The Effect of the 5Es Model on EFL Female Students’ Motivation and Achievement at Taif University

Abstract

Since English has become the business language of the world and of the Internet in recent years, most education systems have emphasized its importance. However, in Saudi Arabia, students have difficulties learning English, especially those taught with traditional teacher-centered methods. In contrast, in the constructivist and cooperative learning methods, textbooks and teachers are no longer the only sources of information; their primary task is facilitating interaction among students and connecting students’ prior knowledge with new information. The present study investigates the effects of using the 5Es teaching model on EFL female students’ motivation and achievement at Taif University. Likewise, it may contribute to the literature on the 5Es model with EFL students’ motivation and achievement. The sample included 119 female Saudi undergraduate students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) at the first level at Taif University, in Saudi Arabia. They study English language with a focus on reading, writing, listening and speaking, for 6 hours weekly over one academic semester. The sample was divided into a control group (n = 61) and an experimental group (n = 58). Two research questions were addressed to examine whether: (1) there are significant differences between the experimental group scores and the control group scores on post-tests of the EFL female Saudi students’ motivation and their achievement and (2) there are significant differences between the mean scores of the pre-test and post-tests of the students’ motivation and their achievement for the experimental group. The researcher designed a program incorporating the 5Es model of teaching and learning which was used with the experimental group for ten weeks in 20 sessions. The 5Es model program provides the basis for learners to construct an accurate understanding of a new concept based on existing knowledge. In contrast, the researcher used traditional instruction with the control group for the same period. Besides the 5Es program, the two groups were asked to answer questions on a 5-point Likert-scale motivation questionnaire before and after the instruction to compare changes on students’ motivation. The following statistics calculations were performed: t-test, mean, SD, and Pearson coefficient correlations to analyze the data. The results showed that there are significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups on the post-tests of the EFL female Saudi students’ motivation and their achievement in favor of the experimental group. Moreover, statistically significant differences were found in the mean scores of the pre-test and post-tests of the students’ motivation and their achievement for the experimental group, in favor of post-test.