ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Investigating the Effects of Three Types of Corrective Feedback on the Acquisition of English Wh-Question Forms by Iranian EFL Learners
Author: Rassaei, Ehsan
Date: 2011-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Metalinguistics,Error Correction,Feedback (Response),Instructional Effectiveness,Teaching Methods,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Task Analysis,Foreign Countries,Comparative Analysis,Control Groups,College Students,Quasiexperimental Design,Pretests Posttests,Statistical Analysis

The current research examines the immediate and delayed effects of three types of corrective feedback, namely recasts, metalinguistic feedback, and clarification requests, on the acquisition of English wh-question forms by Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 134 Iranian EFL learners comprising 4 intact classes participated in the study. Learners in 3 intact classes which were designated as feedback groups received feedback during a meaning-focused task, while learners in the control group received no feedback. The results of data analysis revealed the effectiveness of metalinguistic feedback and recasts in both immediate and delayed post-tests. Further inspection of the results revealed that while metalinguistic feedback was more effective than recasts in the immediate post-test, recasts had a more stable and enduring effect, compared with metalinguistic feedback, on learners' performance in the delayed post-test.
&quot;In Landlessness Alone Resides the Highest Truth&quot;; Or, at Sea with Honors
Author: Dingledine, Don
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Honors Curriculum,College Faculty,Literature,Comparative Education,College Students,Novels,Cognitive Development,Best Practices,Teaching Methods

As an English professor specializing in American literature and possessing a passion for one nineteenth-century American novel in particular, Don Dingledine writes that one reason he loves to teach &quot;Moby-Dick&quot; is the seemingly limitless ways in which it speaks to human actions and events in our own time. Melville's timeless novel has been used to comment on the rise of fascism, the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, and debates over Social Security and national health care. &quot;Each age, one may predict, will find its own symbols in 'Moby-Dick',&quot; a Melville biographer wrote in 1929. Drawing from the novel, the author compares honors students to Ishmael, and writes that the forces that attract students to honors are those that draw Melville's Ishmael to the sea. The qualities that ensure Ishmael's survival are ones that will lead to success in honors and beyond. Some people today view an academic degree in a similar light. Ishmael strives to comprehend the whale, its individual parts--its flukes, its flippers, its blowhole, its blubber--as well as its total being. Because this gigantic mammal is constantly in motion (John Milton's &quot;Paradise Lost&quot; describes whales as &quot;moving land&quot;), and because neither a whale's corpse nor a whale's skeleton can ever approximate the reality of a living, breathing whale as it exists in the ocean, its meaning proves slippery. To grasp it, Ishmael must try out a range of approaches, traditions, and perspectives. He examines the whale in art, in literature, and in astronomy. He applies the tenets of science, religion, archaeology, legal history, and philosophy. As he struggles to comprehend the mighty leviathan, Ishmael's mind grows in proportion to his subject. &quot;Such, and so magnifying, is the virtue of a large and liberal theme!&quot; he proclaims. &quot;We expand to its bulk&quot; (497). &quot;Dissect him how I may,&quot; he confesses, &quot;I but go skin deep; I know him not, and never will&quot; (414). Ishmael's words might sound like an admission of defeat but they articulate a central theme of &quot;Moby-Dick,&quot; one that embodies the best practices of honors inquiry. Honors curricula typically encourage students to stop clinging to the slavish shore and head out to sea, to open themselves to other approaches and to alternative perspectives; and to embrace landlessness with the same fluidity that enabled Ishmael to survive when the &quot;Pequod&quot; splintered and sank.
Exploring Students' Perceptions of ESL Writing
Author: Ismail, Sadiq Abdulwahed Ahmed
Date: 2011-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Writing Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Academic Discourse,Questionnaires,Qualitative Research,Females,English for Special Purposes,Focus Groups,Interviews,Positive Attitudes,Writing Instruction,College Students,Foreign Countries,Statistical Analysis

Writing has always been regarded as playing a prominent role in learning a second language. Research within this discipline has mainly focused on the development of writing skill, but in recent years, some researchers have examined students' perceptions of writing. The purpose of this study was to investigate students' perceptions about an academic writing course and writing in general. A total of 64 female students from an ESP program participated in the study. The general design of the study was quantitative and qualitative in nature as a questionnaire and a focus-group interview were implemented for data collection. A combination of quantitative and qualitative procedures was employed to analyze the data collected via the questionnaire and the focus group interview respectively. The overall results demonstrated the students' positive views towards the Academic Writing Course (AWC) in particular and ESL writing in general. The major findings demonstrated students' awareness of their needs and ESL writing requirements. The study concluded with recommendations for future research.
Defining a Rule for the Use of Infinitive and Gerund Complements
Author: Conti, Gregory
Date: 2011-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Verbs,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Form Classes (Languages),Morphemes,Comparative Analysis,Grammar

This essay formulates a rule for the use of the to+verb and verb+ing finite complements designed to help students and teachers of English as a foreign language. The rule results from an analysis of the distinction between the directional function and inceptive aspect of the to+verb form, rooted in the prepositional origins of to, and the imperfective aspect of the verb+ing form, rooted in its use in the continuous tenses. Drawing on the work of, among others, Steven Pinker, Ekkehard Kônig, and Thomas Egan, these contrasting functions are clarified and reinforced by other uses of the to+verb form, such as the to be going to future and the to+verb subject or subject complement, and the use of the verb+ing form as a gerund, action nominalization, and deverbal adjective and preposition. The result of this comparative and relational analysis is a simple rule by which language learners can understand and effectively use the two complements correctly.
Use and Non-Use of Humor in Academic ESL Classrooms
Author: Ziyaeemehr, Ali
Date: 2011-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Humor,Teaching Methods,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Questionnaires,Foreign Countries,Teacher Attitudes,Content Analysis,Educational Benefits,Personality Traits,Competence,Course Descriptions,Language Teachers,Graduate Students,Undergraduate Students,Student Attitudes,Teacher Student Relationship,College Faculty

A substantial body of research emphasizes the importance of humor in teaching/learning processes; however, research on the reasons for non-use of humor in academic contexts has enjoyed scant attention. Addressing this gap, this study examines the reasons for instructors' humor avoidance taking into account student perceived benefits of using humor in academic ESL classrooms. Data were collected through an open-response questionnaire. Participants in a university in Malaysia were asked to provide their views on: (a) the reasons some instructors avoid using humor, and (b) the benefits of using humor in L2 classes. Responses were grouped into relating categories and content analyzed. &quot;Humor is not in their personality,&quot; &quot;they lack competence to create humor in L2,&quot; and &quot;they are more syllabus-oriented&quot; were the most frequently cited reasons for the non-use of instructor humor. Perceived benefits of instructor humor were placed into three major categories: psychological, social and instructional. Implications of these findings are explored within the content of second language education.
Mapping a Semester: Using Cultural Mapping in an Honors Humanities Course
Author: Martin, Robyn S.
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Honors Curriculum,Humanities Instruction,Concept Mapping,Cultural Context,Interdisciplinary Approach,College Students,Environmental Education,Parks,Conservation (Environment),Assignments,Maps,Active Learning,Place Based Education

Grand Canyon Semesters (GCS) at Northern Arizona University are integrated learning experiences in the humanities and sciences. Students study the environmental and social challenges confronting us in the twenty-first century using an interdisciplinary approach to the curriculum. During previous semesters, participants have tackled complex issues such as how to balance environmental protection of Grand Canyon National Park while still meeting the needs of over five million visitors each year. Past GCS students have also, in an outdoor classroom experience, excavated and stabilized centuries-old cultural sites in the park while learning about the rights of indigenous peoples whose ancestors have lived in the Grand Canyon for thousands of years. This article describes a cultural mapping assignment, brand new to the author and her students, in which they examined and charted water's economic, political, artistic, ecological, social, and spiritual forces in both the classroom and field focusing specifically on the Greater Grand Canyon Region.
Sea Lions and Honors Students: More in Common than You May Think
Author: Lindemann-Biolsi, Kristy L.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Honors Curriculum,Learning Processes,Training Methods,Animals,Comparative Analysis,Student Educational Objectives,Lifelong Learning,Teaching Methods,Learning Strategies

One can easily find a link between the general principles of learning in relation to both nonhuman and human animals. What may be a more difficult but equally important parallel is how these learning principles are applied to the training of animals and the teaching of honors students. The author considers what teachers can learn from observing the similarities and differences between animal training practices and teaching practices with honors students. The example of a trainer teaching a sea lion a new behavior, such as vocalizing on cue, is presented. The animal first works with one specific trainer in one specific area of the habitat in order to keep the environmental context consistent. This procedure has been shown to facilitate learning of novel behaviors. Once the sea lion consistently performs this behavior correctly, the training does not stop--whereas for many students in classrooms the training does stop--after an experience in the same classroom with the same professor--on the day of the final exam. The author argues that educators teach students information in the context of a course and a classroom, and then typically ask them to demonstrate their grasp of that knowledge in exactly the same context. For the sea lion, knowing to perform a specific behavior in a specific location with a specific person is not very useful. The sea lion is not considered to have completed learning a behavior until it can be performed in any context, e.g., required by any trainer, in any location, with a verbal or gestural cue, alone or with other animals. Then, even when the behavior has been solidly established, the trainer understands that the animal must continue to work on the skill, at least occasionally, in order to maintain its ability to perform at a high level. The same can be said for students. Being able to discuss the material that a professor teaches in the context of the classroom is an important accomplishment, one that should not be discounted, but the teaching and learning process should not be considered complete at this stage; it is often just the beginning. Knowledge gained, whether through formal academic study or general life experience, is not useful if one cannot apply it across various contexts. &quot;Very often, in instructional settings (and in everyday life) we do not get the transfer we want. Learners acquire skills and knowledge in one situation and fail to make connections to other situations where those skills and knowledge would prove valuable&quot;. The author argues that educators need to explicitly instruct students and teach them not only course material but also to learn how to learn. While the first goal is to have students grasp the basic subject matter, the second goal is to provide them with the tools necessary to use this knowledge beyond the classroom.
An Application of a Questionnaire of Social and Cultural Capital to English Language Learning
Author: Pishghadam, Reza
Date: 2011-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Questionnaires,Social Capital,Cultural Capital,English (Second Language),Language Acquisition,Majors (Students),Multiple Regression Analysis,Language Proficiency,Academic Records,Predictor Variables,Language Skills,Predictive Validity,College Students,Likert Scales,Second Language Learning,Foreign Countries

The aim of this study was to find out the relationship between EFL students' social as well as cultural capital and their foreign language achievement, using Bourdieu's theories in the sociology of education as frames of reference. To this end, the Social and Cultural Capital Questionnaire (SCCQ) was administered to 128 EFL learners majoring in English language. The Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was performed to analyze the data. Social and cultural capital data were matched with university students' academic records in language proficiency courses. Results indicated that cultural competence was the best predictor of the listening skill, whereas speaking, reading, writing, grammar, and the total GPA were mostly predicted by students' diploma GPA and literacy, the two factors which are related to cultural capital. Finally, statistical results were discussed, and implications were provided in the context of English language teaching.
The Role of Audiovisual Mass Media News in Language Learning
Author: Bahrani, Taher
Date: 2011-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Audiovisual Aids,Mass Media,News Media,Second Language Instruction,Context Effect,Listening Comprehension,Listening Comprehension Tests,Speech Skills,Language Proficiency,Technology Uses in Education,Media Selection,Language Tests,Language Fluency,Action Research,Second Language Learning,Pretests Posttests,Questionnaires

The present paper focuses on the role of audio/visual mass media news in language learning. In this regard, the two important issues regarding the selection and preparation of TV news for language learning are the content of the news and the linguistic difficulty. Content is described as whether the news is specialized or universal. Universal contexts are likely to be more comprehensible than specialized contexts. As for the linguistic difficulty, it consists of acoustic, lexical/syntactic and text-type difficulties. Accordingly, audiovisual texts with greater iconic combinations are likely to be more comprehensible for language learning. Moreover, the present paper provides empirical evidence of the role of exposure to news from mass media on speaking fluency.
On the Factor Structure of a Reading Comprehension Test
Author: Salehi, Mohammad
Date: 2011-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Reading Comprehension,Reading Tests,Factor Structure,Construct Validity,High Stakes Tests,Factor Analysis,Componential Analysis,English (Second Language),Language Proficiency,Language Tests,College Students,Robustness (Statistics)

To investigate the construct validly of a section of a high stakes test, an exploratory factor analysis using principal components analysis was employed. The rotation used was varimax with the suppression level of 0.30. Eleven factors were extracted out of 35 reading comprehension items. The fact that these factors emerged speak to the construct validity of the test. However the problem of over-factoring was obvious. This may be attributable to different paradigms of testing on which the items were based. In other words, the test constructer opted for passages from TOEFL, FCE and IELTS books with much alteration.
The Fable of Recognition: A Study of Northrop Frye as a Prophet
Author: Li, Peng
Date: 2011-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Literary Criticism,Biblical Literature,Philosophy,Religious Factors

Northrop Frye is a famous Canadian literary critic, but his fame enjoyed its peak in the 50s and 60s as a representative of the myth-archetypal school of literary criticism. When deconstruction was on the rise, it faded greatly, and what's more, sometimes Frye was taken as a notorious obstinate structuralist. In fact, even his fame as an archetypal critic is not based on a genuine grasp of his thought, and he himself declared that he resented being classified into other schools which he did not belong to. This misunderstanding is an outcome of the difference of awareness between him and the logical and reasoning literary critics, with the former taking the free flow of life's energy, the full function of the vital but unpredictable Holy Spirit as the Truth while the latter holding that truth is a correspondence between mind and the outer world, be it social, psychological or natural. This article is an attempt at a full comprehension of the Spirit, and based on this, a full understanding of Frye and his should-be influence on our literary and actual life. It first tries to elucidate the Spiritual dimension and the life state when it is forgotten or refused, and then it devotes itself to the discovery of this dimension and the entering into the Spirit; which is a major structure of all aspects of Frygian thoughts.
Moving towards a More Balanced English Teaching: A Case from Taiwanese EFL Classrooms
Author: Lee, Jia-Ying
Date: 2011-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Elementary Secondary Education,Curriculum Design,Educational Methods,Knowledge Level,Academic Standards

In recent years, learning English has become a national movement. This article examines the national K-12 English curriculum in Taiwan, with specific criticism offered against some the prevailing practices that occur in Taiwanese classrooms. Influenced by the philosophy of essentialism and by an institutional regard for college and high school entrance requirements, many Taiwanese teachers spend their time teaching to the tests. But the tests only assess a partial range of skills and knowledge that successful language learners need. Teaching is not neutral. So if we examine the implicit curriculum, we could begin to appreciate some of the latent messages sent by schools in Taiwan, including important ones about reading and writing skills and the attitudes toward learning. Even the register of speech varieties and the sociolinguistics aspects of language play some role in the implicit curriculum. At last, the implications of ACTFL standards for language teaching and learning are discussed to further guide the English curriculum in Taiwan.
The Nexus between Iranian EFL Teachers' Self-Efficacy, Teaching Experience and Gender
Author: Karimvand, Parisa Naseri
Date: 2011-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Language Teachers,Self Efficacy,Teaching Experience,Gender Differences,Questionnaires,Likert Scales,Regression (Statistics),Factor Structure,Correlation

This study investigates the main effects of years of teaching experience and gender and their interaction effects on Iranian EFL teachers' sense of self-efficacy. To this end, the questionnaire of TEBS-Self (Teachers' Efficacy Beliefs System-Self) (Dellinger, Bobbett, Oliver, &amp; Ellett, 2008) was used. It was distributed to 180 EFL teachers. 94 of them had taught for less than or equal to three years (G1), and 86 had taught for more than or equal to three and a half years (G2). Through regression analysis it was found that while experience and gender had no significant interaction effect on the participants' efficacy beliefs, G2 had significantly more positive efficacy perceptions than G1. Also, except for two components of TEBS-Self, the female teachers were found to have significantly higher self-efficacy than the male participants on the whole questionnaire and two components of it. Conclusions and suggestions for further research are also discussed.
The Relationship between Iranian EFL High School Students' Multiple Intelligence Scores and Their Use of Learning Strategies
Author: Hajhashemi, Karim
Date: 2011-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,High School Students,English (Second Language),Multiple Intelligences,Scores,Learning Strategies,Metacognition,Correlation,Questionnaires,Likert Scales

According to the theory of multiple intelligences (MI) propounded by Gardner (1983, 1999a, 1999b), each individual has a multitude of intelligences that are quite independent of each other and each individual has a unique cognitive profile. Having access to the MI profiles and learning strategies of learners could help the teachers in planning activities to connect both strategies and students' talents and provide students with the best possible instruction. Thus, this study attempts to find out the relationship between the MI profiles and language learning strategies used by Iranian EFL high school students. Two hundred and twenty-nine students (121 males, 108 females) participated in the study. The instruments used to elicit information for this study were McKenzie's (1999) MI inventory and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) Questionnaire. The findings revealed that there is a low, positive correlation between the two variables of MI and learning strategies, r = 0.24. In addition, it was found that there is a low, positive correlation between MI and different strategy types. The highest correlation was seen between meta-cognitive strategies and MI, followed by compensation and cognitive strategies. Furthermore, the findings reveal that Iranian students mostly use meta-cognitive strategies followed by social strategies.
A Study on the Relationship between University Students' Chinese Writing Proficiency and Their English Writing Proficiency
Author: Huang, Xiaoyu
Date: 2011-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,College Students,Correlation,Questionnaires,Writing Skills,Writing Ability,Native Language,Interlanguage,Language Tests

Up to now, most researchers have been paying attention to the negative transfer of mother tongue to second language writing. Few studies, if any, have touched upon the positive transfer. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the positive transfer of Chinese to 26 first-year university students' English writing holistically and segmentally in the use of words, grammar, coherence, and content and organization. The result of the Pearson correlation coefficient turned out to be 0.43 at the 5% significance level, indicating a positive relationship between the Chinese writing and the English writing. The questionnaires have also confirmed the result of the correlation analysis. In particular, the positive transfer of Chinese seems to be more apparent in the content and organization of the English writing, followed by coherence and use of words. Thus, it can be concluded that the positive transfer of mother tongue can facilitate English writing.