Academic literacies and attitudes of EFL students in a CMC environment

There is a growing volume of research showing that academic literacy is discipline specific. To become proficient in a specific discipline and be a part of a discourse community, learners have to learn ways of communication acquired through understanding and practising the necessary genres associated with that discipline. Both synchronous and asynchronous Computer-mediated communication (CMC) provides opportunities for learners to be a part of that discourse community and learn particular ways of discourse in a collaborative environment. This research investigated how a group of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in a Saudi Arabian university was introduced to academic writing by completing CMC tasks collaboratively. Learners' interactions were examined via a descriptive design to explain how students negotiate academic literacy using synchronous chat and asynchronous discussion boards. Data were gathered from 6 sources: observations, survey questionnaires, texts of participants' online discussion entries, online peer feedback, students' assignments, and interviews. Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively to investigate how these EFL undergraduate students negotiate their academic literacy in a CMC environment in terms of language functions and focus; how CMC influences both the process and the product of student's academic writing activities; and what EFL students' attitudes were towards CMC in the process of acquiring academic literacy. Data analysis revealed the various discourse functions EFL learners used in their online discussions. Results indicated that computer-mediated communication facilitated students' understanding of tasks and performance of writing activities and promoted collaboration. Analysis of the students' draft and revised essays in the online peer review activities showed that students integrated peers' feedback into their revisions and benefited from such activities although they were not satisfied with the quality and quantity of feedback. A comparison of the students' participation in the face-to-face classrooms with their participation in both synchronous and asynchronous CMC activities afforded through Blackboard® learning management system (LMS) revealed more active interaction during CMC activities in terms of its content and quality. Finally, the EFL students perceived that CMC facilitated their acquisition of academic literacy in academic writing and promoted collaboration despite some limitations

Effort Attributions in Indonesian Efl Classrooms

Atribusi Usaha dalam Kelas Bahasa Inggris sebagai Bahasa Asing di Indonesia. Kajian ini meneliti penggunaan pelatihan atribusi bernama promoting students' effort attributions (Dornyei, 2001) dan secara khusus menyelidiki atribusi dari dua puluh sembilan mahasiswa Indonesia dari kelas berbicara dan menulis Bahasa Inggris sebagai Bahasa Asing di Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universi­tas Dunia Indonesia (ED-DU), sebelum dan sesudah mereka menyelesaikan pelatihan tersebut. Kajian ini juga memperinci USAha yang mahasiswa lakukan di kelas sebagai bagian dari pelatihan tersebut. Untuk mencapai tujuan ini, saya membagikan angket pada awal dan akhir semester dan meminta para mahasiwa untuk menulis jurnal refleksi mingguan sepanjang 150-200 kata yang menjelaskan secara lengkap tan­tangan berkaitan dengan tugas Bahasa mereka, strategi untuk menghadapi tantangan tersebut, dan hal yang mereka dapat pelajari dari pengalaman tersebut. Analisa data nampak mengindikasikan bahwa keberhasil­an pelatihan atribusi hanya terjadi pada mahasiswa di kelas menulis, namun kajian ini tetap menegaskan pentingnya pelatihan tersebut pada pencapaian akademik para mahasiswa

The use of network-based communication to support EFL writing at Walailak University

The aim of the study was to investigate the potential of using network-based communication (NBC) in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing classroom. It has been hypothesised that EFL writers benefit from the interactions through NBC with two peer groups (readers and students) in two aspects: 1) NBC permits explicit feedback that influences revisions, and 2) exposure to the target language in NBC leads to incorporation of language.The study integrated an online course (BlackBoard Courselnfo) into a writing classroom of thirty-two EFL students at Walailak University (WU), Thailand. The students wrote and submitted their drafts electronically to the asynchronous discussion forum where peers read the drafts, interacted with the writers and provided feedback. Taxonomies as defined by Faigley and Witte and Bridwell were used to identify revisions made in the sequential drafts. The feedback was analysed based on fifteen moves and two characteristics: text-specific (TS) and request for revision (RQ). The drafts and the feedback were cross-checked to determine the feedback effects as evidenced in revisions.The results show that students benefited from interaction with the audience when they made use of the provided feedback. The students made many changes mainly at the format and sentence levels. However, only a minority of revisions came from the online peer response while the majority originated from other sources such as selfinitiation. Feedback by the two peer groups differed in content, length and quantity. Students incorporated comments into all linguistic levels of their writing, and these were mainly surface corrections, TS and RQ feedback. Evidence from the online course indicated scarce and inconsistent participation implying low motivationThese findings have led to the conclusion that NBC has the potential to support EFL writing, but the students in this particular study were not highly motivated to become involved in the activities. The study also revealed that exposure to the target language for a short time (one academic term) did not result in language incorporation apart from the incorporation of the explicit feedback. Despite its limitations, this study provides some insights into further development in the field of EFL writing and NBC

NEED ANALYSIS ON ASSESSMENT BASED E-LEARNING PLATFORM IN READING CLASS FOR VOCATIONAL STUDENTS AT EAST LAMPUNG

Assessment and the learning process become two intertwined concepts that are impossible to separate. When compared to the other three abilities, reading skills are the most important in English learning. In order to meet the demands of modern teaching development, information and communication technology is required for English language instruction and assessment. The purpose of this study is to examine the requirements of both learners and pursuers in terms of the use of information and communication technology in reading instruction assessment (Reading Assessment). This current study used two data collection technique, namely questionnaires and interviews analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Respondents in this study were selected by purposive sampling involving 70 students and 5 teachers in vocational schools. The results of this study found that (1) The students’ goal and necessities differ, (2) The students are at beginner level at reading skill and have reading word and sentences fluently and correctly, (3) They want familiar contents based on their life, environment and major,(4) The need of information and communication technology both for learning and assessing and (5) Through the product, the English learners would be learning, collaborative and independent. The researcher advised for further researcher to conduct the development the information and communication technology for teaching and assessing English learners in vocational schools

Social Media Use: A Critical Analysis of Facebook\u27s Impact on Collegiate EFL Students\u27 English Writing in Thailand

In this technology era, a new trend of using Social Media or Social Networking Sites (SNSs) has been recently highlighted. Social media influences people’s lives in many aspects including education and English language learning. The purpose of this study is to examine whether using Facebook online impacts the type (formal or informal) of English EFL students use for in-class writing or not, as well as to understand the students’ perceptions on how the use of Facebook helps to facilitate or inhibit their English writing skills. The study was conducted by using qualitative research methods to explore EFL college students’ writing behavior on the Facebook platform and understand the perspectives of students involved in using Facebook. The data collection methods were observation and interviews. Participants consisted of 32 students, mostly freshmen college students. The site for this study was Center Bangkok University (CBU, pseudonym) in Thailand, a university located in Bangkok. The study took place during a 5-week period from November 11, 2013 until December 12, 2013. The interviews were conducted with 16 students from the 32 and two teachers, each lasting about 45-60 minutes. After the data was coded and analyzed, three major findings that answer the research questions were emerged

Innovating teacher feedback with writing activities aimed at raising secondary school students’ awareness of collocation errors

The study examined the types of written corrective feedback given by second language writing teachers on Taiwanese secondary school students’ collocation errors. First, the written corrective feedback that teachers provided on learners’ word choice errors was examined to uncover the types of feedback provided. Then, analysis focused on verb–noun collocations to draw attention to how students had been receiving different types of written corrective feedback from teachers on a single collocation error type. Results showed that some sentences tagged as including word choice errors only contained rule-based errors. Furthermore, for verb-noun collocation errors, teachers chose to provide indirect and direct feedback almost equally at the expense of metalinguistic feedback. Based on the results, we suggested options for second language writing teachers when providing feedback on word choice errors

Enhancement of teacher talk based on the lesson study methodology and student feedback

82 páginas incluye diagramasEste estudio buscaba explorar la eficacia en la metodología de estudio por lección y la retroalimentación de los estudiantes para mejorar la claridad del profesor y aumentar la comprensión y la participación del alumnado en el aula ILE (Inglés como lengua extranjera). Esta metodología consta de varias clases que buscan mejorar la instrucción, en la que un grupo de profesores se reúnen con el fin de diseñar, discutir y perfeccionar una lección, un término acuñado por William Cerbin y Bryan Kopp. Esta investigación se realizó con 60 estudiantes de grado undécimo de 2 grupos diferentes en una escuela en Colombia por 2 meses en ocho sesiones. La metodología de investigación de acción análisis se llevó a cabo a partir de datos recogidos a través de 4 instrumentos. Para los datos cualitativos, se aplicaron 3 instrumentos: un formato de observación del profesor, un protocolo de lección evaluación y las transcripciones del vídeo. Para los datos cuantitativos solo se aplicó las encuestas de los estudiantes. Con base en la metodología de estudio por lección y la retroalimentación de los estudiantes, los resultados indicaron que claridad en el habla profesor no era una cuestión independiente que garantizaba la comprensión y participación de los estudiantes. Había otras variables como la cantidad, la calidad, la velocidad y el nivel de lenguaje que tenían un gran efecto en la claridad del habla del profesor, de acuerdo con las necesidades de los estudiantes. Los resultados también confirman que la metodología utilizada como práctica colaborativa y reflexiva permitió a los investigadores generar mejora progresiva de la intervención del profesor, lo que ayudó a los participantes a entender la instrucción mejor

Achieving English competence in Korea through computer-assisted language learning and crosscultural understanding

The purpose of this project is to address the problems and improve English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning for the students of Korea by contrasting cultural similarities and differences and the same time utilizing computer-based instruction learning

Volume 5 #2 Full Issue

Volume 5 #2 Full Issu

Influence of vocabulary e-learning strategies on oral interaction skills in efl learners

To analyze the influence of vocabulary e-learning strategies to foster the oral interaction on students of ninth year at María Angélica Idrobo high school during the first quarter of the scholar term 2020.La presente investigación analiza el vocabulario limitado sobre las habilidades de interacción oral en los estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera en los curso de noveno año de una escuela pública de Ibarra. Enfatiza que los estudiantes requieren de léxico para desarrollar la interacción oral en el idioma inglés. Así, el objetivo general es analizar la influencia de estrategias de vocabulario en línea en las habilidades de interacción oral en los estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera. Por lo tanto, éste estudio está enfocado en tres orientaciones pedagógicas: Léxico, comunicativo, y el enfoque centrado en el alumno; considerando que estos enfoques ayudan a la enseñanza del educador y vela por las necesidades del estudiante. Esta investigación estuvo basada en un diseño quasi-experimental y no hay designación al azar ya que hay dos grupos: el de control y el grupo experimental, en el primero, no hay intervención pedagógica como en el grupo experimental. Seguidamente, los instrumentos para la recopilación de la información fueron dos encuestas: uno para los docentes y otro para los estudiantes. Además, hubo una prueba previa y una prueba posterior para obtener los resultados sobre el nivel de los estudiantes y los resultados de las estrategias aplicadas a lo largo del proceso de investigación. In los hallazgos, el analista observó que el nivel de la interacción oral fue baja de acuerdo a la evaluación tomada, y esto fue porque los estudiantes tienen miedo de cometer errores cuando ellos interactúan en clase por causa de la pronunciación. Por otra parte, el marco teórico da al investigador información relevante para animar al estudiante en la interacción a través de estrategias tecnológicas que mejoren el nivel de inglés. Como resultado, se desarrolló una guía didáctica para proveer al profesor diferentes estrategias tecnológicas para adquirir nuevo vocabulario y estimular la interacción entre los estudiantes, profesor y otros.Maestrí