ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Influence of Contextual Factors on EFL Mexican Teachers' Beliefs and the Use of Textbooks
Author: Rivera Cuayahuitl, Eliphelet
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Instructional Materials,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Language Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,Textbooks,Qualitative Research,Textbook Selection,Teacher Competencies,Context Effect,Educational Facilities,Teacher Evaluation,Semi Structured Interviews,Observation,Time Factors (Learning),Course Content,Student Characteristics

While much has been written about the use of instructional materials in the field of language education, very few studies have actually studied the impact of the context in the use of materials in teachers' practices. This work shows the findings of a study about the contextual factors that a group of experienced Mexican teachers believe shaped their lessons. Drawing on qualitative data, the study shows that factors such as the length of courses and lessons, the school facilities, the institutional practices to select textbooks as well as the institutional procedures to supervise teachers' practices and assessment, explicitly emerged as the most influential in the teachers' lessons.
Vocabulary Instruction: Software Flashcards vs. Word Clouds
Author: Mansouri, Vahid
Date: 2015-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,English (Second Language),Teaching Methods,Computer Software,Instructional Materials,Word Frequency,Internet,Visual Aids,Vocabulary Development,Computer Assisted Instruction,Comparative Analysis,Retention (Psychology),Males,Language Tests,Language Proficiency,Scores

When it comes to language learning, vocabulary learning is the main activity focused on. Vocabulary learning is the main problem and also the goal of new language learners. It is one of the major problems that language learners encounter during learning a new language. Krashen (1989) (cited in Tokac, 2005) points out the role of vocabulary in a language by stating that most of the meaning in a language is carried by words. This is why people visiting a foreign country prefer to take their dictionaries with them rather than grammar books. And on the other hand, nowadays everything is connected to technology and language learning and teaching is not an exception. As Stockwell (2007) cites, vocabulary has been one of the most commonly taught language areas through technology in recent years. Integration of computer and second/foreign language teaching is admired by many researchers. It is clear that technology can help enhance the degree of vocabulary learning, but the point is that which computer assisted vocabulary learning can work better and would be more efficient? In this paper we will discuss and analyze the usage of two kinds of different ways of using technology and see which of the methods will work better. A comparison between vocabulary software flashcard and word clouds (Wordle) on vocabulary learning (retention) will be compared by the researcher. We will see that using which method will encourage learners more and they will do better with which kind of using technology? The study is carried out in Iran on 44 English learners. The result is really surprising. Both of the groups were interested in technology, but one group did really better.
Culture Teaching in Historical Review: On the Occasion of ASOCOPI's Fiftieth Anniversary
Author: Meadows, Bryan
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cultural Education,Literature Reviews,Scholarship,Definitions,Educational Practices,Educational History,Educational Development,Journal Articles,Government Publications,Books,Electronic Journals,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Foreign Countries

This literature review surveys fifty years of English language teaching scholarship on the topic of culture teaching. The review segments the available literature according to decade and applies two guiding questions to each resource found: &quot;How is culture defined&quot; and &quot;What does culture teaching look like.&quot; The report of findings details how authors in each decade literature set define culture and culture teaching. Discussion of the findings offers general observations of developments as well as consistencies over the entire literature set (1965-2015). This literature review will be of interest to current and emerging English language teaching scholars involved in culture teaching scholarship. It is dedicated to ASOCOPI's fifty-year anniversary (1965-2015).
The Design of a Theme-Based and Genre-Oriented Strategic Reading Course to Improve Students' Reading Comprehension Skills at a Public School in Colombia
Author: Padilla De La Cerda, Fabián
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Strategies,Reading Improvement,Reading Comprehension,Grade 9,Foreign Countries,Course Descriptions,Reading Skills,Classroom Observation Techniques,Public Schools,Observation,Questionnaires,Interviews,Language Teachers,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Secondary School Students,Reading Instruction,English Teachers

This paper reports the process of designing and partially implementing and evaluating a content-based and genre-oriented syllabus with a group of ninth graders at a public school in Barranquilla, Colombia. The syllabus sought to promote reading strategies in order to improve learners' comprehension of natural science texts. The results of this intervention show that the use of academic texts with low achievers, who in turn can develop a good comprehension of different kind of texts, is possible if these students are aware of the structure of the texts they are reading and if they are provided with reading strategies that are appropriate for each genre.
A Study on the Perception of Jordanian EFL Learners' Pragmatic Transfer of Refusals
Author: Huwari, Ibrahim Fathi
Date: 2015-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Student Attitudes,Speech Acts,Graduate Students,Native Speakers,Arabs,North American English,Cultural Background,Semitic Languages,Statistical Analysis,Differences,Pragmatics,Ethnography,Questionnaires

This study investigates the perception of Jordanian EFL learners' (JEFL) pragmatic transfer of refusal strategies in terms of contextual and cultural factors. Data were collected using a discourse completion test (DCT) and a scaled-response questionnaire (SRQ) to elicit perception data from the participants. Data from the SRQ were analyzed based on the speaker's right to refuse the initiating act. Findings revealed that the right the speaker has to refuse the initiating act was assigned high ratings by the three groups (i.e., M &gt; 3.00) in all social categories. Individually, however, the groups displayed the rating value differently where the AEL1 group's perception of the speaker's right was relatively higher than that of the JEFL and JAL1 groups in all the social categories. The JEFL participants' negative pragmatic transfer criteria were met in the first and third social categories. The study concludes with a discussion of important directions for future research.
Storyboards and Reading Comprehension of Literary Fiction in English
Author: Molina Naar, José Mario
Date: 2013-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Limited English Speaking,Reading Comprehension,Novels,English (Second Language),Intervention,Pretests Posttests,Story Telling,Visual Aids,Journal Writing,Portfolios (Background Materials),Benchmarking,Reading Skills,Middle School Students,Reading Tests

This article reports on a study developed in order to help a group of six limited-proficient students of English (newcomers) to improve their reading comprehension of English novels by designing storyboards, a type of graphic organizer that condenses both images and scripts. The investigation was carried out in a public school in the state of North Carolina, United States, and lasted eight weeks. The following instruments were implemented in order to measure the impact of this investigation: two pre-tests and two posttests, a teacher's journal, students' portfolios, and the results of a reading benchmark. Data were analyzed using cross tabulation and coding of the data collected. The results revealed that storyboards can have a positive impact on English language learners with limited language proficiency.
Othering: Towards a Critical Cultural Awareness in the Language Classroom
Author: Moncada Linares, Sthephanny
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cultural Awareness,Intercultural Programs,Cultural Literacy,Critical Theory,Literature Reviews,Interpersonal Competence,Classroom Techniques,Teaching Methods,Consciousness Raising,Educational Practices,Second Language Instruction,Educational Strategies

Due to the need of decentering language learners' conceptions and practices of &quot;othering&quot; against the target culture, it has become necessary to help them grow in critical cultural understanding and positive appreciation towards the richness of difference and plurality, as a transversal dimension of their intercultural competence. Thus, this paper seeks to summarize the literature on the notion of &quot;othering&quot; and its pedagogical possibilities to promote &quot;critical cultural awareness raising&quot; in the language classroom. It initially presents some theoretical contributions on the concepts of the &quot;Other&quot; and the &quot;Self&quot; and its dialectical relation, and later, it proposes four pedagogical tools that could enable learners to achieve the already mentioned objective.
The Influence of Peer Assessment and the Use of Corpus for the Development of Speaking Skills in In-Service Teachers
Author: Gómez Sará, Mary Mily
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Peer Evaluation,Speech Skills,Qualitative Research,Teachers,Foreign Countries,Intervention,Video Technology,Diaries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Inservice Teacher Education,Questionnaires,Grounded Theory

This article reports on how the use of peer-assessment and a corpus influence the development of the spontaneous interactive speaking of 14 adults with an A1 English level. The data, that were collected through video recordings, two peer-assessment forms, and a teacher's journal, evidenced the development of three enhancement strategies (willingness to improve, use of compensatory strategies, and construction of a personalized version of the corpus) and two detrimental traits (underassessment and dependency on the corpus).The results of the inquiry evinced some limitations in the pedagogical intervention.
Representation of Social Realities of Latin America in Marquez's Literary Discourse
Author: Aghaei, Mohammad B.
Date: 2015-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Latin American Literature,Latin American History,Latin American Culture,Foreign Policy,Novels,Government (Administrative Body),Social Values,Social Behavior,Behavior Standards,Social Environment,Foreign Countries

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is always keen on presenting to the people the various facets of their history. His literary language acts as effective means for describing the critical historical aspects of Latin America because the legacy of colonialism had destroyed so many important traces of the native culture of that area. This has led him to search for his identity by looking at various periods, before and after colonization. Because of this, the historical and cultural issues were his main thematic subject matters; such as savagely fought wars of independence, bloody conflict between the political parties, massacre of banana workers, deplorable effects of Hispanic culture on the community.
Fostering Autonomy through Syllabus Design: A Step-by-Step Guide for Success
Author: Ramírez Espinosa, Alexánder
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Course Descriptions,Curriculum Design,Guides,Instructional Design,Personal Autonomy,Classroom Techniques,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),College Second Language Programs,Independent Study,Learning Strategies,Design Preferences,Educational Principles,Preservice Teacher Education,Program Evaluation,Program Implementation,Foreign Countries

Promoting learner autonomy is relevant in the field of applied linguistics due to the multiple benefits it brings to the process of learning a new language. However, despite the vast array of research on how to foster autonomy in the language classroom, it is difficult to find step-by-step processes to design syllabi and curricula focused on the development of learner autonomy. This paper presents a model of a successful English course, implemented at Universidad del Valle (Colombia), which is expected to serve as a practical guide to articulate the stages of design, implementation, and evaluation of an autonomy-fostering syllabus.
The Effect of Written Corrective Feedback on Omani Students' Accuracy in the Use of English Prepositions
Author: Al Ajmi, Ahmed Ali Saleh
Date: 2015-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Quasiexperimental Design,English (Second Language),Arabs,Feedback (Response),Grammar,Form Classes (Languages),Written Language,Intervention,Pretests Posttests,Questionnaires,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Writing Skills,Oral Language,Statistical Analysis,Comparative Analysis,College Students

A quasi-experimental study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of providing written corrective feedback (WCF) to Arab speakers of English on ten uses of English prepositions. Arab speakers commonly find it difficult to correctly use English prepositions, mainly due to the differences between the two languages (e.g. Ortega, 2009). Examples of prepositions misuse are &quot;married from,&quot; &quot;die from,&quot; and &quot;kind with.&quot; The WCF implementation lasted for seven weeks. The students' being in intact classes made random assignments to different groups difficult. The data were derived from three tests: pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test as well as an open-ended questionnaire. The experimental group (n = 25) received WCF on their writing, oral meta-linguistic tutorials, and a treatment task for their pre-test. For both the immediate post-test and the delayed post-test, they only received WCF on their writings. The control group (n = 25) only received general comments, like &quot;good organization of the story events.&quot; The statistical results of the independent samples t-test show the experimental group outperforming the control group on the target features. The analysis of the questionnaire data also shows the benefits of WCF for improving preposition use. The results also have pedagogical implications with regard to WCF.
Creativity in the English Class: Activities to Promote EFL Learning
Author: Avila, Hernán A.
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Writing Instruction,Creativity,Creative Activities,Creative Writing,Teaching Methods,Intervention,Instructional Effectiveness,Playwriting,Writing Exercises,Writing Improvement,Language Fluency,Grammar,Text Structure,Learner Engagement,Private Schools,Special Schools,Young Adults,Vocabulary Development,Speeches,Learning Activities,Class Activities,Writing Strategies

This article introduces a pedagogical intervention that includes a set of creative activities designed to improve the oral and written production of students in the English classroom, especially those who have shown a lack of interest or attention. It was observed that participants initially seemed careless about studying the language. Eventually they responded to the proposed methods positively and were more willing and motivated to participate in chain games, creative writing, and screenwriting exercises. The activities helped develop the students' fluency in both oral and written production and improved their understanding of English grammar and structure.
Facing CLIL Challenges at University Level
Author: Granados Beltrán, Carlo
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Higher Education,Student Projects,College Second Language Programs,English (Second Language),Course Organization,Course Evaluation,Student Surveys,Teacher Surveys,Learning Experience,Curriculum Design,Integrated Activities,Curriculum Implementation,Teaching Methods,Participant Satisfaction

Experiments in Content Language Integrated Learning have been carried out most of the time at primary and secondary education. However, not much is known about what higher education institutions are doing in this respect. This article aims to present an experience that occurred in the Languages Department at Universidad Central (Bogotá, Colombia) in relation to the inclusion of content in language classes by means of project work. The way project work was organised as well as how it was evaluated in the different levels will be explained. Finally, a discussion of some surveys applied to both students and teachers to evaluate the experience will be presented, taking into consideration the advantages and limitations of this kind of work for university contexts.
Fostering Skills to Enhance Critical Educators: A Pedagogical Proposal for Pre-Service Teachers
Author: Aguirre Morales, Jahir
Date: 2011-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Skill Development,Critical Theory,Films,Class Activities,Classroom Communication,Educational Practices,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,College Second Language Programs,Teaching Experience,Integrated Curriculum,Curriculum Implementation,Teaching Skills,Teacher Responsibility,Critical Viewing,Teaching Methods,Foreign Countries

This article aims to share with teacher-educators a pedagogical proposal which we have applied in the past year. This investigation analyzes issues linked to critical pedagogy using movies connected to educational themes and readings based on critical pedagogy. We have used this study to generate class discussions in order to analyze educational topics from a critical point of view. This experience has guided us to help pre-service teachers acquire skills to eventually become critical educators of the future.
A Diagnosis of English Language Teaching in Public Elementary Schools in Pasto, Colombia
Author: Alirio Bastidas, Jesús
Date: 2011-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Public Schools,Elementary Schools,English Teachers,Knowledge Level,Course Content,Instructional Materials,Student Motivation,Educational Assessment,Educational Improvement,Data Collection,Observation,Questionnaires,Semi Structured Interviews,Theory Practice Relationship,Teaching Methods,Instructional Design,Student Role,Native Language,Language Role,Teacher Qualifications,Faculty Development,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

English teaching in Colombian primary schools became a requirement because of the promulgation of the Law of Education in 1994. Taking into account that this decision produced some difficulties in the schools, a study was conducted to diagnose the state of English language teaching in primary schools in Pasto, Colombia. Data were gathered through classroom observation, a questionnaire, and interviews. The results showed that teachers are not well versed either in methodology or in the command of the English language; there was no English syllabus; didactic materials were nonexistent; and the children's lack of motivation was the most critical problem. Teachers, institutions and the government have to take into account these findings in order to improve English learning in primary schools.
The Common European Framework, Task-Based Learning, and Colombia: Crossroads for an Intercultural Collision or a Path under Construction for Improvement?
Author: Galvis, Héctor Alejandro
Date: 2011-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Guidelines,Foreign Countries,Task Analysis,Preservice Teachers,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Intercultural Communication,Student Attitudes,Cultural Differences,Teaching Methods,Cultural Context,Teacher Education,Public Schools

This paper provides a critical response to the implementation of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, and Assessment (CEFR, Council of Europe, 2001) in Colombia by exposing a threefold approach discussing the following areas: Intercultural communication, Task-Based Learning, and some pertinent SLA research. Bearing this in mind, the author provides important cultural differences, and how these differences may affect what is proposed methodologically in the CEF from the standpoint of communication styles and local cultural modes of behavior. Likewise, the author provides reasons that the approach proposed in the CEFR may put at stake important modes of language instruction and the use of computer technology, among other items. Voices from pre-service teachers in regard to the implementation of the CEFR and its principles in the context of a public school would also be included. Finally, the author encourages further academic discussion on the issue in question in order to invite the academic community to contribute to the construction of a locally-made framework bearing in mind the immediate needs and cultural characteristics of the local context.
The Impact of Teacher-Student Relationships on EFL Learning
Author: Garcia Sánchez, Carlos Alberto
Date: 2013-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Student Relationship,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Qualitative Research,Language Teachers,College Students,College Faculty,Student Attitudes,Grounded Theory,Well Being,Teacher Characteristics,Empathy,Foreign Countries,Student Development,Semi Structured Interviews

This research report aims at sharing the findings that emerged from a qualitative research study by a student-teacher, under the supervision of two practicing teacher-researchers. The study focused on the impact of teacher-student relationships in English as a foreign language learning according to the collective perceptions of a group of university students. The data generation process employed was comprised of semi-structured interviews, as well as the concurrent analysis of the data, based on aspects of grounded theory. The results of this inquiry revealed that university students' sense of well-being, attitudes, and willingness to learn are improved when teachers demonstrate empathy, interest in student development, and respect.
Arabs' Stereotypes Revisited: The Need for a Literary Solution
Author: Albalawi, Mohammed
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Arabs,Ethnic Stereotypes,Social Bias,Public Opinion,Literature,Teaching Methods,Consciousness Raising,Mass Media Effects

In the past few decades, there has been a steady growth of interest in studying the representations of Arabs in media as shown by the increasing number of journal articles. Scholars have talked abundantly about he ugly images of Arabs that have been shown in American media for over a century. However, research lacks explanation and sufficing solutions to ameliorate such images. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to facilitate the understanding of Arabs' stereotypes drawing on the bulk of the theorizing and empirical data in cognitive science, and explain how literature can help undo the mischiefs of stereotypes. Moreover, this paper explores the ways in which the teaching and the promotion of Arabic literature can help dismantle the stereotyping of Arabs in the American media. Particularly, it demonstrates how Ghassan Kanafani's &quot;Men in the Sun&quot; can be used to correct faulty representations of Arabs that appeared in media for a long time.