Search results for: language teaching pedagogy

Authors: Ani Kojoyan

Abstract:

Linguistic studies have been investigating a connection between gender and linguistic development since 1970s. Scholars claim that gender differences in first and second language learning are socially constructed. Recent studies to language learning and gender reveal that second language acquisition is also a social phenomenon directly influencing one’s gender identity. Those responsible for designing language learning-teaching materials should be encouraged to understand the importance of and address the gender sensitivity accurately in textbooks. Writing or compiling a textbook is not an easy task; it requires strong academic abilities, patience, and experience. For a long period of time Armenia has been involved in the compilation process of a number of foreign language textbooks. However, there have been very few discussions or evaluations of those textbooks which will allow specialists to theorize that practice. The present paper focuses on the analysis of gender sensitivity issues and policy aspects involved in an EFL textbook. For the research the following material has been considered – “A Basic English Grammar: Morphology”, first printed in 2011. The selection of the material is not accidental. First, the mentioned textbook has been widely used in university teaching over years. Secondly, in Armenia “A Basic English Grammar: Morphology” has considered one of the most successful English grammar textbooks in a university teaching environment and served a source-book for other authors to compile and design their textbooks. The present paper aims to find out whether an EFL textbook is gendered in the Armenian teaching environment, and whether the textbook compilers are aware of gendered messages while compiling educational materials. It also aims at investigating students’ attitude toward the gendered messages in those materials. And finally, it also aims at increasing the gender sensitivity among book compilers and educators in various educational settings. For this study qualitative and quantitative research methods of analyses have been applied, the quantitative – in terms of carrying out surveys among students (45 university students, 18-25 age group), and the qualitative one – by discourse analysis of the material and conducting in-depth and semi-structured interviews with the Armenian compilers of the textbook (interviews with 3 authors). The study is based on passive and active observations and teaching experience done in a university classroom environment in 2014-2015, 2015-2016. The findings suggest that the discussed and analyzed teaching materials (145 extracts and examples) include traditional examples of intensive use of language and role-modelling, particularly, men are mostly portrayed as active, progressive, aggressive, whereas women are often depicted as passive and weak. These modeled often serve as a ‘reliable basis’ for reinforcing the traditional roles that have been projected on female and male students. The survey results also show that such materials contribute directly to shaping learners’ social attitudes and expectations around issues of gender. The applied techniques and discussed issues can be generalized and applied to other foreign language textbook compilation processes, since those principles, regardless of a language, are mostly the same.

Keywords: EFL textbooks, gender policy, gender sensitivity, qualitative and quantitative research methods

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Authors: Daniel Ecler

Abstract:

The aim of this paper was to find out how Chinese university students perceive distance learning compared to full-time teaching, to reveal its advantages and disadvantages, and to try to find what elements could be implemented in regular full-time teaching in order to make it more effective. Recent events have shown that online teaching has a significant role to play in the field of education and needs to be given increased attention and scrutiny. For this purpose, a research survey was conducted using semi-structured questionnaires, which aimed to determine the attitudes of Chinese university students to the phenomenon of distance learning. The results of this survey revealed that most students prefer distance learning to full-time teaching, mainly because it gives them more freedom to participate in teaching, regardless of the environment in which they are currently located. In conclusion, it is necessary to mention that the possibility to participate virtually in teaching from anywhere is a huge advantage that could become part of regular teaching in the future. However, further research into this issue will be necessary.

Keywords: distance learning, full-time teaching, Chinese college students, cultural background

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Authors: O. F. Elkommos

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Teaching and learning EFL speaking modules is one of the most challenging productive modules for both instructors and learners. In a student-centered interactive communicative language teaching approach, learners and instructors should be aware of the fact that the target language must be taught as/for communication. The student must be empowered by tools that will work on more than one level of their communicative competence. Communicative learning will need a teaching and learning methodology that will address the goal. Teaching turn-taking rules, pragmatic principles and speech acts will enhance students' sociolinguistic competence, strategic competence together with discourse competence. Sociolinguistic competence entails the mastering of speech act conventions and illocutionary acts of refusing, agreeing/disagreeing; emotive acts like, thanking, apologizing, inviting, offering; directives like, ordering, requesting, advising, and hinting, among others. Strategic competence includes enlightening students’ consciousness of the various particular turn-taking systemic rules of organizing techniques of opening and closing conversation, adjacency pairs, interrupting, back-channeling, asking for/giving opinion, agreeing/disagreeing, using natural fillers for pauses, gaps, speaker select, self-select, and silence among others. Students will have the tools to manage a conversation. Students are engaged in opportunities of experiencing the natural language not as a mere extra student talking time but rather an empowerment of knowing and using the strategies. They will have the component items they need to use as well as the opportunity to communicate in the target language using topics of their interest and choice. This enhances students' communicative abilities. Available websites and textbooks now use one or more of these tools of turn-taking or pragmatics. These will be students' support in self-study in their independent learning study hours. This will be their reinforcement practice on e-Learning interactive activities. The students' target is to be able to communicate the intended meaning to an addressee that is in turn able to infer that intended meaning. The combination of these tools will be assertive and encouraging to the student to beat the struggle with what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. Teaching the rules, principles and techniques is an act of awareness raising method engaging students in activities that will lead to their pragmatic discourse competence. The aim of the paper is to show how the suggested pragmatic model will empower students with tools and systems that would support their learning. Supporting students with turn taking rules, speech act theory, applying both to texts and practical analysis and using it in speaking classes empowers students’ pragmatic discourse competence and assists them to understand language and its context. They become more spontaneous and ready to learn the discourse pragmatic dimension of the speaking techniques and suitable content. Students showed a better performance and a good motivation to learn. The model is therefore suggested for speaking modules in EFL classes.

Keywords: communicative competence, EFL, empowering learners, enhance learning, speech acts, teaching speaking, turn taking, learner centred, pragmatics

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Authors: Arlene Villarama, Micol Grace Guanzon, Zenaida Ramos

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This paper provides insights into teaching English as a Foreign Language in the Philippines. The authors reviewed relevant theories and literature, and provide an analysis of the issues in teaching English in the Philippine setting in the light of these theories. The authors made an investigation in Bagong Barrio National High School (BBNHS) - a public school in Caloocan City. The institution has a population of nearly 3,000 students. The performances of randomly chosen 365 respondents were scrutinised. The study regarding the success of teaching English as a foreign language to Filipino children were highlighted. This includes the respondents’ family background, surroundings, way of living, and their behavior and understanding regarding education. The results show that there is a significant relationship between demonstrative, communal, and logical areas that touch the efficacy of introducing English as a foreign Dialectal. Filipino children, by nature, are adventurous and naturally joyful even for little things. They are born with natural skills and capabilities to discover new things. They highly consider activities and work that ignite their curiosity. They love to be recognised and are inspired the most when given the assurance of acceptance and belongingness. Fun is the appealing influence to ignite and motivate learning. The magic word is excitement. The study reveals the many facets of the accumulation and transmission of erudition, in introduction and administration of English as a foreign phonological; it runs and passes through different channels of diffusion. Along the way, there are particles that act as obstructions in protocols where knowledge are to be gathered. Data gained from the respondents conceals a reality that is beyond one’s imagination. One significant factor that touches the inefficacy of understanding and using English as a foreign language is an erroneous outset gained from an old belief handed down from generation to generation. This accepted perception about the power and influence of the use of language, gives the novices either a negative or a positive notion. The investigation shows that a higher number of dislikes in the use of English can be tracked down from the belief of the story on how the English language came into existence. The belief that only the great and the influential have the right to use English as a means of communication kills the joy of acceptance. A significant notation has to be examined so as to provide a solution or if not eradicate the misconceptions that lie behind the substance of the matter. The result of the authors’ research depicts a substantial correlation between the emotional (demonstrative), social (communal), and intellectual (logical). The focus of this paper is to bring out the right notation and disclose the misconceptions with regards to teaching English as a foreign language. This will concentrate on the emotional, social, and intellectual areas of the Filipino learners and how these areas affect the transmittance and accumulation of learning. The authors’ aim is to formulate logical ways and techniques that would open up new beginnings in understanding and acceptance of the subject matter.

Keywords: accumulation, behaviour, facets, misconceptions, transmittance

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Authors: Elvira Wahyuni

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This study is a classroom action research. The general objective of this study was to find out students’ speaking ability through teaching English by using video and to find out the effectiveness of using video in teaching English to improve students’ speaking ability. The subjects of this study were 34 of the first-year students of SMAN 12 Pekanbaru who were learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Students were given pre-test before the treatment and post-test after the treatment. Quantitative data was collected by using speaking test requiring the students to respond to the recorded questions. Qualitative data was collected through observation sheets and field notes. The research finding reveals that there is a significant improvement of the students’ speaking ability through the use of video in speaking class. The qualitative data gave a description and additional information about the learning process done by the students. The research findings indicate that the use of video in teaching and learning is good in increasing learning outcome.

Keywords: English teaching, fun learning, speaking ability, video

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Authors: Chien Chin-Wen

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Collaborative teaching has different teaching models and station teaching is one type of collaborative teaching. Station teaching is not commonly practiced in elementary school English education and introduced in language teacher education programs in Taiwan. In station teaching, each teacher takes a small part of instructional content, working with a small number of students. Students rotate between stations where they receive the assignments and instruction from different teachers. The teachers provide the same content to each group, but the instructional method can vary based upon the needs of each group of students. This study explores thirty-four Taiwanese pre-service elementary school English teachers’ knowledge about station teaching and their competence demonstrated in designing activities for and delivering of station teaching in an English remedial education to six sixth graders in a local elementary school in northern Taiwan. The participants simultaneously enrolled in this Elementary School English Teaching Materials and Methods class, a part of an elementary school teacher education program in a northern Taiwan city. The instructor (Jennifer, pseudonym) in this Elementary School English Teaching Materials and Methods class collaborated with an English teacher (Olivia, pseudonym) in Maureen Elementary School (pseudonym), an urban elementary school in a northwestern Taiwan city. Of Olivia’s students, four male and two female sixth graders needed to have remedial English education. Olivia chose these six elementary school students because they were in the lowest 5 % of their class in terms of their English proficiency. The thirty-four pre-service English teachers signed up for and took turns in teaching these six sixth graders every Thursday afternoon from four to five o’clock for twelve weeks. While three participants signed up as a team and taught these six sixth graders, the last team consisted of only two pre-service teachers. Each team designed a 40-minute lesson plan on the given language focus (words, sentence patterns, dialogue, phonics) of the assigned unit. Data in this study included the KWLA chart, activity designs, and semi-structured interviews. Data collection lasted for four months, from September to December 2014. Data were analyzed as follows. First, all the notes were read and marked with appropriate codes (e.g., I don’t know, co-teaching etc.). Second, tentative categories were labeled (e.g., before, after, process, future implication, etc.). Finally, the data were sorted into topics that reflected the research questions on the basis of their relevance. This study has the following major findings. First of all, the majority of participants knew nothing about station teaching at the beginning of the study. After taking the course Elementary School English Teaching Materials and Methods and after designing and delivering the station teaching in an English remedial education program to six sixth graders, they learned that station teaching is co-teaching, and that it includes activity designs for different stations and students’ rotating from station to station. They demonstrated knowledge and skills in activity designs for vocabulary, sentence patterns, dialogue, and phonics. Moreover, they learned to interact with individual learners and guided them step by step in learning vocabulary, sentence patterns, dialogue, and phonics. However, they were still incompetent in classroom management, time management, English, and designing diverse and meaningful activities for elementary school students at different English proficiency levels. Hence, language teacher education programs are recommended to integrate station teaching to help pre-service teachers be equipped with eight knowledge and competences, including linguistic knowledge, content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, curriculum knowledge, knowledge of learners and their characteristics, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of education content, and knowledge of education’s ends and purposes.

Keywords: co-teaching, competence, knowledge, pre-service teachers, station teaching

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Authors: Wei Hing Rosenkvist

Abstract:

In the past few decades, concerns and demands of promoting student intercultural communicative competence in foreign language education have been increasing along with the rapid growth of information technologies and globalization in the 21st century. In Sweden, related concepts such as internationalization, global citizenship, multiculturalism, and intercultural communication, are also keywords that would be found in the written learning objectives of foreign language education at all levels. Being one of the leading higher institutes in distance education in Europe, Dalarna University clearly states that after completion of the teacher education program, students shall understand the needs for integrating internationalization, intercultural and global perspective in teaching and learning in Swedish schools and implement their studies to promote education in an international and global context. Even though many teachers and educators agree with the institutes’ mission and vision about the importance of internationalization and the need to increase student understanding of intercultural and global perspectives, they might find this objective unattainable and restricted due to the nature of the subject and their knowledge of intercultural competence. When conducting a comprehensive Chinese language course for the students who are going to become Chinese foreign language teachers, the researcher found that all the learning objectives are linguistic oriented while grammatical components dominate the entire course. Apparently, there is a gap between the learning objectives of the course and the DU’s mission of fostering an international learner with intercultural and globalized perspectives. How to include this macro-learning objective in a foreign language course is a great challenge to the educator. Although scholars from different academic domains have provided different theoretical frameworks and approaches for developing student intercultural competence, research that focuses on the didactic perspectives of developing student intercultural competence in teaching Chinese as a foreign language education (CFL) is limited, and practical examples are rare. This challenge has motivated the researcher to conduct an action research study that aims at integrating DU’s macro-learning objective in a current CFL course through different didactic practices to develop the student's intercultural competence. This research study aims to, firstly, illustrate the cross-cultural knowledge integrated into the present Chinese language course for developing intercultural competence. Secondly, it investigates different didactic means that can be utilized to deliver cross-cultural knowledge to student teachers in the present course without generating dramatic disturbance of the syllabus. Thirdly, it examines the effectiveness of these didactic means in enhancing student-teacher intercultural competence regarding the need for integrating and implementing internationalization, intercultural and global perspectives in teaching and learning in Swedish schools. Last but not least, it intends to serve as a practical example for developing the student teachers’ intercultural competence in foreign language education in DU and fill in the research gap of this academic domain worldwide.

Keywords: action research, intercultural competence, Chinese as a foreign language education, teacher education

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Authors: Narges Nemati, Mohammadreza Fallahpour, Hossein Bozorgian

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Reading is one of the receptive skills which has an important role in improving other skills like writing and speaking. Furthermore, language learners can acquire plenty of vocabularies and become more acquainted with written expression through reading. Also, negative attitudes toward reading can cause negligible reading comprehension, which could prompt poor performance in the English language. Considering the fact that reading instruction was discussed as a low priority skill in the field of EFL teacher education, this study attempted to investigate EFL teachers’ attitudes toward reading instruction. Therefore, to serve the purpose of this study, a mixed-method approach was utilized by inviting 100 Iranian EFL teachers who taught at English language institutes of Iran to fill out a validated questionnaire on teachers’ attitude toward reading. Subsequently, 10 participants were randomly selected for further observations and interview sessions to evaluate the differences between their stated attitude and their actual practices. The findings from analyzing questionnaires, observations, and interviews revealed that EFL teachers’ stated attitude toward reading instruction was positive; whereas, due to some reasons like lack of time, scarcity of interesting passages, and lack of interest in reading long passages, teachers did not show positive actual attitude toward teaching reading skill.

Keywords: English as foreign language classroom, English language, reading skill, teachers' attitude

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Authors: Wei Hing Rosenkvist

Abstract:

In the past few decades, concerns and demands of promoting student intercultural communicative competence in foreign language education have been increasing along with the rapid growth of information technologies and globalization in the 21st century. In Sweden, related concepts such as internationalization, global citizenship, multiculturalism, and intercultural communication etc., are also keywords that would be found in the written learning objectives of the foreign language education in all levels. Being one of the leading higher institutes in distance education in Europe, Dalarna University clearly states that after completion of the teacher education program, students shall understand the needs for integrating internationalization, intercultural and global perspective in teaching and learning in Swedish schools and implement their own studies to promote education in an international and global context. Despite the fact that many teachers and educators agree with the institutes’ mission and vision about the importance of internationalization and the need of increasing student understanding of intercultural and global perspective, they might find this objective unattainable and restricted due to the nature of the subject and their personal knowledge of intercultural competence. When conducting a comprehensive Chinese language course for the students who are going to become Chinese foreign language teachers, the researcher found that all the learning objectives are linguistic oriented while grammatical components dominate the entire course. Apparently, there is a gap between the learning objectives of the course and the DU’s mission of fostering an international learner with intercultural and globalized perspectives. How to include this macro-learning objective in a foreign language course is a great challenge to the educator. Although scholars from different academic domains have provided different theoretical frameworks and approaches for developing student intercultural competence, research that focuses on the didactic perspectives of developing student intercultural competence in teaching Chinese as a foreign language education (CFL) is limited and practical examples are rare. This has motivated the researcher to conduct an action research study that aims at integrating DU’s macro-learning objective in a current CFL course through different didactic practices with a purpose of developing the teacher student intercultural competence. This research study aims to, firstly, illustrate the cross-cultural knowledge integrated into the present Chinese language course for developing intercultural competence. Secondly, it investigates different didactic means that can be utilized to deliver cross-cultural knowledge to student teachers in the present course without generating dramatic disturbance of the syllabus. Thirdly, it examines the effectiveness of these didactic means in enhancing teacher student intercultural competence regarding the need for integrating and implementing internationalization, intercultural and global perspectives in teaching and learning in Swedish schools. Last but not least, it intends to serve as a practical example for developing the student teachers’ intercultural competence in foreign language education in DU and fill in the research gap of this academic domain worldwide.

Keywords: intercultural competence, foreign language education, action research, teacher education

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Authors: Cem Bulut, Zeynep B. Kocoglu

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Flipped classroom (FC) method has gained popularity, specifically in higher education, in recent years with the idea that it is possible to use the time spent in classrooms more effectively by simply flipping the passive lecturing parts with the homework exercises. Accordingly, the present study aims to investigate whether using FC method is more effective than the non-flipped method in teaching grammar to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. An experimental research was conducted with the participants of two intact classes having A2 level English courses (N=39 in total) in a vocational school in Kocaeli, Turkey. Results from the post-test indicated that the flipped group achieved higher scores than the non-flipped group did. Additionally, independent samples t-test analysis in SPSS revealed that the difference between two groups was statistically significant. On the other hand, even if the factors that lie beneath this improvement are likely to be attributed to the teaching method, which is also supported by the answers given to the FC perception survey and interview, participants in both groups developed statistically significant positive attitudes towards learning grammar regardless of the method used. In that sense, this result was considered to be related to the level of the course, which was quite low in English level. In sum, the present study provides additional findings to the literature for FC methodology from a different perspective.

Keywords: flipped classroom, learning management system, English as a foreign language

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Authors: E. Sahar

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Civic political knowledge is crucial for the stability of democratic countries. In the USA, Americans have poor knowledge about their constitution and their political systems. Some states such as Florida State suffers from a huge decline in civics comparing to the National Average. This study concerns with using new technologies such as augmented reality to engage students in learning civics in classrooms. This is a participatory study, which engage teachers in the process of designing augmented reality civic games. The researcher used survey to find out the materials that teachers struggle with while teaching civics. Four lessons were found the most difficult to teach for middle school students: SS7C1.1 Enlightenment thinkers, SS7C1.2 influencing documents, SS7C1.7-Weakness of the Articles of Confederation, and Forms and systems of governments. For the limited scope of this study, we focused on “Forms and Systems of governments’ as the main project. Augmented Reality is used to help students to engage in learning civics through building a game that is based on the pedagogy constructivism theory. The resulted project meets the educational requirements for civics, provide students with more knowledge in at stake issues such as migration and citizenship, and help them to build leadership skills while playing in groups. The augmented reality game is also designed to test the students learning for each stage. This study helps to generate insightful implications for the use of augmented reality by educators, researchers, instructional designers, and developers who are interested in integrating technology in teaching civics for students in middle school classrooms.

Keywords: augmented reality, games, civics teaching, Florida middle school

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Authors: Sarantos Psycharis

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Physical Computing, as an instructional model, is applied in the framework of the Engineering Pedagogy to teach “transversal/cross-cutting ideas” in a STEM content approach. Labview and Arduino were used in order to connect the physical world with real data in the framework of the so called Computational Experiment. Tertiary prospective engineering educators were engaged during their course and Computational Thinking (CT) concepts were registered before and after the intervention across didactic activities using validated questionnaires for the relationship between self-efficacy, computer programming, and CT concepts when STEM content epistemology is implemented in alignment with the Computational Pedagogy model. Results show a significant change in students’ responses for self-efficacy for CT before and after the instruction. Results also indicate a significant relation between the responses in the different CT concepts/practices. According to the findings, STEM content epistemology combined with Physical Computing should be a good candidate as a learning and teaching approach in university settings that enhances students’ engagement in CT concepts/practices.

Keywords: arduino, computational thinking, computer programming, Labview, self-efficacy, STEM

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Authors: Numra Qayyum, Samina Sarwat, Noor ul Ain

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Bilingual speakers generally can speak both languages with the same competency without mixing them intentionally and making mistakes, but sometimes errors occur in language selection. This quantitative study particularly deals with the language errors made by Urdu-English bilinguals. In this research, researchers have given special attention to the part played by bottom-up priming and top-down cognitive control in these errors. Unstable Urdu-English bilingual participants termed pictures and were prompted to shift from one language to another under the pressure of time. Different situations were given to manipulate the participants. The long and short runs trials of the same language were also given before switching to another language. The study is concluded with the findings that bilinguals made more errors when switching to the first language from their second language, and these errors are large in number, especially when a speaker is switching from L2 (second language) to L1 (first language) after a long run. When the switching is reversed, i.e., from L2 to LI, it had no effect at all. These results gave the clear responsibility of all these errors to top-down cognitive control.

Keywords: bottom up priming, language error, language switching, top down cognitive control

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Authors: Dorsaf Ben Malek

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The function of culture in language teaching changed because of globalization and the latest technologies. English became a lingua franca which resulted in altering the teaching objectives. The re-evaluation of cultural awareness is one of them. Business English teaching has also been subject to all these changes. It is therefore a wrong idea if we try to consider it as a diffusion of unlimited listing of lexis, diagrams, charts, and statistics. In fact, business students’ future career will require business terminology together with intercultural communicative competence (ICC) to handle different multicultural encounters and contribute to the international community. The first part of this paper is dedicated to the necessity of empowering business students with intercultural communicative competence and the second turns around the potential of multicultural literature in implementing ICC in business English teaching. This was proved through a qualitative action research done on a group of Tunisian MA business students. It was an opportunity to discover the potential of multicultural literature together with inquiry-based learning in enhancing business students’ intercultural communicative competence. Data were collected through classroom observations, journals and semi-structured interviews. Results were in favour of using multicultural literature to enhance business students’ ICC. In addition, the short story may be a motivating tool to read literature, and inquiry-based learning can be an effective approach to teaching literature.

Keywords: intercultural communicative competence, multicultural literature, short stories, inquiry-based learning

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Authors: Sumeyra Karatas, Veysel Karatas, Reyhan Safak, Gamze Bulut-Ozturk, Ozgul Kartal

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Productive struggle entails a student's cognitive exertion to comprehend mathematical concepts and uncover solutions not immediately apparent. The significance of productive struggle in learning mathematics is accentuated by influential educational theorists, emphasizing its necessity for learning mathematics with understanding. Consequently, supporting productive struggle in learning mathematics is recognized as a high-leverage and effective mathematics teaching practice. In this study, the investigation into the role of productive struggle in learning mathematics led to the development of a comprehensive rubric for productive struggle pedagogy through an exhaustive literature review. The rubric consists of eight primary criteria and 37 sub-criteria, providing a detailed description of teacher actions and pedagogical choices that foster students' productive struggles. These criteria encompass various pedagogical aspects, including task design, tool implementation, allowing time for struggle, posing questions, scaffolding, handling mistakes, acknowledging efforts, and facilitating discussion/feedback. Utilizing this rubric, a team of researchers and teachers designed eight 90-minute lesson plans, employing a productive struggle pedagogy, for a two-week unit on solving systems of linear equations. Simultaneously, another set of eight lesson plans on the same topic, featuring identical content and problems but employing a traditional lecture-and-practice model, was designed by the same team. The objective was to assess the impact of supporting productive struggle on students' mathematics learning, defined by the strands of mathematical proficiency. This quasi-experimental study compares the control group, which received traditional lecture- and practice instruction, with the treatment group, which experienced a productive struggle in pedagogy. Sixty-six 10th and 11th-grade students from two algebra classes, taught by the same teacher at a high school, underwent either the productive struggle pedagogy or lecture-and-practice approach over two-week eight 90-minute class sessions. To measure students' learning, an assessment was created and validated by a team of researchers and teachers. It comprised seven open-response problems assessing the strands of mathematical proficiency: procedural and conceptual understanding, strategic competence, and adaptive reasoning on the topic. The test was administered at the beginning and end of the two weeks as pre-and post-test. Students' solutions underwent scoring using an established rubric, subjected to expert validation and an inter-rater reliability process involving multiple criteria for each problem based on their steps and procedures. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to examine the differences between the control group, which received traditional pedagogy, and the treatment group, exposed to the productive struggle pedagogy, on the post-test scores while controlling for the pre-test. The results indicated a significant effect of treatment on post-test scores for procedural understanding (F(2, 63) = 10.47, p < .001), strategic competence (F(2, 63) = 9.92, p < .001), adaptive reasoning (F(2, 63) = 10.69, p < .001), and conceptual understanding (F(2, 63) = 10.06, p < .001), controlling for pre-test scores. This demonstrates the positive impact of supporting productive struggle in learning mathematics. In conclusion, the results revealed the significance of the role of productive struggle in learning mathematics. The study further explored the practical application of productive struggle through the development of a comprehensive rubric describing the pedagogy of supporting productive struggle.

Keywords: effective mathematics teaching practice, high school algebra, learning mathematics, productive struggle

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Authors: Kaine Gulozer

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A strong methodological conception in the practice of teaching, content, and language integrated learning (CLIL) is adapted to boost efficiency in the second language (L2) instruction with a range of proficiency levels. This study aims to investigate whether the incorporation of two different mediums of meaningful CLIL reading activities (in-school and out-of-school settings) influence L2 students’ development of comprehension skills differently. CLIL based instructional methodology was adopted and total of 50 preparatory year students (N=50, 25 students for each proficiency level) from two distinct language proficiency learners (elementary and intermediate) majoring in engineering faculties were recruited for the study. Both qualitative and quantitative methods through a post-test design were adopted. Data were collected through a questionnaire, a reading comprehension test and a semi-structured interview addressed to the two proficiency groups. The results show that both settings in relation to the development of reading comprehension are beneficial, whereas the impact of the reading activities conducted in school settings was higher at the elementary language level of students than that of the one conducted out-of-class settings based on the reported interview results. This study suggests that the incorporation of meaningful CLIL reading activities in both settings for both proficiency levels could create students’ self-awareness of their language learning process and the sense of ownership in successful improvements of field-specific reading comprehension. Further potential suggestions and implications of the study were discussed.

Keywords: content and language integrated learning, in-school setting, language proficiency, out-of-school setting, reading comprehension

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Authors: Shin-Shin Kao

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This paper reviews the crucial situation in higher education in Taiwan due to the rapid decline of the birth rate in the past three decades, and how the government and local colleges/universities work to face the challenge. Recruiting international students is one of the possible ways to resolve the problem, but offering enough courses in English is one of the main obstacles when the majority of learners are still Taiwanese students. In the academic year of 2012, Chung Yuan Christian University determined to make its campus international and began to enforce two required courses for freshmen taught in English. It failed in the beginning, but succeeded in the following academic year of 2013. Using the teaching evaluations accumulated in the past three years, this paper aims to clarify the myths which had been bothering most faculties. It also offers some suggestions for college/university teachers interested in giving lectures in English to English as Second Language (ESL) learners. A conclusion is presented at the end of the paper, in which the author explained why Taiwanese students could learn their profession in English.

Keywords: calculus, English, teaching evaluation, teaching strategy, vocabulary

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Authors: Aaidha Hammad

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The age a child to be exposed to a second language is a controversial issue in communities such as the Maldives where English is taught as a second language. It has been observed that different stakeholders have different viewpoints towards the issue. Some believe that the earlier children are exposed to a second language, the better they learn, while others disagree with the notion. Hence, this case study investigates whether children learn a second language better when they are exposed at an earlier age or not. The spoken and written data collected confirm that earlier exposure helps in mastering the sound pattern and speaking fluency with more native-like accent, while a later age is better for learning more abstract and concrete aspects such as grammar and syntactic rules.

Keywords: age, fluency, second language acquisition, development of language skills

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Authors: Yang Yiting

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This paper employs CiteSpace to conduct a visualiazation analysis of literature on college English writing teaching researches published in core journals from the CNKI database and CSSCI journals between 2002 and 2022. It aims to explore the characteristics of researches and future directions on college English writing teaching. The present study yielded the following major findings: the field primarily focuses on innovative writing teaching models and methods, the integration of traditional classroom teaching and information technology, and instructional strategies to enhance students' writing skills. The future research is anticipated to involve a hybrid writing teaching approach combining online and offline teaching methods, leveraging the "Internet+" digital platform, aiming to elevate students' writing proficiency. This paper also presents a prospective outlook for college English writing teaching research in China.

Keywords: citespace, college English, writing teaching, visualization analysis

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Authors: Marilei Amadeu Sabino

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The aim of this study is to establish differences between the terms ‘false cognates’, ‘false friends’ and ‘deceptive cognates’, usually considered to be synonyms. It will be shown they are not synonyms, since they do not designate the same linguistic process or phenomenon. Despite their differences in meaning, many pairs of formally similar words in two (or more) different languages are true cognates, although they are usually known as ‘false’ cognates – such as, for instance, the English and Italian lexical items ‘assist x assistere’; ‘attend x attendere’; ‘argument x argomento’; ‘apology x apologia’; ‘camera x camera’; ‘cucumber x cocomero’; ‘fabric x fabbrica’; ‘factory x fattoria’; ‘firm x firma’; ‘journal x giornale’; ‘library x libreria’; ‘magazine x magazzino’; ‘parent x parente’; ‘preservative x preservativo’; ‘pretend x pretendere’; ‘vacancy x vacanza’, to name but a few examples. Thus, one of the theoretical objectives of this paper is firstly to elaborate definitions establishing a distinction between the words that are definitely ‘false cognates’ (derived from different etyma) and those that are just ‘deceptive cognates’ (derived from the same etymon). Secondly, based on Set Theory and on the concepts of equal sets, subsets, intersection of sets and disjoint sets, this study is intended to elaborate some theoretical and practical questions that will be useful in identifying more precisely similarities and differences between cognate words of different languages, and according to graphic interpretation of sets it will be possible to classify them and provide discernment about the processes of semantic changes. Therefore, these issues might be helpful not only to the Learning of Second and Foreign Languages, but they could also give insights into Foreign and Second Language Teaching Methodology. Acknowledgements: FAPESP – São Paulo State Research Support Foundation – the financial support offered (proc. n° 2017/02064-7).

Keywords: deceptive cognates, false cognates, foreign language learning, teaching methodology

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Authors: ShuPei Wang, Yina Patterson

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This article outlines strategies for improving oral expression to advance proficiency in speaking and listening skills through structured argumentation. The objective is to empower students to effectively use the target language to express opinions and construct compelling arguments. This empowerment is achieved by honing learners' debating and questioning skills, which involves increasing their familiarity with vocabulary and phrases relevant to debates and deepening their understanding of the cultural context surrounding pertinent issues. Through this approach, students can enhance their ability to articulate complex concepts and discern critical points, surpassing superficial comprehension and enabling them to engage in the target language actively and competently.

Keywords: debate, teaching and materials design, spoken expression, listening proficiency, critical thinking

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Authors: Ece Sarigul

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It is an undeniable fact that, teachers need new strategies to communicate with students of the next generation and to shape enticing educational experiences for them. Many schools have launched iPad/ Tablets initiatives in an effort to enhance student learning. Despite their rapid adoption, the extent to which iPads / Tablets increase student engagement and learning is not well understood. This presentation aims to examine the use of iPads and Tablets in primary and high schools in Turkey as well as in the world to increase academic achievement through promotion of higher order thinking skills. In addition to explaining the ideas of school teachers and students who use the specific iPads or Tablets , various applications in schools and their use will be discussed and demonstrated in this study. The specific” iPads or Tablets” applications discussed in this presentation can be incorporated into the curriculum to assist in developing transformative practices and programs to meet the needs of a diverse student population. In the conclusion section of the presentation, there will be some suggestions for teachers about the effective use of technological devices in the classroom. This study can help educators understand better how students are currently using iPads and Tablets and shape future use.

Keywords: ipads, language teaching, tablets, technology

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Authors: Pelumi Olowofoyeku

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English as a language has great reach and influence; it is taught all over the world. For instance, in Nigeria, English language is been taught and learned as a second language; therefore second learners of English in Nigeria have certain problems they contend with. Because of the dissimilarities in word formation patterns of English and Yoruba languages, Yoruba learners of English mostly found in the south west of Nigeria, and some parts of Kwara, Kogi, and Edo states of Nigeria have problems with word formation patterns in English. The objectives of this paper therefore, are: to identify the levels of word formation dissimilarities in English and Yoruba languages and to examine the effects of these dissimilarities on the Yoruba learners of English. The data for this paper were graded words purposely selected and presented to selected students of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Oto-Ijanikin, Lagos, who are Yoruba learners of English. These respondents were randomly selected to form words which are purposively selected to test the effects of word formation dissimilarities between Yoruba (the respondent’s first language) and English language on the respondents. The dissimilarities are examined using contrastive analysis tools. This paper reveals that there are differences in the word formation patterns of Yoruba and English languages. The writer believes that there is need for language teachers to undertake comparative studies of the two languages involved for methodological reasons. The author then suggests that teachers should identify the problem areas and systematically teach their students. The paper concludes that although English and Yoruba word formation patterns differ very significantly in many respects, there exist language universals in all languages which language educators should take advantage of in teaching.

Keywords: word formation patterns, graded words, ESL, Yoruba learners

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Authors: Mimoun Melliti

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This research paper investigates the promises, challenges, and perspectives associated with teaching STEM subjects in English within Tunisian higher education institutions. The study explores the potential benefits of English-medium instruction in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (henceforth STEM) education, with a special focus on enhanced global competitiveness, improved English language proficiency, and increased access to international resources and collaborations. Additionally, it examines the various challenges faced by educators and students, such as language shift/barriers, curriculum adaptation, faculty training, and student support. Through a comprehensive analysis of promises and challenges, this paper aims to provide insights and recommendations for effectively implementing English medium instruction (henceforth EMI) of STEM in Tunisian higher education institutions. The paper concludes with a recommended action plan for the proper introduction of EMI of STEM in Tunisia.

Keywords: EMI;, STEM education, EFL, language reforms

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Authors: Md. Mizanoor Rahman, Md. Zakir Hossain Talukder, M. Mahruf C. Shohel, Prithvi Shrestha

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In Bangladesh, classroom practice and English Learning (EL) competencies acquired both by the teacher and learner in primary and secondary schools are still very weak. Therefore, English is the most commonly failed examination subject at the school level; in addition, there are severe problems in communicative English by the Bangladeshi nationals– this has been characterized as a constraint to economic development. Job applicants and employees often lack English language skills necessary to work effectively. As a result; both government and its international development partners such as DFID, UNESCO, and CIDA have been very active to uplift the quality of the English language learning and implementing projects with innovative approaches. Recently; the economy has been increasing and in line with this, the technology has been deployed in English learning to improve reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. Young Bangladeshi creative, from a variety of backgrounds including film, animation, photography, and digital media are being trained to develop ideas for English Language Teaching (ELT) media. They are being motivated to develop a wide range of ideas for low cost English learning media products. English Language education policy in Bangladesh supports communicative language teaching practices and accordingly, actors have been influencing curriculum, textbook, deployment of technology and assessment changes supporting communicative ELT. The various projects are also being implemented to reform the curriculum, revise the textbook and adjust the assessment mechanism so that the country can increase in proficiency in communicative English among the population. At present; the numbers of teachers, students and adult learners classified at higher levels of proficiency because of deployment of technology and motivation for learning and using English among school population of Bangladesh. The current paper discusses the various interventions in Bangladesh with appropriate media to improve the competencies of the ELT among population.

Keywords: English learning, technology, education, psychological sciences

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Authors: Aminath Waseela, Vinesh Chandra, Shaun Nykvist,

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The success of technology integration initiatives hinges on the knowledge and skills of teachers to effectively integrate technology in classroom teaching. Consequently, gaining an understanding of teachers' technology knowledge and its integration can provide useful insights on strategies that can be adopted to enhance teaching and learning, especially in developing country contexts where research is scant. This paper extends existing knowledge on teachers' use of technology by developing a conceptual framework that recognises how three key types of knowledge; content, pedagogy, technology, and their integration are at the crux of teachers' technology use while at the same time is amenable to empirical studies. Although the aforementioned knowledge is important for effective use of technology that can result in enhanced student engagement, literature on how this knowledge leads to effective technology use and enhanced student engagement is limited. Thus, this theoretical paper proposes a framework to explore teachers' knowledge through the lens of the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK); the integration of technology in classroom teaching through the Substitution Augmentation Modification and Redefinition (SAMR) model and how this affects students' learning through the Bloom's Digital Taxonomy (BDT) lens. Studies using this framework could inform the design of professional development to support teachers to develop skills for effective use of available technology that can enhance student learning engagement.

Keywords: information and communication technology, ICT, in-service training, small island developing states, SIDS, student engagement, technology integration, technology professional development training, technological pedagogical and content knowledge, TPACK

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Authors: Stephen Kirkup

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This paper discusses the implementation of the boundary element method (BEM) on an Excel spreadsheet and how it can be used in teaching vector calculus and simulation. There are two separate spreadheets, within which Laplace equation is solved by the BEM in two dimensions (LIBEM2) and axisymmetric three dimensions (LBEMA). The main algorithms are implemented in the associated programming language within Excel, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The BEM only requires a boundary mesh and hence it is a relatively accessible method. The BEM in the open spreadsheet environment is demonstrated as being useful as an aid to teaching and learning. The application of the BEM implemented on a spreadsheet for educational purposes in introductory vector calculus and simulation is explored. The development of assignment work is discussed, and sample results from student work are given. The spreadsheets were found to be useful tools in developing the students’ understanding of vector calculus and in simulating heat conduction.

Keywords: boundary element method, Laplace’s equation, vector calculus, simulation, education

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Authors: Dinda N. Lestari

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Sundanese language is one of heritage language in Indonesia that must be maintained especially the formal type of it because teenagers nowadays do not speak Sundanese language formally in their daily lives. To maintain it, Cultural and Education Ministry of Indonesia has input Sundanese language lesson at senior high school in West Java area. The aim of this study was to observe whether the existence of Sundanese language lesson in senior high school in the big town of Karawang, West Java - Indonesia give the contribution to the formal type of Sundanese language maintenance or not. For gathering the data, the researcher interviewed the senior high school students who have learned Sundanese language to observe their acquisition of it. As a result of the interview, the data was presented in qualitative research by using the interviewing method. Then, the finding indicated that the existence of Sundanese language in Senior High School also the educational program which is related to it, for instance, Kemis Nyunda seemed to do not effective enough in maintaining the formal type of Sundanese language. Therefore, West Java government must revise the learning strategy of it, including the role of the Sundanese language teacher.

Keywords: heritage language, language maintenance and shift, senior high school, Sundanese language, Sundanese language lesson

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Authors: Gulderen Saglam

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This study explores the elements of personal motivation which influence professional motivation of in-service English language teachers in Bursa in Turkey. Fifty English language teachers participated in a seminar held on ‘teachers’ motivation’ for the length of six hours in two days, which were organized by the local Ministry of Education. During the seminar, teachers firstly aimed to share cornerstones of their professional motivation. Later, those teachers stated the significance of their personal motivation. Two months’ later, those teachers were given the questionnaire including both closed and open-ended questions involving those two types of motivational acts of teachers. Questionnaire items were tested by Crombah’s Alfa Reliability Statistics. Responses to the questionnaire were analyzed by factor analysis and test of normality. The results were also tested by non-parametric and parametric tests. As a result, it was found that language teachers who were personally motivated reported higher professional motivation of theirs in teaching profession in-service.

Keywords: influencing factor, in-service-teachers, personal motivation, professional motivation, in-service-teachers, influencing factor

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Authors: Rafat Alwazna

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Translation teaching is a particular activity that includes translators and interpreters training either inside or outside institutionalised settings, such as universities. It can also serve as a means of teaching other fields, such as foreign languages. Translation teaching began in the twentieth century. Teachers of translation hold the responsibilities of educating students, developing their translation competence and training them to be professional translators. The activity of translation teaching involves various tasks, including curriculum design, course delivery, material writing as well as application and implementation. The present paper addresses translation teaching during COVID-19 outbreak, seeking to find out the challenges encountered by translation teachers in online translation teaching and the discoveries/solutions arrived at to resolve them. The paper makes use of a comprehensive questionnaire, containing closed-ended and open-ended questions to elicit both quantitative as well as qualitative data from about sixty translation teachers who have been teaching translation at BA and MA levels during COVID-19 outbreak. The data shows that about 40% of the participants evaluate their online translation teaching experience during COVID-19 outbreak as enjoyable and exhilarating. On the contrary, no participant has evaluated his/her online translation teaching experience as being not good, nor has any participant evaluated his/her online translation teaching experience as being terrible. The data also presents that about 23.33% of the participants evaluate their online translation teaching experience as very good, and the same percentage applies to those who evaluate their online translation teaching experience as good to some extent. Moreover, the data indicates that around 13.33% of the participants evaluate their online translation teaching experience as good. The data also demonstrates that the majority of the participants have encountered obstacles in online translation teaching and have concurrently proposed solutions to resolve them.

Keywords: online translation teaching, electronic learning platform, COVID-19 outbreak, challenges, solutions

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