Beauty in Brevity: Capturing the Narrative Structure of Flash Fiction by Filipino Writers
Exploring the Coalescence of Language and Literature through A Stylistic Analysis of Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo's “When It's A Grey November In Your Soul”
Developing ESL/ EFL Learners' Grammatical Competence through Communicative Activities
Oral Communication in Accounting Practice: Perspectives from the Philippines
Solidarity and Disagreements: Social Dimensions in Cooperative Writing Group
Move Sequences In Graduate Research Paper Introductions And Conclusions
Interactional Metadiscourse in Turkish Postgraduates’ Academic Texts: A Comparative Study of How They Introduce and Conclude
English Language Teaching at Secondary School Level in Bangladesh: An Overview of the Implementation of Communicative Language Teaching Method
The Relationship Between Iranian EFL Learners' BeliefsAbout Language Learning And Language Learning Strategy Use
Examining the Role of Reciprocal Teaching in Enhancing Reading Skill at First-Year Undergraduate Level in a Semi-Urban College, Bangladesh
The Comprehension Hypothesis (CH) is the most powerful hypothesis in the field of Second Language Acquisition despite the presence of the rivals the skill-building hypothesis, the output hypothesis, and the interaction hypothesis. The competing hypotheses state that consciously learned linguistic knowledge is a necessary step for the development of second language competence whereas the CH posits that comprehensible input as the crucial ingredient of SLA. Moreover, conscious knowledge of second language can be used only to edit the output of the acquired language. The article further reviews some of the current research on vocabulary acquisition and the review confirms that incidental acquisition of vocabulary is more powerful than intentional learning.
A growing body of investigations on second language teaching and learning is now being devoted to the international use of network information and communication technology known as e-learning. Individualized self-paced e-learning offline and online are two of the common e-learning modalities used by language teachers and learners (Romiszowski (2004). Since one of the aspects of language learning is reading comprehension, this study aimed at finding out whether online or offline reading materials could make a significant difference in the comprehension of English or not. For this purpose, a number of 85 EFL students at Islamic Azad University, Abadeh and Shiraz Branch were selected. After they were proved to be homogeneous through a reading comprehension pre-test, they were divided into two groups; one of them was assigned the already printed materials selected from the online pages of different newspapers for their reading comprehension practice, whereas the second group was given the homepage of the same online-paper pages to surf the net and read online. After a period of three months, the same reading comprehension test used in the pre-test was administered to both groups as the pos-test. The results showed that with the same hypertexts, learners who read online were able to improve their reading comprehension more and outperformed the other group. This implies that since online reading gives the learners a better opportunity to use related links on the page, they are exposed to more reading materials and accordingly can enhance their comprehension better.
Recently ELT has witnessed the debate between the proponents of non-interventionist and interventionist views towards SLA. The former, also known as zero option, sees L2 acquisition as an incidental process leaving no role for instruction (Krashen, 1981; Prbhu, 1987), while the latter considers instruction effective and even crucial for some learner types (i.e., adults and EFL learners with insufficient L2 exposure), some grammatical structures, and achieving higher levels of grammatical accuracy (Dekeyser, 2000; Doughty, 2003). Research has shown that instruction does facilitate the process of L2 learning, especially when juxtaposed with high amounts of exposure (Ellis, 2006). Consequently, different versions of form-focused instruction (FFI) are being practiced despite the fashionable meaning-focused instruction (MFI) of the communicative era. Nevertheless, a question still remains: “when is the time to intervene?” The present research targeting this very question compared the efficacy of proactive and reactive FOF on the grammar improvement of 88 Iranian EFL learners at two proficiency levels of beginner and upper-intermediate. The results indicated that regardless of the proficiency level, proactive FOF was more effective on the grammar improvement of the participants when compared to reactive FOF. The researchers strongly believe that in EFL settings like Iran with minimum amount of exposure, planned grammar instruction is a necessity.
Lexical items, because they are language specific forms are undoubtedly one of the most difficult tasks in learning a second language. Phrasal verbs perhaps further exacerbate this difficult task since the meaning of already known verbs changes drastically when combined with different particles. Hence, facilitating the learning of these commonly used elements in English is indeed an ELT concern. To this end, the purpose of this study was to examine whether teaching phrasal verbs through pictorial cues would significantly improve Iranian EFL learners’ active usage of those phrasal verbs in speaking. To fulfill this purpose, 60 pre-intermediate students of Tehran’s Bayan Salis Language School were selected from among 100 students attending courses in this establishment through taking part in a Preliminary English Test (PET) and randomly put into two experimental and control groups. The same content was taught to both groups which consisted of a number of phrasal verbs inter alia: while pictures were used in the experimental group for the teaching of these phrasal verbs, the students in the control group were taught the same items without pictures. An achievement posttest was administered to the students in both groups at the end of the instruction period and the mean scores of both groups on the test were compared through a t-test. The result showed that teaching phrasal verbs through pictures did have a significant effect on pre-intermediate EFL students’ active application of phrasal verbs in speaking.
Using corpus approach, over the past two decades, a growing number of researchers started to blame textbooks for neglecting important information on the use of grammatical structures in real language use and provided ample information about the mismatch between language used in textbooks and real language in use. Likewise, the prescribed Malaysian English textbooks used in schools are reportedly prepared through a process of material development that involves intuition and assumption. Hence, a corpus-based study was adopted here to allow the researchers to identify modal auxiliary verbs’ order and ranking in both whole text-types and spoken text-type of five Malaysian English language textbooks. This study has revealed that for almost all of the modal auxiliaries, there is a discrepancy between frequency order in the textbook corpus and the three major reference corpora. The findings of this study also show that the currently used pedagogical language in Malaysian textbooks is mainly based on written rather than spoken English. This study does not suggest making drastic changes in the Malaysian textbooks in order to create a textbook that mirrors exactly the language used by native speakers. However, the most salient facts reflected from natural language corpora should not be ignored in the textbooks.
Vocabulary glosses are considered effective learning tools since they decrease incorrect meaning inferences from context while keeping reading uninterrupted. The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of different gloss conditions on intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary retention and production. The participants were 101 EFL learners selected based on their performance on PET and randomly assigned to one control and two experimental groups. In the single gloss experimental group vocabulary was taught using glossed texts with one definition for each gloss while the multiple gloss experimental group received the same texts with three definitions for each gloss. The participants in the control group received the texts without any glosses but were encouraged to consult their dictionaries instead. All the participants took part in vocabulary retention and production posttests after the treatment and those in the two experimental groups answered a questionnaire about their attitudes towards using glosses. The results of the one-way ANOVA confirmed that the two gloss conditions contributed to vocabulary retention and production. Moreover, the results indicated that single gloss group did significantly better on vocabulary retention test. However, no significant difference was found between the single and multiple gloss groups on the vocabulary production test.
Language is an effective tool of human communication system. It is the basis for social, cultural, aesthetical, spiritual and economic development and growth of every human being. It is the destiny of any professional who is hardly in need of an excellent command over English language. Every organization demands effective and excellent professionals for the escalation and expansion of its existence. There is a bumper harvest everywhere, but efficient servants are insufficient as far as job opportunities particularly in educational institutions are concerned. The most important reason is their lack of communication skills in English though they have immense knowledge in their own discipline. Why couldn’t educational institutions be successful in making their products speak English correctly and fluently? Is it because of the ineffective techniques and methods employed in the process of teaching English at schools and colleges? Of course, it might be. But the prime factor is that the students are not given adequate training in mastering the language skills. Through multimedia and modern technology we can offer students not only affluent sources of authentic learning materials, but also an attractive, animated pictures and pleasant sounds, which to a large extent overcome the lack of authentic language environment and arouse students’ interest in learning English. Unless teachers give up their old school of thought, the present scenario of English language with regard to its poor skills cannot be overcome. The present educational system as well as the methods of teaching faces a total fiasco as it has failed to produce proficient educators with a powerful knowledge of the four skills in English language. The present study is aimed at the factors affecting the language skills of prospective teachers and implies that gender, locality and parents’ education are not the major determining factors affecting the communication skill of the prospective teachers. The study results show that there is significant difference in the language skills with regard to the teacher-educators’ use of language and other teaching techniques either at the school or graduate or at B.Ed degree level.
The study enlightens the effectiveness of e-TLM in Learning Vocabulary in English at standard VI. Objectives of the study: 1.To find out the problems of conventional TLM in learning vocabulary in English.2.To find out the significant difference in achievement mean score between the pre test of control group and the post test of control group.3.To find out the significant difference in achievement mean score between the pre test of Experimental group and the post test of Experimental group.4.To find out the impact of Multimedia package on e-TLM in Learning Vocabulary in English at standard VI.. Methodology: Parallel group Experimental method was adopted in the study. Sample: Sixty pupils of studying in standard VI from Maruthamalai Devastanam Higher secondary school Vadavalli, Coimbatore were selected as sample for the study. Thirty students were considered as Controlled group and another thirty were considered as Experimental group. Tool: Researcher’s self-made achievement test was used as a tool for the study. An achievement test consisted of fifty questions. Under this study, the reliability had been computed using split-half method and the calculated value comes to 0.82. The value is quite significant and implies that the tools adopted were reliable. Hence the reliability was established for the study. The expert opinion of the co staff was obtained before freezing the design of the tools. Subject experts and experienced teachers were requested to analyse the tool. Their opinions indicated that the tool had content validity. Procedure of the study: 1.Identification of the problem by administering pre-test to the both groups. 2. Planning. 3. Preparation of TLM through package. 4. Execution of activities through using e-TLM.5.Administering post-test. Findings:1.In the pre-test, students score 22% marks in learning English vocabulary through conventional method and the Experimental group students score 76% marks.It shows that Students of standard VI Maruthamalai Devastanam Higher secondary school Vadavalli, Coimbatore have problems in learning English vocabulary through conventional method. 2. There is no significant difference between the pre test of control group and post test control group in achievement mean scores of the pupil of standard VI in learning English vocabulary through Multimedia Package at Maruthamalai Devastanam Higher secondary school Vadavalli, Coimbatore. .3.There is significant difference between the pre test of Experimental group and post test of Experimental group in achievement mean scores of the pupils in learning English vocabulary. 4. Learning vocabulary in English by using e-TLM gave significant improvement.