Arab EFL Research Articles

Teaching Experience and Views of Pronunciation Formative Assessment

The current study aimed at investigating the differences between novice and expert Arab EFL teachers in their views of providing pronunciation corrective feedback to their students. Four teachers were recruited for the study. Two novice teachers and two experienced teachers. Both groups of teachers were interviewed about their views of providing pronunciation corrective feedback. Interview data analysis revealed the existence of six major differences between novice and experienced teachers in their views of pronunciation corrective feedback. These differences included timing, frequency, considering students’ proficiency level, considering the skill being taught, focus on form and/or meaning, and the range of pronunciation corrective feedback techniques used. Further suggestions included incorporating a pronunciation corrective feedback component in teacher development as well as professional training programs.

An Exploration of Grammatical Errors in Written English of Libyan EFL Students with Special Reference to Arabic as their First-Language

This study focuses on an exploration of grammatical errors in written English of Libyan EFL students with special reference to Arabic as their first language. One of the most important factors that negatively affect EFL students' writing is grammatical errors. Several studies have looked at grammatical errors made by learners of English as a foreign language. Some studies have reported that L1 interference has been indicated as an important factor in the commission of such errors. The current study explores the phenomenon of EFL learners making grammatical errors. It also examines whether the time spent learning English and using English in daily life positively affects a student's writing (fewer grammatical errors appear). In addition, it examines whether first language interference leads to errors by Arab learners in particular. Data was collected from 30 EFL participants studying in Faculty of Arts and Sciences Kufrah- Benghazi University by writing an essay, in English, about the students themselves, their families, and the cities where they live in. The subjects also answered a Grammar Recognition Test. The results of this study indicated that the subjects made 205 errors in 10 different grammatical areas, the highest number of errors found in using articles, the second was word/verb form errors, whereas the third was preposition-related errors. Furthermore, errors of active and passive voice, plural, word order, tense, 3rd person morpheme, and copula “be”. The analysis of these results indicated that the appearance of these errors was more common among learners who have less time learning the language as well as who use the language less in their daily life. Furthermore, the results also revealed that Arab EFL learners tend to translate directly from Arabic to English; in this case, L1 interference appears to be a reason for committing grammatical errors by the Arabs. Moreover, students 'lack of competence in English plays an important role in such an occurrence. The study concludes by giving some suggestions for teaching grammar and reducing the occurrence of errors in this area.

Saudi EFL Learners’ Perceptions of the Frequent Use of Spelling Correction Tools in Social Media

Spelling is an essential skill in EFL writing especially if writing is frequently used in texting through social media and smartphones. The study surveys Arabic EFL learners about their perceptions of using spelling correction tools: spell checkers and auto-correctors. The study focused on the perceived usefulness and ease of use of such tools in social media applications, since they are used frequently by the study’s participants. The questionnaire was sent online to 84 participants at Aljazeerah Academy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The data was analyzed quantitively with descriptive and inferential statistics indicating that spell checkers are mostly perceived to be easier to use than auto-correctors. However, no significant difference was found in terms of learning the misspelled words.

The Effect of Using Flipped Class on Teaching Reading Comprehension at Cihan University

Reading comprehension is one of the important skills of language learning. It is believed that teaching with flipped class is more effective and comes out with more positive outcomes than the traditional class teaching. Thus, this study aims to explore the effect of flipped class on improving reading comprehension skills for Kurdish and Arabic EFL at Cihan University-Erbil. The main question of this study is to figure out whether implementing flipped class on EFL will improve their reading comprehension skills? Will it develop the students reading abilities including both levels ‘elementary and intermediate’? In addition, to which level of students is more applicable? According the mentioned questions, it is presupposed that flipped class has more positive results in teaching reading Comprehension skills than the tradition class. This is due to the fact that the student will have access to online facilities and internet to gain further information about the topic before the class. Thus, it is assumed that it will improve Kurdish and Arabic EFL reading comprehension skills including both levels ‘Elementary and intermediate’. However, it is presumed that the flipped class will have a greater impact on intermediate level than on Elementary level.

Using social networking tools for teaching requests to undergraduate Arab EFL learners: a study of pragmatics

PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the impact of social networks on learning requests by Arab undergraduate EFL students.Design/methodology/approachFurthermore, both types of requests (i.e. direct and indirect) have been compared under the same condition. A total of 40 Saudi EFL learners participated in this study. Their scores in the pre-test and post-test were compared.FindingsResults of the post-tests indicated that the experimental groups' performance significantly outscored the control groups. However, no significant difference was reported between the two experimental groups (i.e. direct and indirect).Originality/valueRequests, as a component of pragmatics, have been investigated extensively in the literature to aid second/foreign language learning. However, little is known about the manner by which social networks could foster learning requests.

Chatting with AI Bot: Vocabulary Learning Assistant for Saudi EFL Learners

In the AI field of language learning, chatterbots are an interesting area for language learning and practice. This research investigates Arabic EFL vocabulary learning using an interactive storytelling chatterbot. A chatterbot was created and equipped with four vocabulary tools: a dictionary, images, an L1 translation tool, and a concordancer. The target words were enhanced by these tools to provide the learners with interactive comprehensible input. This project seeks to identify which tools are mostly used when EFL learners are practicing English with a chatterbot. It also seeks to determine which tool could help most in vocabulary learning as well as retention. The results of the study indicate that the dictionary is the most favoured and effective tool for vocabulary learning. For retention, the findings uncover that L1 translation is slightly (but insignificantly) higher than the dictionary.
  

Nurturing Entrepreneurship Skills, Creativity and Communication Skills: An Exploratory Study on Omani Arab EFL Learners

To prepare students to face the world of work, universities should ensure that engineers graduating from their campuses demonstrate entrepreneurial skills and the ability to understand market forces alongside domain knowledge. This exploratory study focused on the design, application, and evaluation of a research-based coursework assignment in a business communication course offered to undergraduate level engineering students at a university college in Oman. The assignment aimed at developing students’ entrepreneurship skills, basic business concepts, creativity, critical thinking, communication skills, and research skills. Student perceptions on the role of assignment in developing the above-mentioned skills and in influencing their affective domain were gathered using a survey questionnaire carrying closed and open-ended questions. The data were analyzed using SPSS and frequency tables were generated. The results of the survey revealed that the students enjoyed working on the assignment and showed strong agreement for most of the items on the role of assignment in developing their skills and knowledge. The assignment model used in this study can support teachers in designing assessments that target the development of entrepreneurial skills alongside other meta-skills and can help solve the problem of unemployment in due course.

A ballerina with a hijab: An Arab EFL teacher’s identity between cultural norms and change

Although teaching is a heavy responsibility and the efforts to reach the highest achievements are tremendous, I’m not going back. I will sustain the same enthusiasm, agility, and creativity in teac...

The affordance of culturally-based texts and EFL Arab college students’ gain in communication skill: A mixed method study

The purpose of this mixed-method study was two-fold. The first purpose was to investigate the role of using culturally-based materials on contributing to the advancement of oral communication of five EFL Arab college students through a six-week program. The second purpose was to explore the college students’ views and experiences of using culturally-based materials. The study results revealed a noticeable, incremental gain in communication skills by using culturally-based materials. Additionally, the tactful pedagogical strategies that were used enhanced this incremental gain in oral communication. Moreover, college students viewed the use of culturally-based materials as relevant and pertinent to their lived experiences and gave them a sense of enchantment and euphoria. They also viewed their experience as a weaving process by which they connected their prior knowledge with new knowledge or their social and pragmatic knowledge with their academic language, which enabled them to extend and build communication edifices. The study incorporates some recommendations and implications.

THE EFFECTS OF ACCENT FAMILIARITY ON ARAB EFL LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIVE INTELLIGIBILITY

In accord with the current status of English as an International Language, the aim of this article is to develop a methodological framework to investigate the effects, if any, of accent familiarity on perceptive intelligibility in an Arab EFL context. To this end, a perception intelligibility test was developed to measure the intelligibility of Arab EFL learners and to determine the extent to which intelligibility varied in relation to accent familiarity. A listening text in English from the Speech Accent Archives produced by three speakers of different first language backgrounds constituted the material stimulus for the perceptive intelligibility test. In this respect, three accent familiarity levels were determined when measuring the perceptive intelligibility of Arab EFL learners. These accent familiarity levels included matched, mismatched and unfamiliar. The listeners were 60 randomly selected Arab EFL undergraduate students. An analytic five-point rating scale was also developed to measure the extent to which Arab EFL learners understood the English speech produced by speakers from the three different first language backgrounds. The results, in general, showed that Arab EFL learners understood with little effort most of the English utterances produced by the three English language speakers from different language backgrounds. However, the learners faced more effort and misunderstanding regarding the third speaker who represented an unfamiliar accent. The article concludes with a description of the research implications and applications that derive from the findings of the study.

Nurturing Entrepreneurship Skills, Creativity and Communication Skills: An Exploratory Study on Omani Arab EFL Learners

To prepare students to face the world of work, universities should ensure that engineers graduating from their campuses demonstrate entrepreneurial skills and the ability to understand market forces alongside domain knowledge. This exploratory study focused on the design, application, and evaluation of a research-based coursework assignment in a business communication course offered to undergraduate level engineering students at a university college in Oman. The assignment aimed at developing students’ entrepreneurship skills, basic business concepts, creativity, critical thinking, communication skills, and research skills. Student perceptions on the role of assignment in developing the above-mentioned skills and in influencing their affective domain were gathered using a survey questionnaire carrying closed and open-ended questions. The data were analyzed using SPSS and frequency tables were generated. The results of the survey revealed that the students enjoyed working on the assignment and showed strong agreement for most of the items on the role of assignment in developing their skills and knowledge. The assignment model used in this study can support teachers in designing assessments that target the development of entrepreneurial skills alongside other meta-skills and can help solve the problem of unemployment in due course.

The Acquisition Of English Body Idiomatic Expressions By Arab EFL Learners

The Acquisition Of English Body Idiomatic Expressions By Arab EFL Learners

The Motivation of Arab EFL University Students towards Using Mall Applications for Speaking Improvement

MALL could be applied to improve English speaking of EFL students. One of the important issues related to the use of MALL applications is the motivation towards using these applications by learners. The main aim of this study is to identify the motivation of using MALL applications by Arab EFL students for English speaking improvements. A conceptual model was proposed based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The proposed model presents seven research hypotheses to test the relationship among three layers of variables. The independent variables include the external reasons to use MALL applications such as accessibility, availability, and variety of learning styles. The motivational factors of using MALL applications (mediating variables) include such as usefulness and ease of use. The third model layer is the actual use of MALL applications (dependent variables) such as the attitudes toward using MALL applications. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 152 students at Al-Anbar University in Iraq. The data analyzed using SEM through AMOS tool. The results showed that the students are motivated to use MALL application for speaking improvements due to the ease of use and the usefulness of these applications. The students' motivation is supported by many reasons such as MALL accessibility, availability, enjoyment, variety of learning styles, and flexibility in learning.

Phonological and orthographic vocabulary knowledge and processing speed of L2 written text: the case of native Arabic EFL learners.

Reading in a foreign language is one of the key defining aspects of successful L2 acquisition. However, research has repeatedly suggested that Arabic-speaking learners of EFL expend a great deal of their reading time in phonologically decoding words letter-by-letter before they are able to access their meanings. To further our understanding of this unique reading difficulty, this study investigated the relationship between the phonological and orthographic lexicons and L2 reading speed among 82 native Arabic learners of EFL. Two measures tapping aural and written modalities of vocabulary knowledge, and a measure of reading speed were administered to the participants. The results showed that phonological vocabulary knowledge correlated more strongly with L2 reading speed (r = .61) than did orthographic vocabulary knowledge (r = .32). Regression modeling also showed that only phonological vocabulary knowledge was able to explain unique variance in learners' L2 reading speed (R2 = .37). The findings indicate that Arabic-speaking EFL learners do in fact depend greatly on their L2 phonological lexicon when processing English written text. The discussion addresses the importance of developing an orthographic lexicon of suitable size in L2 learners in order to read efficiently in English.

Corpus literacy instruction in language teacher education: Investigating Arab EFL student teachers’ immediate beliefs and long-term practices

AbstractWith the increasing recognition of the pedagogical applications of corpus linguistics, there has been a growing interest in developing teachers’ corpus literacy to popularize the use of corpora in language education. This longitudinal study investigated Arab Gulf EFL student teachers’ immediate and long-term responses to corpus literacy instruction. After teaching a corpus literacy component to two classes of student teachers in a graduate computer-assisted language learning course they attended, the author collected focus group data about their views on this instruction and their own expected future uses of corpora in language learning, teaching and research. Two years later, a group of these student teachers (n= 19) responded to a follow-up questionnaire exploring their beliefs about corpus literacy integration and their multiple uses of corpora. The student teachers reported very positive immediate and long-term perceptions of corpus literacy instruction, but it was found that such instruction has not brought about all the desired changes in their long-term uses of online corpora as a linguistic and pedagogical resource, or their attitudes towards doing corpus-based TESOL research. However, it is expected that the popularization benefits gained from corpus literacy integration could lead to better future developments in using corpora for language education and research purposes in the target context.

Politeness Strategies Employed by Arab EFL And Malaysian ESL Students in Making Request

In communication, speakes tend to have a polite conversation using appropriate strategies, the aim of this study is to examine the politeness strategies used by Arab and Malaysian students in making request. Also, to reveal the similarities and differences of the request strategies employed by the students. The data of the study were collected qualitatively using interview as a data collection instrument. Six post-graduate students were interviewed, three Arab and three Malay living in Malaysia. The study adopted Blum-Kulka, House, & Kasper, (1989) as a theoretical framework to analyse the data. The results of the study showed that Malay respondents used more indirect strategies (hints, query preparatory, hedged performative). while Arabs respondents tend to use an explicit form and direct request strategies (want statements, hints). The students use of different strategies might be attributed to the different cultural backgrounds.

The Effect of Comprehensive Explicit Instruction Approach on Arab EFL Students’ Academic Writing Performance

While recent literature has focused extensively on the widely embraced approach of explicit instruction, there is a considerable paucity of research concerning plausible practical frameworks that can demonstrate how such particular approach is implementable in EFL classes. To address the specific writing deficiencies of EFL students, the current study proposes an innovative, comprehensive, practical framework that derives from Fisher & Frey’s explicit instruction approach. As such, an experimental three-stage of pretest-posttest design research took stock of the impact of a modified approach on EFL students’ academic writing performance. The research targeted 44 tertiary Arab-Israeli students enrolled in a two-semester academic writing course. The results of the study revealed that the writing performance of the students improved considerably after being exposed to the modified comprehensive explicit instruction program.

Internationalization vs. Globalization: What Can the Arab EFL Teachers Do to Assure Quality in Education?

Internationalization of higher education appeared as a counterattack to mitigate the impact of globalization on education. In a sense, it has entered higher education as a means for ensuring that graduates are a competitive workforce worldwide. Meanwhile, TEFL has been emphasized as the medium of instruction. The current paper investigated the roles of EFL teachers could perform at schools to prepare their students before joining internationalized higher education whether at home or abroad. Adopting a descriptive design, a quantitative data-gathering instrument, an opinionnaire, was designed to determine if EFL teachers in the Arab countries undertake their roles required for education quality assurance. The Arab EFL teachers were intentionally chosen as a community for this research due to possible curriculum-embedment of ideologies different from their national values. 86 EFL teachers from most of the Arab countries responded to the opinionnaire. Qualitative data were generated through analysis and interpretation of the numerical data of this opinionnaire to find out the extent to which those EFL teachers were aware of the internationalization process, and the challenges they face.

Lexical Aspect in the Development of the English Progressive Among Arab EFL Speakers

Recent research calls into question the predictive power of the Aspect Hypothesis as it has been found that it is advanced learners rather than beginners who show the developmental pattern predicted by the hypothesis. Following the identification of several design issues including lack of rigorous treatment of proficiency level and reliance on controlled elicitation tasks, this cross-sectional study used an Arab learner corpus (BALC) that controls proficiency level and task. This corpus-based study analysed the development of tense-aspect among Arabic-speaking EFL learners at two levels, beginner and advanced, by comparing their performance on 200 essays. Contrary to the recent research on Aspect Hypothesis, it was found that lexical aspect influences the early acquisition of the English progressive as the lower proficiency level in the present study extensively attached the progressive on activity verbs.

Virtual World to Motivate Learning: Exploring Arabic EFL Learners' Views Toward Utilizing the Second Life Virtual Game as a Motivational Tool

This study was intended to explore EFL learners’ views toward the use of the virtual Second Life game as a motivational instructional tool, their opinions on its technical use, and any obstacles they face while using this technology. The participants of the study were forty-one EFL Arab students who were enrolled in English language mainstream of the bachelor’s degree at a school of education in the capital city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. At the end of a computer-assisted language learning course exploring the Second Life virtual game, they were asked to complete a questionnaire to gather descriptive data regarding the questions of the study. The results indicated that these EFL learners hold positive views toward the use of the Second Life game as a motivational tool in language learning, although there are some concerns regarding the availability of the necessary technology skills to use the game. The most notable recommendation from the study highlighted the need for teacher encouragement to use digital games to practice the foreign language. Keywords: EFL learner, views, motivation, Second Life, language learning, virtual life DOI : 10.7176/JLLL/63-06 Publication date: December 31 st 2019