Foreign Language Textbooks in the Classroom: Bridging the Gap Between Second Language Acquisition Theory and Pedagogy

Second language acquisition (SLA) research encompasses various theories of language learning in which the theoretical perspectives sometimes are not connected to SLA methods used by instructors in the classroom. This paper discusses several theories of SLA in an effort to better understand their connection to pedagogy. Foreign language (FL) pedagogy accounts for various methodological approaches the most common being Grammatical-Translation, Direct Method, Audiolingual, and Communicative. These distinctive methodologies have produced a variety of FL textbooks which focus on one or several methodologies. The following research examines a selection oftextbooks in which the methodologies in beginning language learning are analyzed and evaluated. By looking at how such activities are used in the classroom, we can attempt to see the connection between topics in SLA theory and these implementations seen in the textbooks. It will be shown how linguistic concepts are presented as well as how particular strategies are supplemented with activities created by teachers, reflecting current SLA research. In addition, the views of instructors are considered in this study in an effort to bring together theory and pedagogy. Their thoughts and ideas regarding the effectiveness of certain methods and activities are explored in detail through a series ofclinical interviews. My survey should prove to help instructors decide what should be included in choosing the best FL textbook to help second language learners develop in proficiency. It will serve to bridge the gap between theory and pedagogical practice which often is ignored

A Mixed-Methods Investigation of TEFL Graduate Students’ Perspectives of Qualitative Research: Challenges and Solutions in the Spotlight

This study explored the challenges of conducting qualitative research encountered by Iranian Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) graduate students and their solutions for them. To delve into the issue, 20 TEFL graduate students who had passed a research methodology course were selected based on their availability from among the participants of the study who were selected based on purposive sampling from various universities. The participants thus selected sat a semi-structured interview based on the results of which, a researcher-made five-point Likert-scale questionnaire was developed and validated. Next, one hundred TEFL graduate students who had passed the research methodology course were selected based on purposive sampling from different universities across the country to respond to the questionnaire developed as mentioned above. The results of descriptive statistics revealed that the most important aspect of qualitative research from the students’ viewpoint was data analysis; likewise, the most challenging part was data analysis. Moreover, the participants described how educational systems’ overemphasis on quantitative research frameworks left little space or time for learning sophisticated qualitative research approaches. Finally, the majority of the participants deemed the introduction and presentation of an independent course on qualitative research methodology in the M.A. and Ph.D. programs in TEFL highly necessary

The Demotivating Factors of English Language Learning Among Madrasah Tsanawiah Students: The Case of One Madrasah in Jambi City

The purpose of this study was to explore the demotivating factors of the learners in EFL learning at one madrasah tsanawiah in Jambi City. Particularly, this study was to find out the particular factors that demotivate madrasah tsanawiah students’ during the learning process. Many studies have mainly focused on teachers’ motivation or students’ motivation and teachers’ motivation rather than student demotivation in English as a foreign language (EFL) learning context, whereas lack of data has been found on the factors that cause student demotivation in Indonesian EFL learning contexts at secondary school level. The participants were a purposive sample of English students who currently studied at a madrasah . The study was designed as a qualitative case study and involved a demographic questioner and face-to-face interviews for data collection. The result revealed that peer influences were as the main demotivation for the students. Other demotivators for EFL students in this research included school condition such as lack of resources and facilities. Suggestions for further research also are discussed

The Social Cost of Inertia: How Cost-Benefit Incoherence Threatens to Derail U.S. Climate Action

As EPA rolls out controversial regulations on power plant emissions of greenhouse gases, a vocal group of legislators, industry groups, and legal and economic scholars are crying foul, arguing EPA didn\u27t follow the rules when it conducted its cost-benefit analyses of these regulations. This article traces the origin of these cost-benefit rules, finding that the methodological handbook alleged to be the worldwide gold standard was actually developed through a fundamentally flawed process, one that intentionally excluded majority viewpoints in several relevant academic disciplines. Unsurprisingly, it also contains serious methodological mistakes. If these mistakes were to be applied to regulations addressing domestic greenhouse gas emissions (that is, if EPA and other executive agencies do follow the rules, as demanded by the critics of these regulations in Congress, academia and regulated industry), this injection of both outright irrationality and arguably unethical subjective biases into domestic regulatory policy would threaten to derail substantive U.S. action on climate change. This article also describes how the executive order that spawned these rules is impossible to comply with literally, because it creates a series of max/min problems with no common solution. This creates a conundrum that, over and over again, is resolved under these costbenefit rules in favor of maximizing quantifiable, monetized net benefits, at the expense of promoting a set of competing yet also important rights- and duty-based factors that the text of the parent executive order ostensibly puts on equal footing

An Exploratory Application of Rhetorical Structure Theory to Detect Coherence Errors in L2 English Writing: Possible Implications for Automated Writing Evaluation Software

This paper presents an initial attempt to examine whether Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) (Mann & Thompson, 1988) can be fruitfully applied to the detection of the coherence errors made by Taiwanese low-intermediate learners of English. This investigation is considered warranted for three reasons. First, other methods for bottom-up coherence analysis have proved ineffective (e.g., Watson Todd et al., 2007). Second, this research provides a preliminary categorization of the coherence errors made by first language (L1) Chinese learners of English. Third, second language discourse errors in general have received little attention in applied linguistic research. The data are 45 written samples from the LTTC English Learner Corpus, a Taiwanese learner corpus of English currently under construction. The rationale of this study is that diagrams which violate some of the rules of RST diagram formation will point to coherence errors. No reliability test has been conducted since this work is at an initial stage. Therefore, this study is exploratory and results are preliminary. Results are discussed in terms of the practicality of using this method to detect coherence errors, their possible consequences about claims for a typical inductive content order in the writing of L1 Chinese learners of English, and their potential implications for Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) software, since discourse organization is one of the essay characteristics assessed by this software. In particular, the extent to which the kinds of errors detected through the RST analysis match those located by Criterion (Burstein, Chodorow, & Leachock, 2004), a well-known AWE software by Educational Testing Service (ETS), is discussed

Estimating parties’ policy positions through voting advice applications: Some methodological considerations

The past few years have seen the advent and proliferation of Voting Advice (or Aid) Applications (VAAs), which offer voting advice on the basis of calculating the ideological congruence between citizens and political actors. Although VAA data have often been used to test many empirical questions regarding voting behaviour and political participation, we know little about the approaches used by VAAs to estimate the positions of political parties. This article presents the most common aspects of the VAA approach and examines some methodological issues regarding the phrasing of statements, the format of response scales, the reliability of coding statements into response scales and the reliability and validity of scaling items into dimensions. The article argues that VAAs have a lot of potential but there is also much space for methodological improvements, and therefore concludes with some recommendations for designing VAAs

Measurability of the mathematics teaching modules on problem solving-skills in the concentration of agribusiness expertise in plantation

Preliminary research involving 30 mathematics teachers at the MGMP VHS of Ketapang district and interviews with business world and plantation industry representatives suggested that 81.7% of respondents voiced concerns over the current mathematics teaching materials, which do not adequately equip students with problem-solving skills in line with their expertise concentration. This issue reflects on the quality of VHS graduates who are expected to be job-ready and skilled. The objective of this study is to develop a measurable teaching module, conceptually and methodologically, that yields quantifiable results in alignment with the concentration of expertise and the requirements of the business and industry world. The research method adopted is a mixed method with a sequential explanatory design through the Van den Akker development study. A quantitative analysis of 20 respondents, comprising mathematics and productive teachers at a center of excellence vocational school, lecturers of Tanjung Pura STKIP, Ketapang State Polytechnic, and a team from the business and industry world in the plantation sector, resulted in a Pearson correlation of Ryx1x2x3=0.949, a determination coefficient [r2] of 0.900, and an F-calculation of 48.06 for the regression equation Y ̂ = 0.566 + 0.444 X1 + 0.278 X2 + 0.135 X3. From these results, it is concluded that the concepts, methods, and outcomes utilized in this teaching module are appropriate. The relationship between concepts, methods, and outcomes in teaching modules on skills to solve mathematical problems is unidirectional. Expert validity on aspects of module content, presentation feasibility, language appropriateness, and problem-solving skills amounted to 96.88% in the Very Valid category. Practicality from the aspects of interest, material, and language places the category at 92.02, which is very practica