Engaging Multimedia into Speaking Class Practices: Toward students’ Achievement and Motivation

The present study reports several impacts of implementing multimedia toward teaching and learning process in speaking class at second grade students of Galuh University, Ciamis. Further, the study came from insights on students’ boredom during speaking class which affected their achievement and motivation.  Mixed method research design (Creswell, 2013) then employed to answer several proposed hypotheses. For proving the result of its application, observation, questionnaire, pre and post-test were administered to collect the data while both quantitative and qualitative approaches were applied to analyze the collected data from classroom practices. The research findings indicates that  multimedia in speaking class got positive responds from students in term of motivation and accomplishment. The great look portrayed from the class that students were enthusiastic, got involved and interested in multimedia provided by teacher during learning process. Moreover, pre and post-tests that are performace-based tests were greatly used to test the effectiveness of multimedia effects during the class. In this side, the researcher employed experiment of two equivalent groups: control and experimental group. It then reported that t-test related is 2.04  out of 1.70 for  t- distribution which points out that there is significant difference between the results of both tests. It means that the result of this research agreed that multimedia has good effects for teaching speaking in the scope of students’ interests, feedback and their cognitive aspects. In line with above statements, the further studies is also necessary  dealing with other multimedia for obtaining more positive effects toward learning process and those result enables to increase quality of education.       

A Systemic Review (2014–2023) on the Mobile-Assisted Blended Learning for English as a Foreign Language Education with a Focus on Empirical Studies

Over the past two decades, due to the rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT), mobile learning (M-learning) and blended learning (BL) have emerged as new trends in sustaining English as a foreign language (EFL) education. The tumultuous COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted traditional teaching and learning, but it has also accelerated the integration of technology in EFL education. Mobile-assisted blended learning (MABL) combines mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) and BL into a single framework that effectively addresses their individual limitations when used in isolation. However, reviews of MABL, particularly in the context of EFL education, are scarce. Sourced from two major databases, namely Web of Science and Scopus, and two supplementary databases (Education Resources Information Center and Mendeley), 25 studies were extracted out of 205 in the latest decade, using specific exclusion and inclusion criteria. This review aims to shed light on the trend of utilizing advanced and effective pedagogy and teaching tools to benefit stakeholders in the sustainable development of English as a foreign language

EFFECTIVENESS OF SMARTPHONE ON EFL READING: LEARNERS’ PERCEPTION IN ASIAN COUNTRIES

COVID-19, the deadly and infectious virus, is a devastating blow for the world. Every single person in the world today has been impaired by Coronavirus in a variety of ways. The educational system across the globe has thundered this new phenomenon. Many institutions have moved their programs from offline to online mode. This pandemic left no other option for the academy but to adopt a new method of pedagogy. Smartphones would be a better way to promote online education. Smartphone users have been rising excessively in Asia in recent years. The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the learners' perception in Asian countries concerning the effectiveness of smartphone on EFL reading. This research is a systematic analysis of a qualitative nature. Altogether, 39 studies were selected on the learning perception of the smartphone for EFL reading. The studies included the following countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand. These nine countries have been chosen from countries in Asia whose official language is different from English. The findings indicate that the reading habit of Asian EFL learners is less and is slowly decreasing, as conventional classrooms may not fulfill learners' needs at times, as printed books are not fun. Using a smartphone for an EFL-reading can be a better choice because the smartphone is accessible and affordable. Leaners spend a significant amount of time on smartphones, especially on social networking sites. Learners use smartphone apps to read vocabulary. The learners stress that smartphones help you find out what to learn and, most importantly, how to learn. Learners accept that using smartphones to learn English enhances their critical thinking, innovative thinking, questionability, problem-solving, communication, and teamwork to some degree. Specifically, the use of smartphone guides them to a lifelong learner who is self-reliant. The common problem with smartphones is interrupted Wi-Fi connectivity. Using a smartphone can contribute to several health issues. The learners' critical issue is the irritation of the eyes caused by the brightness of the screen. Some apps have a few pedagogical elements for reading. Nevertheless, learners agree that a smartphone cannot substitute a good teacher. They need guidance from teachers to decide what to learn and how to learn. Overall, reading smartphones in English has a positive effect in Asia. Article visualizations

DEVELOPING MULTIMODAL DIGITAL LITERACY: THE APPLICATION OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING AS A NEW AVENUE FOR EFFECTIVE ENGLISH LEARNING WITH EFL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KOREA

The purpose of this mixed method research study is to investigate the educational effects of digital storytelling as a communicative language learning strategy in an EFL elementary school class in Korea. In order to find out the benefits and challenges of digital storytelling in EFL class, this study was conducted for 12 weeks in a rural elementary school. Digital storytelling was selected and utilized in the after-school English class, as main teaching and learning tool. Guiding research questions were 1) what are the potential benefits and challenges of digital storytelling for young EFL learners when it is employed in a rural context as a language learning activity? i. e.) the change of motivation, reading, writing, listening, speaking ability, and 2) What does the English teacher find to be benefits and challenges of using a digital storytelling as pedagogical strategies in Korean EFL classroom?. In order to answer those questions, a survey questionnaire on students’ learning attitude was distributed, and pre- and post-test were employed to investigate the difference in terms of the ability of reading, writing, listening and speaking over time. In addition, student’s reflective self-evaluation log, teacher’s lecture report, classroom observation and in/formal interviews with focal students and the teacher were also collected to figure out the factors which gave an influence to students and the teacher. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed based on the characteristics of each data set. The quantitative data results indicated that students show overall improvement in academic performance in terms of reading, writing, listening and speaking. In addition to English proficiency, the learning attitude and motivation toward English learning was elevated, followed by the increase of their critical, creative thinking, and digital literacy skills. The other results of qualitative data highlighted that the English teacher and students were satisfied with the learning experience with digital storytelling in that it played a key role in motivating the learning process and was an effective tool for active learning. To sum up, it seems clear that the digital storytelling activity, as integrated instructional strategy has the potential to shed light on helping EFL learners in a rural school to develop English skills as well as to change their learning attitude toward studying English. In addition, digital storytelling also increased skills other than academic skills related to learning English, and it also helped to improve students’ communicative ability, encouraging their collaboration, motivation and creativity to be heightened

Examining students' use of online annotation tools in support of argumentative reading

This study examined how students in a Hong Kong high school used Diigo, an online annotation tool, to support their argumentative reading activities. Two year 10 classes, a high-performance class (HPC) and an ordinary-performance class (OPC), highlighted passages of text and wrote and attached sticky notes to them to clarify argumentation structures and to represent and share argumentation processes. Analysis of annotations revealed that highlighting was the most frequently used online annotation feature. The HPC made significantly more sticky notes and used them more to annotate terms, claims and judgments than the OPC. The study suggests that Diigo is a promising tool for supporting reading-to-argue. The findings may be of value to teachers and researchers in designing online annotation tools that more effectively foster the process of reading-to-argue.published_or_final_versio

Second language writing online: An update

I last wrote an overview of developments in second language (L2) online writing 10 years ago (Godwin-Jones, 2008). Since that time, there have been significant developments in this area. There has been renewed interest in L2 writing through the wide use of social media, along with the rising popularity of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and telecollaboration (class-based online exchanges). The recognition of writing as a social act has also led to a significant rise in interest in collaborative writing. This has been aided by the popularity of tools providing a shared writing space, such as Google Docs. The importance and recognition of genre in both student work and writing theory have grown considerably among practitioners and researchers. The increased practice of integrating multimedia into writing is reflected in the popularity of multimodal projects, such as digital storytelling. At the same time, digital tools for evaluating writing have become more widely available in the form of digital annotators and automated writing evaluation (AWE) software, which take advantage of advances in corpus linguistics and natural language processing (NLP). In addition, tools for processing and evaluating large data sets enable approaches from data mining that provide valuable insights into writing processes. The variety and, in some cases, the complexity of online writing environments has increased the need for both learner and teacher training

Augmenting efl vocabulary learning and reading comprehension through mobile phone-based vocabulary learning tasks and computer-based reading activites

EFL reading is a crucial input that is central to one’s academic progress, work environment, and social interactions. EFL reading is a complex process because there are many factors that play their part in successful reading experience. EFL vocabulary is one the most important factors in reading process as it provides the basis for the interaction between the text and the reader. Experts have been hard at work to devise means and ways to improve EFL reading comprehension. Since technology has permeated our lives, they have turned to technology to assist in the process of EFL reading. The use of technology in EFL reading instruction has been through two platforms: computers and mobile phones. The present study seeks to combine the affordances of these two platforms to augment EFL vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of students in Preparatory Year Programme (PYP) at a public university in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also aims to study the students’ attitude towards EFL in general and towards the combined usage of these platforms to enhance EFL reading comprehension and EFL vocabulary learning in particular. The participants were students (N = 131) divided into four preformed groups, (n = 65) male and (n = 66) female students. The study spanned a period of six weeks and had a mixed methods design. One group of males (n = 32) and one of females (n = 34) formed the control group while the other two groups of males (n = 33) and females (n = 32) were given the treatment. Research instruments used for data collection were an achievement test, two questionnaires and a semi-structured interview protocol. All data collection instruments were developed by the researcher and were piloted, for reliability and consistency. The treatment comprised of two strands that were vocabulary instruction and reading comprehension. The subjects in the treatment condition received multi glossed vocabulary through mobile phones using WhatsApp tool while computer-generated reading activities made with Hot Potatoes tool were administered in language laboratory. The control groups were taught through traditional classroom method which follows a presentation, practice and production model. Pre-test and post-test data and data from questionnaires were analysed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Data from the semi-structured interviews was discussed qualitatively. Findings of the study revealed that the treatment groups outperformed their counterparts in the control groups both in vocabulary and reading comprehension components of the achievement test. Results of the questionnaire for the treatment group showed that the treatment had positive impact on attitudes and perception of the participants towards EFL reading in general and they reported positive attitudes towards the use of WhatsApp and Hot Potatoes as learning platforms. The findings also indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in the performance of male and female groups in treatment group on the basis of gender. The results of the study highlighted yet again that technology can be used as an effective assistive tool to augment vocabulary learning and to enhance reading comprehension skills of EFL learners. The findings of the study also suggested that simple computers and mobile phones can be used as learning platforms