Exploring EFL Learners Research Articles

Can Self-Regulation make a difference? Exploring Students’ Voices in Academic Writing Course

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a core conceptual framework to understand the cognitive, motivational, and emotional aspects of learning This study is aimed at exploring EFL learners’ self-regulated learning experiences in academic writing courses. This study uses a quantitative method by giving some questionnaires to all students who enroll in that course in at the university. The questionnaire contained 32 statements with four indicators, namely 1) cognitive strategies, 2) metacognitive strategies, 3) social behavioral strategies and 4) motivational strategies. The results of this research are as follows: 1) All respondents have diverse self-regulated learning experiences in academic writing courses, 2) The experience possessed by respondents in the aspect of cognitive strategies amounted to 78.2%, in the aspect of metacognitive strategies with an amount of 80.4%, in the aspect of social behavioral strategies amounted to 71.3%, while in the aspect of motivational regulation strategies amounted to 71.3%. The implication of this research is to provide a wealth of knowledge about the experience of self-regulated learning with English language learning. Another implication is that the results of this study can be a reference in English language learning. The results of this research provide a scientific contribution to the psychological study of self-regulated learning associated with the study of English education.

Literature in Language Education: Exploring EFL Learners’ Literary Competence Profiles

Literature in Language Education: Exploring EFL Learners’ Literary Competence Profiles

Measuring EFL Learners’ Perceptions of Technology Self-efficacy in Online Language Learning

Technology self-efficacy plays a pivotal role in learners’ technology uptake during their learning process in technology-mediated learning environments. This study aims to explore EFL learners’ perceived technology self-efficacy in online language learning. The quantitative data obtained in this study was via a survey questionnaire with 910 learners of a Vietnamese university. The study results revealed that the overall level of EFL learners’ technology self-efficacy was moderate, except for their high efficacy in using the Internet to gather information. Moreover, these results indicated that male learners were more confident in fulfilling online learning tasks than their female counterparts. The learners majoring in engineering showed more confidence in their capability to use computers and learning management systems in their English learning process compared to those of other majors. However, the learners’ length of time learning English had no significant impact on their perceptions of technology self-efficacy. The findings provide some insights into how the EFL learners perceive their self-efficacious beliefs of technology use in online language learning, which will help train strategies to promote technology uptake in Vietnamese higher education settings.

Computer-assisted DDL vs. Mobile-assisted DDL: Exploring EFL Learners’ Preferences and Experiences with Two Corpus Interfaces

Data-driven learning (DDL) has traditionally been studied via standard corpus interfaces, such as COCA, Sketch Engine, IntelliText, and other similar corpus tools. In addition, DDL has traditionally been seen as part of the computer-assisted language learning (CALL) approach, primarily because access to corpora and corpus interfaces has historically been limited to desktop computers. However, with the emergence of several simplified and mobile-friendly web corpus interfaces and with mobile assisted language learning (MALL) gaining momentum in language education, along with its potential in DDL, mobile-assisted DDL has become an alternative learning technique. This paper reports on a study carried out with a group of undergraduate EFL students studying at International Balkan University (IBU). In this study, the participants were given linguistic tasks to complete using new web corpus interfaces as reference tools, namely, CorpusMate and Netspeak. The first corpus interface was exploited via the traditional CALL approach, whereas the latter was utilized with mobile technology. The results of the study revealed positive learner perceptions and experiences with the newly introduced tools, while they also displayed enthusiasm and motivation to engage in DDL within the context of MALL. The present study provides valuable insights into students’ perspectives and experiences with state-of-the-art corpus tools and mobile technology, which can help shape future paths for research in DDL and MALL.

Exploring EFL Learners’ Perspectives on Using AI Tools and Their Impacts in Reading Instruction: An Exploratory Study

Exploring EFL Learners’ Perspectives on Using AI Tools and Their Impacts in Reading Instruction: An Exploratory Study

Exploring EFL Learners’ Technology Acceptance in Online Learning in Collaborative Education Programs

Higher education in the world is increasingly supported by the rapid developing technology, and it is worthwhile to investigate the implementation of online teaching. Empirical study on learner’s acceptance of online study is thus pragmatic in necessitating further development of such technological circumstances. This study focuses on the investigation of undergraduates in collaborative programs in a South China city to explore their readiness in online learning under the framework of the technology acceptance model. A questionnaire survey was conducted online to access factors influencing learners’ technology acceptance and usage. The results found significant positive relationships between technology self-efficacy and perceived ease of use, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, perceived usefulness and both attitude towards use and intention to use, as well as between perceived ease of use and attitude towards use. Such findings indicate that ease of use and usefulness significantly shape EFL learners’ attitudes and intentions towards technology in collaborative setting, with self-efficacy being crucial in facilitating a positive perception of technology. However, the relationship between attitudes and intention to use did not align with expectations, indicating that learner attitude may not straightforwardly predict learner intention in collaborative programs.

Exploring Students' Difficulties in Answering Reading TOEFL Section Test

Test of English Foreign Language (TOEFL) is widely used as a measurement for standardized English competencies. This study attempted to explore EFL learners' difficulties in dealing question of reading section in TOEFL test. Qualitative case study research design and semi-structured interview as instrument to gain the data. In this study with four participants were purposively selected from the English Education Department of Private University of Jember who has passed the TOEFL test. The findings revealed that there were two factors that become difficulties or obstacle faced by the TOEFL test-takers in completing TOEFL reading questions. First, the factor that is caused from several kind of questions that are difficult to answer for the participants, including; unstated detail question, implied detail question, and vocabulary in context question. Second, the factor that is caused by each participant personally, including ; lack of mastering vocabulary, limitation of time, and unfamiliar vocabularies. The result of this study are expected to have practical contribution on determining the appropriate strategies employed to minimize students' error during answering the TOEFL test.

Exploring EFL learners’ actions during the use of lecture materials in Chinese tertiary classrooms from a transactional view

Learners’ interaction with lecture materials has remained underexplored despite the growing body of studies on the use of materials. The current study explored the actions EFL learners employed during the use of lecture materials in tertiary classrooms in China through the lens of a transactional view. This empirical study involved forty-two students in two classes as well as two instructors enrolled in the Comprehensive English Course. Qualitative analysis revealed five levels of learner actions during interactions initiated by lectures: awareness, involvement, intervention, creation, and autonomy. The study further highlighted three factors that significantly influence these actions: learners’ intrinsic motivation to participate in classroom interactions, discourse space for participation, and the cultural model of learning. Pedagogical implications for enhancing learner autonomy and contributions during lecture materials use were discussed based on results.

EFL Learner's Experience of Zoom Platform use in Online Research Consultation During COVID-19

This qualitative study aims to explore EFL learners’ experience of Zoom platform use in online research consultation during COVID-19. Data were gathered from five students' reflection who used Zoom platform as a media for online research consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Framed by usability concept, findings of the study reveal that in terms of learnability, Zoom platform facilitates the senior students in their online consultation process. Meanwhile, in terms of satisfaction, findings reveal that students were satisfied with the use of Zoom due to feature support in the platform.

Exploring EFL learners’ acceptance and cognitive absorption at VR-Based language learning: A survey and experimental study

This study aimed to explore the applicability of VR-based language learning in an EFL context. An online survey was conducted to understand the structural relationship between EFL learners' cognitive absorption, behavioral intention to use VR for English learning, and perceptions regarding the sense of immersion created by VR. The hedonic motivation system adoption model (HMSAM) was adopted, and 230 valid responses were retrieved for statistical analyses. The results showed that most constructs of HMSAM, namely, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, curiosity, joy, control, behavioral intention to use, and immersion, were significantly associated with other constructs. VR's immersion had a positive significant influence on the behavioral intention of EFL learners to engage in VR-based language learning. It was revealed that curiosity was not a significant predictor for immersion. Moreover, a within-subject neurophysiological experiment was conducted with 33 EFL learners who experienced both VR-based and non-VR-based settings to examine the influence of VR technologies on their cognitive absorption and learning outcomes. Results demonstrated that VR did increase the participants' cognitive absorption; furthermore, participants had better retention about the learned contents in VR-based setting. The findings have practical and theoretical implications based on the findings of the survey and experiment.

Exploring EFL learners' experiences and perspectives: Insights into ESP learning

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is recognized as essential in preparing EFL students for their professional careers. Understanding students' perceptions and needs in ESP courses can provide significant insights for improving ESP programs and training for ESP practitioners. This study investigated university students' needs and learning experiences in ESP courses, focusing on course content, course hours, exams, materials, instructor adequacy, feedback effectiveness, and overall teaching quality. Students' opinions were gathered through a 27-item questionnaire, with responses collected from 107 EFL students across various departments. Data analysis included frequency analysis, independent samples t-tests, and one-way ANOVA, with responses to the open-ended questions coded using Maxqda 20. Findings show that although participants expressed overall satisfaction with ESP courses, they highlighted concerns about the lack of authentic materials, integrated language skills, and skill-based activities. Improvements in field-related knowledge and vocabulary were identified as critical. The open-ended responses revealed diverse opinions and highlighted the need for better integration of language skills, particularly speaking, and a demand for enhanced instructor training. The issues highlighted in this study reflect broader, global challenges in ESP, consistent with findings from other studies. Based on these findings, the authors suggest several implications for ESP practitioners and program developers.

Exploring EFL Learners' Integration and Perceptions of ChatGPT's Text Revisions: A Three-Stage Writing Task Study

Exploring EFL Learners' Integration and Perceptions of ChatGPT's Text Revisions: A Three-Stage Writing Task Study

TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: UNRAVELING INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS’ VOICES

The current research works have put great concern on the positive impacts of the implementation of formative assessment in EFL learning and teaching. Simultaneously, the swift technological development also takes effect on supporting the practices of formative assessment. This study aims to explore EFL learners’ voices on implementing technology-enhanced formative assessment in EFL classrooms. It is a case study intended to obtain detailed information from the participants for a particular case. Five EFL learners from different universities were involved in this study by using a telephone interview. The findings of this study reveal that EFL learners have positive views on the use of formative assessment in terms of getting a better understanding and promoting learning independence. Besides, most EFL learners also perceived that the integration of technology-enhanced positively affects them in working with formative assessments assigned by the lecturers. The last, the challenges of technology-enhanced formative assessment by EFL learners comprised the overload of work assignments, the difficulty of time management, the incapability of staring at laptops for a long time, the instability of LMS, and the unclear instructions as well as insufficient feedback by the lecturers. Several implications are provided in this study.Keywords: challenges; EFL learners; formativ

Technology-mediated teaching vocabulary: exploring EFL learners’ depth and breadth of lexical knowledge

Drawing on Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, the present study aims to examine the effectiveness of technology-mediated teaching vocabulary in the form of multimedia glosses on EFL learners’ depth and breadth of lexical knowledge. The study was conducted with 91 male and female undergraduate students at a lower-intermediate level of English proficiency in Iran. Participants of the study were randomly assigned into two-variable group contrasts, experimental (text + visual) and control (text-only) groups. They attended 16 reading sessions once a week during which the experimental group practiced computerized reading texts with pop-up text and picture glosses and the control group practiced reading similar texts with pop-up text only. The relative efficacy of teaching activities in vocabulary learning was assessed by using the Word Associates Test for measuring lexical depth and the Updated Vocabulary Levels Test for measuring the lexical breadth before and after the intervention program. To scrutinize the data, ANCOVA and t-test have been done. Results of ANCOVA revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in both tests, and the result of the t-test specified that participants kept the scores in the Vocabulary Levels Test significantly higher than the Word Associates Test in the outperforming group. This means that using multimedia glosses in teaching vocabulary has a significant effect on improving both the breadth and depth of lexical knowledge of EFL learners. However, the effect is more significant on breadth than depth of lexical knowledge. The study by analyzing separate measurements of the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners provided original research in vocabulary teaching and learning and offered pedagogical implications for language teaching.

English Preparatory School Learners’ Pragmatic Motivation in a StudyAbroad Setting

Numerous language-learning variables play a crucial role in students’ pragmatic competence development. However, amongst many of these variables, factors like age, gender, and proficiency level have not been extensively researched. Specifically, domains like Motivation and its role in pragmatic development are understudied. This study aims to explore EFL learners’ pragmatic Motivation in a study abroad context. A quantitative research design was adopted for this study. Data were collected from 160 university students through a general pragmatic motivation questionnaire and a speech acts-specific motivation questionnaire focusing on request, refusal, and apology speech acts. After collecting and analyzing the data, this study revealed interesting findings on students’ pragmatic motivation, which was used to make pedagogical conclusions.

Exploring EFL learners’ Linguistic Error and/or Mistakes: Causes, and Correction Techniques

Exploring EFL learners’ Linguistic Error and/or Mistakes: Causes, and Correction Techniques

Exploring EFL Learners’ Perspective of Using Attractive Games to Improve English Speaking Performance for Grade X Accounting Students of SMK Muhammadiyah 1 Yogyakarta

The purpose of writing this article is to have a better understanding of the differences between Islamic and conventional banking as well as the relevance of Islamic banking principles in the current global economic context. The research method used is qualitative method, this study is descriptive analytic, this is to describe and analyze the system of Islamic financial institutions with the system of conventional financial institutions. Results: Sharia banks serve as a means to accumulate public savings and develop them. The point is that Sharia Bank is an institution that functions to invest public funds in accordance with Islamic recommendations effectively, productively and for the benefit of Muslims. The main objective of Sharia Bank, which is to unite Muslims, restore the strength, role, and position of Islam on this earth can be achieved. Conventional Banks are established to obtain maximum material benefits, while Islamic Banks are established to provide material and spiritual welfare. This material and spiritual welfare is obtained through halal funds collection and distribution. This means that Sharia Bank will not distribute funds to liquor factories or other businesses that cannot be guaranteed that the results come from halal activities. Therefore, it can be said that the concept of profit in conventional banks is more inclined, focusing on the angle of material profits, while the concept of profit in Islamic banks must pay attention to profits from the worldly and ukhrawi (hereafter) angles.

Exploring EFL learners' cognitive/emotional dissonance in content-based foreign language instruction: An ecological perspective

Affective factors play an important role in language and cognitive development, but relevant research on students' cognitive/emotional experiences in foreign language instruction has been rather limited. The study adopts a case study method to investigate two EFL learners' reactions to cognitive/emotional dissonances in content-based foreign language instruction from an ecological perspective. Data include learners' retrospective interviews and reflections. Findings show that firstly dissonance not only reflects the challenges learners face but also triggers them to restructure their cognition and emotion that mutually transform one another in embodied actions. Secondly, learners' cognition, emotion and action constitute an amalgam in their attempts to resolve dissonances, through which personal traits (e.g., cognition, emotion and action) mutually interact with one another and with the contextual affordances (e.g., teacher, pedagogy and assessment). Finally, a curriculum that is relevant, meaningful and cognitively challenging inspires learners' resilience and engagement in learning while unlashing their developmental potentiality. Findings suggest the need to study cognitive/emotional dissonance in situated learning practices, to regard personal traits as dynamic and malleable and developing a foreign language curriculum that is personally meaningful and relevant.

Structural relationship of EFL learners’ psychological needs and capital, and their willingness to take EMI courses: perceived value of English as a moderator

ABSTRACT Given the fact that English is the global academic lingua franca, the implementation of English-mediated instruction (EMI) has inevitably gained momentum in higher-education institutes (HEI) in Taiwan. However, before the full-scale implementation of EMI education, it is imperative to gain an insightful understanding of Taiwanese EFL learners’ perspectives on EMI courses. An online survey of 467 Taiwanese EFL learners who had never taken EMI courses before was conducted. Two independent variables of psychological properties (basic psychological needs, BPNs; psychological capital, PsyCap), one dependent variable (willingness to take EMI courses, WtT), and a moderator (perceived value of English, PVE) form the proposed research model. The results show that all five hypotheses were supported; specifically, EFL learners’ BPNs influence on their WtT was significant but negative. A positive indirect effect was discovered with the mediation of PsyCap, which significantly and positively affected WtT. PVE was a significant moderator in the relationship of both BPNs and PsyCap with WtT; however, the moderating effect was negative in the former and positive in the latter. The novelty of this study is that it is the very first research to explore EFL learners’ willingness to take EMI courses from the perspectives of two important psychological properties.

An exploration into EFL learners’ perspectives on online computerized listening comprehension dynamic assessment

As a part of a more extensive computerized dynamic assessment (CDA) project delivered through a dedicated website, www.lingeli.com, this study explores EFL learners’ perspectives on an online listening comprehension dynamic assessment software focusing on inferential listening skills while trying to minimize the guessing effect. The study participants were 94 Iranian EFL learners selected through convenience sampling to participate in a 1-month dynamic assessment targeting EFL learners listening comprehension using the developed software. The researchers involved half of the study participants in semi-structured interviews held in their native language (Persian) to shed light on the pros and cons of the software. Six major themes emerged from the interviews’ content analysis, encapsulating participant’’ generally positive perceptions and some negative perspectives about the software. They perceived the CDA software as novel and interesting, stress-relieving, supportive, convenient, and cost-effective in terms of time and money, and removing the time and location limitations. In contrast, a few others assumed it was time-consuming and stressful, with limited learning and ignoring the benefits of social aspects of teaching. The study’s findings recommend that learners’ perspectives be considered when developing future CDA listening comprehension software to increase the validity of CDA projects by addressing their drawbacks and fully implementing the CDA test's potential to enhance EFL learners’ listening comprehension abilities.