College Foreign Language Research Articles

Construcción del modelo de enseñanza bajo la teoría de aculturación en cursos universitarios de lenguas extranjeras

Language is an integral part of culture and culture’s big role in language learning can never be exaggerated too much. With worldwide globalization development, it grows to be a heated topic on how to improve foreign language learning outcome by culture teaching. Based on Schumann’s Acculturation Model and Moran’s Cultural Experience Theory, attempts are made to shed more light on acculturation-oriented pattern construction from cultural experience perspective to guide college foreign language teaching in a more effective way. In addition, pedagogical implications are put forward as well.

Project work in university foreign language teaching: an important step towards learner autonomy

The article points out project work for teaching foreign languages at institutions of higher professional education. For learner autonomy organisation we introduce project-based learning. Special attention is paid to the academic aspect, i.e. the change of curricula and work programmes in foreign languages and the related increasing role of educational autonomy. The role of educational strategies in the independent learning process is determined. The advantages of project work for the organisation of independent work are revealed. The author gives examples of lessons from her own practice of teaching, developed with the help of project methodology, their critical evaluation is given. The possibility of using the evaluation of students’ work on the project not only at the last stage, but throughout the project is shown. We consider the applicability of these projects, assesses the work on the project and analyses the success of the organisation of independent work using the project methodology.

Engaging English as a Foreign Language Students in Critical Literacy Practices: The Case of a Teacher at a Private University

This paper describes the process English as a foreign language university students and their teacher underwent when engaging in critical literacy practices. Interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, students’ artifacts, and the teacher’s journal were used to collect data in this study. Findings suggest that when students engage in critical literacy practices, they are prone to reflect on the power they have as agents of social change, while developing language skills. However, teachers should be ready to encounter some resistance from students and to struggle with the incorporation of critical perspectives in their lessons, which is understandable considering the emphasis grammar mastering has traditionally had on language teaching and learning.

ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНО-КОМУНІКАЦІЙНИХ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ У ПРОЦЕСІ НАВЧАННЯ ІНОЗЕМНИХ МОВ: ДОСВІД УКРАЇНИ ТА ГРЕЦІЇ

The article is devoted to the coverage of theoretical and practical experience of using ICT in the process of teaching foreign languages in universities of Ukraine and Greece. Educational electronic foreign language resources (information and reference materials, e-books, films on DVD, libraries of electronic visual aids and databases, methodical materials on electronic media, Internet resources, combined electronic teaching aids, educational and methodical software to support lectures) are classified. The authors singled out the most recent forms of teaching (distance learning, on-line learning with the interactive elements), types of educational activities (work with audio, video, making presentations, work with computer training programs, electronic communication) and teaching aids (audio recordings, video films, multimedia presentations, computer programs, e-books, textbooks, reference books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, Internet resources, e-mail, Skype, virtual learning environments, blogs, forums), based on ICTs that are actively engaged in teaching in the native and Greek higher educational institutions. The emphasis is focused on the advantages of distance learning technologies in the process of learning foreign languages (constant access to information, significantly lower cost of training course, the possibility of consulting with a teacher at the convenient time, increasing the role and enlarging the proportion of student’s self-work, etc.), on the features of work on Moodle platform. Particular attention is paid to the characteristics of the activity of the Greek Open University with a distance learning form, in particular to the description of the master's program for the teachers of English "Didactics of English as a Foreign / International Language". The perspectives of using pedagogically valuable experience of Greece in the use of ICT in national higher education of foreign languages have been outlined.

Investigating Instructors’ Techniques to Develop EFL University Students Conversational Competence

The ever-growing need for good communication skills in English has created a huge demand for English teaching around the world. Millions of people today want to improve their command of English. And opportunities to learn English are provided in many different ways such as formal instruction, travelling, studying abroad, as well as through the media and the Internet. Such a worldwide demand for English has created an enormous demand for quality language teaching and language teaching materials and resources so as to meet learners’ demanding goals. Learners want to be able to master English to a high level of accuracy and fluency through the acquisition of good English language skills since fluency in English is a prerequisite for success and advancement in many fields of employment in today’s world. The present research attends to the techniques utilized by English as a foreign language (EFL) university instructors to develop their students’ speaking skills. It hypothesizes that EFL university instructors use a variety of techniques to bring about such an objective. To bring about the aims of the research and validate the posed hypothesis, a 30-item questionnaire has been designed and distributed among all the instructors of conversation at the Depts. of English and Translation / University of Mosul during the second term of the academic year 2103-2014. The analysis of the data collected via the sample’s responses to the questionnaire indicates that EFL instructors used indeed a variety of instructional techniques to develop their students’ speaking skills. Hence the posed hypothesis has been accepted and duly a set of concluding remarks and recommendations have been put forward.

Expressions of Attitudes in Students’ Narrative Writing: An Appraisal Analysis

This article investigated attitude, one of subsystem appraisal, in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university students’ narrative writings. Five narrative writing was selected purposefully from undergraduate students of the English Department at a local private university in Central Java. The findings demonstrate that the affect is the most dominant subsystem of attitude used in the students’ narrative writing to convey feelings and emotion of characters and events in the stories in order to make the readers involved in the stories. The prominent finding of this research implies that most students used expressions of attitudes which belong to basic English words and repetition of same words. This present research suggests English language teachers and lecturers pay more attention to the explicit teaching of attitudinal words usage in writing, especially narrative writing.

Implication of Output Hypothesis on Teaching College English Writing

In recent years, with the development of the research on the Output Hypothesis, many researchers and ChineseEnglish teachers have paid attention to this hypothesis. Since writing is considered to be a way of output on the fieldof second language acquisition, teachers in college have begun to apply Swain’s “Output Hypothesis” to teachingcollege English writing. It does work but still remains problems. Therefore, this paper will introduce the existingproblems of applying the output hypothesis on the writing class in our college, based on the interview byinterviewing six seniors majoring in English from different classes in our Foreign Language College. Also, this paperwill provide some suggestions on these problems existing in teaching college English writing.

A Study of the Training Mode of Practical Talents of Foreign Languages in Colleges and Universities

Foreign language education in China has achieved remarkable achievements in the past hundred years. At present, the development of foreign language majors in China is fast, but there are still many problems: how to make characteristics according to different regions and institutions, how to make foreign language majors serve local construction, and how to integrate training talents with national strategies. These questions need to be pondered over. This paper starts from the era of the gap between foreign talent demand and foreign talent ability, analysis of training foreign language majors of the present mode, mainly from the curriculum system, teaching methods, teaching management and teaching practice to explore how to cultivate the needs of the era of application oriented foreign language professionals, to provide reference for the talents of our country college foreign language professional training model of reform.

Role of the Big Five Personality Traits and Motivation in Predicting Performance in Collaborative Presentations.

Personality traits and motivation have been identified as influential factors in language acquisition and educational achievement. In recent years, as instructors have adapted curriculums to prepare students for academic and professional pursuits, collaborative inquiry-based projects and presentations, where students work together in groups to socially construct knowledge and achieve stipulated outcomes, have become common features of tertiary learning landscapes. This study utilizes 441 English as a foreign language university students’ Big Five Inventory-44 and Collaborative Inquiry-based Project Questionnaire ratings to predict performance on their collaborative inquiry-based projects requiring presentations. Regression analysis revealed Extraversion and Project Work as predictors of Presentation Scores. Furthermore, Extraversion and Conscientiousness emerged as partial mediators between Project Work motivation and Presentation Scores. The results underscore the advantage extraverts possess in oral presentation situations while simultaneously stressing the importance of diligence and effort in inquiry-based projects. Implications and suggestions for future study are provided.

Improving L2 Oral Accuracy and Grammatical Range Through Self-Assessment of Video Speech Drafts

This action research study examines the effect of self-evaluation on grammatical range and grammar accuracy on the English speaking performance of 27 foreign language university and pre-university students enrolled in three different language centers, in three different cities in Colombia. Participants were asked to record themselves answering different IELTS-type tasks for four times during a 6-week period and score and reflect towards their performance using IELTS-type analytical scoring rubrics and journals. Researchers used journals to register impressions, thoughts, and judgments observed during the process. The findings led to conclude that learners highly benefit from applying self-assessment techniques using videos of their production and a language benchmark to compare with in the improvement of their oral language accuracy and grammatical range.

The Effect of Pair Writing Technique on Iraqi EFL University Students' Writing Performance and Anxiety

The current study aims at finding out the effect of pair writing technique on Iraqi English as a foreign language university students' writing performance and anxiety. The sample of the study includes 78 male and female students in the Department of English / College of Education Ibn Rushd for Human Sciences of the University of Baghdad, Iraq during the academic year 2016/2017. The sample is divided into a control group with 38 students and experimental group with 40 ones. After checking the equalization of the two groups in certain related variables, the researchers conduct the experiment in which the students in the experimental group are taught writing and practice it in pairs, while those in the control group are dealt with conventionally (individually). The data collection tools employed in this study; a writing post-test and second language writing anxiety inventory, are conducted on the sample at the end of the experiment. The results achieved are statistically manipulated and discussed according to which a number of conclusions are drawn, and a set of recommendations are put forward.

Peculiarities of Teaching French as Second Foreign Language in Universities

Peculiarities of Teaching French as Second Foreign Language in Universities

Literacy-based Curricula in University Foreign Language Instruction: Perceptions from Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

Recent scholarship has underscored the need for a new paradigm in university foreign language programs and put forward literacy as a necessary curricular goal (e.g., Byrnes, Maxim, & Norris, 2010; Kern, 2000; Paesani, Allen, & Dupuy, 2016; Swaffar & Arens, 2005). In light of the high percentage of courses they teach, non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) are instrumental to implementing new curricular paradigms. As such, knowing how they understand literacy and its role in foreign language education is essential to advancing the implementation of literacy-based pedagogies. This study reports on how non- tenure-track faculty conceptualized literacy during a 2.5 month Professional Learning Circle (PLC). Sociocultural and cognitive dimensions of literacy dominated the ways in which participants conceptualized literacy and its associated pedagogies; linguistic dimensions were backgrounded. Findings suggest that in order for a literacy turn to take hold, NTTF need opportunities to define relationships between language, culture, texts, and cognitive processes, and to differentiate literacy pedagogies from Communicative Language Teaching practices.

Based on the "Internet plus" under the Background of College Foreign Language Teachers' Professional Development of the Community

Based on the "Internet plus" under the Background of College Foreign Language Teachers' Professional Development of the Community

Tracking the Real‐Time Evolution of a Writing Event: Second Language Writers at Different Proficiency Levels

AbstractThe current study focused on emergent processes during real‐time second language (L2) writing activity in an English as a foreign language university context, examining differences in these processes across individual capacities. Participants included 22 adult Japanese learners of L2 English and their tutor. The data were collected using digital screen capture and eye‐tracking technologies while the learners wrote a 35‐minute argumentative essay. Supplementary stimulated retrospective recalls were also conducted to document the learners’ and the tutor's reflections on the writing event. Results revealed clear differences in L2 writing activity at different periods in time as well as differences in cognitive activity that appear to be mediated by L2 proficiency. Importantly, the obtained patterns differed depending on whether duration or frequency data were considered. These findings thus demonstrate the need to broaden the study of the temporal dimension of L2 writing and to consider more nuanced mixed‐methods approaches in future work.

Developing The Composition Skills Of English As A Foreign Language Learners Through Blended Learning

Innovation and development in the sector of information and communication technologies have significantly impacted the field of education by offering new possibilities for learning and teaching, particularly in English Language Teaching. Dissatisfaction with the traditional teaching of writing and with e-learning has led to the emergence of a new instructional paradigm called blended learning. This paradigm has become very popular in many foreign countries, and more specifically in the Arab world. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of blended learning in developing the composition skills of English as Foreign Language university students in an Algerian context. For this purpose, a quasi-experiment and an evaluation questionnaire are used as data collection tools. On the basis of the results obtained, some recommendations are provided.

The Effect of Pair Writing Technique on Iraqi EFL University Studentss Writing Performance and Anxiety

The current study aims at finding out the effect of pair writing technique on Iraqi English as a foreign language university students' writing performance and anxiety. The sample of the study includes 78 male and female students in the Department of English / College of Education Ibn Rushd for Human Sciences of the University of Baghdad, Iraq during the academic year 2016/2017. The sample is divided into a control group with 38 students and experimental group with 40 ones. After checking the equalization of the two groups in certain related variables, the researchers conduct the experiment in which the students in the experimental group are taught writing and practice it in pairs, while those in the control group are dealt with conventionally (individually). The data collection tools employed in this study; a writing post-test and second language writing anxiety inventory, are conducted on the sample at the end of the experiment. The results achieved are statistically manipulated and discussed according to which a number of conclusions are drawn, and a set of recommendations are put forward.

THE METHODOLOGICAL TRAINING OF FUTURE UNIVERSITY TEACHERS TO IMPLEMENT INTERCULTURAL FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION: THE COMPETENCY-BASED APPROACH

The article highlights peculiarities of future teacher methodological training in order to realise intercultural foreign-language education through the competency-based approach. The competency-based approach is a methodological basis of the contemporary higher education system. That is why it is important to substantiate main features of the methodological teacher training for implementing intercultural foreign language education based on this approach. The research aim was obtained with the help of scientific methods: the comparison and system analysis of psychological, pedagogical, methodological sources, generalisation and conceptualisation, positive experience generalisation of future university teachers methodological training in order to implement intercultural foreign-language education, education process monitoring, pilot training that highlights the effectiveness of creative academic and professionally methodological tasks. The future university foreign language teachers’ methodological training to implement intercultural education is viewed in the light of their methodological competency formed as a result of professional training at tertiary institutions, which is manifested in the ability to effectively fulfill all kinds of professional and methodological activities, as well as long-term readiness for professional, methodological, and personal self-development and self-improvement for the lifelong period. In the context of the competency-based approach, formation and development of future foreign language teachers’ methodological competency are provided by mastering its structural components – competencies and sub-competencies. In the process of students’ methodological training to implement intercultural foreign language education, their mastering of sub-competence within lingvosociocultural competence is of great importance. A future university foreign language teacher’s sub-competence as a part of lingvosociocultural competence is a complex and dynamic interplay of specific methodological knowledge and skills that enable to organise students’ intercultural education. The future university teachers’ methodological training to implement intercultural foreign language education takes place in different forms of educational process organisation. Master’s students majoring in foreign language teacher education acquire methodological knowledge and skills within the normative discipline “Methods of teaching foreign languages at higher educational institutions”, the elective discipline “Methods of using educational materials for the formation of foreign language communicative competence”, and during student teaching period. Substantiation of the criteria, methods and assessment tools of future university foreign language teachers’ methodological training to implement intercultural education is the prospect of further research studies.

Performance, cognitive load, and behaviour of technology‐assisted English listening learning: From CALL to MALL

AbstractThis study examines differences in English listening comprehension, cognitive load, and learning behaviour between outdoor ubiquitous learning and indoor computer‐assisted learning. An experimental design, employing a pretest‐posttest control group is employed. Randomly assigned foreign language university majors joined either the experimental group (outdoor ubiquitous learning), with 80 participants (26 males and 54 females), or a control group (indoor computer‐assisted learning), with 80 participants (27 males and 53 females). The experiment lasted 3 weeks. Both groups were administered a test of English listening proficiency before and after the experiment along with a questionnaire of cognitive load postexperiment. Prior English listening proficiency forms a covariate for the multivariate analysis of covariance. Results show (a) students in the experimental group exhibit significantly better English listening comprehension after the experiment compared to the control group; (b) students in the experimental group reported significantly lower cognitive load than the control group; (c) English listening comprehension and cognitive load exhibited a statistically significant negative relationship; and (d) outdoor ubiquitous learning enhanced self‐reported learning interests and interactions more than indoor computer‐assisted learning. Contributions and significances of this study are presented based on these results. Finally, implications for teaching practices are proposed.

Investigation of the Factors Causing Motivation Loss of the Lecturers in Language Teaching

Each country has a different cultural origins and tendency to shape its future. Since Turkey's social, economic and geographical conditions differ from those of other countries, the Turkish education system also differs from that of other countries. Quality education and training occurs through effective communication between institutions, teachers, students and families. However, while managing and directing education, the teacher is undergoing loss of motivation and inefficiency in school environment. In the study we tried to find out and investigate the factors causing loss of motivation for the teachers in language teaching. We interviewed eight Language Lecturers teaching English, French, German, Arabic and Turkish Languages at the College of Foreign Language in various universities in Turkey so as to obtain the data. We asked three open ended questions to the lecturers in our study; “What affects your motivation in classroom environment?”, What are the factors that cause loss of motivation for you?”, What do you do to motivate yourself to teach language?” We used qualitative research method to determine and assess the level of motivation loss, and to compare them regarding the gender of the teachers and the students, the experiences of the teachers and the kinds of the language. The opinions obtained from the lecturers through face to face interview revealed that the implementation of distant-education in English Language courses, indifference of the students to French and German Languages, lack of communication, inadequate social facilities and the alphabet difference of the students coming from Turkic Republics and Arabian Countries were the main reasons for the factors causing motivation loss of the teachers in language teaching.