Major English Language Research Articles

Use of Blackboard Application in Language Teaching: Language Teachers' Perceptions at KAU

The popularity of learning management systems (LMSs) in ELT has been enhanced due to extensive availability of technological infrastructure for educational institutions. Previous studies reveal the fact that adoption of new technologies is always supported by the positive insights of the practitioners. Current study is based on the same ideology and aims to explore EFL teachers’ perceptions of the constructive application of blackboard technology in English Language Teaching. In order to investigate the teachers’ perceptions on the use of blackboard system, the researcher and 40 Language teachers from a major English Language Institute -King Abdulaziz Universty (KAU)-participated in this study; a survey questionnaire was used as the research tool. Overall study reflects a positive trend towards the use of blackboard system in language teaching at ELI – KAU. Majority of the participants confirmed that the use of Blackboard provides a structured e-learning platform that facilitates the development of a healthy learner-centered arena in ELT. Additionally, the present study aims to highlight the pedagogical implication of blackboard system as a source of blended learning.

The Impact of Open Discussion Sessions on Enhancing the Oral Communicative Abilities of Saudi English Language Majors at Buraydah Community College

<p>The importance of developing the communicative needs of English language majors has been found a fundamental concern of Buraydah Community college in Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study has been to identify English language speaking skill needs of English language majors and investigate the impact of using Open Discussion Sessions, as extracurricular speaking activities, on developing students’ oral communicative abilities. Thirty-five students and eleven English language teachers participated in the study. Data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively by means of survey questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and pre-post speaking test. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in analyzing the raw data collected. The results of the study exposed a perceived need for developing Saudi EFL students’ speaking skill in English as their oral communicative abilities dramatically increased for their needs and interests were clearly identified and the methods for fulfilling those needs were more innovative. Post-test speaking results revealed significant development in students’ speaking abilities due to the use of Open Discussion Sessions that provided a relaxed learning environment void of worry and enhanced learners’ self-confidence through active involvement with real communicative situations with other students as well as with the instructors. Finally this study provided a framework with techniques and procedures that helped teachers to teach speaking skill more efficiently. Suggestions focused on incorporating Social Network Sites and visual cues to enhance students’ interactivity and participation outside the college borders.</p>

Editorial

Every article submitted to this Magazine is initially scanned by my Co-Editorin- Chief Ed Cherney, or by me, for interest to the dielectrics and electrical insulation community, good English language usage, and absence of commercial overtones. Occasionally, an article lies outside the scope of the Magazine, in which case a more suitable publication may be suggested. An article in need of major English language editing is returned to the authors, requesting resubmission after editing. An article containing commercial overtones is also returned to the authors, stating that the commercial content must be removed before the article can be considered for publication.

Towards a Model of Advanced Learners’ Vocabulary Acquisition: An Investigation of L2 Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention by Taiwanese English Majors

AbstractDevelopment of vocabulary is one of the fundamental elements for second language acquisition; it is important to meaning transfer and successful communication as well (Barcroft 2004). The purpose of the research reported in this paper was to investigate to what extent the characteristics of vocabulary affect Taiwanese English language majors’ second-language vocabulary acquisition and retention. This research builds upon similar research conducted by Willis and Ohashi (2012), which found a relationship between acquisition and a word’s frequency, cognateness, and length for Japanese learners of English. Our results indicate a significant relationship between acquisition and a word’s frequency, level of polysemy, and part of speech. Correlation results show that polysemy and frequency are both strongly related to acquisition. Nevertheless, a negative correlation between phonemes and acquisition was also shown. The findings indicate that high frequency words and polysemous words are both easily acquired and retained; in contrast, words with more phonemes require more effort by Taiwanese English language majors to learn and retain. Findings from a multiple regression analysis further suggest that high frequency polysemous nouns are easily acquired and retained by Taiwanese English language majors. Pedagogical implications concerning the variables investigated are provided.

‘SOME LIKEN IT TO THE ARAB SPRING’

This critical discourse analysis of 16 newspaper articles, editorials, and letters to the editor examines comparisons made between the Arab Spring and the Quebec student strike to discern what these comparisons tell us about perceptions of civically engaged youth involved in collective action. The texts were drawn from major Canadian daily newspapers and English language student newspapers using a keyword search and then analyzed for their representations of the strike. The study finds that criticisms of the protesters pointed to their youth as the rationale for their exclusion from democratic dialog and that texts delegitimized the protests by ridiculing comparisons to the Arab Spring and by implying that collective action was more legitimate abroad than in Quebec.

Gender Disparity in English Language Textbooks in Nigeria: Bridging the Gap for Literacy Development

The study investigates gender disparity in English Language textbooks. Four major English Language texts are selected and each of them runs into six series giving a total of twenty four books used for the study. Content analysis is used as it helps to determine the gender that is under-represented or overrepresented in the books. The content in this study is divided into the activities assigned to males and females: Characterization, leisure activities, professional/occupational stereotypes, domestic activities and undesirable qualities ascribed to males and females. The general findings indicate disparity against both males and females although females are largely discriminated against in the areas of domination in characterization, undesirable qualities, representation, invisibility, occupational/professional and domestic stereotypes. This discrimination would affect the reading psychology of the students and subsequently not permit meaningful literacy development especially among the females. Based on the findings, it is recommended, above all that there should be orientation/sensitization training and workshops frequently organized for students, teachers/teacher trainers, authors and publishers on gender issues and, gender education courses should be introduced in our institutions of higher learning. There should be policies/guidelines made by the government to guarantee gender balance in authorship/publication of textbooks and the implementation monitored. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n7p19

“Drive my mind into thinking”: Using Freewriting in an English Language Learning Classroom

The authors examine the benefits of freewriting for three undergraduate English language majors from China.

SAT0583 The CASE of “Case Reports” in Rheumatology Literature

BackgroundWith the increased encouragement of evidence-based medicine, case reports (CRs) are gradually sidelined and assumed to have minimal impact on the management of patients. In the field of rheumatology (R)...

Foreign Culture Awareness Needs of Saudi English Language Majors at Buraydah Community College

Although many EFL learners have a command of internalized foreign language knowledge, they may have difficulty using this knowledge in different contexts. This is due to many interacting factors affecting their performance, mainly lack of target culture awareness. This study intended to identify the cultural aspects suitable to be integrated into the Saudi EFL classrooms, search for the sources upon which students get their knowledge of the target culture and examine their attitudes towards it. The study was administered to three main categories of subjects: students, teachers, and experts in the field of teaching EFL. The required data were collected using a Culture-awareness Diagnostic Test and a Culture-Awareness Needs Assessment Questionnaire. The results revealed the students’ need to learn about different aspects of foreign culture to develop their culture-awareness and that they depend mostly on audio-/visual media to learn about the target culture. The findings also showed that students possess positive attitudes toward the target culture and its people. Introducing authentic materials such as DVDs, video tapes, newspapers in the foreign language classroom was highly recommended for enhancing culture awareness and improving language proficiency. Therefore, the current research suggested modifying the entire EFL education programs to introduce culture in the foreign language classroom.

Promoting Teacher Development through an Interactive Approach to Curriculum Development

This study reports on how the instructor/researcher developed and implemented four courses in close collaboration with undergraduate English majors at the University of Tabriz, Iran. The participants of this study consisted of English language majors (n=251) and language instructors (n=5). The data were collected during one year through semi-structured interviews, discussions with students and instructors, field notes, journals, and diaries. Since no syllabuses were found, the researcher had to develop the curriculum and design the courses based on theory and practice. Therefore, the goals of the courses were agreed upon by the students, their correlations and structures in relation to other courses were established and general classroom and institutional policies were determined. The established syllabus was mediated between students and the researcher. All the measures were taken to render a cohesive syllabus to appeal to the students and lead to an effective learning. It was tried to go beyond content and practice materials in a way to provide opportunities for students’ participation and risk-taking. The content was selected carefully, divided up into manageable units, and sequenced based on students’ needs, objectives, wants, and proficiency level. The results of the study imply that syllabus design is provisional, sketchy, interactive and dynamic rather than pre-specified, systematic, and precise. This study may help language teachers to gain a firsthand experience by designing and implementing their own syllabuses.

Vocabulary growth at tertiary level: How much progress can Serbian EFL learners make in a year?

The size of L2 learners? vocabulary, both receptive and productive, represents a vital concept in the field of L2 acquisition, given that it determines the degree of success in communication. The larger the vocabulary size of a learner is, the better his/her understanding and ease of communication in the target language. For this reason, a body of research focusing on the developmental process of lexical acquisition in L2 learners of various proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) in different teaching contexts is nowadays steadily expanding. A recent study aimed at investigating the relationship between lexical reception and production in Serbian L1 English L2 learners, English language majors, has indicated that production seriously lags behind reception. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to explore the growth in receptive and productive vocabulary size of B2-level (CEFR) English L2 learners, first year English majors, over a period of a single academic year. The data obtained reveal that the rich L2 input provided in Integrated skills classes, combined with other compulsory and elective courses predominantly held in English, has resulted in the learners? productive lexical knowledge developing faster than their receptive lexical knowledge. This outcome consequently affected the relationship between the learners? receptive and productive vocabulary size - the gap between the two narrowed.

Political discourse in China's English language press

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses some of the ways in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses language in its English media. After a historical overview of political ‘fixed formulations’ (tifa) in China through the ages, we look at specific terms in their contemporary forms as they appear in China's major English language newspaper, the China Daily. Data taken from a specialized corpus focusing on the term ‘harmonious society’ is investigated for information on how the term is used and with which language patterns it most frequently appears. In terms of world Englishes, usage may be classified as an Outer Circle Chinese English lexis as the formulations are translated from Chinese, making them a distinctly ‘Chinese’ type of politicized English. Linguistically, ‘harmonious’ often collocates with effusive modifiers and dynamic‐sounding verbs, which portray growth and stability. The English of China's political media does not have much currency outside of the CCP ‘news’ context and due to its distinctive ideological characteristics, it has been labelled Zhonglish, Xinhua English or New China Newspeak. Preliminary research shows evidence of formulations being increasingly picked up by the media in geographically surrounding areas and even overseas.

History of metaphoric signs in radiology

PurposeTo survey the nearly 100 year history of metaphoric sign naming in radiology describing the pace of their overall accumulation in the radiology canon, their specific rates of growth by modality and subspecialty and the characteristics of the referents to which the signs are attached. Materials and methodsA comprehensive list of metaphoric signs was compiled from a search of articles in several major English language radiology journals, from a roster compiled in a monograph on the subject published in 1984 and from a search of several databases to find signs published in the first half of the 20th century. ResultsThe growth of radiological metaphorical signs naming was slow for several decades after the first one was published in 1918. It then increased rapidly until the 1980s encompassing all modalities and subspecialties. Recently the practice has shown a marked and steady decline. ConclusionMetaphoric sign naming was a frequently reported contribution to the radiological literature in the second half of the 20th century corresponding with Radiology's growth as a descriptive discipline. Its decline since then may be a consequence of Radiology's evolution into a more analytic, data-driven field of inquiry.

Guangzhou 2010: Singapore at a Global Crossroads

This essay is an analysis of the reality of Singapore's Asian Games' aspirations and achievements and the responses to the challenges it faced in Guangzhou in 2010. How did ‘Team Singapore’ respond to the challenges that they met at what represented a crossroad in their sporting history at which they met the vehicle carrying China's sporting and soft power products. How did they react and were the effort, industry, hyperbole and not insignificant government financial outlay and policy initiatives worth it? The analysis constitutes a critique of articles relating to the Guangzhou Asian Games of 2010 that appeared in the three major English language newspapers in Singapore, The Straits Times, The Sunday Times and The New Paper before, during and after the Games. From the analysis, major themes emerged which characterised the environment of elite sport in Singapore and revealed that it is very much part of the nation's inimitable social, political and diplomatic schema; sport, as with all other socio-cultural institutions in Singapore, has not and does not evolve accidentally.

An Integrative Review of Women, Gender, and Leisure: Increasing Complexities

Research about women and leisure has grown consistently over the past 30 years. This paper extends four previous integrative reviews about research content regarding women's leisure. Research articles appearing from 2006–2010 in selected major English language research journals were analyzed through an integrative review to ascertain patterns and themes. Analyses indicate a continued use of qualitative approaches. New and recurring patterns in the content of the research emerged. Seven themes related to women, gender, and leisure: resistance and empowerment through leisure, feminist frameworks, international cultural descriptions, social support and friendships, family, physical and mental health, and social inclusion. Intersectionality is discussed as a promising paradigm for the future study of women, gender, and leisure.

The Interplay of Motivation and Demotivation: The Case of EFL Learners Majoring in English

Motivation is widely viewed as a key factor to language learning success. This study investigates motivation among English language majors who are unexpectedly considered by most of their teachers as generally not motivated. Using the model proposed by Deci & Ryan (1985), the study classifies a sample of English male and female majors (n=365) into various levels of motivation. The study further examines the possible demotivational factors that may negatively influence the subjects’ motivation. Overall, the findings suggest that the view that the studied sample lack motivation is not accurate. However, the responses to the demotivational factors questionnaire indicate some effective demotivating factors. This effect is particularly statistically significant in relation to the method of teaching. The study concludes by stressing the importance of integrating motivational strategies in any method of EFL classroom teaching even if the learners are expected to be genuinely motivated.

Beliefs about Foreign Language Learning and Their Relationship to Gender

Learners’ beliefs about foreign language learning have been stressed in educational research because they are regarded as fundamental to learners’ progress (e.g. Altan, 2012; Russell, 2009; Rieger, 2009; Kormos & Csizer, 2008;). This paper deals with the results of a research project conducted among first-year English language majors studying the Intensive English Language Program at Qassim University. A total of 250 male and female students participated in this study. A modified Arabic version of Horwitz’s (1987) BALLI (Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory) was used to explore the overall beliefs of Saudi university students about learning English as a foreign language and to investigate the effect of gender on those beliefs. Results revealed that Saudi university students have positive and realistic beliefs about foreign language as regard the nature of language learning, communication strategies, and motivation and expectations about learning English as a foreign language. The findings also indicated that overall males and females held similar beliefs about language learning as regard the difficulty and the nature of language learning. However, statistical significant gender differences were found in the areas of English language aptitude, learning and communication, and motivation and expectations. The study recommends an identification of Saudi learners' beliefs on a wider scale, so as to provide guidelines to EFL teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to tailor their teaching methods to avoid mismatches between classroom practices and learners' beliefs. Finally, the study suggest that recognition of learners' beliefs and reflection on their possible effect on language learning might increase awareness and even adjustment of their expectations.

Language Learning Strategy Use and Concept Development among Jordanian Undergraduate English Language Majors

This study investigated, for two continuous years, the level of use of foreign language learning strategies (FLLSs). It also investigated their development in terms of the study-semester and gender variables by 45 Jordanian undergraduate English Language Majors . The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) was used as an instrument for collecting the data necessary to answer the questions of the study. Appropriate statistical devices were employed to analyze the data. The findings revealed that Jordanian undergraduates majoring in English Language were High strategy users for most of the strategies. The Metacognitive strategies were ranked first followed by the Social, Compensation, Affective, Cognitive, and Memory strategies respectively. Differences between males’ and females’ responses were not significant in terms of the gender variable while the study-semester variable showed significant differences in favor of third and fourth semesters' responses. The findings were ascribed to a variety of factors such as: age, courses students study, determination to get high marks, and wide use of modern technology. The conclusions support the idea of unconscious learning of FLLSs through long exposure to English Language courses and students' preference of Metacognitive strategies.

Evolution of research on international accounting harmonization: a historical and institutional perspective

Accounting is acknowledged to be a complex form of socio-economic activity whose historical evolution is co-extensive with that of human civilization. Indeed, it is argued that the rise of capitalism and the current hegemony of global capital would not have been possible without the existence of an institutionalized set of organized accounting practices. As processes of globalization have become increasingly evident, there have also been calls for international accounting harmonization (IAH) of accounting practices. At the same time, there have been impediments in the path towards achieving IAH, not the least of which have been cultural and economic differences among countries. As of 1 January 2005, the path towards IAH entered a new and perhaps decisive phase. From that date, all companies domiciled in the European Union with publicly traded securities must prepare their consolidated accounts in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. This event presents an opportunity for socio-economic researchers to assess the status of IAH research. In this review article, we summarize research published in major English language accounting research journals during the period from 1965 to 2004 in order to trace trends in IAH research and to assess where the research may evolve from here. We conclude that the evolution of IAH research reflects the overall trend towards institutional isomorphism that is present in the IAH process itself. Implications for future IAH research are discussed.

Trends in research on international accounting harmonization

International harmonization of financial accounting standards has been the goal of many professional and academic accountants during the last 40 years. As of January 1, 2005, international accounting harmonization entered a new and perhaps decisive phase. From that date, all companies domiciled in the European Union with shares listed on securities exchanges are required to prepare their consolidated accounts in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This landmark event presents an opportunity for accounting researchers to assess the status of research on international accounting harmonization. In this paper, we review articles published in major English language accounting journals during the period from 1965 through 2004 in order to trace thematic and methodological trends in this line of research and to assess where the research may evolve from here.