School Foreign Language Research Articles

FEEDBACK PRACTICES IN THE CONTEXT OF SYNCHRONOUS ESP DISTANCE LEARNING IN A NON-LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY UNDER MARTIAL LAW IN UKRAINE

The facts presented in the article indicate that the only possible form of mass education in Ukraine in war conditions is synchronous distance learning. An analysis of relevant modern foreign and domestic studies has shown that researchers consider feedback in the learning process as one of the central concepts in education, paying considerable attention to the characteristics of feedback forms, including the formative one, but the ways of its implementation in the process of synchronous distance learning have not been sufficiently studied. The authors' study proves that in synchronous distance learning of ESP on the ZOOM platform, formative feedback is possible under certain technical and didactic conditions. Formative feedback is possible and should occur at all stages of the ESP session. The article describes the practices of organizing effective formative feedback used by the authors of the study while teaching all types of speech activity: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Compared to offline learning, synchronous distance learning significantly increases the share of formative peer feedback, which contributes not only to the activation of the educational process, but also to the socialization of students. The study focuses on the fact that feedback is a two-way process that affects the performance of both the recipient of feedback and the one who gives it. The results of the study can be useful for both university foreign language teachers and school teachers.

The Relation Between Language Learning Strategies and Achievement of English Language Learners

This study aims to determine the students’ strategy preferences and to explore the relationship between the language learning strategies of the students and their academic achievement in language skills. The research was conducted with the participation of 405 (F=162, M=243) preparatory program students of a school of foreign languages at a state university in Turkey. In accordance with the purpose of the study, the Turkish version of the Strategy Inventory of Language Learning for English Language Learners Student Form (SILL-ELL Student Form) adapted by Ardeshava and Tretter (2013) was used to gather data. As a result, students use metacognitive and social strategies, among indirect strategies, more than other strategy categories. Further, it was found that students use strategies moderately and there is female superiority in using language learning strategies. In addition, some sub-categories of language learning strategies have an impact on achievement in skills and some measures of the language achievement test.

Use of Gerund and Infinitive in Students’ Recount Text

The aim of this research is to find and analyze the use of gerund and infinitive in students‟ recount text. This research used a qualitative approach and the method was descriptive analysis. The research population was the students of school of foreign languages and 60 samples were taken randomly from third to fifth semester. The research design used content analysis because this research employed recount texts as the source of data. It was found that the errors of using gerund for “misformation” was 68.96%, “addition” was 20.68%, “omission” was 10.34% and “misordering” was 3.44%. While, for the infinitives, there were 60% of “misinformation”, 22.22% of “addition”, 11.11% of “misordering”, and 6.66% of “omission”.

An error analysis on Turkish EFL learners’ writing tasks

This descriptive qualitative study aimed to investigate the types and sources of errors committed by Turkish students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in their foreign language (L2) writings as well as find out whether there is a difference in terms of the number, classification, and sources of errors between students at two different proficiency levels. To this end, the study was carried out at the School of Foreign Languages at a non-profit foundation university in Turkey in the 2020-2021 academic year. The students participating in the study (N= 32), who were selected using the convenient sampling method and participated in the study voluntarily, were Turkish preparatory class students having two different English proficiency levels, namely A1 level (n= 16) and A2 level (n= 16). Data for the study came from three different narrative paragraphs (each ranging in a 100 - 200 word band) written by the students, and a total of 96 paragraphs were collected for the study. The analysis revealed that the most frequent type of error was grammatical errors overall, a large part of which was the inappropriate use of verb forms. Moreover, findings concerning the potential differences between two proficiency levels showed that A1 level learners committed more errors than A2 level learners in all types except the semantic errors. Based on these findings, a number of implications for L2 writing teachers are discussed.

IMPROVE STUDENTS' ENGLISH VOCABULARY WITH THE MEMRISE MOBILE APPLICATION

Developing learner’s vocabulary is one of the most important keys to learning English because vocabulary is the foundation of learning English. With Internet, students have many opportunities to use online tools to apply advanced skills and expand their vocabulary. Recently, with the proliferation of devices, the possibility of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is being considered. This research is based on Mnemonics, a vocabulary building application. The authors also investigated changes in the vocabulary levels of English learners in foreign language schools and their attitudes towards using the mobile app to improve their vocabulary. Additionally, our research shows how students rate the quality of their apps. Furthermore, the article provides specific advice on using her Memrise for students with different levels of English.

A Review of the Research on the Evaluation of High School English Writing Portfolio

Teaching writing has always been an important part of high school English teaching, and improving students' writing ability has always been a challenge for teachers. Traditional writing teaching focuses too much on the results of writing and neglects the process of reflection and summary after writing. Recent changes to the English college entrance examination have focused on flexibility and innovation in writing, and new questions such as reading followed by writing have appeared one after another in the provincial entrance examination. Portfolio assessment has been used as one of the main tools of formative assessment and has been used in foreign language writing teaching at home and abroad. It has also been a guiding factor for the reforms in the new English writing teaching in high school. The purpose of this paper is to review & analyse the research on the use of portfolio assessment in foreign language writing by scholars at home and abroad through literature collection and see what the current situation is in China and give new ideas for future research on the use of portfolio assessment in high school foreign language writing.

A Study on the Optimization of Talent Training Program for English Majors in Yangtze University-Based on Surveys of Graduate Employability

This paper, combined with the orientation of the School of Foreign Languages of Yangtze University that aims to cultivate "broad caliber, thick foundation, strong ability, high quality" talents, professional touch and employment channels for students, constructs a model framework for the employability of English major students. Meanwhile, based on the surveys of the employability of English majors in our school, the paper puts forward some proposals for optimizing the talent training program: Improving students’ competitiveness in the workplace and cultivating applied foreign language talents suitable for the needs of society by perfecting the discipline system, innovating the practice mode, expanding training channels and improving employment guidance.

DIFFICULTIES WITH WORD CHOICE IN ACADEMIC WRITING AND SOLUTIONS: A RESEARCH ON ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Writing, especially academic writing, is highly valued in foreign language acquisition, particularly for English majors. Nevertheless, using academic terminology might be difficult for students still developing their academic language abilities. The purpose of this research is to understand students' difficulties in selecting appropriate words in academic writing and offer solutions to overcome such difficulties. The participants were 78 English majors (high-quality program, course 45) and three lecturers at the Department of English Language and Culture, School of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University. Questionnaires were used to measure their difficulties in word choice in academic writing and semi-structured interviews were utilized to find solutions. The results show that most participants had a basic knowledge of academic vocabulary, which was demonstrated through their ability to select the appropriate word choice. However, students found it difficult to choose the right words in their academic writing. The reasons are that academic words are not easy to remember and not successfully used in the context of the meaning of the word and do not have an effective method of learning academic vocabulary. Based on the results, several specific approaches have been proposed to help students find the most suitable strategies for learning and using academic vocabulary for their writing.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0251/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

EFL STUDENT’S PERCEPTIONS OF USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS AS MEDIATORS TO DEVELOP THEIR INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN LEARNING ENGLISH: A CASE AT A SCHOOL IN A UNIVERSITY, THE MEKONG DELTA REGION, VIETNAM

This article describes a research undertaken at a Mekong Delta university's foreign language school. Its goal is to determine the significance of authentic papers based on cultural themes in the development of intercultural competency in English language students. The pedagogical implementation of activities is planned in accordance with the specified criteria for assessing culturally relevant material. In terms of intercultural competence, Byram's (2002) part of intercultural competence (ICCo) is assistance for task planning and execution. Two surveys, a questionnaire, and an interview were used to collect data in this qualitative action research project. The subjects of the survey included 80 students and four fourth-year students majoring in English Studies and Translation and Interpreting and three lecturers of English, teaching Intercultural Communication (ICC) courses from School of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University. The findings demonstrate that students comprehend diversity, appreciate other cultures, and are interested in learning about different societies. Similarly, the students stated that they were open to discussing cultural issues. Furthermore, elements from other English classes help students learn and become more interested in culture. Finally, recommendations will be offered to assist instructors in improving intercultural communication. When using authentic materials as mediators to develop their intercultural competence in learning English, the initiative seeks to assist students to get a different viewpoint and higher awareness. Finally, the researcher will provide suggestions for further research.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0251/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF COLLOCATIONS IN ACADEMIC ESSAYS OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS OF THE HIGH-QUALITY PROGRAM AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

One of the main goals of language learners is to master all four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing when it comes to their acquisition of the target language. However, during the process of learning English, learners inevitably face a variety of challenges related to their writing including grammatical errors, word choice, organization, idea development, and most importantly their difficulties in using collocations (Duong & Nguyen, 2021). Therefore, this study has been conducted to investigate the students’ use of English collocations in their academic essays associated with their difficulties so that appropriate pedagogical approaches and practices would be taken into consideration in order to help students improve their English collocational competences in academic writing. This descriptive study was carried out with 103 English-majored students of the High-quality program of the School of Foreign Languages at Can Tho University, Vietnam. A 5-point Likert scale survey with 18 questionnaire items was employed to examine the frequency of students' exposure to as well as their usage of English collocations, and their difficulties in using English collocations. The results of this study have shown that the most commonly used collocations in the students’ academic essays were ‘verb + noun’, and ‘adjective + noun’ lexical collocations. Additionally, the research outcomes have revealed that the types of English collocations that the students were more likely to make the most mistakes belonged to ‘verb + adverb’, and ‘adjective + noun’ lexical collocations.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0251/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Research Related to Teaching Chinese Language and Culture in U.S. Classrooms: A Guide to Teaching Foreign Languages in U.S. Elementary and Secondary Schools

Language and Children: A Guide to Teaching Foreign Languages in American Elementary and Secondary Classrooms is a classic second language teaching series co-authored by two language educators, Helena Cotton and Carol Ann Dahlberg. The book reflects the latest advances in language classroom research and is the only comprehensive guide to foreign language classroom methods for K-12 and college students, using language learning objectives as the guiding principles for classroom rules and instruction. [Cheng Liang: "The Golden Key to Second Language Acquisition: A Review of the American Guide to Teaching Foreign Language in Elementary and Secondary Schools," Journal of Jiamusi Vocational College, 2019 (05)] Through careful reading, I have gained deeper thoughts and knowledge about various aspects of immersion teaching, teaching integration of language and culture, and teaching communication. Because I am very interested in "how to realize the organic integration of language and culture teaching in second language teaching classrooms," I focused on Chapter 9, "Experiencing Culture in the Classroom: Interaction of Language, Culture and Curriculum," and came up with a series of reflections, including insights into children's cultural teaching, academic associations, thoughts on overseas Chinese cultural I have a series of reflections, including insights on teaching children's culture, academic associations, thoughts on teaching Chinese culture overseas, and reflections on some of the contents of the book.

Problems and Solutions concerning English Language Preparatory Curriculum at Higher Education in View of ELT Instructors

This study aims to explore the problems and the solutions concerning the English language preparatory curricula implemented at Eskişehir Osmangazi University, School of Foreign Languages according to ELT instructors. Participants of the study are 50 ELT instructors teaching English language in three different proficiency levels (A1, A2, B1). Case study, a qualitative research method, was adopted in the study and self-report method (written reports) was used to gather the data. Deductive, or top-down approach, was used to analyze the qualitative data. The results of the study reveal that the problems and the solutions as to the curriculum are analyzed under four themes that are objectives, teaching materials, assessment and evaluation and general structure. Concerning the objectives, lack of clarity and control of the objectives are among the problems. The problems as to course book, additional materials and writing pack are analyzed under the second category that is teaching materials while the problems regarding midterms, quizzes, project works, writing portfolios, and class performance grade are analyzed under the third category that is assessment and evaluation. Last, three sub-categories as to general structure are as follows: physical problems, problems as to number and level of students in the classrooms and administrative problems. Solutions to the problems are suggested.
 
 Anahtar Kelimeler
 EFL, Preparatory curriculum, Higher education, Problems and solutions, ELT instructors

The Effects of Authentic Video Materials on Foreign Language Listening Skill Development and Foreign Language Listening Anxiety at Different Levels of English Proficiency

The study aims to find out the effects of authentic video materials on foreign language listening skill and foreign language listening anxiety of students studying at different levels of English proficiency. The experimental practices of the research designed as pretest-posttest true experimental design with control group have been conducted on two experimental and two control groups. While the independent variables of the study are authentic videos and English proficiency levels, the dependent variables are English listening academic achievement levels and English listening anxiety levels of the students. The participants of the research consisted of 100 randomly selected students, who have A1 and B1 levels of English proficiency, studying English preparatory program at the school of foreign languages at a state university. Data collection tools utilized in the study are Key English Test (KET) and Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FOLLAS). The statistical analysis of the research data was carried out by using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, effect size tests and correlation analysis. Findings show that authentic video materials reflecting the real language and communication samples, have highly effective results on the development of English listening skills and lowering the foreign language listening anxiety of students who have A1 and B1 levels of English proficiency. On the other hand, as students' language proficiency improves, the impact of authentic videos increases. Finally, when it is compared to control groups, values obtained by the analysis reveal that there is a much stronger correlation among the development of listening, reading, writing and speaking language skills of experimental group students whose English listening skills have improved by using authentic videos.

A Comparative Analysis of Written Errors of Turkish, Azerbaijani and Syrian Students in English Writing Skills

This study aims to do a comparative analysis of the writing errors of Turkish, Azerbaijani and Syrian university students studying in English preparatory classes in the context of grammatical, lexical and spelling errors. The data of this qualitative case study were obtained from the 15 English preparatory class students from Turkey (N=5), Syria (N=5) and Azerbaijan (N=5). They were studying at A2 (pre-intermediate) level classes at the school of foreign languages of a state university in the northwest of Turkey. In order to get the information from the writing errors made by the students, 60 pieces of their writing papers were collected through the document analysis technique. The research data were analyzed through the content analysis. The findings revealed that Turkish, Azerbaijani and Syrian students have some differences in terms of both the number and the types of writing errors. On the other hand, Turkish and Azerbaijani students have also a lot of similarities, but they differ from Syrian students in almost all types of errors. In the light of the findings of this study, it has been concluded that most of the errors resulted from the mother tongue and culture-related negative transfers are frequently encountered ones in the teaching process of writing skills.

EBEVEYN AŞI TEREDDÜTTÜ ÖLÇEĞİNİN UYARLANMASI: GEÇERLİK VE GÜVENİRLİK ÇALIŞMASI

Bu araştırmanın amacı, SAGE çalışma grubu tarafından geliştirilen Shapiro ve ark. (2018), tarafından geçerlik ve güvenirliği test edilen Aşı Tereddüttü Ölçeği’ni Türk kültürüne uyarlamak ve ölçeğin Türkçe versiyonunun geçerlik ve güvenirliğini sağlamaktır. Ölçeğin özgün hali bir devlet üniversitesinin Yabancı Diler Yüksekokulu’nda görev yapmakta olan bir öğretim üyesi tarafından Türkçeye çevrilmiştir. Elde edilen Türkçe çeviri, İngilizce ve Türkçe ’ye hâkim sağlık bilimleri alanındaki üç akademisyen tarafından tartışılmış, anlam ve gramer açısından gerekli kontrolleri yapılarak değerlendirilmiştir. Değerlendirme neticesinde elde edilen Türkçe ölçek, Yabancı Diler Yüksekokulu’nda görev yapmakta olan farklı bir öğretim üyesi tarafından İngilizce ’ye çevrilmiştir. Daha sonra İngilizce ‘ye çevrilmiş ölçek ile ölçeğin özgün hali karşılaştırılmış ve yeniden akademisyen görüşüne başvurulmuştur. Akademisyenlerin belirtmiş oldukları düzeltme ve öneriler dikkate alındıktan sonra ölçeğe son hali verilmiştir. Nihai hali verilerek oluşturulan ölçek ile Burdur ili merkezinde yaşayan 355 ebeveynden veri toplanmıştır. Ölçeğin psikometrik (güvenirlik ve geçerlik) özelliklerini test etmek amacıyla McDonald’s Omega ve Cronbach Alpha yöntemi ile güvenirliği, açımlayıcı/keşfedici ve doğrulayıcı faktör analizi ile yapı geçerliği test edilmiştir. Ayrıca ölçek maddelerinin ayırt edicilik gücünü belirlemek amacıyla yapılan madde analizi sonucuna göre ölçek maddelerinin yeterli ayırt edicilik gücüne sahip olduğu bulunmuştur. Gerçekleştirilen analizlerden elde edilen sonuçlar alan yazınında genel kabul görmüş eşik değerleri sağladığından ölçeğin güvenilir bir ölçüm aracı olduğu ifade edilebilir.

Spelling errors by Spanish children when writing in English as a foreign language

English orthography differs from that of other European languages in terms of complexity and regularity. This difference may impact the development of accurate spelling in English, especially when it is learned as a foreign language in school. In this study we wanted to explore spelling development patterns of Spanish speaking children learning English at school. To do so, we analyzed spelling errors from a free narrative task from 136 children in fourth, fifth and sixth grades. We classified errors following a two-level procedure based on the Triple Word Form theory (Phonology, Orthography and Morphology) and the POMAS (Phonological, Orthographic, and Morphological Assessment of Spelling) system. While results showed almost no change in accuracy across grades, there was evidence of more errors related to orthography as compared to phonology and morphology. This points to an incomplete knowledge of English orthography. This study sheds light on the spelling development of foreign language learners, and illustrates the interference that the native language may have when the two orthographies of the speller are linguistically distant. Considering the findings, educational implications to improve foreign language spelling instruction at school are offered.

Extraction and Analysis of Influencing Factors of Scientific and Technological Ability Improvement of University Teachers Based on Deep Learning Model

In order to improve the development and construction level of colleges and universities and help teachers improve their scientific and technological abilities, a model based on deep learning model for the extraction and analysis of factors affecting the improvement of college teachers’ scientific and technological abilities was proposed. This article analyzes the data of teaching evaluation and finds that the text contains students’ subjective understanding of teachers’ teaching quality defects. By extracting key words from students’ teaching evaluation texts and combining with the teaching evaluation indexes, a teaching evaluation label system integrating teaching evaluation texts is designed. In order to find the defects of teachers’ teaching ability, this article, based on the principle of data portrait, combines the characteristics of teachers’ personal basic information, curriculum information, teaching evaluation information, and social relations to portrait teachers. The experimental results show that the F1 value extracted from the evaluation labels fluctuates in the evaluation text data of different colleges, with the lowest value of 91.7% in the School of Statistics and the highest value of 95.8% in the School of Foreign Languages. The algorithm in this article has a higher F1 value of the evaluation label vector extracted from the evaluation text of different grades. F1 values showed a trend of gradient decline with the increase of grade, and the decreasing range became bigger and bigger. Conclusion. The constructed teacher portraits are more accurate and effective, and provide a comprehensive and effective data model for teaching ability improvement method recommendation strategy.

The prestige and perceived value of home languages. Insights from an exploratory study on multilingual speakers’ own perceptions and experiences of linguistic discrimination

ABSTRACT This paper reports findings from an exploratory study on multilingual speakers conducted in Germany. Data were collected using a questionnaire instrument launched in 2021. To our knowledge, this is the first enquiry into multilinguals’ own perception of their spoken languages in Germany. The core research questions addressed in this paper are (1) whether some languages are perceived as more valuable or prestigious than others by their speakers and (2) whether speakers of certain languages experience discrimination more often than speakers of other languages. In the data exploration it was assumed that (a) all languages other than English, French, Italian, and Spanish (besides Latin the standard foreign languages in schools) will be valued ‘lower’; and (b) speakers will report experiences of discrimination with respect to their use of those languages other than German or the foreign languages mentioned above. The results indeed demonstrate differences in the perceived value and prestige of certain languages. Multivariate statistical analyses indicate that L1 speakers of languages with perceived lower value (e.g. Turkish) experience discrimination significantly more often than L1 speakers of other home languages (e.g. English). Additionally, qualitative data analyses exemplify levels of discrimination and lived experience of languages.

영재특성과 판별 및 영재교육에 대한 중국 부모들의 인식 조사

Objectives The purpose of this study is to provide basic data and implications for gifted education in China by identifying the degree of awareness of Chinese parents about the characteristics of gifted children, gifted children indentify, gifted education according to the general characteristics of parents. Methods To this end, ‘wenjuanxing’ (https://www.wjxcn/jq/101862383.aspx) surveyed 1,028 parents of Foreign Language School A in Anqing City, Anhui Province and School B in Wufu City, Anhui Province. For the collected data, percentage and frequency analysis was performed on the general characteristics of Chinese parents, and a chi-square test was performed to analyze the results of Chinese parents' perceptions of gifted characteristics and giftedness identify and gifted education according to general characteristics. Results The results of this study are comprehensively summarized as follows. First, in Chinese parents' perceptions of giftedness, parents recognized ‘children with excellent academic performance and high intelligence’ as gifted, and viewed ‘high intelligence’ as the greatest characteristic of gifted children. And area of gifted children, the highest question was about ‘what characteristics gifted children exhibit’, and they recognized that ‘both genetic and environmental factors are important’ in order to develop giftedness. Second, regarding the identification of gifted children, it was recognized that ‘3 - 5 years old’ was the most appropriate time to identify gifted children. Lastly, in the perception of gifted education, fathers and mothers agreed on the perception that gifted education is ‘education to cultivate creative thinkers’, but they showed a difference of opinion on the necessity of gifted education. As for the reason why it was necessary, it was confirmed that there was a common view that ‘Gift education is necessary for the development of potential’, but opinions differed as to the reason why it was not necessary. In addition, 86.6% of the survey subjects expressed their intention to participate in parenting education in order to make their children gifted, but the reason why they would receive parental education was had different opinions. Conclusions Chinese parents did not have a diverse understanding of gifted children and gifted education. To this end, there is a need to manage important issues such as public education and national standards for gifted education and establishment of an education system.

Impact of external influence on unilateral improvements in the graph model for conflict resolution

A novel method is presented to model and analyze the influence exerted by external stakeholders within the graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR) framework. The unilateral improvement possibility is constructed in order to measure the impact of external influence on unilateral improvement. The unilateral improvements by decision makers (DMs) in the traditional GMCR are modified by the unilateral improvement possibility. Four stability concepts—Nash stability, general metarationality, symmetric metarationality, and sequential stability—are defined under the structure of unilateral improvement based on possibility. Finally, the new method is applied to a real-world conflict over brownfield remediation at the Changzhou Foreign Languages School located in the City of Changzhou, Province of Jiangsu, China, to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the method developed.