Learning Factors in Informal Digital Spaces: A Study of English Learning Through TikTok Content by @englishramah

This study examined the interplay between grit (i.e., consistency of interest/CI & perseverance of effort/PE), emotions (i.e., foreign language enjoyment/FLE & foreign language boredom/FLB), and motivation (i.e., intrinsic motivation/IM & extrinsic motivation/EM) among university students learning English as a foreign language (EFL). It aimed to explore how grit (CI & PE) and emotions (FLE & FLB) shape the EFL learning motivation (IM & EM) of science majors. A total of 706 science-major EFL students from a university in Central China voluntarily participated in this study. Data were collected through an online questionnaire designed to measure students’ grit, emotions, and motivation towards EFL learning. The results indicated that both grit and emotions significantly predicted motivation. Specifically, PE directly predicted both IM and EM, whereas CI was not a significant direct predictor of either IM or EM. Furthermore, while FLE and FLB respectively predicted IM and EM, FLE emerged as a stronger predictor of motivation. Lastly, both PE and CI indirectly predicted motivation (i.e., IM and EM) through the mediation of emotions (i.e., FLE and FLB). Overall, students who demonstrate grit and experience enjoyment in language learning tend to show higher levels of motivation in EFL learning. The study concludes with pedagogical implications for EFL teachers on how to harness grit and emotions to enhance learners’ motivation in EFL learning. Limitations of the study are also acknowledged.

Language, Social Media and Ideologies: Translingual Englishes, Facebook and Authenticities

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of motivation in English language learning in a Saudi context. Motivation is one of the basic elements in the learning and teaching process, and one of the basic conditions upon which the achievement of the goal of the learning depends. This study adopted a quantitative approach by using a three-point Likert scale questionnaire to gather data from 200 Saudi first-year students at Northern Border University. The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions distributed equally between instrumental and integrative motivation. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. The data analysis procedure started with assessing the questionnaire’s validity and reliability, using the Pearson correlation coefficient and Cronbach’s alpha (α). The findings revealed a high level of both instrumental and integrative motivation in learning English as a foreign language (EFL): the overall means was 2.69 and 2.68 respectively. Saudi students demonstrated a strong desire to learn EFL, emphasizing the importance of learning English for both integrative and instrumental purposes. It is recommended that EFL courses, teaching methods, teacher roles, and assessment methods are changed to encourage Saudi students to see English as a necessary tool for achieving their objectives.

Infusing creative pedagogy into an English as a foreign language classroom: Learning performance, creativity, and motivation

This study aims to explore the gender differences in the majors' of students who experienced English language learning anxiety at a University of Technology in Taiwan. The participants were 245 randomly selected students at this university in Taiwan. A questionnaire about English language learning anxiety was adopted as data collection. The results show that students attributed the cause of anxiety to the fear of speaking, the fear of exam consequences, a lack of both learning motivation and self-confidence, as well as the teacher's influence. Also, the finding of this study indicates that male students have stronger feelings of English learning anxiety than female students, and non-English majors have stronger feelings of English learning anxiety than English majors. The findings of this study suggest that EFL teachers in Taiwan should strive towards making classrooms more relaxing with a less formal atmosphere, and move away from the exam paradigm.

Problem The purpose of this study was to discover the preferred and used English vocabulary learning strategies of Saudi Arabic-speaking English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. In the light insufficient empirical and theoretical studies exploring the complex structure of vocabulary learning by Arabic-speaking ESL learners, this study investigated which strategies students viewed as significant in assisting them in learning new English vocabulary. Finally, the study sought to identify Saudi Arabic-speaking student attitudes toward and motivations for learning English as a second language; and whether these attitudes influenced which vocabulary learning strategies they preferred and used commonly. Method The research design was a nonexperimental quantitative descriptive research. The study used self-report questionnaires to know what were the most common vocabulary learning strategies used by Saudi Arabic-speaking ESL students in the United States as well as to learn what were their overall attitudes toward and motivations for learning English as a second language. Participants completed a three-section survey: (a) a demographic section, (b) the vocabulary learning strategies section, and (c) the section about attitudes toward and motivations for learning English as a second language. Schmitt's (1997) vocabulary taxonomy was used for the vocabulary survey section, while the attitude and motivation section (ATM) came from Abu-Snoubar's (2017) study, who adapted Gardner’s (1985) AMTB. Results The findings indicated that Saudi Arabic-speaking ESL students preferred to use reinforcement strategies and linguistics analysis strategies to acquire new English words. The top 10 most common vocabulary learning strategies included guessing the meaning of the new word from the sentence, taking notes in class, translating to Arabic, and using new words in sentences. Furthermore, Saudi Arabic-speaking ESL student attitudes toward learning English were positive and their motivations for learning English were high. Conclusions This study asserted that Saudi Arabic-speaking ESL students preferred to use reinforcement strategies and linguistic analysis strategies to acquire and learn new English words. The study also demonstrated that Saudi Arabic-speaking ESL students have high positive attitudes toward learning English, which was associated with their high motivation for learning. The findings indicated a weak correlation between VLS and the ATM, indicating that English language learners choice of VLS is influenced by their attitudes and motivations. Based on these results, further research is needed to investigate the relationship between VLS and the ATM with other international English language learner populations, use an experimental quantitative research design, and explore gender differences in VLS. Implications for practice include using these findings to develop instructional design in ESL curricula and improve teaching of VLS to English language learners.

ABSTRACT
 The purpose of this research is to find out the students’ perceptions of using social media in learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The descriptive qualitative method and the random sampling technique were used in this research. The participants in this research were third-semester students of the English Education Department at the University of Mataram, and the instruments used were questionnaires and interviews. The result of this research showed positive perceptions. The positive perception is that they think social media are helpful and make it easy to learn English because social media are easy to access anywhere and everywhere, and the negative perception is that students think social media are effective but sometimes often create misunderstandings. Kinds of social media that students often use are YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Those applications are chosen because of their popularity and their ability to provide an endless amount of English input to them. The ways students use social media to learn English are by communicating with their friends to practice their language or joining the English group from their account, watching videos, listening to songs in English, and they also follow some accounts to learn English. The last advantage, after using social media to learn English, is to improve their English skills, especially vocabulary, grammar, etc. The challenges identified are truthfulness/or validity of information from social media, and the frequent distracting content that makes students forget their original intent of learning when using the social media.

It has been confirmed by numerous studies that teachers play a significant role in creating and maintaining the motivation of learners of English as a foreign language (see for example, Dörnyei & Csizér (1998); Mezei & Csizér (2005); Roth et al. (2007); Radel et al. (2010); Dörnyei & Ushioda (2011)). Nevertheless, if we narrow down the scope of inquiry to the motivation of adult learners of English aged between 25 and 60, in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context, we can find very few empirical studies. Some exceptions are Shoaib and Dörnyei’s (2005), Szaszkó’s (2007), and Murray’s (2011) research of adult learners of English. Even though all of the above studies are concerned with the motivation of adult learners, none of them address specifically the teacher’s impact on motivation, let alone in a corporate environment. In order to fill this niche and investigate this impact, two semi-structured interview guides (one for students, and one for human resources managers) were developed, validated, and piloted. The data elicited during the interviews proved that the instruments were valid, and the findings underpin the importance of teacher - learner communication, tailor-made teaching and the professionalism of the teacher in enhancing adult learners’ motivation in a corporate context.

This paper reports part of a study that documents the factors affecting the efficacy of teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Vietnamese higher education from the teachers’ perspectives. Individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve EFL teachers at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH), Vietnam. The study explored both positive factors and negative factors affecting teaching quality. The findings show that an updated syllabus, modern teaching methods, and adequate facilities and equipment are positive factors identified by the teachers. Nevertheless, there are still many negative factors hindering the efficacy of English teaching and learning, including: insufficient time for English subjects; lack of speaking component in tests and examinations; unequal students’ English abilities; large class sizes; limited support from university leaders; and students’ limited efforts and motivation. The teachers were also given the opportunity to express their expectations about an ideal EFL training program, which included: a balance between financial profit and education quality; more independence for teachers and students in teaching and learning; placement tests; good and enthusiastic teachers; well-equipped classrooms; small class sizes, and student autonomy.

The aim of this study is to analyze and determine the various socio-psychological orientations of undergraduate students in learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to have a comprehensive overview. Â The study was originally intended by the school administration to improve the quality of instruction and promote positive attitudes by understanding individual students, mainly in terms of their language learning motivation and attitudes towards learning English. The participants were 793 university prep-year students studying a one-year EFL program to complete their postsecondary education in an English-medium state university in Turkey. The data were collected using Attitude-Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) (adapted Turkish version, Gardner, 2004). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 23 software firstly to be able to display the current situation regarding the 6 constructs measured by AMTB, mainly; integrativeness, attitudes toward the learning situation, motivation, language anxiety, instrumental orientation and parental encouragement levels of Turkish tertiary students in EFL learning by gender and level of proficiency. The results of this study identified that Turkish EFL learners at tertiary level showed relatively high levels of the qualities measured by the AMTB constructs and their sub-scales, except in attitudes toward English speaking people and anxiety . As an interesting finding, the participating students of the study were found to be often anxious in participating the English classes and using English, while female students felt more discomfort concerning these issues.

This research explores the impact of social media on learning motivation among eleventh-grade students at SMA PUSRI Palembang. The data was taken by involving 84 students as samples. The data was using a Social Media Questionnaire and Students’ Learning Motivation. By comparing the characteristics of social media questionnaire responses and students' learning motivation, the study aimed to determine the relationship between social media usage and learning motivation. Correlation analysis revealed a robust positive association between students' learning motivation and their use of social media for English learning. The correlation coefficient (r-value) of 0.925 exceeded the critical threshold (r_table) of 0.212, signifying statistical significance. It indicates a substantial link between social media as an English learning tool (X) and students' learning motivation (Y). Furthermore, the regression analysis demonstrated the significant impact of social media on students' motivation to learn. The significance level (alpha) was less than 0.05, and the t-value of 22.016 exceeded the required t-table value of 1.663. In summary, social media has significantly enhanced students' motivation to learn English at SMA PUSRI Palembang.

The present study investigated three Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) student-teachers’ imaginations of English language and explored how these imaginations may affect their motivation for learning English currently and teaching it in the future. The findings revealed that the participants valued English due to the economic, cultural, symbolic, and social capital that this language could bring for them in the future and that their imaginations played important roles in their motivation for learning and teaching English. The study concludes with implications for teacher educators to consider the EFL student-teachers’ imaginations and conceptions of English to make them more motivated to learn English and be effective English teachers in the future.

Abstract. Teachers’ competences and students’ motivation have been long suspected to have influence on students’ English ability. Some studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship. However, some information is unobserved. This study intended to fill the gap in literature concerning the relationship among teacher’s competences, students’ learning motivation, and students’ English proficiency at Junior High Schools in OKUT. The samples of the study were 30 teachers and 918 students. The data were collected through documentation (teachers’ competence test result and students’ English proficiency test result) and questionnaire (students’ learning English motivation). The results showed that there was a significant correlation between the English teachers’ competence and the English proficiency of students showed by robtained = .363, (p=.49) which was higher than the rtable (.361). Then, there was a positive significant correlation between students’ motivation in learning English and their English proficiency achievement (r= .711, p = .000). Meanwhile, the correlation between teachers’ competence and students’ motivation in learning English also showed that there was a positive significant correlation between these variables ( r = .753, p = .000) . At last, the correlation was also found between the predictor variables (teachers’ competence and students’ learning English motivation) and criterion variable (students’ English proficiency) with correlation coefficient 0.758 significant at .01 level. The contributions given by predictor variables to criterion variable were also analyzed. The result of stepwise method showed that predictor variables contributed to 54.4% of the criterion variable. Keywords: teachers’ competences, students’ learning motivation, students’ English proficiency, correlation, contribution

As the primary and immediate learning context, schools are underrepresented in learner autonomy studies. Scholars’ concerns over the intricate nature of schools lead to inadequate attention on the medium of learner autonomy development. To fill this research gap, a convergent mixed method design included a self-developed questionnaire, and four semi-structured interviews were employed to examine the non-English major sophomores’ learner autonomy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The triangulation of quantitative and qualitative evidence yielded that between a public and a private university, there was a statistically significant difference in English as a foreign language (EFL)s’ motivation for autonomous learning during the COVID-19 lockdown. But other than the degree of motivation, no difference was captured regarding EFLs’ belief and knowledge of autonomous English learning, as well as their metacognitive knowledge. Overall, EFLs were confident about their capacity to do autonomous English learning but engaged in a few systematical autonomous English learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the results, discussions over Chinese EFLs’ learner autonomy and possible explanations for the motivation differences are included. Pedagogy implications and limitations are elaborated on at the end. Plain Language Summary Using a mixed method design, this study reveals the English as a foreign language (EFL) learner autonomy and the role of schools in differentiating it, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data yielded that despite mainfesting confidence in their capacity for autonomous learning, Chinese EFL learners did not engage in active, systematic autonomous language learning during the lockdowns. The motivation for autonomous English learning differed between universities, with learners from the less prestigious private University Qiu demonstrating more motivation than EFLs from the top public University Nan. The study contributes to understanding EFL learner autonomy during a challenging time of school lockdowns and their motivation issues. It highlights the discrepancy between learners’ self-reported autonomy and engagement in independent language learning. Additionally, it challenges the assumption that learners from prestigious universities would exhibit higher motivation for autonomous learning, showing that motivation can vary depending on the university context.

The influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool usage on students' learning ability has received much attention from the society. The present study reviews prior studies examining the effect of AI on learning motivation in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Previous studies examinethe effects of AI on EFL students' motivation using a mixed-methods approach. The findings reveal a significant correlation between AI usage and student motivation. Other studies focuses on AI-assisted language learning's impact on English learning outcomes, self-regulated learning as well as L2 motivation, among EFL learners. AI-mediated instruction is proved to positively influences English learning motivation, self-regulated learning and learning outcomes. Additionally, findings from interview suggest learners' positive perceptions of AI platforms. Moreover, evidence from meta-analysis and studies on VR learning program demonstrate the beneficial role of AI on learning. The present study underscore AI's potential to enhance learning motivation in EFL contexts. Furthermore, more researches on AI's application to EFL instruction can be done in the future.