EFL Students

This paper aimed at investigating teachers' efforts in building EFL students' motivation in learning English at one of the junior high schools in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. This study employed descriptive qualitative research, where data were collected from two English teachers by conducting a semi-structured detailed interview, and from 10 students who excel in English through open-ended questionnaires. The second language teaching practice motivational framework proposed by Do rnyei (2001) was used in analyzing the data. These strategies include creating the basic motivational conditions, generating initial motivation, maintaining and protecting motivation, and encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation. The results indicated that teachers were among the sources of the students' motivation for learning English. As a facilitator in teaching, the teacher's efforts had opened the students' mindset about the importance of English for their studies and future. The teachers' efforts in motivating the students were related to the construct of encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation. Among the motivation strategies which attracted the students most was when senior students who succeeded in English were invited to class to encourage and learn with them. Based on the students' responses, this further boosted their efforts to learn in class so that they, too, could become successful.

This study aims to identify and classify syntactic errors made by EFL Saudi secondary students and the causes behind these errors through written form. The study includes 15 female students of the third secondary grade enrolled in Third Secondary School for Females in Al-Quway'iyah. The data were collected from a diagnostic writing test requiring the students to write a composition about one of three topics. The students' errors were classified into 15 different categories and analyzed using the Error Analysis Matrix. The findings show that most secondary students who were learning EFL made errors in syntax. Also, the study reveals that the students face complexity with different grammatical errors in terms of using punctuation,

This study reports the challenges and solutions found by Acehnese lecturers during the implementation of the British Parliamentary Debate System (henceforth, BPDS) in teaching critical thinking to university students. This study uses a qualitative approach, from observations to in-depth interviews, to discover the problems in the implementation of the debate techniques in teaching speaking as experienced by the lecturers. The subjects of the study were five lecturers who have been teaching English speaking courses at five private higher education institutions in Aceh, Indonesia. The results showed that there were three challenges in the implementation of BPDS; these included institutional, procedural, and intellectual challenges. The institutional challenges comprised limited meeting quantity and limited duration in a class meeting. The procedural challenges were the insufficient duration of case building for beginner students and the inability of BPDS to cover the population of average-range students in a class. Meanwhile, the intellectual challenges were the lack of students' general knowledge and poor speaking skill. From the interviews, the lecturers also proposed some solutions to these problems, and they are discussed in this paper.

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is considered as a valuable frame for describing and understanding technology integration into different educational settings, including English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. There is an accumulated body of literature on TPACK among teachers engaged in different areas of education. However, few studies have addressed the assessment of TPACK through students' perspectives in EFL settings. To address this gap, the purpose of this study was set to assess Iranian EFL students' perspectives regarding their teachers' TPACK. A total of 148 Iranian EFL students participated in this survey study. The data were collected through administering a previously validated TPACK questionnaire to the participants of the study. The findings obtained from the survey indicated that most EFL students perceived that their EFL teachers excelled in four components of TPACK such as technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), content knowledge (CK), and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), but the teachers were perceived to be relatively less proficient in the other three components of the scale such as technological content knowledge (TCK), technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK), and TPACK. The results suggest that Iranian EFL teachers may require further training in these latter elements of the TPACK to gain the required proficiency to integrate technology more effectively into their language classrooms.

Technology has big roles in this 4.0 era. It can be applied effectively in the teaching and learning process. This article examines the effect of applying whiteboard animation in project-based learning (PjBL) on English as a Foreign Llanguage (EFL) students' English presentation skills, investigates whether the English presentation skills of EFL students who were taught by using whiteboard animation in PjBL differ significantly across creativity levels, and finds out whether there is interaction or not between the use of whiteboard animation and the students' creativity levels on their English presentation skills. Fifty Indonesian vocational high school students from two intact classrooms were involved and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups by quasi-experimental design and factorial research design. The quantitative data were gathered from both groups through pre-test and post-test. The analysis showed that students who were taught through whiteboard animation in PjBL significantly outperformed those who were trained by using conventional media. It was also found that students' creativity levels (little-c and mini-c) did not affect their English presentation skills. Then, there was no interaction between whiteboard animation in PjBL and students' creativity levels on their English presentation skills. The findings of the study are expected to be useful for other English teachers especially those who want to apply the same method of teaching in order to achieve the students' capacity for critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

This study is descriptive research investigating cognitive reading strategies frequently used among EFL
students at one of universities in Garut, Indonesia, to enhance their reading comprehension. This study also
aims to find out which cognitive reading strategies considered the most helpful to be developed by the EFL
students especially in answering questions in reading comprehension test successfully. The data were
obtained from two sources: a self-report questionnaire administered to 76 students and Thinking-Aloud
Protocols (TAPs) conducted with 15 students. The data were analyzed using instruments adapted from
Format Cognitive Reading Strategies based on previous study conducted by Ozek&Civelek (2006). The
results show that cognitive reading strategies most frequently used by students are using the title to predict
the content of the text, guessing the meaning of a word from context, using the dictionary for the important
words, and considering other sentences in the paragraph to figure out the meaning.

It is commonly acknowledged that collocations play an important role in the field of ESL/EFL acquisition. Previous seminal studies have reported students " development of collocational knowledge and use of collocations regardless the difficulties students may encounter in learning collocations, specifically, Arab students. The present study focuses on students " collocational knowledge, particularly, Yemeni EFL university students who were attending an Intensive English Course (IEC) at UUM/Malaysia. The data was collected from only five Yemeni students (two postgraduate and three undergraduate). Those were the only Yemeni students who were attending the IEC. All of the participants were male students. The participants " collocational knowledge was tested by a Multiple-choice Collocational Test (MCT). The results of the statistical analysis revealed that participants " collocational knowledge was less than the expected. Moreover, the results concluded that students " lack of knowledge of collocations was due to the fact that collocations were not of a focus in teaching English as a foreign language in schools. The study also ended up with recommendations for future research.

Promoting critical thinking among students has been a topic for extensive study for a long time. However, this is quite a new area of exploration and investigation in the Bangladeshi EFL context. This paper explores whether classroom activities on culture can work as effective incentives in promoting critical thinking in Bangladeshi tertiary level English language classes. Cultural topics were designed for the tertiary level English class and used accordingly for critical thinking in a class of 36 students in a private university of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Classwork and home assignments on different cultural topics were evaluated against a rubric of critical thinking, and at the end of the semester, an open-ended discussion-based interview was conducted. The gradual development of
critical thinking among students was observed from the data gathered from both classes and interviews. Finally, the author presents implications for the EFL instructors, course designers, and book writers regarding the modifi cations required in the topics and teaching
style to promote the development of critical thinking among the Bangladeshi tertiary level EFL students.
Keywords: Critical thinking, Culture, Bangladeshi EFL students, tertiary level.

Speaking is one of the important skills in English as a Foreign Language. It can facilitate language acquisition and contribute towards the academic development of EFL learners. However, many Algerian EFL students display speaking underachievement. This is believed to be due to students’ mindsets. In fact, EFL students’ mental attitudes, tendencies, or habits predetermine their speaking achievement. Hence, the present research aims at probing into the impact of fixed and growth mindsets on Algerian EFL students’ speaking skill. For this purpose, a case study was conducted with first year master degree’s students at the English Department (Medea University).

The aim of the study is to analyse the linguistic errors in the writings of EFL students in a Saudi university. For error analysis, the writing tasks of a group of students were collected and analysed. The results showed that the frequently committed errors were at the sentential level as well as the word level. The most frequent errors were the errors of spellings and the least were the errors of demonstratives. The marked errors were categorised as errors of omission, addition, misinformation and misordering. Further analysis of the collected data indicated interlingual interference, intralingual interference, inadequate practice in English writing and carelessness of students as the major sources of the errors. Hence, the study has pedagogical implications as it will help teachers to device appropriate measures for improving the students' writing proficiency.

The purpose of this study is to see how extensive reading may help EFL students improve their speaking abilities. To achieve the aims of the study, the researcher has used the secondary research method. The researcher has found that the importance of the correlation between reading and speaking is quite high after reading more than thirteen studies. The relevance of vocabulary in the development of speaking abilities has been a significant resource in the development of reading skills. Furthermore, it was determined that EFL students who read extensively were able to communicate well and the role of extensive reading in developing speaking skills was well assessed. As a result, enhancing vocabulary through extensive reading has the potential to develop speaking skills. Students who read a lot have a stronger vocabulary than those who don't and this circumstance will assist them in expressing their thoughts freely and easily. This article focuses on the impact of vocabulary and spoken words, as well as the role of reading in speech.

This study examines the potential effect of mind mapping strategy on developing Jordanian students' writing performance. The researchers claim that mind mapping strategy has the potential to improve Jordanian students' writing performance. The study follows a quasi-experimental design in which an experimental group and a control group were purposefully chosen from eleventh grade students at Al Hashymiah School for Boys, Zarqa in Jordan during the second semester of the academic year 2016/2017. In the experimental group, 20 students were taught by mind mapping strategy and 20 students of control group were taught by the conventional teaching method as outlined in the Teacher's Book. To collect the data, a pre-test and a post-test was utilized. ANCOVA was used to measure statistical differences in the mean scores of the participants of the study. The findings reveal statistically significant differences (at α≤0.05) between the two mean scores of experimental and control groups in the post-test in favor of experimental group. The study recommends an integration of the mind mapping strategy into the English as a foreign Language (EFL) curriculum in Jordan as it facilitates developing students' writing skill. The study also recommends to examine the effect of using mind mapping strategy on EFL students' achievements in other language skills and sub skills. Teachers are also advised to use the mind mapping strategy to increase students' interest and motivation to write more often.

The use of teaching aids plays an important role in enhancing students' interaction and participation. Therefore, this research aims to investigate teachers' and students' approaches in using teaching aids and to reinforce their importance. This research also tried to verify whether teaching aids activate teaching and learning processes and more specifically if they make students interactive and effective participants. Moreover, it encourage teachers to update their methods of teaching. A questionnaire is used as an instrument to collect the necessary data. The questionnaire content was based on items to maximize the benefits of various teaching aids use in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom settings. Twenty teachers and fifty students took part in the questionnaire survey. Findings from the teachers' and students' questionnaires demonstrated that teaching aids help teachers and students activate their teaching and learning processes. Moreover, they help in classroom setting and management. Teachers' attitudes as well as their perception toward using teaching aids to motivate students are positive since they all find the necessity of using them to improve students' English performance. As a result, teachers should be aware that disregarding of teaching aids use impedes learners' motivation. It has been recommended that teachers need to systematically design their own teaching aids for effective teaching and learning betterment.

This study examines the effect of role-play strategy on the Jordanian tenth grade English as a foreign language (EFL) students' speaking skill. It is an attempt to answer if there is a statistical significance difference between the experimental and control groups' scores on the speaking test due to the teaching method (role-play strategy vs. the Teacher's Book instructions). A total of 86 homogeneous participants were selected through a random sampling technique from two sections at Lameece Secondary School for Girls in Amman, Jordan during the second semester of the academic year 2016-2017. The experimental group was 42 students while the control group was 44 students. For data collection, a role-play instructional program based on the speaking activities in Action Pack 10, a speaking test and a rating scale were used. The collected data were analyzed using proper statistical measures such as ANCOVA and MANCOVA. The results revealed that the role-play strategy had a significant effect on the five components of the speaking skill with the students of the experimental group. Further empirical studies on the effect of role-play strategy on developing other language skills are needed.

The study aims at investigating the difficulties encountered by English centers teachers of multileveled classes in teaching reading comprehension, and suggests some suitable strategies that can alleviate the problems. To run the study, thirty-four language center teachers' from Khartoum State are the sample of the study. A questionnaire, supported by classroom observation, was the collecting data tool. The quantitative method matches this type of research. The findings of the study reveal that the difficulties encountered by multileveled classes teachers' attributed to the students' limited vocabulary, poor background knowledge, annoying reading materials, lack of teachers' training, and adverse selection of suitable strategies. The findings of this study are of high value for syllables designers as well as multileveled classes'teachers. Teachers have to adopt adequate strategies, choosing attractive reading materials, and they should be equipped with the required training.

Social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, YouTube, and Instagram have become the refuge of teachers and students during the last years. However, there are many educational platforms set by the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education like Moodle and which bring the same services to the learners but in an academic setting. These platforms, mainly Facebook, has gained celebrity in the last years and are still achieving the same position during the Covid-19 pandemic even though many applications come to life, and virtual learning has become the only choice. The current research work under scrutiny aims to provide an in-depth look at the situation of EFL teaching and learning in the Algerian context during the Covid-19 pandemic by taking the department of English Language and Literature at Saida University as a case in point. It also endeavors to shed light on the learning process and which tools educators have used to promote virtual learning. As such, the main questions that set the study are how do Algerian universities face Covid-19 pandemic? Are Algerian EFL students motivated towards academic platforms like Moodle? Do EFL learners benefit from the new applications like Google Classroom and Zoom in promoting E-learning? Where about social networks like Facebook? Are these social platforms still gaining fame in the learning process during the pandemic? To answer these problematic questions, the researcher conducted a study with EFL first-year Master students and eight teachers of the English language at Saida University, Algeria. The researcher collected data through a questionnaire and an interview. The findings revealed that the most used tool for educational purposes was Facebook due to the students' motivation. The second tool was the Moodle platform. The analysis also demonstrated that students prefer face-to-face interaction in the classroom and handouts more than virtual learning. The results also showed that students are motivated to employ both SNSs like Facebook and YouTube and educational platforms as Moodle as complementary teaching materials.

This study examined the effect of pragmatic instruction on the awareness of suggestions of Persian efl learners. 34 persian efl learners of english took part in this study, 16 of whom received 10 sessions of awareness-raising instruction on the main head acts and downgraders in suggestions as the experimental group and the rest served as the control group with no instruction on the main head acts and downgraders. All the participants engaged in rating assessment tests before andafter the study. The results indicated that the experimental group receiving pragmatic instruction outperformed the control group in awareness of appropriate and accurate suggestions. It became evident that explicit instruction on pragmatic aspects of l2 to foreign language learners could aid both learners and teachers in developing learners' pragmatic competence. The findings of this study imply that integrating specific instructional treatments in foreign language classroom may raise learners' pragmatic awareness in the target language.

This paper is set up to outline the most common challenges in writing short sentences encountered by the first-year students at the English language departments at Al-Baha University campuses. The study is considered necessary because it raises the awareness of both students and instructors to improve their sentence writing. A mixed approach (quantitative and qualitative) was used to collect the data using questionnaires and interviews. Approximately122 students who study English as a Foreign Language (EFL), (%50.4 females and %49.6 males), together with 30 EFL instructors (15 males and 15 females) who were randomly selected. The paper addresses three questions. They are: 1) What common challenges do students face when writing short sentences?, 2) What are the most frequent challenging short sentence components among the students?, and 3) What are the differences between male and female students regarding difficulties in writing short sentences?. The study found significant challenges in constructing short sentences, distinguishing between active and passive voice, and using conjunctions, punctuation, quantifiers, and appropriate auxiliary verbs. Additionally, students encountered difficulties in building short sentences. Moreover, the study revealed that a high percentage of students have very low English writing skills practice. To overcome any obstacles and push students forward in their learning later, this study highly recommended that EFL instructors should pay more attention to the development of writing skills. Thus, extra written activities and peer assessment must be granted to students in writing short sentences. Moreover, more research should be done to explore and evaluate the most prevalent problems and barriers that first-year students encounter using written samples and paperwork.

As the Emotional Intelligence (EI) Theory suggests, emotional intelligence requires the integration of complex set of social, emotional and academic skills essential for life. Considering this precious source of information, the Staff Development Unit and the Syllabus Team at YADIM (The Center of Foreign Languages at Çukuruva University, Turkey) collaborated to implement some ideas of EI Theory into the existing EFL curriculum. There were two main causes of starting this pilot study. Firstly, the results of the informal interviews with YADIM teachers showed that some YADIM students have a tendency to drop out from English classes either mentally, by not responding to the lessons attentively, being unmotivated about studying/learning English or physically (attendance). Secondly, there were the needs emphasized by the different lecturers at different faculties of Çukurova University in response to the needs analysis interviews carried out to reshape the contents of the EFL having been conducted at YADIM. These findings confirmed that some graduates of YADIM experience various difficulties regarding their self confidence, social skills, self awareness, and self motivation when they go to their departments to continue with their freshman courses in English. Therefore, the piloting of the 'Hand in Hand with Emotions' program aimed at introducing the ideas of emotional intelligence to meet students' needs to become more autonomous language learners.

Mastery of English is indispensable for students to pursue their university major in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, it is mandatory for Saudi undergraduates studying at the preparatory year programs to get high scores in the EFL course to be eligible to enroll in the Bachelor’s degree programs. However, the sudden shift to distance learning worldwide to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic affects the university beginners’ attitudes to learn EFL. This article examines the general perceptions of Jubail University College EFL female students’ towards learning English through full online mode. Also, the study displays the benefits and drawbacks the EFL students have encountered while using the virtual classroom during the pandemic. Their views were investigated through in-depth one-on-one interviews and focused group discussion done virtually by the author. The results reveal that the majority of students have formed negative attitudes toward EFL virtual classrooms and preferred traditional classrooms. In addition, the results present solutions suggested by the participants to enhance the quality of full-online English language teaching, which could be useful for EFL language instructors.

This study aimed at investigating the effect of two strategies of teaching reading: 'semantic mapping' and 'question generation' on the reading achievement of a sample of 40 female students enrolling in two classes in Level 2 English as a Second Language Foundation Program at the Community College of Qatar. The researcher of the current study tried to find ways to help solve the problems of students' low achievement in reading comprehension tests. Convenient sampling was used to select the two classes as the researcher herself was teaching them. The two classes of 20 students each constituted two experimental groups. One class was taught by the semantic mapping strategy, and the other was taught by students' question-generation strategy. A pre-posttests design was used in both experimental groups. T-test computed on the pretests in both classes revealed that the groups were equivalent. The researcher established the validity and reliability of all the components of the study: the pre-posttest and the instructional material. The instructional material selected for the intervention consisted of four extra expository texts, which are not written in students' textbooks. After analyzing students' results on the pre-post tests using two T-Test statistical analyses, it was found out that there were significant differences in the mean scores of each group on the pre-post tests, which reveals that each individual strategy has significantly influenced the group achievement. In order to investigate which teaching strategy was significantly better than the other was a third T-test on the post-tests, mean scores in both groups were computed. The results were in favor of the experimental group, which was taught by the Semantic Mapping Strategy. In light of these findings, the researcher suggested several recommendations directed to ESL instructors, curricula designers, and researchers

Information and communication technologies have become vital in the educational realm over the past two decades and a significant subject in the language educational system. E-materials are not available for all the students, and that causes an impediment for English foreign language teachers at Dr. Moulay Tahar University of Saida-Algeria. The research paper aims at investigating e-teaching and e-learning effectiveness in the Algerian university. The first research tool was an interview with teachers at the Department of English Language and Literature, Saida. The second research instrument was observational classroom sessions. Second-year students were observed for 2 months (20 sessions in 2020-2021). The findings revealed that e-teaching and online learning are in vain as they are still new for both tutors and learners. Thus, e-education ought to start at an early age so that learners will get used to it. Both students and teachers should be trained in virtual learning and teaching methods.

ICTs Implementation in Teaching Linguistics and Students’ Test Achievement. Case of Biskra University





Salima RABEHI
Mohamed Khider University of Biskra-Algeria







Abstract:
From our own experience in teaching the Linguistics course to 1st year classes of the English Branch (EB) at Mohamed Khider University of Biskra (MKUB), we have noticed the students’ poor achievement when tested in Linguistics. Such poor achievement urges us to rethink our methods in teaching such a demanding course as Linguistics. The present paper is about implementing ICTs in teaching Linguistics and its impact on EFL students’ test achievement. We hypothesize if we teach Linguistics using judiciously ICTs, the students’ test results will significantly improve. We have tested our hypothesis by teaching linguistics to a group of 25 students (1st year classes) in the language laboratory relying on the Data Show device. Our main objective is to discover the students’ attitudes towards learning linguistics in a new setting (Language Laboratory) using new teaching aid (Data Show). To collect data for this study, we have conducted a feedback interview with the 25 students who have undergone the experience of studying linguistics in the language laboratory via the Data Show. The results disclose that the implementation of ICTs used in teaching linguistics has shown its positive impact on the students’ test achievement.
Keywords: ICTs, EFL Students, Linguistics’ Teaching, Test Achievement

The study presented here is an attempt to investigate the role of bilingualism in EFL students' reading comprehension proficiency, and to that end six classes of three high schools were randomly chosen. These high schools were Soghomonian (Armenian bilinguals), Taleghani (Turkish bilinguals) and Ershad (Persian monolinguals). They were given a questionnaire and a reading comprehension test and the obtained data were analysed through one-way analysis of variance test. The
performance of the three groups was significantly different. Tukey's HSD showed that the Armenian bilingual group was the first and best group and the Persian monolingual group was the second one; however, the Turkish bilingual group was the poor third. The results suggest that L1 literacy practices of the Armenian bilinguals have worked to their advantage to the extent that they have outperformed the other two groups. This has not been the case with the Turkish bilinguals whose lack of L1 practices has worked to their detriment.

Listening is considered the most significant skill in language learning, but EFL programs at universities in Indonesia provide very limited credits for this skill, i.e. 80 hours all together distributed in three semesters. The purpose of this research was to find out whether this limited number of hours could help EFL students achieve advanced level in listening to authentic English spoken by native speakers. To collect the data 20 students majoring in an EFL program in an Indonesian university were tested with authentic material. The test results showed that the total score obtained by the EFL students was 49.6% in average. Therefore, it can be concluded that the ability of the EFL students in comprehending the authentic language spoken by a native speaker of English was very low. This result suggests that students are to be exposed more to listening practice such as watching movies or listening to podcasts to improve their ability in comprehending language produced by native speakers of English. INTRODUCTION Listening is one of the skills that should be mastered by the learners of English language. According to Widiastuti (2012), this skill is used more frequently than other skills. Therefore, the teacher of English needs to emphasize improvement of listening skills, particularly the listening comprehension, since the level of comprehension in listening also influences other skills (Gilakjani & Ahmadi, 2011, p. 986). Furthermore, Nunan (2002, p. 238) agrees that listening is a very crucial skill for EFL students. In EFL programs offered by Indonesian universities, listening comprehension is one of the core courses and it is usually taught in three to four semesters. For example, at Syiah Kuala University listening comprehension is divided into three levels, i.e. literal listening, interpretive listening, and advanced listening. Each level is taught once a week for every week of a 16-week semester. At 100 minutes a meeting, the classes total 80 hours of instruction time for all 3 semesters. This time is not adequate for students to reach advanced levels of listening proficiency. However, there has been no research suggesting how many hours are required to reach advanced levels of EFL listening proficiency. Therefore, the aim of this research was to confirm whether the number of learning hours offered by the EFL programs at universities in Indonesia is adequate to make students achieve high level of proficiency in listening. The success of learning listening comprehension skills by EFL learners is determined by how much they can comprehend language produced by a native speaker

Idioms are essential parts of any language learning that indicate second language proficiency of learners in their communication. However, there is no doubt that idioms are more difficult to learn and comprehend than usual words of phrases. The present study investigated the possible effects of providing different task types with involvement loads on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL students' learning of idiom. A total number of 60 EFL students were selected based on their performance on Quick Placement Test and idiom familiarity test. The participants were randomly divided into three groups each containing 20 students. The data gathered through conducting pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest of L2 idioms were analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics of one way ANOVA and paired samples t test. The findings revealed that tasks with higher involvement load led to better performance of students both in initial learning and the retention of idioms. The findi...

Going abroad and getting university education there as Erasmus students at Turkish Universities are becoming more and more popular nowadays. EFL students usually choose Erasmus exchange programs in order to gain linguistic, cultural and individual benefits. They aim to improve their intercultural skills in the medium of the host countries' culture. The growing interest in learning different cultures and languages in the world brings with it the question whether mobility programs are efficient or not for university students. The present study was conducted to investigate if the university students who joined mobility programs changed their point of view about different cultures and raised their language and cultural awareness of different countries. This study employs qualitative methods to gather the data via semi-structured interviews with Erasmus students at Akdeniz University, Faculty of Education, and ELT Department joining mobility programs at least 1 term long. ÖZET: Erasmus öğrencisi olarak üniversite eğitimini yurt dışında almak günümüzde çok popüler bir hale gelmektedir. İngilizce Öğretmenliği Bölümü öğrencileri Erasmus değişim programlarını genellikle dilsel, kültürel ve bireysel gelişim kazanmak için seçmektedirler. Gittikleri ülkelerin kültürlerini öğrenerek kültürlerarası deneyim kazanmayı amaçlamaktadırlar. Farklı kültürlere ve dillere duyulan bu ilgi beraberinde öğrenci hareketlilik programlarının üniversite öğrencileri için etkili olup olmadığı sorusunu getirmektedir. Bu çalışma, Erasmus hareketlilik programının üniversite öğrencilerinin bakış açılarını değiştirip değiştirmediği ve farklı ülkeler hakkında kültürel ve dilsel farkındalıklarını arttırıp arttırmadığı konusunu araştırmaktadır. Bu çalışma Akdeniz Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, İngilizce Öğretmenliği Bölümünde 1 dönem öğrenci hareketliliği programına katılmış öğrencilerle yarı-yapılandırılmış teknik kullanılarak gerçekleştirilmiş nitel bir araştırmadır. Anahtar Sözcükler: değişim programları, kültürlerarası yeti, kültürel farklılıklar, dil gelişimi

Duygusal Zeka (EI) teorisine gore, hayat sosyal, duygusal ve akademik becerilerin birlikte kullanimini gerektirmektedir. Bu nedenle ozbilinc, motivasyon, kendine cekiduzen verme,empati kurma ve iliskilerde ustalik gibi one cikan bes temel unsuruyla duygusal zeka ogrenme potansiyelini belirleyen onemli bir zeka turudur. YADIM ogretmenleriyle yapilan gorusmelerde bazi ogrencilerin Ingilizce derslerine karsi ilgisizlik (dersi ilgiyle takip edememe, ogrendiklerini tekrar etme ve odev yapma konusunda isteksizlik, derse devamsizlik) egilimlerinin oldugu gundeme gelmistir. Ayrica ogrencilerin ogrendikleri yabanci dili kullanacaklari fakultelerdeki bolum hocalariyla yapilan ihtiyac analiz gorusmelerinde de ogrencilerin daha basarili olabilmeleri icin bazi ekstra becerilere (ozguven, sosyal beceriler, kisisel farkindalik, motivasyon) sahip olmalari gerektigi vurgulanmistir. Bu gerekceler dogrultusunda YADIM ogrencilerinin daha otonom dil ogrencileri olabilmeleri amacina yonelik, onlari duygusal zeka ile tanistiran bir pilot calisma yapmaya gereksinim duyulmustur. Bu pilot calismada YADIM Hizmetici Egitim Birimi (SDU) ve Program Hazirlama Birimi isbirligi yapmis ve duygusal zeka teorisinim bazi yaklasimlarini, merkezde uygulanmakta olan Ingilizce Hazirlik programina entegre edebilmek icin “Duygularla El Ele” egitim programi gelistirilmistir. Oncelikle program ogrencilere tanitilmis ve cesitli aktivilerle sekiz hafta (bir blok) sureyle uygulanmistir. Calisma sonucunda elde edilen bulgular, ogrencilerin okul ve is hayatindaki basarida duygusal zekanin gerekliligi ile ilgili kisisel farkindaliklarinin yukseldigini gostermistir

Idioms are essential parts of any language learning that indicate second language proficiency of learners in their communication. However, there is no doubt that idioms are more difficult to learn and comprehend than usual words of phrases. The present study investigated the possible effects of providing different task types with involvement loads on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL students' learning of idiom. A total number of 60 EFL students were selected based on their performance on Quick Placement Test and idiom familiarity test. The participants were randomly divided into three groups each containing 20 students. The data gathered through conducting pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest of L2 idioms were analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics of one way ANOVA and paired samples t test. The findings revealed that tasks with higher involvement load led to better performance of students both in initial learning and the retention of idioms. The findi...

Usage of electronic information resources is a vital element in the current distance education. The study also investigated students' satisfaction and highlighted the challenges faced by English language and translation students when using these resources. This was a mixed-methods study that applied a questionnaire followed by qualitative interviews. The participants were 150 female and male students from the Department of English Language and Translation. The findings revealed that electronic information resources were highly helpful and flexible to use. The students were satisfied with the electronic information resources. In contrast, some students reported that they faced several challenges such as internet issues, lack of skills and lack of orientation programs. Conclusion and recommendations regarding the use of these resources were provided.

Burnout has been a major concern in the educational settings and it is worth exploring it among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students and finding its relationship with other factors, such as emotional intelligence (EI), which may help reduce burnout sources. In this light, this study was designed to a) explore Iranian EFL students' burnout and EI profiles; b) investigate the relationship between EFL students' burnout and their EI; and c) examine the extent to which EFL students' EI competencies could predict their burnout. To these ends, 100 male and female Iranian EFL university students, selected through convenience sampling from two universities (Shahrekord University and Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz), participated in the study and responded to the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS) and the Bar-On's Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i). To triangulate the data, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 20 EFL students. Data analysis showed that EFL students had a low level of burnout and were emotionally intelligent at the intrapersonal level. Also, the data from semi-structured interview provided further insight into the quantitative results and explained some personal and organizational factors in relation to EFL students' burnout. Moreover, bivariate correlation and multiple regression analysis revealed a negative relationship between EI and two dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion and cynicism) and a positive relationship between professional efficacy and EI. Furthermore, intrapersonal, general mood, and adaptability components of EI were found to be better predictors of burnout. The findings have implications for language educators in reducing students' burnout.

This study considers the enhancement of socio-cultural competence of EFL students by means of extra-curricular activities. In this study, both control and experimental groups included 80 language learners (each group 40). The control group was given the questionnaires, pre- and post-tests along with the experimental group. Then, extracurricular activities were given to the experimental group which itself was divided into four mini groups. 10 participants were asked to prepare a self-video clip each week (4 clips as whole). Another group of 10 testees were asked to use social networks such as Facebook, What’s app, Telegram and the likes chatting with native speakers at least two hours a day involving themselves in English practice after taking pre-test and they were also given the subsequent post-test after a month. The third mini group, including 10 participants, had to write a letter each week to a native speaker e-pal (4 letters as whole). Finally, the fourth mini group including 10 participants participating at least once a week in ACD (American Corner Dushanbe) sessions which are related to social cultural events such as festivals, charity activities, etc. After that, research questionnaires were distributed among samples using SPSS software for data analysis. The author come to the conclusion that culture-related extra-curricular activities result in the enhancement of the level of language proficiency as well as contribute a lot to bringing up citizens, intellectually, culturally and multi-culturally developed professionals with deep awareness of intercultural values.

Preparing students to compete and face any challenges of the rapid changes of globalization is a responsibility of any form of education. Students' success in today's learning lies on their ability to utilize technology as the heart of globalizationas well as to communicate in English effectively within a variety of purposes. Project-based learning, as one of the technology-based activities, is believed to be an effective method to facilitate the use of technology and oral communication skill in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. This article investigates whether there is a significant difference in students' speaking ability between students taught through PBL using e-poster and those taught through conventional method. It also determines whether there is a significant difference in students speaking ability between extrovert and introvert students taught through PBL using e-poster. Sixty-one Indonesian secondary level students from two intact classes were involved and assigned randomly into experimental and control groups. The quantitative data were collected through pre-test and post-test from both groups. Analysis of the first result revealed that students who were taught through PBL using E-poster significantly outperformed those who were taught through a conventional method. Conversely, the second result showed that students' personality types (extrovert and introvert) did not affect their speaking achievement.

Idioms are essential parts of any language learning that indicate second language proficiency of learners in their communication. However, there is no doubt that idioms are more difficult to learn and comprehend than usual words of phrases. The present study investigated the possible effects of providing different task types with involvement loads on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL students' learning of idiom. A total number of 60 EFL students were selected based on their performance on Quick Placement Test and idiom familiarity test. The participants were randomly divided into three groups each containing 20 students. The data gathered through conducting pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest of L2 idioms were analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics of one way ANOVA and paired samples t test. The findings revealed that tasks with higher involvement load led to better performance of students both in initial learning and the retention of idioms. The findings would hopefully encourage teachers and learners to use tasks and with deeper cognitive processing and higher involvement load to have more effective learning of English idioms.

Strategy Instruction (SI) has been in much debate on its effectiveness on students' language learning strategies (LLS) use, proficiency and the four main English skills (speaking, listening, writing and reading). In addition, most research studies on SI focus on one main English skill and train students with one or a few groups of LLS. Still fewer research has looked into the details of changes (or students' learning processes) using diaries. This research used an embedded mixed methods quasi-experimental design to collect in-depth data to assess the effectiveness of SI on higher education nursing students' changes of LLS, English achievement and learning processes. These quantitative and qualitative methods included questionnaires, group interviews, diaries, pre-and post-tests and class observations. One treatment group and one comparison group, a total of 59 university freshmen in Macao SAR participated in this study. All six groups of LLS (memory-related, cognitive, compensatory, metacognitive, affective and social) were taught and their effects on all four main English skills were discussed. Quantitatively, two groups (affective and compensatory) of LLS use and qualitatively, the learning processes of students had been improved after SI but no improvement was obtained in students' achievement from the Oxford Placement Tests quantitatively. In this study, recommendations are made for utilizing SI in improving LLS in EFL.

Applied linguists have different viewpoints on the relationship between teaching literature and language. Language through a literature approach theoretically corroborates the role of literature in developing language skills because it exposes students to different styles of writing and authentic materials. Language-structure-based syllabuses might not be sufficient for developing students' language skills. By contrast, an authentic-based syllabus such as novels and short stories motivates language learning and fosters the development of thinking and language skills. In this vein, this study attempts to investigate undergraduates' attitude towards the role of teaching novels in enhancing writing skills, using a survey in which students provided their opinions on the areas that teaching novels helped improve their writing skills. The students' responses were analysed, and a one-sample t-test revealed the students' agreement of the positive role of teaching novels in developing their writing skills at sentence and paragraph levels. Based on these findings, the author recommended the incorporation of novels in the courses of English undergraduate programs, following adequate methods of teaching and selection of appropriate novels that matches' students' linguistic levels.

It is known that false friends are present in many languages. Focusing on the content units of a text or a sentence is a widely studied notion in the literature. In this regard, this study focuses on Spanish speaking EFL students and tries to find out whether they have difficulties in distinguishing false friends in isolation or not and aims to explain the relationship between their level of English and the degree to which they are able to identify false friends. The data was constructed through a series of questionnaires with 102 Spanish speaking EFL students. In addition, collected data have been analysed by employing a Content Analysis (Laswell, et al., 1952). After the analysis, it has been inferred from the findings that the students tend to have difficulties in identifying false friends in isolation. Findings also suggested that even advanced level Spanish speaking students of English make mistakes when it comes to identifying false friends in isolation, which clearly shows that there is not a meaningful correlation between the students’ level of English and their ability to detect false friends.

Community is one of the main forces that shapes individuals' beliefs, values, and behaviors. The community perceptions can influence students at many levels especially at the level of learning foreign languages. Therefore, this study aims to examine and analyze how community perception of EFL can influence the students' willingness to learn and use English language. The study highlights some of the recent studies conducted about the importance of learning English in Saudi Arabia, and the community perception and its effect in the low EFL achievement level of Saudi learners. The aim of this study is to assess the community perception of English and their effect on EFL use by King Khalid university students. The study followed the quantitative method of data collection and analysis. A survey was conducted to collect data through a questionnaire containing 17 items that was completed by 89 students from the first to the fourth year in the languages and translation department at King Khalid University, Abha. The data were analyzed through statistical analysis (SPSS) and the use of multiple regression analysis for the data analysis. Subsequently, the findings showed that the students have a high willingness to study and practice English, whereas the community has a middle effect on students' attitudes in the use of English language. Additionally, the study shows that the community have a middle to high negative effect on the students' language competency mainly, in the improperly teaching methods and the lack of extracurricular activities provided by the educational system. Cite as: Alshehri, A. H.A. (2018). Community Perceptions of English and its Effect on EFL Students' Attitudes Towards Learning the Language. Faculty of Languages and Translation, King Khalid University (M.A.Thesis).

Developing effective argumentative and persuasive texts is a challenge for both native and non-native students of writing skills, where a lack of linguistic, rhetorical, and cultural awareness skills are major problems in effective written communication. International research results show that a Genre-Based Approach based in particular on Systemic Functional and Cognitive Linguistics allows students to take a significant leap towards controlling macro and micro-genre structures as well as language and that taking a consciousness-raising approach to genre seems to be a key contributing factor to better writing development. We report on the findings of two recent Iranian studies, one that implemented the Genre-Based Approach, and the other Mobile-Assisted Dynamic Assessment following mixed Product-Process methodology, as well as giving an overview of some recent research into the development of academic writing skills through genre teaching-learning in contrast to traditional approaches. Results show that, though traditional methodologies can have success, the Genre-Based Approach, with its focus on better genre characteristics identification along with improved teaching and learning methodology, combining elements of structure, language, rhetoric, and cultural contextualization, gives more rapid results, and leads to better and more confident writers, as well as better syllabus development.

Empowering new generations with technology through employing blended learning approach to teach English as a Foreign Language has been recently investigated by many researchers in various contexts. This mixed-methods study aimed at examining the effects of the blended learning approach on Jordanian EFL learners' grammar performance. The study also aimed at investigating the attitudes of Jordanian EFL learners toward blended learning. To achieve the objectives of the study, it employed a quasi-experimental design (pre and posttests) followed by qualitative interviews. The participants were divided into two groups: experimental and control groups. Among the 28 students in the sample, those in the experimental blended learning group (n=13) were taught using Moodle while those in the control group (n=15) were taught using conventional methods. All the 13 participants in the experimental group were interviewed. The results of the posttest revealed that students in the experimental group outperformed students in the control group. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis results showed that blended learning had a positive impact on the learners' English grammar performance and that they were strongly satisfied and motivated to learn English using similar methods. It is concluded that blended learning could be used as an effective method of teaching English grammar in EFL settings. It is hoped that these results will help the university, faculty, and students to develop the skills necessary for blended learning.

In this climate of the expansion of globalization, in today's classrooms, encouraging student investment in writing is paramount. Due to the complicatedness of this skill, many teachers find it difficult to make their learners aware of the divergent phases of writing so they produce better compositions. Thus, the professionalism of teachers is inevitably essential in shaping the learners' writing ability (assisting students as they develop a piece of writing, and boosting their engagement with writing), and learners can achieve successful learning outcomes if they grasp how best to improve their work. To make language learning more effective, there is a need for pursuing professional growth and providing conditions where teachers cooperate to attain higher levels of learning among their students. Indeed, professional development for a teacher is about acquiring new skills, creating a potent learning atmosphere, surmounting the barriers, rectifying the failures and moving forward. It provides ongoing opportunities for educators to continue to identify teaching/learning problems, develop solutions, raise their performance, address students' needs and up their achievements. The present paper sets out to take a closer look at how teachers work with writing among the first year English as foreign language (EFL) students. It tends to offer an instruction based on a set of professional development methods that provide practitioners with several avenues to implement them in classroom practice. To this end, findings of the research indicate that the proposed strategies can lead to a virtuous bond between the teaching/learning process of written expression that may generate beneficial knowledge, valuable teaching, and constructive learning results. Introduction Within information technology age, and in an ever-changing world of education, English under the flux of innovations is the nowadays tool for international organizations. In this way, it is the window to new opportunities, connections, and growth. It is a commodity that assists students in improving their literacy skills, expanding their own cultural awareness, and increasing the possibility of a better grasp and appreciation of alien cultures. According to many studies, English has become the dominant foreign language used around the globe and has been appropriated by its speakers in diverse ways. Consequently, both the needs of learners and the aims and objectives of English Language Teaching (ELT) have changed.

Self-confidence of English language teachers has been discovered to be a significant factor in learners' achievement. This study aims to find the relationship between English instructor's self-confidence and L2 learners' development of conversational skills. The participants of this study were 30 lower intermediate L2 learners at Shayan Language School in Torbat Heydarie. The participants were divided into control and experimental groups. A self-confidence questionnaire was used for the present article. The instructors of Shayan institute were asked to answer this questionnaire. Then two male instructors, one with high self-confidence and one with normal level of self-confidence were selected as the instructors of experimental and control groups, respectively. The course lasted for 12 sessions (6 weeks with two weekly sessions); in each session both instructors provided their students with the same techniques, including conversations, role plays, speaking about pictures, etc. To homogenize the students a conversation-based proficiency test (CPE speaking test) was administered. Afterwards, 30 L2 learners were selected and divided into experimental and control groups. At the end of the course a posttest was administered. The results of t test analysis indicated that participants in the self-confident group could significantly outperform those in the control group. The results of this study can provide pedagogical implications for English teachers to be self-confident and can convey this quality of L2 learners in the class.