-centered. Students transitioning from this educational system to liberal arts universities in Thailand and beyond face serious disadvantages. The liberal arts model, which emphasises enquiry, problem solving, and critical analysis, stands in stark contrast to teacher-centered models of education, which

E

English Education and Polysemy

The process of learning and teaching two languages and cultures can be a very transformative experience. This paper explores how knowledge is constructed by learners and teachers through two languages. From an applied linguistics approach, we focus particular attention on the correlation between L1 and L2 in language education. How does L1 affect the L2

T

The Teaching of Grammar through Storytelling among L1 Malay Learners

English language teachers have always been trying to find new and interesting methods of teaching English grammar in the ESL classroom. Storytelling, although an aged-old method, can captivate students’ attention, interest and imagination. This method is also known as an analogy. Generally, students find learning grammar a fearful experience because of the various grammar rules

M

Mobile Assisted Foreign Language Teaching in Turkey

In Turkey, Mobile phones are recent phenomenon for education and are seriously discussed. The discussions are related to whether mobiles are opportunity or threat. For the ones seeing it as an opportunity, mobiles are among the basic needs for today’s world. For the others it is an addictive object. Meanwhile mobiles have already entered the

A

A Correlation Study: English Teacher’s Educational Background and the Students’ School Final Exam Scores in South Sumatera, Indonesia

English is categorized as a foreign language in Indonesia. This condition forces its citizens to do extra effort in order to master English as their media of communication. Therefore, learning EFL in earlier ages is surprisingly recommended by parents, government, and stakeholders. Government of Indonesia had already supported the idea of English in early learning

I

Investigating Students’ Problems in Understanding Their Personal Qualities and Skills for Cover Letters: A Self-Assessment Approach

This paper explores students’ problems in presenting their personal qualities in cover letters for job application and examines the effectiveness of self-assessment approach in countering these problems. This study adopts the action research approach, and the research methods used are content analysis, individual interview and self-assessment feedback. The research procedure consists of a three-stage approach.

C

Complexity, Accuracy, Fluency: A New Paradigm for Language Education and Cross-Cultural Communication

A complexity-accuracy-fluency triad has emerged as a dynamic L2 proficiency assessment tool in TESL/TEFL. This paper takes the position that this conceptualization and application overlooks the potential for complexity, accuracy and fluency to be organized and applied as a meta-linguistic communication model that, while guiding effective communication, also contributes to language development in an instructional

M

Minimizing Perceptual Mismatches – Re-Arranging the Lens

Miscommunication or being misconstrued is indeed an old story of the English language classrooms. Chances of miscommunication further escalate when the learner is the second or third language speaker of a target language. Mostly teachers and learners don’t look at the same classroom event as a potential learning event and mismatches exist between teacher perceptions