Problems of Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language in South Yemen: A Case Study of Lahj Governorate

The task of teaching and learning English as a foreign language is not an easy task as there are many factors that may contribute positively or negatively to its success. In the context of this study, most school-leavers have very poor English, especially when looking at their oral skills. This indicates that there are some problems that EFL learning and teaching encounter, and then such problems are reflected in students’ proficiency level. This study, therefore, explored the problems encountering EFL teaching and learning in Lahj primary and secondary schools to identify such problems and suggest some solutions that may help in improving English language teaching and learning in the concerned schools. Data were collected from 32 EFL senior teachers and supervisors of Lahj governorate. Findings showed that large classes, lack of teaching aids, teachers’ low proficiency in English, teachers’ limited experience with communicative language teaching, late beginning of learning English, lack of focus on oral communicative English, use of mother tongue in classroom, students’ low motivation and interference between English and Arabic are considered as major problems encountering English language teaching and learning in the concerned South Yemeni schools and contribute negatively to students’ proficiency level. The study has provided some recommendations that may help in improving EFL teaching and learning in the concerned schools and in Yemeni schools generally

Yemeni EFL students’ perceptions and implementation of computer-assisted language learning.

: This study investigated how Yemeni EFL students perceive computer-assisted language learning, the extent to which CALL is implemented in their learning of English in and outside their faculties and the difficulties they encounter when implementing CALL. Data were collected through a questionnaire that targeted 74 Yemeni EFL students and then analyzed by using SPSS 21st version. Results revealed that the students who participated in this study perceive CALL positively (overall mean = 4.1144 out of 5) and believe in its effectiveness in developing their language skills and making their EFL learning enjoyable and interesting. Moreover, Female students showed a higher overall positive attitude towards CALL as compared to their male counterparts and that was reflected in their implementation of CALL too. A significant correlation was also found between students’ perceptions of CALL and their computer competence in the favor of those students with higher computer competence while no significant correlation was found in relation to age. The results have also revealed that CALL’s implementation by many of the participants is still low. Unavailability of internet and lack of CALL tools at their faculty; in addition to students’ lack of computer competence are viewed as the major barriers to CALL implementation by the Yemeni EFL students understudy. As per the results, the study recommends Yemeni Universities to provide CALL tools and internet for their EFL classrooms and libraries and to train students to use technology for English learning purposes. It also recommends Yemeni EFL students to invest technology at hand for their EFL learning.

A Study of Yemeni Secondary School Students’ Article Errors in their English Writing

This study has investigated Yemeni secondary school students’ articles errors with a reference to Labooza secondary school and AL-Samood secondary school in Radfan district. Data were collected through a writing test that targeted 100 students. The results revealed that 53.6% of students’ uses of the articles were wrong. It also showed that these errors can be subdivided into article omission errors 41.79%, article addition errors 23.88%, and article substitution errors 34.32%. These errors can be attributed to two sources, namely a- interference with students’ mother tongue (interlingual interference), constituting 39.93% and b- students’ insufficient knowledge of English articles as well as poor English teaching (intralingual), constituting 60.07%. As per these findings, these study provides some recommendations to syllabi designers, teachers and students of the Yemeni secondary schools

Communicative Competence in English as a Foreign Language: Its Meaning and the Pedagogical Considerations for its Development

This paper is an attempt to explore the term communicative competence in a foreign language. It goes through the various definitions and some models of the communicative competence especially those most common models of Hymes 1972 and Canale and Swain 1980 and Alcon 2000. It shows how the term ‘communicative competence’ has come into existence during the 1970s and how it has become a major aim for teaching and learning of English as a foreign or second language in many countries. The study recommends some activities, based on researcher’s personal experience in the field of teaching English as a foreign language and his reading of some previous studies in this field, which may help in developing the communicative competence of English as foreign language learners in Yemen particularly and the whole world generally. These suggested activities are usually communication-based activities that help in making classroom situation more interactive and provide as much opportunities for exposure to English as possible

YEMENI WAR AND SHIFT OF POWER: A REFLECTION ON THE HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ISSUE AND POSSIBLE SCENARIOS IN SOUTH

This paper sheds some light on the Southern Issue with reference to 2015 war in Yemen and shift of power. It has briefly surveyed the history of Southern Issue and the conflict relating to this issue, passing by 2015 war and shift of power. It has presented the history of this period impartially and neutrally and then reflected on the possible political scenarios in South Yemen in the light of the present war. It concluded with some recommendations that may help the concerned politicians involved in the Yemeni crisis to bring peace and stability to Southern Yemen particularly and Yemen generally.  Article visualizations

Language Learning Strategies Employed by Yemeni EFL Learners in Developing Their Spoken English: A Case Study of Aden University EFL Learners

Language learning is not a spoon-fed process in which learners get everything from their teachers. It is a student-centered process in which learners should play active roles and employ various learning strategies that help them enhance their target foreign language. For this reason, this study was designed to investigate the language learning strategies employed by the Yemeni EFL learners in developing their spoken English. Data were collected through a questionnaire that targeted 120 fourth-year EFL students of three faculties of Aden University. The results showed that the majority of the concerned students do not make a balance among their language learning strategies and they depend heavily on memory strategies. A correlation was found between students’ spoken English proficiency and the learning strategies they use in developing their spoken English in the favor of the students who make use of various types of language learning strategies. As per these findings, this study recommends Yemeni EFL learners to employ various effective language learning strategies to enhance their spoken English and not to limit their spoken English development to memory strategies. It also recommends Yemeni EFL teachers to guide their students to the effective language learning strategies that help them enhance their English