Production and perception of English consonants by Yemeni EFL learners

Previous studies on the perception-production correlation focused mainly on transcriptions and native English speaker evaluations for production accuracy assessments; only a few included acoustic measurements. This study aims to investigate the production and perception of six English consonants by Yemeni EFL learners of English using an acoustic measurement of second-language production. It has three objectives: (1) To investigate the extent to which word position influences the accuracy of Yemeni EFL learners’ production of the target consonants, (2) to assess the extent to which word position affects their perception, and (3) to investigate the relationship between the overall production and perception of the investigated sounds. A quantitative research method was employed for collecting data from six Yemeni EFL postgraduate students from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). In the production tasks, the researchers asked the speakers to produce seventy-two words with the target consonants three times in isolation (Experiment 1) and the other three times in a carrier sentence (Experiment 2). The researchers recorded the speakers’ productions with an iPhone and later evaluated them acoustically via Praat. In the perception test, an AXB experiment was conducted. The findings showed that word position significantly affected the production, yet not the perception of the target sounds. Moreover, an insignificant positive moderate correlation was revealed between the overall production and perception of the target consonants. The findings have implications for second-language speech as well as pronunciation instruction. Teachers may put more focus on specific sound environments that lead learners to struggle while producing/perceiving particular English sounds

The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy on Teaching Reading Comprehension Skills among Secondary Schools Teachers in Telangana State, India

Over the years, the quality and effectiveness of teaching have been the priority of the Indian government in improving the education sector, particularly the teaching reading comprehension skill among teachers.  This paper investigates the relationship between self-efficacy on teaching reading comprehension skills among secondary school teachers in Telangana State, India.  The study is a quantitative research of the survey type.  The total of 2019 teachers of government owned secondary schools constituted the population, simple random sampling technique was used to select 192 teaching English language across all secondary schools in the state.  Two sets of questionnaire title Teacher self-efficacy Scale (TSES) and Teaching Reading Comprehension Skills which was adapted from Progress International Literacy Study (PIRLS) were used to seek information from English teachers.  Pearson product moment correlation statistics was used to analysis the data and the results of the findings revealed that there is a statistically significant relationship between self-efficacy and teaching reading comprehension skill among secondary school teachers in Telangana State India.  Therefore, this study recommends that the school management should implement a policy that will increase teacher efficacy to improve students reading comprehension and to design more effective reading course and activities in the classroom

Pronunciation and Conversation Challenges among Saudi EFL Students

This study aims to identify the difficulties of pronunciation and conversation faced by EFL learners who undertook a Preparatory Year Program (PYP) in Saudi Arabia, It highlights the main issues in pronunciation and conversations (e.g., textbooks, teaching methods, and students' attitude and motivation) and techniques to address these problems. The instruments used in the study were classroom observations and teachers' discussions. The results revealed that firstly, students did not have a sound knowledge of grammar. Secondly, students' outside environment was influenced by their mother tongue. Thirdly, the teaching methods did not suit their proficiency levels. Finally, they were demotivated and thought that they have an impossible mission to improve their English pronunciation and conversation

Menejemen Resiko Bencana Alam Berdasarkan Islam: Satu Kajian Pendahuluan

Abstract: Natural disasters are hot issuesbeing discussed either through print media or electronic media. The natural disasters took place in recent years have created anxieties to the world's population so that many agencies are involved in the search for a wide range of latest and upcoming alternatives to tackle the problems. This catastrophic problem is often associated with the law of the rule of nature but there are some obvious causes by human activity for local development. The concept of destiny is one of the important aspects in the discipline of history, philosophy and religion. There are debates involves the physical and metaphysical nature of the unseen nature and its relation to the existence of God, the relationship of God andhuman, the relationship of God with nature and human relationships with nature. Natural disasters such as landslides, earthquakes, flash floods and so forth are likely the result from greedy human acts in the pursuit of modernization through extreme development. While the disasters had affected our mother nature, it is important for us to implement the precautionary measures to minimize the effects of natural disasters and thus prevent and minimize the impact of losses. Continuing from this analogy, this paper will analyze and provide a framework for disaster risk management proposals in the Islamic perspective. Keyword: Natural disaster, development, flash flood, landslides, prevention&nbsp

Investigating Acceptance of Mobile Applications toward English Language Learning: Based On Qualitative Judgments

The concept of mobile entertains the fact of knowledge availability “anywhere and anytime” which suggests that the future will witness multiple changes in the continuum of education in general, and specifically in its mobile format. Mobile Applications for English Language Learning facilitates the process of English learning via mobile devices. Thus, it provides practical solutions to slowly move from old face to face learning into mobile application based learning. This paper shed lights on the links between the English language learning and technology acceptance of mobile applications in academic context.  Teachers could encourage the use of mobile applications by providing activities that utilize mobile applications, such as searching for a word’s meaning, listening to authentic radio application content, listening to audio books, etc. since informal English can be present in most chatting applications, teachers could encourage the use of proper spelling, language, usage, etc. via interaction with their students in a language learning environment. In addition to that, the limitations of the study were addressed. Finally, this paper provided implications for instructional practice along with suggestions and recommendations that discussed possible advantages of acceptance of mobile applications in English language learning. The students participate in this investigation were ten who are studying in University Utara Malaysia. A WhatsApp group of these students, MAELL research, was intended to incorporate the members in the investigation. The data gathering strategies were interview, the WhatsApp group visit log and perception. This subjective contextual analysis looks into was spurred by two research questions: 1. How the mobile applications are useful for English language learning? 2. What are the factors of mobile application use for English language learning? The outcomes of this research study suggest that in addition to the current uses of mobile applications, there are also pros and cons of using mobile application to enhance English language learning skills, specially listening and speaking. The results, implications, and recommendations are also discussed