Search

Affective assessment is one of the components of authentic assessment which requires English teachers to assess the students comprehensively.This study aims to (1) explain the ways in which affective aspects improve students’ English achievement, (2) explain the formulation of an affective assessment for EFL learners using the Rasch model. This research and development approach was employed as the basis to develop rating scale model as an instruments measuring the students’ affective aspects in EFL classroom. The data were analyzed using the Rasch Model. The validity and reliability, in the small–scale field tryout were item reliability 1.00 and person reliability 0.93. Meanwhile, item validity are 0.90 and person validity 0.87 were used in the large-scale field one. The results of this study indicate that: (1) there are five affective dimensions or variables developed in this study. They are attitude, motivation, interest, self-concept, and personal value. The five dimensions consist of 24 aspects or sub variables and 35 indicators that become the basis of constracting the 120 item instrument, and as inventory rating scale model. It can be inferred that the affective measuring instrument with the 120 items of statement has a model fit with the data. It means that the model is able to estimate population covariance matrix which is not different from the sample covariance matrix so that the estimation result becomes a basis for generalization.

Incorporating creativity in education is widely accepted to be a necessity in today's rapidly changing world. However, in the case of Moroccan educational settings, it is noticed that schools continue to be characterized by traditional and conventional instruction. It is true that some students excel in traditional teaching delivery; however, creative learners are neglected and at risk of being rejected. Understanding the nature of creativity and putting it into action are of paramount importance for students to pursue creative opportunities in their own life. This study aims at (1) assessing 22 Moroccan Master’s students’ general perceptions and attitudes towards creativity; (2) improving students’ creativity by introducing them to a list of creativity techniques; (3) evaluating how effectively the proposed creativity training workshops have influenced students’ initial views of creativity. The study used questionnaire inquiry data analysis to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings reveal that students hold positive attitudes towards creativity in education. More importantly, the study shows how the proposed creativity training workshops have positively affected students’ initial perceptions and attitudes towards creativity.

To sustain its future competitive employment both at national and international level, Indonesia Government needs to invest more in its human resources. Therefore, education is the critical aspect to prepare highly educated and well-trained human resources for an innovation driven global competitiveness. In education, when curriculum fails to provide sufficient skills and competence for learners, human resources will not likely to move up to higher development level. This article aims at exploring the issues and challenges encountered by Indonesia government in improving the most crucial aspect needed for global competitiveness that is English communication competence. English communication level of Indonesian learners is considered low and satisfactory. Since Indonesian students obtain English from schools and classroom teaching, curriculum objectives should help them achieving the target of learning. However, there are three major issues found in Indonesia curriculum: top-down approach, the absence of Needs Analysis (NA) studies, and no curriculum evaluation. In nutshell, those three factors are suspected to contribute the underdeveloped English communication competences of Indonesian learners. In view of this, Indonesian can learn from other countries that have succeeded in reforming and developing English curriculum while taking into account the uniqueness of its own context.

The curriculum at General Sciences department in a Saudi Arabian University includes ‘’Physical science’’for Computer Science, Information Technology and Business courses. Students are apathetic towards Physical Science and question, as to,” How this course is related to their majors?” More than sixty percent of the students come from institutions where English is not the medium of instruction, which makes student learning and academic achievement challenging as they are less proficient in English language. After observing the uasge of incorrect scientific formulas in assessment test and the number of failures,for two consecutive semesters, the instructor was keen to find an effective strategy to enable students understand concepts and to transformed surface learning to deep learning through developing advanced techniques in writing assignment. The main purpose of this research is to roll the situation and let the students partake in the process of trasformation from diffident failures to confident achievers.This study is participatory action research, in which instructor designs effective written task to engage students in their learning . The study is conducted through two semesters with a total of 32 students. The effectiveness of this approach is studied using questionnaire at the end of each semester,students evaluation and teacher observation.Major outcomes of this study were overall improvement in students uasge of scientific formulas in tests,problem solving,language proficiency, performance in summative assessment and also fortifying confidence. This process transformed instructor into engaging and reflecting practitioner.Also, these strategy was implemented by other instructors teaching the course and proved effective in opening a path to changes in related areas of the course curriculum. However, refinement in the strategies could be done based on student evaluation and instructors observation.

This present study probes the relationship between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ language anxiety and their willingness to communicate. The research questions are threefold: a) What are the types of anxiety experienced by the students, b) What is the anxiety level of them, and c) What is the correlation between foreign language anxiety (FLA) and the willingness to communicate (WTC) of the students. Quantitative descriptive approach was employed and the data were collected from 98 participants in an English Department by making use of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and Likert-type WTC Scale. Pearson Correlation test was run to provide answers of the research questions. The results of this study indicated a strong positive correlation between learners’ foreign language classroom anxiety and their willingness to communicate. Fear of negative evaluation, test anxiety, and communication apprehension were the students’ types of anxiety. In addition, students had high level of anxiety, which in turn, made them difficult in dealing with language learning process and tend to have low desire to speak. Therefore, this study tries to highlight whether anxiety is a significant barrier to WTC, to determine the types and level of FLA, as well as to provide suggestions to help minimize the anxiety.

Reading interest, in addition to reading skills, is crucial for students if they want to be successful readers. The condition of low reading interest among students has been a major issue that needs a creative follow-up from scholars, teachers and practitioners. This study aims to explore the development of students’ reading interest in relation to their participation in independent reading-retelling activity as part of independent learning activity in a particular course they took. Seventy-five students from Faculty and Teacher Training Education of Universitas Lambung Mangkurat, Indonesia, were involved as the participants in this study. The students took part in independent reading-retelling activity which requires them to read novels and short stories and retell it to as well as do sharing session to discuss the stories with their partners. This activity was done out of course schedule and complemented with a journal entry to track the students’ progress. Without the purpose of assessing the students, the activity was intended to give students meaningful reading experience and to grow their reading interest. The encouragement of the lecturer was regularly given to the students to keep up their reading and retelling. A questionnaire was used to collect data on their reading interest and their perception on the influence they feel from the activity. This study showed that the students’ reading interest was at medium level with several positive reading behaviors. From the students’ perception, the activity has given them positive influence on their vocabulary growth, reading comprehension, self-quality development, and reading interest.

The current study aims at finding out the effect of pair writing technique on Iraqi English as a foreign language university students' writing performance and anxiety. The sample of the study includes 78 male and female students in the Department of English / College of Education Ibn Rushd for Human Sciences of the University of Baghdad, Iraq during the academic year 2016/2017. The sample is divided into a control group with 38 students and experimental group with 40 ones. After checking the equalization of the two groups in certain related variables, the researchers conduct the experiment in which the students in the experimental group are taught writing and practice it in pairs, while those in the control group are dealt with conventionally (individually). The data collection tools employed in this study; a writing posttest and second language writing anxiety inventory, are conducted on the sample at the end of the experiment. The results achieved are statistically manipulated and discussed according to which a number of conclusions are drawn, and a set of recommendations are put forward.

Teaching English to non-native speakers today necessitates conducting conversations where learners interpret and decipher linguistic and nonverbal aspects of interaction, in other words, preparing learners to use English to participate in conversations inside and outside the classroom. However, this is not the case in Algerian Secondary school English classes. Regular observation indicated almost no continuous teacher-learner conversation while lessons. This paper intends to observe language use between the teachers and students; what instruction is used and how is it dealt with by learners. The results would aim at revealing the shortage learners show in the speaking skill and confirm the effectiveness of observation for classroom evaluation. Adopting a systematic observation, six classes at secondary school level in two different cities in Algeria were observed and audio-taped through a quantitative and qualitative method. Data is analysed from the amount of teacher’s talk, types of classroom discourse structure and questioning. Based on data analysis, the findings showed that most of the talk is approximately initiated by the teacher; learners act only when asked display questions and keep silent when are challenged by influential questions. It also showed display questions dominate the classroom for they maximize learners’ participation. Yet, this learner’ short output would limit the learners’ critical reflection and lessen the classroom interaction among participants. Therefore, this paper urges teachers to adopt a student-centred approach to FL learning that enables students’ to talk more and participate in conversations negotiating meaning with their teacher and peers. For further research, the author puts forward some guidelines to build on new research.

This article aims at probing the different types of syllabi used to teach English to English native and non-native speakers. The researcher used a chronological approach in describing each syllabus type in accordance to its emergence in epistemology of the syllabus design and pedagogical trends in teaching English in the world. Theories of language and learning, characteristics of each syllabus, and pros and cons of the discussed syllabi were highlighted throughout the article. Emphasis was also given to shed light on the interrelationship between syllabi types and pedagogical approaches and techniques. The process of syllabi design was also discussed with examples. The researcher endeavored to cite texts from proponents of authors and scholars who discussed each syllabus. The strategy used in presenting the information in this article was to list main titles and write explanatories to describe the syllabus. Primary and secondary resources were referred to for more ideas. Thus, some resources dated back to the 1985-2017. This was done on purpose to highlight authentic resources of the pioneer linguists and scholars of each type of syllabi.

Utilising a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach, the current case study investigates the characteristics and frequency of the usage of verbal humour that positively or negatively affects the Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) tertiary-level students across two different English language proficiency levels. The participants included 42 EFL teachers and 138 male EFL students from the English Language Institute (ELI) in King Abdulaziz University. The students were enrolled in the beginners (E101) and intermediate (E104) English language proficiency levels. The mixed-methods approach was implemented using audio and video recordings and a questionnaire as the data collection instruments. The findings stated the four main characteristics of both positive and negative verbal humours in Saudi EFL classrooms. These findings revealed that humour was more frequently used at the intermediate than at the beginner level, and that the most effective forms of humour at both levels involved language play, irony, jokes, and self-defeating humour. Suggestions, recommendations, pedagogical implications have also been presented.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of memory strategies (MSs)in improving students' ability to recall and spell newly learned vocabulary items. The researcheronly considered three types of MSs: grouping, placing new words in to a context and structuredreviewing. In addition, the study used a questionnaire that explored students' attitudes towardsMSs in general, and towards the specific MSs that they have been trained to use, as well as therelationship between MSs and motivation and between MSs and anxiety. intact groups (63 students in total) were selected from level three of the College of Languages and Translation (COLT) at King Saud University (KSU), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The two groups were assigned to the experimental group (36 students) and the control group(27students). The control group received traditional instruction that depended on the textbook without any MS training, whereas the experimental group received a combination of traditional instruction and MS training. A pre- and post-test were administered to both groups before and after the experiment to examine students' ability to recall the meaning of vocabulary items and their ability to spell them correctly. The experiment lasted for fourteen weeks through which the participants received seven MS training sessions. The study found out that MS training was effective in improving students' ability to recall the meaning of vocabulary items when needed and their ability to spell them correctly. Moreover, the results showed that the subjects of the experimental group showed positive attitude towards MSs and most of them agreed on the positive effect that MSs had on raising their motivation and reducing their anxiety while learning vocabulary.

Word spellings are often a common linguistic issue among Arabic-speaking learners of English, and English vowels are one of the most difficult to resolve. Therefore, the study presented vowel instruction as an intervention to address this issue by determining its effect on the spelling performance on monosyllables and bi-syllables. Vowel instruction sessions were then offered to 15 university freshman students for two months. Instructional strategies consisted of teaching vowel pronunciation, vowel letter-to-sound relationships, vowel spelling patterns, word-breaking, and providing various spelling opportunities. To measure overall spelling performance, pre-test and post-test on vowel spellings were conducted which revealed a significant increase in the mean scores. This suggests that vowel instruction was facilitative in the improved spelling performance on monosyllabic and bi-syllabic words, with more misspellings in the latter than in the former. The strategies used were generally perceived as beneficial, and it is recommended that including them in language lessons could improve vowel spelling skill and minimize English vowel confusions. Moreover, constant exposure of learners to many English words and more spelling activities are still necessary for better English vowel recognition and whole word spelling.

This research generates a product, namely the guiding book for the evaluation of micro teaching of student teachers at the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training of IAIN Palopo (State Islamic Institute) Indonesia, and the instruments used to evaluate the practice of micro teaching at the faculty. The following research questions were addressed: 1. How was the evaluation model of mirco teaching practice at the Faculty of Education and Teaching Training of IAIN Palopo? 2. How were the constructed instruments used to evaluate the practice of micro teaching at the Faculty of Education and Teaching Training of IAIN Palopo? The aim of the study is to produce a guiding book for the evaluation of micro teaching of pre-service teachers at IAIN PAlopo.The book comprises of procedures and guidelines for performing the evaluation of the practice of micro teaching, as well as ways to analyze the results of the evaluation. On the other hand, the instruments generated were employed to evaluate the basic competence of the student teachers’ teaching performance. This book is beneficial for the lecturers teaching micro teaching skills and other related subjects. It can be an ideal handbook for both the lecturers and preservice teachers in that the instruments created have been validated and tested; hence, it is valid and reliable. Also, teaching practice is one of the core topics that the students are supposed to undertake before they jump into the placement, or teaching practicum placed in some schools. Therefore, the provision of this book will significantly help lecturers, students, not to mention the education instution because it can be used either in the classroom or micro teaching lab at the Islamic institute.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of selected theoretical frameworks and some empirical studies that take up theories on identity, ideology, and language. The researcher attempts to highlight the most important theoretical frameworks on identity, ideologies, and language, and discusses key theoretical frameworks that have had an influence among recent scholars’ empirical work especially in the fields of second language acquisition (SLA), sociolinguistics, and linguistic anthropology. This article has two objectives. First, with a focus on the relationship between language, identity, and investment, the researcher attempts to present a review of Norton’s foundational work dated between 1995 (Peirce, 1995) to a more recent scholarly work (Darvin & Norton, 2015). Next, she discusses identity and interaction from a sociocultural linguistic approach by drawing on Bucholtz and Hall’s framework (2004a, 2004b, 2005). Findings from this article highlight a paradigm shift in the ways the scholarly focus has changed from looking at language solely as an oral and written skill to looking at language from the sociocultural lens and studying how it is embedded in identity production through linguistics interaction. This article concludes with a recommendation for future research on identity and language to respond to the diversity of language practices and aim at connecting language ideologies and identity to enhance our understanding of today’s complex learning communities and globalized world.

This study adds to the current literature on ongoing in-house professional development for teachers by exploring how administrators, other faculty, and the English-language (EFL) teachers who participated in Cambridge University Press’s Train the Trainer course (TTT) at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Saudi Arabia, judged the TTT’s usefulness. To determine whether to support the TTT in the future, KAU wanted to identify how well its TTT graduates could provide professional development to their colleagues. This study’s aim is to discuss how positively those who were involved in the TTT, particularly the administration, the TTT graduate trainers themselves, and the other teachers who attended the workshops presented by first-year graduates of the ELI’s TTT responded to the course. The main question it addresses is how successful the implementation of such a TTT course can be at the English language institute of a Saudi university, like at KAU, so as to determine if the TTT should continue to be offered at KAU and more generally, taking the example of the ELI at KAU, if the TTT course should also be proposed at other English language institutes in Saudi Arabia. This study employed a Likert scale survey, semi-structured interviews, and open-ended questions with TTT participants, administrators, and other faculty to assess the TTT’s initial value. The main finding of this study is that so far, the TTT course was perceived as beneficial. However, future analyses should evaluate the longer-term effects of the TTT on teaching approaches and student learning.

The present study investigates the effect of lexical difficulty, as measured by frequency, on reading comprehension and recall. It also estimates the relationship between vocabulary size, vocabulary depth, reading comprehension, and recall. To this end, 80 English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduate university students are administered three standardized instruments including two vocabulary tests and a reading comprehension test. The latter comprises two similar passages (in terms of length and topic) one of which is adjusted by replacing 18% of its words by their low-frequent synonyms, and both passages are estimated lexically to measure their difficulty. Paired samples t-test results show that comprehension and recall are significantly low (p

The field of second language acquisition has acknowledged the importance of good spelling for second language (L2) learners. Learning to spell, in fact, is not a straightforward process rather it involves numerous mental processes. Proponents of this field argue that learning English spelling entails the correct connection of the phonemes and graphemes. The former refers to the spoken sounds and the latter refers to the written symbols. Spelling, also, reflects to a large extent the actual level of people’s word knowledge and it can be used to measure the language achievements of L2 users. Nevertheless, the irregular system of English causes different kinds of problems and difficulties for roughly all learners of English including native speakers. This paper aims to highlight the difficulties that Arab learners of English encounter when spelling English words. It describes some spelling approaches such as whole word approach, phonics approach, invented spelling approach, traditional approach and morphemic approach. Then, it considers the different kinds of spelling errors often made by Arab learners of English. It concludes with some suggestions for helping Arab learners of English improve their spelling skills.

This study highlights the major emotional and psychological factors related to the medium of instruction (use of First Language (L1) in the classroom) in the domain of bilingual education for adult Saudi English as foreign language (EFL) learners. The primary area of emphasis is to consider whether the use of L1 in the class reduces the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) or it deprives the learners of the real and constant language inputs, viz., the words of the teacher in the target language. Thus, the main research question of the study is how the medium of instruction (use/mixing of Arabic or use of English-only approach) impacts the FLCA (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety) of Saudi adult learners. The quantitative research tool of survey has been administered on the teachers and students on five-point Likert-scale with the responses ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. There are twelve items in the survey and each item tends to explore different psychological dimension of the issue. 100 adult Saudi university students and 100 EFL teachers have responded to these items. The main finding of the study is that learner’s L1 speeds up the language learning process in a natural way if used occasionally and judiciously with the objective of keeping self-esteem and self image of the learners intact and bringing their FLCA down. The research study not only brings to surface the current state of bilingual EFL education in Saudi context, but also puts forth recommendations for learners, teachers, administrators, and policy makers to strengthen English language teaching/learning in EFL perspective in the bilingual context.

The central role of mentoring in developing and preparing prospective teachers during the clinical experience has been consistently documented in the literature. Screening candidates and selecting the fittest to serve as mentors is an essential process to the successful provision of the necessary professional and personal assistance to the new entrants to the profession. Based on this premise, the present conceptual paper aims to provide a new perspective to the selection process of mentor teachers to support pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in the Moroccan context. At the current time, the only formal requirements for becoming a mentor are based on a simple expression of interest and a consideration of the academic qualifications the candidate has. This method of selection proved to be problematic in light of new empirical evidence that showed its inherent limitedness and how it created unnecessary difficulties for trainee teachers during practice teaching. The Tri-spheric Ecological Approach to Mentor Selection (TEAMS) framework this paper tries to put forward adds more layers to the screening process of mentor teachers and places it in a wider context with more important factors and players to consider. This approach is then hoped to enhance the quality of mentoring during the practicum and circumvent numerous reported problems that pre-service teachers, unnecessarily, have to endure under the current mentor selection process.

This research aims to explore Chinese overseas students at a Thai university with regard to their perceived benefits and limitations, which are underpinned by the cultures of English language learning and teaching in China and in Thailand. Drawing upon the notion of “cultures of learning” (Cortazzi & Jin, 2013; Jin & Cortazzi, 1993, 1996), this study investigates the students’ expectations, beliefs, and values in terms of effective teaching styles, approaches and methods, learning strategies and styles, classroom interactions, activities, and the appropriate rapport between students and teacher. Based on the students’ focus-group data, the findings reveal that the Chinese students compared and contrasted the benefits and limitations in terms of educational philosophies, values, policies, and practices, linguistic and cultural diversity, and sociocultural contexts, which impacted on their situated learning styles and strategies. “Cultures of learning” were linguistically specific, culturally sensitive, contextually dependent, dynamic, agentive, and non-generalizable. The pedagogical implications are related to Chinese students’ academic, socio-psychological, socio-economic, cultural and political dimensions. This study addresses the students’ beliefs and practices in a language and culture immersion program at a Thai university, which, in retrospect, promote culturally appropriate and sensitive teaching of English for comparative overseas education between China and Thailand.

The Absent Character is a very important figure in modern American drama. It is employed as a means to reinforce the plot and to catalyze the actions of the play. This thesis addresses this importance as it relates to simulating the actions of the play and the effects this character leads to. I have focused on the dark side of the absent character and on how it succeeds in creating a hunting presence. My selected pivots on Susan Glaspell's Trifles, Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie and Edward Albee's who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Focusing on these representative plays, I have found that the absent character is so overwhelming that it becomes a presence on the stage. Its haunting presence usually destroys and paralyzes the lives of the onstage characters and creates a negative impact on the viewer.

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, using articles, spelling, verbs, conjunctions, capitalization, fragments, lexicon, subject omission, pronouns, prepositions, using adjectives, and using nouns; that may hinder understanding the written text. Furthermore, the analysis of these errors reveal that interlingual interference and a lack of knowledge are the main causes of the students' errors.

This study investigates the similarities and differences of the speech act of apology in English between Jordanian EFL learners (English as a Foreign Learners) and Asian undergraduate students at Zarqa University (ZU). It aims to understand the culture difference between Jordanian and the Asian speech communities that both learners utilize when confronting apology situations. The researcher used an interview technique to gather the data. Data collected using a modified version of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) developed by Sugimoto (1997). Subjects of the study included six Jordanian undergraduate students and six Asian undergraduate students. There were 10 situations used in the study developed by Sugimoto's (1997). The findings in this study introduced the similarities and differences of the apologizing strategies used by Jordanian undergraduate students and Asian undergraduate students. It found that the most frequently apology strategies used among the Jordanian and the Asian participants were account, and compensation. It shows also gratitude is less used among Asian participants when apologize by equal and lower status person. In regarding to that, the findings of this study are expected to be used in intercultural comparisons studies. This research hopes that tutors should be aware of their own culture and the cultures of their students to make this cultural training more successful. Learners should learn apologizing strategies in such a way to capture their semantics meaning as well as pragmatic use in order to employ them appropriately.

The way information is organized in a text enables students to read effectively. As such, the current study content analyzed the first and the second stage secondary English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks taught at public schools in Jordan. This descriptive analytical research design was carried out to explore the means and frequencies of text structure types included in both textbooks and the extent of fairness in presenting these structures within the reading texts of both textbooks. The main aim of the study is to provide insights for both EFL teachers and book designers to expose students to varied types of text structure. A content analysis sheet for coding the material based on the criterion of inclusion was used. The reading passage was the unit of analysis. The analysis of the study revealed that the Jordanian secondary stage textbooks include a variety of text structure types that are not fairly distributed; nevertheless, the descriptive structure was the most frequent structure in both textbooks. Starting from this premise, the current study discussed the pedagogical implications of text structure teaching. Accordingly, the study recommends that book designers should integrate reading texts of varied text structure types without ignoring some structures in favor of others, also it recommends that EFL teachers should be trained to use text structure strategy in EFL reading classes.

Speaking in a foreign language is considered to be a challenging aspect of language learning that demands competence and mastery in learning any foreign language. Vocabulary learning verifies to play an important role in oral communication. However, literature lacks the studies where both English as a foreign language (EFL) students and teachers’ views are obtained to provide analyses of the situations in which learners are not showing desired results in speaking. The current study explores the problems of lack of vocabulary that Saudi EFL students face with special focus on their speaking proficiency. It aims to seek EFL teachers’ opinions on the extent to which lack of vocabulary has influence on EFL students’ performance in listening, and conversation classes, and in expressing their ideas and feelings, and especially in speaking skill. A questionnaire was used for the responses from the students and an interview for the teachers to reveal their perceptions about the vocabulary hindrance in speaking skills. 20 EFL instructors and teachers of Preparatory Year Program (PYP) section of a public university and 110 EFL students participated in this study. The analysis of the data showed that both teachers and learners indicated that lack of vocabulary is one of the major factors in students’ inability to speaking English. In the current study, among many other suggestions it is proposed that the inclusion of mobile assisted language learning could be useful way of developing vocabulary for spoken proficiency of Saudi EFL learners.

The present paper accentuates the need for innovation in pedagogical theory and practice of the day. It elucidates the linguistic dilemma of the present times and identifies space for bilingualism and pluriculturalism. To make the readers acquainted with Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), the authors corroborate the detailed theoretical framework by establishing links with growing trends of cross continent migration, rising globalisation and expansion of multicultural and multiethnic contexts in the educational arena. A brief prehistory of CLIL has also been explored to justify its birth in helping out the linguists and educationists in Europe and beyond. The paper delineates the theory of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) diagrammatically employing content, cognition and communication in a linguistic culture. It explicates the various nomenclatures, dimensions, functions and the developmental stages of CLIL pedagogy at the dawn of the new millennium. After exploring the theoretical, functional and futuristic facets of CLIL, it is concluded that CLIL is an apt, economical and timely framework of bringing diverse cultures and languages closer to one another and can help build cosmopolitan identity of learners in the Knowledge Age.

Limited in scope, this paper deliberately foregrounds the evaluation stage of a suggested 5-month constructivist professional development (PD) programme for Algerian novice middle school English teachers (N=14) who were willingly involved in the whole process of its planning, implementation and evaluation and whose needs, preferences and reflections were valued. Evaluating this programme, assessment rubrics, classroom observation notes, project presentations and professional development journals (PDJs) were analysed. Precisely, amongst these constructivist evaluative tools, this study aimed to explore the participants’ post-programme learning and reactions through a qualitative content analysis of their reflective PDJs. The revelations of this evaluative analysis about the participants’ learning and reactions would inevitably assess the value of this constructivist programme as well as its effectiveness and help make decisions for its improvement. Additionally, this analysis would significantly confirm the usefulness of PDJs as effective constructivist reflective tools for teachers’ conceptual and practical development. After being collected, repeatedly read and qualitatively content-analysed, the participants’ coded PDJs (N=14) disclosed themes (N=6) and sub-themes (N=14) reflecting an amalgam of their learning and reactions. This cognitive and affective analysis of the participants’ reflections revealed signs of constructions of different ELT- and PD-related concepts, correction of some misconceptions together with traces of satisfaction, self-confidence and willpower. In the light of this study, the researcher strongly recommends PDJs for teachers to self/peer-assess and develop their teaching concepts and practice, and for programme facilitators to uncover and, therefore, meet teachers’ individual cognitive and affective needs.

Since political discourse portrays politicians’ knowledge state and their ideological assumptions, a critical analysis of Clinton’s speeches may unveil her perceptual and conceptual worlds. More specifically, critical discourse analysis may uncover her mental representations about the Tunisian Revolution and the US attitude towards such an important political event in North Africa and the Middle East. Studying factive presupposition and epistemic modality seems to be an effective pragmatic tool to reveal what is presented as factual and ideological knowledge in political discourse. The research instrument used to work out the frequency distribution of these lexical features is the latest version of ‘AntConc’ software. To uncover the epistemic state of Hillary Clinton, van Dijk’s (1995b) socio-cognitive approach, mainly discourse-cognition-society paradigm, is applied to analyze her speeches between January 2011 and December 2012. At the discourse level, research findings reveal that factive presupposition, epistemic modality and evidential verbs unveil the speaker’s strong personal commitment to the truth value of her propositions. At the cognitive level, results show that the speaker’s personal and social values, attitudes, ideologies and knowledge unmask her mental mapping of Tunisia, democracy and human rights. It also uncovers the cognitive mechanisms that govern discourse production and understanding via ICMs, cognitive frames, mental models and context models. At the social level, research demonstrates that Clinton's perceptual and conceptual worlds are based on a dichotomy that involves 'WE', or democracies Vs. 'THEY' or the enemies of democracy, hence a dual vision of the world or polarization. This research bridges the lack of research combining epistemic presupposition, epistemic modality and evidentiality within a socio-cognitive framework

This research paper draws on applying the tools of pedagogical stylistics in teaching literature in particular poetry to English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduate Iraqi students. The language of literature is rich with social context, exquisite deviant forms, and vocabulary. This paper aims at examining to what extent pedagogical stylistics can be helpful in increasing students' literary awareness. In addition, to examine how it can help them to interpret and analyze selected poems that have been chosen for them to achieve this goal. For the purpose of gathering the required data a pre-test and a post-test are conducted. Verdonk's (2013) approach is adopted in teaching stylistic tools to the students. The participants were (40) second-year students of the academic year 2018-2017 from University of Baghdad, Iraq. Moreover, a questionnaire is distributed to know students' opinions about studying stylistics. The final results proved that (1-) pedagogical stylistics tools are of great significance to pay heed to the language of poetry or literary language in general, (2-)the questionnaire shows that most agreed on studying stylistics in the classroom. Thus, this study highly recommends that teachers of literary subjects should focus on stylistic tools in teaching literary texts.

With the rapid developments and changes with digital technologies, teachers are challenged to develop their thinking and practice to instill critical minds able to participate actively in the knowledge society. Indeed, students need to develop the necessary 21st century skills that enable them to thrive for today’s economy. According to the Educational Testing Service (ETS) (2007), the 21st century learning skills refer to the ability to a) collect and/or retrieve information, b) organize and manage information, c) evaluate the quality, relevance, and usefulness of information, and d) generate accurate information through the use of existing resources. To achieve this goal, teachers’ professional identity has been further questioned, thereby generating debates and issues regarding their role. What teachers need to know, what beliefs they should hold and how they can achieve their professional development, are among the core intentions of today’s teacher education. Within this concern, this article aims to explore teachers’ professional identity to support teachers and teacher students understand their role and the conception of learning in 21st century education

This study aimed at investigating students’ reading comprehension achievement, vocabulary mastery, and social values among the third semester students at Computer Engineering, English, and Business Administration department of Politeknik Negeri Sriwijaya Indonesia. In this research, the writers used Research & Development (R & D) methodology. The purposive sampling included 3 high classes and 3 low classes consisting of 148 students. To collect the data, tests of reading comprehension and vocabulary were given and then statistically calculated with the paired-sample t-tests. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to the normality of data distribution. The findings indicated that the students in the high and low classes could significantly improve their reading comprehension achievement and vocabulary mastery. The students have also shown very positive moral values towards their friends such cooperative, respectful, responsible, and helpful and report that it has made their reading process more tangible and interesting. These results verify the efficacy of the social constructivism-based reading comprehension teaching design and the researchers recommends its application in Politeknik Negeri Sriwijaya.

With the implementation of inclusion in public schools in Egypt, there are demands for improving the professional development programs provided to in-service teachers concerning inclusive education. To that end, this mixed methods study aimed to identify the needs and preferences of English as a Foreign Language teachers regarding working with special-need students. The study also sought to explore the relationship between participants’ profile and their needs. Two hundred eighteen in-service teachers at primary schools in Egypt were selected by cluster sampling method to participate in a need assessment questionnaire while eight were interviewed. Participants reported lack of training in inclusive education, large class size, negative attitudes, shortage of time, heavy workload, and unfamiliarity with necessary strategies as barriers to inclusion. In addition, participants prioritized their needs for identification of language disorders, teaching methods, individualized instruction through curriculum adaptation and Individualized Educational Plans, and controlling behavioral problems. There were significant differences in participants’ needs based on age, years of experience and qualifications. The teachers preferred face-to-face workshops, mentor-supported learning and project-based learning besides morning sessions in weekdays. Recommendations for professional development programs and future research were provided.

The history of English Language Teaching (ELT) has shown that this fast growing field is facing unprecedented challenges posed by the recent developments in the status of the English language as a world’s leading language and the eventual change in the linguistic landscape. This paper provides an opportunity to examine the impact of the phenomenal spread of English in recent years and its eventual dominance in the international arena as seen in the practice of English Language Teaching (ELT) and learning, particularly in English as a Second Language (ESL)/English as Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. The paper reports the implications of the recent growth of English for crucial ELT practices and areas such as learner identity, code selection in classroom, teaching methods, syllabus design and material development. It draws on issues pertaining to English as a lingua franca theory in an attempt to address this debatable topic and consider the necessity of taking into consideration the emerging trends in ELT classrooms globally.

This study was carried out to evaluate the relationship between English language proficiency (ELP) and intercultural communication competence (ICCC) of Arab students in Malaysia. This study included both of the quantitative and the qualitative data sets to further the information. The participants of this study were 108 Arab students from nine different Asian and African nationalities. Based on the results of this study, English language was the main means of education for the participants, and the main means of their communication with students from other cultures. The results from this study found some significant correlations between the attributes of ELP and ICCC. The good levels of ELP encouraged and enabled individuals to be involved in daily interactions with their peers from different countries who speak different languages, and their interactions helped them to improve the levels of their ELP. Moreover, the participants who obtained higher scores in English language proficiency test got higher mean scores in ICCC as well. Based on the results, in some cases, their personal characteristics and the low levels of their ELP had negative effects on the process of interactions among Arab and other students. The results of this study may add some interesting information in the literature regarding the relationships between ELP and ICCC of Arab students in an Asian multicultural collegiate environment.

Textbooks are one of the essential types of materials that are extensively used in English as a second language classroom instruction. The current study tries to evaluate the textbook SUNRISE 9 based on six categories. This study intends to cover how those categories are represented in SUNRISE 9. The categories are the layout and design, activities, skills, language type, subject and content and conclusion. The present study aims at answering the questions about SUNRISE 9 from teachers’ and students’ opinions and finding out whether there is a statistically significant difference between the teachers’ and students’ responses with regard to the strengths and weaknesses of the textbook which are used in language classrooms in all basic schools in the Northern Iraq. Two data collection tools were carried out in the current study. The quantitative data were obtained using questionnaire for teachers and students with a total number of 375 9th grade students and 40 9th grade teachers. They were chosen randomly from Sulaimanyah city in the North of Iraq. The qualitative part of the study, semi-structured interviews were held among 13 teachers to gather more neccessary data. The findings reveal that the teacher participants have negative opinions towards most of the sections of the textbook and some others have not stated any opinions but the student participants generally have positive opinions about SUNRISE 9. For this English textbook SUNRISE 9, an empirical evaluative study and an in-depth method evaluation are also suggested to be conducted to find out more important results.

Social networking applications have emerged as potential new tools for enhancing second language vocabulary learning. The current study explores the development of academic vocabulary knowledge of English as a foreign language (EFL) students using WhatsApp compared to the traditional method of vocabulary instruction. It also aims at investigating students’ perceptions about the use WhatsApp in learning vocabulary. Forty Arab EFL students at the elementary level enrolled at a public university in the Arabian Gulf region participated in the study. Twenty one participants belonging to the same class were randomly assigned to the experimental group. They completed and submitted their vocabulary assignments which consisted of looking up the meanings of new words in a dictionary and building a sentence using each word and submitting their sentences via WhatsApp. Nineteen students from another class were assigned to the control group. They had to submit the same homework assignment using the paper and pencil method. Data were collected using pretest-posttest design. Results of t-test scores indicated that WhatsApp group significantly outperformed the traditional group on a vocabulary test. Furthermore, results of a questionnaire that gauged participants’ perception of the use of WhatsApp in learning vocabulary show that generally participants have positive attitudes towards learning new vocabulary items via WhatsApp. Implications for teaching and future research are discussed.

This cross-sectional survey aims at investigating Saudi English-major university undergraduates about their self-perceived listening comprehension strategies they employ to comprehend listening texts. To generate data for this empirical study, a 5-point strongly agree to strongly disagree Likert-scale questionnaire has been adapted and standardized steps were followed to ensure the reliability and validity of the instrument. Arabic version of the questionnaire was administered to randomly selected male and female Saudi English-major university undergraduates studying at foreign languages department during their regular teaching session to generate data. Descriptive analyses were run to calculate percentages, means and standard deviation. The results inform that the participants of this study prefer to use cognitive strategies the most followed by metacognitive strategies. Socio-affective strategies were reported to be used the least by this group. This trend offers valuable insights into the fact that Saudi English as a foreign language (EFL) learners resort to bottom-up strategies more frequently as compared to the top-down ones. It is recommended that Saudi EFL learners should be made aware of the significance of these strategies to enhance their listening comprehension. English language teachers should provide their students with appropriate skills of how to listen, retrospect on listening process and concentrate on practicing metacognitive and socio-affective strategies during their listening tasks. It is also recommended that teachers should provide their students with this confidence and courage to talk about their listening problems as well as the strategies they have used to tackle those problems.

Self-efficacy (SE) is a key factor of the teaching-learning process success. While literature on SE and its dimensions is rich in the field of education, still there is a lack of studies aiming to explore teachers’ SE in contrast with their actual teaching skills and their characteristics. For this reason, this study aims to respond to the following research questions: are there differences between perceived SE and actual teaching performance in preschool and primary school teachers? Which sources of SE can be considered as significant predictors of teachers’ SE? This work employs a quantitative approach based on the observational method. Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale and classroom observation frameworks were used to collect data from a sample of 24 teachers. Results show that there are high inconsistencies between self-judgments and actual teaching performance (p > .05). Experienced and medium experienced teachers show higher scores than novice teachers in several dimensions of SE (p < .05). However, teachers’ educational background is not significantly correlated with their SE (p > .05). Resource support is found as the only significant predictor of SE in our sample of teachers (p < .001; p2 = .733). Our research suggests that teachers may have a distorted perception of their in-class performance, which could drive to lower quality of the teaching-learning process. Therefore, in the future, professional training programs should focus on promoting a more realistic understanding and awareness of teachers’ actions in the classroom as the first step of any intervention aiming to increase teaching quality.

English language teaching in Saudi Arabia faces several challenges from both teacher and students’ perspective. Teacher Talk (TT) is one of the areas of teaching and learning which is often neglected in classroom research even with its high importance in student learning. Identifying the literature gap on TT in specific sociocultural contexts, this study aims to investigate different types of f-moves in Teacher Talk and their impact on developing students’ dialogic skills in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms in Saudi Arabia. The IRF sequence (initiation, response, feedback or F-move) is considered a common sequence of TT in Saudi EFL classrooms. This study uses Cullen’s (2002) analytical framework which focuses on the third sequence of the IRF and Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory to explore the emerging themes of TT in Saudi Arabian secondary classrooms. The methodology of the study is a qualitative case study, and the participants of the study are 18 secondary school teachers all share Arabic as their first language. The data was collected through classroom observation, audio-recording of forty-five-minute classroom lessons, and semi-structured teacher interviews. The analysis focused on the discoursal and evaluative role of F-Move. The data analysis shows three F-Move types 1) F-Move Repetition Discoursal 2) F-Move Evaluative 3) F-Move Elaborative Discoursal. The findings point out that these F-Moves may increase student-teacher interaction, identification, and correction of errors, and maintain and guide dialogic conversation/interaction between teacher and students if it is correctly oriented. The data analysis shows examples in which TT promotes students’ involvement and increases their dialogic skills while, on the other hand, when TT reduces students’ potential to participate and consequently reduces the students’ spoken output.

This study aims to investigate the perspectives of non-native English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers across mother tongue and gender, and their male and female adult students, regarding the use of Arabic in the EFL classrooms at the university level in Saudi Arabia. The study specifically seeks to investigate the perspectives of non-native Arab and non-Arab EFL teachers as they, working in the native Arab setting, often resort to Arabic (Al-Nofaie, 2010; Machaal, 2012). However, there are glaring research gaps about non-native EFL teachers’ and adult learners’ beliefs on the use of first language (L1) in the classroom. For this purpose, the study used quantitative research design, and administered two questionnaires, one for the teachers and the other for the students. Students’ questionnaire complemented that of the teachers. Forty teachers and sixty students were selected based on stratified random sampling. The findings of the study revealed that all camps of teachers, Arab, non-Arab, male, female, and students were in favour of judicious bilingual approach. The study finds statistically significant difference between the beliefs of Arab and non-Arab EFL teachers about the use of L1. The findings suggest that Arab EFL teachers’ use of Arabic is extensive, while non-Arab EFL teachers’ use of Arabic is well-timed. The study suggested practical implications for the improvement of English Language Teaching (ELT) in Saudi Arabia by recommending planned, occasional and judicious use of L1 while teaching EFL adult learners.

The purpose of this classroom action research was to investigate the perceptions of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers towards the challenges they face in teaching experience during the practicum period. The participants were 35 Saudi EFL female pre-service teachers in the Educational Diploma Program (EDP) attending Teaching Practicum (1) Course in Taibah University, Saudi Arabia. A mixed method, which contains both quantitative and qualitative research design, was used to collect data. Research instruments comprised a perception opinionnaire designed to measure the perceptions of EFL pre-service teachers towards the challenges they face in teaching experience during the practicum. The results showed that EFL pre-service teachers considered the observation period during the Teaching Practicum (1) Course between moderately and extremely beneficial. The results of the perceptions of EFL pre-service teachers regarding classroom-teaching skills were between highly and moderately to low challenging. Additionally, their skills related to school environment indicated less challenging than skills related to classroom teaching experiences. The results of the open-ended question were divided into three meaningful and thoughtful categories to add much depth and understanding of the research problem. Some recommendations based on the results were derived. For example, EFL pre-service teachers needed further development in teaching experiences and skills related to classrooms and school setting. Furthermore, meetings, workshops, and/or small discussion sessions need to be conducted between all the stakeholders in the practicum to explore problems and anticipate possible solutions.

In the last 30 years, numerous scholars have described the possible changes in marking writingassignments. The paper reflects these developments as it charts the paths recently taken in the field, evaluates automated and human essay scoring systems in academic environments and analyzes the implications that both systems offer. In recent years, ways and opportunities for giving feedback have changed as computer programs have been more widely used in assessing students writing. Numerous researchers have studied computerized feedback and its potential. Different problems, such as quality of this type of feedback, validity, and reliability have been analyzed. This critical review examines two major types of academic writing support. The objective of the study based on the literature review is to examine the potential support of human and automated proofreaders for teaching and learning purposes.

The present study aims to explore the link between foreign language anxiety (FLA) and self-efficacy, English self-perceived proficiency, and three sociobiographical variables (gender, knowledge of a third language, and experience abroad) among 261 Arabic university students learning English. Data were collected using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) and an Arabic version of the Foreign Language Self-Efficacy Scale (Torres & Turner, 2016). The findings revealed that this sample of Arab English as a foreign language (EFL) students experienced an average level of anxiety with female learners suffering more from anxiety than their male counterparts. Regression analyses revealed that self-efficacy, self-perceived proficiency in English, and gender were predictors of FLA. The results suggest that participants who were self-efficacious and felt more proficient in English were significantly less likely to suffer from FLA. However, even though knowledge of a third language and experience abroad were correlated with FLA, they had no effect on participants’ anxiety.

Despite the widespread consensus among researchers that readers whose first language is Arabic frequently experience major difficulties with word recognition when reading in English, there is little research into the strategic behaviour of first language (L1) Arabic readers when encountering unknown vocabulary in texts written in English. This paper reports a study designed to contribute to our understanding of the types of reading strategy employed by L1 Arabic speakers when reading in English and in particular the types of knowledge sources and contextual clues they rely on when encountering unfamiliar English words. The following research questions were addressed: 1. What are the principle lexical processing strategies employed by Arabic-speaking university students when encountering unfamiliar vocabulary in academic English texts? 2. To what extent does the employment of these lexical processing strategies result in successful identification of the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary? A pre-test was conducted to provide a measure of the participants’ overall reading proficiency and to ensure the unfamiliarity of the target words. Subsequently, individual reading tasks with concurrent think-aloud sessions were conducted to enable the identification of lexical processing strategies. Two main findings emerged: first, the participants in this study made use of three strategies when dealing with unfamiliar vocabulary; second, these strategies were frequently employed in a noticeably ineffective manner and, in consequence, many of the participants’ attempts at inferencing were conspicuously unsuccessful. The pedagogical implications of these findings are briefly discussed.

In the recent years, an increasing interest in self-efficacy has been observed. However, the impact of students’ perceived self-efficacy on their academic achievements needs more attention. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of self-efficacy on English language proficiency of students at Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. This study attempts to answer the question whether there exists any relationship between Saudi students’ perceived self-efficacy and their achievement in English language learning. Self-efficacy scales were used to gather data from 230 preparatory year students from Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Fifteen out of seventy-six sections were randomly selected from the three streams, namely, Medical, Scientific and Administration. For data analysis, descriptive statistical analysis was performed using SPSS. It is significant in terms of providing insights into the psychology of the students particularly regarding their perceived self-efficacy which will be of great help to the course designers, content developers and teachers in taking measures for the inclusion of the content to improve students’ self-efficacy. The findings show that there exists a positive correlation between General and English self-efficacy and achievements in English language learning. However, there is no positive correlation between social self-efficacy and English language achievements. On the basis of the findings, the study provides some recommendations to improve students’ self-efficacy for better performance in learning English. Based on the findings of the research, further research is recommended to compare self-efficacy of the students from different Saudi universities in order to explore the reasons for different levels of their self-efficacy and English language achievements.

This paper aims at highlighting the effectiveness of Encounter, Clarify ,Remember, Internalize, Fluent Use (ECRIF) strategy in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Seventh Graders’ vocabulary learning and retention. It tries to answer the following question : Are there statistically important differences at (α ≤ 0.05) in the whole mean scores in vocabulary accomplishment among the students who learn English vocabulary through using ECRIF strategy (experimental group) and those who learn English vocabulary over the traditional technique (control group) in the post test? To accomplish the purpose of the study, the researcher shown the experimental group with a sample involved (125) students for ECRIF strategy. While the traditional technique was used with the control group which involved (100) students in the first term of the school year 2017-2018.The researcher used (pre -post & delayed) vocabulary test and an analysis card to collect data. The study's results suggested that there were statistically important differences at (α ≤ 0.05) in the whole mean grade in vocabulary accomplishment between experimental and the control groups in the post & delayed test in favor of ECRIF strategy. In addition, the researcher recognized these differences to using ECRIF strategy in teaching English language vocabulary. In light of these outcomes, the study suggested the necessity of applying ECRIF in teaching English language to get better results in students’ vocabulary learning and retention in English as a foreign language. Similarly, the ECRIF Strategy would be used with other English skills and sub-skills.