English Language Course Research Articles

Key Problems of English Lexicology in Higher Education Institution

The article is devoted to the main problems faced by students of philology in the study of English lexicology. In the university course lexicology is considered as a branch of linguistics that has its own goals and methods of research, main tasks and systematic description of vocabulary according to its origin, development and current use. The paper emphasizes the importance of studying lexicology in the course of higher education institution, because knowledge of lexical units is the basis for the formation of communicative competence and for mastering a foreign language in general. The study of lexicology plays an important role in all types of speech activity (reading, speaking, writing and listening). A sufficient number of programs and textbooks on English lexicology served the material of the article. After analyzing the research material, we can identify the main thematic blocks that are traditionally studied in the course of English lexicology in higher education institution: word formation, semasiology and etymology of the word. The main problems in studying word formation are the distinction between "morpheme" - "allomorph" - "morph", recognizing different affixes, knowledge of which promotes better understanding of texts and the ability to speak succinctly orally and in writing, defining different ways of word formation. In the thematic block "Semasiology" the most problematic issues are the meaning of the word, as well as synonymy and polysemy, due to which a large number of new meanings of words appear in the English language. Studying the problems of the thematic block "Etymology of the word", including the classification of native and borrowed vocabulary, the presence in English of such concepts as etymological doublets, triplets and hybrids, etc., will allow students of philology not only to distinguish English lexemes from borrowed ones, but it will also show them the richness of the English language, its development, dynamics and improvement, it will cultivate respect for the history and language of the English people. Lexicology should be considered the basic of the English language course in the higher education institution, as the formation of lexical competence is an important component in the formation of foreign language communicative competence. In the process of studying the course, students learn new words, phrases, phraseological units that they need to develop skills of their usage in various types of productive (speaking, writing) and receptive (reading, listening) activities.

The Influence of Verbal Ability on the Writing Achievement of Undergraduates of Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria

This study investigated the extent to which verbal ability would influence the writing achievement of fresh undergraduate students of Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria. The pretest, posttest, control group, quasi experimental design was employed for the study. A sample of 425 students from a population of 5300 newly admitted undergraduates from four different faculties and departments of the university were the study participants. Three departments were used as the experimental groups while one was the control. These faculties and departments were selected through simple random sampling. A writing achievement test and a verbal ability test were the instruments used for the study. The data were collected from the writing scores and verbal test scores of the participants and analysed using mean and standard deviation, as well as Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). From the results of the study, it was found that verbal ability level did not significantly affect the writing achievement of participants. The findings indicate that students who apply themselves to their studies can excel in their writing irrespective of their level of verbal ability. It was therefore recommended that teachers in the different educational institutions should encourage their students to become proficient in the different areas of language covered by the verbal ability tests as this would help the students excel in their tertiary courses, while on the other hand, students should apply themselves to their studies as hard work and not verbal ability level is a key determinant determine in performance and achievement in their English language and other courses.

Internationalization in English language courses within Languages without Borders

Internationalization has been discussed and considered an important topic to higher education. In Brazil, the lack of English proficiency perceived with the academic mobility program Science without Borders led to the creation of English without Borders, which was later amplified to Languages without Borders. In this paper, we analyze how internationalization is dealt with in LwB decrees and how the principles of the program are put to practice in its English language courses, specifically those offered at the Federal University of Sergipe. We also discuss the contributions of the program to internationalization in Brazilian universities.

Multimodality and English for Special Purposes: Signification and Transduction in Architecture and Civil Engineering Models

The applied disciplines of architecture and civil engineering require students to communicate multimodally, and to manipulate meaning across media and modes, such as image, writing or moving image. In their disciplinary studies for example, students must be able to transform the language of lectures and textbooks into models and diagrams. In their future workplaces, they will commonly be required to transform reports and legal documents into floor plans and digital & physical 3D models. Such multimodal literacy, however, is not typically reflected in their related subject-specific English language courses, especially in Germany, where a text-centric approach is favored. To better reflect the demands placed upon them, students in two courses of English for Architecture and Civil Engineering were tasked with creating digital, multimodal artifacts to explain a concept from either of these fields to a lay audience. The resultant artifacts used a wide variety of semiotic resources to make meaning, including a total of 26 separate architectural and civil engineering models. This is a quantity sufficiently large enough to invite closer examination, and also reflects the important role models play in the fields of architecture and civil engineering, both at university and in the workplace. This paper suggests that models of this kind exist within a system of signs, in which meaning is created in the relationships between the signs. The process of transforming one resource into another also invites the consideration of the artifacts in terms of the notion of “transduction”, to discern how meaning changes between contexts, practices and modes and to contribute to existing literature on multimodal texts in tertiary education, particularly within a language-learning context.

Evaluation of Headway (Plus) Course book of EFL Undergraduate Iraqi Students

Discovering the attitudes of instructors concerning a textbook is an essential procedure for a proper evaluation of that book and the success of the teaching- learning process. Therefore, the current study has been conducted especially to evaluate an English language course being taught in colleges of Education in Tikrit University, particularly, College of Education for Humanities and College of Education for Pure Sciences. It is to figure out the views and attitudes of teachers concerning the English language textbook which is newly adopted for the Iraqi non-departmental students entitled: " New Headway(Plus) Upper-Intermediate, Student’s Book". A checklist is used as an instrument to collect the required data from a sample of ten EFL teachers who teach Headway in the two colleges. The obtained results show that the evaluated course book is acceptable from the teachers‟ views. However, a number of obstacles need to be treated in order to grasp higher EFL advantage for non-departmental students. The study ends with a number of conclusions and recommendations

The Application of Reader-Response Theory in EFL Teaching and Learning in Nigeria

This research article focuses on the interventions to enhance English language teaching and learning through literature in Nigeria's senior secondary school educational system. The research looks at the application of reader-response theory to the teaching of literature to realize its ability to improve students' quantity and consistency of talk in the English language classroom. The underlying ideas were that the reader-response approach, which used techniques like literature circles, would broaden the reach of communicative language instruction beyond literature-based classrooms and provide the ability to build learner independence outside of the classroom. However, the study would also emphasize the advantages of this technique, such as increasing language competence and abilities and offering more suitable cognitive difficulties to Nigerian senior secondary school students enrolled in an English language course. The results suggest that the basis of knowledgebase, in this case, the high school curriculum, did not lay a strong knowledge base framework.

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE UNDERGRADUATES IN ENHANCING THEIR ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Language is the medium which is used to express the ideas and thoughts of human beings. English is an international language that coordinates with all the sectors in Sri Lanka. Especially in the Educational sector. In the state universities of Sri Lanka, English language courses are being integrated as a common subject in most courses. Hence, the study aimed to identify the challenges faced by undergraduates in enhancing their English language skills. Based on Mixed methods, the primary data was collected through a closed-questionnaire distributed among 100 students out of 350 second-year undergraduates of the Faculty of Islamic Studies and Arabic Language of South Eastern University of Sri Lanka and semi-structured interviews of 30 of them. Secondary data contributed to constructing its theoretical structure. The major findings reveal the emergence of several issues regarding the speaking and listening skills due to the dominance of their mother tongue, Tamil language, other than writing and reading skills because of their involvement in improving such skills through various strategies.

Revising English Language Course Curriculum Among Graduate Students: An EAP Needs Analysis Study

Although English for Academic Purposes (EAP) needs among undergraduate and graduate students in both English as a second language and English as a foreign language contexts have been widely researched, there is still a scarcity of research on the EAP needs of graduate students in less-developed parts of China. Adopting a mixed-methods approach (MMR) and collecting data through a questionnaire from student and teacher interviews, this study examined the views of graduate students at a public university in northwestern China on the importance of academic speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. The study also examined the graduate students’ general perceptions of their English classes, and the problems they had with academic speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Additionally, students’ and teachers’ perspectives on EAP were compared and contrasted. The findings revealed that productive skills were rated as more important as compared to receptive skills. Furthermore, over 82% of the comments on their English classes were negative. Several important issues and specific pedagogical implications for curriculum design were discussed.

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES LEARNERS' NEEDS ANALYSIS: LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN ETHIOPIA

The study sought to uncover the English language barriers that tertiary students faced while studying their academic courses in Ethiopia. The survey involved 421 participants (72 in the pilot research and 349 in the main research). To collect the relevant data, the researchers used a mixed-method technique. The study used probabilistic and purposive sampling techniques to choose samples from the target populations. The findings indicated that students had difficulties (e.g., in academic reading, writing, listening, and speaking) in studying their academic courses in English. The participants also indicated that current English language courses failed to encourage first-year students to improve their academic language competency to continue their studies. This happened due to a lack of thorough examination of learners' needs before creating any language curriculum. As a result, needs analysis should be viewed as the first phase to examine learners’ academic language difficulties and design EAP syllabus that caters academic language requirements of the students both in the target and learning situations.

Factors Affecting Students’ Achievement in English Language Learning at Thailand National Sports University of Central Region

The objectives of this research were 1) to study the relationship between student factors, English language instructor factors, and environment factors with students' achievement in English language learning and 2) to develop equations to forecast factors affecting students' achievement in English language learning. The population used in this research was 415 students of Thailand National Sports University of Central Region enrolled in the English for Communication Course in the second semester of the academic year 2019. The sample size was determined using the Krejcie & Morgan table. A sample of 200 was obtained and a simple random sampling method was used based on the proportion of the population on each of the five campuses. The research instrument was a five-rating scale questionnaire comprising items on student factors, English language instructor factors and environment factors, with a reliability of the whole questionnaire of 0.973. The statistics used in the data analysis were fundamental statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The major findings indicated that there were four factors affecting students’ achievement in English language learning with statistical significance at the .01 level namely, attitude variables towards learning English language course (X1), instruction management variable (X4), student availability variable (X2), and classroom environment variable (X7). The four factors could jointly explain the variance of students’ achievement in English language learning by 52.50% and could be used to forecast students’ achievement in English language learning in the form of raw scores and standard scores as follows:

Challenges Faced by the Undergraduates in Enhancing their English Language

Language is the medium which is used to express the ideas and thoughts of human beings. English is an international language and coordinated with all the sectors, prevailing in Sri Lanka especially, in the educational sector. In the state universities of Sri Lanka, English language courses are being integrated as a common subject in most courses. Hence, the study aimed at identifying the challenges faced by the undergraduates in enhancing their English language skills. Based on Mixed methods, the primary data were collected through closed-questionnaire distributed among 100 students of second year undergraduates of Faculty of Islamic Studies and Arabic Language of South Eastern University of Sri Lanka and the semi-structured interviews held among them. Secondary data contributed to construct its theoretical structure. The major findings showed the emergence of several issues with regard to the speaking and listening skills due to the dominance of their mother tongue, Tamil language other than writing and reading skills because of their involvement in improving such skills through various strategies. 
 Keywords: Challenges, Skills, English Language, Undergraduates

Incorporating instructional design to pre-service online teaching English as a Foreign Language in Moodle.

Implementing virtual field experiences for online language learning has long been recommended as part of an early English language teachers’ preparation, by authors like Compton and more recently Ottenbreit-Leftwich et al. This article reports a case study whose general objective was to obtain theoretical and practical experience elements, for the design and implementation of a didactic sequence for online teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL), B1 level in a course hosted in Moodle. A preliminary research cycle, where a group of experts in online learning was interviewed (n=11), helped a pre-service teacher to do further documentary research to learn about the concept of instructional design. The result was designing and implementing a didactic sequence for a university English language course following David Merrill’s Model of instructional design. This way the pre-service language teacher identified and practiced the necessary knowledge and basic skills for online language learning and teaching via Moodle, as well as the interactions and roles that were promoted. Finally, awareness was also raised about the need of incorporating content and activities that better account for the needs posed by different ability levels in the classroom.

Checking the Reliability of English as a Second Language Learners’ Aptitude: The Use of Achievement Tests as Predictors

In Saudi Arabia, high school education has always been blamed for students’ weaknesses in the English language. Teachers have been accused of overestimating students’ scores in English language courses, resulting in evaluations that do not reflect the students’ real levels. Consequently, students believe that they are good enough at English and can survive in an English program at the college level when they are not. The paper is an attempt to bridge the gap between learning English in public schools and at college level. It will try to answer a significant question about whether students’ scores in high school and preparatory years are able to predict their performances at the college level — particularly students majoring in English language. It also explores the factors that affect university students’ GPAs who are majoring English. A total of 107 students participated in the study by providing their grades in the three levels and responding to a survey to explore their attitudes toward activities that encourage them to learn English in the Saudi Arabian education system. The results showed that high school and preparatory year grades aligned with only a small number of the participants’ college grades. This indicates that earlier grades cannot predict students’ performances at the university level. Moreover, the results confirm the dominance of the grammar-translation method in teaching English at all three levels. Finally, the results confirm a strong correlation between practicing more activities and improving second language learning. More research is required to explore the factors that influence students’ English learning. Keywords: achievement test, English as a second language, high school, preparatory year, Saudi second language learners.

Gamification in Language Teaching at the University Level: Learner Profiles and Attitudes

In instructional settings, the term gamification refers to the use of game-based elements to increase learner motivation and involvement. This study aimed to get insight into how adult learners of English perceive gamified activities incorporated into their English language course, and whether player types as defined by Bartle (1996) – explorers, achievers, socializers, and killers – affect student attitudes to specific gamification elements (rules, time limit, challenges, leaderboard, awards, bonuses, and badges). The results showed a high level of student support (97%) for gamified language instruction. A significant difference was observed between player types regarding their attitudes to certain gamification elements and player types. Challenges were highly rated by the explorers (p = 0.006); leaderboards by the killers (p = 0.049), and time limit by the achievers (p = 0.009). The conclusion is that player types and preferences should be surveyed and considered when designing gamified learning activities.

The Effectiveness of Using Color-Coding in Teaching Grammar for Female Saudi EFL Learners in KSA

This study explores the effect of using color-coding teaching techniques on L2 learners’ accuracy of using English articles and quantifiers by employing a mixed method research design. The study aims to answer two research questions. The first research question explores the effect of color-coding grammar instruction on Saudi EFL learners’ accuracy of article and quantifier use. The second question explores the perception of Saudi EFL learners towards color-coding grammar instruction. To answer the first question of the study, a classroom experiment was conducted. To answer the second research question, interviews were conducted. The sample consisted of 82 Saudi female intermediate level students who are preparatory year students and taking general English language courses at the English Language Institute, King Abdulaziz University. The classroom experiment showed that there is a statistical significate in that the experimental group outperformed the control group which suggests that color-coding is effective for teaching English articles and quantifiers. Moreover, it was found that all the participants seem to prefer to learn by using colors more than black and white colors scheme. Based on these findings, it is recommended that English instructional material is better learned when presented or enhanced using color-coding techniques compared with black and white color scheme.

Students Response on Using Kampung Inggris LC Youtube Channel as the Media for Learning English Grammar

Technology is developed day by day. During covid-19 pandemic era educational system in every stage of school from playground until university already change their study system. English learning is one of the subjects that will not be accepted by Indonesian student without any direct explanation from the teacher. The media is one of the solutions for English learners to help them get more understanding on it especially for Grammatical subject. Kampung Inggris LC also well-known as the largest English language course in Indonesia. This study aims to determine students’ perceptions of learning grammar through Kampung Inggris Lc YouTube channel. We carried out this study with qualitative method through questionnaire that will be shared to our classmates using google form and analyse the viewers comment of some video. Then, we explained the result using description. The result of this study described about perception by students on employing Kampung Inggris YouTube channel as a media to learning grammar. In conclusion, this study investigated about the students’ perspective on learning grammar using Kampung Inggris Lc YouTube channel.

English Teaching in an Indonesian Vocational High School Majoring Industrial Machinery Engineering

Theoretically, teaching English in Vocational High Schools (VHS) should relate to and support specific skills required by students based on their major. In reality, teaching English in Indonesian VHS is mostly similar to general schools. Discussions on this issue have been long contested by many researchers in diverse contexts, yet, little focus was given to the Industrial Machinery Engineering major. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the actual needs of students in industrial machinery engineering in learning English. By administering questionnaires to 200 students at a VHS in Medan, this mixed-method study seeks the students' comprehension of the types of English language skills they used, the purpose of learning these skills, their ability to use the skills, and the basic English language skill they must acquire as part of their English language course arrangement. To scrutinize deeper investigation, in depth-interviews were also employed with ten students in that school. The findings emphasize several aspects that students of English for industrial machinery engineering require in learning English and establish the students’ English language skills gaps, wants, and needs. This paper also provides pedagogical implications that could aid in improving English language teaching tailored to the needs of the students.

IT HAS POTENTIAL BUT…’ – EXPLORING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES AND PERCEPTIONS OF BREAKOUT ROOMS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

COVID-19 has created a dramatic and rapid transition to emergency remote teaching in higher education (HE) creating both new opportunities and challenges for lecturers and their students. As HE adapts to these new circumstances, there is a need for instructors to design and teach classes that support collaborative learning and increase opportunities for student interactivity. This article reports on an ongoing study exploring university students’ experiences and perceptions of using breakout rooms (BRs), a technical feature of many synchronous online platforms, as part of their online classes. Using a mixed methods research approach, 127 students, who were registered on English language courses at a university in Cyprus during Spring 2021, participated in the study. Findings indicate that students’ experiences and perceptions of breakout rooms during this period were impacted in five key areas: (1) emotional/affective, (2) moral/ethical, (3) social, (4) pedagogical and (5) technological. These findings suggest that students’ personal feelings, attitudes to online learning, sense of connectedness to their peers, expectations of the role and presence of the lecturer and issues relating to the technology, are all considered to be significant factors in their use of BRs. This study offers initial insights for educators who wish to use, modify and/or adapt synchronous online teaching to incorporate collaborative learning opportunities through breakout rooms. Keywords: higher education; synchronous online teaching; breakout rooms; collaborative learning; student experiences; COVID-19

Tools and models for distance teaching in an English Language and Culture university course: the flipped classroom and cooperative learning in a digital environment

The Covid-19 pandemic emergency has contributed to shift towards a more learner-centred teaching approach accelerating an ongoing trend in the university system. Re-arranging teaching materials and devices in different forms using digital tools and delivering online lessons, has been a complex challenge for academics. This necessity to re-adapt and possibly implement and re-shape traditional contents has contributed to consolidate teaching strategies as the flipped classroom (integration of pre-recorded lectures with online synchronous lessons) cooperative learning among peers (both in class and on online platforms with discussion groups), and small group teaching. These teaching strategies have also brought about a general re-thinking of learning strategies on the students’ part. To meet students’ needs in this emergency situation, materials have also been frequently developed by teachers themselves. Given such premises, this paper reports on the challenging attempt to adopt the afore-mentioned teaching strategies in an online course (English Language and Culture) held in 2020/21 at the Department of Education Science (Roma Tre University), also providing the students’ response to a questionnaire submitted after the completion of the course.

Gender perceptions of benefits and challenges of online learning in Malaysian ESL classroom during COVID-19

The current study aims to investigate students’ perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in ESL classrooms and how gender differences influence their perceptions. Participants were 60 undergraduate students from a private university in Perak, Malaysia, who enrolled in English language courses taken during the shift to online learning at the institution. The study utilizes a quantitative approach where data were collected using an adapted questionnaire in the form of Google Form. Data collected were analysed with independent samples t-test using the SPSS software. Overall, the majority of the students agreed that the implementation of online learning posed challenges for them. The students, however, showed unbiased opinions towards the benefits of the online learning implementation in the ESL classrooms. Based on the analysis, the study found that gender differences do not influence the students’ perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning. The findings indicated that students do face difficulties in learning online and that there is a need for the lecturers to improve the teaching practices and strategies for online learning. The institution management is also recommended to provide better resources and technical support for effective online learning.