Effects of Collaborative Pre-Task Planning on EFL Learners' Argumentative Essay Writing

Reading comprehension is critical and challenging for the English learning process. EFL (English as Foreign Language) learners often do not understand the meaning of the text due to the lack of an authentic learning context. This easily leads learners to read literally without deeply understanding. To address this issue, an article-structure strategy-based SVVR (short for ASS-SVVR) approach was proposed in the study, in which spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) was employed to immerse EFL learners in a real environment, and the article-structure strategy was introduced as step-by-step reading scaffolding to improve reading efficiency, accuracy, and comprehension. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a quasi-experiment was conducted in an English reading class at a university with two classes of 63 EFL learners. Among them, 33 learners were randomly distributed to the experimental group, conducting the ASS-SVVR approach, while the remaining 30 were assigned to the control group, conducting the conventional SVVR (C-SVVR) approach. The research findings showed that EFL students conducting the ASS-SVVR approach had positive performance in reading comprehension, extrinsic learning motivation, and metacognitive awareness of reading strategy. Moreover, cognitive load and sense of presence were not shown to have a significant difference between the two groups.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of the reader-response approach on EFL (English as foreign language) learners’ reading comprehension, retention of vocabulary and test anxiety. To achieve this goal, out of a sample of sixty EFL learners who were selected to participate in the study 52 were assigned into two groups. During the study, a reader-response approach was used as the treatment, and the quantitative data were collected through the anxiety questionnaire, reading and vocabulary tests. MANCOVA was run to compare and determine the performance of the two groups. Based on the findings, the reader-response approach in teaching English to EFL learners, does not improve the reading comprehension and vocabulary retention of EFL learners. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed in the level of vocabulary acquisition and the reading comprehension of both groups. It was also found that the reading response approach contributed to the decrease in the experimental group’s test anxiety.

The present study examined the impact of group dynamic assessment (G-DA) on English as foreign language (EFL) learners’ oral production, motivation, and classroom anxiety. For this purpose, Student Motivational State Questionnaire Guilloteaux and Dornyei, TESOL Quarterly 42, 55–77, (2008) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) Horwitz et al., The Modern Language Journal 70, 125–132(1986) were employed. In addition, IELTS Speaking Sample Tests were used to assess participants’ oral proficiency levels before and after the treatment. At first, 100 EFL learners at pre-intermediate and intermediate levels of English proficiency were selected through convenience sampling procedure from some language institutes. Next, a sample TOEFL Junior Standard Test was administered to the participants and based on test rubrics, 77 A2 and B1 level EFL learners were identified and randomly assigned to experimental G-DA groups A and B, and non-dynamic assessment (NDA) control groups C and D. All study groups participated in 14 sessions of speaking practice in which G-DA-based mediations were employed for groups A and B following Poehner’s (2005) mediation typology, while groups C and D were subjected to NDA forms of practice. The results underscored the relative positive impact of G-DA on EFL learners’ oral proficiency development and classroom anxiety reduction. However, compared to NDA, G-DA did not have any positive effect on the participants’ motivation level. The findings seem to imply that a socially constructive environment which is more likely created in EFL classes as a result of the application of group-based dynamic assessment of the EFL learners’ language problems leads to more efficient identification of the group’s zone of proximal development (GZPD). Furthermore, G-DA seems to be an efficient procedure for lowering the anxiety level of foreign language learners in classroom context.

As most traditional classroom environments in English as Foreign Language (EFL) still restrict learners’ collaboration and interaction in college writing classes, today, the majority of EFL learners are accessing Social Networking Sites (SNSs) as online communities of practice (CoPs) for adopting informal collaborative learning as a way of practicing English beyond the classroom. This study aimed to investigate the opportunities and challenges of SNSs as learning environment in writing in English. The study was conducted among 24 active and regular EFL learners joining the Only for English Learning Facebook (FB) CoP – a group developed and maintained by a few instructors in English – for EFL learners coming from different EFL Arab countries. The data was collected from the learners’ interactional exchanges in the weekly posted writing activities as well as their responses to online open questions posted by the instructor. Based on the mixed analysis of the data, the quantity of the EFL learners’ participation in the writing activities highly increased in the second session. Moreover, the learners were motivated to generate ideas, write their paragraphs and scaffold each other in paragraph writing. The findings also revealed that the EFL participants perceived this CoP as an interactive learning environment that contributed to enhancing their writing by engaging in learner-learner and learner-instructor interaction, information sharing, communicating and socializing with friends and developing a sense of belonging. However, a few challenges faced by the participants in such an online CoP were identified by the participants, and therefore, some valuable assistive features are suggested to be involved in the FB CoP for achieving further EFL development in the future.

<p>Learning styles and strategies are among the important factors which affect the learners’ performance in foreign language learning. The present study investigated the relationship between learning styles and metacognitive reading strategy of Iranian EFL (English as Foreign language) learners. It has also made an attempt to discover which learning style has the strongest correlation with metacognitive reading strategy. Accordingly, a total sample of 128 students who studied EFL at university was asked to answer a proficiency test. The purpose of administrating the proficiency test was to have a homogenized group of intermediate EFL learners. As the next step, the participants were asked to answer two questionnaires which explored their metacognitive reading strategy and learning styles. The data analysis indicated that thirteen learning styles out of twenty-three ones have a significant, positive correlation with metacognitive strategy. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between visual, auditory, introvert, intuitive, concrete, closure-oriented, synthesizing, analytic, sharpener, deductive, field independent, metaphoric, and reflective styles with metacognitive reading strategy. In addition, among 23 learning styles, visual, closure- oriented and synthesizing styles had the strongest correlation with metacognitive strategy. The findings revealed that Iranian EFL learners with these three learning styles use more metacognitive reading strategy.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong><strong>:</strong> Learning Styles, Metacognitive Reading Strategy, Foreign Language Reading</p>

The present study explored Iranian EFL (English as Foreign Language) learners’ reflective writing and the inhibitors which are a deterrent to write reflec- tively. The participants consisted of both students and teachers. A researcher-made questionnaire probed the EFL learners’ reflection in writing. The essays produced by the learners were also evaluated to consolidate the findings of the survey. In the second phase of the study, we examined both students’ and teachers’ percep- tions about the inhibitors of reflection in EFL writing. To do so, a semi-structured interview was conducted for the students and the themes extracted from the essays were categorized. Afterward, the teachers were given a researcher-made survey of the inhibitors to EFL students’ reflective writing questionnaire (IRWQ). The findings revealed that Iranian EFL writers have noticeable weaknesses in imple- menting higher-order thinking while writing and they are mostly involved in lower levels of reflection such as habitual actions and understanding. Regarding the reasons, as the results of the interview revealed, students believed that, among other factors, low proficiency is the most important inhibitor while their teachers considered teachers’ lack of training, students’ lack of adequate foreign language (FL) proficiency, and lack of support from the side of teachers as the most influential factors that limit students to write reflectively.

The present study aims to investigate the acoustic features of English monophthongs from Ningbo English Foreign Language (EFL) learners. It attempts to explore the degree of phonetic transfer of Ningbo dialect and Mandarin onto English. With eleven English monophtongs (/i/, /I/, /e/, /ae/, /a/, /ɒ/, /ɔ/, /υ/, /u/, /⋀/, /ɛ/) and three similar vowels (/i/, /u/, /a/) in English, Ningbo dialect and Mandarin are examined in this paper. Further, the study adopts the Speech Learning Model (SLM) to induce the errors or differences caused by the dialectal accent and Mandarin. Results demonstrate that, as far as the tongue position of the vowels is concerned, EFL learners and American (AM) native speakers show a great divergence between each other; specifically, /i/ is more affected by Mandarin, and /u/ is more affected by NB dialect, which can be explained by SLM. While /a/ produced by EFL learners is similar to that of American speakers. Therefore, in dialectal students' English learning, both dialect and Mandarin could affect their English vowel system.

This research emphasized the value of interactive activities, especially unscripted role-play, in improving Indonesian EFL learners' spontaneous English speaking skills in their learning. By exploring learners' experiences in script-free role-playing, the study contributes valuable insights into the importance of active language practice in language learning, emphasizing practical communication skills over theoretical knowledge. The purpose of this study is to give an overview of effective language teaching approaches that enhance the fluency and spontaneous English expression of Indonesian as English Foreign Language (EFL) Learners. Through qualitative methods, including observation notes, reflective surveys, and interviews, the research aimed to provide a comprehensive perspective on how EFL learners perceive spontaneity in unscripted role-play activities. The findings are expected to broaden the understanding of EFL learners' experiences in engaging in script-free role-playing. By addressing the challenges learners face in mastering spontaneous English conversations and the importance of active language practice, the study contributes to the discourse on effective language teaching strategies.

The present study explored Iranian EFL (English as Foreign Language) learners’ reflective writing and the inhibitors which are a deterrent to write reflectively. The participants consisted of both ...

Analyzing English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ needs in writing courses is an important thing that should be done by teachers. This is done in order to meet what EFL learners needs for writing course, and what should be planned and written in the syllabus. The purpose of this research is to analyze EFL learners’ needs for writing course especially in terms of learning materials, learning strategies, learning supports, and mastery of writing aspects. The design of this research was descriptive research. 50 EFL learners in Universitas Lancang Kuning were involved in this study as respondents of this research. To collect the data, a questionnaire was used with 20 statements available. The data from the questionnaire was analyzed descriptively by giving deep explanation towards the data. The result showed that most EFL learners were chosen response “agree” from the questionnaire. It means that the EFL learners very need good and acceptable learning materials, learning strategies, learning supports, and good competence in terms of writing aspects. In conclusion, the EFL learners’ needs for writing course are varied, but in general, the EFL learners expect good learning environment for writing course such as utilizing appropriate technology, attractive teaching media, and acceptable learning materials.

Association rule mining is the process of discovering new knowledge and non-trivial patterns hidden in textual datasets. This approach is often used by learning analytics researchers and practitioners for exploring unique types of data collected from various educational environments. By leveraging association rule mining, this study aims at providing a solution to a critical challenge that most of the location-based informal learning tools face namely, the limited scopes to learn new words. Hence, the purpose of this work is to design a word recommendation system that can analyze a learner's previously learned words in order to suggest new vocabulary that can be acquired in a particular learning location. We designed a study and explored a dataset for uncovering the insight of language learners' learning behaviors. 20 EFL (English as Foreign Language) learners' data, whose learning location was Tokushima region of Japan, is analyzed by using association rule mining technique. The result indicates that-First, in informal learning context, EFL learners' word learning interests vary much from each other although the learning location is same; and Second, a word recommendation system can be introduced by using association rule mining analysis; however, the possibility of getting highly associated words are low compared with random words.

Corpus linguistics and its relationship with modern lexicography are paid more and more attention by linguists and lexicographers in recent years. This paper, based on corpus analysis, mainly studies EFL (English as Foreign Language) learners' synonymous errors (SE), which refer to errors made by learners when using synonyms in writing. The unit observed is a pair of commonly used synonyms glad and happy, and the discussion includes both the phenomenon and reasons. Moreover, this paper considers that constructing a semantic network of synonyms in LDs (learner's dictionaries) can simulate learner's mental lexicon and help them to prevent from SE. Therefore, this paper takes LDs (both electronic and printed ones) as examples to discuss how existing LDs differentiate synonyms by means of semantic network and whether there are some inadequacies.

This study investigates the impact of strategic notetaking on English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ academic performance among university students in Jordan. Thus, we hypothesized that there is a significant and positive impact of strategic note-taking on EFL learners’ academic performance. To confirm this hypothesis, descriptive research design was applied in this study. 384 (three hundred and eighty-four) respondents were randomly selected from the four public universities in Jordan. This study adapted instruments which include strategic note taking and students’ academic performance measurement items and the data obtained was analysed through Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS-22). The result showed that the strategic note taking (i.e. independent variable) has significant effects on EFL learners’ academic performance (R2 =.919). Moreover, the strategic notetaking made the significant contribution (Beta= .449; t= 18.714; P <0.05) to the prediction of EFL learners’ academic performance. In line with the findings, this study emphasised and explained the impact of strategic notetaking and how to improve EFL learners’ level of notetaking for better academic performance in Jordan.

A variety of reading strategies are required to comprehend reading materials. Without effective reading strategies, students mostly face reading comprehension difficulties. This study aims to investigate reading comprehension strategies among English foreign language (EFL) learners in higher learning institutions. The study employed qualitative method and 10 Arab students of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) were interviewed. Inductive thematic approach was used to analyze data. The findings indicates that the most commonly used reading strategies among the EFL learners are logical knowledge (under linguistic schema), formal construction (under formal schema), cultural knowledge (under cultural schema), and prior knowledge and conceptual knowledge (under content schema). This study concludes that reading strategies help the EFL learners in understanding English reading materials. To improve reading strategies for EFL learners, there is a need for collective effort of English language teachers, curriculum designers, educationists, education policy makers, and the EFL learners themselves.

A variety of reading strategies are required to comprehend reading materials. Without effective reading strategies, students mostly face reading comprehension difficulties. This study aims to investigate reading comprehension strategies among English foreign language (EFL) learners in higher learning institutions. The study employed qualitative method and 10 Arab students of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) were interviewed. Inductive thematic approach was used to analyze data. The findings indicates that the most commonly used reading strategies among the EFL learners are logical knowledge (under linguistic schema), formal construction (under formal schema), cultural knowledge (under cultural schema), and prior knowledge and conceptual knowledge (under content schema). This study concludes that reading strategies help the EFL learners in understanding English reading materials. To improve reading strategies for EFL learners, there is a need for collective effort of English language teachers, curriculum designers, educationists, education policy makers, and the EFL learners themselves.