Good English Language Research Articles

Analysis of English Learning Needs for Travel Bureau Students in Bali, Indonesia

The tourism industry in Indonesia, especially Bali, has developed rapidly in recent years. This drives the need for skilled workers in the tourism sector, including good English language skills. This research aims to analyze the English language learning needs of students majoring in Travel Bureaus in Bali, Indonesia. This research uses quantitative and qualitative methods. Data was collected through a survey of 100 students majoring in Travel Bureau and in-depth interviews with 10 lecturers and 5 tourism industry practitioners. The research results show that students majoring in Travel Bureau have a high need to improve their English language skills, especially in the aspects of speaking, listening, and reading. This need is driven by the demands of work in the tourism industry, where English is widely used to communicate with foreign tourists. This research provides an overview of the English language learning needs for students majoring in Travel Bureaus in Bali, Indonesia. The findings of this research can be used to develop English language learning programs that are more effective and relevant to the needs of the tourism industry.

Enhancing English Oral Teaching through Pyramidal Convolution Shuffle Attention Neural Network and Sea-Horse Optimizer using Virtual Reality Technology

The ultimate objective of teaching English to students is to help them become self-sufficient language learners and users, proficient in efficient language learning techniques, and capable of transmitting information in English. As a result, good English language instruction requires language communication training for both students and teachers, as well as between students. Compared to classroom instruction, English learning could easily facilitate English learning and provides a comfortable environment by reducing the drawback of the conventional classroom, which could lead to lower ratings for mental strain, absence of communication, and fear of making mistakes. To avoid these challenges, the pyramidal convolution shuffle attention Neural Network with sea-horse optimizer is proposed for classifying pronunciation, speaking proficiency, fluency, and intonation, of the English oral teaching. Initially, the data’s are gathered via the dataset of oral English teaching in virtual reality dataset. Afterward, the data’s are fed to pre-processing. In pre-processing segment; it removes the noise and enhances the input images utilizing federated neural collaborative filtering. The pre-processing output is fed to Feature extraction segment. Here, four statistical features such as kurtosis, mean, skewness, and standard deviation are extracted based on Adaptive and concise empirical wavelet transforms. After that, the extracted features are given to the pyramidal convolution shuffle attention neural network optimized with sea-horse optimizer algorithm for effectively classify the pronunciation, speaking proficiency, fluency, and intonation. The proposed EOT-VRT-PCSANN-SHO approach is implemented in MATLAB. The performance of the proposed EOT-VRT-PCSANN-SHO approach attains 99%, 98%, 97.5%, and 97%, as high accuracy, 98%, 98.5%, 95%, and 99% in F1 score, and 98.7%, 98%, 99%, and 97.5%, in precision, are high, when compared with existing methods.

Predictors of Chronic Debilitating Conditions Among Refugees Resettled in the United States

Refugees who have resettled in the United States encounter numerous challenges, including poor health conditions. However, knowledge of risk factors contributing to chronic debilitating conditions among refugees is scarce. Therefore, this study examined the prevalence and potential factors associated with chronic debilitating conditions within the U.S. refugee population. This study utilized secondary data from the 2019 Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR) involving 1007 refugees aged 16 years or older resettled in the U.S. between 2014 and 2018. The prevalence estimates were obtained using chi-square tests, and multiple logistic regression was used to determine the significant association between predictor variables and chronic debilitating conditions for refugees in the United States. About 25.5% of the refugees reported having chronic debilitating conditions. Regression results showed that being an older refugee and having adjusted immigration status to become a permanent resident was associated with higher odds of reporting chronic debilitating conditions. However, refugees who were currently working, married, and with good English language proficiency were associated with a lower likelihood of reporting chronic debilitating conditions. Gender and education levels of refugees were not significantly associated with chronic debilitating conditions after covariates adjustments. Interventions should focus on increasing access to education, employment opportunities to enhance health literacy, and financial resources to access healthcare crucial for mitigating chronic debilitating conditions. In addition, addressing the language barriers through language and interpretation services in clinical settings can also improve healthcare access, thus reducing the risk of chronic debilitating conditions among refugees resettled in the United States. Keywords: Chronic debilitating conditions, English proficiency, Immigration, Refugees, United States.

Vocabulary Learning Strategies Employed by Urban and Rural Good English Language Learners

Vocabulary Learning Strategies Employed by Urban and Rural Good English Language Learners

EFL STUDENTS’ PREFERENCES OF A GOOD ENGLISH TEACHERS

The process of teaching is a continuous learning journey, even with years of experience in teaching English as a foreign language, it is difficult to determine how to be an effective teacher. Different learners and teachers have also different views on what constitutes a "good English language teacher”. The aims of this study are to investigate and identify the qualities and characteristics that make an English teacher competent, as perceived by learners, particularly in the post COVID-19 and to gain insights into how learners' preferences may have evolved or changed due to the challenges and experiences faced during the pandemic, and how these factors influence their evaluation of effective English teachers. The participants in this study are students enrolled in the English Department of FKIP Lambung Mangkurat University Banjarmasin, spanning one batch which is 2020 with total 49 respondent students as participants. Data was collected at the sixth semester using a quantitative descriptive method this was employed to assess the students' feedback using a survey tool adapted from research conducted by Wichadee (2010) and Zamani and Angahari (2016). The questionnaire using close-ended question based on a four-point Likert scale. Total there are 60 statements and it divides from 4 categories (Socio-affective, Pedagogical Knowledge, Proficiency Skills Organization and Communication Skills) and there are 15 statements for each category. Based on the result, the most considered as prominent from the other category is Organization and Communication Skills, as many 82% respondents agreed that teacher should have good competencies especially in good communication skills. The anticipated findings of this study can assist teachers in self-reflection, evaluation, and the enhancement of their teaching practices. Additionally, it can contribute to their personal growth.

In Search of Quality English Teaching in Nepal: Narratives, Reflections and Descriptors

The aim of this paper is to analyze Nepali English teachers’ narrations and reflections about good English language teaching which they most enjoyed and affected their career choices. The present paper adopted narrative inquiry as a research design. The study was conducted with five participants who unfolded stories and memoirs on how they learned English. The participants shared their experiences which left indelible marks on their minds. The data were analyzed thematically in such a way that their conceptions of quality English teaching were reflected. The study indicated that teachers are instrumental in enabling learning, and they succeed most when they exhibit the behaviors that lead to the desired learning outcomes, such as excellent grades, favorable attitudes toward learning, and improved learning abilities. Good teaching is not a static, stereotyped activity that can only be accomplished by using instructional techniques. Quality English language teaching cannot be imagined without quality English teachers who are required to possess competencies like strong subject-matter expertise, pedagogical skills, contextual knowledge, passion, and the capacity to foster a friendly learning atmosphere so that they can maximize learning and are better able to accomplish increased learning. Thus, quality English language teaching places learners at the center of the learning process.

The Nexus between English Language Proficiency and Mathematics Competency: The Case of Filipino K-12 Graduates

Today, the quality of Philippine basic education is in question. The results of international assessments such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018 and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2019 show alarming performance of Filipino learners, especially in Science and Mathematics. This finding is confirmed by the recent result of the Department of Education’s Basic Education Exit Assessment (BEEA), revealing that the “senior high school students scored lowest in national assessment history.” With these findings, it is imperative to ask: How ready are the K-12 graduates in the Philippines? What are their English language proficiency and mathematics competency? Does good English language proficiency impact higher mathematics competency? This study basically examined the relationship between English language proficiency and mathematics competency of Filipino K-12 graduates (n=7,384) enrolled at Cagayan State University. It used secondary data from the result of the College Readiness Test (CRT) of the DARETO Project. Results revealed that the English language proficiency of the respondents is “satisfactory,” and their mathematics competency is “Fair.” Some personal and school- related profiles explain differentials in the respondents’ English language proficiency and mathematics competency. Finally, mathematics competency is impacted by the respondents’ English proficiency. K-12 graduates with higher English proficiency produce higher mathematics competency and vice versa. Thus, English proficiency is a good predictor of mathematics competency among K-12 students.

English Language Translation through Students' Opinions Toward Google Translate Machine in the EFL Class

The significant improvement of technology, creates the process of learning English language easier especially for students majoring in English education study program. Translation is one of the courses that utilizes Google Translate machine or technology. There were thirty-four of final semester students were selected as participants in this study. Questionnaire and interview were the instruments used in obtaining the data. There were seventeen questions of the questionnaire in order to find out students' opinions regarding to the use of Google Translate. The purpose of questions to know students’ desire to utilize Google Translate, to find out the students’ frequency of using Google Translate, and students’ agreement or disagreement to the benefits of Google Translate. This study used descriptive qualitative analysis. Half of the participants used Google Translate to support their English language learning process. Students realized some weaknesses from Google Translate, then half of students also had perception that they were still lack of confidence when they have not double-checked the appropriate meaning or target language by using Google Translate. Thus, for further English foreign language learners should understand some weaknesses of Google translate words result then eliminate those words error result in order to get good English language translation.

Use of Pear Deck as an Interactive Tool in Teaching Reading Comprehension During the New Normal

Good English language proficiency is given attention by the Malaysian government in line with the global challenge where the use of ICT is emphasized. Through the introduction of the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025, the government is keen on ensuring every child is proficient in English. With the on-going battle against COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has become inevitable. However, students get demotivated when it comes to remote classes, especially in English lessons. As such, this research investigated students’ perceptions of the use of Pear Deck during the pandemic. This action research used a pre and post-test and employed a semi-structured interview where 20 Form Three students of average proficiency in an urban area school in Penang were purposely selected which provided needed data that was then analysed accordingly using SPSS for quantitative data and a thematic analysis in analysing qualitative data. Based on the discussion of data, it is revealed that active learning pedagogy practices are important factors in improving students’ success and they have a good perception towards the use of Pear Deck in reading activities during the pandemic. It is hoped that this study can encourage teachers in trying out Pear Deck in their ESL classroom for more engaging activities for the students.

Role of English language in agricultural organisations

Background – The importance placed on having good English language proficiency and skills to secure employment in Malaysia is a well-known fact. However, very little is known about the role of the English language in multilingual organisations within the agricultural industry in Malaysia. As such, this study aimed to examine the employees’ perception of the use of the English language in a professional context particularly in the Malaysian agricultural and agricultural related sectors. Methods – A concurrent triangulation design was used to quantitatively evaluate the data. A total of 320 questionnaires from employees of 10 agriculture and agriculture related companies were analysed. Additionally, interviews were also conducted with 10 employers from the human resources department as they provided deep insights into the language matters of the organisations. Results – The employers and employees agree that English language proficiency has economic value and can play an important role at the workplace, as this skill can influence one’s career path in terms of employability and career progression. Conclusions - From the standpoint of employees, a more insightful idea on the influence of English on career development in the agricultural industry has been obtained. These findings have implications for learning outcomes of students, education system, and policymakers aspiring for the human capital which is needed for Malaysia to become a high income and developed nation.

PEMBINAAN PENGENALAN BASIC ENGLISH CONVERSATION AT THE AIRPORT KEPADA STAF BANDARA HANG NADIM BATAM

English is an international language which is very important for smooth bilingual interaction. Along with the times, the ability to speak English is required in all aspects of life to develop. One that is experiencing rapid development is the air transportation industry, which has a similar impact on the development of the airport aspect as a facility for providing aircraft transportation services. One of the important airports in the Riau Archipelago is Batam's Hang Nadim Airport. The airport was officially opened to the public on January 1, 1995 under the name "Hang Nadim International Airport. Since then until today, Hang Nadim airport has grown rapidly and has become one of the largest and busiest airports in Sumatra. With the rapid development of Hang Nadim Airport This, of course requires the use of an international language, namely English as the most commonly used communication medium. It has become a must for airport staff to be able to master English for the smooth operation of the technical process of aircraft and air flight systems. All airport workers are required to have good English language skills. it is appropriate to create conducive working conditions, but in reality on the ground, not all staff who work at airports have basic English skills, especially regarding the basic conversation part in English at the airport. If they are not equipped with basic English skills then they will not be able to speak English. can work optimally. Therefore, it is very important to initiate a dedication to provide a basic introduction to English for staff at Hang Nadim Airport, Batam City, Riau Islands.

L1 Transfer: Indonesian Grammatical Interference (IGI) on pre-Service English Teachers’ L2 Writing

It is recognized that second and foreign language (L2) learners’ production is influenced by their first language (L1). Pre-service English teachers, who are assumed to have good English language proficiency, also demonstrate influences from their L1 (Indonesian) in relation to English grammar production. Through an explanatory case study, I conducted a writing for translation test which asked the study participants to identify 21 grammatical differences between English and Indonesian. The test was designed to reveal the dominant types of Indonesian grammatical interferences made by pre-service English teachers. The aim of the study was to provide empirical evidence to support these findings, and to consider their implications for pre-service English teachers and education practitioners more broadly. Through both error analysis and interference analysis, I found 805 Indonesian grammatical interference cases, categorized into 20 types of Indonesian interference. Following this fact, six dominant types of interferences were established (adjective and adverb, to be, active and passive, number, tense, and question form). The findings indicate that, because of Indonesian L1 transfer, pre-service English teachers had failed to adequately master these six parts of fundamental English grammar. Thus, meaning and form transfers from their L1 were impacting on the participants’ use of English grammar. The results have implications for English teaching pedagogy, and in particular for pre-service English teachers’ awareness of Indonesian grammatical interference (IGI).

Understanding Samir: educational difficulties of a high school student from refugee background

ABSTRACT Students from refugee background enter Australian schools to pursue their educational goal. Though most do well academically, a few encounter educational difficulties and struggle to acquire English language. An exploratory qualitative case study approach was used to investigate factors contributing to poor development of English language and academic progress and challenges associated with the assessment process. Samir, a 14 year old grade nine student from Syria, who has resettled in Australia took part in the study. The method involved generating hypotheses and collecting data from multiple sources. Samir, his teachers and parents were interviewed. A battery consisting of a receptive vocabulary screener, verbal and non-verbal cognitive tests and a phonological processing measure, was administered. Results indicated that Samir had an average nonverbal cognitive ability and emerged as a socially skilled student with good English language conversational skills. Nevertheless, he lacked academic-level English skills and had difficulties learning this language due to multiple factors, including a possible underlying Developmental Language difficulty and/or Specific Learning Disorder. These difficulties coupled with underlying stress led him to disengage with his studies, resulting in poor academic performance. The findings highlighted challenges associated with the assessment of a student with cultural and language barriers. Potential options for flexible assessment and teaching are discussed.

Qualities of a Good English Language Teacher from the Perspectives of Textbook Authors in the Field of Language Teaching, Teachers, and Learners

Researchers in the field of language teaching have long been fascinated by the qualities of good teachers. Such qualities have rarely been approached qualitatively from different angles in a single study. Thus, this research aimed to unearth the qualities in question by employing a qualitative multimethod approach. To this end, 23 randomly selected standard language teaching textbooks were analyzed by two coders using qualitative content analysis. The judiciously adopted codes from the analysis were employed to design and carry out semi-structured interviews with nine effective language teachers as well as ten good learners nominated via purposeful sampling. The data gleaned from the semi-interviews were once again analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The collective initial coding of the three datasets resulted in thirteen themes: knowledge of pedagogy, rapport, critical thinking, empathy, rhetoric, knowledge of subject matter, enthusiasm, respect, humor, consciousness, fairness, authenticity, and physical attributes. Conducting a second-level coding, we uncovered two broad themes, namely personality and professionalism with the former being significantly weightier collectively. The application of Chi-Square at this point showed that the associations between the three datasets were meaningful. The findings of the semi-structured interviews of participant teachers and students corroborated those of authors in the field of language teaching. Also, rapport and pedagogy were respectively viewed as the most salient attributes associated with good language teachers by the interviewed informants. The study holds clear implications for interested researchers, language teachers, and teacher educators.

Word Order in Job Interviews: The Malaysian Perspective

The present study was conducted to analyse the use of word order in job interviews. The data was collected from participants in an organisation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Ten candidates of different races between the ages of 23 and 25 participated in the study. Radford’s syntactic theory of word order was employed to qualitatively analyse the data. It was found that positive sentences were predominantly used by the selected (n = 10; 47.4%) compared to the not selected (n = 10; 44.0%) and keep in view (KIV) (n = 23; 39.0%) job candidates. The findings further revealed that the types of word order used in utterances by the selected candidates were different compared to those who were not chosen for interviews. Selected candidates used more negative sentences, subordinate clauses, and time expression in sentences, whereas those who were not selected utilised adverbs of manner in negative sentences, subordinate clauses, and time expression in sentences, while the not selected candidates only used the position of adverbs. On the other hand, the KIV candidates used positive sentences, subordinate clauses and word order in questions in their utterances. The study can provide important contributions to knowledge on the use of English when developing employment course modules emphasising word order as an essential element in portraying good English language proficiency in job interviews.
 Keywords: Malaysia, fresh graduates, job interview, word order

Peer review declaration

All papers published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing.• Type of peer review: Single-blind • Conference submission management system: google form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSepRzaZ9Y_RK8Bi1jNnzrGayYrcpZl1Ks3hYCX19qCa7_JXjQ/viewform • Number of submissions received: 343 • Number of submissions sent for review: 337 • Number of submissions accepted:277 • Acceptance Rate (Number of Submissions Accepted / Number of Submissions Received X 100): 80.7 % • Average number of reviews per paper: 2 • Total number of reviewers involved: 20 • Any additional info on review process: In this conference, single-blind peer review is applied where the authors do not know who the reviewers are and vice versa, the reviewers know who the authors are. Review criteria follows five main components, namely: (1) paper should be related with the theme of conference; (2) clearly research background, research questions, research variables, method of data collection, and data analysis method; (3) result Clearly stated in relationship to stated research questions or hypothesises; (4) the manuscript is written in a good English language (5) Authors must prepare their papers using Microsoft Word as IOP template • Contact person for queries: Achmad Amiruddin (+62 8111150261, achmad_amiruddin@unhas.ac.id), Hasanuddin University

Validation of the Italian version of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease Pediatric Scale.

The Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease Pediatric Scale (CMTPedS) is a Rasch-built clinical outcome measure of disease severity. It is valid, reliable, and responsive to change for children and adolescents aged 3 to 20 years. The aim of this study was to translate and validate an Italian version of the CMTPedS using a validated framework of transcultural adaptation. The CMTPedS (Italian) was translated and culturally adapted from source into Italian by two experts in CMT with good English language proficiency. The two translations were reviewed by a panel of experts in CMT. The agreed provisional version was back translated into English by a professional translator. The definitive Italian version was developed during a consensus teleconference by the same panel. CMT patients were assessed with the final version of the outcome measure and a subset had a second assessment after 2 weeks to evaluate test-retest reliability. Seventeen patients with CMT aged 5 to 20 years (eight female) were evaluated with the CMTPedS (Italian), and test-retest was performed in three patients. The CMTPedS (Italian) showed a high test-retest reliability. No patient had difficulty in completing the scale. The instructions for the different items were clearly understood by clinicians and therefore the administration of the outcome measure was straight forward and easily understood by the children assessed. The CMTPedS (Italian) will be used for clinical follow-up and in clinical research studies in the Italian population. The data is fully comparable to that obtained from the English language version.

INVESTIGATING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION TOWARDS ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

This research aims at investigating the motivational factors of university students towards English Language learning. A quantitative method using a descriptive design was recommended for this study. A questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. The population comprises all males and females third year English language learner at colleges of education and languages at Sudan University of Science and Technology. Thus, the researcher used a sample size of 100 English language learners at colleges of Education and languages in Sudan University of Science and Technology being selected as participants in the current study, 99 valid responses were collected. Collected data is entered and treated by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The following are some of important findings based on data analysis and discussion of the collected data: 1. There are many factors that have positive effect on students' attitudes and motivation to learn English language. The most important ones include, having a good English language teacher positively affects their attitudes to learn English, and Learning English is important, as it is one of the requirements for high- education.2. Students were highly motivated to learn English language. There are many factors, motivates the students, on the top of the motivates factors is that, the need for travelling around the world, and the second motivator is that, almost students confirm that, learning English makes them more knowledgeable as they can be able to communicate. Finally, the results of the study, do not detect any statistically significant variations between students of the current study perceptions regarding learning English language related to students’ gender and age. Article visualizations:

The changing pattern of wage returns to education in post-reform China

This paper examines the labor market returns to schooling in China during 2010–2015 by using two rounds of the China General Social Survey data. While our OLS estimates based on Mincerian earnings function confirm the importance of human capital in China's post-reform economy, they highlight a number of important changes in the labor market performance of educated workers. The average returns to schooling have declined during the study period, albeit modestly. The fall in returns is much larger in urban locations, coastal regions and among women (from 10.4%, 9.9% and 7.8% in 2010 to 8.3%, 7.8% and 6.3% in 2015 respectively). Workers with university diplomas and good English language skills continue to enjoy a high wage return. These findings are unchanged regardless of model specifications and corrections for endogeneity bias using conventional as well as Lewbel instrumental variable approaches. We discuss the potential explanations for the observed changes and their policy implications.

Developing EFL Students’ Critical Thinking Competence in English Reading Class

The Education Ministry requires that English majors at university level in China should not only achieve a good English language competence, but also a fair critical thinking ability in order to develop their intercultural communicative competence. However, various studies reveal that in China the perceived critical thinking competence of language majors at university level is weak. Given the context, this paper aims at proposing an eclectic paradigm to improve learners’ critical thinking competence in English Reading class, by presenting the status quo and the root causes of weak critical thinking ability of EFL students in China, and drawing on various theoretical concepts.