EFL Secondary Students Research Articles

The Role of Oral Self Correction to Enhance Kurdish High School Student’s Performance in Learning English as a Foreign Language

The role of corrective feedback in language learning has become an extremely debateable issue throughout the world. Unfortunately, this hot subject has not attracted the attention of researchers and educators in Iraqi Kurdistan region. In contrast, there appears to be a growing compromise among the majority of researchers and language practitioners in the world regarding the importance of the role played by corrective feedback in the second language learning process.This paper was about Kurdish high school students. Many secondary school students of about sixteen and seventeen years of age learn English as a foreign language in Kurdistan. Corrective feedback has a great role to play in learning a second language and has been considered a key factor in language learning.The aim of this paper is to explore the significant of self-correction as better means of feedback compared to other types. Differing opinions exist as to the best way to correct learners. Moreover, this paper seeks to explore the place of oral self-correction for EFL secondary students in a non-English speaking country. Might this type of feedback (self-correction) help Kurdish high school students to learn or will it hinder their English development.

Earth and Physical Science: Content and Learning Strategies (Science through Active Reading [STAR] Series)

N According to the authors, Earth and Physical Science is designed to teach ESL and EFL students to think critically during their language learning activities. This textbook presents very elementary English structures within a specific English for Science and Technology (EST) context which beginners can easily manage. It seems to fit well into the interests and proficiency level of EFL secondary students in the type of courses I am familiar with, for example, in Mexico. These classes consist of approximately 80-90 hours of instruction and assume little or no prior L2 exposure. The authors' pedagogical philosophy encourages students to acquire and use learning strategies through active reading (i.e., the students are told to perform tasks using appropriate reading strategies for each specific task, such as using background knowledge or imagery). Christison and Bassano base this textbook on O'Malley and Chamot's (1990) cognitive academic language learning approach (CALLA). The authors' implicit goal is to provide practice in learning strategies that good language learners use. It is suggested that these strategies are not restricted to highly capable individuals, but that they can be learned by less effective language learners who have not discovered them on their own (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990). The book is divided into six sequenced chapters or content units: Meteorology, Topography, Oceanography, Physics and Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy. However, one drawback of this text is that there is no increase in difficulty level across the units. As a result, the students will not be challenged to develop linguistically in the later chapters. At first glance, one might think that this textbook is difficult for students of general English because of its subject matter. However, in my view, the textbook is appropriate for ESOL students during their first or second years in an English-speaking academic context. This book can be used by native or nonnative teachers. The authors provide good examples for each of the topics presented, which help both the students and teachers to follow the explanations; at the same time, the texts are reinforced with clear pictures or illustrations, which are undoubtedly one of the strengths of this volume because they promote comprehension through imagery. The authors provide a series of prereading and postreading activities that help the students comprehend and process the information in the passages. These activities include consulting and sharing ideas with others, making and experimenting with hypotheses, reading and classifying new information, and doing vocabulary building exercises. At the end of each chapter there is a glossary, providing students quick reference to the