Learning collocations through interaction: The effects of the quality and quantity of encounters

This study examined how short-term and long-term retention of two types of collocations (verb-noun and adjective-noun) was affected by the learning context. The experimental research design of the study involved two major experiments. In Experiment 1 (EX1), 109 male Emirati college students were randomly assigned to an experimental group (task-based activities) or a control group (mainstream exercises). EX1 involved 20 verb-noun collocations and consisted of two sub-experiments. In experiment 1a both the control and experimental groups were exposed to 20 verb-noun collocations four times. To clarify the effects of the instructional context, a second experiment (EX1b) was conducted where participants encountered the same collocations four times for the experimental group and eight times for the control group. As for Experiment 2 (EX2), it involved 108 male Emirati college students and targeted 20 adjective-noun collocations, and similarly, in Experiment 2a, both the control and experimental groups encountered the adjective-noun collocations 4 times, whereas Experiment 2b offered the experimental and control groups four and eight collocation encounters, respectively. The treatment consisted of exposing participants in both experiments to the target collocations using two different teaching methods. The experimental groups used four task-based activities that presented collocations as whole units (Ellis’s, 2003 chunking principle) while the control groups used mainstream textbook exercises to learn these sequences, breaking them down into their two constituents (verb + noun and adjective + noun). The experiment was carried out over a two-hour period during students’ regular English classes.The results showed that the experimental group learners in both EX1 and EX2 who used task-based activities to learn the collocations, and were exposed to these sequences four times only as whole units, further outscored their control group peers in all collocation measurements. Statistical analysis of participants’ test responses also showed that the long-term receptive knowledge category of the target verb-noun and adjective-noun collocations in both experiments was higher than the productive knowledge for all experimental groups. This study fills a gap in the research about the importance of the quality of encounter vs. the quantity of encounter in collocation learning and identifies an instructional method that is optimal for learning. The overall results suggest that task-based activities were superior to mainstream exercises and that the quality of encounter appears to be more important than the number of encounter in collocation learning; four highly interactive tasks presenting collocations as whole units, with only four encounters, could be more effective to retain unknown collocations than mainstream exercises (e.g., matching and fill-in) that offered learners eight encounters to the collocations broken down into their constituents. The implications for teachers may be that task-based activities, exposing learners to collocations as whole units, should be part of their language instructional pedagogy if they want learners to retain collocations in their long-term memory. For material designers, a well-balanced course would be one that prioritises collocations as chinks through interactive task-based activities

Exploring EFL teachers’ English language proficiency: Lessons from Indonesia

This paper reports on a study looking at the reading and writing proficiency and vocabulary knowledge of Indonesian EFL teachers, the relationship between proficiency and years of service, and the teachers’ own perceptions of their proficiency in English. Three proficiency tests (Vocabulary Levels Test/VLT, Reading and Writing Tests), questionnaire, and interview were used to collect data. The results point to mixed levels of English language proficiency, negative correlations between years of service and vocabulary, reading and writing test results, and that teachers themselves had difficulties in judging their own English language proficiency. Factors that inhibit the capacity of teachers to focus on their English proficiency are presented. Limitations of the study as well as implications for EFL teachers’ professional development (PD) and future research are also discussed

THE EFFECT OF KNOWING THE MAIN IDEA OF A TEXT ON ANSWERING MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS WHICH LOOK FOR THE DETAILS OF THE TEXT

This paper describes a classroom research with two groups of high school students to clarify the effect of knowing the main of a text (here, the name of a story) on answering multiple-choice questions which look for details. The two groups read the same story with an appropriate level of difficulty which was suitable for their level of English proficiency. The only difference between their stories was that one of them had the name of the story above it and the other did not have. Each group then took a reading comprehension test and their mean scores were compared. The findings suggest that the group of students who read the story with the name of it above did not excel the group who read the same story without its name when answering to questions looking for minute aspects of the story. This lack of excellence shows that knowing the main idea of a text does not play an important role in answering reading comprehension questions which look for details of a text. The results suggest more research in this realm and also the need for instruction on answering reading comprehension texts

The Use of Films as a Multimodal Way to Improve Learners\u27 Comprehension Skills in Reading in English Language and Literature Department at Selçuk University

One of the greatest challenges of an English teacher in English as a foreign language context faces is that English is not used authentically in the settings in which students live. Thus, learners do not have many natural opportunities to be exposed to the language or use it in authentic interaction. To fulfil the educational potential of language teaching, learners\u27 language acquisition and knowledge of the target language through foreign language classes can be enhanced by implementing teaching methods such as multimodality as a socio-semiotic approach in language teaching and learning. Film is widely used as a teaching material in foreign language classes as one of the most important ways of multimodality in terms of supplying both social and semiotic features of a target language thanks to its qualities. This paper analyzes the effects of using film in the EFL classroom. It reveals its effects on developing students\u27 comprehension skills in reading. The study was conducted on a sample of two groups: an experimental and a control group taught conventionally. The study was carried out at English Language and Literature Department of Selçuk University. The participants in this study were sophomore students at B1+ level aged 19-21. The results of the study have shown that there were significant differences between experimental and control group of students on using film incorporated in the teaching material. The study concluded that a visual context helps students enhance and improve their comprehension skills in reading

INVESTIGATING THE COMPARATIVE EFFECTS OF SUSTAINED SILENT READING, ASSISTED REPEATED READING, AND TRADITIONAL READING

This quasi-experimental study aims to investigate the effects of Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), Assisted Repeated Reading (ARR), and Traditional Reading (TR) instructions integrated into an EFL reading program on EFL reading comprehension, silent reading rate, reading motivation, and attitudes toward EFL reading, by also addressing the potential effect of proficiency level. Adopting a mixed-method pretest-posttest research design, this 10-week study was conducted with mixed-proficiency university-level Turkish EFL learners divided into three experimental groups. A method incorporating 150-minute SSR or ARR instructions into the 150-minute intensive reading instruction in two groups was implemented, as compared against a TR group that received 300-minute traditional intensive reading instruction weekly. Data came from a reading comprehension and rate test, reading motivation questionnaire, participant reflections, and interviews. Findings indicated that SSR yielded significant benefits for reading comprehension of both low and high-proficiency participants. Moreover, SSR and ARR showed positive effects on intrinsic reading motivation, whereas TR contributed slightly to extrinsic reading motivation. Regarding the possible effect of proficiency, while SSR yielded more advantages for higher-proficiency learners, ARR and TR were comparatively more beneficial for lower-proficiency learners. Implications for pedagogy and future research for university-level EFL reading classes are discussed

Baltic Journal of English Language, Literature and Culture, Vol.10

Kontorslokaler nyttjas generellt cirka 2500 av årets 8760 timmar. Ett vanligt problem med kontorslokaler är det termiska klimatet, antingen är det för varmt, för kallt, eller så drar det. Höga temperaturer, över ca 26°C, bidrar till trötthet, nedsatt koncentration och gör att luften känns mindre fräsch. Stora variationen av lasten mellan dag och nattetid kan också resultera i att lokalerna överventileras under nattetid och underventileras under dagtid. Syftet med examensarbetet var att undersöka och jämföra Ecoclimes komforttaks lösning med andra olika värme och kylsystem i kontorslokaler. Att undersöka vilka eventuella fördelar Ecoclimes komforttak har gällande komfort, kyla, ventilation och ur energisynpunkt. Simuleringsprogrammet IDA ICE har använts för att simulera komforten och rumstemperaturer för ett kontor och ett konferensrum i en byggnad placerad i centrala Umeå. Resultaten från simuleringar indikerar att Ecoclimes komforttak, sänker den operativa temperaturen och höjer komforten med en mindre andel missnöjda i sitt rum jämfört med andra system trots samma rumstemperatur. För att bedömma andelen missnöjda i ett rum har komfortindexet PMV(Predicted mean vote) och PPD(Predicted percentage dissatisfied) använts. Den höga passiva effekten bidrar också till mindre energianvändning av ventilationsfläktar ifall ett VAV-system med rumstempertaurreglering används. Vidare har en känslighetsanalys genomförts på komforttaken där det undersöks hur kyleffekten påverkar kyltider, temperatur och komfort. Känslighetsanalysen visar att en ökning eller minskning av kyleffekten med 10% påverkar resultaten mest under en mycket varm dag jämfört med en normalvarm. Skillnaden i komfort var dock liten, endast 0,2 procentenheter från grundfallet

EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON EFL LEARNERS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE

Extensive Reading (ER) is considered as a good learning technique to enhance every skill in language learning. It is considered to assist the improvement of other skills of language learners especially English as a Foreign Language (EFL) leaners. This study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of ER on EFL learners’ writing performance and to identify the EFL learners’ attitude towards the effects of ER on writing performance. The study recruited a group of 59 non-English majors at a public university in Vietnam. The participants were divided into two groups, i.e., experimental group and control group. The participants in the experimental group were assigned extensive reading materials as their homework to support their learning of writing meanwhile the participants in the control group were guided to write without the support of extensive reading materials. To check the differences of the participants’ writing ability before and after the intervention, pre-test and post-test were employed. A questionnaire was also delivered to the experimental group after the treatment. The results from the tests revealed that ER supported EFL learners in their writing performance. The experimental group had more significant enhancement. The results obtained from the questionnaire also indicated that the EFL learners had positive attitudes towards the use of extensive reading materials provided in their writing learning process.   Article visualizations