Challenges in engaging EFL learners

Cooperative Learning (CL) in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context: investigating, learning outcomes, processes, and experiences

The current study attempts to investigate the influence of communicative speaking activities on motivation of the UNRWA 9th graders to learn English as a foreign language (EFL) from teachers ‘points of view. Conducting qualitative analysis, the researcher uses semi-structured interviews in order to get data of the study. The 'Behaviorism Theory' by the behaviorist P.F. Skinner is the theoretical framework of the study. Twenty EFL instructors, 10 males and 10 females, participated in the present study from five UNRWA schools in Gaza. The study finds that communicative speaking activities increase learners` motivation to learn EFL especially when the learners engaged effectively in such activities that also, according to the most majority of the interviewees, increase their level of achievement, a solid correlation between communicative speaking activities and the increase of EFL learners` motivation to learn EFL. The researcher recommends adopting various communicative activities, by EFL instructors, to motivate learners to learn EFL through the main four skills, setting up training programs, by MOE, for EFL instructors to train them how to foster learners` motivation through communicative activities and conducting further researches to investigate the impact of communicative listening, reading and/or writing activities on learners` motivation to learn EFL.

This study aimed at narrating the lived experiences of a Taiwanese student in learning English as a foreign language, which includes identifying the other means of learning English as a foreign language, the difficulties encountered in learning English as a foreign language and means of overcoming such. This study made use of a qualitative research design, employing a narrative approach, wherein the data were gathered through face-to-face interviews with the participant – a student representative who had been learning English at school since 13. The interview was audiotaped and transcribed, re-transcribed, and re-storied. The study found that other than in formal school, English could be learned through English tutorial classes, reading materials such as books, journals, and magazines in English, making use of internet applications with English as a medium such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Instagram, and talk or chat to foreigners. The study also revealed that the learner encountered difficulties in grammar and pronunciations. As observed, the student was not able to communicate in English effectively – with many grammar lapses and mispronunciations. It was further revealed that motivation and constant practice in English communication is seen by the learner as means of overcoming such difficulties. In conclusion, the study drew that foreign language learning is more difficult because exposure to the language is so limited. However, giving more talks to students in the classroom will provide means for students to practice English as a foreign language, as well as exposure to different internet applications with English as a medium.

While abundant research has investigated the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) writing in college contexts, there has been little examination of writing in primary and secondary school settings. It is important to understand the writing literacy development of young EFL learners and to explore instruction that supports their growth as writers. For research and pedagogical purposes, we conducted a review of 136 studies of EFL writing in primary and secondary school contexts from 2012 to 2019 concerning three themes: (1) contexts and participants, (2) research foci and theoretical orientations, and (3) research methodology and data sources. The findings offer a broad picture of the scholarship on EFL writing in school contexts over the last eight years and suggest future directions for researching and teaching EFL writing in primary and secondary school contexts.

It is essential for individuals to develop a tolerant outlook towards cultures other than their own to be able to function well in a peaceful society. Teaching fundamental values, principles and attitudes concerning tolerance in early years might help in reaching this goal. Since English as a foreign language (EFL) education traditionally incorporates the teaching of the principles and values of the society, EFL classes might serve as an appropriate option to instill tolerance. This study delves into how primary school principals view EFL classes as venues to provide primary school children with tolerance education. More specifically, this research study seeks to understand and evaluate the role of EFL classes in teaching tolerance with regard to school management practices. To fulfil the aim of the study, twenty-seven school principals were interviewed to find that all of them had positive perceptions of tolerance and tolerance education and that a great majority of them acknowledged the role of EFL classes in tolerance education. This study has a few implications for theory building and school management practices.

This paper investigates young learners’ attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language (EFL) under different learning conditions. It reports on the findings of a quantitative study conducted between two comparable groups of Greek young learners (N=88), following English instruction, while attending Grade 6 in two primary schools with quite distinct approaches to teaching English. The data was collected with the help of a questionnaire, which explored the learners’ attitudes towards the English language and learning English as well as their motivation to learn English. The results illustrate clearly that favourable learning conditions can spur learners’ positive disposition towards the process of language learning at school.

Reading skill is a text-oriented cognitive capability applied when interacting with the written text. It is an essential skill that affects language learning and even academic achievement. Despite research on language learning has focused and contributed to the expansion of English language reading research, EFL students and even teachers are often unaware of the reader-oriented strategies used in learning and teaching reading. Existence of this gap, however, does not justify the idea of having a sole model for reading across various genres and types of assignments as it seems unrealistic. Therefore, highlighting the key models in the area, this article critically reviews the previous studies conducted on reading strategies and reading comprehension skill and proposes a framework for exploring reading strategies in teaching and learning of English as a Foreign Language. This review may have some theoretical implications for the learners, instructors and researchers in learning, teaching, and conducting research on reading strategies.

Many studies have examined literacy and related skills among learners of English as a foreign language (EFL), but little attention has been given to the role of oral language within a cross-linguistic framework despite the fact that English is the most widely spoken additional language today. Oral narratives rely on lexical, morphosyntactic, and conceptual knowledge. An in-depth examination of this modality can shed light on specific associations between cognitive and linguistic L1 and EFL skills and suggest possible mediating variables that assist multilingual speakers in producing complete oral narratives in EFL. The present study examined L1 and EFL contributors to EFL oral narratives produced by native Arabic (n = 85) and Hebrew (n = 86) speaking sixth graders seeking to identify cross-linguistic influences. We assessed general cognitive skills, phonological memory (PM), lexical, morphosyntactic knowledge, and reading comprehension in L1 (Hebrew speakers), Modern Standard Arabic (MSA, L2), L3 Hebrew (for Arabic speakers) and EFL. The “Cookie Theft” task assessed EFL elicited narratives using modified narrative analysis scales to account for microstructure (lexical and morphosyntactic complexity) and macrostructure (understanding story elements), generating a Total Narrative score. Our results yielded different patterns of underlying psycholinguistic profiles, and cross and within language associations for each group. Strong interactions between L1, L2/L3, and EFL morphological awareness and reading comprehension suggested cross-linguistic transfer. Regression analysis identified the most influential skills supporting EFL narratives for each linguistic group: English reading comprehension (ERC) was essential for Hebrew speakers and English morphological awareness (EMA) for Arabic ones. These results suggested different allocations of cognitive and linguistic resources in EFL narratives. The results also allowed to identify a common mediating skill for both groups. Findings are discussed within the theoretical framework of the Interdependence Hypothesis, the Linguistic Proximity Model, as well as accounts of direct and indirect transfer, which illuminate the impact of typological distance, general language proficiency and components of linguistic knowledge on cross-linguistic transfer in EFL oral language production.

This qualitative case study examined teachers’ views on integrating Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and its role in supporting Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP). A total of 32 K-5th grade English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Uruguayan teachers completed a three-week online asynchronous professional development. Participants’ training focused on SEL principles, practices, and strategies for the English as a foreign language classroom. During the training, a three-scale rubric (0 - 3 points) served to formatively assess and provide feedback to the participants on completing weekly tasks. The evaluation examined the content of the teachers’ reflection and applications to practice. Feedback focused on how well teachers grasped the theoretical content and its integration. Once the training was completed, participants answered four open-ended questions in an online repository questionnaire. Findings document that after the intervention, the teachers perceived that students benefitted from learning about SEL and its implementation, and they came to believe that SEL principles need to become an integral part of instructional planning in Uruguay’s EFL classrooms.

Attitudes, Motivation and Parental Encouragement in Learning English as a Foreign Language: the Croatian Context Ana Penjak, Hrvoje Karnincic Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate, establish and analyze differences in students’ motivational patterns (attitudes, interests and parental encouragement) towards English as a foreign language (EFL) and to find possible differences in motivation. The sample consisted of 53 (34 male and 19 female) students at the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split, Croatia. Variable sample consisted of a questionnaire of 30 statements divided in 3 parts. The questionnaire is reliable (Cronbach's alpha > 0.80). The results show that male students have statistically significant positive attitude (p = 0.03) towards English as a foreign language than female students. Female students, on the other hand, have almost statistically significant difference (p = 0.06) concerning the parental influence in learning EFL. In addition, the results reveal that attitudes and interests in learning English in female students seem to be significantly correlated, while male students show statistical correlation between interest in learning a foreign language and parental encouragement in learning EFL. Furthermore, while male students express more positive attitudes towards English based on the level of their parental encouragement, female students do not base their interest in learning English on their parental encouragement but rather on their personal attitude towards English. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jflcc.v3n2a3

Discourse markers in EFL teacher talk

Numerous studies were devoted to use of games in vocabulary learning in English as a foreign language (EFL) tertiary courses, which reported significant improvements of vocabulary learning when using computer games. This study used a mixed-design research method comparing the effectiveness in EFL vocabulary acquisition. Data was collected from randomly selected participants who were randomly assigned to the interactivity-prone computer game (Group 1), the less interactive-prone computer game (Group 2) and the pencil-and-paper (Group 3) assisted EFL vocabulary learning approaches. The first group learned EFL vocabulary through interactivity-prone computer game Hujiang Fun Vocabulary, the second group learned EFL vocabulary assisted with less interactive computer game Baicizhan, and the third group learned EFL vocabulary via the traditional pencil-and-paper approach. It was concluded that (1) The interactivity-prone computer game was more effective than the less interactivity-prone computer game in EFL vocabulary learning; (2) The computer game-assisted EFL vocabulary learning was significantly more effective than the traditional pencil-and-paper approach; (3) Males outperformed females in computer game-assisted EFL vocabulary learning. It was suggested that future research focuses on both design features of educational computer games and cross-disciplinary research into computer game assisted EFL vocabulary acquisition.

The primary purpose of the present study is to ascertain high school students' perceptions of the efficacy of blended learning in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes based on the Education Informatics Network (EIN) which is used as a learning management system in Turkish K-12 schools. The sample of the study was composed of 122 EFL students studying at a state high school. The study was designed with a convergent research design, one of the mixed-methods research designs. Quantitative findings showed that students' general views on EIN-based blended learning were neutral, yet positive about face-to-face lessons. The obtained qualitative findings mostly converged with the quantitative data results, and they clarified that students had both positive and negative opinions about the impact of blended learning on the development of language skills, assessment, learner autonomy, and classroom atmosphere. Furthermore, interview findings indicated that students expected the EIN portal to be free of technical problems, easily accessible and to include more enjoyable and various activities for a better implementation of the EIN-based blended learning. Lastly, several suggestions for further research were put forward as well as some educational implications for teaching EFL in an EIN-based blended learning environment.

Teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) worldwide to young learners in primary schools has been challenging to implement due to numerous obstacles, including a shortage of qualified teachers, inadequate resources, and suitable methodologies. However, little research has been conducted into the difficulties of achieving ideal conditions for young learners in EFL in the Global South. The primary objective of this qualitative study was to examine the political aspects of Chile's integration of EFL in primary schools since 1998. Kaplan and Baldauf's language-in-education framework was utilized to examine the ecology of policies surrounding EFL in primary schools in Chile. A focused literature review was used to collect documents related to four separate political dimensions in Kaplan and Baldauf's framework. The corpora were then analyzed, and a thematic analysis was utilized to evaluate the data. The analysis reveals a fragmentation of the curriculum, textbooks, personnel and classroom practices regarding EFL in the primary classroom. Chile serves as an example of how even the most well-intentioned policies can be undermined without proper coordination. The findings suggest a deeper examination of the disarticulation to create more optimal learning and teaching conditions for EFL to succeed in primary schools.

This study is an attempt to explore the knowledge that native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and local teachers (including Taiwanese teachers of English and homeroom teachers who teach with NESTs) need to be equipped so as to work collaboratively in elementary school English classrooms in Taiwan. Through interviews, classroom observations and teachers' reflections, the study reveals that cultural understanding, curriculum knowledge, knowledge about young learners, knowledge of various teaching styles and English ability for communication and discussion are essential for teachers involved in collaborative teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL). It is also found that through learning on the job teachers individually and collectively developed their expertise. Teaching experience of self and others plays an influential role in learning to teach EFL with another adult in the classroom. Finally, suggestions on teacher professional development in collaborative teaching of EFL are discussed.