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This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of English teachers regarding the adverse effects of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in China, as well as their proposals for improving EFL instruction in the country. By exploring the views of experienced English teachers, this study provides valuable insights into how English as a Foreign Language pedagogy can be improved in China and other countries. The main research question is about the adverse effects of teaching English as a Foreign Language in Chinese higher education and the ways to improve its instruction. A thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews was conducted on a sample of 20 English teachers who possessed substantial experience teaching in Chinese higher education institutions. The participants' teaching experience ranged from 3-20 years (SD = 5.3). The analysis involved the establishment of concordant codes and sub-codes, with the aid of two researchers and an external expert, to ensure the reliability and validity of the results. The findings showed that the teachers attributed English as a Foreign Language learners' English deficiencies to the English teaching curriculum, self-directed learning, and the education system. Finally, the teachers suggested that self-directed learning skills and self-regulation were crucial for effectively applying language in authentic contexts. These findings have implications beyond China and are expected to enhance English pedagogy in other English as a Foreign Language countries. Thus, this research may contribute to improving the effectiveness of English teaching in China and other countries by providing a deeper understanding of the challenges and potential solutions associated with English as a Foreign Language instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most academic researchers argued that learning English necessitates a number of components to effectively enhance the learning process. The major components that are highly demanding are mainly motivation and attitude. This study aims to check upon the significant role of the previously mentioned components in learning English as a foreign language and to check whether motivation and attitude are highly required for an efficient learning process. For the data collection procedure, a google form questionnaire was designed and distributed to respondents through the social media applications, such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger too. The respondents of this study are Moroccan university students affiliated to Moulay Ismail University in Meknes in Morocco, more precisely the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences as well as the Faculty of Sciences in Meknes in Morocco. For the research outcomes of the study, respondents were aware about the requirement of enhancing their level in English. They held an encouraging attitude towards the language. They illustrated that they have become tolerant and open-minded in their process of learning. They also assumed that English is a global language and they are studying it for various reasons, such as passing exams successfully, delivering talks and publishing articles in internationally indexed journals, and settling in a foreign country whose English is the mother tongue of its native speakers. Consequently, they are adopting intrinsic/extrinsic and instrumental/integrative motivation clusters. Likewise, they argued that they ought to practice the language inside and outside the classroom setting to become fluent in English; otherwise, it will be hard for them to achieve an excellent level in the learning process. At last, it can be deduced that students’ motivation and positive attitude are tremendously relevant for an effective learning process of a foreign language.

Intracultural learning has been neglected in English curricula in Taiwan since textbooks as an important learning resource have been mainly focused on English linguistic content and developing students' language skills and and target culture to develop students' language skill. This study investigated how making VR content helped students enhance their intracultural learning. This study engaged 60 advanced Taiwanese EFL college students in VR content making. The results demonstrated that students developed better intracultural awareness through the features of VR technology including panorama, audio, interaction, and structuring. Further discussions were provided to explain how each of these four features enhanced students' local cultural learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Corpus of Contemporary American English (Davies) on the Brigham Young University website has been used in the English as Foreign Language (EFL) classroom to help learners better understand how language works at different levels of analysis and also to develop their writing skills. However, it also allows learners to explore culture-related content, by giving them access to invaluable information about social, ideological, political and historical contexts. Moreover, it provides the means to examine the ways in which such aspects intersect with language and condition its use. The understanding of this cultural and discursive dimension of language is pivotal in the training of undergraduate students in the areas of humanities and social sciences. To determine how far the COCA can contribute to increase this awareness, a series of task-based activities involving writing was drawn up and carried out in an EFL class of undergraduate students. They were first introduced to this corpus analysis tool and encouraged to explore it further. Later on, in order to complete a writing task, they were prompted to resort to a series of strategies to collect information about relevant events, personalities and social or cultural phenomena, to analyse and interpret data, and to draw conclusions about the modes in which culture and language can interact. This paper provides (a) the rationale and a brief literature review on this topic, (b) a description of the task-based activities, the implementation process, the students' strategies and the evaluation procedures, and (c) a critical reflection on this study that may open the path for further developments in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]