Search results for: English courses

Authors: Elineuda Do Socorro Santos Picanço Sousa, Ana Kerlly Souza da Costa

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This paper presents the analysis of the information society as a plural, inclusive and participatory society, where it is necessary to give all citizens, especially young people, the right skills in order to develop skills so that they can understand and use information through of contemporary technologies; well as carry out a critical analysis, using and producing information and all sorts of messages and / or informational language codes. This conviction inspired this article, whose aim is to present current trends in the use of technology in distance education applied as an alternative and / or supplement to classroom teaching for Youth and Adults, concepts and actions, seeking to contribute to its development in the state of Amapá and specifically, the Center for Professional of Amapá Teaching Professor Josinete Oliveira Barroso - CEPAJOB.

Keywords: youth and adults education, Ead. Professional Education, online courses, CEPAJOB

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Authors: Ozlem Kaya

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21st-century learners are energetic and tech-savvy, and the skills and the knowledge required in this century are complex and challenging. Therefore, teachers need to find new ways to appeal to the needs and interests of their students and meet the demands of the 21st century at the same time. One way to do so in English language learning has been to incorporate various technology tools into classroom practices. Although teachers think these practices are effective and their students enjoy them, students may have different perceptions. To find out what students think about the use of technology tools in terms of developing 21st-century skills and knowledge, this study was conducted at Anadolu University School of Foreign Languages. A questionnaire was administered to 40 students at elementary level. Afterward, semi-structured interviews were held with 8 students to provide deeper insight into their perceptions. The details of the findings of the study will be presented and discussed during the presentation.

Keywords: 21st century skills, technology tools, perception, English Language Learning

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Authors: Sharon Diaz Ruiz

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The population of Latinx adult English language learners (ELLs) in the United States will increase in the next few years and become even more racially and linguistically diverse. Our classrooms reflect these demographic changes; therefore, there will always be the need to identify language teaching practices that would allow educators to meet this linguistic diversity. This qualitative study explores Latinx adult English language learners' perceptions of culturally responsive teaching strategies. Participants in this study will be enrolled in an English developmental course for the Fall of 2022. The data collection process will consist of overt observation during five presentations/activities, including culturally inclusive readings and student reflections. The teaching materials selected will align with the course module's goals and objectives. The result of this investigation will shed light on the gap in the literature documenting the application of culturally responsive pedagogy to Latino adult language learners.

Keywords: emergent bilinguals, adult learners, Latinx learners, ELL

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Authors: Hélène Knoerr

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In an increasingly global world, more and more international students attend academic courses and programs in a second or foreign language, and local students register in language learning classes in order to improve their employability. These students need to quickly become proficient in the new language. How can we, as administrators, curriculum developers and teachers, make sure that they have the tools they need in order to develop their language skills in an academic context? This paper will describe the development and implementation of a new course, Learning to learn, as part of the Major in French/English as a Second Language at the University of Ottawa. This academic program was recently completely overhauled in order to reflect the current approaches in language learning (more specifically, the action-oriented approach as embodied in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, and the concept of life-long autonomous learning). The course itself is based on research on language learning strategies, with a particular focus on the characteristics of the “good language learner”. We will present the methodological and pedagogical foundations, describe the course objectives and learning outcomes, the language learning strategies, and the classroom activities. The paper will conclude with students’ feedback and suggest avenues for further exploration.

Keywords: curriculum development, language learning, learning strategies, second language

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Authors: Lison Carlier

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The English language that is taught in school or used in media nowadays is defined as 'standard English,' although unstandardized Englishes, or 'parallel' Englishes, are practiced throughout the world. The existence of these 'parallel' Englishes has challenged standardization by imposing its own specific vocabulary or grammar. These non-standard languages tend to be regarded as inferior and, therefore, pose a problem regarding their translation. In the USA, 'slanguage', or slang, is a good example of a 'parallel' language. It consists of a particular set of vocabulary, used mostly in speech, and rarely in writing. Qualified as vulgar, often reduced to an urban language spoken by young people from lower classes, slanguage – or the language that is often first spoken between youths – is still the most common language used in the English-speaking world. Moreover, it appears that the prime meaning of 'informal' (as in an informal language) – a language that is spoken with persons the speaker knows – has been put aside and replaced in the general mind by the idea of vulgarity and non-appropriateness, when in fact informality is a sign of intimacy, not of vulgarity. When it comes to translating American slang, the main problem a translator encounters is the image and the cultural background usually associated with this 'parallel' language. Indeed, one will have, unwillingly, a predisposition to categorize a speaker of a 'parallel' language as being part of a particular group of people. The way one sees a speaker using it is paramount, and needs to be transposed into the target language. This paper will conduct an analysis of American slang – its use, perception and the image it gives of its speakers – and its translation into French, using the novel Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) by way of example. In her autobiography/personal essay book, comedy writer, actress and author Mindy Kaling speaks with a very familiar English, including slang, which participates in the construction of her own voice and style, and enables a deeper connection with her readers.

Keywords: translation, English, slang, French

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Authors: A. Meydanlioglu, F. Arikan

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In recent years, thanks to the development of information and communication technologies, the computer and internet have been used widely in higher education. Internet-based education is impacting traditional higher education as online components increasingly become integrated into face-to-face (FTF) courses. The goal of combined internet-based and traditional education is to take full advantage of the benefits of each platform in order to provide an educational opportunity that can promote student learning better than can either platform alone. Research results show that the use of hybrid learning is more effective than online or FTF models in higher education. Due to the potential benefits, an increasing number of institutions are interested in developing hybrid courses, programs, and degrees. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of hybrid learning. This paper is designed to determine the impact of hybrid learning on higher education.

Keywords: e-learning, higher education, hybrid learning, online education

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Authors: Subramaniam Chandran, A. Geetha

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This paper addresses three issues: how to prepare instructional design for imparting English language skill from inter-disciplinary self-learning material; how the disadvantaged students are benefited from such kind of language skill imparted through m-learning; and how do the m-learners perform better than the other learners. This paper examines these issues through an experimental study conducted among the distance learners enrolled in preparatory program for bachelor’s degree. This program is designed for the disadvantage learners especially for the school drop-outs to qualify to pursue graduate program through distant education. It also explains how mobile learning helps them to enhance their capacity in learning despite their rural background and other disadvantages. In India nearly half of the students enrolled in schools do not complete their study. The pursuance of higher education is very low when compared with developed countries. This study finds a significant increase in their learning capacity and mobile learning seems to be a viable alternative where conventional system could not reach the disadvantaged learners. Improving the English language skill is one of the reasons for such kind of performance. Exercises framed from the relevant self-learning material for enhancing English language skill not only improves language skill but also widens the subject-knowledge. This paper explains these issues out of the study conducted among the disadvantaged learners.

Keywords: English language skill, disadvantaged learners, distance education, m-learning

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Authors: Masao Okabe

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Nowadays, in Japan, variety of students get into a university and one of the main roles of introductory courses for freshmen is to make such students well prepared for subsequent intermediate courses. For that purpose, the flipped-mastery model is not enough because videos usually used in a flipped classroom is not adaptive and does not fit all freshmen with different academic performances. This paper proposes an ontology-navigated tutoring system called EduGraph. Using EduGraph, students can prepare for and review a class, in a more flexibly personalizable way than by videos. Structuralizing learning materials by its ontology, EduGraph also helps students integrate what they learn as knowledge, and makes learning materials sharable. EduGraph was used for an introductory course for freshmen. This application suggests that EduGraph is effective.

Keywords: adaptive e-learning, flipped classroom, mastery learning, ontology

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Authors: Adam Reilly

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The major claim of this paper is that both the English and Canadian branches of the common law have been ill-served by the 'institutional'/'remedial' taxonomy of constructive trusts; what shall be termed the 'orthodox taxonomy'.  The orthodox taxonomy is found both within the case law and the attendant academic commentary.  In truth, the orthodox taxonomy is especially dangerous because it contains a kernel of truth together with a misconception; the interplay of both has caused more harm than the misconception alone would have managed.  The kernel of truth is that some trusts arise automatically when the necessary facts occur ('institutional') and other trusts arise only by way of court order ('remedial').  The misconception is that these two labels represent an exhaustive nomenclature of two distinct 'kinds' of constructive trust such that any particular constructive trust must necessarily be 'institutional' if it is not 'remedial' and vice versa.  The central difficulty is that our understanding of 'remedial' trusts is relatively poor, with the result that anyone using the orthodox taxonomy shall be led astray in one of three ways: (i) by rejecting it wholesale; (ii) by adopting one ‘type’ of trust to the exclusion of the other (as in English law); or (iii) by applying it as an analytical device with sub-optimal results which are difficult to defend.  This paper shall seek to resolve these difficulties by clarifying the criteria for identifying and distinguishing true 'remedial' constructive trusts.  It shall then provide some working examples of how English and Canadian private law at present misunderstand constructive trusts and how that misunderstanding might be resolved once we distinguish the orthodox taxonomy's kernel of truth from the misconception outlined above.

Keywords: comparative law, constructive trusts, equitable remedies, remedial constructive trusts

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Authors: Muhammad Fathurridho

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Grammar as a rule used by every language to be understood by everyone is always related to syntax and morphology. Arabic grammar is different with another languages’ grammars. It has more rules and difficulties. This paper aims to investigate and describe the English grammatical errors of machine translation systems in translating Arabic sentences, including declarative, exclamation, imperative, and interrogative sentences, specifically in year 2018 which can be supported with artificial intelligence’s role. The Arabic sample sentences which are divided into two; verbal and nominal sentence of several Arabic published texts will be examined as the source language samples. The translated sentences done by several popular online machine translation systems, including Google Translate, Microsoft Bing, Babylon, Facebook, Hellotalk, Worldlingo, Yandex Translate, and Tradukka Translate are the material objects of this research. Descriptive method that will be taken to finish this research will show the grammatical errors of English target language, and classify them. The conclusion of this paper has showed that the grammatical errors of machine translation results are varied and generally classified into morphological, syntactical, and semantic errors in all type of Arabic words (Noun, Verb, and Particle), and it will be one of the evaluations for machine translation’s providers to correct them in order to improve their understandable results.

Keywords: Arabic, Arabic-English translation, machine translation, grammatical errors

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Authors: Cigdem Fidan

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Deaf students in Turkey generally do not have access to foreign language classes. However, the knowledge of foreign languages, especially English, is important for them to access knowledge and other opportunities in the globalizing world. In addition, learning any language including foreign languages is a basic linguistic human right. This study applies critical discourse analysis to examine language ideologies, perceptions of deafness and current language and education policies used for deaf education in Turkey. The findings show that representation of deafness as a disability in policy documents, ignorance the role of sign languages in education and lack of policies that support foreign language education for the deaf may result in inaccessibility of foreign language education for deaf students in Turkey. The paper concludes with recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, and advocates for the deaf.

Keywords: deaf learners, English as a foreign language, language policy, linguistic human rights

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Authors: Abdul Wahid

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Inner speech, also known as verbal thinking, self-talk or private speech, is characterized by the subjective language experience in the absence of overt or audible speech. It is a psychological form of verbal activity which is being rehearsed without the articulation of any sound wave. In Psychology, self-limiting speech means the type of speech which contains information that inhibits the development of the self. People, in most cases, experience inner speech in their first language. It is very frequent in Bangladesh where the Bangla (L1) speaking students lose track of speech during their presentations in English (L2). This paper investigates into the long pauses (more than 0.4 seconds long) in English (L2) presentations by Bangla speaking students (18-21 year old) and finds the intervention of Bangla (L1) inner speech as one of its causes. The overt speeches of the presenters are placed on Audacity Audio Editing software where the length of pauses are measured in milliseconds. Varieties of inner speech questionnaire (VISQ) have been conducted randomly amongst the participants out of whom 20 were selected who have similar phenomenology of inner speech. They have been interviewed to describe the type and content of the voices that went on in their head during the long pauses. The qualitative interview data are then codified and converted into quantitative data. It was observed that in more than 80% cases students experience self-limiting inner speech/self-talk during their unwanted pauses in L2 presentations.

Keywords: Bangla-English Bilinguals, inner speech, L1 intervention in bilingualism, motor schema, pauses, phonological loop, phonological store, working memory

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Authors: Kartika Marta Budiana

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Low competence in speaking for the students of Non English native speakers have been crucial so far for the teachers in language teaching in Indonesia. This study attempts to explore the effect of video using in teaching speaking onstudents of non-native English speakers at STIE Perbanas Surabaya. This includes investigate the students` attitudes toward the video used in classroom. This is a quantitative research that is an experimental one based on analyses derived the concepts of from teaching speaking and the use of video. There are two classes observed, the experimental and the control one. The experimental consist of 28 students and the control class consists of 25 students. Before the treatment given, both of the group is given the pre-test to check their ability level. Then, after the treatment is given, the post-test is given to the both groups. Then, the students were given treatment how to conduct a meeting that they learnt from a video of business English. The post test was held after they undergone a treatment. The instruments to get the data are the oral test and questionnaire. The data of this study is students` score and from the tests` score it can be seen there is a positive significant difference in the experimental group. The t-test to test hypothesize also shows that it is accepted which said that there is an improvement on the students` speaking competence achievement. In conclusion, the video effects on the significant difference on the students speaking competence achievement.

Keywords: video, teaching, speaking, Indonesia

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Authors: Binod Duwadi

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This article examines the language and literacy practices of English Code-mixing in Nepalese Classroom. Situating the study within an ecological framework, a systematic functional linguistic (SFL) approach was used to analyze students writing in two Neplease schools. Data collection included interviews with teachers, classroom observations, instructional materials, and focal students’ writing samples. Data analyses revealed vastly different language ecologies between the schools owing to sharp socioeconomic stratification, the structural organization of schools, and the pervasiveness of standard language ideology, with stigmatizes English code mixing (ECM) and privileges Standard English in schools. Functional analysis of students’ writing showed that the nature of the writing tasks at the schools created different affordances for exploiting lexicogrammatically choices for meaning making-enhancing them in the case of one school but severely restricting them in the case of another- perpetuating the academic disadvantage for code mixing speakers. Recommendations for structural and attitudinal changes through teacher training and implementation of approaches that engage students’ bidialectal competence for learning are made as important first steps towards addressing educational inequities in Nepalese schools.

Keywords: code-mixing, ecological perspective, systematic functional approach, language and identity

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Authors: Erica Lima

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The objective of this paper is to discuss relevant points about teaching translation in Brazilian universities and the possible impacts of blogs and social networks to translator education today. It is intended to analyze the curricula of Brazilian translation courses, contrasting them to information obtained from two social networking groups of great visibility in the area concerning essential characteristics to become a successful profession. Therefore, research has, as its main corpus, a few undergraduate translation programs’ syllabuses, as well as a few postings on social networks groups that specifically share professional opinions regarding the necessity for a translator to obtain a degree in translation to practice the profession. To a certain extent, such comments and their corresponding responses lead to the propagation of discourses which influence the ideas that aspiring translators and recent graduates end up having towards themselves and their undergraduate courses. The postings also show that many professionals do not have a clear position regarding the translator education; while refuting it, they also encourage “free” courses. It is thus observed that cyberspace constitutes, on the one hand, a place of mobilization of people in defense of similar ideas. However, on the other hand, it embodies a place of tension and conflict, in view of the fact that there are many participants and, as in any other situation of interlocution, disagreements may arise. From the postings, aspects related to professionalism were analyzed (including discussions about regulation), as well as questions about the classic dichotomies: theory/practice; art/technique; self-education/academic training. As partial result, the common interest regarding the valorization of the profession could be mentioned, although there is no consensus on the essential characteristics to be a good translator. It was also possible to observe that the set of socially constructed representations in the group reflects characteristics of the world situation of the translation courses (especially in some European countries and in the United States), which, in the first instance, does not accurately reflect the Brazilian idiosyncrasies of the area.

Keywords: cyberspace, teaching translation, translator education, university

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Authors: Chrysanthi S. Tiliakou, Katerina T. Frantzi

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Writing has always been considered a most demanding skill for English as a Foreign Language learners as well as for native speakers. Novice foreign language writers are asked to handle a limited range of vocabulary to produce writing tasks at lower levels. Adverbs are the parts of speech that are not used extensively in the early stages of English as a Foreign Language writing. An additional problem with learning new adverbs is that, next to learning their meanings, learners are expected to acquire the proper placement of adverbs in a sentence. The use of adverbs is important as they enhance “expressive richness to one’s message”. By exploring the patterns of use of adverbs, researchers and educators can identify types of adverbs, which appear more taxing for young learners or that puzzle novice English as a Foreign Language writers with their placement, and focus on their teaching. To this end, the study examines the use of adverbs on two written Corpora of young learners of English of A1 – A2 levels and determines the types of adverbs used, their frequencies, problems in their use, and whether there is any differentiation between levels. The Antconc concordancing tool was used for the Greek Learner Corpus, and the Corpuscle concordancing tool for the Norwegian Corpus. The research found a similarity in the normalized frequencies of the adverbs used in the A1-A2 level Greek Learner Corpus with the frequencies of the same adverbs in the Norwegian Learner Corpus.

Keywords: learner corpora, young learners, writing, use of adverbs

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Authors: Zarine Avetisyan

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The paradigm of Modern Linguistics incorporates disciplines which allow to analyze both language and discourse units and to demonstrate the multi-layeredness of lingo-cultural consciousness. By implementing lingo-cognitive approach to discourse and communication studies, the present paper tries to create the integral linguistic picture of the concept of joy and to analyze the lexico-semantic groups and relevant lexico-semantic variants of its realization in the context of Modern English fiction.

Keywords: concept of joy, lexico-semantic variant, semantic sign, cognition

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Authors: Taghreed Alghamdi, Wendy Hall, David Millard

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Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have recently gained widespread interest in the academic world, starting a wide range of discussion of a number of issues. One of these issues, using MOOCs in teaching and learning in the higher education by integrating MOOCs’ contents with traditional face-to-face activities in blended learning format, is called blended MOOCs (bMOOCs) and is intended not to replace traditional learning but to enhance students learning. Most research on MOOCs has focused on students’ perception and institutional threats whereas there is a lack of published research on academics’ experiences and practices. Thus, the first aim of the study is to develop a classification of blended MOOCs models by conducting a systematic literature review, classifying 19 different case studies, and identifying the broad types of bMOOCs models namely: Supplementary Model and Integrated Model. Thus, the analyses phase will emphasize on these different types of bMOOCs models in terms of adopting MOOCs by lecturers. The second aim of the study is to improve the understanding of lecturers’ acceptance of bMOOCs by investigate the factors that influence academics’ acceptance of using MOOCs in traditional learning by distributing an online survey to lecturers who participate in MOOCs platforms. These factors can help institutions to encourage their lecturers to integrate MOOCs with their traditional courses in universities.

Keywords: acceptance, blended learning, blended MOOCs, higher education, lecturers, MOOCs, professors

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Authors: Shiza Nisar

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This study examines how editorials in Pakistan’s English-language newspapers represented the Aurat March in Pakistan, which is held on International Women’s Day, 8 March, to reclaim public spaces for women. There was a public outcry against the controversial movement, sparked by the key messages and slogans used to communicate with the masses. This research aims to study non-western news frames used by Pakistan’s leading English-language newspapers—Dawn, The Express Tribune, The News, and The Nation—for the portrayal of Aurat March since 2018. The findings show how these editorials construct and reinforce the concept of feminism being threatened by the dangerous other. This research aims to contribute to the understanding of Pakistan’s elite discourse, which insists that this event is a movement led by females in a male-dominated society to voice their rights and reclaim public spaces; however, this movement is more than just that.

Keywords: discourse, Aurat March, media framing, feminist movement, editorials

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Authors: Urvashi Kaushal

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With the entry of multinationals in India, engineering students of Indian universities have opportunity to work with the best and the most innovative industries in the world, but in order to compete in the global job market, they require an added competence of communication skills in English. With work places turning global, competence in English can provide the Indian student the added advantage to begin his/her career in the international market. The present method of teaching English in any engineering college across Gujarat mostly concentrates on developing writing, and reading skills. Developing speech becomes a secondary topic owing to the old trend of lecturing in the class room and the huge strength of the class. This paper aims to highlight the importance of improving speaking skills of engineering students. It also insists that presentations can be used as a viable method to enhance the communication skills of these students. Presentations force students to plan, prepare, practice and perfect their communication skills which will enable them to get a foothold in the industry. The paper also discusses one such experiment carried out at the author’s institute and the response it received. Further, such experimental language learning approach is bound to have some limitations and obstacles. The paper suggests ways to overcome such limitations and strives to develop an interesting means of developing communication skills of the engineering students.

Keywords: engineering, English, presentation, communication skills

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Authors: Yumi Okano

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The low level of English proficiency among Japanese people has been a problem for a long time. Japanese non-native English language teachers, under social or ideological constraints, feel a gap between government policy and their language proficiency and cannot maintain high self-esteem. This paper focuses on current Japanese policies and the social context in which teachers are placed and examines the measures necessary for their positive identity formation from a macro-meso-micro perspective. Some suggestions for achieving this are: 1) Teachers should free themselves from the idea of native speakers and embrace local needs and accents, 2) Teachers should be involved in student discussions as facilitators and individuals so that they can be good role models for their students, and 3) Teachers should invest in their classrooms. 4) Guidelines and training should be provided to help teachers gain confidence. In addition to reducing the workload to make more time available, 5) expanding opportunities for investment outside the classroom into the real world is necessary.

Keywords: language teacher identity, native speakers, government policy, critical pedagogy, investment

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Authors: Flavio Campos, Patricia Masmo, Fernanda Yamamoto

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The report presents a research about teaching professional competencies through projects, considering the student as an active learner and curriculum development. Considering project based-learning, the report articulate the result of research about curriculum development for professional competencies and teaching-learning strategies to help the development of professional competencies in learning environments in the courses of National Learning Service in São Paulo, Brazil. There so, intend to demonstrate fundamentals to elaborate curriculum to learning environment, specific about teaching methodologies to enrich student-learning process, using projects. The practice that has been taking place since 2013 indicates the needs of rethinking knowledge and practice in courses that prepared students to labor.

Keywords: curriculum design, active learning, professional competencies, project based-learning

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Authors: Khalid El Asri

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Culture influences lexicalization of salient concepts in a society. Hence, languages often have different degrees of equivalence regarding lexical items of different fields. The present study focuses on the field of emotions in English and Moroccan Arabic. Findings of a comparative study that involved fifty English emotions revealed that Moroccan Arabic has equivalence of some English emotion terms, partial equivalence of some emotion terms, and no equivalence for some other terms. It is hypothesized then that emotion terms that have near equivalence in Moroccan Arabic will be easier to acquire for EFL learners, while partially equivalent terms will be difficult to acquire, and those that have no equivalence will be even more difficult to acquire. In order to test these hypotheses, the participants (104 advanced Moroccan EFL learners and 104 native speakers of English) were given two tests: the first is a receptive one in which the participants were asked to choose, among four emotion terms, the term that is appropriate to fill in the blanks for a given situation indicating certain kind of feelings. The second test is a productive one in which the participants were asked to give the emotion term that best described the feelings of the people in the situations given. The results showed that conceptually equivalent terms do not pose any problems for Moroccan EFL learners since they can link the concept to an already existing linguistic category; whereas the results concerning the acquisition of partially equivalent terms indicated that this type of emotion terms were difficult for Moroccan EFL learners to acquire, because they need to restructure the boundaries of the target linguistic categories by expanding them when the term includes other range of meanings that are not subsumed in the L1 term. Surprisingly however, the results concerning the case of non-equivalence revealed that Moroccan EFL learners could internalize the target L2 concepts that have no equivalence in their L1. Thus, it is the category of emotion terms that have partial equivalence in the learners’ L1 that pose problems for them.

Keywords: acquisition, culture, emotion terms, lexical equivalence

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Authors: Mukhlis Abu Bakar

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Certain languages are held in higher regard than others given their respective socio-economic and political value, perceived or real. The different positioning of languages manifests in a state’s language-in-education policy, such as Singapore’s which places a premium on English in relation to the mother tongue (MT) languages (Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and Tamil). Among the latter, Mandarin Chinese, as the language of the majority ethnic group, has a more privileged status. The relative positioning of the four official languages shapes Singaporeans’ attitude towards their bilingualism. This paper offers an overview of the attitudes towards English-Malay (EM) bilingualism among Malay youths in Singapore, those who are in school and those already working. It examines how 200 respondents perceive the benefits of their EM bilingualism and their EM bilingual identity. The sample is stratified along gender, socio-economic status, dominant home language and self-rated language proficiency. The online survey comprises questions on the cognitive, communicative, pragmatic and religious benefits of bilingualism, and on language identity. The paper highlight significant trends relating to respondents' positive attitudes towards their EM bilingualism and their bilingual identity. Positive ratings are lowest among young working adults. EM bilinguals also perceive their bilingualism as less useful than English-Chinese bilingualism. These findings are framed within Bourdieu’s metaphor of field and habitus in order to understand why Malay youths make their language choices and why they recalibrate their linguistic capital upon entering the workforce, and in so doing understand the impact a state’s language-in-education policy has on its citizens’ attitude towards their respective English-MT bilingualism.

Keywords: English-Malay bilingualism, language attitude, language identity, recalibrating capital

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Authors: Somchai Buaroong

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This research aims to investigating strong points and challenges in application of an online learning management system to an English course. Data were collected from observation, learners’ oral and written reports, and the teacher’s journals. A questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings show that the system was an additional channel to enhance English language learning through written class assignments that were digitally accessible by any group members, and through communication between the teacher and learners and among learners themselves. Thus, the learning management system could be a promising tool for foreign language teachers. Also revealed in the study were difficulties in its use. The article ends with discussions of findings of the system for foreign language classes in association to pedagogy are also included and in the level of signification.

Keywords: english course, foreign language system, online learning management system, teacher’s journals

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Authors: Michael Filimowicz, Veronika Tzankova

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This paper discusses the practical implementation of Derek Pigrum’s multi-mode model of transitional practices in the context of upper division production courses in an interaction design curriculum. The notion of teaching creativity directly was connected to a general notion of “discursivity” by which is meant students’ overall ability to discuss, describe, and engage in dialogue about their creative work. We present a study of how Pigrum’s transitional modes can be mapped onto a variety of course activities, and discuss challenges and outcomes of directly engaging student discursivity in their creative output.

Keywords: teaching creativity, multi-mode transitional practices, discursivity, rich dialogue, art and design education, pedagogy

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Authors: Musa Alghamdi

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Although Saudi students’ motivation to learn English language as a foreign language in Saudi Arabia have been investigated by a number of studies; these have appeared almost completely as using the quantitative research paradigm. There is a significant lack of research that explores the Saudi students’ motivation using qualitative methods. It was essential, as an investigator, to be immersed in the community to understand the individuals under study via their actions and words, their thoughts, views and beliefs, and how those individuals credited to activities. Thus, the study aims to explore the Saudi students’ motivation to learn English language as a foreign language in Saudi Arabia employing qualitative methodology via applying ethnography. The study will be carried out in Saudi Arabia. Ethnography qualitative approach will be used in the current study by employing formal and informal interview instruments. Gardner’s motivation theory is used as frameworks for this study to aid the understanding of the research findings. The author, an English language lecturer, will undertake participant observations for 4 months. He will work as teaching-assistant (on an unpaid basis) with EFL lecturers in different discipline department at a Saudi university where students study English language as a minor course. The researcher will start with informal ethnographical interview with students during his existence with the informants in their natural context. Then the researcher will utilize the semi-structural interview. The informal interview will be with 14-16 students, then, he will carry out semi-structural interview with the same informants to go deep in their natural context to find out to what extent the Saudi university students are motivated to learn English as a foreign language. As well as, to find out the reasons that played roles in that. The findings of this study will add new knowledge about what factors motivate universities’ Saudi students to learn English language in Saudi Arabia. Very few chances have given to students to express themselves and to speak about their feelings in a more comfortable way in order to gain a clear image of those factors. The working author as an EFL teacher and lecturer will provide him secure access into EFL teaching and learning setting. It will help him attain richer insights into the nature EFL context in universities what will provide him with richer insights into the reasons behind the weakness of EFL level among Saudi students.

Keywords: motivation, ethnography, Saudi, language

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Authors: Jiraporn Lao-Un, Dararat Khampusaen

Abstract:

Lack of exposure to English language in the authentic English setting naturally leads to a lack of fluency in the language. As a result, Thai EFL learners are struggling in meeting with the communication 'can do' descriptors of the Common European Framework of References (CEFR) required by the Ministry of Education. This initial phase of the ongoing study, employing the e-portfolio to promote the English speaking ability, probed into the effects of the use of e-portfolio on Thai EFL nursing students' speaking ability. Also, their opinions towards the use of e-portfolio to enhance their speaking ability were investigated. The participants were 44 undergraduate nursing students at a Thai College of Nursing. The participants undertook four lessons to promote their communication skills according to the CEFR criteria. Throughout the semester, the participants videotaped themselves while completing the four speaking tasks. The videos were then uploaded onto the e-portfolio website where the researcher provided them with the feedbacks. The video records were analyzed by the speaking rubric designed according to the CEFR 'can do' descriptors. Also, students were required to record self-reflections in video format and upload onto the same URL Students' oral self-reflections were coded to find out the perceptions towards the use of the e-portfolio in promoting their speaking ability. The results from the two research instruments suggested the effectiveness of the tool on improving speaking ability, learner autonomy and media literacy skills. In addition, the oral reflection videos revealed positive opinion towards the tool. The discussion offers the current status of English speaking ability among Thai EFL students. This reveals the gaps between the EFL speaking ability and the CEFR ‘can do’ descriptors. In addition, the author raises the light on integration of the 21st century IT tool to enhance these students’ speaking ability. Lastly, the theoretical implications and recommendation for further study in integrating electronic tools to promote language skills in the EFL context are offered for further research.

Keywords: EFL communication, EFL speaking, English communication, E-learning, E-portfolio, speaking ability, Thai EFL learners

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Rie Adachi

Abstract:

In Japan, it is required to improve students’ English communicative proficiency and the Education Ministry will start English education for the third grade and upper from year 2020 on. Considering the problems with the educational system, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is more appropriate to be employed in elementary schools rather than just introducing English lessons. Effective CLIL takes place in the 4Cs Framework, and different strategies are used in various activities, such as arts and crafts, bodily expression, singing, playing roles, etc. After a CLIL workshop for local teachers focused on the 4Cs, the writer conducted a survey of the 36 participants using a questionnaire and found that they did not know the word CLIL, but seemed to have an interest after attending the workshop. The writer concluded that researchers and practitioners need to spread awareness of the 4Cs framework, to apply CLIL into Japanese educational context, to provide CLIL teacher training program and so on, in order to practice CLIL in Japanese elementary schools and nurture students with a global mindset.

Keywords: CLIL, 4Cs, homeroom teachers, intercultural understanding

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Joy Aworookoroh

Abstract:

Writing is one of the active skills in language learning. Students of English as a foreign language are expected to write efficiently and proficiently in the language; however, there are usually challenges to optimal performance and competence in writing. Errors, on the other hand, in a foreign language learning situation are more positive than negative as they provide the basis for solving the limitations of the students. This paper investigates the situation in the Department of English, Taraba State University Jalingo. Students are administered a descriptive writing test across different levels of study. The target students are multilingual with an L1 of either Kuteb, Hausa or Junkun languages. The essays are accessed to identify the different kinds of errors in them alongside the classification of the order. Errors of correctness, clarity, engagement, and delivery were identified. However, the study identified that the degree of errors reduces alongside the experience and exposure of the students to an EFL classroom.

Keywords: errors, writings, descriptive essay, multilingual

Procedia PDF Downloads 43