DISCOURSE CONNECTORS IN ARGUMENTATIVE WRITINGS PRODUCED BY INDONESIAN EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

In producing a good paragraph, there are two main characteristics in common coherence and cohesion(Boardman, C.A & Frydenberg, J., 2002). McDonough, S.(2002) defines cohesion as a general name for linguistic devices which signal the textual structure which represents the coherence of the message encoded. To adopt the taxonomies of Halliday and Hasan (1976) and Halliday & Mattiessen (2004) to account for the semantic and syntactic functions of discourse connectors, this study aimed to investigate the use of discourse connectors employed by university students in their argumentative writings. The subjects of the study were the argumentative writings composed by English-major undergraduate students. Out of 56 compositions, 30 were chosen as the sample. The data were analyzed quantitatively. The findings revealed that the students were able to use a variety of discourse connectors in their writing. Moreover, among a wide range of discourse connectors; and, or, because (of),but, and so were mostly found in the compositions. The paper was concluded with some recommendations and suggestions that should inform EFL writing instruction in this part of the world and in other similar context

THE IMPORTANCE OF NOTICING IN IMPROVING EFL STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS

The role of noticing in the second language acquisition has been increasingly considered by some researcher in L2 acquisition. Previous studies of the effect of noticing on EFL students’ task performance have shown that noticing has significant roles, especially on students’ grammar acquisition. However, the problems concerning how noticing does have something to do with the improvement of EFL students’ writing skills still need to be explored. As known that Writing skills has become one emerging factor in second language acquisition. Therefore, this study tries to seek whether noticing can give positive effect on EFL students’ writing skills in terms of five aspects, namely: (1) content, (2), organzation (3), Language Use, (4),Vocabulary, (5), mechanic. Noticing is proposed to lead students achieve an accurate use of L2 writing skills in an appropriate context of communication by making them aware and notice the form of certain features which can help them reconstruct their interlanguage. Therefore, Noticing does not only promote the students’ accuracy and explicit knowledge, but also provide them with opportunities to communicate and negotiate meaning to improve fluency and achieve implicit knowledge on their written work

The Acquisition of the Easy-to-V Structure by Korean Adult Learners of English: What Influences Their Interpretive Behavior?

Much research in second language acquisition has been carried out investigating a learner's linguistic system while focusing on only a single linguistic level without reference to the function of other linguistic elements. Considering how one acquires a language, we cannot fail to include semantics and pragmatics as well as syntax since all three simultaneously influence the learner's competence and performance in the new language. Gass (1989) claims that a composite picture of the nature of second language acquisition must include studies investigating the simultaneous acquisition of grammatical components. In this regard, the present study is intended to scrutinize the sentence-processing strategies of Korean adult learners of English emphasizing the ways in which they interpret the easy-to-V structure sentences. In order to broaden our understanding of the acquisition of the complex syntactical structure which appears to be a likely candidate for late acquisition, this study takes into consideration a semantic approach as well as a syntactic approach to language acquisition takirrg the competition model (Bates & MacWhinney, 1982; MacWhinney, 1987a; MacWhirrney & Bates, 1989) as its basis

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF PROVERBS IN INDONESIAN AND ENGLISH: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTIC STUDY

This research aims at (1)finding the similarities and differences of Indonesian and English proverbs,(2) explaining the cultural background for such similarities and differences.This research was descriptive qualitative. The data collection method was simak and catat (read and write) Meanwhile, the data analysis method was padan (identy) whose determining instrument was each language’s culture. The finding shows that to express the same underlying meaning, both languages use proverbs whose literal meanings are sometimes different and sometimes the same. This relates to the cultures of the two languages. Some parts of the cultures are different; some are the same

Teaching grammar using focus on form approach in communicative language teaching for Korean middle school students

Plan B Paper. 2013. Master of Arts-TESOL--University of Wisconsin-River Falls. English Department. 96 leaves. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-54).In Korea, exceptional English communication skills are considered essential when conducting business internationally. This awareness led the Korean government to include English as one of the prerequisite subjects in public education. From the 1950s, to the early 1990s, students were taught English using a traditional approach which focused on teaching sentence level grammar rules without verbal communication. However, it did not improve their communicative skills. For this reason, the Korean government introduced the communicative approach in English instruction, and since then students have not only learned how to use English appropriately in different social situations, they have significantly improved their oral fluency as well. Unfortunately, students' accuracy in communication has remained relatively low as teachers do not typically correct students' spoken grammatical errors as they occur. Considering this, Korean English education needed a new approach which offered students sufficient opportunities for authentic communication, in addition to improving the grammatical accuracy of their output. The use of Michael Long's approach, focus on form, seems to have offered the solution. Focus on form provides teachers with eleven teaching techniques in order to improve students' grammatical accuracy in communication. The implicit techniques, which include input flood, task-essential language, and input enhancement etc., can be used by teachers to improve their students' language awareness implicitly. On the other hand, the explicit techniques, which include dictogloss, consciousness-raising task, and input processing etc., can be used by teachers wanting to focus more on teaching grammar rules by using meta-talk, rather than natural communication. Based on the wide range of research used in this paper, using focus on form will help Korean students enhance their ability to use grammar accurately in communication. However, some of focus on form's anticipated disadvantages are class size and teachers' inadequate proficiency in English. To overcome the disadvantages of using focus on form in CLT, some pedagogical choices (e.g. reactive vs proactive, implicit vs explicit techniques, and sequential vs integrated) are discussed thoroughly. Finally, focus on form may also be applied to the strong version of CLT such as task-based instruction and content-based instruction

Frequency Effects of Multi-Word Sequences on L2 Learning : Unfolding the Complexity of L2 Syntax Modeling

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English determiner-noun agreement processing and effects of dependency length for Korean EFL

As has been claimed by the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH) (Clahsen & Felser, 2006), L2 learners are reported to exhibit a limited ability to process grammatical forms when they are reading sentences for comprehension (Chen, Shu, Liu, Zheo, & Li, 2007; Jiang, 2004, 2007). Relatively less addressed is another claim by the SSH, that L2 learners native-like agreement processing is restricted to local mismatches (Keating, 2009, 2010). This study investigates English determiner-noun number agreement processing by Korean EFL learners and whether their sensitivity to ungrammaticality decreases when there is an interference within the determiner phrase (DP). 13 native English speakers and 16 Korean early learners with high English proficiency participated in a self-paced reading task. In order to test the effect of dependency length, stimuli sentences were created that belong to either the short condition or the long condition. The results showed that the nonnative groups performance was highly modulated by dependency length while that of the native group was not

Artimų sinonimų pasirinkimas: anglų kalba kaip svetimoji ir kaip gimtoji

Near-synonyms are words which share certain semantic similarities, yet differ in their contextual usage (e.g. acquire vs obtain, evaluate vs judge). The current study compares lexical preferences and rationalizations for choosing near-synonyms of advanced C1 level non-native speakers of English (n = 45) to those given by native speakers of English (n = 58). The data has been collected using a forced-choice questionnaire which also included a justification section meant to explore respondents’ reasoning behind their lexical choices. The findings of the study suggest that EFL students may lack the depth of vocabulary knowledge necessary to choose the most suitable word from a pair of near-synonyms. Insufficient knowledge of target words resulted in EFL learners’ lexical choices and justifications being statistically different from those given by native speakers. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that EFL teachers increase students’ exposure to various contexts as well as focus on vocabulary depth.Straipsnyje analizuojamas artimų sinonimų pasirinkimas ir tą grindžiantys argumentai. Artimi sinonimai – žodžiai, kurie semantiškai panašūs, tačiau skiriasi jų kontekstinė vartosena (pvz., acquire ir obtain, evaluate ir judge). Šiame tyrime lyginama, kokius leksinius vienetus iš sinonimiškai artimų žodžių porų pasirenka ir kaip savo pasirinkimą grindžia pažengę C1 lygio anglų kalbos kaip svetimosios mokiniai (n = 45) bei gimtakalbiai anglų kalbos vartotojai (n = 58). Duomenys buvo surinkti naudojant priverstinio pasirinkimo klausimyną, kur respondentai galėjo nurodyti ne tik savo pasirinkimą, bet ir jį paaiškinti bei argumentuoti. Tyrimo išvados rodo, kad negimtakalbiams trūksta žodyno kompetencijos, būtinos norint pasirinkti tinkamesnį žodį iš sinonimiškai artimų žodžių porų. Nepakankamas apklausoje naudotų žodžių išmanymas lėmė tai, kad anglų kalbos mokinių leksinis pasirinkimas ir tokio pasirinkimo pagrindimas statistiškai skyrėsi nuo tų, kuriuos pateikė gimtakalbiai. Remiantis tyrimo išvadomis, anglų kalbos kaip svetimosios mokytojams patartina daugiau dėmesio skirti žodžių vartosenos kontekstui bei stiprinti žodyno kompetenciją