Apprehension Of Language Research Articles

Improving Students’ English Grammar Through Incorporating Games

This classroom action research aimed to enhance English grammar learning at a junior high school level by incorporating game-based activities, focusing on the simple present tense. The primary objective was to address identified challenges, such as low student enthusiasm and understanding of grammatical concepts. The study used classroom action research, unfolded in three cycles, each refining the game-based approach based on insights from the previous cycle. The methodology involved pre-tests, game-based lessons, observations, and reflective assessments. Results demonstrated sustained improvements, with increased scores and active participation. Key findings indicated enhanced active participation, motivation, concept understanding, collaboration, spontaneous English use, and a deeper understanding of the game-based method's shortcomings. The time required for understanding they were varied, reflecting the effectiveness of scaffolding in the learning environment. Implications of the research suggest the continued integration of game-based approaches, recognizing the diverse learning needs of students. Teachers should tailor scaffolding strategies to individual ZPDs, fostering collaboration and addressing language apprehension. The study contributes to the broader discourse on effective language teaching methodologies, emphasizing the dynamic interplay of theory and practice in the language learning classroom.

The Effects of Achievement‑Based Assessment on Reading Proficiency, Academic Impulse, Language Apprehension, and Learners’ Self‑Perceptions

The different sorts of assessment assignments have an impact on both the learners' psychological health and the learning process. Educationalists have spent years trying to identify and put into practice accurate and practical methods for effectively assessing students. Few research studies have tried to investigate how achievement-centered evaluation impacts reading perception, learning impulse, language apprehension, and students' self-confidence assessment despite the significant impact achievement-based has on second language learning. The current study set out to fill this gap in the literature by evaluating how achievement-based assessment affected the development of reading comprehension, academic impulse, language apprehension, and one’s self-confidence. To attain the study goal, 66 intermediate EFL students were randomly split into two groups: an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG). The students in the CG (N=31) received the conventional assessment over the course of this study (12 sessions). The learners in the (EG) (N = 35), received an achievement-based assessment. The One-Way MANOVA Test showed that students in the experimental group did better than those in the control group. The findings also demonstrated how important the role achievement-based assessment played in promoting reading comprehension, academic impulse, language apprehension, and self-confidence. The results of this study may have repercussions that are advantageous to language learners, teachers, curriculum designers, and policymakers presenting chances for further achievement-based practices.

Confucian or confusion? Analyses of international students’ self-rated intercultural sensitivity and its sociocultural predictors at Canadian universities

IntroductionIn mainstream psychological research, Confucian heritage culture is often the scapegoat for subjecting Confucian heritage culture students to cultural archetypes of reticence, obedience, and unassailability, leading to the stigmatization of international students. This study examines differences in international students’ self-rated intercultural sensitivity and the potential discrepancy that exists between large-scale differences in sociocultural dimensions and student perceptions of these dimensions.MethodsA total of 120 international students enrolled at Canadian universities completed an online questionnaire which combines existing validated surveys on intercultural sensitivity and perceptions of sociocultural dimensions. Students were divided into two groups: Confucian and non-Confucian groups. The data analysis techniques include AN(C)OVAs, hierarchical linear regression, and Spearman’s rho correlation.ResultsThe quantitative analyses lead to the main findings as follows: 1) Confucian heritage culture has little predictive value to intercultural sensitivity; 2) Confucian student group does not uniquely identify with Confucian values; 3) Second language apprehension, as the sole predictor, accounts for more variation in intercultural sensitivity than most sociocultural predictors combined.DiscussionThis study demonstrates that deterministic views of heritage culture may not accurately reflect international students’ personal identification with their heritage culture. Therefore, further research is needed to illuminate the role of studying abroad in deconstructing general culture and contextualizing students’ assumed fixed identities.

Exploring Dynamic Development of Listening Comprehension Difficulties: A Longitudinal Case Study of EFL Learners

This study employed Dynamic Systems Theory to investigate the Listening Comprehension Difficulties (LCD) trajectories of two EFL learners. Through a longitudinal case study spanning a semester, LCD in five listening tasks was assessed using four indicators: vocabulary difficulties, familiar word difficulties, weak form difficulties, and chunk difficulties. Key findings included: 1) distinct nonlinear and intricate trajectories were observed for both learners, diverging from group averages; 2) semi-structured interview showed that individual pathways were influenced by interwoven factors including environmental variables (language policy, linguistic milieu, learning environment, etc.), linguistic factors (task complexity, language apprehension, native language transfer, etc.), and individual differences (e.g., self-regulation strategies, language anxiety, etc.).

The Correlation between Foreign Language Apprehension and Foreign Language Gaiety and their Impacts on the Ideal L2 Self for EFL Learners

As evidenced by recent studies in the fields of positive psychology and psycholinguistics, learners’ emotions and thoughts while learning a second language are believed to generate sophisticated and dynamic linkages that contribute to their motivational as well as linguistic outcomes. This study aims to evaluate foreign language gaiety (FLG) and foreign language apprehension (FLA) as determinants of the ideal second language (L2) self for Saudi EFL learners. The basic research question that this study attempts to answer is: “What is the impact of EL elation and apprehension on PSAU learners’ ideal L2 self?” An online survey incorporating the three scales in question was completed by 116 EFL male and female students at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University (PSAU) in the College of Science and Humanities (CSH). To examine the reliability of this research study, the Cronbach Alpha value of ≥ 0.70 is regarded as reliable and acceptable. The study results showed a strong positive correlation between the PSAU EFL learners’ EF Gaiety and their ideal L2 self. Further, there was a strong negative correlation between the PSAU EFL learners’ FL Apprehension and their ideal L2 self. The study concluded that PSAU EFL learners do not enjoy studying English as a foreign language. Their ideal L2 self is tremendously affected by the high rates of apprehension and the low degrees of EF gaiety.

Simultaneous multiplicity: new materialist ontologies and the apprehension of language as assemblage and phenomenon

ABSTRACT This paper explores two prominent strands of inquiry within new materialism – Deleuze and Guattari’s assemblage thinking and Karen Barad’s agential realism – and situates them in relation to language studies. While a singular definition of new materialist scholarship is not feasible, we argue that the selected approaches have potential to come together to reconfigure the trajectory of language studies and critical applied linguistics, as they have begun to do in other fields of inquiry. We draw on new materialism to develop accounts of how language may be ontologically apprehended as assemblage and as phenomenon. However, rather than presenting these accounts as definitive, we invite further consideration of the implications of new materialist ontologies for our capacity to apprehend simultaneous multiplicities, and particularly, for the consequences of these on the conceptions of language that are mobilized through our theoretical and methodological tools.

English Language Apprehension of Education Student: A Phenomenology

Language Anxiety is acknowledged as an impediment in second language learning. In addressing the issue, this study aimed to explore the English language Apprehension among Education Students. This study utilized qualitative design using a phenomenological method involving one focus group discussion with 10 participants and in-depth interviews with eight informants from the College of Teacher Education at the University of Mindanao. The results of this study reveal that the apprehensions experienced by the participants are caused by being measured against a standard, being a laughingstock or a sorry spectacle, being unable to deliver the required performance, and dealing with their insecurities and self-doubt. In coping with the challenges, the participants engage in activities that provide needed exposure, reinforcement through reading and listening to exercises, and being open and positive. Also, they resort to withdrawal and disengagement. The implications of this study must be a well-established intervention program; also, students should improve their skills through constant practice and exposure to the language.

English Language Apprehension and the Reading-Writing Competence of Students

This research study aimed to explore the association between undergraduates' English language apprehension and their reading-writing ability. A descriptive-correlation design was used, with survey questionnaires and tests disseminated using Google forms. The researcher employed a questionnaire adapted and modified from MacIntyre and Gardner (1994) to determine the level of English language apprehension. It comprises three components of learning processes: input, processing, and output stage. The data was then quantified and evaluated using mean and standard deviation for English language apprehension, frequency, and percentage for reading-writing skills. Pearson product-moment correlation was used to examine the relationship between apprehension and reading and writing abilities. The undergraduate students reported a neutral level of apprehension in the second language and were competent in reading and writing. The study's findings imply that English language apprehension has a significant association with students' reading-writing skills. Furthermore, a negative correlation is found on apprehension level experienced in the input stage of learning and applied reading comprehension and processing anxiety and writing fluency.

Encouraging Class Discussion and Promoting Learning Performance through Facebook

English language is undeniably significant in this globalization era. Thus, there is an urgent need among the second language educators to find ways to assist L2 learners in using the target language. However, research has shown that majority of L2 learners are not confident in using the language. As a result they seldom take part and are passive during class discussion. The aim of this study is to find an avenue to promote student’s self-confidence in using the language and directly lessen the language apprehension that makes them to be passive in classroom. This study focuses on the use of Facebook to boost L2 learners’ confidence to participate in class discussion. Three classes of diploma students were randomly selected for this study. Data from observation, pre-test and post-test were employed for this study. Observation of students’ participation and discussion in the Facebook groups and also classroom setting was conducted. The students were assigned reading materials via Facebook and were requested to interpret and share their thoughts of the text in the medium provided apart from the usual discussion in classroom context. The findings showed that both intervention groups showed positive involvement in class discussion both via cyberspace and classroom context. The respondents in the control groups did not show significant changes of behaviour in classroom context. However, for the intervention groups despite receiving the same stimulus the students in the two intervention groups responded differently through this medium. The findings illustrated there were regression in the post-test during the first intervention, while in the second intervention group there was a positive growth in the post-test where 71% respondents recorded a a change in the attitude during the process of learning. The result showed that there are other factors to consider when employing Facebook as a tool to interact. Nevertheless, the study brings to light the prospective of using Facebook in building students’ confidence in expressing thoughts and consequently improves their performance.

Students’ Perception in NUST with the Lens of Socio Cultural Adjustment and Language Apprehension

Students’ Perception in NUST with the Lens of Socio Cultural Adjustment and Language Apprehension

Spatial language and converseness.

Typical spatial language sentences consist of describing the location of an object (the located object) in relation to another object (the reference object) as in "The book is above the vase". While it has been suggested that the properties of the located object (the book) are not translated into language because they are irrelevant when exchanging location information, it has been shown that the orientation of the located object affects the production and comprehension of spatial descriptions. In line with the claim that spatial language apprehension involves inferences about relations that hold between objects it has been suggested that during spatial language apprehension people use the orientation of the located object to evaluate whether the logical property of converseness (e.g., if "the book is above the vase" is true, then also "the vase is below the book" must be true) holds across the objects' spatial relation. In three experiments using sentence acceptability rating tasks we tested this hypothesis and demonstrated that when converseness is violated people's acceptability ratings of a scene's description are reduced indicating that people do take into account geometric properties of the located object and use it to infer logical spatial relations.

English Language Apprehension and Relationship Building Bonding among International Students in the College of Arts and Sciences at University Utara Malaysia

English Language Apprehension and Relationship Building Bonding among International Students in the College of Arts and Sciences at University Utara Malaysia

Investigation of Writing Strategies, Writing Apprehension, and Writing Achievement among Saudi EFL-Major Students

The tenet of this study is to investigate the use of writing strategies in reducing writing apprehension and uncovering its effect on EFL students` writing achievement. It also attempts to explore associations between foreign language apprehension, writing achievement and writing strategies. The primary aims of the study were to explore the relationship between writing strategies that EFL university students employ and writing apprehension, relationship between writing strategies use and students` writing achievement, and differences between high and low writing anxiety in their writing strategy use. Data were drawn from 198 (68 males and 130 females) EFL-major university students. The participants were asked to respond to a Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI; Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory) (Cheng, 2004) and to complete a Writing Strategies Inventory (Petric & Czarl, 2003). Some interviews were also conducted with some students to explore salient effective writing strategies that they used and the difficulties they faced during writing composition. Correlation, t-test, and ANOVA analyses were used to determine relationships between writing strategies and writing achievement and between students of high and low anxiety. The results of the study calls into question the common assumption that some of the Saudi undergraduates’ writing apprehension is pertinent to writing achievement. The results indicated that students with low writing anxiety were more users of writing strategies than the high anxious ones. Moreover, a significant negative correlation was found between students’ writing apprehension and their writing achievement.

La ansiedad entre estudiantes españoles de inglés como LE de di-ferentes titulaciones universitarias

Researchers have studied the effects of anxiety on foreign language learning since the 1970's, and despite significant advances in approaches to language teaching, the literature continues to report the existence of language apprehension in the classroom and its debilitating effect on the learning process. However, very few studies have been developed in a socio-cultural context comparable to ours, namely, a Spanish university in which English is learnt. This study set out to examine and compare the feelings of anxiety experienced by university students enrolled in six different degree programs. A total of 200 students participated in this study. The data were collected using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope, 1986). The analyses reveal, firstly, that all the students suffered from average anxiety levels; secondly, that only in one of the aspects is the anxiety level of participants with English as a main subject (i.e. chosen) lower than that of participants for whom English is a non-elective degree requirement; and in the third place, that the relationship between anxiety and the mark obtained by participants is stronger in the case of those who have English as a degree requirement. The implications of these results for a better understanding of anxiety and foreign language learning are discussed.

Apprehension and motivation among adolescent dual language peers: perceptions and awareness about self-directed teaching and learning

English learners are given few opportunities to develop their oral language and be seen as language experts. Self-regulated dual language learning is an authentic approach to communicating in the target language that promotes basic interpersonal communication skills between foreign language and second language learners. This study examines how adolescent emergent English learners (ELs) and Spanish learners (SLs) self-regulated their language learning process in a dual language program. While there is a dearth of research about this topic, there are a number of significant self-efficacy studies that show connections between motivation, confidence and language learning. This case study explores not only how adolescent ELs and SLs practice and teach language but also how they reflected upon this process. Findings from transcription and analysis of 18 language sessions reveal that students go through three specific stages (Language Apprehension, Language Initiation and Language Acquisition) when teaching and learning language, which serve as a theoretical model. It is a frame for situating their experiences and interactions as language learners and teachers.