English-language writing instruction in Poland: Adapting to the local EFL context

This paper is intended to foster reflection about the development of a locally-suitable approach to English-language writing instruction in Poland. In order to provide background information to contextualize a subsequent discussion of English-language writing, the paper starts with a brief overview of the history of L2 writing instruction, including an overview of the four most influential approaches to teaching ESL composition in the U.S. from 1945–1990: Controlled Composition, Current-Traditional Rhetoric, the Process Approach, and English for Academic Purposes. This is followed by a discussion of the concept of a „needs analysis,” where it is noted that needs analysis is complex in foreign language contexts such as Poland, where students may not have obvious, immediate needs for writing in English after graduation. The notion of needs analysis is illustrated with an example drawn from the English Institute at the University of Łódź. The needs analysis indicated that some students of English had negative attitudes and/or anxiety towards writing in English, but some had positive attitudes based on previous experiences with creative and expressive writing. Additionally, it was determined that students needed to learn many skills for writing academic papers that they had not learned in secondary school and that require extensive instruction and practice. Based on the needs analysis, it was determined that the purposes of a new writing course for first-year English majors should be to foster and develop positive attitudes toward writing and to support students’ academic work. The assignments and activities for the course are described. Additionally, a description is provided of the possible purposes that Polish students in general might have for writing in English, the goals that instructors might pursue in assigning writing, and the types of writing teachers might assign. Recommendations are provided for responding to student writing

The Effects of Using Blogs to Develop the Writing Skill in the EFL Classroom

Desarrollar la competencia escrita parece ser un desafío para los estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera hoy en día en parte porque los docentes y estudiantes no han prestado especial atención a esta importante área de inglés durante el proceso de aprendizaje. Desafortunadamente, las metodologías tradicionales que se han venido usando en los últimos años no ayudan a los estudiantes en el proceso de escritura dando como resultado un bajo nivel de escritura por parte de los estudiantes. Por este motivo, esta síntesis de investigación tiene como objetivo analizar los efectos del uso de blogs en el desarrollo de la habilidad de escritura de los estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera. Para este propósito, se seleccionaron y analizaron 15 trabajos de investigación con enfoque cuantitativo, cualitativo, cuasi experimental y de método mixto para determinar si el impacto de la implementación de blogs en el aula es positivo o negativo para los estudiantes. Los hallazgos revelan que (1) el uso de blogs contribuye en gran medida el desarrollo de la habilidad de escritura y que (2) los estudiantes consideran que la implementación de blogs les ha ayudado a mejorar su escritura y que para seguir en su proceso de mejora de escritura elegirían seguir usando blogs debido a que es un recurso moderno que hace uso de recursos digitales.Developing written proficiency seems to be a challenge for students of English as a foreign language today in part because teachers and students have not paid special attention to this important area of English during the learning process. Unfortunately, the traditional methodologies that have been used in recent years do not help students in the writing process, resulting in a low level of writing by students. For this reason, this research synthesis aims to analyze the effects of the use of blogs on the development of the writing ability of students of English as a foreign language. For this purpose, 15 research papers with a quantitative, qualitative, quasi-experimental and mixed method approach were selected and analyzed to determine if the impact of the implementation of blogs in the classroom is positive or negative for students. The findings reveal that (1) the use of blogs greatly contributes to the development of the Writing skill and that (2) students consider that the implementation of blogs has helped them to improve their writing, and to continue enhancing their Writing skill, they would choose to continue using blogs because it is a modern resource that makes use of digital resources.0000-0001-8409-696

Revisiting materials for teaching languages for specific purposes

Teaching materials in languages for specific purposes have evolved in the last few years dramatically. The Internet currently plays a significant role in such development and has permitted both a wider range of resources and its free availability almost anywhere in the World. This paper presents a selection of different types of recent materials for English for Specific Purposes. The paper begins by defining ESP. Then it approaches how materials should shape the student’s own learning, how materials should be selected according to the different skills and then emphasizes the importance of the Internet as a source of materials. The paper concludes with a set of ideas for the future development of ESP materials. The final goal of this paper is to provide the readers with valuable tools that can enhance their teaching through accessible mean

The wordpress project :|bapractical action research experience

Tesis (Profesor de Inglés para la Enseñanza Básica y Media y al grado académico de Licenciado en Educación)The aim of this study is to promote and implement the use of social media resources in English-as-foreign-language (EFL) classrooms. In addition, the investigation intends to advance our understanding of this issue through examining the perspectives and a digital-immigrant teacher experiences. According to identity and the socio-cultural theory literature, we realized that there are teachers who are seeking to be innovative in their practices by using social media tools. This study pretends to portray that Internet and different social media tools, especially WordPress, are becoming essential for teaching purposes. The results reflect that social media tools were helpful for this teacher and what were her perceptions about the process and the implementation of Social media tools (SMT), in her EFL classroom.El objetivo de este estudio es promover e implementar el uso de los medios de comunicación social en las clases de inglés como lengua extranjera. Además, esta investigación pretende avanzar en nuestra comprensión de este tema a través del examen de las perspectivas de una maestra considerada como inmigrante digital, y sus experiencias. De acuerdo con la literatura sobre identidad y la teoría sociocultural, nos dimos cuenta de que hay maestros que buscan ser innovadores en sus prácticas mediante el uso de herramientas en línea. Este estudio pretende retratar que Internet y sus diferentes herramientas, especialmente WordPress, se están volviendo imprescindibles para propósitos docentes. Los resultados reflejan que las herramientas de los medios de comunicación social fueron útiles para esta profesora y cuáles son sus percepciones sobre el proceso y la implementación del proyecto en su clase

Blogs in Language Learning Enhancing Students’ Writing Skills through Blogs

Unlike receptive skills, such as reading and listening, writing has received relatively little attention in second language learning. The reason for this lack of attention is that reading and listening are assumed to create competence in second language learning since they form the input on which learning is based. Moreover, a number of studies in several English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts have indicated that second language learners consider writing skills as the most difficult skills to master. A number of studies also promote the use of educational technologies in teaching the English language, and blogging, in particular, is considered to be one of the promising educational media that can be used as a genuine tool to teach EFL in a way that enables the learners to use English for authentic and day-to-day life situations. The use of blogging has been shown to enable the students to learn English for real-life situations and purposes which eventually will enhance the EFL learners’ English language competence in general and their writing skills in particular. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to examine the extent to which this new technology can enhance EFL Omani writing. In this study, multiple qualitative methods were used within an interpretivist approach and a case study methodology to gather the required data. Therefore, after choosing the study context and working with foundation students at the Institute of Health in Oman, the following methods were applied. First, an open-ended questionnaire was used to establish baseline perceptions and to select the six students for in-depth examination. Second, a student blog was created and implemented, in which each participant had to write three original essays plus an edited version of each one based on peers’ comments on their work. Subsequently, field notes were applied within the participants’ writing class, and finally, the participants and their teacher were interviewed. The study obtained the following findings. The use of blogging as a new medium in teaching writing skills enabled Omani students to have a new learning experience where several changes occurred: 1. A change in understanding of being a writer, 2. A change in understanding of a text, 3. A changing pedagogy for the writing classroom and 4. A changing classroom culture in the EFL writing classes. This study is characterised by its original design and approach, by its context within the Arab world and its findings are likely to influence teaching L2 writing skills while applying new educational technology. The study offers compelling evidence that blogging facilitates interaction with peers and teachers and that this interaction changes both the understanding and practice of writing

A mixed-methods study of exploring and explaining the impact of the use of educational blogging on Saudi EFL students' writing development

The dominance of technology in many learners’ lives is inescapable and is an opportunity upon which educators could capitalize. Using educational blogging in language teaching, this study aimed to explore and explain the nature impact of the use of educational blogs on EFL students’ writing development. The study used a mixed-methodsdesign to analyse the impact of the educational blogging. The first phase was a quasi-experimental study with an intervention and comparison group, with 90 participants in total (45 in each group). Participants were undertaking an English Language writing course during the Preparatory Year Programme at a higher education institution in Saudi Arabia. The comparison group was taught using traditional teaching methods and the intervention group was taught by using educational blogs both individual and class blogs. Both groups had the same course materials and teaching hours. The sentence variety, syntactic complexity, vocabulary, paragraph organisation and the coherence and cohesion of student pre and post writing tests were measured in order to compare the groups. Mann-Whitney tests were used to investigate whether there was a significant difference. In the second phase, a sequential mixed-methods case study focused on the intervention group was developed to explore and explain the participants’ attitudes towards the use of educational blogs. Attitudes were measured using a closed questionnaire, and then this data was supplemented by open-ended questions, focus group discussion and semi-strucured interviews designed to explain the nature of the impact of the intervention in more detail. This phase also investigated the first blog and last blog entries on the class blog using the same procedure used in investigating the pre and post tests. Statistical findings reveal that the intervention group outperformed the students in the comparison group who were given similar lessons but using traditional methods (pen and 4 paper). Qualitative findings suggest that the use of educational blogging seems to have increased these students’ motivation to practise writing, and that this resulted in more sophisticated and syntactically complex texts after the intervention. The study supports the theory of using educational technology as a pedagogical teaching method in English classes, based on the socio-cultural and cognitive theory of social interactional learning. In so doing, it extends the relation of educational blogging affordances and writing development context, particularly in the context of HE students taking a non-English major, who might be expected to be possibly less motivated or invested in developing their English writing skills than those students who have typically formed the sample for similar previous studies. This study is significant in investigating the pedagogical use of blogging a new context, revealing how educational blogs can be used in a context which traditionally hinders pedagogical approaches which are collaborative or student-centered: one with large class sizes, a tradition of transmission-style teaching and limited opportunities for peer interaction. The findings suggest how and why blogging can be an effective pedagogical approach for supporting writing development in similar context

EFL Students' Perspectives on the Use of Blog towards Their Writing Performance

Obtaining English Foreign Language (EFL) students’ views dealing with their preferences of blog to assist their writing skills in practice is needed in order to make them more helpful in writing practice. This research aims at finding out significant correlation between students’ perspective on the use blog in writing activity and their writing performance. It is correlational study that correlates two variables: blog use and writing performance. The result of this research shows that there is no significant correlation between the students’ perception on blog use in writing activities with their writing performances. Although the students have high and positive perception toward blog use in writing actives done by the teacher in the class, it does not give high response to the students’ writing performance. It happens because some extraneous and possible factors may influence the result of this research. Finally, this research is expected to contribute towards enriching teaching approach knowledge in writing.&nbsp

The effectiveness of using blog innovation on 6th Grade EFL students' learning students' vocabulary and motivation to explain English text in Jordan

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of using blog innovation on 6th Grade EFL students' learning vocabulary and motivation to explain English text in Jordan. The study sample consisted of 50 students from the sixth grade students in basic schools in the District of north-eastern desert In Jordan. Research experimental method was used for the appropriateness of the nature and objectives of the study which was divided into two groups. Whereas the results of the study emphasize that blog innovation help the students increase their level of vocabulary learning and also proves that implementing blog innovation materials in EFL speaking class improved the students’ attitudes towards language learning. The study revealed that using blog Innovation is very important in learning English language because it can help students to be more fluent. The study was able to project various recommendations for teacher, students as well as staff of Ministry of Education. Keywords: Blog innovation, EFL, learning vocabulary, EFL learners, English text

The effects of journal-writing on EFL pre-service teachers' development of writing skills

Tesis (Profesor de Inglés para la Enseñanza Básica y Media, Licenciado en Educación)Entre las cuatro habilidades del idioma Inglés, la escritura es normalmente conocida por ser la última competencia en ser adquirida, ya sea por estudiantes nativos o por estudiantes de segunda lengua. Además, también es considerado como el área más dificultosa del lenguaje para enseñar o evaluar como señaló D. Albrechtsen, K. Haastrup and B. Henriksen (2008). Por lo tanto, como el escribir en inglés parece ser un desafío para los alumnos, este estudio busca investigar si es posible superar efectivamente las dificultades de escritura y, así mismo, mejorarlos por medio de la asignación de escribir un diario semanalmente. Seis estudiantes de primer año de dos clases de la Universidad Andrés Bello en la Facultad de Educación de Santiago, Chile, fueron solicitados para participar en este estudio de investigación dado su rendimiento académico y su propia percepción sobre sus habilidades de escritura. Los resultados prueban que aunque la información numérica recogida en este estudio no demostró una mejora significativa en términos cuantitativos; en cuanto a la calidad se evidenció un uso progresivo de estructuras escritas más complejas y elaboradas.Among the four skills of the English language, writing is normally known for being the last competency to be acquired, for both native and second language learners. Besides, writing is also considered as the most difficult area of the language when teaching or testing, as proposed by Albrechtsen, Haastrup, and Henriksen (2008). Therefore, as writing in English seems to be challenging, this study seeks to investigate if learners can effectively overcome the writing difficulties and improve them by writing weekly journal assignments. Six firstyear students from two sections of the English teaching (ELTT) program at Universidad Andrés Bello in Santiago, Chile, were asked to participate in this research study due to their academic performance and their own perceptions about their writing skills. The findings substantiated that even though the numerical data collected in this study did not demonstrate significant improvement in quantitative terms, in quality they progressively evidenced the use of more complex and elaborated writing features

The Effects of Technology on Learning English as a Foreign Language Among Female EFL Students at Effatt College: An Exploratory Study

Technology offers modern educational tools for learning English as a foreign language. For the current study, the effects of technology on learning English as a foreign language among female EFL students at Effatt College were investigated. To achieve this aim, questionnaires with Likert scale questions were used in the study. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part began with two general questions about age and educational level. The second part included four specific questions regarding technology tools that enhance learning the English language. Thirty-Six participants were included in this study. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to obtain accurate results. The findings clearly indicate that computer software, social networking websites, online videos, audio tools (i.e., YouTube, Skype, MP3 players), and smart phone and tablet apps have a positive impact on learning English as a foreign language. Therefore, technology tools can clearly be effective in improving the students’ language and communication skills