Difficulties In English Research Articles

Students’ Difficulties in English 7 Lessons: Inputs for Task-Based Supplementary E-Learning Materials Development and Evaluation

Students’ Difficulties in English 7 Lessons: Inputs for Task-Based Supplementary E-Learning Materials Development and Evaluation

Understanding the dynamics of English-speaking challenges for students in Kazakhstan

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the English-speaking challenges confronted by English as Foreign Language (EFL) students in the context of Kazakhstan, a Central Asian, post-Soviet nation, particularly focusing on the interrelation of English language fluency issues, psychological conditions and the influence of environmental factors.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative inquiry is firmly situated in Krashen’s second language acquisition theory. The research cohort comprises ten undergraduates from the esteemed Foreign Languages and Translation Studies Department, their narratives forming the basis for data analysis. The author conducted structured interviews with the participants.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that limited language proficiency not only hinders fluency but also initiates psychological challenges, forming a difficult cycle. Additionally, environmental elements, such as interactions with teachers and peers, have both beneficial and adverse impacts on speaking improvement. Acknowledging and tackling these complex dynamics is crucial for developing focused interventions that foster a supportive learning environment conducive to enhancing language acquisition and fluency.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of this research is that the triangulation method in the form of additional semi-structured interviews and/or observation was not used to get more in-depth data.Practical implicationsThe study might be helpful for stakeholders to reflect on the English difficulties they experience and to prepare effective teaching and learning strategies. In particular, EFL teachers may need to use more speaking activities in lessons to help students overcome language barriers in speaking. EFL teachers might also adopt strategies such as not judging learners’ mistakes in the first phase of their language practices until they get used to speaking without any psychological blocks and paying additional attention to vocabulary and grammar knowledge in communicative lessons. EFL students may use the strategies to consciously evaluate their skills and not learn the speaking material by heart beforehand. In addition, university administration may organize regular speaking clubs for students in order to create an immersive environment. Moreover, they might require teachers to show up with their speaking capabilities before hiring English teachers, especially in English-related specialization departments.Originality/valueThe research indicates a lack of support and a judgmental environment, passive involvement in communicative pursuits and memorization as instrumental strategies for augmenting oral proficiency. These reasons have created difficulties in speaking English for students studying in English-specialized departments in Kazakhstan.

Validation of a Screening Tool for Dyslexia in English among Arabic-Speaking University Students in the Gulf Area

When teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, at times, dyslexic students may confound instructors at the lack of improvement in their English language ability. Such students may not have the specialist diagnostic assessment to access support services. A simple but inexpensive measure to screen for dyslexia would facilitate a more inclusive and equitable educational environment. This study examined whether an Arabic-translated version of a widely-used English L1 (first language) dyslexia checklist could identify Arabic L1 students who exhibited difficulties in English. Participants were 734 female EFL undergraduates studying EAP in one gulf university. The participants completed Arabic versions of the checklist. Using prescribed cut off scores, participants were divided into three groups: non-dyslexic, mildly dyslexic, and dyslexic. To validate the checklist, a subsample of 110 students were randomly selected for further assessment of dyslexia using the following indicators: word reading, pseudoword reading, spelling ability, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming skills. Results showed significant differences among the three groups for nearly all measures, suggesting that the Arabic translated checklist can be an easily administered, useful screening tool to identify Arabic L1 students who are at-risk of dyslexia in EFL.

Emotional Language Processing in Bilingualism: Subjective Affect and Prosodic Markers in Simultaneous Interpreting

Emotion, as part of the overall sensorimotor, introspective, and affective system, is an essential part of language comprehension within the framework of embodied semantics. As emotional state influences semantic and syntactic processing, emotional language processing has been shown to modulate mood as well. The reciprocal relationship between language and emotion has also been informative in bilingualism. Here we take a relatively underresearched type of bilingual processing, simultaneous interpreting, as a case of extreme bilingualism and investigate the effect of emotional language rendering in the L1 on subjective affect and prosodic markers of L2 output. 18 trainee interpreters were asked to simultaneously interpret three speeches in Turkish that varied in emotionality, valence (negative, neutral, and positive), and difficulty in English. Responses to emotional language processing were analysed based on participants’ self-reported positive and negative affect using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and three prosodic parameters (intensity, pitch, and fluency). Results showed that interpreting emotionally negative speech increased negative affect, whereas interpreting emotionally positive speech did not modify positive affect. Intensity generally reflected cognitive load. Pitch and fluency, in particular, were more sensitive to changes in the valence of the source speech.

텍스트 난이도 측정을 위한 응집성 측정 변수 연구

This study’s purpose is to construct a quantifiable variable for measuring cohesion, an important indicator in assessing text difficulty assessment, and analyze the utility of this variable in cohesion measurement. To establish a cohesion measurement variable suitable for the Korean language, we introduced generalizable and unrestricted variables used in models for analyzing text difficulty in English. Variables related to semantic richness, clarity, and noise were formulated, and their relationship with cohesion was examined. To investigate the potential utility of the constructed variables for text difficulty assessment and cohesion measurement in Korean, a quantitative analysis using correlation coefficients and a qualitative analysis of cohesive passages were conducted. Owing to the limitation of insufficient reliable validation data, a comprehensive analysis could not be achieved; nonetheless, we presented quantifiable metrics that hold potential for utilization in text difficulty assessment and cohesion measurement.

Analysis of Students' Difficulty Factors in Learning English at SMP Negeri 23 Kabupaten Tebo

This study aims to determine the English language skills of students who experience difficulties in English, the factors that cause difficulties and how to overcome difficulties in learning English. The method used in this study is a qualitative description in which data collection is carried out by direct observation and communication techniques. Data collection tool using interviews and also observation. This research involved several teachers and students in a school. The results of this study state that the factors causing this difficulty occur from internal factors and external factors. Internal factors, such as the lack of student interest in learning in class. While external factors include teacher learning methods in class. Efforts that can be made to overcome this are by understanding student characteristics, types of student learning in class, developing student motivation and also evaluating each lesson

Improving English Achievement Through “Bengkel Inggris” Program on Elementary School Students in Klambir Lima Kebun Village

This research is conducted because there is a problem seen when it is surveyed in Klambir Lima Kebun Village. It is found that the students in elementary school age do not understand about English. They thought that English as a big problem in their head so that they dislike English so far. Realizing this fact, “Bengkel Inggris” program is offered to be one solution. This program will investigate further about the cause of their difficulties in English. Then, the activities will be made based on the problem they have. In addition, this “Bengkel Inggris” program is not only the place for learning English but also as the place for doing consultation and sharing about English. Then, they are grouped in two groups namely basic English and middle English. As the result, there are improvement for both classes seen from the score in pre-test, cycle 1 test and cycle 2 test. In basic English class, the scores are 65, 73,5 and 89,5 while in middle English class the scores are 65,83, 73 and 88,75. Therefore, it is concluded that Bengkel Inggris is a program that improve English achievement of children on elementary school students in Klambir Lima Kebun. Keywords: English Achievement, Bengkel Inggris Program, Elementary School Students.

Bengkel Inggris Program For Enhancing English Potencial

The era of rapidly developing scientific and technological progress has opened up opportunities for international communication through English. The study was conducted to analyze the potential of elementary school students in English skills in Klambir Lima Kebun Village. Realizing this reality, the "Bengkel Inggris" program is offered to be one of the solutions. The program further investigates the causes of their difficulties in English. In addition, the " Bengkel Inggris " program is not only a place to learn English but also a place for consultation about English. As a result, there was an increase in both classes as seen from the scores on the pre-test, cycle 1 test and cycle 2 test. In the basic English class, the scores are 65, 73.5 and 89.5 while in the intermediate English class the scores are 65.83, 73 and 88.75. Therefore, it was concluded that English Workshop is a program to improve the English learning achievement of elementary school children in Klambir Lima Kebun.

Semantic Difficulty for Bilingual Children: Effects of Age, Language Exposure, and Language Ability.

Semantic tasks evaluate dimensions of children's lexical-semantic knowledge. However, the relative ease of semantic task completion depends on individual differences in developmental and language experience factors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how language experience and language ability impact semantic task difficulty in English for school-age Spanish-English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). Participants included 232 Spanish-English bilingual children in second through fifth grade with (n = 35) and without (n = 197) DLD. Data included children's performance on the English Semantics subtest of the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment-Middle Extension Field Test Version (BESA-ME), age of English acquisition, and percent English language exposure. Task difficulty, a measurement of the relative ease of task completion, was calculated for six semantic task types included on the BESA-ME. Multilevel regression modeling was conducted to estimate longitudinal growth trajectories for each semantic task type. Results showed that language ability and grade level drive semantic task difficulty for all task types, and children with DLD experienced greater difficulty on all task types compared to their typically developing peers. Longitudinally, semantic task difficulty decreased for all children, regardless of language ability, indicating that semantic task types became easier over time. While children made gains on all semantic tasks, the growth rate of task difficulty was not equal across task types, where some task types showed slower growth compared with others. English language exposure emerged as a significant predictor of semantic task difficulty while age of acquisition was not a significant factor. This study clarifies developmental profiles of lexical-semantic performance in bilingual children with and without DLD and supports clinical decision-making regarding children's English language learning.

Longitudinal predictors of French word reading difficulties among French Immersion children.

In Canada, approximately 12% of school-aged children are enrolled in French Immersion (FI), with some provinces estimating close to 30%. FI programs are intended to produce bilingual individuals who can functionally communicate in both of Canada's official languages. Yet, we are currently underinformed as to how to identify children with French word reading difficulties in such programs. Within this context, and in the interests of informing early identification of second language reading challenges, we examined early English predictors of French word reading difficulties. We also examined potential overlap of these difficulties as well as the stability of these difficulties over time. A total of 108 children in FI participated, completing measures of English nonverbal intelligence, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and receptive vocabulary in kindergarten, as well as English and French word reading in grades 1, 2, and 3. Logistic regressions revealed that kindergarten English phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming (RAN) distinguished between good and poor French word readers in grade 3, with adequate sensitivity and specificity. These results suggest that English phonological awareness and RAN may be appropriate early skills to identify children at risk of word reading challenges in bilingual programs. Chi-square analyses demonstrated significant overlap of English and French word reading challenges in grades 1, 2, and 3, highlighting the possibility that English and French word reading difficulties do not exist independently. Finally, chi-square analyses revealed retrospectively stable word reading difficulties in English and French. Interestingly, prospective stability was stronger for French than English word reading challenges. Overall, our results underscore the importance of considering the specific nature of word reading difficulties in bilingual readers.

Need Analysis of Dyslexia Students in English Reading Comprehension Instructions

The challenges of learning English as a foreign language presented issue for dyslexia students who had deficiencies in reading comprehension involving information processing, concentration, and sensory motor skills. The aims of this research were to describe the dyslexia students’ needs in English reading comprehension. The sample consisted of 117 dyslexia students aged 13-16 years old from Karya Murni Special Needs School and Ananda Karsa Mandiri School, North Sumatra, Indonesia. The data were in the form of descriptive qualitative research which was taken from interview, questionnaire, and test. The results of this research proved the analysis of: (1) the physical, emotional, and social characteristics of dyslexia students, (2) the characteristics of dyslexia students’ learning style and testing reading comprehension test, (3) the need analysis for dyslexia students in teaching method in the classroom, (4) the need analysis of dyslexia students in reading comprehension, (5) the factors why dyslexia students had difficulty in English as a foreign language, and (6) the factors why dyslexia students had difficulty in English reading comprehension. With needs analysis, it was expected the identification of necessities, lacks, and wants could be formulated properly as a basis to prepare English reading teaching materials.

Heutagogical Approach in Online English Pronunciation Learning: Student Awareness Survey

English language learners have difficulties in English in pronouncing fricative consonants, voiced and voiceless TH, plosive consonants and vowel sounds. Serious speech mistakes can lead to miscommunication since poor pronunciation abilities make it difficult for other people to hear what you are saying. Additionally, students may miss their lecturers' direct explanations of proper pronunciation when taking online English lessons with inconsistent Internet access. Proper pronunciation can help students participate in conversations, form connections, and improve graduates' employability abilities. Furthermore, pronunciation skills are learnt independently at higher education institutions. Before designing a web-based tool for self-directed learning of English pronunciation, the designers must get feedback from the students about their self-directed learning, self-evaluation of English language proficiency and English learning experiences through Online Distance Learning (ODL). This survey is a preliminary survey towards the development of a heutagogical English pronunciation application. An online questionnaire was disseminated to 424 respondents from various higher education institutions in Malaysia. Â In this survey, firstly we aimed to get feedback from the students about their self-directed learning, self-evaluation of English language proficiency and English learning experiences through Online Distance Learning (ODL). The survey consisted of demographic data of respondents, standardized test of English language proficiency, self-evaluation of English language proficiency and English language learning experiences during COVID-19. The findings suggested that although language learners have developed their self-directed learning skills, they still need to improve these skills in learning the language using ODL. Learners consider themselves as having average English language proficiency. They were responsible for improving their pronunciation skills and needed assistant tools to improve their pronunciation skills. It is recommended that an application that uses a heutagogical approach such as Speech-to-Text and Text-to Speech need to be developed.

A 3-year longitudinal investigation of the overlap and stability of English and French word reading difficulties in French immersion children.

Extensive research has demonstrated the importance of struggling reader identification in monolingual children Compton et al. (Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 327-340, 2010). However, very few studies have explored identification of struggling readers in bilinguals. The aim of this study was to investigate (1) the overlap of word reading difficulties in English and French, (2) the difference in overlap when word reading fluency skills are included in struggling reader classification, and (3) the stability of English and French word reading profiles. A total of 169 French immersion children were followed from grades 1 to 3. Standardized measures of English and French word reading accuracy and fluency were administered every year to classify status as a bilingual typical reader, bilingual struggling reader, English struggling reader, or French struggling reader. Chi-square analyses were conducted to assess the overlap between English and French word reading difficulties and stability of word reading profiles from grades 1 to 3. Results indicated that struggling reader classification using both word reading accuracy and fluency as opposed to accuracy alone captured bilingual reading difficulties (difficulties in both languages) more accurately. Across all grades, there was a significant relationship between being a struggling reader in English and being a struggling reader in French, with the percentage of overlap ranging from 56 to 82%. Moreover, being a bilingual struggling reader in grade 1 was significantly related to being a bilingual struggling reader in grades 2 and 3. These findings suggest that English-French bilingual children with reading impairments have significant and persistent deficits in both languages.

A STUDY ON WRITING DIFFICULTIES IN ENGLISH

The purpose of the study was to assess the writing difficulties in English among the upper primary school students in relation to their gender, locale and type of management of school. The sample consisted of 400 hundred upper primary students from different schools in Kerala. The research used descriptive survey method. The result of the study revealed that unaided school students have less writing difficulties than government and aided school students. The students from rural schools have low writing difficulties than the students of town area schools.

TECHNOLOGY-BASED MEDIA USED IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS

This paper shows the effectiveness of technology-based media designed for listening skills. The effectiveness of different technology-based media is gaining importance to students and teachers. They are the main subjects in this paper because the problem that arises at school where learning English as their second language addresses the decreased potential for the succession of learning. This study mentioned the difficulties in English as they struggle to reach success learning even there are other materials to use, like media belonging to not technology-based. That is why technology-based media was introduced to students and teachers. The researchers on different studies have taken by the chosen media recognized the ability to listen for the learning of students and the teaching of teachers in their language learning. Listening could increase the potential of learning English by hearing it through devices played by technology. The paper highlights five media for listening skills that are operating through technology. They involve mobile-based media, multimedia technology, radio news, podcast application, and mobile-based audiobooks. All of them result in the practical listening skills of teachers and primarily to students.

Automatic Evaluation Method of Oral English Based on Multiplex Mode

For the problem of the low accuracy of large-scale oral English, based on oral English from the perspective of difficulty of oral English text and phonology, a multimodal-based automatic oral English assessment method is proposed by using L2 regularized (multilayer perceptron, MLP) and 9 features affecting the automated assessment of oral English as model input. Simulation results show that the proposed method can well predictively assess oral English difficulty and performs well on RMSE and R2 metrics of 0.053 and 0.905, respectively, with certain advantages over conventional elastic network-based and random forest-based prediction models.

INVESTIGATING TEACHERS PERCEPTION OF THE REASSONS OF LEARNING DISABILITIES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

This study aimed at identifying the English language teachers' perspectives toward learning disabilities, in addition to the teachers' suggestions for treating learning difficulties in English language to raise the achievement level of students. To achieve the objectives of the study, interviews were conducted with primary school teachers to identify more reasons and suggestions from their point of view on how to treat students' learning difficulties in English. The results indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the estimates of primary school teachers for the reasons for students' LDs in English language in several fields among the students. The study concluded with recommendations on the need to diversify in teaching methods, reduce the teaching burden for teachers from lessons, and open channels of communication between home and school to follow up on students’ affairs. The study also recommended identifying all the problems students face in the process of learning the language and increasing the awareness of students and their families about the importance of learning English language. In addition, schools should be encouraged to establish a special laboratory for English language, equipped with the latest tools to enable students to listen to the language better and with sound pronunciation, and encouraging teachers to develop remedial plans to improve the achievement level of students.

STUDENT DIFFICULTIES IN ENGLISH LEARNING DURING LIMITED PTM PERIOD

As an international language, English is important in globalization era and therefore taught in secondary schools, including MTs as one of the Islamic ones. However, the students of this Islamic school might feel bored and even they avoid of having English. And, therefore, this study is to describe students' difficulties in learning English during limited offline Teaching Learning Process (PTM) Period and to describe the factors that cause learning difficulties in English during limited PTM Period. Then, the method used in this study is a descriptive research design. The subjects in this study were 33 students who are all in class IX-A MTsN Gresik for the academic year 2021/2022. Data collection techniques used in thisstudy were interviews, questionnaires and documentation, then the analysis used is a qualitative approach. Based on the analysis, the results are that there are two factors that affect the difficulty of learning English for students of class IXA MTsN Gresik, that are internal factors and external ones. The internal ones includes less motivation and interest in attending English lesson, while the external ones consist of the less attractive medias and the less various and innovative methods. Based on the results above, it can be concluded that, first, the students of class IX-A MTsN Gresik still have difficulty in learning English lessons, because of internal and external factors.

Reading Difficulties in English as a Second Language in Grade Five at a Saint Patrick’s High School for Boys, Hyderabad- India

Reading Difficulties in English as a Second Language in Grade Five at a Saint Patrick’s High School for Boys, Hyderabad- India

Language difficulties in teaching esp

This article explains the reasons for arising the quality of teaching foreign language as a language of specialty in nonlinguistic universities. For realizing modern aim of teaching foreign languages - developing learner's communicative competence - it is required to revise the existed ESP programs and textbooks for the efficiency of their content to the set goal. Textbooks must be effective not only for developing linguistic competence but also it must include didactic resources for developing sociolinguistic, sociocultural, discourse and strategic competences crucial components of the communicative competence. The article also underlines the importance of methodical instructions for overcoming linguistic and cultural difficulties in teaching ESP. The difficulties in teaching foreign language as the of the language of specialty both linguistic and extra linguistic may be overcome only by enlightening them in the appropriate didactic materials and by using modern methods and techniques in the ESP classroom. Some samples of the linguistic such lexical difficulties, syntax difficulties, stylistic difficulties, semantic difficulties in English for law are given in the article for using them in real life academic procedure. This article may help practitioners to improve their content of teaching ESP and to create effective textbooks and manuals in accordance with the modern requirements to realizing the aim of teaching foreign languages.