EFL Undergraduate Students Research Articles

Online Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in the Process of Writing Undergraduate Thesis: A Survey Study

This survey study aims to identify EFL undergraduate students’ online self-regulated learning strategies in the process of writing their undergraduate theses during COVID-19 pandemic. 97 senior students agreed to participate in this study. This study used a 24-item questionnaire adapted from Barnard et al. (2009) Online Self- Regulated Learning Questionnaire (OSLQ). The results revealed that the participants’ online self-regulated learning strategies in the process of writing their undergraduate theses from the highest to lowest mean score were: environment structuring, help-seeking, self-evaluation, goal setting, time management, and task strategies. Environment structuring had the highest average score, indicating that undergraduate English Education students were able to choose and arrange places for online learning to minimize distractions so that their learning could run optimally. However, the ability of self- regulated learning strategies in the task strategy domain had the lowest average score. The results displays that in the process of writing undergraduate theses, participants’ ability in task strategies needed to be improved. For further research, the researchers recommend further investigation on the relationship between undergraduate students’ motivation and ability in implementing their self-regulated online learning strategies in writing undergraduate thesis. Future research should also include metacognitive learning strategies and re-examine the relationship of undergraduate students’ online self-regulated learning strategies to their online learning performance in writing undergraduate theses.

Influence of social media on EFL undergraduate students’ academic learning performances during Covid-19 lockdown period

Due to the spread of the pandemic, the learning system has changed which affected the students’ performance to master the English language appropriately inside classrooms. Social media is an essential means that facilitate the learning process for both learners and teachers. Therefore, this study aims to find out if the students are affected negatively or positively in their learning process through the use of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how social media contributes to EFL students. This study has been carried out using a qualitative interview conducted with 9 (male and female) students. In this study, the findings revealed that third-year EFL students beneficially used social media applications; they were impacted positively by the adoption of social media in learning the English language. So, students’ learning performances were improved. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic affected their English language skills positively. Keywords: Academic learning performances; COVID-19 pandemic; Lockdown; online learning social media.

The Implementation of Flipped Classroom Model to Improve the EFL Undergraduate Students’ Speaking Skills

Purpose - The research aims to determine whether there is a significant difference between undergraduate students in EFL speaking classes who implement the flipped classroom model and those who do not.
 Design/methodology/approach - The research was quantitative and classified as a quasi-experimental design. The data was taken from the scores of undergraduate students’ English speaking pre-test post-test and observation field notes. The test focused on the undergraduate students’ speaking performance and assessed using a speaking rubric. The data of both groups were analysed using an independent sample t-test.
 Findings/result - The experimental group’s post-test mean score (70.451) was higher than the control group (66.625). It could be assumed that there is a significant difference between the EFL undergraduate students’ speaking skills in the experimental and control groups.
 Originality/value - The flipped classroom model implementation offers an effective classroom model for EFL undergraduate students in improving their speaking skills.
 Paper type - Research paper

INVESTIGATING LEARNER PREFERENCES FOR WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK IN A THAI HIGHER EDUCATION CONTEXT

The current study investigated EFL learners’ preferences for written corrective feedback (WCF) and the rationale for their preferences. A mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection, was used to explore this phenomenon. The data were collected using an internet-based questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The questionnaire was utilized to gather quantitative information from 93 Thai EFL students at a Bangkok-based Rajabhat University, while the interview collected qualitative data from ten respondents who were willing to be interviewed. The findings indicated that Thai EFL undergraduate students, on the whole, appreciated receiving WCF in several forms. The most desired type of WCF was direct feedback, while feedback given to learners regarding global errors was not favourable. Additionally, the rationale for the students’ WCF preferences included: 1) clarity of feedback in pointing out the grammatical errors and the proper forms; 2) feedback resulting in improvement of the written text in the amended version; and 3) feedback resulting in better writing scores. The outcomes of this study may encourage Thai EFL teachers, as well as teachers in similar EFL situations, to deliver more precise types of WCF on learners’ faults in writing and utilise a chosen WCF method to involve students in learning to write

AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ RESEARCH COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT AT UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, HUE UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

This study aimed at exploring EFL students’ attitudes towards doing research at the undergraduate level, the perceived practice of research competence and the factors facilitating the development of research competence. The population of the study was EFL undergraduate students studying at University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University. The sample of the study comprised 120 second-year, third-year and fourth-year students majoring in English Language Teaching and English Language Studies. The data was collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The results show that EFL students thought that doing research is important to their future career path, but they were not confident to do their own research. In terms of EFL students’ perceived practice of research competence, thinking of a research topic and writing theoretical background posed challenges for EFL students, while using PowerPoint to present their research was the activity, they felt most confident to do. The participants did not show entire support for the role of the library and the faculty in facilitating the research competence development at a high level. These findings imply that the library and the faculty should provide more various databases for students as well as opportunities to be familiar with doing research.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0222/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

LEARNING IDIOMS FOR ENGLISH MAJORS: VIETNAMESE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF DIFFICULTIES AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

Learning idioms play an influential role in language generally and in English notably. Comprehending idioms assists language learners in integrating culture, enhancing skills, and ameliorating English levels. Numerous studies have analyzed the function of idioms in second language acquisition (Cieślicka, 2015). This study investigates the difficulties and strategies used in learning idioms by English-majored students at a regional public university (PU) in the south of Vietnam. This paper furnishes data showing learners’ perceptions of facing complications and learning methods. The samples consisted of 150 undergraduate EFL students from English-medium instruction programs. The data was analyzed by utilizing descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings reveal that students struggle to understand idiomatic terms without specific, understandable contexts. Furthermore, the results indicate that the most frequently employed strategies are guessing the meaning of idioms, learning idioms through keywords, and learning from a range of sources, particularly via media. The findings also mentioned that low-proficiency and high-proficiency students encounter identical challenges, with no significant differences. The study's results revealed that the majority of students have difficulty acquiring, recognizing, and interpreting idioms. The findings indicated that guessing the implication of idioms is the most used strategy.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0587/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

CAN TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED FLIPPED LEARNING INSTILL CHARACTER EDUCATION? INDONESIAN UNDERGRADUATE EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

The advantages of incorporating technology-enhanced flipped learning in English classrooms are nothing new. However, the impact of incorporating the learning method on the occurrence and decline of students’ characters has not much been revealed. This study aims to fill the void by exploring the students’ perceptions of whether flipped learning and the use of technology in learning English can instill character education. Eighty-four (n=84) Indonesian undergraduate EFL students participated in this study. A 22-item questionnaire with a checklist and open-ended types was filled out after the students completed a 16-week course. While percentages were obtained from the checklist responses, codes and categories were generated from the open-ended responses. The results revealed that flipped learning could instill character values of responsibility, independence, and curiosity. The in-class group discussion was considered as the most contributing activity to the instillment of character values. Character values of religiosity, patriotism, and nationalism were less occurred among the students. Furthermore, the use of ICT-based learning media such as YouTube, WhatsApp, the Internet, and mobile phone could instill character values of independence, creativity, teamwork, activeness, and criticality. However, few students perceived that such learning media could influence them to commit cheating or become less concentrated during group discussion. This study emphasizes the teacher’s roles in designing learning activities oriented to developing the students’ English language skills and character.

INVESTIGATING THE USE OF AUTOMATED WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK TO IMPROVE UNDERGRADUATE EFL STUDENTS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE

Studies on automated written corrective feedback have shown how it can help improve students’ overall writing performance. Nonetheless, it has also been found that the improvement is not always significant, especially when compared to traditional feedback provided by the teachers. Considering that there have been contradicting results regarding the effectiveness of automated written corrective feedback in improving learners’ writing, this study is aimed at exploring how Grammarly affects undergraduate EFL students’ writing performance, more specifically their grammar, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and vocabulary. This research employs an experimental design as it seeks to examine the effectiveness of utilizing Grammarly in improving students’ writing. The respondents for the current study are second-semester students of the English Department at Bunda Mulia University. They have been selected for this research as they are all currently taking the Writing 1 subject and their overall English writing proficiency range from novice to intermediate, meaning that most of them still tend to make some grammatical, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and vocabulary errors in their writing. The students are divided into two groups, namely the control group, in which the students receive feedback from the lecturer, and the experimental group, in which Grammarly is employed. The paired samples T-test is used to analyze the result of the pretest and posttest from both groups and the data is calculated using the SPSS version 23 software. The result of both groups is compared to find out whether Grammarly is more effective in comparison to the traditional feedback given by the lecturer. In addition, the students are asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding their perception of the feedback from Grammarly and their lecturer. The result of the questionnaire for both types of feedback is also compared to see which of the two are considered more beneficial for them. The findings of the study reveal that between the feedback provided by the lecturer and the feedback from Grammarly, the latter is more effective in improving the students’ writing. In addition, the students from both groups generally have a positive view of the necessity of the feedback and feel that they are more or less able to improve their writing after receiving the feedback, either from the lecturer or from Grammarly.

EFL students’ perception of Grammarly’s feedback and how they deal with the inaccuracy

Grammarly is one of the famous Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) tools used by EFL students. Many studies have revealed that this tool can improve students’ writing. However, studies evaluating Grammarly’s feedback accuracy, especially the premium version, are still limited. This study aims to: (1) explore EFL students' perceptions of Grammarly premium feedback, (2) provide a detailed analysis of types of inaccurate feedback provided by Grammarly premium, and (3) investigate how students handle inaccurate feedback. This mix method study used a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and documentation to collect the data. The participants were undergraduate EFL students who were writing or had completed their thesis. The results indicate that: (1) students have positive and negative perceptions on the use of Grammarly Premium. They claimed that Grammarly Premium helped them in writing. The ‘correctness’ feature improved spelling, grammar, punctuation, convention, article, and consistency. The ‘clarity’ feature improves readability, such as conciseness and passive voice. The ‘engagement’ feature made writing varied and the ‘delivery’ feature to get the right tone. On the other hand, students complained about the need of a stable internet connection to work properly and require additional proofreading due to some inaccuracies. (2) Inaccurate feedback generally occurred in the features of correctness (convention, spelling, punctuation, article, and consistency), clarity (passive voice and conciseness), and engagement (variety). (3) Students continued to use Grammarly Premium because it helped them self-proofreading even though it had some shortcomings. In short, students still preferred to use Grammarly Premium with some concern in accepting the provided feedback.

Investigating Pakistani EFL Students’ Beliefs and their Impact on Written Constructive Feedback

Students’ beliefs are significant factor which play vital role in the learning of foreign language. The present study investigated this important factor on undergraduate EFL students at Mir Chakar Khan Rind University Sibi-Balochistan, Pakistan. The study quasi-experimental and used questionnaire and interviews. Students were divided into two groups: experimental and control group. Writing accuracy for the pre and two post delayed tests was checked and statistically analyzed on SPSS. Different repeated measures ANOVA tests were used. Findings revealed that there were marginal differences in beliefs of the students from urban and rural areas. Results showed that types of the written CF which are the most effective were different according to their beliefs. Besides, beliefs about written CF were also found to have significant impact on students’ writing accuracy. Students in the control group showed significant accuracy in writing as compared to the students in the control group. Finally, the findings have theoretical implication pertaining to the university students’ cognitive development.

Negotiating Meaning Relationships in the Rhetorical Structure of EFL Argumentative Writing through Text Cohesion

Being a configuration of logically interconnected statements realized in moves and stages, an argumentative essay is built around the notion of textual unity achieved through lexico-grammar and semantic associations. The study attempted to analyze the role of cohesion in the rhetorical structure of undergraduate EFL students. Hence, the 13 moves in the three-stage argument structure were analyzed on a preset framework of cohesion analysis. Discourse analysis as a research method was used to ascertain how cohesion functioned in the rhetorical structure of these argumentative essays. The results revealed the presence of cohesive associations between the different moves of the rhetorical structure which corresponded with the move length. Referential and Lexical cohesion had a more frequent and dense presence than the co-referential element in the sample texts; however, the relatively low incidence of conjunctives pointed towards the relative scarcity of rhetorical functions in students' writing. The study proposes a research initiative that could use frameworks other than the present study or compare two or more sub-genres for the use of cohesion in the rhetorical structure.

EFL Undergraduate Learners’ Politeness Strategies in the Speech Act of Disagreement

This study investigated politeness strategies of disagreement expressed by undergraduate Iraqi EFL students in Online Asynchronous Discussions OADs. The data were collected from 100 individuals randomly chosen from undergraduate classes at Mosul university. The investigation focused on the impact that gender may have on politeness strategies that could be used to lessen the possibility of conflict in expressing the face-threatening act FTAs. For data collection, the participants were required to fill a Discourse Completion Test (DCT), adapted from Rasekh and Simin (2015) to simulate online asynchronous discussions. Muntigl and Turnbull's (1998) taxonomy was used to identify disagreement expressions. For politeness investigation, Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theory was adopted. The study demonstrated that both males and females do not consider others’ faces. In addition, it showed no regard for interlocutors' power and social statuses in expressing the FTAs. However, the results provided a valuable insight for teachers and curriculum designers, generally in EFL and the Iraqi context in specific. Pedagogical recommendations are discussed based on the findings.

The Role of Needs Analysis in Designing a Digital Syllabus for EFL Undergraduate Programs

The present study is entitled “The Role of Needs Analysis in Designing a Digital Syllabus for EFL Undergraduate Programs”. The main aim of this study is to explore the factors that should be considered in designing a digital syllabus for EFL undergraduate programs. Therefore, the study has set up two instruments to investigate the EFL undergraduate students’ views at Mosul University through a questionnaire. According to the outcomes and the interpretation that were made throughout this study, EFL teachers and students ratify the significance of the role of the needs analysis for any trend of new syllabus design. However, an inadequate consideration of the needs of EFL students has been taken. So, there are recommendations raised through this study for the universities around Iraq to guarantee more consideration for the needs of EFL student before designing and developing any new digital syllabuses. In addition, the capacity needed, and the required training for the adaptation of digital should be taken to enhance and to give more readiness to the universities to improve the teaching experience and skills for both teachers and students to allow them to use digital educational platforms more effectively. Finally, the study endorsed the usefulness and the effectiveness of the digital syllabuses that were implemented in Mosul and Duhok universities. The applications of Google Classroom as digital syllabuses were effectively invested for different aspects of the students learning process. On the other hand, this study reveals many challenges that EFL teachers and students are facing while using digital syllabuses. In one word, it can be said that digital syllabuses and digital platforms are effective, but it requires more consideration of the EFL students’ capacity and skills. Also, the factors that affect the application of such syllabuses should be very carefully taken into the account

Raising Libyan EFL undergraduate students’ awareness about environmental issues through project-based learning

Although project-based learning, as a language teaching strategy, is considered important for developing college students' academic and soft skills is still a neglected approach in EFL teaching in Libya. This study aims to investigate the use of project-based learning in EFL writing classrooms to raise students’ awareness about environmental issues. It is carried out in the Department of English at Sabratha College of Arts. The findings of this study, based on an open-ended questionnaire and students’ reflection journals, show that PBL enhanced the students’ English language knowledge and skills. Also, students gained content knowledge about the environment, soft skills, autonomy, and self-confidence in using the English language in its context. Finally, the PBL experience promoted the students’ awareness of the environment and how to protect it. This research provides good evidence of the effectiveness of PBL to engage and enhance students' learning. Keywords: EFL; environmental issues; Project-based learning; soft skills.

Autonomous Learning among EFL Undergraduate Students in Selected Private Indonesian Islamic University: Voices and Activities

Learner autonomy has recently been recognised as an essential component of changes in higher education. The word 'LA' can be misunderstood because it may be viewed differently in various settings. Hence, this study explores whether the students at higher levels of education in Indonesia have better perceptions and efforts to enhance their autonomous learning. Questionnaires and interviews were asked with EFL students in collecting the data. The study sample consisted of 95 students randomly selected from FTTE Islamic University of Riau. This study applied a mix-method, and descriptive statistical testing was employed to analyse the data and determine the research questions. NVivo 12 explored how the students perceived the autonomous learning process. The result showed that the EFL learners mostly perceive autonomous learning as independent learning under one’s target, involving personal learning styles and strategies with the teacher's assistance. A significance value (p) was obtained at the time of initiation, monitoring, and evaluation of the data, respectively 0.286; 0.533; 0.744. So, all the p-value was >0.05. It requires no significant effort in initiating, monitoring, and evaluating among different levels. In addition, there was no significant difference between the efforts of the initiating, monitoring, and evaluating activity performed among EFL learners either in the second, fourth, or sixth level. This point is that EFL learners are not independent in selecting when and how to initiate, monitor, and evaluate autonomous learning. So, this fact shows us that the higher semester level did not guarantee better effort toward autonomous learning activities. 

Portfolio Assessment Among Thai EFL First-Year University Students: Perceptions and Progress

This research study investigated students’ perceptions toward the use of portfolios as well as documenting the progress of a portfolio assessment in a classroom-based setting of Thai EFL undergraduate students. The 25 first-year students who had enrolled in an English foundation course offered at a public university were the participants. These participants completed two types of essays, which comprised eight drafts in total for compiling the portfolios. Reflective journals, a perception questionnaire, a semi-structured interview, and a portfolio self-assessment form were utilized to collect data so that the perceptions toward the use of portfolios could be examined. The quantitative data from the perception questionnaire were analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean scores and standard deviation). The qualitative data from the reflective journals, semi-structured interview, and portfolio self-assessment form were analyzed by means of content analysis. Moreover, the progress of the eight drafts of two types of essays was analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA. It was found that the participants had positive perceptions toward the use of portfolio assessment, and they wrote significantly better essays. In sum, portfolio assessment can be an effective alternative choice in a classroom-based setting.

Source Use by EFL Undergraduate Students: Challenges and Success in Process-based Writing

Source Use by EFL Undergraduate Students: Challenges and Success in Process-based Writing

An Exploration of Students’ Willingness to Communicate in Thai EFL Online Classroom

This study aims at exploring the level of Thai EFL undergraduate students’ willingness to communicate in English language online classrooms. The crucial evidence from students’ voices was investigated through the mixed-methods paradigm, called exploratory sequential research design which employed a qualitative, followed by a quantitative approach to answer the main research question that investigated the levels of Thai EFL undergraduate students’ willingness to communicate in English language online classrooms. In the first phase, qualitative data was collected and analyzed from focus group interviews to elicit the rich data in deep detail and explain some outstanding points of view from the participants at the university level. Then, the results from the qualitative phase were used as a guideline to develop the questionnaires which were relevant to the willingness to communicate in online classrooms. One thousand one hundred and nineteen participants (N=1,119) responded to the questionnaires. Results showed that the salient factors that influenced the level of students’ willingness to communicate in online classrooms were communication channels, students’ beliefs, peer influence, teachers’ characteristics, teaching methods, and online classroom atmosphere. The findings of this study can create teachers’ awareness when teaching online and can be used to seek out how to improve themselves and adjust their own teaching approach to enhance their students’ online language learning outcomes in the future. Recommendations for further research are addressed in the end. Keywords: English as a Foreign Language, online classes, Thai EFL undergraduate students, Thai EFL online classroom, willingness to communicate

Communication barriers in the EFL classroom: is poor listening the culprit that obstructs learning?

ABSTRACT This study has been conducted with eighty undergraduate EFL students at Qassim University, over a period of six weeks, with forty students each in control and experimental groups. The results from the mixed-method analysis show that the experimental group achieved higher scores in listening skills and general comprehension than the control group. There were, also, four listening difficulties experienced by students namely, lack of time to learn, lack of facilities, lack of mastery of vocabulary, and difficulty with the phonics of English. Communication problems stem not just from widely held misconceptions (such as, that listening skills need no training) but also, from the paucity of institutional training in these skills, particularly in the larger context of Saudi EFL classrooms. To facilitate a more wholesome learning experience for the EFL students, language teachers and course designers need to consider these four listening barriers and adopt feasible methods to overcome them. This can be achieved by training teachers to endorse action research by which they can analyze the problems that students encounter and apply effective teaching implications to overcome them.

The effect of lexical coverage on L2 learners’ reading comprehension of narrative and expository genres

Understanding the relationship between lexical coverage (i.e., the number of words known in a text) and second language (L2) reading comprehension is pivotal to L2 instruction as it helps teachers set sensible vocabulary learning goals and select suitable reading materials. This study examined the unique contribution of 7 lexical coverage figures (i.e., 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, and 100%) to the comprehension of narrative and expository texts read by Chinese EFL undergraduate students (N = 234). Participants completed the Vocabulary Size Test, a L2 reading ability test, a background knowledge test, reading comprehension tests, and topic familiarity ratings. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that after accounting for L2 vocabulary size and L2 reading ability, lexical coverage remained a steady, though weak, predictor of narrative and expository comprehension scores. No indication of a lexical threshold for reading comprehension was found. Instead, lexical coverage was found to be a stronger predictor of expository comprehension scores than narrative. While findings suggested 98% lexical coverage was reasonable for satisfactory comprehension of L2 narrative texts, 100% lexical coverage may be needed for satisfactory comprehension of L2 expository texts without the support of background knowledge. Pedagogical implications were discussed in relation to the findings.