Language Teaching Activities Research Articles

A Study on ESL Teachers’ Intercultural Communication Competence

Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) is the absolute necessity for talents in the 21st century. Meanwhile, the development of ICC competence has already become a new teaching concept, which will penetrate in all aspects of language teaching activities. Indeed, to facilitate language learners to develop ICC, language teachers, especially those teaching English as Second Language (ESL), should first be competent intercultural communicators with great confidence and sufficient experience.The study is undertaken to discover real picture of the ESL teachers’ ICC competence by measuring their individual system, episodic system, and relational system. Most ESL teachers under the test are strong in their individual system in that they are highly proficient in English, and they have a good deposit of cultural and linguistic knowledge in target language. In this case, they are mostly likely to achieve communication effectiveness in intercultural communication. Nevertheless, they don’t have well-built episodic system and relational system. This is largely due to the facts that they haven’t experienced varying intercultural contexts, and the interpersonal relations with foreigners are inclined to be simple. All these factors contribute to ESL teachers’ incompetence in accomplishing different tasks in intercultural communication, as well as in intercultural education. Therefore, ESL teachers should improve their ICC through real intercultural practices. Besides, the study also tests statistical significance between ICC and overseas experience, and the significance between ICC and frequency of contact with foreigners.

READING AS EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY TO ENHANCE FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Ponte Academic JournalApr 2017, Volume 73, Issue 4 READING AS EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY TO ENHANCE FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNINGAuthor(s): M.V. Kuimova ,R.I. Bazhenov, V.V. ShcherbakovJ. Ponte - Apr 2017 - Volume 73 - Issue 4 doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2017.4.48 Abstract:Currently, higher education strives to train graduates in professional competences, enabling them to communicate with international colleagues in their field. In the restricted number of foreign language classes, extracurricular activities become beneficial and give additional opportunities to expand and deepen foreign language skills. Extracurricular activities further learning motivation, improve academic performance, develop creativity, raise self-esteem and lead to the aspiration for lifelong learning. The authors share their experience organizing extracurricular activities in foreign language teaching and offer practical tasks that can be used in teaching of English as a foreign language. Download full text:Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Username Password

Expert views on TPACK for early literacy: Priorities for teacher education

Technology applications can make important contributions to improving learning outcomes in the domain of early literacy. However, to fully exploit the potential of educational technologies, teachers must have specific knowledge and skills. This study aimed to articulate the technological pedagogical content knowledge teachers need to make effective use of technology for early literacy. Through three rounds of expert consultation using a Delphi study approach, key priorities for the education of lower primary school teachers, especially those teaching kindergarten, were articulated. The results of the Delphi study show expert consensus on the importance of educating pre-service teachers about: electronic books and educative television; explicit goals and task-focused instructions using specific tools; how to shape technology-rich classroom interactions; and how to integrate computer activities in language teaching. Experts stress the importance of developing age-appropriate teaching skills and critical consideration of the value of technologies for specific learning goals. When this critical stance is lacking (e.g., using technology for entertainment, or substitution of existing activities), they recommend against technology use in kindergarten. These findings can help teacher education programs offer pre-service teachers adequate opportunities to develop the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge needed for effectively using technology in the domain of early literacy.

Video Self-Modeling Technique that Can Be Used in Improving the Abilities of Fluent Reading and Fluent Speaking

<p class="apa">The use of technology in the field of education makes the educational process more efficient and motivating. Technological tools are used for developing the communication skills of students and teachers in the learning process increasing the participation, supporting the peer, the realization of collaborative learning. The use of technology is increasingly widespread in the language teaching as well as in all areas of the education. The use of technology in the classroom language teaching activities allows students to be more active in the learning process than other techniques, learn at their own pace and give them a chance to repeat the activities they want to do. Computers, videos, tablets and other technological products such as mobile phones are increasingly feel the importance in language teaching and learning in recent years. In fact teaching methods and techniques built on the use of technology have been developed. Video self-modeling is one of these methods. Video self-modeling is an application with evidence basis, defined as watching and taking as a model the target behavior exhibited by the person on the videotape. The aim of this study is to draw attention of researchers and practitioners to the video self-modeling method which is determined to be ignored and provides information about the use of methods of language teaching in fluent reading and fluent speaking. These are thought as the contribution of this study to the field of teaching Turkish.</p>

The Effect Of Using Simulation Activities On Developing Algerian EFL Students’ Speaking And Listening Proficiency

Crystallising Comprehension, retaining long-term outcomes, and raising the rate of interest have put extra up-to-date demands on EFL teachers. These demands have led teachers to look for recent effective innovations in language teaching. Recently, there has been much demand for the active learning techniques to encourage learners step one foot outside the stereotyped learning pattern. The need for a self-generated communication has completed the picture for teachers. By consensus, simulation came to remedy EFL learners need for communication and convey the teachers’ aim. Thus, the aim of this study was to implement the simulation activities in English language teaching to second year EFL students at University of Constantine 1. A quasi experimental method was used to test the efficacy of simulation in developing EFL learners’ speaking and listening proficiencyand a sample compromised two experimental groups participated in the study. After analysing the pre-test and post-test results, the findings revealed that simulation has successfully developed the EFL learners’ speaking and listening proficiency with greater effective impact of simulation activities on listening than on speaking proficiency.

The importance of icebreakers and warm-up activities in language teaching

The importance of icebreakers and warm-up activities in language teaching

Spaces for learning: policy and practice for indigenous languages in a remote context

abstractBilingual and Indigenous language and culture programmes have run in remote Australian schools with significant and continuing local support. Developments such as the new national Indigenous languages curriculum offer a further opportunity to broaden and sustain Indigenous language teaching and learning activities in these schools. However, over the last two decades, increasing government attention to poor outcomes on national standardised literacy and numeracy assessments has markedly restricted the scope for Indigenous languages. This paper draws on a model of ideological and implementational spaces to discuss competing discourses in top-down and bottom-up policy. Data from an ethnographic study on education stakeholders in remote locations in Australia's Northern Territory revealed incongruities between local discourses that emphasise bi- and multilingualism, local identity and knowledge and community language maintenance and institutional discourses, which foreground a uniform model of education, with English literacy the dominant measure of educational success. The study also revealed that principals, teachers, and community members in some schools work together to develop vibrant, though often fragile, programmes. In addition to this, community members outside school systems are increasingly finding and taking up the spaces that allow innovative Indigenous language and cultural teaching and learning.

A Review on the Effect of Using Dictogloss Tasks and Fake Scoring on Children's Dictation Ability

Writing is one of the important language skills that should be mastered by the foreign language learners to convey their concepts in written form, so teachers should contemplate on different applicable techniques to promote this skill. One of these techniques is dictogloss task. Dictogloss task is a technique of dictation method that can be used for teaching writing cooperatively. It has four steps which are preparation, dictation, reconstruction, and analysis and correction. Dictogloss procedure is practical and flexible enough to account for the needs, interests, and learning preferences of learners. Kids and even adults need reassurance and flexibility from their teachers while learning. They need not to be interrupted while producing, and sometimes their mistakes are better not to be announced and corrected at the time. A motivational strategy to reach that goal was to ignore their writing mistakes in scoring by simply and slightly showing them that the mistaken part could have been written in the correct form. Given the background of unsatisfactory number of studies on improving children language learning performance, especially, their writing in pre-school age, this review study is aimed to highlight a useful technique in the language teaching activities, not just English. It has an endeavor to find the influence of giving fake high scores in a dictogloss task on kids' dictation ability. It is recommended that teachers should be encouraged to voice their viewpoints and be capable of any required changes regarding their class situation and be able to rely on themselves rather than books. In spite of being fair, it is sometimes needed to lessen the strictness towards some students. It is concluded that fake high scoring on a permanent dictogloss task is a suitable, applicable, and appropriate device for EFL teachers and learners to achieve their educational aims.

Opinions and Attitudes of Prospective Teachers for the Use of Mobile Phones in Foreign Language Learning

The aim of this study is to explore the current use of mobile phones in a foreign language teaching context where Engish is used as the medium of instruction by prospective teachers. To this end, it presents the views of prospective English teachers on utilizing the mobile phone as an instructional tool for foreign language learning purposes in the educational and instructional setting of foreign language teaching classrooms. The study utilized a quantitative methodology. In this context, a questionnaire was developed and administered to a sample of 193 participants in an English Language Teaching (ELT) department. The data gathered through the questionnaire were processed and analyzed descriptively. Results indicate that most of the participants would prefer to use mobile phones as instructional tools in foreign language learning. The results also provided some insights as to how foreign language teachers could employ suitable approaches to make learning and teaching English meaningful and communicative. The results suggested that the participants would like to make use of mobile phones for educational purposes when they become teachers of English. It is recommended that some of technology-based language teaching activities can be implemented using mobile phones and they can be integrated into foreign language teaching curriculum.

Motivating Learners and the Importance of Materials Used in Language Teaching

The motivation of the learner is one of the most important factors in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), meanwhile language teaching materials are having a very important effect and role in language learning and teaching activities. This research focus on how different materials motivate students. Many factors which affect student's motivation towards teaching materials were perceived, such as interest in the subject matter, level of difficulty, relevance to existing knowledge, perception of usefulness.

Intercultural activities in English language teaching: a contribution to understand English as a lingua franca (ELF)

Intercultural activities in English language teaching: a contribution to understand English as a lingua franca (ELF)

A Reconceptualised Translation-Based Task as a Viable Teaching Tool in EFL Class to Avoid Calque Errors

The negative attitude towards translation as another pedagogical means in Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) has prevailed for much time (Cook, 2010). Nonetheless, currently, many theorists and linguistics agree on the importance of using translation activities in foreign language teaching and underline its beneficial effects to expand vocabulary, to develop writing style and to further understand how languages in contact work (Schaffner, 1998). This paper presents the results of a pilot experience where a reconceptualised role of a translation-based task is implemented in the Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) class and explores the question of whether it can be used as a means to foster the cross-linguistic cognitive processing of languages involved so that this metacognition provided by the translation process will contribute to boost a student’s watchfulness and so reduce calque errors when writing (translating) in L2 (English). Under the task-based language teaching methodology, an initiative has been put forward with a group of selected English as an L2 students pursuing a fourfold objective: i) firstly, to reintroduce translation-based tasks as a viable teaching tool in Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) class; ii) secondly, to examine the role of cross-linguistic interference in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and iii) to identify and tag a specific type of negative interference, namely calque errors, committed by students when translating into L2, and iv) lastly, to check whether this task triggers students’ awareness of cross-linguistic differences and similarities and turn this realization into an opportunity to learn (positive interference) by avoiding committing calque errors again.

Bedömning på systemnivå - En komparativ studie av stegsystemet i språk i den svenska skolan och språknivåer i Europarådets Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)

In the early 1970’s, the Council of Europe commenced work that aimed at identifying levels of language learning in a transparent and generally applicable way. The project resulted in the definition of six cardinal levels of competence according to a descriptive model called the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This made a strong and lasting impact and the CEFR concept is now being employed both in Europe and beyond as an important tool in the communication about goals and activities in language teaching and assessment. The highly influential work inspired the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) to transpose the curricular goals for languages into an approximate CEFR model encompassing 7 levels, or stages (steg), which would thereby, among other things, enable comparison of features of language education across cultural and national boundaries.This article describes a previously unpublished study that investigated the conceptual relationship between the 7 stages of language ability laid out in Swedish school curricula and the 6-level CEFR system (Oscarson 2002). Against the background of the increasingly strong interest in the latter system, the purpose of the article is to update and review the analytical procedure and the results of this study. A text analytics method for stepwise comparison of the systems was devised and used in the alignment. Areas of competence were matched for content, and descriptions of abilities in the Swedish curricula close in meaning to descriptors in the CEFR system were identified. Conclusions were drawn about the interrelationships that exist between the systems and points on the two scales. The results indicate where any given stage in a Swedish language curriculum is located on the CEFR scale. The general conditions for the work undertaken, as well as possible further research, are discussed.

Pedagogical repertoire of a model language Teacher

This paper examines the expected traits of a language teacher especially in a multilingual society. The peculiar linguistic attributes are scrupulously considered as each letter of the word TEACHER is used to bring out the required linguistic pedagogical culture. The common occurrence of students’ mass failure in English language as witnessed in the various competitive examinations and the rapid decline in the quality of teachers in charge of the subject in schools bring to the fore the concern for its pedagogical appraisal especially in the area of teachers’ preparation for the sensitive job. The work is expository as some common factors were brought out and used to treat the expected teachers’ behavior in language teaching activities. The writer’s exposure and experience in the job supply the root for all the issues raised in the work. Based on the considered factors, it is recommended that the personnel that handle the training of teachers in the higher institution must be exposed to the real practical aspect of the work. Through this, well trained, brilliant, interested and committed individuals will be discovered on the field to take care of students who opt for teaching career in the colleges of education and in the faculty of education in the universities. When the stream is progressive and hard work is rewarded, teachers will be dedicated to work and be related to stand up as models to the students.

Network Platform Construction and Video System Hardware Design

With the emergence of multimedia information technology, the mode of foreign language teaching activities are more and more rich, more and more emphasis are attached on creativity, the ability to think independently and teamwork, but there are also a lot of foreign language teaching platform which is inadequate. Therefore, more and more English teachers begin developing independent learning and the ability to collaborate. This article is based on RISCPA teamwork model and the students' teamwork skills to establish a foreign language teaching system. It provides enriching RISCAP with guiding ideology in theory, and provides theory platform and technical support for teaching platform application and development.

Why is it difficult to teach Chinese at a virtual classroom? – A pedagogic view

Nowadays, more and more courses are made available online to increase flexibility in learning time, easy accessibility for students, and richness in usable learning materials. However, many problems occur in Chinese as Second Language (CSL) teaching activity at virtual classroom compared with traditional classroom. For example, it is hard to notice whether a student is present at the classroom or not or it is difficult for students to clearly observe in what exact sequence a Chinese character is written. Through comparison of the CSL learning cases between online classroom and traditional classroom, we intend to identify the web-based teaching and learning problems in teaching Chinese characters from the perspective of pedagogy, and propose a possible solution to the problem. With a case study of teaching the Chinese characters at virtual classroom and a comparative study among online courses, virtual classroom and campus classroom education, we present an initial data analysis of an IT-based method tackling the problems with the proposed solutions.Keywords: Chinese teaching and pedagogy, virtual classroom and online courses for teaching Chinese, descriptive design, Sweden

Pre-service EFL Teacher's Attitudes towards Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

Over the past decade, Computer Assisted Language Learning, any kind of language learning or teaching activity conducted by using computers, has increasingly become an important part of the language-learning process. As Computer Assisted Language Learning has been an integral part of education, it is inevitable that it attracts the attentions of pre-service English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of pre-service EFL teachers of English as a Foreign Language towards Computer Assisted Language Learning. The participants of the study include 112 pre-service EFL teachers studying in the English Language Teaching Department of Dokuz Eylül University. The data collection instrument consists of a questionnaire which measures the participants’ attitudes towards Computer Assisted Language Learning. The data obtained from the questionnaires are analysed. It is expected that pre-service teachers of English as a Foreign Language have positive attitudes towards the use of Computer Assisted Language Learning. In the light of the findings, some practical recommendations are presented.

Die rol van taalleeronderrig in Afrikaanse woordeboekwerkboeke

Criteria for Dictionary Workbooks in Afrikaans. This article reflects on the role of dictionary workbooks in the skills training of users in Afrikaans. Dictionary workbooks are usually directed at a specific school or learners' dictionary and in this way links up with peda­gogical lexicography. The main purpose of workbooks should thus be an educational one. Although pedagogical lexicography is generating more interest in South Africa, very little attention has been paid to the important role of dictionary workbooks. Dictionary workbooks should be very user oriented, since they are compiled for specific target users using a specific dictionary. The purpose of dictionary workbooks is identified in this article by analysing various workbooks in the Afrikaans context. On closer investigation it was found that workbooks could have diverse pur­poses and could contain diverse contents. Work­books are aimed at making target users more dictionary literate, i.e. to be able to use dictionaries meaningfully and to unlock infor­ma­tion suc­cess­fully. The manner, in which information in workbooks is pre­sented and thus con­veyed, reflects certain educational approaches in language and how they can find shape in work­books. When an edu­ca­tional approach is successfully applied, the expectations are that user skills should be improved. Hence reference is also made to the development of certain skills.Keywords: afrikaans pedagogical lexicography, school dictionaries, learner's dictionaries, dictionary workbooks, language teaching, lan­guage teaching approaches, text-based approach, communicative approach, learner-centred teaching approach, inductive teaching method, con­structivism, language teaching activities, dictionary skills of learners, teacher, lexicographer, publisher

English Language Classroom Practices: Bangladeshi Primary School Children’s Perceptions

English language teaching (ELT) has been investigated from various angles including how English language teachers perceive what happens in an ELT classroom. How primary school English language learners perceive their experiences of ELT is rarely reported in the published literature, particularly from developing countries such as Bangladesh. This article reports on a study that examined Bangladeshi primary school learners’ experience of English language classroom practices in which technology-enhanced communicative language teaching activities were promoted through a project called English in Action (EIA). EIA is a large-scale 9-year long international English language development project in Bangladesh, funded by the UK government. A semi-structured group interview was conducted with 600 Grade 3 students from different regions of Bangladesh. The findings showed that the learners found communicative language learning activities such as dialogue and role play more effective than translation and memorizing grammar rules for learning English, although they enjoyed reciting and drills. The results also showed that these learners’ English teachers tended to mix both traditional and communicative approaches in their lessons. The paper critiques EIA and argues that any major language development project needs to consider the local context and learners’ views on language learning for its success.

Analisis Kesesuaian Penggunaan Bahan Ajar Bahasa Mandarin Sekolah Menengah Umum dengan Ketetapan Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan

Teaching material is the important component in teaching and learning process, therefore, choosing the correct one will make easy the achievement of the learning objective. The Education National Standard Foundation (Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan) arranges the basic competence standard which will be achieved in learning process as well as the topics which must be covered in the given teaching material. Every education stage has different material, and it is also different for the learner in different study program who will have different teaching material which is in accordance with the field of study and the expected goal. To achieve the good learning objective, the teacher has right to choose the textbook which is going to be used in the learning activities. However, there are also some schools decide to cooperate with other course institutions in running the Mandarin Language teaching and learning activities. The limitation of the availabality of Mandarin textbook which uses Indonesian language gives certain difficulty to the learners not only for the learning activity but also for the process of transferring the knowledge. The writer tries to describe the teaching material used by Senior High School and to see whether that textbook has fulfilled basic competence standard criteria which is going to be achieved by using discussion method with Senior High Schools teachers. It also tries to enlighten the material inside the textbook which is used by the teacher. The writer hopes there will be Mandarin Language Textbook which meets the basic competence standard which is able to support the learners in order to achieve the objective of the Mandarin Language learning process in Senior High School.