Intensive English Language Program Research Articles

Teaching English for Intensive Program: A Need Analysis

In UIN Prof. K.H. Saifuddin Zuhri, most students, who had taken an English Proficiency Test at the beginning of the academic year to recognize the students' English proficiency, did not achieve a passing grade (450 points) of the test. This condition drives the institution to improve the student's English proficiency through the intensive language program that the Language Development Unit organizes. The research uses a descriptive study to analyze the data from the questionnaire, in which each item is analyzed individually. Fifty students' questionnaire answers and the interview of ten lecturers are grouped and analyzed to identify their real needs. The data is evaluated descriptively based on the percentage of student responses. The study results show that the language skills needed in intensive English courses are listening, structure and written expression, and reading. Most of the lecturers said that the students lacked grammar. Therefore, students need listening, structure and written expression materials, and reading skills—the essential skills to improve our structure and writing. Also, vocabulary and grammar are the aspects of the language that should be improved in the intensive English class. When developing the material, the target needs analysis should be considered, including language skills, language aspects, English learning objectives, and the time commitment of the Intensive English language program.

Using Service-Learning Experiences to Improve Cultural Competence in Pre-Professional Dietetic Students

Cultural encounters were used in a senior-level undergraduate nutrition capstone course to enhance students’ cultural competence attitudes and skills. The course included a service-learning component for which students met weekly with international students who were enrolled in an intensive English language program as conversation partners. The course content and structure focused on Campinha-Bacote’s cultural competence model. The model includes 5 constructs: cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural skill, cultural encounters, and cultural desire. This capstone, writing-intensive course included creative writing activities, discussion, journaling, and reflection papers. The 20-item Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence Among Healthcare Professionals-Student Version© was used as the pre-post-test measure. Paired sample t-tests were used to calculate outcomes. A significant increase from pre-test to post-test in the total score was found (t(18) = -6.852, p < 0.001). Pre- and post-test scores indicated students were operating at a culturally competent level. There were significant increases in all constructs with notable increases in cultural knowledge and cultural skill constructs. A course dedicated to developing pre-professional healthcare students’ cultural competence levels may better prepare them for professional practice.

Classroom-Based Assessment Practices of EFL Students’ Grammatical Ability at the American-Mideast Educational and Training Services (Amideast): An Insight

The aim of the current study is to provide an insight into the assessment practices used by a group of EFL teachers when teaching grammar at the pre-intermediate level (A2) in the intensive English Language program at Amideast-Yemen in Aden. The present study used both descriptive qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitative data was collected through semi structured interviews conducted with 11 teacher-participants as well as through the analysis of six grammar quiz papers prepared by the teachers. Furthermore, to investigate students’ perception toward how they were assessed, quantitative data was obtained through a questionnaire administered to 72 EFL students. The research results revealed that teachers had a good understanding of what effective assessment practices were and they used their knowledge to track their students’ grammatical ability progression. Analysis of the grammar quiz papers showed that there is some need for improvement in the design of the questions. Finally, the questionnaire administered to the students indicated a level of satisfaction among the students regarding the way their teachers assessed their grammatical ability.

METAPHORS AS TRAILS OF UNIVERSITY ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTORS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT EMERGENCY REMOTE TEACHING IN TURKEY

The COVID-19 pandemic brought life to an unexpected halt, and all levels of education including higher education had abrupt changes from face-to-face teaching to emergency remote teaching to sustain the continuity of education. English preparatory schools that provide newly-enrolled university students with one-year intensive English language program are no exception with regard to emergency remote teaching. Metaphor elicitation can be one of the ways to reveal university language instructors’ subtle thoughts about emergency remote teaching. In line with this idea, this paper investigates the use of metaphors elicited from 60 university instructors from different universities in Turkey in relation to emergency remote teaching. After the analysis, 58 valid metaphors were recompiled and classified under six categories. It was identified that instructors found emergency remote teaching quite challenging and dynamic in nature while only a small number of instructors considered it a positive experience. It was also evident in the instructors’ metaphors that they felt inadequate and untrained when they had this abrupt change at first and perceived emergency remote teaching as an unreal experience. Given the fact that there can be emergency situations in the future, we should move on after taking the necessary lessons from this challenging period.

Benefits of Internationalization to Students Cosmopolitan Competency

Higher education institutions across the world are responding to globalization through internationalization. However, there is limited research that focuses on the benefits of both internationalization-at-home and cross-border internationalization to students’ cosmopolitan competency from the perspective of students. Therefore, this qualitative case study explored the benefits of internationalization to students from the perspectives of both domestic and international undergraduate and graduate students at two U.S universities. Purposeful and snowball sampling strategies were adopted to identify sixteen students. Data were garnered via interviews, institutions’ websites, and documents. Constant comparative method was employed to analyze the data. Findings from this study revealed that students acquired bilingual or multilingual abilities, firsthand cultural knowledge, global knowledge, cultural nuances critical to showing respect to people from different cultures and geographical backgrounds, friendship and networking, personal growth, high tendency to develop empathy through university internationalization, and opportunity to taste food from different parts of the world. The study recommends that, institutions of higher education should provide opportunities such as foreign language courses, Rosetta Stones, language laboratories, foreign language conversation hour sessions, English as a Second Language (ESL) or Intensive English Language program for students. Also, administrators and faculty are encouraged to provide a platform for study abroad returnees to share their experiences with their colleagues. Higher education institutions should continue to recruit more international students to enrich students’ experiences and global learning.

The multiple resources of refugee students: a language portrait inquiry

ABSTRACT Children and youth from refugee backgrounds have complex language experiences owing to their journeys away from their homelands often taking them through multiple contexts. This study was motivated by a desire to better understand the language resources of students newly arrived as refugees in Australia and their embodied and contextualised experiences of their languages. Language portraits are a tool used to generate insights into language experiences. For this study, the language portrait tool was extended beyond the body to include contexts within which languages are experienced (school, home, the digital domain, other). Participants were 41 secondary students, who arrived as refugees from South Asia and the Middle East and were either enrolled in, or recent graduates of, an intensive English language programme. Findings were derived from (1) coding of languages according to embodied experience and context and (2) thematic analysis of students’ transcribed discussion. Patterns across the cohort indicated that these students primarily experience their thinking as monolingual in their L1. However, the coding of sensory zones indicates that multilingualism is experienced as a multisensory flow of viewing, listening, speaking, eating and otherwise experiencing. Challenging assumptions of the home language environments of refugee students, homes appeared as multilingual domains.

Achievement Levels of King Khalid University Students in The Intensive English Language Program Courses

Achievement Levels of King Khalid University Students in The Intensive English Language Program Courses

More than learning English? The impact of university intensive English language program attendance on international student academic achievement

This study frames intensive English language programs (IEPs) in institutions of higher education as potential vehicles for social justice among marginalized international students. In this study we examine the differences in academic achievement between international students who enter a university through an English proficiency test and those who pass through an IEP. We compared both populations through nearly 900 cases, out of a sample of 4888, who had similar language proficiency at the time of enrolling at a large research-intensive university in the Southwest of the United States. The results revealed great similarity between the populations of students indicating that as an intervention-style program, the IEP was successful in meeting the linguistic and academic needs of the students. The study also revealed potential implications for higher education policy in ensuring both program quality and benefit to students. The paper also raises issues of equity in terms of the lack of analysis in long-term outcomes for these types of programs compared to other interventions, the need for expansion of international student data collection by institutions of higher education and overall transparency in pre-university programs.

Türkiye’de Yabancı Dil Ağırlıklı Beşinci Sınıf İngilizce Dersi Öğretim Programının Uygulanması: Nitel Bir Değerlendirme

This qualitative evaluation study aims to investigate the implementation process of a current educational reform on teaching English to young learners in Turkey, the Intensive English Language Program in the Fifth Grade, from English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ viewpoints. Seven EFL teachers at pilot schools in the city-center of Erzincan were interviewed twice. The results of the first round of interviews indicated that despite the challenges arising from the pilot program, the teachers had positive attitudes regarding the potential advantages of the program. However, the final interview results painted a different picture in that although the main principles of the policy were seen as beneficial for young learners, the teachers faced a variety of challenges, such as a heavy compulsory curriculum in terms of content, lack of professional development support on the new program and scarcity of suitable language teaching materials. Based on both these problems and the benefits of the program, the teachers offered several suggestions for improving the quality of the program; these targeted elements including poor design of the program and unsatisfying professional development support. This study takes a snapshot of the implementation of the current EFL reform and presents suggestions for policymakers and teachers.

Enhancing ESL Writing using Sentence Variety Checklist

One of the students’ problems in writing is lack of variety in sentence structure. Students seem to learn one basic pattern of subject, verb, and object and stick to it. They may also lack knowledge and practice of the different structures, and connecting words, necessary to create sentence variety. Although this is a fundamental problem in student writing, little emphasis has been put on it in the ESL Writing class because oftentimes teachers and students think that as long as there are no grammatical errors in writing, it is “okay.” Therefore, even if students do show some improvement, most of them have not really achieved more desired marks in their writing assessments. Hence, this classroom research intended to examine the respondents’ writing performance before and after using a sentence variety checklist adapted from Langan (1993) and to analyze respondents’ perceptions towards using the sentence variety checklist in their writing. A total of 20 university students in an intensive English language program participated in the study. Data for the study were collected based on students’ essays and responses from a 20-item survey questionnaire. The results revealed slight increase in students’ writing performance in generating complex as compared to simple and compound sentences. In addition, most students found the checklist made writing more interesting and urged them to become more aware of what they were writing. In conclusion, the usage of sentence variety checklist can be one of the tools for ESL students to ‘add more colors’ into their writing. Keywords: ESL writing, sentence variety checklist, sentence structures, sentence combining

The Impact Of An Intensive English Language Program In Improving The Preparatory Year Students’ Abilities In English Language At Dammam University

The Impact Of An Intensive English Language Program In Improving The Preparatory Year Students’ Abilities In English Language At Dammam University

Language Proficiency and Assessing Classroom Achievement: A Literature Review

The goal of placement tests in language programs is to divide students into homogenous groups for the purpose of class assignment. In most intensive English language programs such as the AEC, the most typical criterion for dividing students into classes is proficiency in the target language (English). Accurate and reliable placement tests are crucial to the successful functioning of any English language program. This literature review discusses the concept of language proficiency and ways to measure it.

Language Proficiency and Assessing Classroom Achievement: A Literature Review

The goal of placement tests in language programs is to divide students into homogenous groups for the purpose of class assignment. In most intensive English language programs such as the AEC, the most typical criterion for dividing students into classes is proficiency in the target language (English). Accurate and reliable placement tests are crucial to the successful functioning of any English language program. This literature review discusses the concept of language proficiency and ways to measure it.

The Reflections of English as a Foreign Language Teachers’ on the Use of Virtual Reality in Classroom Practice (International Black Sea University Case)

The aim of this study is to investigate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions about thepossible integration of Virtual Reality (VR) tools into English Language Teaching (ELT). The Study highlights theuse of VR technology in teaching and learning process and its effect on the quality of lessons by consideringConstructivist Approach. The study was held among EFL teachers in Intensive English Language Program atInternational Black Sea University. The participants of the study were 10 EFL teachers who participated for fourweeks in VR workshop sessions, two hours per week. Qualitative and Quantitative approaches were adopted tocollect the data considering teachers’ perceptions towards using the VR for learning and teaching purposes. Afterthe completion of the workshop sessions, the data were obtained from questionnaires and interviews. The resultsshow that the VR tools in classrooms may have significant positive effects on class motivation. The participants ofthe study also developed positive attitudes towards VR tools although they did not have any experience of usingVR technology before. The results of the study also suggest that applying VR in EFL classes may increase students’autonomy and responsibility for their studies. Furthermore, the study reveals teachers’ positive experiences usingVR in EFL classes enhances their level of technology usage in class.

‘Close Your Book and Open Your Facebook’ : A Case for Extending Classroom Collaborative Activities Online

This study investigated EFL language teachers’ and learners’ evaluation of classroom-based pair and group work activities during an intensive English language program and it sought their opinions on the potential of Facebook to extend such collaborative activities online. Data were collected from 26 teachers and 178 pre-intermediate students using surveys and semi-structured interviews at an international university in Cyprus. The data analysis revealed that despite acknowledging the benefits involved in using pair and group work tasks in their classes, more than half of the participants reported that students developed the feelings of boredom and demotivation toward participating in classroom-based collaborative activities, mostly due to their overuse, poor design, and failure to cater to students’ learning needs and beliefs and their educational and cultural backgrounds. The results also indicated that, under some conditions, Facebook could function as a learning environment to revamp students’ interest and facilitate their engagement in collaborative language learning activities. Both students and teachers suggested specific ideas with respect to the informal as well as formal integration of Facebook into language learning classes.

Saudi EFL Preparatory Year Students’ Perception about Corrective Feedback in Oral Communication

This study sought to investigate the attitudes of Saudi EFL students towards corrective feedback (henceforth CF) on classroom oral errors. The subjects were 3200 (1223 male and 1977 female) students enrolled in an intensive English language programme in the preparatory year at the University of Ha'il. A questionnaire was the main instrument. This study seeks to extend our knowledge by examining the relationship between CF and gender, proficiency level, and students’ track. The results revealed that students generally have a positive perception of oral CF. Further, delayed CF was more favoured than immediate feedback. Of the methods of CF used by the teacher, the students preferred asking for clarification, repetition, explicit feedback, metalinguistic feedback, elicitation, and recasting; the majority of them regarded no correction as a poor method. Although the students wanted all of their oral errors to be corrected, they reported wanting their serious errors to be corrected first, followed by frequent errors, individual errors, and then, less serious errors; less frequent errors was the least preferred category. Regarding the choice of correctors, students favoured teacher correction, then self-correction, and finally, classmate correction. As far as the three variables considered, the analysis of the data revealed that in sum, regardless of gender, students’ proficiency level, and track, all students had similar beliefs about CF and strongly favoured receiving frequent CF in English oral communication classes once they were made aware of the purpose, significance, and methods of CF. However, the findings of the study showed that there was a significant gender difference, with women responding to CF significantly more than men. Moreover, the results revealed that highly proficient students preferred CF more than students with a lower proficiency, although there were no significant differences for most of the items. Additionally, there were some significant differences among students with different tracks. Pedagogical implications, limitations of the study, and recommendations for further research are also discussed.

The Influence of Ideal L2 self, Academic Self- Concept and Intercultural Communicative Competence on Willingness to Communicate in a Foreign Language

The intriguing nature of willingness to communicate in a second/foreign language (L2 WTC) inspires researchers to explore the concepts affecting the development of L2 WTC. In line with this tendency, the current study aimed to find out the predicting effect of three self-guided motivational units, namely, ideal L2 self, academic self-concept and levels of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) on L2 WTC. 173 university-level learners of English, who enrolled in an intensive English language program, participated in this quantitative study. The concern of participants related to their own ideal L2 self was measured by means of Ideal L2 Self Measurement while academic self-concept and ICC levels were elicited through specifically developed questionnaires. L2 WTC was measured by a WTC scale. Through the statistical analysis of data, it was discovered that each of the self-guided motivational units had positive correlations with each other. Moreover, multiple regression analysis indicated that ideal L2 self was the best predictor of L2 WTC while academic self-concept also had a significant predicting effect on L2 WTC. The study concludes that the knowledge of learners’ ideal L2 self and academic self-concept would enable teachers to have a clearer idea of learners’ L2 WTC and to take necessary precautions in order to increase learners’ willingness.

Care for Children with Migrant or Refugee Backgrounds in the School Context

Whilst teachers are increasingly being asked to provide ‘care’ for students in their classrooms, very little research has explored what care might look like for students with migrant or refugee backgrounds. This paper reports on the findings of a study conducted with children when they began school in Australia in the Intensive English Language Program (IELP), with a focus on how care might be provided and defined. Participants were 63 migrant or refugee children aged between 5 and 13 years of age (M= 7.40 years,SD= 2.39), and 14 IELP teachers. The aims of the broader study of which this paper forms one part were to explore experiences at school through a mixed-methods, participatory methodology. The current paper takes a deductive approach, and focuses specifically on the relationships between students and teachers as one dimension of care for students. We found that students had positive relationships with their teachers, and reported feeling safe at school. Teachers reported some challenges in relation to their relationships with students, particularly in the case of students with refugee backgrounds. We suggest that the concept of care for children with refugee and migrant backgrounds needs further work, particularly in mainstream education settings.

The Relationship between Vocabulary Size and Reading Comprehension of ESL Learners

<p>There are many factors that contribute to one’s ability to read effectively. Vocabulary size is one important factor that enhances reading comprehension. The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between students’ reading comprehension skills and their vocabulary size. A total of 129 pre-university students undergoing an intensive English language programme at a public university in Malaysia participated in this study. A correlational analysis was employed to ascertain the relationship between scores in the reading comprehension component of the institutionalised English Proficiency Test (EPT) and the Vocabulary Levels Tests (Nation, 1990). Based on Pearson product moment correlation coefficient, there was a moderate correlation (r=0.641) between scores in the EPT reading comprehension and Vocabulary Levels Tests. The relationship was statistically significant at p<0.01 level. The findings also indicate that all students (100%) were able to fulfil the minimum admission requirements for the reading skill (Band 5.5) in the EPT even though only half of the students (54.3%) reached the mastery level at the 5,000 word level. The findings provide useful insights into the prediction of ESL students’ performance in reading and the teaching of vocabulary in the ESL context.</p>

Co-Curriculum and ESL Student Success: A Case Study in an Intensive English Language Program

ABSTRACT This project examines the relationship between co-curricular activities and ESL student success in an intensive English language program. Extracurricular and co-curricular activities have been linked to the improvement of several factors, such as self-esteem, retention, and grade point average (Astin, 1984, 1999; Bergen-Cico & Viscomi, 2013). Research in second language acquisition has suggested that meaningful interaction between individuals in the target language (L2) will increase a student’s proficiency. Therefore, a ESL student’s further involvement in an intensive English program could have a major impact on not only their academic success (operationalized in this study by the amount of classes that received a passing mark), but also their proficiency. Documented are the lived experiences of four, advanced-level ESL students who are currently enrolled in an intensive English language program on the west coast of the United States. The information gathered through face-to-face interviews and an analysis of each student’s academic transcript is used to see if there is a relationship between the students’ academic involvement in co-curricular activities and their perception of their success.