Search results for: language assessment

Authors: T. Keiller, E. Hindman, P. Hassmen, K. Radford, L. Lavrencic

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Background: Psychosocial disadvantage is associated with impaired cognitive abilities, with executive functioning (EF) abilities particularly vulnerable. EF abilities strongly predict general daily functioning, educational and career prospects, and health choices. A reliable and valid assessment of EF is important to support appropriate care and intervention strategies. However, evidence-based EF assessment tools for use with Aboriginal Australians are limited. Aim and Method: This research aims to develop and validate a culturally appropriate EF tool for use with indigenous Australians. To this end, Study One aims to review current literature examining the benefits and disadvantages of current EF assessment tools for use with Indigenous Australians. Study Two aims to collate expert opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of various current EF assessment tools for use with Indigenous Australians using Delphi methodology with experienced psychologists (n = 10). The initial two studies will inform the development of a culturally appropriate assessment tool. Study Three aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the tool with an Indigenous sample living in the New South Wales Mid-North Coast. The study aims to quantify the predictive validity of this tool via comparison to functionality predictors and neuropsychological assessment scores. Study Four aims to collect qualitative data surrounding the feasibility and acceptability of the tool among indigenous Australians and health professionals. Expected Results: Findings from this research are likely to inform cognitive assessment practices and tool selection for health professionals conducting cognitive assessments with Indigenous Australians. Improved assessment of EF will inform appropriate care and intervention strategies for individuals with EF deficits.

Keywords: aboriginal Australians, assessment tool, cognition, executive functioning

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Authors: Annie Gedion, Johan Severinus Tati, Jacinta Caroline Peter

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Syntax error analysis studies have a significant role in English language teaching especially in the second language. This study investigates the syntax errors in written composition by 50 multilingual ESL learners in Politeknik Kota Kinabalu Sabah, Malaysia. The subjects speak their own dialect, Malay as their second language and English as their third or foreign language. Data were collected from the written discourse in the form of descriptive essays. The subjects were asked to write in the classroom within 45 minutes. 15 categories of errors were classified into a set of syntactic categories and were analysed based on the five steps of the syntactic analysis procedure. The findings of the study showed that the mother tongue interference, as well as lack of vocabulary and grammar knowledge, were the major sources of syntax errors in the learners’ written composition. Learners should be exposed to the differentiation of Malay and English grammar to avoid interference and effective learning of second language writing.

Keywords: errors analysis, syntactic analysis, English as a second language, ESL writing

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Authors: Elleuch Imen

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In this paper, it propose a new approach for learning Arabic as a foreign language via audio-visual translation, particularly subtitling. The approach consists of developing video sequences appropriate to different levels of learning (from A1 to C2) containing conversations, quizzes, games and others. Each video aims to achieve a specific objective, such as the correct pronunciation of Arabic words, the correct syntactic structuring of Arabic sentences, the recognition of the morphological characteristics of terms and the semantic understanding of statements. The subtitled videos obtained can be incorporated into different Arabic second language learning tools such as Moocs, websites, platforms, etc.

Keywords: arabic foreign language, learning, audio-visuel translation, subtitled videos

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Authors: Ameema Mahroof, Muhammad Saeed

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Purpose: The paper aimed to explore the problems faced by the faculty in a distant and online learning environment. It proposes the remedies of the problems faced by the teachers. In distant and online learning mode, the methods of student assessment are different than traditional learning mode. In this paper, the assessment strategies of these learning modes are identified, and the challenges faced by the teachers regarding these assessment methods are explored. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is qualitative and opted for an exploratory study, including eight interviews with faculty of distant and online universities. The data for this small scale study was gathered using semi-structured interviews. Findings: Findings of the study revealed that assignment and tests are the most effective way of assessment in these modes. It further showed that less student-teacher interaction, plagiarized assignments, passive students, less time for marking are the main challenges faced by the teachers in these modes. Research Limitations: Because of the chosen research approach, the study might not be able to provide generalizable results. That’s why it is recommended to do further studies on this topic. Practical Implications: The paper includes implications for the better assessment system in online and distant learning mode. Originality/Value: This paper fulfills an identified need to study the challenges and problems faced by the teachers regarding student assessment.

Keywords: online learning, distant learning, student assessment, assignments

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Authors: Peter Mayeso Jiyajiya

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This paper discusses how the teaching of English as a foreign language in Malawi can enhance intercultural communication competence in a multicultural society. It argues that incorporation of intercultural communication in the teaching of English as a foreign language would improve cultural awareness in communication in the multicultural Malawi. The teaching of English in Malawi is geared towards producing students who would communicate in the global world. This entails the use of proper pedagogical approaches and instructional materials that prepare the students toward intercultural awareness. In view of this, the language teachers were interviewed in order to determine their instructional approaches to intercultural communication. Instructional materials were further evaluated to assess how interculturality is incorporated. The study found out that teachers face perceptual and technical challenges that hinder them from exercising creativity to incorporate interculturality in their lessons. This is also compounded by lack of clear direction in the teaching materials on cultural elements. The paper, therefore, suggests a holistic approach to the teaching of English language in Malawian school in which the diversity of culture in classrooms must be considered an opportunity for addressing students’ cultural needs that may be lacking in the instructional materials.

Keywords: cultural awareness, grammar, foreign language, intercultural communication, language teaching

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Authors: Aida Nurul Safitri, Rosita Sari

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Physics is science, which in its learning there are some product such as theory, fact, concept, law and formula. So that to understand physics lesson students not only need a theory or concept but also mathematical calculation to solve physics problem through formula or equation. This is can be taken from mathematics lesson which obtained by students. This research is to know the influence of mathematics learning outcomes towards physics ability in Senior High School through authentic assessment system. Based on the researches have been discussed, is obtained that mathematic lesson have an important role in physics learning but it according to one aspect only, namely cognitive aspect. In Indonesia, curriculum of 2013 reinforces displacement in the assessment, from assessment through test (measuring the competence of knowledge based on the result) toward authentic assessment (measuring the competence of attitudes, skills, and knowledge based on the process and results). In other researches are mentioned that authentic assessment system give positive responses for students to improve their motivation and increase the physics learning in the school.

Keywords: authentic assessment, curriculum of 2013, mathematic, physics

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Authors: Sankalp Devanand, Prateek Agasimani, Shamith V. S., Rohith Neeraje

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Machine translation has witnessed significant advancements in recent years, but the translation of languages with distinct linguistic characteristics, such as English and Sanskrit, remains a challenging task. This research presents the development of a dedicated English-to-Sanskrit machine translation model, aiming to bridge the linguistic and cultural gap between these two languages. Using a variety of natural language processing (NLP) approaches, including FastText embeddings, this research proposes a thorough method to improve word meaning retrieval. Data preparation, part-of-speech tagging, dictionary searches, and transliteration are all included in the methodology. The study also addresses the implementation of an interpreter pattern and uses a word similarity task to assess the quality of word embeddings. The experimental outcomes show how the suggested approach may be used to enhance word meaning retrieval tasks with greater efficacy, accuracy, and adaptability. Evaluation of the model's performance is conducted through rigorous testing, comparing its output against existing machine translation systems. The assessment includes quantitative metrics such as BLEU scores, METEOR scores, Jaccard Similarity, etc.

Keywords: machine translation, English to Sanskrit, natural language processing, word meaning retrieval, fastText embeddings

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Authors: Shivani Tiwari, Prathibha Karanth, B. Rajashekhar

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Impairments of syntactic morphology are often considered central in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). In English and related languages, deficits of tense-related grammatical morphology could serve as a clinical marker of SLI. Yet, cross-linguistic studies on SLI in the recent past suggest that the nature and severity of morphosyntactic deficits in children with SLI varies with the language being investigated. Therefore, in the present study we investigated the morphosyntactic deficits in a group of children with SLI who speak Kannada, a morphologically complex Dravidian language spoken in Indian subcontinent. A group of 15 children with SLI participated in this study. Two more groups of typical developing children (15 each) matched for language and age to children with SLI, were included as control participants. All participants were assessed for morphosyntactic comprehension and expression using standardized language test and a spontaneous speech task. Results of the study showed that children with SLI differed significantly from age-matched but not language-matched control group, on tasks of both comprehension and expression of morphosyntax. This finding is, however, in contrast with the reports of English-speaking children with SLI who are reported to be poorer than younger MLU-matched children on tasks of morphosyntax. The observed difference in impairments of morphosyntax in Kannada-speaking children with SLI from English-speaking children with SLI is explained based on the morphological richness theory. The theory predicts that children with SLI perform relatively better in morphologically rich language due to occurrence of their frequent and consistent features that mark the morphological markers. The authors, therefore, conclude that language-specific features do influence manifestation of the disorder in children with SLI.

Keywords: specific language impairment, morphosyntax, Kannada, manifestation

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Authors: Narges Farokhshad, Milad Molazadeh, Saman Jamalabbasi, Hamed Babaei Giglou, Saeed Bibak

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The Persian language is an inflectional subject-object-verb language. This fact makes Persian a more uncertain language. However, using techniques such as Zero-Width Non-Joiner (ZWNJ) recognition, punctuation restoration, and Persian Ezafe construction will lead us to a more understandable and precise language. In most of the works in Persian, these techniques are addressed individually. Despite that, we believe that for text refinement in Persian, all of these tasks are necessary. In this work, we proposed a ViraPart framework that uses embedded ParsBERT in its core for text clarifications. First, used the BERT variant for Persian followed by a classifier layer for classification procedures. Next, we combined models outputs to output cleartext. In the end, the proposed model for ZWNJ recognition, punctuation restoration, and Persian Ezafe construction performs the averaged F1 macro scores of 96.90%, 92.13%, and 98.50%, respectively. Experimental results show that our proposed approach is very effective in text refinement for the Persian language.

Keywords: Persian Ezafe, punctuation, ZWNJ, NLP, ParsBERT, transformers

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Authors: Wai Ha Leung

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Mother tongue language (MTL) curriculum is core to school education in most countries/regions' school curriculum. Through mother tongue language learning, students are expected to enhance their understanding of the nation's culture and foster the sense of cultural and ethnic identity. However, MTL education in Hong Kong is complicated by the colonial history. This study examines Hong Kong Chinese language teachers' perceptions of MTL education, and the implication on MTL curriculum development. The questionnaire was administrated to 97 teachers, and interviews were carried out on 17 teachers. Usually, MTL is both the tool with which knowledge and skills are taught and learned and the vehicle for students to learn about the traditions of the countries' literature and culture. In Hong Kong, 95% of the population is of Chinese descent. Traditionally, education in China was a mixture of philosophy, history, politics and literacy. Chinese as an MTL subject in pre-colonial Hong Kong has always been assigned the mission of developing students' cultural identity in addition to the development of linguistic proficiency. During the colonial period, the Chinese Language curriculum shifted to be more language skills based with less emphasis on Chinese culture and moral education. After the sovereignty of Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, although a new curriculum was implemented in 2002, teaching and learning in school as well as public examinations seem to be remaining language skills oriented instead of culturally based. This deviation from the trend of both Chinese traditional education and global mother tongue language education makes some Chinese language teachers feel confused. In addition, there is comment that in general Hong Kong students' Chinese language proficiency is becoming weaker and weaker in recent years. Thus, effectiveness of the skills oriented language curriculum has come under question. How a language teacher views the aims and objectives of the language subject he or she is teaching has a direct effect on the curriculum delivery and pedagogies used. It is, therefore, important to investigate what is the language teachers' perception of MTL education, and whether the current school curriculum can meet the teachers' expectation as well as achieve the aims of MTL education. Given this context, this study explored the views of Hong Kong Chinese language teachers on MTL education. The data indicate that teachers showed a strong resentment towards the current curriculum. Results may have implications on mother tongue language curriculum development.

Keywords: Chinese language education, curriculum development, mother tongue language education, teachers' perception

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Authors: Dinesh Kumar Yadav

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Short stories for language development are deeply rooted elsewhere in any language syllabus. Its relevance is manifold. The short stories have the power to take the students to the target culture directly from the classroom. It works as a crucial factor in enhancing language skills in different ways. This article is an outcome of an experimental study conducted for a month on the 12th graders where they were engaged in different creative and critical-thinking activities along with various tasks that ranged from knowledge level to application level. The sole purpose was to build up their confidence in speaking in the classroom as well as develop all their language skills simultaneously. With the start of the class in August 2021, the students' speaking skill and their confidence in speaking in the class was tested. The test was abruptly followed by a presentation of a short story from their culture. The students were engaged in different tasks related to the story. The PowerPoint slides, handouts with the story, and tasks on photocopy were used as tools whenever needed. A one-month class exclusively on speaking skills through sharing stories was found to be very helpful in developing confidence in the learners. The result was very satisfactory. A large number of students became responsive in the class. The proficiency level was not satisfactory; however, their effort to speak in class showed a very positive sign in language development.

Keywords: short stories, relevance, language enhancement, language proficiency

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Authors: Pailin Klinkesorn

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The research aimed to study the use of learning strategies for Japanese language among college students with different learning achievements who study Japanese as a foreign language in the Higher Education’s level. The survey was conducted by using a questionnaire adapted from Strategy Inventory for language Learning or SILL (Oxford, 1990), consisting of two parts: questions about personal data and questions about the use of learning strategies for Japanese language. The samples of college students in the Japanese language program were purposively selected from Suansunandha Rajabhat University. The data from the questionnaire was statistically analyzed by using mean scores and one-way ANOVA. The results showed that Social Strategies was used by the greatest number of college students, whereas Memory Strategies was used by the least number of students. The students in different levels used various strategies, including Memory Strategies, Cognitive Strategies, Metacognitive Strategies and Social Strategies, at the significance level of 0.05. In addition, the students with different learning achievements also used different strategies at the significance level of 0.05. Further studies can explore learning strategies of other groups of Japanese learners, such as university students or company employees. Moreover, learning strategies for language skills, including listening, speaking, reading and writing, can be analyzed for better understanding of learners’ characteristics and for teaching applications.

Keywords: language learning strategies, achievement, Japanese, college students

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Authors: Shaden S. Attia

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This study investigated foreign language anxiety (FLA) and teachers’ awareness of its presence in the Egyptian ESL classrooms and how FLA correlates with different variables such as four language skills, students' sex, and activities used in class. A combination of quantitative and qualitative instruments was used in order to investigate the previously mentioned variables, which included five interviews with teachers, six classroom observations, a survey for teachers, and a questionnaire for students. The findings of the study revealed that some teachers were aware of the presence of FLA, with some of them believing that other teachers, however, are not aware of this phenomenon, and even when they notice anxiety, they do not always relate it to learning a foreign language. The results also showed that FLA was affected by students’ sex, different language skills, and affective anxieties; however, teachers were unaware of the effect of these variables. The results demonstrated that both teachers and students preferred group and pair work to individual activities as they were more relaxing and less anxiety-provoking. These findings contribute to raising teachers' awareness of FLA in ESL classrooms and how it is affected by different variables.

Keywords: foreign language anxiety, situation specific anxiety, skill-specific anxiety, teachers’ perceptions

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Authors: Asnawi Mohd Busrah, Au Mau Teng, Tan Chin Hooi, Lau Chee Chong

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This paper describes value based planning (VBP) methodology incorporating risk assessment as an enhanced and more practical approach to evaluate distribution network projects in Peninsular Malaysia. Assessment indicators associated with economics, performance and risks are formulated to evaluate distribution projects to quantify their benefits against investment. The developed methodology is implemented in a web-based software customized to capture investment and network data, compute assessment indicators and rank the proposed projects according to their benefits. Value based planning approach addresses economic factors in the power distribution planning assessment, so as to minimize cost solution to the power utility while at the same time provide maximum benefits to customers.

Keywords: value based planning, distribution network, value of loss load (VoLL), energy not served (ENS)

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Authors: Maria da Gloria Guara-Tavares

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This article reports a synthesis of the research in Brazilian Sign Language conducted from 2000 to 2017. The objective of the synthesis was to identify the most researched areas and the most used methodologies. Articles published in three Brazilian journals of Translation Studies, unpublished dissertations and theses were included in the analysis. Abstracts and the method sections of the papers were scrutinized. Sixty studies were analyzed, and overall results indicate that the research in Brazilian Sign Language has been fragmented in several areas such as linguistic aspects, facial expressions, subtitling, identity issues, bilingualism, and interpretation strategies. Concerning research methods, the synthesis reveals that most research is qualitative in nature. Moreover, results show that the cognitive aspects of Brazilian Sign Language seem to be poorly explored. Implications for a future research agenda are also discussed.

Keywords: Brazilian sign language, qualitative methods, research agenda, synthesis

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Authors: Naseer Ahmad

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This research investigates the intricate dynamics of language policy, ideology, and the choice of educational language as a medium of instruction in rural Pakistan. Focused on addressing the complexities of language practices in underexplored educational contexts, the study employed a case study approach, analyzing interviews with education authorities, teachers, and students, alongside classroom observations in English-medium and Urdu-medium rural schools. The research underscores the significance of understanding linguistic diversity within rural communities. The analysis of interviews and classroom observations revealed that language policies in rural schools are influenced by multiple factors, including historical legacies, societal language ideologies, and government directives. The dominance of Urdu and English as the preferred languages of instruction reflected a broader language hierarchy, where regional languages are often marginalized. This language ideology perpetuates a sense of linguistic inferiority among students who primarily speak regional languages. The impact of language choices on students' learning experiences and outcomes is a central focus of the research. It became evident that while policies advocate for specific language practices, the implementation often diverges due to multifarious socio-cultural, economic, and institutional factors. This disparity significantly impacts the effectiveness of educational processes, influencing pedagogical approaches, student engagement, academic outcomes, social mobility, and language choices. Based on the findings, the study concluded that due to policy and practice gap, rural people have complex perceptions and language choices. They perceived Urdu as a national, lingua franca, cultural, easy, or low-status language. They perceived English as an international, lingua franca, modern, difficult, or high-status language. They perceived other languages as mother tongue, local, religious, or irrelevant languages. This research provided insights that are crucial for theory, policy, and practice, addressing educational inequities and inclusive language policies. It set the stage for further research and advocacy efforts in the realm of language policies in diverse educational settings.

Keywords: language-in-education policy, language ideology, educational language choice, pakistan

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Authors: Ibtisam Mohammed Al-Quraini

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This paper examines how introducing Omani literature in foreign language classrooms can influence the students' motivation in learning the language. The data was collected through the questionnaire which was administered to two samples (A and B) of the participants. Sample A was comprised of 30 female students from English department who are specialist in English literature in college of Arts and Social Science. Sample B in contrast was comprised of 10 female students who their major is English from college of Education. Results show that each genre in literature has different influence on the students' motivation in learning the language which proves that literacy texts are powerful. Generally, Omani English teachers tend to avoid teaching literature because they think that it is a difficult method to use in teaching field. However, the advantages and the influences of teaching poetries, short stories, and plays are discussed. Recommendations for current research and further research are also discussed at the end.

Keywords: education, foreign language, English, Omani literature, poetry, story, play

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Authors: Erika Martínez Lugo

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Candidates to some graduate studies are asked to write essays in English to prove their competence to write essays and to do it in English. In the present study, language transfer (LT) in 15 written essays is identified, documented, analyzed, and classified. The essays were written in 2019, and the graduate program is a Masters in Modern Languages in a North-Western Mexican city border with USA. This study is of interest since it is important to determine whether or not some errors have been fossilized and have become mistakes, or if it is part of the candidates’ interlanguage. The results show that most language transfer is negative and syntactic, where the influence of candidates L1 (Spanish) is evident in their use of L2 (English).

Keywords: language transfer, cross-linguistic influence, interlanguage, error vs mistake

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Authors: Rose Shayeghi, Pejman Hosseiniun, Ghasem Ghorbanirostam

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The present study was conducted to investigate the Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes toward the use of computer technology in language classes as a method of improving English learning. To this end, 120 male and female Iranian learners participated in the study. Instrumentation included a 20-item questionnaire. The analysis of the data revealed that the majority of learners had a positive attitude towards the application of CALL in language classes. Moreover, independent samples t-tests indicated that male participants had a significantly more positive attitude compared with that of the female participants. Finally, the results obtained through ANOVA revealed that the youngest age group had a significantly more positive attitude toward the use of technology in language classes compared to the other age groups.

Keywords: EFL learners, Iranian learners, CALL, language learning

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Authors: Rose Shayeghi, Pejman Hosseinioun

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During the academic year of 2014-2015, a needs analysis was conducted in four major universities of Iran to assess the present and target situation academic language needs of undergraduate students of geology. Participants included undergraduate students (N = 102), graduate students (N = 47), subject-specific teachers (N = 12), and ESAP teachers (N = 20). Instrumentation included four needs analysis questionnaires, self-assessment and semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that, despite some inconsistencies in participants’ perceptions, ‘reading subject specific texts’, ‘knowledge of general vocabulary’, ‘using bilingual technical dictionaries’, and ‘writing e-mails to teachers and field experts’ were perceived as either ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to students’ success by all the participants. Moreover, the findings revealed that undergraduate students’ General English Proficiency (GEP) level was generally lower than what is required in the EAP courses. The findings of the study can have implications for improving and renewing EAP courses under study.

Keywords: ESP, EAP, needs analysis, triangulation, geology

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Authors: Christian Uchechukwu Gilbert

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Generativism in language design investigates the framework on which varying sentence structures are built in the English language. Propounded by Noam Chomsky in 1965, the theory transforms sentences from an active structure to a passive one by the application of established rules of the theory. Resident in the body of syntax, the rules include movement, insertion, substitution, and deletion rules. Using the movement rule, the analysis is armed with the qualitative research method, on which the works of scholars were duly consulted for more insight and in line with the academic practice in research activities. The investigation showed that the rules of competent grammar explain the formulation of sentences in a language and how transformation takes place among sentences from a deep structure to a surface structure with accurate results. The structural differences that could be got through dative movement and the deletion of the preposition; passivisation got from an active sentence by the insertion of the preposition “by” a “be verb” and the aspect tense marker “–en”, held as the creative aspect of language vocabulary and the subject-auxiliary inversion that exchanges the auxiliary of a sentence with the subject of the same sentence thereby transforming a kennel sentence to a polar question, viewed as an external argument under θ-theory. Generativism in language design, therefore, changes available types of sentences and relates one form of linguistic category with others in language design.

Keywords: language, generate, transformation, structure, design

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Authors: A. Chabert

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The present paper is motivated by the current influence of communicative approaches in language policies around the globe (especially through the Common European Framework of Reference), along with the exponential spread of English as a Lingua Franca worldwide. This study focuses on English language learning and teaching in the last year of primary education in Spain (in the bilingual Valencian region), Norway (in the Trondelag region), and China (in the Hunan region) and proposes a plurilingual communicative approach to ELT in line with ELF awareness and the current retheorisation of ELF within multilingualism (Jenkins, 2018). This study, interdisciplinary in nature, attempts to find a convergence point among English Language Teaching, English as a Lingua Franca, Language Ecology and Multilingualism, breaking with the boundaries that separate languages in language teaching and acknowledging English as international communication, while protecting the mother tongue and language diversity within multilingualism. Our experiment included over 400 students across Spain, Norway, and China, and the outcomes obtained demonstrate that despite the different factors involved in different cultures and contexts, a plurilingual approach to English learning improved English scores by 20% in each of the contexts. Through our study, we reflect on the underestimated value of the mother tongue in ELT, as well as the need for a sustainable ELF perspective in education worldwide.

Keywords: English as a Lingua Franca, English language teaching, language ecology, multilingualism

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Authors: Mohammad Hadi Mahmoodi, Azam Ghonchepoor, Sheilan Sohrabi

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The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of foreign language classroom anxiety and ambiguity tolerance on EFL Learners’ listening proficiency. In so doing, 442 EFL learners were randomly selected form Azad University and some accredited language institutions in Hamaden, and were given the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (1983), and Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale (SLTAS) (1995). Participants’ listening proficiency level was determined through listening scores gained in standardized exams given by university professors or institutes in which they studied English. The results of two-way ANOVA revealed that listening proficiency was significantly affected by the interaction of anxiety and AT level of the participants. Each of the two variables were categorized in three levels of High, Mid, and Low. The highest mean score of listening belonged to the group with low degree of anxiety and high degree of ambiguity tolerance, and the lowest listening mean score was gained by the group with high level of anxiety and low level of tolerance of ambiguity. Also, the findings of multiple regressions confirmed that anxiety was the stronger predictor of listening comprehension in contrast with tolerance of ambiguity. Furthermore, the result of Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was a significant negative relationship between the participants’ foreign language classroom anxiety and their ambiguity tolerance level.

Keywords: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety, Second language tolerance of ambiguity, Listening proficiency

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Authors: Taher Bahrani

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Armed with technological development, the present study aimed at gauging the effectiveness of exposure to news and movies as two types of audio-visual programs on improving language learners’ listening comprehension at the intermediate level. To this end, a listening comprehension test was administered to 108 language learners and finally 60 language learners were selected as intermediate language learners and randomly divided into group one and group two. During the experiment, group one participants had exposure to audio-visual news stories to work on in-and out-side the classroom. On the contrary, the participants in group two had only exposure to a sample selected utterances extracted from different kinds of movies. At the end of the experiment, both groups took another sample listening test to find out to what extent the participants in each group could enhance their listening comprehension. The results obtained from the post-test were indicative of the fact that the participants who had exposure to news outperformed the participants who had exposure to movies. The findings of the present research seem to indicate that the language input embedded in the type of audio-visual programs which language learners are exposed to is more important than the amount of exposure.

Keywords: audio-visual news, movies, listening comprehension, intermediate level

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Authors: Mohammad Anwarul Kabir, Fayezul Islam

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Language invariably is learned / taught to be used primarily as means of communications. Teaching a language for its native audience differs from teaching it to non-native audience. Moreover, teaching a language for communication only is different from teaching it for specific purposes. Arabic language is primarily regarded as the language of the Quran and the Sunnah (Prophetic tradition). Arabic is, therefore, learnt and spread all over the globe. However, Arabic is also a cultural heritage shared by all Islamic nations which has used Arabic for a long period to record the contributions of Muslim thinkers made in the field of wide spectrum of knowledge and scholarship. That is why the phenomenon of teaching Arabic by different educational institutes became quite rife, and the idea of teaching Arabic for specific purposes is heavily discussed in the academic sphere. Although the number of learners of Arabic is increasing consistently, yet their purposes vary. These include religious purpose, international trade, diplomatic purpose, better livelihood in the Arab world extra. By virtue of this high demand for learning Arabic, numerous institutes have been established all over the world including Bangladesh. This paper aims at focusing on the current status of the language institutes which has been established for learning Arabic for specific purposes in Bangladesh including teaching methodology, curriculum, and teachers’ quality. Such curricula and using its materials resulted in a lot of problems. The least, it confused teachers and students as well. Islamic educationalists have been working hard to professionally meet the need. They are following a systematic approach of stating clear and achievable goals, building suitable content, and applying new technology to present these learning experiences and evaluate them. It also suggests a model for designing instructional systems that responds to the need of non-Arabic speaking Islamic communities and provide the knowledge needed in both linguistic and cultural aspects. It also puts forward a number of suggestions for the improvement of the teaching / learning Arabic for specific purposes in Bangladesh after a detailed investigation in the following areas: curriculum, teachers’ skills, method of teaching and assessment policy.

Keywords: communication, Quran, sunnah, educational institutes, specific purposes, curriculum, method of teaching

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Authors: Khaled M. Alhawiti

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This paper investigates the future of medicine and the use of Natural language processing. The importance of having correct clinical information available online is remarkable; improving patient care at affordable costs could be achieved using automated applications to use the online clinical information. The major challenge towards the retrieval of such vital information is to have it appropriately coded. Majority of the online patient reports are not found to be coded and not accessible as its recorded in natural language text. The use of Natural Language processing provides a feasible solution by retrieving and organizing clinical information, available in text and transforming clinical data that is available for use. Systems used in NLP are rather complex to construct, as they entail considerable knowledge, however significant development has been made. Newly formed NLP systems have been tested and have established performance that is promising and considered as practical clinical applications.

Keywords: clinical information, information retrieval, natural language processing, automated applications

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Authors: Qiong Hu, Ming Yue

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Language variation signals the newest usage of language community, which might become the developmental trend of that language. However, language textbooks cannot keep up with these emergent usages. Most Chinese English learners nowadays are still exposed to traditional grammar prescribed in the textbook so that some variational usages cannot be acquired. The personal pronoun we is prescribed as a plural pronoun in the textbook grammar, but its number value is more flexible in actual use. Based on the Chinese Learner English Corpus (CLEC), and with the homemade Friends corpus as reference, the present research explores the number value of the first person pronoun we used by Chinese English learners. With consideration of the subjectivity of we, this paper annotated the number value of all the wes in “we+ PCU (Perception-cognation-utterance) verbs” collocations. Results show that though exposed to traditional textbooks which prescribe the plural reference of we, there still exists some unconventional usage (singular or vague in reference) in the writings of Chinese English learners, which is less frequent than that of the native speeches. Corpus data and results from manual semantic annotation show that this could be due to the impact of formulaic sequence on the learners and the positive transfer from their native language. An improved SLA model of native language, target language and interlanguage is put forward to recognize the existence of variation in second language acquisition, which should be given more attention during teaching.

Keywords: Chinese English learners, number, PCU verbs, Personal pronoun we

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Authors: Yana Shanti Manipuspika

Abstract:

Anxiety has potential to negatively affect foreign language learning process. This feeling leads the learners hesitate to communicate. This present study aimed at investigating the relationship between students’ anxiety and willingness to communicate of Indonesian EFL learners. There were 67 participants in this study who were the English Department students of Vocational Program of University of Brawijaya, Malang. This study employed Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and the Willingness to Communicate (WTC) scale. The results of this study showed that the respondents had communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. This study also revealed that English Department students of Vocational Program University of Brawijaya had high level of anxiety and low level of willingness to communicate. The relationship between foreign language classroom anxiety and willingness to communicate was found to be sufficiently negative. It is suggested for the language teachers to identify the causes of students’ language anxiety and try to create cheerful and less stressful atmosphere in the classroom. It is also important to find a way to develop their teaching strategies to stimulate students’ willingness to communicate.

Keywords: English as a foreign language (EFL), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), vocational program, willingness to communicate (WTC)

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Authors: Miramar Damanhouri

Abstract:

This study examines the relationship between language use in computer-mediated communication and the social identity of the user. The data were collected by surveying 298 Saudi bilingual speakers who are familiar with Arabizi, a blend of Latin characters and Arabic numerals to transliterate Arabic sounds, and then analyzed quantitatively by running tests for statistical confidence in order to determine differences in perceptions between young adults (ages 15-25 years) and middle-aged adults (ages 26-50 years). According to the findings of this study, English is the dominant language among most of the young adults surveyed, and when they do use Arabic, they use Arabizi because of its flexibility, compatibility with modern technology, and its acceptance among people of their age and sociocultural backgrounds. On the other hand, most middle-aged adults surveyed here tend to use Arabic, as they believe that they should show their loyalty to their origin. The results of the study demonstrate a mutual relationship between language use in computer-mediated communication and the user’s social identity, as language is used both to reflect and construct that identity.

Keywords: Arabizi, computer mediated communication, digital communication, language use

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Authors: Dembele Dembele, Philippe

Abstract:

Several Second Language Acquisition (SLA) studies have stressed the benefits of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and shown how CLIL students outperformed their non-CLIL counterparts in many L2 skills. However, numerous experimental CLIL programs seem to have mainly targeted above-average and rather highly motivated language learners. The need to understand the impact of the student’s language proficiency on code-switching in CLIL instruction motivated this study. Therefore, determining the implications of the students’ low-language proficiency for CLIL methodology, as well as the frequency with which CLIL teachers use the main pedagogical functions of code-switching, seemed crucial for a Spanish CLIL instruction on a large scale. In the mixed-method approach adopted, ten face-to-face interviews were conducted in nine Valencian public secondary education schools, while over 30 CLIL teachers also contributed with their experience in two online survey questionnaires. The results showed the crucial role language proficiency plays in the Valencian CLIL/Plurilingual selection criteria. The presence of a substantial number of low-language proficient students in CLIL groups, which in turn implied important methodological consequences, was another finding of the study. Indeed, though the pedagogical use of L1 was confirmed as an extended practice among CLIL teachers, more than half of the participants perceived that code-switching impaired attaining their CLIL lesson objectives. Therein, the dissertation highlights the need for more extensive empirical research on how code-switching could prove beneficial in CLIL instruction involving low-language proficient students while maintaining the maximum possible exposure to the target language.

Keywords: CLIL methodology, low language proficiency, code switching, selection criteria, code-switching functions

Procedia PDF Downloads 43