ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Literature and English Language Teaching and Learning: A Symbiotic Relationship
Author: Ihejirika, Richard C.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Literature,English Instruction,Language Acquisition,Teaching Methods,Fused Curriculum,Educational Change,Change Strategies,Educational Practices,Instructional Effectiveness,Secondary School Curriculum,Alignment (Education),Foreign Countries,Educational Strategies

A close look at literature and language shows that the two are closely related. This close relationship is obvious because from all indications, literature presupposes language. It is inconceivable to discuss literature without reference to language. But going by the traditional practice at the secondary school level in Nigerian context, there are indications that Literature and English Language are treated as two separate school subjects. At the senior secondary school level, the subjects are taught in different classroom settings by teachers that are either designated Literature teachers or English teachers. By this dichotomy, the Literature teachers, to a large extent, pre-occupy their teaching period with the teaching of the stories, the contents and the socio-cultural, economic and religious implications of the prescribed literary texts without placing much emphasis on the language components of the texts. In the end, some students have been found to have done very well in the Literature exams but perform poorly in English Language. Against this background, this paper posited that the relationship between literature and language is symbiotic. It was, therefore, suggested that the relationship should be explored and exploited in order to enhance effective teaching and learning of Literature and English Language at the secondary school level so that the learners would possess high level of proficiency in the use of English Language, which would ultimately contribute immensely in addressing the seeming poor academic performance at the secondary and tertiary levels of education in Nigeria. Some suggestions for effective teaching and learning of Literature and English Language were made.
Language Learning Strategy Use and Reading Achievement
Author: Ghafournia, Narjes
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Learning,Learning Strategies,English (Second Language),Personal Autonomy,Reading Tests,Questionnaires,Reading Processes,Foreign Countries,Statistical Analysis,Reading Ability,Reading Achievement,Teacher Education,Language Teachers,Reading Comprehension,Teaching Methods,Transfer of Training,Student Attitudes,Language Tests

The current study investigated the differences across the varying levels of EFL learners in the frequency and choice of learning strategies. Using a reading test, questionnaire, and parametric statistical analysis, the findings yielded up discrepancies among the participants in the implementation of language-learning strategies concerning their reading achievement. The participants comprised 307 Iranian BA students doing a general English course at Teacher-Training University of Mashhad. The results suggest that as the learners' reading ability improves, the learners are more inclined to choose strategies to facilitate reading processing, which is reflective of greater autonomy for language learning. Thus, the results imply that appropriate employment of language-learning strategies can foster individual autonomy and hence reduce affective filters to process reading texts in an efficient way. The findings are consistent with previous studies on the inconsistency among learners with different reading ability in employing language-learning strategies and comprehension process. Thus, the findings further support integrating strategy training into conventional teaching approaches to enhance efficacy of reading programs. Through adopting strategic-based instruction, teachers can help learners become aware of available strategies, the way to organize them systematically, and the way they can transfer the strategies to new language learning contexts (Cohen, 2007).
Pragmatic Development of Chinese EFL Learners--A Study on FL Suggestions
Author: Gu, Tongqing
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Asians,Pragmatics,Computational Linguistics,Speech Acts,Linguistic Performance,Comparative Analysis,Learning Strategies,Second Language Instruction,Skill Development,Majors (Students),Language Tests,Undergraduate Students,Foreign Countries

While the number of studies on the pragmatic development of nonnative English speakers has been increasing, surprisingly little research has been conducted on the development of the ability of foreign language learners to perform the suggestion speech act, with even less taking Chinese EFL learners as the target group. The present study examines the development of Chinese EFL learners' pragmatic competence by investigating their performance of the suggestion speech act over time. Three sub-corpora representing three different periods of Chinese EFL learners' performance were selected from the SECCL (Spoken English Corpus of Chinese Learners) to discover the changes in the use of linguistic formulae as well as suggestion strategies by Chinese EFL learners. Their performance was then compared with that of native English speakers to find out whether there was evidence of improvement across the years. The results show that (1) changes were taking place in the use of linguistic formulae and suggestion strategies by Chinese learners from 1997 to 2003, with greater changes taking place from the year 2000 to 2003, and (2) there was evidence of increasing similarity between Chinese learners' performance of the suggestion speech acts and that of native English speakers. It can thus be concluded that Chinese learners' pragmatic ability in English improved to some extent over the years of the study.
English Language Teaching: The Reflective Practices of an Oral Communication Class
Author: Juhary, Jowati
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Oral Language,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Learning Strategies,Teaching Methods,Foreign Countries,Indonesian,Official Languages,Reflective Teaching,Universities,Employment Potential,Communicative Competence (Languages),Military Schools

Malaysia has come to a point where second and third languages become part of the requirements to be employed especially in the multinational and international companies. After gaining its Independence, English becomes the second language in Malaysia, and Bahasa Melayu is recognised as the official language of the country. This move has greatly impacted the education sector in Malaysia, and one of the challenges is that younger generation lacks English language competency. This can be supported by some recent surveys about employability of Malaysian graduates, in that one of the issues which hinders graduates to secure jobs is the inability to converse in English (see Mohamed Khaled Nordin, 2009; Noor Azina Ismail, 2011). Therefore, this article aims to examine the teaching and learning strategies and assessments for an oral communication course at the Defence University in Malaysia. At the same time, this article attempts to provide a basis for Continual Quality Improvement (CQI) for the course. The findings of this article are a series of reflective practices, observed and experienced by the author. These reflective practices can be used for further improvements and future references of the course.
Analogy as a Tool for the Acquisition of English Verb Tenses among Low Proficiency L2 Learners
Author: Yoke, Soo Kum
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Verbs,Morphemes,Second Language Learning,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Language Proficiency,Figurative Language,Creative Teaching,Grammar,Comparative Analysis,Instructional Effectiveness,Visual Aids,Instructional Innovation,Scores,Pretests Posttests,Language Tests,Indonesian,Foreign Countries

The teaching of English grammar to second language learners is usually a tedious, stressful and time consuming activity and even after all the effort, students have generally found these lessons boring and confusing. As such, innovative language instructors have been trying different approaches to the teaching of grammar in their classrooms. Using analogy as a tool for teaching is nothing new especially in science subjects such as Physics. In this comparative study however, analogy is used to teach English verb tenses to low proficiency L2 learners of English. The aim is to investigate the effects of using analogy as a tool for teaching English verb tenses. If using analogy is found to be effective, then it would be interesting to investigate to what extent it can be implemented in the low proficiency classroom. The analogy used has been creatively thought out and incorporated in the lesson with the help of innovative visual aids. A hundred and seventy-two pre-diploma students with low proficiency levels of English were selected for this experiment. They were given a pre and post-test task before and after the lesson on verb tenses in order to determine whether the use of analogy implemented during the lesson had a favourable impact to learning. The test scores of the pre and post tests were then compared to verify the feasibility of using analogy in the lesson.
The Effect of Portfolio Assessment on EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension and Motivation
Author: Hosseini, Hosna
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Portfolio Assessment,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Reading Comprehension,Reading Motivation,Experimental Groups,Foreign Countries,Humanism,Transformative Learning,College Students,Females,Translation,Majors (Students),Quasiexperimental Design,Control Groups,Learning Strategies,Teaching Methods,Pretests Posttests,Constructivism (Learning),Questionnaires,Statistical Analysis

This study highlighted the humanistic-transformational perspectives via portfolio assessment which offers a conceptual framework for teaching and assessment. More specifically, it attempted to explore the effectof portfolio assessment on EFL learners'reading comprehension ability and motivation in the context of Iran. It adopted the quasi-experimental design comprising the pretest-treatment-posttest paradigm. To achieve the purpose, the researchers collected the triangulated data about the participants. Two classes were selected as the experimental and control groups from Tabaran Institute of Higher Education. They were 65 female university students majoring in translation. The only difference between the two groups was integrating portfolio into learning strategy-based instruction for the experimental group (portfolio-based instruction vs. non-portfolio instruction). At the post-testing stage, the both groups were retested through the reading comprehension test and the motivation questionnaire. A self-report assessment was also utilized to increase the credibility of the motivation test. The result obtained from Mann Whitney U tests and t-tests revealed that portfolio assessment as a constructivist strategy empowers participants' reading comprehension and motivation.
Captioned Instructional Video: Effects on Content Comprehension, Vocabulary Acquisition and Language Proficiency
Author: BavaHarji, Madhubala
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Video Technology,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Language Proficiency,Questionnaires,Language Tests,Vocabulary Development,Student Attitudes,Second Language Instruction,Control Groups,Statistical Analysis,Comprehension,Teaching Methods,Instructional Effectiveness,Films,Multimedia Instruction,Foreign Countries,Grammar,Listening Comprehension,College Students,Pretests Posttests

This experimental design study examined the effects of viewing captioned instructional videos on EFL learners' content comprehension, vocabulary acquisition and language proficiency. It also examined the participants' perception of viewing the captioned instructional videos. The 92 EFL students in two classes, who were undertaking the &quot;Tape and Video Interpretation&quot; course, participated in this study. The randomly assigned experimental class viewed 30 episodes of captioned &quot;Connect with English&quot; and the control class viewed the same episodes without captions. Adopting the quantitative approach, a Michigan English Test, Content-Specific Tests and a questionnaire were administered to examine the participants' content comprehension, vocabulary acquisition and language proficiency development as well as the experimental group's perception towards viewing captioned instructional videos. Although, both groups recorded gains, the findings were in favor of the use of captioned instructional videos. The results showed that the effects of viewing captioned instructional videos are greater on vocabulary acquisition and language proficiency development than on content comprehension. The participants' perceptions of the use of captioned instructional video were consistent with the results. They felt that it enhanced their language learning, but did not affect their comprehension of the movie and that captions were not a form of distraction. Pedagogical implications for EFL instructions, especially where multimedia technology tools may be limited is that, captioned instructional videos can be deemed as a promising media to enhance language learning.
The Effect of Question-Generation Strategy on Iranian EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension Development
Author: Khansir, Ali Akbar
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Foreign Countries,High School Students,Multiple Choice Tests,Reading Comprehension,Language Tests,Language Proficiency,Pretests Posttests,Outcomes of Treatment,Instructional Effectiveness,Metacognition,Language Processing,Schemata (Cognition),Males,Females,College Students,Questioning Techniques,Teaching Methods

The main aim of the study was to investigate the effect of question-generation strategy on Iranian EFL third grade high school students' ability in reading comprehension passages via multiple-choice question .In this research, the total number of one hundred and twenty male and female students participated. For homogeneity of the students, a proficiency test including a multiple-choice reading comprehension test (Hill, 1980) was ascertained in the twenty selected questions. Eight multiple-choice reading comprehension passages (Hill, 1980) used based on the target of pre-test and post-test in the forty selected questions. In this research, the students were divided into two experimental groups; each group consisting of 30 homogeneous students (i.e., EMG as Experimental Male Group and EFG as Experimental Female Group) and two control groups (i.e., CMG as Control Male Group and CFG as Control Female Group). In the treatment time, the two experimental groups of the students were instructed for 10 weeks. Outcome of the study showed that question-generation strategy had significantly impact on the Iranian EFL third grade high school learners' in reading comprehension passages.
An Empirical Study of Applying Associative Method in College English Vocabulary Learning
Author: Zhang, Min
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Associative Learning,Vocabulary Development,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Nonmajors,Asians,Retention (Psychology),Foreign Countries,Teaching Methods,College Freshmen,Language Tests

Vocabulary is the basis of any language learning. To many Chinese non-English majors it is difficult to memorize English words. This paper applied associative method in presenting new words to them. It is found that associative method did receive a better result both in short-term and long-term retention of English words. Compared with the traditional way, associative method was more efficient in the retention of polysyllabic words, monosyllabic and disyllabic words. In addition, the differences were very significant. However, forgetting greatly influenced the long retention of English words. Therefore, teachers should encourage learners to review what they learned in class frequently, and learners themselves should participate actively in associative learning.
Students' Perceptions of Autonomous Out-of-Class Learning through the Use of Computers
Author: Liu, Xianghu
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Student Attitudes,Computer Assisted Instruction,Electronic Learning,Higher Education,Questionnaires,Interviews,Independent Study,Data Analysis,Positive Attitudes,Information Technology,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Learning Strategies,Efficiency,Oral Language,Verbal Ability,Listening Skills,Instructional Effectiveness,Time on Task

This study investigates the attitudes towards, and practices of, computer-assisted autonomous learning in learning English of 160 students from three different higher education institutions in China. To do this, a questionnaire was completed by 160 participants, and follow-up in-depth interviews were undertaken with six participants and six of their teachers. The results from the findings and data analysis demonstrate students' attitudes towards computer-assisted autonomous English learning. Furthermore, the students have a positive view of computer-assisted autonomous learning. Also, it is believed that, with the development of Information Technology (IT), some English language learning problems, such as inefficient learning strategies and limited oral and listening ability that English teaching in China has faced for many years, may be solved. Finally, both the students and the teachers have made favourable comments on the effectiveness of computer assisted language learning, which is more effective than other ways to learn English. Based on the findings of this study, some main implications are presented. Recommendations are also made for enhancing teacher training, updating English coursebooks with relevant websites and investing more funds in learning facilities for higher education students.
Teaching Specialized Vocabulary by Integrating a Corpus-Based Approach: Implications for ESP Course Design at the University Level
Author: Hou, Hsiao-I
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Vocabulary Development,Computational Linguistics,Cooking Instruction,Food,English for Special Purposes,Hospitality Occupations,Foreign Countries,Web Sites,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,College Students,Pretests Posttests,Material Development

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how to integrate two in-house specialized corpora into a university-level English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course for nonnative speakers of English. The ESP course was an introductory level of wine tasting for Applied English Department students at a university specializing in hospitality in Taiwan. Two corpora of wine tasting notes selected from the official website of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) in Canada, one for red wine and one for white wine, were compiled. Lexical density and vocabulary compositions were analyzed. The results show that the lexical density and the percentages of specialized vocabulary of the wine corpora were higher than in other disciplines. In addition, wine reviewers used different vocabulary to describe the characteristics of white wine and red wine. From the keyword analysis, terms related to cooking methods and food names appeared in high frequencies. Based on the corpora analysis results, vocabulary lists, the LCBO website, and the in-house corpora were introduced to the students as supplementary materials. The pre- and posttest results for vocabulary indicate that the students enrolled in this program gained significant progress in both content and language knowledge. Based on the study results, recommendations for ESP teaching and materials development are discussed.
The Effects of Multimedia Task-Based Language Teaching on EFL Learners' Oral L2 Production
Author: BavaHarji, Madhubala
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Multimedia Instruction,Task Analysis,Accuracy,Language Fluency,Oral Language,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Scaffolding (Teaching Technique),Language Tests,Second Language Instruction,College Students,Foreign Countries,Teaching Methods,Outcomes of Education,Multivariate Analysis

This study examined the effects of tasks, with varying levels of complexity, i.e. simple, + complex and ++ complex tasks on EFL learners' oral production in a multimedia task-based language teaching environment. 57 EFL adult learners carried out a total of 12 tasks, in sets of four tasks within three different themes and different levels of complexity. During the 16 weeks of the study, the students performed three oral test tasks that were assessed in terms of accuracy, fluency and complexity, using eight different measures. This study found that scaffolding learners in performing tasks with increasing levels of complexity in a multimedia task-based language teaching/learning context, results in improved second language oral production, particularly in terms of accuracy, fluency and complexity.
An Analysis of Untranslatability between English and Chinese from Intercultural Perspective
Author: Wang, Jianjun
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Translation,Chinese,English,Intercultural Communication,Phonetics,Syntax,Cultural Differences,Social Influences,Religion,Difficulty Level,Language Processing

Either in the field of theoretical research of translation, or in the translation practice, there is a long dispute over the problem of translatability and untranslatability with a great number of scholars on both sides. An analysis will be made in this paper to focus on the problem of untranslatability between English and Chinese from intercultural perspective. The translation strategies to compensate the problem of untranslatability between English and Chinese will also be discussed.
Benchmarking Year Five Students' Reading Abilities
Author: Lim, Chang Kuan
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Reading Ability,Benchmarking,Rural Schools,School Districts,Elementary School Students,Reading Comprehension,English (Second Language),English Teachers,Taxonomy,Standardized Tests,Multiple Choice Tests,Difficulty Level,Expectation,Gender Differences,Educational Indicators,Cutting Scores

Reading and understanding a written text is one of the most important skills in English learning.This study attempts to benchmark Year Five students' reading abilities of fifteen rural schools in a district in Malaysia. The objectives of this study are to develop a set of standardised written reading comprehension and a set of indicators to inform ESL teachers about the exact ability of the students. A sample of 788 primary school students from the rural areas was involved in this study. The instrument utilised in this study was a set of standardised written reading comprehension test which was developed in line with Malaysian English Language Syllabus (2003), the revised Barrett's Taxonomy of Reading Comprehension (Day &amp; Park, 2005) and the revised Bloom's Taxonomy (Anderson et al. 2001). The set of standardised written reading comprehension questions consists of 50 multiple-choice questions at elementary, intermediate and advanced levels. The findings show that many Malay respondents were categorised at &quot;below expectations&quot; and female students perform better than male students. Finally, the researcher suggested several recommendations.